LAURA’S RESOURCE BANK

Ability: PRESENT ABILITY: Students are given a photocopy with some activities and they have to tick those which they can do and cross those which they cannot do. Once they have done this, they mingle with other students and ask their partner those questions. They tick the activities their partner can do and cross the activities their partner cannot do. Once they have finished, they write some sentences comparing what they can or cannot do and what their partner can or cannot do. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

1. speak French2. swim3. dive4. paint5. juggle6. play chess7. ride a horse8. cook well9. sing well10. knit11. wiggle their ears12. do handstands

Adverbs of frequency: BLANK QUESTIONS GRID: Give students a grid with 10 lines and five columns. Students listen to the question (they don’t write it down, though) and tick how often they do that. (They tick the correct column). After having listened to the ten questions and ticked the correct adverb, students arrange themselves in groups, and they try to recall all the questions. They need to write them down next to the correct number. (Judith Feher)

Adverbs: ACTING ADVERBS: This activity is a great way to introduce the idea of how adverbs affect the way a verb action is done. Divide the blackboard in two and write as many verbs on one side and as many adverbs on the other as you can (get the class to come up with them). At this stage you can also teach how adjectives 'turn into' adverbs by writing down adjectives e.g. angry, happy, and adding the 'ily'. Then divide the class into two teams. Then get one team to choose a verb and adverb combination and the other team has to act it out, e.g. talk crazily. (Judith Feher)

Advice: STUDY SKILLS: In pairs, compare the way you study, including these categories. NOTES, FILING, DICTIONARIES, OTHER REFERENCE BOOKS, SPEAKING IN CLASS, ASKING QUESTIONS, HANDOUTS, VOCABULARY LEARNING TECHNIQUES. In small groups, discuss the advice you would give to a student who wants to learn a new language. Agree on your top ten suggestions for effective study. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Advice: ADVICE FOR TRAVELLERS: What advice would you give someone going on holiday to your country? Students should work in small groups and, then, put the ideas in common. (Laura Moré)

Bonding: ROCKS AND LIZARDS: There’s no preparation for this activity. However, as the students will inevitably get loud, it would be a good idea to do it in the playground. Divide the class in two groups. Give them names: rocks and lizards. Explain that the rocks must stick together and form strong, rigid structures with their bodies. Tell them that it’s OK to get down on the floor. Now explain to the lizards that they have to try to crawl in the rocks. Let them play for a while, stop and ask who was successful. Ask what they did right and what they would do differently to achieve better results. (Chaz Pugliese)

Clothes: VOCABULARY BUILD UP: Students fold an A4 sheet of paper vertically into three equal parts. In the centre part of the paper, ask them to draw a picture of a person paying attention to the clothes and accessories in the picture. On the left hand side of the paper, ask the students to write a list of all the articles of clothes or accessories that can be seen in the picture. Students pass their paper to the person sitting on their right. This student matches the words with the relevant parts of the picture, and on the right, he/she lists items of clothes or accessories that could be added. He/She passes the picture back to its owner. The owner adds the newly listed items into his/her picture. Finally, students compare and describe their drawings in small groups or run a fashion show. (Judith Feher)

Clothes: WALL SORTING: Assign two opposing walls these meanings: summer – winter / casual – elegant / men’s – ladies’. Say names of clothes items and ask students to position themselves between the two walls to express their opinion about clothes, and then ask them why they are where they are. (Judith Feher)

Clothes: UNIFORMS: After reading the text in Innovations Upper-Intermediate, students look at a list of people who dress in a particular way, e.g. Hip Hop, grunge, ravers, new age people, Goths, surfers, punks, etc. They have to describe how they dress and what messages they are trying to send. (Laura Moré based on the book Innovations Upper-Intermediate)

Clothes: PROJECT 1: Students write a description of someone they saw today, or an imaginary description of a famous person they would like to meet. Then, they work in pairs. Student A reads the beginning of his/her description. Student B asks yes/no questions about what the person was wearing. Then, they swap roles. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Clothes: PROJECT 2: Students use the Internet to find a biography of a famous fashion designer. They make notes for a short presentation. Then, they bring pictures of his/her designs. They work in small groups and show the others what they have brought and why they chose the designer. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Clothes: FASHION SHOW: Arrange students in groups of 3. Ask them to prepare a fashion show for the following week. They have to decide what clothes they will be wearing, what music to play, what to say, etc. They all need to speak and catwalk. You can show them some fashion shows on Youtube. (Helena Hellstrom)

Clothes: WHAT AM I WEARING?: Students stand up and walk around the room. Then, you clap your hands and they join another student back by back. They need to guess what the other person is wearing / was wearing yesterday. (Chaz Pugliese)

Clothes: SPOT THE DIFFERENCES: Students are arranged in pairs. They’re asked to look at each other and, then, turn their backs and change 5 things in their appearance. They turn back again and they need to guess what their partner has changed. They do it again. (Marina Marinova)

Compound nouns: LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS: First, play the song and tell the students the song they are going to hear was written and recorded in the 1960’s. It contains a lot of unusual phrases. They are all compound nouns, phrases made up of two nouns like ‘flower shop’ and ‘bus ticket’. As they listen, they should try to recognise and write down one compound noun. Then, they Read the list of 18 compound nouns. They should match the unfamiliar words with the definitions.

COMPOUND NOUNS DEFINITIONS

1. tangerine trees2. play station fingers3. kaleidoscope eyes4. big burger mouths5. rocking horse people6. newspaper taxis7. DVD pages8. marmalade skies9. submarine silence10. plasticine porters11. marshmallow pies12. cellophane flowers13. Internet hands14. house music fields15. Easyjet magic16. takeaway parcels17. looking glass ties

18. banana split sweaters

A. a sweet dish with bananas and ice cream

B. a small sweet fruit like an orange with a skin that comes off easily; a bright orange colour

C. a jam made from fruit such as oranges, lemons or grapefruit, usually eaten at breakfast

D. a pattern, situation or scene that is always changing and has many details or bright colours

E. a think transparent material used for wrapping things

F. a wooden horse for children that moves backwards and forwards when you sit on it

G. a very soft light white or pink sweet, made of sugar and egg white

H. a soft substance like clay, that comes in many different colours and is used by children for making models

I. a mirrorJ. a low-cost airline companyK. a meal that you buy at a shop or

restaurant to eat at home

L. a type of popular dance music

The song was written and recorded in the 1960’s. Ask the students which of the compound nouns in the list they think are used in the song? Why? They should listen to the song again and check their answers. Then, ask them what they think those

compound nouns mean. As a follow-up activity, students should read the song again and try to invent words to substitute the ones in the song. Finally, each group should sing the final version of the song. (Roy Boardman)

Conditionals: TRANS-ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION: Simulation activity in which students have to face several problems and take decisions. (photocopy). (Judith Feher)

Conditionals: IMAGINE: This activity is to practise speculating and using conditional forms. In small groups, consider the following ideas and talk about the consequences – for evolution, for history, for family life, for the economy, for relations between the sexes, for us here today. Discuss only those topics that inspire you. What would happen if…women were bigger and physically stronger than men? the printing press had not been invented? humans were physically mature by the age of 10? dinosaurs had not died out and were still on earth? human beings, like birds, only mated in the spring? humans were covered in fur like other primates? mosquitoes could transmit AIDS? humans needed 18 hours sleep a day, like cats? there were clear, indisputable, concrete evidence that God existed? pigs had greater intelligence than humans? a couple could choose in advance the sex of their baby? humans hibernated? the institution of marriage had never been invented? computers hadn’t been invented? politicians always told the truth? (Laura Moré)

Conditionals: HELP!: Give students a piece of paper with one problem. Then, students have to write a sentence beginning with If I were you, …….. I can never find my keys. I’m terribly shy. People don’t listen to me. I can’t stop hiccupping. I can’t find a job. My neighbours keep fighting. I have no money. I have a lot of homework. My parents are very strict. My mobile phone bill is huge. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Conditionals: WHAT IF….? Tell the students that you want them to think out of the box. Write the term on the board and explain that out of the box means thinking creatively and coming up with new ideas. Explain to the students that you are going to give them a list of scenarios and they must come up with a prediction of what might happen if these scenarios came true. Tell the students that you will work through one scenario with them together. Write up on the board: What if the world supplies of oil ran out? Ask the students to speculate what might happen. Write their ideas on the board. Split the class into small groups. Distribute the scenario list. Each group must choose a scenario and compose a short text outlining what they predict might happen. Students share their ideas with the class, either as an oral presentation or as a poster to hang on the wall. What if there was no television?What if animals could talk?What if teenagers ruled the world?What if man lived to 150 years old?What if the North Pole melted?What if humans could fly to Mars?What if there was only one language in the world?What if there were no laws in the world?What if you won the lottery?What if there was no private property?What if you saw a beggar stealing food from a supermarket?

What if an asteroid hit the earth?What if you could read people’s minds?What if you could become invisible?What if you were born 500 years ago?What if humans had wings?What if it snowed every day for a year?What if you could design a new city?What if you were born old and life went backwards to zero?What if we had eyes in the back of our heads?(700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Conditionals: IF I WERE KING FOR A DAY: Write the title of this activity on the board at the start of the lesson and explain simply that this will be the subject of today’s class. Look around for reactions. Split your class into groups of five to six students. Tell your class that they should imagine they are in a position of power and they can make decisions to change things. Write some examples on the board, e.g. headmaster of a school, town mayor or managing director of a local firm. Each group chooses a position and discusses what they would do. Tell them that the changes they make must be somehow beneficial, for example, for the teachers or students in the school, for the local community, or for the firm’s employees. Allow only ten minutes for this. Tell the students they must decide and write down the three most important changes they would make, and think of reasons to support these changes. They should be able to argue what benefits the school, town or firm would gain from their proposed changes. Have each group present their manifestos. Allow questions and discussion from the other groups after each presentation. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Conditionals: MUSICAL CHAIRS: A circle of chairs (or more for big classes) is formed with the back of the chairs facing the centre of the circle. The number of chairs needs to be one fewer than the total number of learners in each circle. All the learners are asked to sit. The teacher is the only person standing at the beginning of the activity to serve as a model. Each time the music is stopped, the learner standing is asked to start a sentence with an if-clause. The same learner chooses someone else in the circle to finish his/her clause. The other learners help/peer correct, if necessary. (Sezgi Yalin)

Conditionals: JUST MY LUCK: You can use it any time you like doing something different and motivating or to take advantage of a lesson on first conditionals and superstitions. First class : do the vocabulary exercises (1 to 3) in class. A good way to do it is working in groups of 4 students and correct all together after all groups have finished. Then work on the superstition exercises (4 and 5) individually. Use the topic to do some speaking at the end of the class. Second and third classes: watch the film. Watch the whole film without any interruptions. Students don’t like pausing when they are watching a film, avoid making comments in between. Just warn them before watching that they have to pay attention since they will have to do some exercises about the plot and characters after the viewing. For the checking of their comprehension you can do the plot and character exercises in class or you can either give them as homework. You can get a gist of their vocabulary acquisition by doing the writing task at the end of the worksheet and to have a writing mark for each student by collecting and correcting the dialogues they write. Another good idea is to record the dialogues and listen to them in class.

1. NOUNS : Match the words to their meanings:

1. Cab a. Fango

2. Muffin b. Cárcel

3. Bun c. Invitados

4. Oven d. Secador

5. Fortune teller e. Magdalena

6. Blind date f. Ascensor

7. Guests g. Moño

8. Dance floor h. Ley

9. Flood i. Horno

10. Mud j. Cita a ciegas

11. Law k. Vidente

12. Elevator l. Taxi

13. Jail m. Pista de baile

14. Hair dryer n. Inundación

2. VERBS : Match the translations and verbs:

1. Intercambiar a. Can’t stand

2. Tener éxito b. Give up

3. Promocionar c. Miss

4. Intentar d. Guess

5. Echar, despedir e. Check

6. Sostener, aguantar f. Succeed

7. Echar de menos g. Swap

8. Quejarse h. Try

9. No soportar i. Complain

10. Adivinar j. Promote

11. Rendirse k. Fire

12. Comprobar l. Hold

3. EXPRESSIONS : Match these expressions to their translations:

A

1. I guess not a. Llegaran enseguida

2. Get off me! b. Descansad

3. You’re underpaid c. Sin rencor

4. Stay out of trouble d. Cómo ha ido?

5. No hard feelings e. Déjame!

6. I’ll be right back f. Creo que no

7. You’re fired h. No os metais en lios

8. They should be here soon i. Estás mal pagado

9. How did it go? j. Vuelvo enseguida

10. Get some rest k. Estás despedido

B

11. Congratulations! A. Dame un abrazo

12. Get better! B. Sí hombre! / No puede ser!

13. I can’t complain C. Estoy en el paro

14. What’s going on? D. Estás de broma?

15. Give me a hug E. Felicidades!

16. That would be nice F. No me puedo quejar

17. Can I give you a ride? G. Que te mejores!

18. No way! H. Qué pasa?

19. I’m jobless I. Estaria bien

20. Are you kidding? J.Te llevo en coche?

3. ADJECTIVES: Complete with the adjectives in the box.

WEIRD / GORGEOUS / SMART / GOOD-LOOKING / CURSED / WET / TOUGH / FAIR / CLUMSY / CRUMMY

1. __________ means strange2. __________ means hard3. __________ means well-dressed

4. __________ means attractive5. __________ means great, fantastic. 6. __________ means “patós” 7. __________ means not worth, bad quality8. __________ means “moll, humit” 9. __________ means “just” 10. __________ means “maleït”

SUPERSTITIONS 4. IS IT GOOD OR BAD LUCK?

1. Touching wood -2. Opening an umbrella in the house -3. Finding a four-leaf clover -4. Walking under a ladder -5. A black cat -6. Friday the 13th -7. A horseshoe -8. Breaking a mirror -9. A rabbit’s foot -10. Spilling salt -11. Throwing some salt over your left shoulder –

5. Match the beginnings and endings of the sentences:

1. If you find a clover plant with four leaves, ... 2. If you want your house to attract luck, ... 3. You will have seven years bad luck ... 4. You will be unlucky ... 5. In Britain, if you meet a black cat, ... 6. You will avoid bad luck ... 7. If you put money in the pockets of new clothes, ... 8. You will be unlucky ... 9. If you spill some salt on the table, ... 10. You will be lucky ...

a. ... if you break a mirror. b. ... you will be lucky. c. ... throw some salt over your shoulder. d. ... if you walk under a ladder. e. ... if you touch wood. f. ... you will be lucky. g. ... you will be lucky. h. ... put a horseshoe right up over the door. i. ... if you open an umbrella indoors. j. ... if you catch falling leaves in autumn.

