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Home » Teaching adults
Teaching adults
Resources

Lesson plans and activities for English language teachers of adults, business English students and learners in tertiary education.

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  • Activities
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  • English for business
  • Most Recent
  • Most Popular
  • A to Z List
Lesson plans
18 October, 2012
Cooking in Britain Today
This lesson plan for teachers of teenage and adult students at intermediate level is about food and cooking. Students will take part in a...
Activities
4 June, 2012
Playing with lexical cards
Very often students know the meaning of a word but don’t know how to use it correctly. This is often because they don’t know what words go...
Activities
29 May, 2012
Revisiting texts
We often encourage our students to infer words from the context as they read and, as a result, they fail to notice useful lexis in the...
Getting down to business
English for business
22 May, 2012
Meetings 1: Getting down to business
The beginning of a meeting presents a major dilemma: is it better to get straight down to business, or is it important to allow or even...
English for business
15 May, 2012
Negotiations 1: Building relationships
When we think of negotiations, we tend to focus on the hard negotiating skills connected with bargaining. In fact, many professional...
English for business
15 May, 2012
Socialising 1: Breaking the ice
For many people, the idea of walking into a room full of strangers and trying to socialise with them can be terrifying, especially if you...
English for business
15 May, 2012
Meetings 2: Getting involved in meetings
Many learners of English worry about their mistakes and allow their insecurities to prevent them from participating in meetings fully. This...
English for business
14 May, 2012
Socialising 2: Keeping conversations going
After struggling to break the ice, the next obstacle is to keep the conversation going beyond the initial conversation. For this reason,...
English for business
14 May, 2012
Meetings 3: Managing a meeting
This lesson focuses on two important aspects of managing a meeting: setting up the meeting with a series of emails, and keep the meeting...
English for business
14 May, 2012
Negotiations 2: Positions and interests
The key to successful negotiation is preparation and research. This means finding out exactly what you want from the negotiation, and why...
English for business
13 May, 2012
Meetings 4: Brainstorming and evaluating
Since its development in the 1950s, brainstorming has become one of the most common techniques used in meetings to generate ideas. However...
English for business
13 May, 2012
Negotiations 3: Questioning and clarifying
In a negotiation, it’s very important to know when to speak, when to ask and when to shut up and listen. In this lesson students rank and...
English for business
12 May, 2012
Socialising 3: Social networking
Why is it that when you go to a conference or business gathering, everyone else seems to know each other already? At least part of the...
English for business
12 May, 2012
Negotiations 4: Bargaining
For many people, negotiating is all about bargaining, the give-and-take between two sides. In this lesson  students  discuss bargaining in...
English for business
11 May, 2012
Socialising 4: Active listening
Perhaps the most important skill connected with socialising is to ‘shut up and listen’. In practice, it can be very difficult to resist the...
English for business
10 May, 2012
Socialising 5: From contact to partner
While it is natural to focus on the challenge of starting conversations with strangers and keeping these conversations going, the real...
Activities
1 May, 2012
Pairwork: tai chi classes
This is a simple pairwork activity that can be used with low level groups to provide practice in the present simple question form – What...
Lesson plans
12 April, 2012
Money conversations
This lesson plan for teachers of older teenage and adult students at low to mid-intermediate level is about money. Students will develop...
Image
Lesson plans
4 April, 2012
Big numbers!
This lesson plan for teachers of older teenage and adult students at low intermediate B1 level is about big numbers. Students will...
Activities
20 March, 2012
Three of a kind?
Use this activity to practice the use of comparatives and superlatives and to introduce more complex ways of comparison.
English for business
2 March, 2012
Negotiations 5: Clinching the deal
The final stages of a negotiation don’t always go smoothly.  This lesson deals with a number of common events and situations from these...
English for business
19 December, 2011
Meetings 5: Action points
For many people, a meeting is only as successful as the Action Points it produces. Action Points are essential for moving things forward...
Activities
19 October, 2011
My Wikipedia
This is an activity 'about' the internet, but it doesn't start online. In fact it has to start offline: the idea is that students try and...
Activities
5 July, 2011
Teaching students the shortest tale
This is one of the quickest ways I know of teaching a tale and boosting students’ confidence in themselves as storytellers.
Activities
11 May, 2011
Goodbye game
This activity is great for last lessons of a course, but could be used in other contexts too. It is influenced by an idea from Headway Pre-...