DO THESE EXERCISES AFTER HAVING WATCHED THE FILM:

CHARACTERS

6. WHO ARE THEY? Write the descriptions and write their names:

ASHLEY ALBRIGHT / JAKE HARDIN / DANA / DAMON PHILLIPS / MAGGIE / PEGGY BRADEN / McFLY / ANTONIO / DAVID PENNINGTON / KATY /

1. She’s Ashley’s boss. 2. He’s the son of the owner of the Boston Celtics. He meets Ashley in an elevator

and takes her out in his jet plane. 3. She’s blonde , she writes songs and plays the guitar. She’s Ashley’s friend. 4. She’s got dark hair, she thinks Ashley is very lucky, and she’s a very good

friend of hers. She’s very interested in horoscopes. 5. He’s Ashley’s neighbour. 6. They are a music group. 7. He’s very clumsy. He’s like a magnet to bad luck , he is the manager of the

group McFly. 8. She’s Jake’s little cousin. She’s really unlucky too. 9. He’s the owner of Downtown Masquerade Records. Jake saves his life. 10. She’s the luckiest person in the world. She doesn’t have to wait for a taxi and

she is very successful in her job.

7. WHO SAID IT?

1. “Jake... Jake is the guy I kissed at the masquerade bash.” 2. “So was it a normal kiss or was it a supernatural tingling in your toes butterflies

in your tummy kiss.” 3. “I'm gonna need some chocolate now” 4. “You saved my life, Spider-Man.” 5. “Well, I mean, I kissed a cute guy, but...that's hardly unusual. Wait a second.

You said I could lose it to someone else,right?So does that mean he took my luck from me?”

6. “Uh, at least take my umbrella.” 7. “You don't understand. If I kiss Jake, it's hello fabulous carefree life.” 8. “Let's just say I know what it's like to be S.O.L. : "Shit out of luck".”9. “Yes, my luck is back!” 10. “Damon, please, the elevator was stuck.” 11. “One week. How's that? one week. You give me one week, and if I can't make it

happen for you guys by then, then I get it. We're done. You can go back home. No hard feelings. One week.”

12. “Promise you'll be there. Six o'clock.” 13. “Look, Jake, you're good, I mean, you did find us. But it's just... we just think it's

time to go home.” 14. “Looks like you have a big party to plan... And you’ll need a new office.” 15. “Every night is date-night for me.” 16. “Oh! Baby made a poo-poo!”

PLOT

8. Complete the summary with these words:

OWNER / OFFICE / HANDSOME / KISSING / PARTY / LUCK / ELEVATOR / NEIGHBOUR / DANCER / STOLE / UNLUCKY / BOWLING ALLEY / BAND / LUCKY / FRIENDS /

Ashley Albright has been _________ all of her life. It stops raining when she steps on the street, she can get an elevator all to herself or meet a ____________ guy, things always seem to go her way to the amazement of her __________ Maggie and Dana . They all work for Peggy Braden at her firm, where luck visits Ashley once again. Damon Phillips, __________ of a record company,arrives for a meeting with Peggy, but when she and everyone else ends up stuck in the ____________, Ashley improvises and offers Mr. Phillips to organise a Masquerade _____________. He loves it, Peggy is impressed, and soon Ashley has her own ___________. Moreover she asks her handsome _____________ Antonio to be Peggy's blind date. Jake Hardin , a _______________ employee who spends time with his fourth grader cousin Katy is the manager for the British ___________ McFly, he's been trying to get a CD into Damon's hands. But, being so _____________ , he doesn't have a chance. He and Ashley meet at the party and end up ______________ on the dance floor. Suddenly, all of her ________ is transferred to him, he ends up saving Damon Phillips’ life, and Ashley loses her _________ when the party takes an unexpected turn for the worse. Once Ashley realizes what happened, she tries to find the masked ___________ who kissed her and ______________ all of her luck. From that point on, and as their paths cross once again, the two try to deal with their ever-changing luck.

9. Answer these questions:

1. Who has an extremely fortunate life at the beginning of the film? 2. Who is at the same time followed by bad luck wherever he goes? 3. Who gets the idea of the masquerade party? 4. Who tells Ashley there will be a change in her life? 5. When does Ashley’s luck change? 6. What is Jake doing at the party? 7. How can Ashley regain her good luck? 8. What is Jake organizing when luck turs again? 9. Who gets all their good luck at the end of the film?

WRITING

Your best friend is totally out of luck. In pairs write a dialogue with him / her using as many of the words and expressions above as possible. (Carme Porcel)

Connected Speech: REDUCED FORMS: Play a song with reduced forms. Give the lyrics to the students so that they can read the lyrics. Play it for a second time. This time students should try to sing it. After that, ask the students if the song was hard to understand. Then, students should rewrite the song in Standard English. (Abdullah Coskun)

Countries: OUR MAP OF THE WORLD: Students mingle and organise themselves in space as if on an imaginary map of the world /their country/ their city according to where they come from/ live/ the country they have chosen to work on. (Judith Feher)

Crime: WHO AND WHAT IS WORST: Ask the students to read the story below and help them with words they don't know. The three of them lived together in a tiny, two -roomed flat in Moscow. The mother, Irma was a crane driver and she had a 17 year old son and a 15 year old daughter. Tatiana, the daughter, loved expensive clothes and worked in a brothel to pay for them. One night, Ivan, the son, raped his sister. Her screams woke their mother, Irma. Next day Irma hired an ex-convict she knew to kill Ivan. She paid the hitman a deposit of $100 against a full payment of $500. The hitman denounced her to the police. The police inspector came to see Irma and promised her he would drop the case if she gave him a back-hander of $500. Write this list on the board: THE MOTHER, THE MOSCOW HOUSING SITUATION, THE SON, THE DAUGHTER, CORRUPTION, THE HITMA, CAPITALISM, THE POLICE INSPECTOR. Tell the students to work in groups of six and rank the people and systems in order of moral responsibility, from worst to least bad. Ask for brief majority and minority reports from each group. (Christine Frank)

Definitions: SNAP: Words on the table. When students hear the definition of a word, they can grab the card as fast as possible. (Judith Feher)

Descriptions: THE SEVEN WONDERS: In groups of three or four, students should use the Internet to find out about one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. After doing the research, students should give a presentation of the place in front of the whole class. Pyramids of Egypt, Pharos of Alexandria, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis, Statue of Zeus, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes. (this activity could also be carried out with the new seven wonders). (Laura Moré)

Descriptions: SPORTSPERSON: Students should use the Internet to research their favourite sportsperson. Students should prepare a brief presentation for the following lesson. (Emile Olano based on Definitions 1, Macmillan)

Descriptions: DESCRIBING PEOPLE: Each student is then given one sheet of paper.  One student sits at the front of a room.  He/she describes a person and the rest of the class draws the person being described.It is more interesting if the person being described is known by everyone. Once the student has finished describing that person then he/she reveals who it is and each student shows his/her drawing. The laughter from this is hilarious as the impressions tend to make the character in question look funny. It is a good idea to encourage students to ask the interviewee student questions about who they are describing. (Judith Feher)

Descriptions: CARDS: It can be __________________. It can’t be _____________. This is the language that should appear on the cards made by the teacher. Students are arranged in groups and they play the game. One person lays a card and says a word that fits that description. The next player lays another card and needs to say a word that fits both descriptions and so on. If someone can’t think of a word, this person takes all the cards that had been laid before his/hers. The person who lays all his/her cards first wins. Students may use dictionaries. (Marina Marinova)

Descriptions: BLUE IN THE FACE: Have ready some slips of paper with vocabulary items you’d like the students to recycle. Each student should get a slip. Pair the students and give them each a slip. Explain that they should take it in turn to describe the word on their slip. They will have to do this for two minutes without stopping. Encourage the students to challenge each other by constantly asking questions. Time them. The student who runs out of things to say first loses. (Chaz Pugliese)

Descriptions: THINK ABOUT A PLACE: Ask learners to silently bring to mind a beautiful, scary, exciting or otherwise remarkable place where they have been. It could be their home, or a place they've visited. 'London' is too big; it should be more exact, for example 'the park outside my brother's house in Brixton'. Spend about 2 minutes with everyone silently concentrating on the sights, sounds, smells, people, colours etc. of the place. Repeat step 1 with another place, preferably one which contrasts with the first. Repeat one more time. Steps 1-3 should be carried out slowly and thoroughly: this will make the rest of the lesson more interesting for everyone. Of the three places they have thought about, ask everyone to choose the one which is most interesting to write about. The teacher also chooses a place. Hand out an identical A4 piece of paper to each student, and the teacher also takes one. On this piece of paper everyone individually writes 12-15 words about the place they have chosen. No more than 3 of these words should be adjectives. When finished, everyone should write their names on the paper. Everyone must only use one side of the paper. Randomly redistribute the lists. Ask everyone not to let on whose paper they have. The teacher should also give his/her list to a student, and take another one. Everyone reads the word list, tries to imagine the place it describes, then writes a paragraph to describe the place as they imagine it, on the other side of the same piece of paper. Again, everyone writes their name on the paper. Stick the writing up around the walls. Everyone walks around reading, but not touching the texts. Everyone tries to find the paragraph which relates to their place, then finds its author and comments (orally) on the writing and, perhaps, gives more information about the real place and its similarities and differences to the paragraph. This last stage takes the form of a group mingle. (Tom Booth)

Descriptions: THIS IS MY SCHOOL: Tell your students they are going to record a video in which they are going to present their school. Assign roles. One student should present the school, another should give directions, another should talk about their subjects and the rest should each present a different room in the school (caretaker’s lodge, library, computer room, music room, gym, English room, etc). One student should record his/her classmates and another should edit the video. By giving students responsibilities, we are asking them to engage in their learning process. (Laura Moré)

Dictation: MULTI-LEVEL DICTATIONS: Students choose the kind of dictation they want depending on how confident they feel. If students feel very confident, they will choose a blank dictation. The less confident they feel, the more information they will be provided. (Judith Feher)

Dictation: RUNNING DICTATION: Use a text you’ve used before. Students are arranged in groups of three. One student writes, another student goes and reads the text and tells a third one, who, then, runs to the first one and dictates what the second one dictated to him/her. The same can be done with miming. (Marina Marinova and Ikaskun Salazar)

Dictation: DICTO-GLOSS: Choose a short text and read it 3 or 4 times without stopping. After that, students get together with their partner and try to reconstruct the text. Variation: A writes down the nouns and B writes down the verbs. Finally, provide your students with the whole text so that they check what they’ve written. We can use a text students have already seen. (Chaz Pugliese)

Directions: BLIND: Student A closes his/her eyes. Student B leads, first, with their fists touching and, then, with no touching at all. After a while, student change roles. Apart from practising directions, this activity promotes trust and respect.(Chaz Pugliese)

Discourse markers: QUESTIONS: Students are arranged in pairs. A asks any questions he/she wants and B should always answer yes. B asks any questions he/she wants and A should always answer no. A asks B questions and B should always answer yes, and on top of that….. B asks A questions and A should always answer no, but guess what…. For lower level students, they can spend some time before preparing the questions. (Chaz Pugliese)

Discussion: TWO-SIDED DISCUSSIONS: Do you agree with the saying “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”? Work in two large groups: those in favour of capital punishment, and those against it. Prepare your arguments for a class debate. Appoint one person to speak first for your group, and another to speak second. The others should help with the arguments and listen for problems with the groups’ arguments. (the same activity could be carried out about freedom of the press). (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Discussion: CULTURE CLASH: In groups, discuss the differences between cultures using these topics: FESTIVALS, FAMILY, WEDDINGS, RELIGION, LANGUAGE, GESTURES, MUSIC, FOOD, ART, ALPHABET, CLOTHING and FAMOUS PEOPLE. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Discussion: NOAH’S ARK: Tell the group that, due to global warming, glaciers are melting and the water level is rising by the hour. The solution is to sail to the top of a mountain, where their safety is guaranteed. The problem is that there’s only one boat available, which is too small and frail to stay afloat with everyone on board. Three people must be left behind and the group have to decide whom to sacrifice. Each student has two minutes to present their reasons why they should stay (e.g., invaluable contribution, unique assets, survival and resilience strategies, etc.). After that, the group debate, make a decision and vote. (Monica Hoogstad)

Discussion: CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES: Write a number of controversial statements on the board. Introduce the following scale to learners: 1. strongly disagree, 2. disagree, 3. not sure, 4. agree, 5. strongly agree. Tell students they are going to discuss controversial issues and see which arguments can change people’s opinions. Reveal the first topic and ask students to vote. Make note of the results. Divide the students into small groups in order to discuss the statement and prepare arguments for and against the statement. Ask two people from each group to present the arguments. At the end of the talks, ask the students to vote again and make notes of the results, before moving on to the next statement for discussion. After the discussion, debrief the

activity. Tell students whether the initial voting was different from the final vote. Look back over the lesson and decide which arguments they though were best, which ones convinced anyone to change their minds. (Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones in 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards).

Discussion: IN FAVOUR OR AGAINST?: Before the class, pre-teach students a few expressions they can use when carrying out discussions. Besides, tell students they will take part in a discussion. Give them the two topics which will be discussed in class and ask them to prepare arguments in favour and against them at home. When the discussion day arrives, give students a card as they enter the class. If they get a green card with number one on, it means they are in favour of the first topic being discussed. If they get a red card with number one on, it means they are against the first topic being discussed. The same applies to the second topic. Arrange students in four groups: 1. in favour of topic one, 2. against topic one, 3. in favour of topic two, 4. against topic two, depending on the card they got. Ask them to prepare arguments. Give them ten minutes. After this, discussions will start. While discussion number one is taking place, students participating in discussion two take notes. At the end of the two discussions, students should give feedback. (Laura Moré)

Emotions: EMOTICONS: You will need to download and photocopy a list of emoticons. Hand out your list to the students. Ask them to tell each other which of the images they use when they chat or when they send text messages. Explain that you want them to write in full what each icon represents. They do this individually. You will need to allow some time for this. Let the students compare what they’ve done in pairs and then bring the class back together for some feedback. (Chaz Pugliese)

Environment: GREEN MANIFESTO: What are the main threats facing our environment? How can they be avoided? In pairs, discuss these questions, comparing your experience of different countries. What are the most well-known ecological threats? Are people environmentally conscious? Is there a Green Party? How is rubbish dealt with? What recycling facilities are there? In groups, write a Green Party manifesto, giving your proposals for an environmentally friendly lifestyle. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Environment: PUBLIC CONSULTATION MEETING: A paper factory is planned for your town, which is very beautiful but high in unemployment. There are concerns from the local community about pollution and the destruction of an ancient forest nearby. In groups of eight, students are going to role-play a public consultation meeting to listen to local views. In favour of the factory: the mayor, a representative of the paper company, the building contractor and an unemployed person. Against the factory: a member of the Green Party, an environmental scientist, a local craftsman and a local hotel owner. Before the meeting, students should discuss their ideas with the people they share their ideas, considering pollution, visual impact, tourism, jobs and effects on other businesses. Students should role-play the meeting after sharing their ideas. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Exchanges: THE IMAGE OF THE OTHER: http://www.europeanschoolsproject.org/image/index.html . It is a very successful project by European Schools Project in which students exchange information, data, viewpoints, etc., on many different subjects via email. In the portal teachers will find

everything they need to put the project into practice. They contain the teacher's manual (to the right) and the student's letters for the exchanges in web or printable versions (to the left). In the first letters, the students' writing is controlled; they just fill in the blanks to complete their letter. Little by little, as they get more familiar with letter-writing, the messages become more open, and the pupils are just given a few useful words and guidelines. There are also some vocabulary aids at the bottom of the page. The teachers will find some printable notes on each letter, methodology hints and some forms to keep track of the student's work. It may be a good idea to have a session previous to the start of the exchange where the rules are set. The emphasis is on communication and learning from others. For this reason, the language must be accurate, but also the tone (inappropriate remarks will be considered offensive by most cultures). Teach your students the basics of netiquette (you have a short article at http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/09NETIQT.HTM). Encourage them to ask questions to the partner to enliven the replies.

Exchanges: LINGUISTIC FUNLAND! : http://www.tesol.net/penpals/penpal.cgi . It is a place for teachers to find a similar classroom to initiate an email exchange. Click on Show Teacher Posts to find colleagues looking for partner classrooms, or post your own request at Request Pen Pals. To contact another teacher, click on his/her name, fill in the form and submit it. If the teacher is interested, you will receive a reply by email.

Films: FILM CLIPS: Show students a clip without sound and, then, in pairs they have to guess what they think the characters are saying. http://www.imsdb.com/ http://www.script-o-rama.com/snazzy/dircut.html (Laura Moré)

Flow: STATE OF FLOW: In order for our students to focus on what we do, we need to start a lesson when they are ready. That is to say, we should spend a few minutes carrying out very basic activities to get them in the motivation to do English. First, in pairs students take turns to say numbers (1,2,3,1,2,3, and so on), clap hands, or whisper numbers. Second, students say numbers (1,2,3,1,2,3, and so on) in different languages. Third, for example, students practise irregular verbs in pairs. Fourth, students form 3-word chunks. Fifth, students take turns to say one word each to form conversations. With these activities, we allow students to get into the language flow and practise speaking, listening, grammar and vocabulary. (Chaz Pugliese)

Food: FOOD SURVEY: Dictate one question to each person. Students mingle and ask all the other students their question. They make a note of everybody’s answer. After the survey, elicit the results and write them on the board. How much tea or coffee do you drink every day? Have you ever tried Indian food? What is your biggest meal of the day? How much do you spend on food every week? What do you eat for breakfast? How many eggs do you eat every week? Do you eat healthy food? How often do you eat out? Do you like fish and chips? Do you prefer Coke or Pepsi? Where do you buy your food? Do you eat a lot of chocolate?(Laura Moré based on Reward Elementary)

Food: RESTAURANTS: Students work in small groups. Give each group a different type of restaurant. They have to create a menu and include starters, main courses, side dishes, desserts and drinks. They can’t forget the prices. (Laura Moré)

Food: PROJECT: Individually, students use the internet to search for “weird food”. They bring a printout and description to the next class. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Food: A RESTAURANT MENU: Create a document with the following headings: Starters, Main courses and Desserts. Each one should be followed by three empty bullet points. Display the document and explain that each group is going to create menu. Students work in pairs and choose three dishes for each course. They can use dictionaries. Provide 20 minutes for this. Ask each pair to report back on their three starters. Write all the starters on the board. The class votes on each starter. Each pair has three votes per course but they cannot vote for their own dishes. The three with the most votes are added to the menu. Repeat this step for the main course and the desserts. Use this menu for a restaurant role play, which can be recorded. (Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones in 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards)

Future: ONE DAY…: Dictate one prediction about the future to each person. Students mingle and collect the other students’ opinions on their prediction. After the survey, elicit the results and write them on the board. Computers will take over the world. Time travel will be possible. We will find life in other solar systems. Babies will be genetically modified. Unintelligent clones will do all the hard work. Disease will be eliminated. People will live on Mars. A comet will wipe out life on Earth. We will learn how to travel at the speed of light. English will be the only language in the world. There will be no more war. Everyone will live to be 200. The environment will be destroyed. Everybody will be dark skinned. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Future: THE FUTURE GAME: You need envelopes of different colours presenting 10 different examples of the use of future forms. Students are arranged in groups of five or six. Each group is given an envelope containing the same forms but with different examples. Students need to identify the three future forms (present continuous, future simple and going to) and relate them to their uses. (Màster de Formació de Professorat)

Getting to know each other: TELL THE TRUTH: Students work in groups of three. Students ask and answer questions to each other about HOBBIES, HOUSE, FAMILY, FRIENDS, etc. Students tell some lies as well. While students listen to their classmates, they make a note of anything they think is a lie. The winner is the person who included the most undetected lies. (Judith Feher)

Getting to know each other: INTRODUCTIONS: Student A introduces himself/herself and says something he/she likes. Student B introduces himself/herself, says something he/she likes and introduces student A. Student C introduces himself/herself, says something he/she likes and introduces students A and B. If someone makes a mistake, the next student starts again. Continue like this until there’s only one student left who has not made a mistake. That person is the winner. (Laura Moré)

Getting to know each other: TOILET PAPER ICEBREAKER: This activity is used as a "getting to know you", icebreaker on the first day of class. Teacher takes the toilet paper roll and takes several squares of toilet paper, then hands the roll of toilet paper to a student. The teacher tells the student to take some, more than three. After everybody

in the class has some paper, we count the squares we have, then we have to tell that many things about ourselves, in English. (Judith Feher)

Getting to know more about each other: PERSONAL AFFAIRS: The teacher gives every student a piece of paper on which they write a sentence about their personal life. This sentence can be about school, family, music, friends, the last vacation, etc. For example "I went to the beach last vacation" or "I always study for my exams" or "I have two brothers" etc. When they finish writing their sentences they fold the paper and give it to the teacher. It is very important to tell students before writing the sentence that the information they are going to write is "a secret" and not to show it to their classmates. If they have a question about something, they should ask it to you instead of a classmate. Tell students to write their names on the papers. After collecting all the papers, ask the students to write the numbers from one to 10 (or 20, depending on the number of students you have in that moment in the classroom) in their notebooks. After that, the teacher reads the sentences in random order (without saying the name of the student), and the students write the names of the people they think wrote sentences. After reading all the sentences, say the question number and read the sentence again for each piece of paper and ask the students to name who they thought wrote it. Then tell the students the name from the student who wrote that sentence. Students should write (C) for correct guesses and (I) for incorrect guesses. (Judith Feher)

Grammar Revision: SNAKES AND LADDERS: Write sentences in some squares of the board, some correct and some incorrect. Provide cards with correct versions of each sentence (do not forget to put down the number of the square at the back of the card!). Get the dice and counters ready. Students roll the dice in turns. If they land on a square with a head of a snake in, they glide down. If they land on a square with the bottom of a ladder, they climb to the top of the ladder. If they land on a square with a sentence in, they decide if the sentence is correct or not. If they think it is not correct, they correct it. They check their answers. If their answer is not right, they go back to start. The winner is the first person who arrives at finish. (photocopy) (Reward Intermediate)

Grammar Revision: MISTAKES MAZE: You should start at IN and finish at OUT. You must visit each number once. Read the IN sentence. If you think it is correct, follow the white arrow to sentence 3. If you think it is wrong, follow the black arrow to sentence 14. White is always correct and black is always wrong. Keep a record of your path and show it to your teacher when you have reached OUT. If you reach OUT before you visit each number then you have made a mistake and you must start again. (photocopy) (Judith Feher)

Grammar Revision: MISTAKES AUCTION: Make a list of about twenty correct and incorrect sentences. Each team has a set sum of money in theory (say 50 pounds). The aim is to buy as many correct sentences as possible. The teacher reads out a sentence. Then, the team decides if it is right or wrong and offers a price for it if they think it is correct. Then, the other team decides whether they offer a higher price or not. The highest bidder gets the sentence. The winner is the team with the most correct sentences and the most money left. (Judith Feher)

Grammar Revision: NOUGHTS AND CROSSES: One category in each square (spelling, questions, answers, vocabulary, etc.) Students are divided into two groups. One team chooses one category. The teacher asks them a question. If they answer it

right, they square is for them. If they get it wrong, the other group has the chance to answer it. The purpose of the game (apart from reviewing, of course) is to get three squares in a row. (Laura Moré)

Groups: HUMMING: Prior to the lesson, prepare as many slips of paper as there are students in the class. If you have 20 students and you want to form four groups of five, write the names of five very famous songs on the slips – using five songs four times each. Hand out the slips and tell everyone not to show them but to keep them secret. Make sure the students know the songs and give them some time to rehearse them mentally. Now ask them to stand, circulate and hum the songs on their slip until they’ve found their partners. When they have, you can ask them to sit together in their new groups. (Chaz Pugliese)

Habits: THREE COLUMNS: Students write three columns on a sheet of paper. Under the first column, they need to write their habits down. Under the second column, they should write customs in their country. Finally, under the third column, they should write down their obligations. After doing this part, they should tell a partner about them. It is an interesting activity since it involves engagement, personalisation and acceptance. As an extension activity, students could compare and contrast their habits, customs and obligations. “We’re similar because_________________” / “We’re different because ________________”. (Chaz Pugliese)

Halloween: TRICK OR TREAT?: Write the words trick or treat. Do any of the students know what it is? You can either elicit their answers or get students to check them with the introduction text on the activity sheet, or you can use the introduction text as a dictation. Check through the Halloween vocabulary in the possible vocabulary list on the left. Get students to translate the words into their own language and to write a mini Halloween dictionary. Do the quiz. Students can either work on their own or in small teams. For each question, get a student to read out the question and two possible answers. The students/teams then write down the answer they think is correct. When they have all written it down, ask a student to tell you what answer they chose and then tell them if it’s a correct answer (a treat) or incorrect answer (a trick). The students have to keep track of the number of tricks and treats they get. Who finishes the quiz with the most treats? (You may want to take some sweets to the class so your students can have some real treats!) Talk about Halloween. Questions: When is Halloween? A. October 31 B. November 1What do witches and evil spirits do on Halloween? A. leave Earth B. return to EarthWhat is the symbol of Halloween? A. the pumpkin B. the appleWhat is the purpose of this symbol? A. to frighten evil spirits B. to bring food for the winterWhat did people use to eat on Halloween to protect them from evil spirits? A. apples B. pumpkinsWhy do people eat nuts on Halloween? A. to live longer B. to be cleverIf you go out on Halloween, what should you take with you to protect you from supernatural beings? A. a piece of bread with some salt on it B. a candle and some moneyIf a girl looks in a mirror and brushes her hair on Halloween, what might she see? A. the ghost of an ancestor B. the reflection of her future husbandWhere do evil spirits meet at Halloween? A. in cemeteries B. at crossroads

Why should you shut your windows and doors on Halloween? A. to keep out poltergeists B. to keep your pets safe insideIn ancient times, why did the Celts build fires on the hills? A. to scare the evil spirits B. to welcome the souls of the dead back to their homeThe Romans called Halloween Pomona Day. Who was Pomona? A. the goddess of fruits and gardens B. the devil’s sisterWhich Fiesta in Mexico starts the day after Halloween? A. The Day of the Dead B. the Night of the Living DeadWhich film starts in a place called Halloween town? A. Halloween B. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Health: KEEPING FIT: In groups, students write ten pieces of advice for people who want to get fit. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Hobbies: HOBBIES: Arrange students so that they are sitting in a circle. Stand in the middle. Ask each of these questions to individual students at random. After they answer it, tell them to repeat the question to the next student and make a note of the student’s answer. Indicate that they should continue the chain so the question progresses around the class. Meanwhile, introduce the other questions so that in the end there are lots of questions moving around the class. What sports do you play? How much time do you spend watching TV? Have you got a hobby? What hobby would you like to take up? What do you do on Sunday afternoons? How much free time do you have? What do you read for enjoyment? What hobbies did you use to have as a child? When and where did you last go to the seaside? What are the main leisure activities in your family? When the speaking activity has finished, students should work individually and write full sentences using their notes. (Judith Feher)

Holidays: PACKING: Using masking tape, make a big suitcase on the floor of your classroom. Get students to choose one item they would take with them on a trip. Practise these until all the children remember who is which item. Get students to sit as far from the suitcase as possible. There is one less chair than students. The student without a chair is doing the packing. They stand near the suitcase and call items into the case. When they think they have everything they need, they say: “I’ve got everything. Let’s go!” As students hear “go”, they can run to get a chair. The student without a chair will do the next packing. (Judith Feher)

Holidays: PLANNING A HOLIDAY WEBQUEST: Arrange students in groups. Prepare a presentation with six slides: Where to stay, What to see, Where to eat, What to buy, How to get around and schedule. Create a handout with addresses of websites where students will be able to find information on the city they are researching. Divide the class into five small groups. Ask them to brainstorm the sort of things they would need to consider when planning a holiday. Tell them to imagine they are going on holiday to London together. Explain they are going to research different areas of information that they will need, then work together to make a plan which they will present to the rest of the group. Distribute the handout and allocate one of the areas to each group. Send each to work on a separate computer to research their area. Ask them to save their results onto memory sticks. Appoint a chairperson to run the discussion. Open the presentation invites the group responsible for accommodation to present their results and the entire class discuss which hotel they will choose. The discussion continues through the rest of the slides, culminating with a discussion of the schedule

for the holiday. (Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones in 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards).