Pages

  • « first
  • ‹ previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • next ›
  • last »
Lesson plans
18 October, 2012
Cooking in Britain Today
This lesson plan for teachers of teenage and adult students at intermediate level is about food and cooking. Students will take part in a...
Activities
4 June, 2012
Playing with lexical cards
Very often students know the meaning of a word but don’t know how to use it correctly. This is often because they don’t know what words go...
Activities
29 May, 2012
Revisiting texts
We often encourage our students to infer words from the context as they read and, as a result, they fail to notice useful lexis in the...
Getting down to business
English for business
22 May, 2012
Meetings 1: Getting down to business
The beginning of a meeting presents a major dilemma: is it better to get straight down to business, or is it important to allow or even...
English for business
15 May, 2012
Negotiations 1: Building relationships
When we think of negotiations, we tend to focus on the hard negotiating skills connected with bargaining. In fact, many professional...
English for business
15 May, 2012
Socialising 1: Breaking the ice
For many people, the idea of walking into a room full of strangers and trying to socialise with them can be terrifying, especially if you...
English for business
15 May, 2012
Meetings 2: Getting involved in meetings
Many learners of English worry about their mistakes and allow their insecurities to prevent them from participating in meetings fully. This...
English for business
14 May, 2012
Socialising 2: Keeping conversations going
After struggling to break the ice, the next obstacle is to keep the conversation going beyond the initial conversation. For this reason,...
English for business
14 May, 2012
Meetings 3: Managing a meeting
This lesson focuses on two important aspects of managing a meeting: setting up the meeting with a series of emails, and keep the meeting...
English for business
14 May, 2012
Negotiations 2: Positions and interests
The key to successful negotiation is preparation and research. This means finding out exactly what you want from the negotiation, and why...
English for business
13 May, 2012
Meetings 4: Brainstorming and evaluating
Since its development in the 1950s, brainstorming has become one of the most common techniques used in meetings to generate ideas. However...
English for business
13 May, 2012
Negotiations 3: Questioning and clarifying
In a negotiation, it’s very important to know when to speak, when to ask and when to shut up and listen. In this lesson students rank and...
English for business
12 May, 2012
Socialising 3: Social networking
Why is it that when you go to a conference or business gathering, everyone else seems to know each other already? At least part of the...
English for business
12 May, 2012
Negotiations 4: Bargaining
For many people, negotiating is all about bargaining, the give-and-take between two sides. In this lesson  students  discuss bargaining in...
English for business
11 May, 2012
Socialising 4: Active listening
Perhaps the most important skill connected with socialising is to ‘shut up and listen’. In practice, it can be very difficult to resist the...
English for business
10 May, 2012
Socialising 5: From contact to partner
While it is natural to focus on the challenge of starting conversations with strangers and keeping these conversations going, the real...
Activities
1 May, 2012
Pairwork: tai chi classes
This is a simple pairwork activity that can be used with low level groups to provide practice in the present simple question form – What...
Lesson plans
12 April, 2012
Money conversations
This lesson plan for teachers of older teenage and adult students at low to mid-intermediate level is about money. Students will develop...
Image
Lesson plans
4 April, 2012
Big numbers!
This lesson plan for teachers of older teenage and adult students at low intermediate B1 level is about big numbers. Students will...
Activities
20 March, 2012
Three of a kind?
Use this activity to practice the use of comparatives and superlatives and to introduce more complex ways of comparison.
English for business
2 March, 2012
Negotiations 5: Clinching the deal
The final stages of a negotiation don’t always go smoothly.  This lesson deals with a number of common events and situations from these...
English for business
19 December, 2011
Meetings 5: Action points
For many people, a meeting is only as successful as the Action Points it produces. Action Points are essential for moving things forward...
Activities
19 October, 2011
My Wikipedia
This is an activity 'about' the internet, but it doesn't start online. In fact it has to start offline: the idea is that students try and...
Activities
5 July, 2011
Teaching students the shortest tale
This is one of the quickest ways I know of teaching a tale and boosting students’ confidence in themselves as storytellers.
Activities
11 May, 2011
Goodbye game
This activity is great for last lessons of a course, but could be used in other contexts too. It is influenced by an idea from Headway Pre-...