Houses: THE HOUSE OF MY DREAMS: Students draw a plan of their ideal house in groups. Then, they explain it to other groups. After that, they have to draw a more rationalised house. They draw a second plan and, then, explain it again. (Judith Feher)

Houses: MY HOUSE: One student describes his/her house. The other student has to draw the former student’s house. (Laura Moré)

Houses: FLATMATES: In pairs or small groups, students imagine they are looking for someone to share their flat. They should write a newspaper advertisement including information about the room, the flat and a contact phone number. They should also include some rules about housework, money, TV, music, bathroom, telephone, friends and food. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

House: HOUSE AND FURNITURE: Materials: pictures of items of furniture on small, hand-sized cards (one card per pair of students) and corresponding names written on small, hand-sized cards (one card per pair of students), big pictures (A4) of an eye, an ear, a nose, a heart and an arrow to put up on the board and the same pictures as in point 2 but in smaller size, and copied together on one A4 sized sheet (one sheet per pair of students). The Teacher (T) divides the class into group A and group B.In group A each student is given a card with a picture showing an item of furniture, in group B each student is given a corresponding card with the name of an item of furniture. The Students (SS) mingle to find a partner by saying the name of what they have on their card without showing it, so each S with a picture will find their partner with the corresponding name. Each pair of SS sit down together. Then, the T asks SS to each think of the house of their dreams. It can be as outrageous as they want, but they must think of the following:

- What can you see? What does it look like? (Visual - eye)

- What can you hear? (Auditory - ear)

- What can you smell? (Olfactory - nose)

- What do you feel? How does it feel? (Kinaesthetic – feelings - heart)

- What do you do when you are in this house? (Kinaesthetic – actions - arrow)

The T writes the above questions on the board, puts up pictures of the eye, ear, etc. next to each question, and gives examples by pointing at each picture [i.e. modelling, e.g. there is a garden. It’s near the sea. The furniture is modern. (V) Birds are singing. The kettle is boiling. (A) There is a vanilla scented air refresher in the bedroom. (O) I feel relaxed. It feels warm and cosy. (K) I do some gardening and play with my dog. I sit on the veranda. The SS can make notes or drawings if they want, but must not write a full description. In their pairs, the SS take turns to describe their house to each other. However, they each have a role to play.Student A is the TV with 5 channels, all showing the same documentary “The House of my Dreams”, but each focusing on a different aspect corresponding to the questions on the board. Students B is the viewer who has the remote control and changes channel. The remote control is a handout with

small pictures of an eye, an ear, a nose, a heart and an arrow to represent each of the 5 questions above. The listener therefore can ‘control’ the speaker but must pay attention to when the speaker needs to ‘change channel’. The T models with a S pressing the buttons (i.e. pictures) on the board. After 10 mins, the SS swap roles. The T monitors, listens for interesting descriptions, makes a note of mistakes, and checks that SS are really listening to each other. One way of making sure this happens is telling them that at the end they will each have to write one sentence about their partner’s house [e.g. I like his house because…, but I would prefer… (try to keep it positive)] and report to the rest of the class. (Anila R. Scott Monkshouse and José Luis Sañudo)

Houses: LOOKING THROUGH THE WINDOW: Have ready a variety of pictures of different kinds of housing. The images may be from housing in the target culture or from several cultures. Divide your class into groups of 4-5 and ask them to choose a picture. Each group should decide together: how many people live in the building, who they are, what jobs they might have, what they earn, what they think, what their routines might be, what their attitudes are to their children, jobs, religion etc, etc. When everyone is ready, get each group to present their ideas to the whole class, dealing with questions from the group as they arise. (Gill Johnson)

I’d rather: WHO AM I?: Have ready a questionnaire like the following: Which of these two alternatives best describes you and why?

1. child or senior person?2. Picasso or Michelangelo?3. Bach or Miles Davis?4. sun or moon?5. beach or mountain?6. rock band or quartet?7. yes or no?8. physical or mental?9. teacher or learner?10. dictionary or novel?11. email or telephone?12. TV or radio?

Pair the students and hand out your questions. When everyone has finished, ask all the people who chose the same items to volunteer a reason for their choice. (Chaz Pugliese)

Imperatives: MAKE A RECIPE: We need 25-30 flashcards with items of food / ingredients for recipes. Use the flashcards to review the vocabulary of food items and hang the cards up on the board. If you like, have the students attempt to categorise ingredients. Split the class into groups. Tell them they are going to make a recipe for a new dish. They may choose a maximum of ten ingredients. The groups discuss what kind of dish they want to invent and list the ingredients. Now have the groups discuss which kitchen utensils or pieces of cooking equipment they require to prepare the dish. Help with new vocabulary where required. Finally have each group write a step-by-step recipe using imperatives. (Judith Feher)

Instructions: JAMES BOND: Students imagine they are James Bond and they are on a mission to save the planet from a master criminal who plans to dominate the whole world. They have got a briefcase containing a recording of their instructions about the mission, including the location, name and description of the criminal. It also contains

instructions on how to use the high-tech and extremely dangerous gadgets in the briefcase. In groups, students write the recorded message for James Bond. Students choose five of their possession to include as gadgets. Students swap instructions and gadgets with another group. Students have one minute to memorise the instructions and learn how to use the gadgets. Then, students explain their mission and their gadgets to the class. The group who wrote the instructions will listen for any mistakes. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Intonation: INTONATION FUN: Use this activity to underline the importance of intonation when your students, as they often do, talk like robots. Basically, get them to say the words in quotation marks in the contexts that follow.

'Hello' to a friend to a friend you haven't seen for 3 years to a neighbour that you don't like to a 6 month old baby to someone you have just found doing something they shouldn't to someone on the phone when you're not sure if they are still on the other end

'Goodbye' to a member of your family as they are going through the boarding gate at the airport to someone who has been annoying you to a child starting his very first day at school

'How are you?' to someone you haven't seen for 20 years to someone who has recently lost a member of the family to someone who didn't sleep in their own bed last night

'I never go to pubs' by a person that totally disapproves of drinking alcohol to someone who often goes to pubs as a response to someone who has told you they sometimes go to pubs said before: '…but I quite like discos.'

'What have you done?' to someone who claims to have fixed your television only that now it's worse than before to someone who is scolding you for not doing anything when you suspect the same about them. to someone who has just done something very bad and which has serious consequences

Irregular Verbs: BALL GAME: Form a circle. Throw a ball to a student and ask him or her to say the past simple or the past participle form of an irregular verb. If the student says it right, then, he or she throws it to another student. If he or she gets it wrong, he is out of the game. (Judith Feher)

Instructions: PROJECT: Students should bring a gadget to the next lesson. They work in pairs and explain to their partner how it works. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Key pals: IT’S MAGAZINE: This is the online version of the print magazine. There are five different sections for teachers and students. The only one that has free access is its-myworld, where you can find a keypal or a postal penpal, among many other things. (Resource taken from thee course English for Secondary Teachers)

Landscapes: MUSICAL LANDSCAPES: Bring to the class reproductions of as many landscapes as there are students in the class and some background classical music. Tell students that there are pictures on the walls, and that you will play some music. Ask them to walk from one picture to another as they hear the music, look at the pictures, but they must go on walking until the music stops. When the music stops, they can run to any of the landscapes they like, but they can only stay if there is nobody else standing there, so it is one person – one picture. Ask students to imagine that they are in the landscape. Ask them to imagine their lives as that person. Give them one minute to think and generate ideas. Ask students to choose someone, and invite that person to their picture, and tell them who they are. Their partner can also ask them questions. Give them half a minute. Then they go to the other person’s picture, where they have a minute, too. Start playing the music again, and have the same process again, but this time ask students to invite a different person to their new landscapes. Give them one minute each in their new pairs. Repeat the process three or four times, asking students to choose a different person each time and giving them longer and longer periods of time to talk. (Judith Feher)

Likes and dislikes: COLOURED SLIPS: Students get three different colour slips and they need to finish three sentences in their own way. One sentence per slip. Slips are passed around and students put a tick on the ones they agree with. Then, there are three groups of the three colours. Each group tallies information on the slips and makes a poster, which they present to the class. (Judith Feher)

Likes and dislikes: POST-IT NOTES: Ask students to write five things, some true and some untrue about themselves on the post-it notes. When students mingle, they ask further questions to find out which are true and which are not. (Judith Feher)

Likes and dislikes: OUT OF REACH: The following activity is based on the song Out of reach by Gabrielle. First of all, we should play the video clip and ask students to answer the following questions in small groups: What’s the main topic of the song? What’s the problem? Who are involved? Which of the following words are likely to be found in the song?   BRUISED, SWEPT AWAY, TO BE OVER SOMEONE / SOMETHING, LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT, INSANE, DRIVING ME CRAZY, LOVE OF MY DREAMS, HURT and CONFUSED. Then, in small groups, the students should unjumble the lyrics, which have been jumbled in advance. As an extension activity, students should classify the expressions in the song into EXPRESSIONS CONNECTED WITH HAPPINESS and EXPRESSIONS CONNECTED WITH SADNESS. After that, students watch the video clip again and they answer the following questions: Do the two stories in the clip have anything in common? Have you ever felt this way? How did you get over that situation? Why do people write love song?

Why do people like love songs? What’s your favourite love song? As a follow-up activity, students can choose one of the following tasks and work individually:

At the end of the video there is a woman writing something on her diary. What would you write if you were in her shoes? Try to include as many new words and expressions as possible.

You belong to a band and you are having a gig next week. You are asked to write the lyrics of a song expressing your true feelings. Create it!

Get information about your favourite band or singer. Then write an essay including a biography, albums and a song.

Write a love story which should be based on the video clip you’ve just watched. Be creative and provide a sad, happy or hilarious ending to your own narrative piece.(María Palmira Massi and Bettiana Andrea Blázquez)

Likes and dislikes: CHARTING THE RESULTS OF A SURVEY: Before the class, prepare a presentation with five slides headed books, films, computer games, music and sports. Show the class the presentation with the five headings. Divide the group into pairs and ask them to brainstorm different types for each category. Ask the pairs to report back. Agree five or six for each category. Add them to the appropriate slide on the presentation. Ask students to find out from people in the school what their favourite type is on each category. Using www.chartgo.com students should create a chart representing the preferences of those in their class. (Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones in 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards).

Listening: STAND UP WORDS: Give groups words to listen for. They stand up when they hear their words. After that, swap words around. Read the text again but stop before the important word. Students who have the word stand up and shout the word. (Judith Feher)

Listening: AUTHENTIC PRESENTATIONS: Before the class, find a presentation on www.ted.com . If the presenter is well-known, ask students what they know about him/her. If the presenter is not well-known, do some research before the class to tell your students about him/her. Write the title of the presentation on the board and ask students what they think the presentation will be about. Write down some vocabulary worth mentioning before playing the presentation so that students can use a dictionary to look them up. Provide any other culturally relevant information students may not be familiar with. Tell the students they will watch a presentation and they are supposed to take notes on the main points. Emphasise that they are listening for gist and that the notes made during their first viewing should be brief but coherent. Play the video and, then, divide the students into small groups. Ask them to compare notes to prepare short summaries. Ask the group to report back. (Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones in 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards).

Messages: TEXT MESSAGE LANGUAGE: Google “message translators”. Any conventional message can be translated into text message language. (Judith Feher)

Modal Verbs: PARENTS AND CHILDREN: You will need one copy of the worksheet per student. Pre-teach the vocabulary in the worksheet. Put students into pairs. If possible, pair one male student with one female student. Give each student a copy of the worksheet and tell them to write their partner’s name at the top of the second column. Explain that students have to give their opinion on ten statements about parents and children. They also have to guess their partner’s opinion. Draw students’ attention to the scale at the top of the worksheet. Students work individually and circle numbers in both columns. They are not allowed to ask their partner anything at this stage. Students compare their answers in pairs and see how many of their predictions are correct. Encourage students to justify their opinions, particularly when they don’t agree with each other. Students tell the whole class how many of their predictions were correct and discuss any differences of opinion they had. Read these statements about parents and children. Decide whether you agree or disagree with the statement and circle a number in the first column. Then guess your partner’s opinion about the same statement and circle a number in the second column. 1=agree strongly 2=agree 3=not sure 4=don’t agree 5=disagree strongly

1. Children under 10 shouldn’t watch more than 1 hour of TV a day. 2. Girls over the age of 12 can wear make-up if they want to. 3. Children can get up when they want to at the weekends.4. Teenage boys can stay out later than girls of the same age. 5. Parent shouldn’t tell their children what clothes to wear.6. Teenagers can dye their hair without their parents’ permission. 7. Girls should do more housework than boys. 8. Girls shouldn’t go out on their own in the evening before they are 18. 9. Children over 10 years old can decide what time they go to bed. 10. Children over 16 years old don’t have to tell their parents where they’re

going at night. (Reward Intermediate)

Modal verbs: CLASS CONTRACT: In small groups, make two lists of duties to help make a class effective: 1) students’ duties, and 2) the teacher’s duties, using modal verbs. Then, put them together and write a poster. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Modal Verbs: TOP THINGS TO DO: You will need large sheets of paper. Put students into five groups. Explain that they’ve been commissioned to write a guide book of their city. Give the following instructions: 1. Group A make a list of ten things to do for people with a lot of money. 2. Group B make a list of ten things to do for people without a lot of money. 3. Group C make a list of ten things to do for people with children. 4. Group D make a list of ten things to do for people who are feeling lonely. Group E make a list of ten things to do for people who love music. Give them some time to brainstorm ideas. Now explain they have to reduce their lists to five best things and rank them in order of preference. When they seem to have reached an agreement, give out large sheets of paper and ask them to produce a poster presentation of the top things to do, with addresses and directions for at least two of them. Put their work on the wall and have them mingle. (Chaz Pugliese)

Modal Verbs: STREET SIGNS: Take pictures of road signs or in other public places, print and laminate them and have your students decide in small groups: what they are allowed to do / mustn’t do in that particular place; if they are just given advice or requested to do something (“please avoid…” “please do…”) or if it is a law (“”it is an offence”, “penalty…”, “fine”)? When you have a sign with lots of restrictions, do a drill like: “You mustn’t consume alcohol in this park, but you can sit on a bench.You are not allowed to cycle, but you can stand on your head and wiggle your ears…”; etc. Many signs have a cultural component, so ask students where they would expect to find a sign like this, what it tells you about this city/place, its history, or about people’s behaviour e.g. on this beach, etc. Last but not least: Do you have similar rules/laws in your own country and are they observed or do people ignore them? How many of these signs can you see on your way to school? (Anette Kurz)

Music: THE SONG PROJECT: Play some songs. Students have to complete a table as they listen to the songs (type of music, if he/se has heard it before, their opinion, mark). After that, in groups, students choose a song and do a short presentation of the artist (biography), group (discography), song (name and what it deals with), other versions and personal opinion. Other students punctuate their peers’ presentations. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Music: GROUP PLAYLIST: Have some large pieces of paper ready for the students to be able to put them up on the walls. Ask the students to choose, and write down, ten songs from their playlist that they really like to listen to. Tell them to share their songs in pairs. Now put the students into groups. Their task is to produce a “group playlist”. This will probably take some time – a group consensus is hard to reach on these matters. When they’re ready, ask them to put their playlist on a poster and display it on the walls. Encourage the groups to walk round the class and take a look at, and comment on, what other people have done. Allow time for general feedback: Who likes what songs? Finally, ask them to react in writing. Psychologists say that groups bond faster when the participants are encouraged to find what interests they have in common. (Chaz Pugliese)

Music: MUSIC AND ADVERTISING: Choose a piece of music you think would make a good background for a TV advertisement. Divide your class into groups of 4-6. Tell them they are working for an advertising agency and they are going to advertise a product on TV. Their managers have given them this particular piece of music to use. Each group should decide a) what kind of product the music would most suit and b) what images we would see on screen. Finally they should either draw, or be prepared to explain their storyboards. Play the music as often as you need to. When everyone is ready, get each group in turn to show/describe their storyboards. (Gill Johnson)

Multiple Intelligences: SENSES: Students take a piece of paper and write the following verbs smell, feel, hear, see, touch and taste. The teacher dictates some words and students place them in the column they associate that word with. It is a good activity to learn about students’ intelligence. (Patricia Petrová)

Names: NAME BALL GAME: Form a circle. Throw the ball and say your name. Throw the ball and say the name of the person you throw the ball to. Throw the ball and say two names: 1. the name of the person you throw the ball to and 2. the next person the ball should go to. (Judith Feher)

Names: SCREWED-UP NAMES: Use it if the students in the class know each other, but you are new. Give out slips of paper and ask everyone to put down their name, then screw it up and throw it in the middle. Everyone picks a name, not their own and introduces the person to the new teacher. (Judith Feher)

Narrative Tenses: THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT: Open discussion: What do you do if the lights go out?, Do you get bored and go to bed?, What would you do if there wasn’t electricity in your house for a whole day? , Do you remember the last time the lights went out in your house? What were you doing at that time? What did you do next? , How did you feel after an hour? After two hours?, Why do you think the lights went out? Was there a storm? Read a model composition (individual or group work, as students can read it in pairs)Go to: http://www.saberingles.com.ar/writing/index.html and click on the first story: “The night the lights went out”. Students write their own story in pairs or individually. (Activity taken from the course English for Secondary Teachers)

Newspapers: PROJECT: A students’ rag – a newspaper by students and for students – is going to be created. In pairs, students brainstorm some sections of a daily newspaper, e.g. leader, horoscope, home news, obituaries, overseas news, situations vacant, listings, fashion, games page, TV and radio, gossip, sport, comment and analysis, etc. Choose a section to work on in your own time. (Invite students to form small groups if they wish). Their articles can be about other students in class, or the teachers. Students should look for some magazine photos to use, too. In a few weeks, all their work will be put together. The newspaper can be compiled on computer. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Numbers: MY NUMBERS: Students write four numbers and the others need to guess what those stand for. (Chaz Pugliese)

Numbers: SAYING BIG NUMBERS: Before the class, search the online encyclopedia to find a list of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita and a list of countries per population. Write the numbers on the board. Invite the students to say the number. Give assistance if necessary. Ask students to brainstorm a list of roughly 20 countries and write these names on the board. Display the list of countries by population. Invite one student to ask another about one of the countries on the class’s list. This can also be done for decimal numbers by using currency exchange rates. (Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones in 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards)

Opinions: AGREE-DISAGREE: Ask students to position themselves between two walls to express their opinion on a statement. The closer they are to a wall, the more they are of that opinion. First, ask students to share ideas with people near them. (Judith Feher)

Opinions: GRAFFITTI: ART OR VANDALISM?: Students click on the link http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/grafitti.pdf

and do task 2. They do the quiz to know how much they know about Graffiti art (they can do the quiz in pairs to make it fun). Students read the text and do task 3 (can also work in pairs). They can answer the questions in a word document. At this stage all the students create an alphabet organizer which they have to hand out at the end of the task. Go to http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/alphabet-organizer-30035.html and start your alphabet organizer with the new words. To find what they mean they can use www.wordrefernce.com dictionary. Once they have answered the questions, they compare their answers with other students and write a final draft. (Activity taken from the course English for Secondary Teachers)

Opinions: THE POWER OF LOVE: You will need quite a few pictures of works of art. Write on the board in capital letters: POWER, LOVE, BEAUTY, CONFLICT and PEACE. Display your pictures. Invite the students to choose one which they think reflects or symbolises one of the concepts. Then, ask them to write on a piece of paper why they chose this picture. Collect the pieces of paper. Ask one student to pick one and read out what it says. Invite the class to guess what the picture is. (Chaz Pugliese)

Opinions: CHALLENGING CONVENTIONAL IDEAS: Write on the board/dictate some received opinions. Some examples: Politicians can't be trusted. / Pop culture promotes violence. / British food is awful. / Germans are always incredibly punctual. /Mexicans drink a lot. /Japanese people take more photographs than other nationalities. Ask your class what is the connection between these statements. Elicit the idea of a received opinion, conventional wisdom, a clichéd idea, an assumption and explain what these mean. Ask everyone in the class to write down two more received opinions. One should be about their country/culture and one about the world in general. Ask for examples of conventional opinions they've come up with but don't discuss them at this point. Tell class that they're going to have the opportunity to challenge some received opinions. Ask them to prepare a short 30 second speech arguing AGAINST the two opinions they've written down, or any two from the board. They may want to use some of these phrases:- The reason we have this opinion….is because…- The truth of the matter is…- This opinion/idea/notion is true to a certain extent….However…- Take for example…- The problem is that…- In actual fact…(Steve Wasserman)

Opposites: MATCHING: This can be done on a table. You can give the whole pack to a group to match it with its opposite. (Linda Yael)

Parts of the body: DRAWING A MONSTER: Students are arranged in pairs. Student A describes a monster with as many eyes, legs, arms, fingers, mouths, feet, as they want. Student B listens to A’s description and draws his/her monster. After that, he/she should write a short description of his partner’s monster. Then, students change roles. (Laura Moré)

Parts of the body: MIMING A MONSTER: The children work in pairs or groups. The teacher describes a monster which the children make between them with their bodies. Prepare the descriptions of the monsters. For example: Make a monster with two heads, three arms, one leg, and a tail. Point at the various parts of the body which you are going to use and elicit the names to check that the children are familiar with them. Ask for two volunteers to come to the front of the class. Explain that they are going to work together to make a monster according your description. Describe the monster and help the volunteers to make it with their arms, legs and other parts of their bodies. Ask

for comments from the class. Give positive feedback that will help the other students when they are making the monsters. Repeat the activity with the whole class. Note the pairs who have made interesting monsters. As an extension activity, get the children to draw pictures of the monsters and make a gallery or a “monster catalogue”. (Liubov Desiatova)

Passive: INVENTIONS: Brainstorm a list of inventions and discoveries which SS think have changed people's lives. Get ten up on the board and ask Ss to put them in order of importance. Which ones could they live without, and which not? Next, tell Ss to do the following matching activity:

Can you match the person with their invention or discovery?

1. Alfred Nobel a) Kodak camera 2. Alexander Graham Bell b) light bulb3. Alexander Fleming c) dynamite 4. George Eastman d) elevator5. John Logie Baird e) radio 6. Thomas Edison f) telephone7. Guglielmo Marconi g) television8. Chester Carlson h) penicillin9. Elisha Otis i) photocopier

Check the answers and ask Ss the following questions: Do you know when these were discovered or invented? Which of them do you think are important? Which of them could you do without? Pair up Ss and take the inventions and discoveries which Ss thought were important and distribute them round the groups. Have Ss find more about the inventor and discovery. Provide them with the net resources. www.invent.org Ss share what they have found out about the inventors and discoveries. Which one was the most prolific? Which was the most important? Talk about things that haven't been invented yet, e.g: flying cars, teleportation and space colonies. Ask: What would you like to live to see? What are going to be the most important advances over the coming years? Working on writing biographies of famous inventors and discoverers can also make a good follow up activity. (Eliana Pacheco)

Past Simple: POST-IT NOTES: Students write a name, a date and a place that is important to them. These three things should come from three different stories or events in their lives. Then, students mingle and ask questions to each other to find out more about the stories. (Judith Feher)

Past Simple: INVENT-A-STORY: Put students into pairs or small groups. Give each student a copy of the worksheet and tell them that they are going to invent a story. Students must include at least four of the items or people at the top of the worksheet in their story. The questions on the worksheet provide a framework for the story. Students discuss each question in turn and write their ideas in the appropriate box. Encourage them to write notes rather than complete sentences. When they have made notes for all the questions, students write their story in their pairs or groups. Encourage them to use linkers. Alternatively, the story can be written for homework. Students can put their stories up round the classroom and vote on which they like the most.

INVENT A STORY WHICH INCLUDES AT LEAST FOUR OF THE FOLLOWING: A GUN $10,000 IN CASH A WOMAN CALLED KATEA LARGE BROWN PARCEL THE POLICE PLANE TICKETSA DIAMOND A FALSE PASSPORT A MAN CALLED DYLANDiscuss the questions in groups and write your ideas in the box. Then write the complete story in groups, using linkers.

1. Why was Mark late home from work? How did he feel? Why?2. How did his wife Susan feel? Why? What did she do?3. What two things did Mark do when he got home?4. Mark went into the bedroom and telephoned someone. Who was it? What

did they say?5. How did Mark feel after the phone call? What did he decide to do? Why?6. What did he have in his briefcase? What did he do with it/them?7. Susan walked into the bedroom. Why was she angry?8. What did Mark say to her? Did she believe him? Why (not)?9. Someone knocked at the front door. Who was it? What did he/she do or

say?10. Mark left with the person at the door. Where did they go? Why?11. How did Susan feel after Mark left? Who did she telephone? Why?12. What happened at the end of the story?

(700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Past Simple: PROJECT: Students should use the Internet to find out about one of these people and their contribution to science. In the next lesson, students should exchange information with another student, e.g. Guglielmo Marconi, Charles Babbage, Marie Curie, Elisha Otis, Louis Pasteur, William Caxton, Thomas Edison, Jean Foucault, Enrico Fermi, Albert Einstein, etc. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Past Simple: TELEVISION: Ask students to watch the news and make notes about the stories, sport and weather forecast. Students should turn them into headlines using the Past Simple. In groups, students should compare the headlines. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Past Simple: MY CHILDHOOD: You will need a map of the city where you grew up. Tell the students about your favourite places as a child. Ask your students to think back to their childhood. Allow a minute or two. Then ask them to draw a map of the place where they spent their childhood. Ask them to write on the map the places they remember best: playground, school, shops, restaurant, family relative’s place, etc. Now pair the students off and have them show their maps to each other and talk about these places. (Chaz Pugliese)

Past Simple: BIRTHDAY SLIPS: You will need to have ready lots of slips of paper and some blank A4 sheets. Distribute 15 slips of paper per student in the class. Ask the students to think about their last birthday and to jot down what they did on that day. Now invite them to write how they celebrated their last birthday, writing one word on each slip but leaving some important bits of factual information out – by leaving some slips blank. Tell them to display their slips (including the blank ones) on their desks, all jumbled up. They should also leave a blank A4 sheet handy. Invite them to circulate and

reconstruct someone else’s story. In order to do so, they’ll need to guess the information that’s missing and write it on the sheet provided. When they’re ready, invite the students to reconstruct the stories on the board. The author should say whether the guesses are accurate and, at this point, give the correct version of the story. (Chaz Pugliese)

Past Simple: MURDER MYSTERY: Before class, prepare an index card and an envelope for each student in the class. Write “detective” on one index card and “murderer” on another. Put each card into an envelope and seal both. Put a blank index card into each remaining envelope and seal them as well. When the class begins, hand out the envelopes, and tell students to open them without revealing the contents to their classmates, except for the detective who must show the class the “detective” card. Now instruct the detective to leave the room, turning off the lights on the way out. The murderer now should gently tap the back of someone’s neck, and that person should let out a scream and fall to the floor. (You might want to warn teachers in adjacent classrooms before you start this game!). The murderer should move away from the victim. The detective comes back and turns the lights on. He or she must ask questions to ascertain who the murderer is. The murderer is allowed to lie, but all others must tell the truth. The detective is allowed only one guess. If the guess is incorrect, the detective loses. (Hall Houston)

Past Simple: WEEKEND TIMELINES: On the board, the teacher draws a horizontal timeline representing his/her weekend and writes a maximum of twelve words on it. These can be words like 'friends', 'football' or 'Cardiff' as well as feelings like 'tired' or 'bored'. There should not be complete sentences but words and phrases, and exact times should not be included. The timeline will, and should, be slightly ambiguous. Learners then work alone and produce a similar timeline. Learners then receive a timeline written by someone else. Make sure that the timelines are distributed in pairs. Pretending to be the person who wrote the timeline in front of them, learners write a paragraph describing the weekend represented by the timeline, in the first person. (This entails using their imaginations to fill in the timeline's ambiguities.) Learners should not communicate with each other at this stage. Learners receive their partner's writing and tell their partner which parts accurately reflect their real weekend, and what actually happened. This activity provokes genuine interest in each other's weekends. (Tom Booth)

Personality: ABC: Students group themselves according to the first letter of their first names. Then, they collect words starting with the same letter. The words should mean things that they find singnificant, or characteristic of themselves. Then they introduce their group with the names and characteristic words. (Judith Feher)

Personality adjectives: MEET ME AND MY FRIENDS: Think of a list of adjectives that describe people’s personalities, as well as their antonyms. Dictate this list of 15 adjectives. Teach any adjectives that are not known to any of the students. Ask the students to circle five or more adjectives that they would choose to describe themselves. Invite them to share the adjectives with a partner. Now ask them to think of two people they feel very close to and choose five adjectives that describe both of them. Tell them to introduce these people to teach other in pairs, explaining with examples of their behaviour. When they’re ready, write up on the board the antonyms of the 15 adjectives

you gave the students at the beginning of the lesson. Ask them whether they can remember or guess what the original adjectives were. (Chaz Pugliese)

Personality adjectives: ASTROLOGY: Hand out each student Worksheet 1 and ask them to put a tick next to the astrological (horoscope) sign due to their date of birth.