Pages

  • « first
  • ‹ previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • next ›
  • last »
Activities
24 April, 2008
Cheat & Swindle Holidays
If you've got a confident class with a passion for debate this activity could be the ideal way to allow learners to let off a bit of steam...
Activities
9 January, 2003
Childhood stories
This series of activities enables students to practise what are traditionally called 'language skills' (reading, writing, etc.) in the...
Activities
15 September, 2010
Choose a city
In this speaking activity students think about and discuss a city they would like to live in for a year. The activity is based on themes...
a house
Activities
24 August, 2008
Choosing a house
I use this activity with higher-Elementary level students, primarily to practise vocabulary and collocations related to house and home, but...
Activities
9 January, 2003
Classroom issues
Learners have a lot of ideas about how they should learn a language and it is important to encourage them to discuss these and to...
Lesson plans
4 May, 2017
Collecting Europe - Identity
In this lesson students will discuss issues related to identity and what the future will be like.
Lesson plans
4 May, 2017
Collecting Europe - Robot relationships
This lesson takes the Collecting Europe project as a starting point for an exploration of whether a romantic relationship between a human...
Activities
29 June, 2006
Consequences role play
Why not play a game of consequences with a difference, where students must take on the role of another person?
Lesson plans
4 November, 2009
Consumer society
The aim of this lesson is to give students practice in reading for information and argument in an article about consumer society and give...
Lesson plans
18 October, 2012
Cooking in Britain Today
This lesson plan for teachers of teenage and adult students at intermediate level is about food and cooking. Students will take part in a...
Lesson plans
27 April, 2011
Cycling
This lesson plan for teachers of teenagers and adults at level B1 explores the theme of cycling. Students will have a discussion about...
Lesson plans
11 May, 2007
Destination - England
This lesson plan for teachers of teenagers and adults at intermediate level and above explores the theme of the England. Students will...
Lesson plans
12 June, 2007
Destination - Northern Ireland
This lesson plan for teachers of teenagers and adults at pre-Intermediate and above explores the theme of the Northern Ireland. Students...
Lesson plans
23 June, 2008
Destination - Scotland
This lesson plan for teachers of teenagers and adults at intermediate level and above explores the theme of Scotland. Students will build...
Lesson plans
11 May, 2007
Destination - Wales
This lesson plan for teachers of teenagers and adults at intermediate level and above explores the theme of the Wales. Students will build...
Activities
7 January, 2009
Developing a Nation
This is a group-work speaking activity for intermediate level and above, where students are asked to make choices about the future economic...
Activities
2 November, 2010
Doodles: Psychoanalysis
This is a simple speaking activity that can provide practice for describing personalities. The lesson is designed for adults but could also...
Lesson plans
11 January, 2011
Dorset life
This lesson plan for teachers of teenagers and adults at Intermediate level and above explores the theme of Dorset, a region in the UK....
Activities
9 January, 2003
Eavesdropping
This is an activity for students to practise reporting speech. It provides a situation for reporting what others have said that can be more...
Activities
20 October, 2010
Elementary podcasts
This is a simple listening activity that can be used with adults and secondary groups, and is based on LearnEnglish Elementary Podcasts....
Lesson plans
8 October, 2008
Email writing
This lesson plan for teachers of teenagers and adults at intermediate level and above explores the theme of writing emails. Students will...
Activities
1 April, 2009
Events that changed history
This activity is designed to be used as a consolidation exercise for the third conditional.
Activities
23 June, 2002
Food flashcards
I've always found it really useful to have simple pictures on hand. Just some simple pictures of food can be used in a multitude of ways,...
Lesson plans
30 September, 2015
Four hats for discussion
This is an integrated speaking lesson for higher level adults that involves them taking different roles depending the colour of their hat.
Activities
23 June, 2002
Fun discussion of controversial topics - the 'Tap-In Debate'
The 'Tap-In Debate' is a fun way for students to discuss controversial topics. It is excellent for speaking and listening practice.

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A - Z of Content

A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P Q R S T V W
sort descending
Artists as immigrants
Asking someone out on a date
Big City Small World
Big numbers!
Booking a train ticket
Born, bread and buttered in London
Break up
British and American English
C for consonant, V for vowel
Chain story telling
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