Aries (Mar.21-Apr.20) Leo (July 23-Aug.23) Sagittarius(Nov.23-Dec.21)

Taurus (Apr.21-May 21) Virgo (Aug.24-Sept.22) Capricorn (Dec.22- Jan.20)

Gemini (May 22-June 21)

Libra (Sept.23-Oct 23) Aquarius (Jan.21-Feb.19)

Cancer (June 22-July 22)

Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov.22)

Pisces (Feb.19-March 20)

Give each student Worksheet 2 with the adjective list on it. Ask students to choose 5-7 adjectives from Worksheet 2 that would best describe their character. Let them know that for the unknown words they can either look up in the dictionary or ask you for help.

Bossy Creative Energetic Imaginative Jealous

Compassionate Dependable Ambitious Pessimistic Eloquent

Diplomatic Idealistic Careless Creative Sincere

Moody Passionate Secretive industrious Critical

Reserved Inconsistent Easy-going Unpredictable Courageous

Intolerant Tactless Sympathetic Stubborn Extroverted

Loyal Trustworthy Patient Modest Curious

Gullible Lively Indecisive Impulsive Pompous

Versatile Optimistic Perfectionist Shy Restless

Selfish Possessive Energetic Tolerant Cautious

Hand out Worksheet 3 and ask students to compare their own suppositions with the original one.

Aries (Mar.21-Apr.20)BossyCarelessCourageousExtrovertedImpulsiveOptimisticSelfish

Leo (July 23-Aug.23)BossyCreativeGenerousIntolerantLoyalOptimisticPompous

Sagittarius(Nov.23-Dec.21)EnergeticOptimisticSincereTactlessTrustworthyVersatile

Taurus (Apr.21-May 21)DependableIndustriousLoyalPatientPersistentPossessiveTolerant

Virgo (Aug.24-Sept.22)AmbitiousCriticalDependableEnergeticModestPerfectionistShy

Capricorn (Dec.22- Jan.20)AmbitiousCautiousDependableDisciplinedPatientPersistentPessimisticReserved

Gemini (May 22-June 21)CreativeEloquentInconsistentCuriousLivelyRestlessVersatile

Libra(Sept.23-Oct 23)DiplomaticEasy-goingGullibleIndecisiveSociable

Aquarius(Jan.21-Feb.19)CreativeCuriousIdealisticIndividualisticLoyalSociableUnpredictable

Cancer(June 22-July 22)CautiousImaginativeLoyalMoodySociableSympathetic

Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov.22)DeterminedDisciplinedJealousPassionateReservedStubborn

Pisces (Feb.19-March 20)CompassionateImaginativeInconsistentSecretiveTolerant

At the end ask the students to stand up and go through to find a pair due to their signs and talk about their character adjectives. (Hajiyeva Komul)

Personality adjectives: LEARNERS BECOME DICTIONARIES!: Photocopy definitions and example sentences of the words you wish to work on in the lesson. Display the following definition and example sentence on the OHP or write it on the board. considerate. Someone who is considerate pays attention to the needs, wishes and needs of other people. I think he's the most charming, most considerate man I've ever known. (Taken from Collins Cobuild English dictionary). Draw the students' attention to the style of the language used in the definition and example sentence. Put the following words on the board: loyal, honest, sensitive, reliable and generous. Divide the

class into groups of four and to create definitions and example of the above words. Remind them to use the style used in your earlier example. Give them a sheet of A3 paper and tell them their definitions clearly and in large writing. Collect their A3 sheets and put them up for display. Ask the students to look at the sheets, comparing for similarities and differences. Encourage them to make any necessary self and peer corrections. Offer any necessary help. Hand out the photocopies you made from the dictionary and ask them to compare them with their own work. Do they think their own definitions and example sentences are in some ways better than those given in the dictionary? (Simon Marshall)

Pictures: THE OPPOSITE: You need as many pictures as students in the class. They pick up a picture but mustn’t show it to their partner. They describe the opposite of what their picture depicts. However, their partner should draw the opposite of what he/she is being told. So, the final drawing should be similar to the picture. Then, students change roles. Allowing them to choose the picture creates an emotional link. They feel more engaged. (Chaz Pugliese)

Pictures: YOUR CHOICE: In pairs, students select a picture from a wide range. They individually answer the following questions: 1. What colours can you see? 2. What objects can you see? 3. What’s going on in the picture? 4. Does anything you notice in the picture remind you of your life? 5. What ideas/emotions are expressed in the picture? 6. How do you think the artist felt when he/she painted this? 7. How does this painting reflect Western culture? 8. If this work of art was a piece of music, what would it sound like? 9. The title of this painting is ____________. Is this your title? Then, they share their answers with a partner. (Chaz Pugliese)

Pictures: PICTURES IN PAIRS: In pairs, students pick up 5 pictures. After that, they need to answer 4 questions together. Why did you choose those pictures? What similarities / differences do you notice between these pictures? How are these pictures meaningful to each one of you? What is the embedded message in each single picture? Cooperative learning and speaking are practised here. (Chaz Pugliese)

Pictures: MATCHING PICTURES: This is a quiet, relaxing activity to get the students ready for English. You will need one picture per student present in the class. You will also need to cut out descriptions of the pictures and put them up on the walls. Before the lesson starts, take as many descriptions of pictures as the number of students you have, and put them up on the walls of the classroom. When the students come in, give them a picture and tell them that you would like them to find the description that matches that picture. When they are ready, invite them to share their picture with their nearest neighbour, and tell each other what they liked about it. This activity is non-threatening and helps students to tune into the lesson. (Chaz Pugliese)

Pictures: THE DESCRIBE-IN-THE-ROUND GAME: Invite the students to sit in a circle and give a picture to one of them. Ask that person to make a simple sentence describing the picture – “There’s a woman,” for example. The picture is then passed on to the next person, who repeats the sentence and adds to it – “There’s a woman and she’s sitting on a camel.” Continue round the circle, with the learners either adding to the original sentence or adding new ones, until somebody forgets something. Although this is quite challenging at lower levels, the person speaking has the picture and this acts as a prompt. (Michael Berman)

Plurals: JUMP: Using a text students have already seen, the teacher reads the text and the students jump once for every noun in singular and twice for every noun in plural. As a more challenging alternative, students could jump once for every pronoun in singular form and twice for every pronoun in plural form. (Chaz Pugliese)

Poetry: LOVE IS: Students can suggest an alternative title. Students can also be asked to read the poem in groups rapping it. Then, the whole class can vote for the best group. Students can also replace the bold words into synonyms. Students can also be asked to write another stanza. Finally, students could be asked to choose verbs in the poem and mime them. (Linda Yael)

Prepositions: PREPOSITIONS GAME: Prepare a text that contains prepositions. Take out the propositions and print them on a separate sheet, then cut this sheet so that each preposition is on a piece of paper, then put all of them in an envelope . Divide the class into groups and give each group an envelope. Tell the students that you are going to read a text and whenever you raise your hand they should bring a suitable preposition and put it on your desk and that the fastest team would get points. Read the text with each groups' order and cancel a point for each mistake. Finally read the text with correct prepositions. (Judith Feher)

Prepositions: FIVE POSSESSIONS: Go over prepositions of place with the class. Invite the students to think of five possessions they cherish, and to make a list. Ask them to talk briefly about their items on their list in pairs. Then, ask them to think about where the items are in their house. Tell them to draw a map of their house and explain to a partner where everything is. Have the students exchange roles and, when they run out of things to say, bring the class back together. (Chaz Pugliese)

Prepositions: MAPPING THE CLASSROOM: Make sure you have a few maps available for this activity (a subway map, an oceanic map, a demographic map, etc). Show a map to the class. Tell the students that to understand the map they need to be able to understand the keys. Draw the shape of the classroom on the board, or ask a student to do it for you. List all the things they would like to include on the map. Now have the students make keys by choosing symbols to represent each of the thing on the list. Ask them to come to the board and place the symbols on the map – drawing a square where they think the desks should go, etc. When everything is on the map, ask someone to read the map by asking questions, e.g. Where does Maria sit? Where’s the teacher’s desk? (Chaz Pugliese)

Present Continuous: WHAT AM I DOING?: Give one student a card with a Present Continuous action on. This student mimes the action and the others need to guess it. (Laura Moré)

Present Continuous: PRESENT CONTINUOUS VIDEOS: You'll need a video. The students will need a piece of paper and a pen. Arrange students in two rows and sit them back to back so that the video can be seen by one row (watchers) but not by the other (writers). Explain to the watchers that they are to describe the action taking place on the screen using the present continuous. They can also describe clothing, people, anything really but try to keep the focus on the action. The writers have to listen carefully to the watcher sitting behind them and write down as much information as they can. Keep this going for about five or ten minutes then get them to swap chairs and play a different

sketch/segment for the new row of watchers. Put the students into two groups according to row. They must now pool their notes and create their own version of events. Then, they should share their stories with the other group and then, at the end, let them watch both segments again and compare their version with what actually happened. (Judith Feher)

Present Continuous: WHAT’S HAPPENING?: Before the class, find an image of a street scene with lots of activity going on. Display the photograph on the board and ask your students to describe what is happening. (Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones in 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards)

Present Perfect: TRUTH OR LIE?: Based on a group of three (it can be done in pairs, or fours if you write some more questions), each student has a piece of paper with five questions on it (see below) and takes it in turns to ask the person on their left one of their questions. The student answering the question must answer 'Yes I have.' regardless of the truth. The student who asked the question can then ask as many further questions as he likes in order to help him decide whether the truth is being told or not. Obviously, sometimes they'll be telling the truth. The third student can also join in with questions, thereby 'ganging up' on student B. Listen how students fabricate stories in an attempt to avoid questions! When the first student feels he's heard enough he says 'No further questions' and writes 'True' or 'False' next to the question. The game then carries on (student B asks a question to student C and so on) When all the questions have been asked the papers are passed to the left for marking i.e. the truth is revealed. The highest score out of five wins. Here are the questions. You can use different ones, obviously.

Have you ever… spoken to a famous person? danced on a table in a public place? been trapped in a lift? taken an illegal drug? sung karaoke?

Have you ever… appeared on television? left a bar or restaurant without paying? written graffiti on a wall? appeared in a photograph in a newspaper? chased a criminal?

Have you ever… done a very dangerous sport? won a medal or trophy? missed a flight? stayed in a five-star hotel? swum naked in the sea?

A typical exchange might be something like: - Have you ever swum naked in the sea?

- Yes I have. - Where did you do it? - Erm. On holiday in Majorca. - Who were you with? - Some friends. - What were their names? - Erm...etc.

Present Simple: DAILY ROUTINES: Students record their daily routine at home using a camcorder or their mobile phone. What they have to do is record it and explain it using present simple and adverbs of frequency. Once they have recorded it, they upload their videos on the blog. (Laura Moré based on a video found in Youtube)

Present Simple: SPIDERMAN: Students listen to the song and, then, they complete it using some words they have inside some bubbles. Students need to use the Present Simple. Students read the biodata of the author of the song. After that, students complete Spiderman’s picture with the body parts in a box. A third activity, students need to think of their favourite superhero. Once they have chosen one, they write about him/her using the same structure in the song. For homework, students need to write their superhero’s daily routine. (photocopy) (Josep Súller)

Present Simple: ME TOO! Pre-teach the vocabulary in the worksheet. Give each student a copy of the worksheet. Students work individually and make sentences about themselves in the first column on the worksheet. Students, then, work in pairs and, on a separate piece of paper, write down the questions that correspond to the sentences on their worksheet. Students must write questions for “you” in the Present Simple, and each one must begin with a question word. For example, for the first sentence on the worksheet students should write: What time/when do you usually get up on Sundays? Do the first two as examples with the whole class before they start. Students then move around the room asking questions. When they find someone who has the same answer as them, they say Me too and write the other students’ name in the second on the worksheet. Students cannot look at each other’s worksheets. Encourage them to talk to as many different people as possible and to ask follow-up questions where appropriate. Students discuss their findings in small groups or with the whole class.

1. I usually get up at ______________ on Sundays. 2. I go to the cinema once/twice/ __________________ times a week /month.3. My favourite food is _________________. 4. My journey home from school takes _____________ minutes. 5. At the weekend I usually _______________. 6. I want to learn English because_______________. 7. I’ve got ________ cousins. 8. I like action films/thrillers/comedies/romantic/horror/science-fiction films.9. My favourite actor is _______________. 10. I usually go to bed at __________ during the week. 11. I like winter/spring/summer/autumn the most. 12. I go shopping for new clothes once/twice/______ times a week/month/year.

(700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Present Simple: DAILY ROUTINE TIME-LINE: Create a time line with a number of appropriate times and activities for your typical day. Show the timeline without the

activities to the students and ask them to discuss in pairs what they think you do at each time. Ask students to use the language to write about their own daily routines. (Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones in 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards).

Promoting good environment: GOSSIPING: In groups of 3, students A and B gossip positively about student C and C listens to their comments without saying anything. Then, they change roles. At the end of the activity, students comment on the things they heard. (Chaz Pugliese)

Pronunciation: MINIMAL PAIRS BATTLE SHIP: 4 minimal pairs across. 4 minimal pairs down. There is a word in each square. Students have to think of a sentence and, then, dictate the words belonging to the minimal pair. (Not the words in the square). The other students, who also have the grid, need to write down the sentence. (Judith Feher)

Pronunciation: FOUR-SIDED DOMINOES: Give cards to everyone in the group. They must place the cards on the table. The words in the sides that are next to each other must contain the same vowel sound. You score 1 point for placing a card correctly, 1 point for saying which vowel sound is the same in the words that are touching, 0 points for placing a card incorrectly. You must then take your card black and miss a turn. The player with most points is the winner. (photocopy) (Judith Feher)

Pronunciation: CHINESE WHISPERS: Write a sentence on a card in large readable letters, a tongue-twister perhaps, then place it face downwards on your table. Whisper the utterance once only to the person next to you, who then repeats the process with his/her neighbour. Work round the circle until you come to the last person who says the utterance aloud to the group. This can then be compared with the original version on the card. (Michael Berman)

Proverbs: LIST OF PROVERBS: Ask students if they know what a proverb is. Explain to them that a proverb is a short expression that describes a common truth or wisdom. You may need to illustrate the point by giving an example of a very common English proverb such as actions speak louder than words or first things first. Discuss what these proverbs mean and ask the students if they can think of any proverbs in their own language which express similar ideas. Divide the class up into groups of four to six students. Hand out the list of 40 common proverbs to each group.LIST OF PROVERBSA bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. A chain is as strong as its weakest link. A fool and his money are soon parted. A man’s home is his castle. Actions speak louder than words. All roads lead to Rome. All that glitters is not gold. All’s well that ends well. Beauty is only skin-deep. Better safe than sorry. Birds of a feather flock together. Curiosity killed the cat.

Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Every dog has his day. Fight fire with fire. Great minds think alike. Ignorance is bliss. It is no use crying over spilt water. Let sleeping dogs lie. Live and let live. Look after number one. Love is blind. Money is the root of all evil. Necessity is the moment of invention. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Out of sight, out of mind. Practise what you preach. Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Still waters run deep. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Time cures all things Too many cooks spoil the broth. Two heads are better than one. Two is company, three is a crowd. Walls have ears. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. You can’t take it with you when you die. You can’t tell a book by its cover. Divide the proverbs up between each group and ask the students to work out what they mean. Give the groups 15 minutes to discuss. Bring the class together and go over the students’ answers. If nobody understands a proverb, explain it to the class. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Punctuation: PERCUSSION PUNCTUATION: Form groups of as many + one students as there are punctuation marks in the text. One reads out a text. The others represent one punctuation mark. They also invent a sound they make for each punctuation mark and a movement to go with it. The reader pauses for the punctuation marks, which students put in by giving out the sound and making a movement. Groups then get the text without the punctuation marks, which they need to put in. (Judith Feher)

Questions: YAHOO ANSWERS: http://answers.yahoo.com (Judith Feher)

Questions: ONION RINGS: The group is split into two halves. The first half forms a circle facing outside. The other group can face them. Then, the teacher shows a topic and they talk about it. When the teacher raises her hand, the people in the outer circle move to the left and start talking about a different topic. (Activity taken from the course Methodology for Secondary Teachers)

Questions: MY HERO: Students are given a piece of paper with the name of a famous person on it, e.g. Mahatma Gandhi, James Bond, Nelson Mandela, Superman, Robin Hood, Bob Marley, Princess Diana, Che Guevara, Neil Amstrong, Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln, Leonardo da Vinci, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther King, etc. and some information about that person. Each student has to stand in front of the class and answer the other students’ questions. They can only answer “yes” or “no”. The others have to try to guess who they are. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Questions: WHO AM I?: Write the names of famous people (mixed nationalities) on small pieces of paper. Tape a name on the forehead of each student. The individual student should not see his or her paper, but the others should. Then, like with 20 questions, only yes or no questions should be asked. Perhaps start with yourself and ask "Am I am man?" If the answer is yes, I can ask again, but if the answer is no, it's the next person's turn. Play until everyone has guessed who he or she is! This can be played with nationalities, countries, household objects, etc. (Judith Feher)

Questions: I AM GOOD AT: Ask someone to write what he/she is good at. In pairs, somebody else circles one of the activities and asks the following questions: 1. How do you know you do it so well? 2. Whose feedback do you need? 3. Who /What can stop you from doing it? What would happen if you couldn’t do this anymore? 4. What special skills are required? 5. What advice would you give a beginner? By giving students the questions, we are giving them a chance to rehearse what they’ll say. (Chaz Pugliese)

Questions: TAKING DECISIONS: Pick up 20 questions related to the topic of making decisions. Students write down three decisions they’ve taken in their life and, then, arrange themselves in pairs. From the three decisions they have chosen, students should point at one they would like to be asked about. Their partner chooses 5 questions from the list and asks them to him/her. (Chaz Pugliese)

Questions: TWENTY QUESTIONS: Students need to ask a maximum of 20 yes-no questions to a famous person. (Laura Moré)

Questions: GROUP BUILDING: Divide your class into groups of 8-10 students. Within the groups ask them to split into two sub-groups, A and B, facing each other. Tell sub-group A that they are to ask sub-group B a question. Each student from sub-group A may only supply one word. Each student supplies her word spontaneously- the students do not "plan" the sentence. Sub-group B now answers their question in the same spontaneous way. Get all the groups playing their question and answer. (Silvia Stephan)

Reading: SPLIT THE TEXT: Divide a text in two. Students are arranged in pairs. Student A reads one part of the text and Student B reads the other. After reading, they write a short summary for their partner. Together with the summary, they should write a couple of questions their partner should answer. (Chaz Pugliese)

Reading: TEXT MADE SIMPLE: Find a rather challenging article or a passage from the coursebook and photocopy it for everyone. Hand out your text to the students and ask them to work in small groups. Explain that you want to use this same text with a

pre-intermediate class, but that it would be too difficult for them to understand. Ask the students to re-write the text replacing what they consider difficult language with language they think would be understood by pre-intermediate students. Tell them that they can change anything but that the meaning is to remain intact. Allow time for this, then, ask the students to post their new texts on the walls and invite everyone to take a look. Bring the class back together and invite the students to participate in a discussion: What did they find most difficult to change? What areas did they think lower-level students would have most difficulties with? (Chaz Pugliese)

Realia: BUS TICKETS, SHOPPING RECEIPTS, ETC.: After a trip, you can bring some of these to your classes. Students should, then, gain as much information as possible (in pairs) from the tickets, in particular all the numbers (e. g. dates, times, sums of money, VAT, discounts, method of payment, seat number, length of performance, postcode). They should then look at the words more closely, clarify unknown vocabulary (their curiosity will make them feel interested even in phrases like “cash tendered”); how is the address written, are there any abbreviations and what could they mean? would this kind of information be on your receipt at home (e.g. Marks & Spencer have their e-mail address on their receipts which is not common in all German department stores yet)? And then comes the nicest part: Pool the information, i.e. have the groups get together and decide what kind of holiday their teacher had: Did he/she go out at lot? What kind of activities did he/she pursue and what did he/she buy (food/souvenirs/books)? Maybe you can even work out an itinerary, going by the train and bus tickets. Students will then ask the teacher yes/no questions to find out if they were right. And if they are interested in one of the places you went to or attractions you saw, why not have them find out more on the Internet? (Anette Kurz)

Revision: VOCABULARY: Write some words on the board. They can come from a reading done in the previous lesson. Around 20 or 30. Split the class in two groups. One person from group A sits back against the wall. The rest of the group describes the words and the person who is sitting should guess the words. The other group times group A. Groups change roles. It is a chance to revise vocabulary. Words can be added or erased by the teacher at any time. (Marina Marinova)

Revision: ALL AROUND THE WORD: Make a list of words you’d like to re-teach the students from texts you have studied and prepare copies. Also think about the information you are going to provide for each word on your list. You may need dictionaries. Hand out your list of vocabulary items. Deal with the words one by one, but it a different order from the one in the list. For example, if you start with the word care, read out the following information: this word is often part of an idiom, collocates strongly with take, is often followed by the preposition of and can be used in all contexts. Ask the students to look at the list of words and guess what the key item is. Carry on with the other items on the list. (Chaz Pugliese)

Revision: REVISING VOCABULARY: You will need a handout with words encountered in previous lessons. The words are randomly organised. In the first part of the lesson (15 minutes), the students are divided into groups and given handouts with words from previous lessons. They are asked to imagine that the handouts are their own notes. In their group they have to devise and discuss ways of re-organising these notes so that their revision is easier and more efficient. In the second part of the lesson (15

minutes), the groups are re-organised so that each student works with new peers (i.e. each new group is made up of members from each of the other groups); each student explains the method(s) thought of in the first group (activation of interpersonal intelligence). In the third part of the lesson (10 minutes), individual students are given a feedback form and asked to assess the different techniques by thinking about advantages and disadvantages for their own personal learning (activation of intrapersonal intelligence). The form contains questions based on the methods which the different groups have devised. In the last part of the lesson (10 minutes), there is class discussion with the aim of raising the students’ awareness of their own and other people’s learning style(s), increasing sensitivity towards differences between individuals (thus indirectly encouraging tolerance), and exploiting these differences. (Anila R. Scott-Monkhouse and Hyo-jeong Hur)

Science: QUEST FOR THE REST: Web quest to practise vocabulary related to science. www.questfortherest.com (Activity taken from the course Methodology for Secondary Teachers)

Sentences: SENTENCE PICTIONARY: Instead of drawing, describe words. They can speak and mime. www.dltk-cards.com/award (Activity taken from the course English for Secondary Teachers)

Sentences: SENTENCE BUILDING: We need cards with the letters of the alphabet on them. Show the students the cards with the letters on them. Put them in a stack and mix them like a deck of playing cards. Ask three students to come up and choose two cards each. Write the letters on their cards on the board. Divide the students up into small groups or pairs. Explain to the students that you want them to write sentences using words that begin with the letters on the board. Explain they can also use other words in their sentences, but all six letters on the cards must be represented. Move among the groups and give help where necessary. Have each pair of students write their sentences on the board. The rest of the class looks for errors in grammar, spelling and so on. If the sentences have errors, ask the writers to try and correct them themselves. If they cannot, invite another student to come to the board and make corrections. Make sure that all the sentences are logical. If the students think a sentence makes no sense, they can challenge the writers to explain what it means. (Judith Feher)

Songs: WORDS: Students are asked to write as many words as they understand. This is a good activity to be used in mixed-ability classes. Some students will write more words than others. (Ana María Casanova)

Songs: ORDER: Students are asked to put the sentences in the song in order. (Judith Feher)

Songs: PROJECT: Students think of their favourite English-language song. They bring it to the next lesson and they have to prepare some questions about the lyrics to test the class. (Ana María Casanova)

Songs: WORD GRAB WITH SONGS: Choose a song that the students have or have not heard before. Choose 10-15 pieces of vocabulary from the song and write them on separate pieces of paper. Stick each word to the board with putty (blue tack). Put the students into 2 teams each one in a line before the board. Play the song. When the 2

students at the front of their line hear a word in the song that is on the board they must race each other to grab that word from the board (this can get quite violent!). They then go to the back of the line and it's up to the next pair. The team with the most words wins. (Josep Súller)

Songs: ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE: First, select some pictures related to poverty in the world and display them on the screen. Ask students to make guesses about the topic of the unit. Second, write around 15 words on the board. These words should all come from the song. Ask students to invent a story using those words. They work in small groups. Third, give the students a gapped version of the lyrics. They should use the words on the board to complete the song. Fourth, students listen to the song and check whether their guesses were right or not. Fifth, in groups, students should write a letter to the man mentioned in the song. (Laura Moré)

Speaking: COLOURED PAPER: Lay a good selection of different coloured paper out on the floor or on a big table in the middle of the classroom so that all the colours are visible to the class. Call out a subject, e.g. clothes, food, a place I like, a holiday decoration in my house, a season, an animal, music, a person, a dream, etc. Everyone takes a colour that corresponds to something to that subject. Give students 1 to 2 minutes to talk to each other about the subject then ask students to put the coloured paper back. (Judith Feher)

Speaking: MINI PRESENTATIONS: Students have one minute to talk about the topic the teacher gives them. They must not hesitate, repeat words or deviate from the topic. If they do, another student can challenge them and take over the topic. Whoever is talking at the end of the minute gets a point, e.g. pets, music, parties, TV, bears, wine, cars, grammar, London, clothes, computers, pasta, school, the teacher, James Bond, the weather, radio, America, etc. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Speaking: TWENTY-SECOND TOPICS: Students work in small groups. They take turns to talk about the topic they are given without stopping, e.g. my room, fun, my friends, this room, danger, cornflakes, rubbish, oranges, snow, holidays, money, animals, sport, furniture, coffee, astrology, the Queen, soap, etc. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Speaking: PODCASTING: Ask students the following questions: What is a podcast? What kinds of podcasts are there? List three benefits of listening to podcasts. Before students answer these questions, play a few podcasts from the following webs http://www.podcastsinenglis.com and http:///www.eslpod.com/website. Display the questions and ask students to work in small groups. After a few minutes, ask one group to answer question number one. See if the other students approve, or wish to add or refine the answer in any way. Move through the other questions in the same way. As a follow up activity, ask students to choose a podcast, listen to it and, then, summarise the content to the rest of the class. As an assignment, students could be asked to create and post their own podcast using http://www.clickcaster.com. Students can choose the topic of the podcast or you can ask them to speak about a topic in particular. (Laura Moré based on Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones’ 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards

Spelling: CHAIN SPELLING: The teacher gives a word and asks a student to spell it, and then a second student should say a word beginning with the last letter of the word given. The game continues until someone makes a mistake, that is, to pronounce the word incorrectly, misspell it or come up with a word that has been said already, then he/she is out. The last one remaining in the game is the winner. This game can be made difficult by limiting the words to a certain category, e.g.. food, tools, or nouns, verbs, etc. (Judith Feher)

Sports: HYBRID SPORTS: Brainstorm different kinds of sports with the class. Write a lot of examples on the board. Now ask the class to try to define classifications for these sports, for example, ball sports, water sports and so on. Split the class into groups. Tell them they are going to create a new kind of sport by combining elements of two or three different sports. Now have the groups discuss which sports could be combined and consider how a new kind of game might work. Have the groups give their new sport a name and then present it to the other students. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Stories: STORY WRITING: Groups get some word cards and they write a story. It’s a good way to practise vocabulary they have previously seen. (Judith Feher)

Stories: PLANNING A STORY: Students are arranged in small groups. They make notes on the location, character and first scene for the following types of story, e.g. romance, horror, adventure, fairy tale, etc. Students choose their favourite story and agree how the story develops and ends. They have to write the story together. (this activity can also be done with film types, e.g. western, disaster, historical, gangster story, love story, war, detective, family saga, sci-fi, etc.). (Laura Moré)

Stories: STORYBIRD: www.storybird.com Arrange the class in groups of three or four. Ask students to sign up on the web www.storybird.com and to write a story and select some pictures. When they have finished writing the story, they can see it published as a book and can send it to other people. (Laura Moré)

Stories: COLOUR STORIES: We need flashcards with colours on them. Randomly ask students for their favourite colour. Ask students why they like that colour. Explain that colours have a large influence on how we feel. People relate colours to moods. Show the students cards with different colours on them. Ask the students to choose a colour. Explain you want them to think about how this colour makes them feel. Ask the students if they can think of a situation that goes with that particular colour. Ask a few students to share their ideas. Explain that you would like the students to write a story based on the colour they have chosen. Depending on the available class time, they can write the stories either in class or for homework. Ask the students to read their stories to the rest of the class. Ask other students if they feel that the story is the colour they presented. (Judith Feher)

Stories: WAS THIS IN THE STORY?: Select a text in the coursebook that you would like students to recycle. Any text will do, but a story would work best. Tell the students you are going to re-tell the story but that you are going to say some things differently. Ask them to listen carefully and make notes under the following headings: Things left out, Things added and Things that seem different. Put the students into pairs

to compare their notes. Finally, the groups compare against the original. (Chaz Pugliese)

Stories: FIRST AND LAST LINE: Ask each student to write the first line of a story on the top of a sheet of paper, and then add a last line at the bottom. Collect all the papers, then give them to new students who must write out the story, using the beginning and ending provided. (Hall Houston)

Superlatives: THE BEST 15 MINUTES: There’s no preparation for this activity. However, you might want to think of the best 15 minutes of your day to tell the students. Ask the students to close their eyes and think about the best 15 minutes of their day so far. Invite them to take time to think about: who they were with, what time of the day it was, the smells, the sounds, the voices around them, etc. Ask them if they can put finger on what exactly was so special these 15 minutes. Now ask them to think about the following: what would have made the experience even better? When the students are ready, invite them to share their experiences with a partner. Finally, ask them to change partners and compare their thoughts. The same activity can be done more than once, using different adjectives (most productive, funniest, most relaxing, most boring, happiest, most tiring, etc). (Chaz Pugliese)

Superlatives: SATOSCARS: Students are given a piece of paper with the name of 10 classmates. They are asked to think of the good qualities their classmates have and write a sentence containing a superlative form. After everybody has finished completing the list, all the sentences are gathered and the teacher prepares an Oscar ceremony in which all the students get a prize for the most….. Before the ceremony, the nominees are announced and published on the web. On the day of the ceremony, each student presents a different award saying and the Satoscars to the most ……. award goes to….. Students receive a symbolic prize. (Laura Moré)

Television: TV FAVOURITES: Ask the students to think of their favourite TV series. Tell them to make a list of what they know about the series. For example: the main characters, their names, what their role in the series is, etc. Ask them to share in pairs. Invite the students to write down five things they’ve always wanted to know about the series. Allow time for this and, when they’re ready, ask them to stand, mingle and try to find someone who might have the answer to their questions. If nobody seems to know the answers, ask the students to scour the web for the information for homework. Bring the class together and lead a discussion around the following questions: Who managed to find all the answers? Did the same series get mentioned more than once? What makes a successful series? (Chaz Pugliese)

Verb Tenses: ANYBODY WHO…: Students are arranged in a big circle. One person says “anyone who…….change places” . (Marina Marinova)

Verb Tenses: MAKE A MOVE: Students stand up and arrange themselves in pairs. A describes something and B moves to one side when he/she hears a word, for example, related to present (adverb or verb tense). This can be done to practise tenses. (Chaz Pugliese)

Verb Tenses: LOGIC PUZZLES: Solving the following logic puzzles depends on understanding the meanings of verb tenses. The focus is especially on the perfect tenses.

The book is 240 pages long and I am half way through. I read twenty pages a day. How long have I been reading? Answer: 6 days

I have been reading a book for 3 days. On Monday I read 6 pages, on Tuesday, 14 pages, on Wednesday, 25 pages. I am half way through the book and I am planning to finish the book tomorrow because I have to give it back. How many pages will I read tomorrow? How many pages will I have read in total? Answers: 45, 90

I finished a 250 page book last night. Yesterday I read 100 pages because it became very exciting. Before then, I had been reading the book rather slowly for ten days. How many pages had I read every day, on average, during that time? Answer: 15

For a follow up, ask the students to write their own simple puzzles for each other. (Simon Mumford)

Video clips: VIEWING: One group views the video clip and the other simply listens to it. The one that listens to it has to imagine the video. Then, he/she compares it with the viewer. (Activity taken from the course Methodology for Secondary Teachers)

Vocabulary: MAP DICTATION: Students draw a map of their country or city. The teacher dictates words and expressions. Students write the dictated items in the map if they have it/if it is true about their country/city. If not, they write the item outside the map. Students add items they think are important. Students mingle and compare. You can also draw an outline of other topics (e.g. house, farm, etc). You can dictate rooms, furniture, adjectives, etc. You can also draw a suitcase and dictate things they take with them when they travel. (Judith Feher)

Vocabulary: BLIND IGNORANCE: Students get a word card on their backs or forehead. They mingle and get information from their peers and guess the word. It’s a good activity to be used in reduced classes. (Judith Feher)

Vocabulary: THE 24-HOUR RULE: Your memory for new words will be dramatically improved if you repeat your learning after 24 hours. http://owad.de (Judith Feher)

Vocabulary: ENIGMA: Here is a five-letter word. (Write five blanks on the board). The teacher will write an X for every letter in the word that’s the same as the one the teacher has in mind and in the right place. The teacher will write an O for every letter in the word that’s the same as the one the teacher has in mind but in the wrong place. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Vocabulary: DRAWINGS: This is a vocabulary exercise. One student comes out to the board and is given a piece of paper with a word on it. The student has to draw it but stop after each line. The other students have to guess what the word is after the student at the board has drawn each line. (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Weather: BACK DRAWING: Model for the class how to draw the weather forecast on someone’s back. Ask students to work in pairs with one person standing in front of the other, and create their own weather forecast using their backs as drawing boards.

Possible movementsA shower Gentle pressure of the fingers on the backRain Increase the pressure and the intensity slightlyA downpour Move the fingertips over the back rapidly and more intenselyWind Flatten both hands and move them back and forth across the back.

Use the voice making the sound of wind blowing.Tornado Put both hands together and move them in a circular motion around

the back.Thunder Make fists with the two hands and gently beat them against the back.Lightening Take the forefinger of one hand and make a large zigzag down the

centre of the back.Snow With the tips of the fingers very lightly press on the back.Fog Spread both hands and cover the back.(700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour & Maria Popova)

Web page: ADVERTS: http://www.funnyville.com/funnycommercials.htmlhttp://www.funny-games.biz/videos/commercial-videos.htmlhttp://giesbers.net/video(Josep Súller)

Web page: BIOGRAPHIES: http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk (Josep Súller)

Web page: BLOGS: http://www.classblogmeister.com You can have one blog for you and many for your students. Moreover you can revise your students’ text before being published. (Cristina Arnau)

Web page: BLOGS: http://quercusinadigitalworld.blogspot.com.es 4th ESO blog (Máster de Formació de Professorat)

Web page: CLIL: http://www.onestopclil.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CLIL: http://phobos.xtec.cat/cirel/cirel (APAC)

Web page: CLIL: http://www.apac.es

Web page: CLIL: http://www.factworld.info (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CLIL: http://www.brainpop.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CLIL: http://www.buildyourwildself.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CLIL: http://elements.wlonk.com/index.htm (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CLIL: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/endangered_animals/endangered_game.htm To practise vocabulary about endangered species.

Web Page: CLIL: http://www.exploratium.edu (Lauro Delgado)

Web Page: CLIL: http://www.teachervision.fen.com/natural-disasters/teacher-resources/48771.html Natural disasters lessons, vocabulary and activities. (Laura Moré)

Web Page: CLIL: http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/pid/1250 Teaching activities about Natural disasters. (Laura Moré)

Web page: CLIL: http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/en/home.html Game to fight against Natural disasters. (Laura Moré)

Web page: CONVERSATION PAGES: http://www.eltpodcast.com http://www.focusenglish.com/dialogues/communication/commindex.htmlhttp://iteslj.org/gameshttp://iteslj.org/questions (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CREATING TEACHING MATERIAL: www.teacherspet.com Web page in which you can make flashcards, bingo cards, crosswords, match sentences, etc. (Methodology for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CREATING TEACHING MATERIAL: http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com To create puzzles. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CREATING TEACHING MATERIAL: http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools You can make worksheets and puzzles. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CREATING TEACHING MATERIAL: http://www.eslhq.com . It contains worksheets and you can create new ones. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CREATING TEACHING MATERIAL: http://www.johnesl.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CREATING TEACHING MATERIAL: www.xtec.cat (Quaderns Virtuals). (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CREATING TEACHING MATERIAL: http://iteslj.org It is updated monthly and it contains articles and research papers for teachers. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: CREATING TEACHING MATERIAL: http://www.puzzlemaker.com (Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones in 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards)

Web page: CREATING TEACHING MATERIAL: http://www.crosswordpuzzlegames.com (Pete Sharma, Barney Barrett and Francis Jones in 400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboards)

Web page: CREATING: http://letterpop.com Use LetterPop to create eye-popping newsletters, actionable presentations, irresistible invitations, beautiful product features,

sizzling event summaries, informative club updates, lovely picture collages, and a whole lot more. (Cristina Arnau)

Web page: DICTATIONS: http://www.fonetiks.org/dictations/ These are graded dictations at 5 levels. First, the whole passage is read at normal speed for you to listen for gist; second, each phrase is read slowly twice, with punctuation, as you write; then the whole passage is read again for you to check your work; finally, the written text is shown for you to count your mistakes. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: DICTIONARY: http://www.pdictionary.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: DICTIONARY: http://www.macmillandictionary.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: DICTIONARY: http://www.m-w.com/ (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: DICTIONARY: http://www.languageguide.org/eng/ (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: DICTIONARY: http://www.visualthesaurus.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: DICTIONARY: http://www.yourdictionary.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: DICTIONARY: http://www.wordreference.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: DICTIONARY: http://www.diccionarios.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: DICTIONARY: http://www.logos.it (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: EXAMS: http://www.onestopenglish.com. There are worksheets and practice for official exams. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: FAMILY TREE: http://www.myheritage.es You create your family tree easily. (Cristina Arnau)

Web page: FILM SEGMENTS: http://moviesegmentstoassessgrammargoals.blogspot.com/ Great to practise grammar. There are loads of movie segments to practise different grammar points. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: FILM TRAILERS:http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1446_entertainmenthttp://www.lingual.net/lingualproductitemshttp://www.eslpartyland.com/students/nov/movies.htmhttp://home.disney.go.com/movies

http://clipland.com/index_mtd.shtml (Josep Súller)

Web page: FILMS: http://www.dvolver.com/moviemaker/index.html Site to make your own film. You can choose your own characters, plot, music, etc. (Russell Stannard)

Web page: GAMES: http://www.visi.es/competition_games.html (Lauro Delgado)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://clic.xtec.cat/ca/index.htm Learning English is a very suitable package to revise and consolidate basic vocabulary at early stages of ESO and adaptació. Some of the exercises for primary can also be adapted for this level. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://www.edu365.cat/(English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://www.vocabulary.co.il/ (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://www.manythings.org/e/vocabulary.html (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://www.clicknlearn.net/ Click and learn is a very useful page to practise vocabulary and grammar at all levels of ESO. It combines explanations with interactive exercises and games. (Methodology for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/word-games This page from the British Council contains a wealth of activities and games to read, listen and practise your English. The word games and grammar games cover all levels, but most of them are specially suitable for batxillerat or advanced level students. (English for Secondary Teachers)Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/vocabulary (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://www.isabelperez.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://www.esltower.com/vocabulary.htm (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://a4esl.org/ (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://www.manythings.org (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://www.eleaston.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://www.caslt.org/research/esllinks2.htm (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY: http://www.esltower.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: HOLIDAYS: http://www.theholidayspot.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: HOLIDAYS: http://www.edhelper.com You can find worksheets on various topics. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: HOLIDAYS: http://www.blackdog.com (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: HOLIDAYS: http://www.youthonline.ca (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: HOLIDAYS: http://www.glogster.com You can create online posters. (Lauro Delgado)

Web page: INTERVIEWS: http://transcripts.cnn.comhttp://www.hollywood.comhttp://www.world-newspapers.comhttp://www.ukstudentlife.comhttp://youtube.comhttp://www.sonypictures.com/movieshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation (Josep Súller)

Web page: JOKES: http://www.funnylessons.com (Josep Súller)

Web page: LESSONS: http://www.lessonstream.org (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: LESSONS: http://edition.tefl.net/awards/guardian-classroom-materials/ The Guardian website has a special section for English language teachers offering free classroom materials.  Each month a few new lessons are added to the site. Interesting stories from the Guardian are rewritten for low-intermediate learners or used as authentic materials for advanced learners. The lessons include pre-reading activities, comprehension questions, and vocabulary review. Teacher instructions are included. (Alexander Case)

Web page: LISTENING RESOURCES: http://www.englishpage.com/listeninghttp://www.pbs.org/teachersource/ (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: LISTENING RESOURCES: http://www.real-english.com/ Real English uses authentic and natural videos of people speaking real English on streets all over the world. Their English is authentic, more spontaneous than that we find in textbooks and students get used to the real accents spoken by native speakers. The videos are suitable for all level students, and can be easily adapted for those who need adaptació curricular. All of them come with a number of accompanying exercises. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: LISTENING RESOURCES: http://www.esl-lab.com If you want to practise your listening skills, this is the place to go. This website contains a wealth of listening exercises on different topics, classified into 3 levels (easy, medium and difficult) so that the teacher can choose those which suit the students best. Most of them are everyday conversations, but there are also listening exercises for beginner students or for students preparing for international exams. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: LISTENING RESOURCES: http://www.xtec.cat/aulanet/virtualschool/ It is a 3-level project which builds up into an online English school. It is intended for students from 4t ESO to 2n Batxillerat. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: LISTENING RESOURCES: http://www.english-trailers.com/ One of the great advantages that the net offers to English teachers is that we can practically adapt anything to our teaching practice. One such example is English trailers, where you may do a number of listening exercises while you watch film trailers from real Hollywood films. What makes it even more interesting is that the latest releases can be found there. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: LISTENING RESOURCES: http://www.goear.com To listen to free music and share it. (Emile Olano)

Web page: LISTENING RESOURCES: http://www.vozme.com To convert texts into voice. (Cristina Arnau)

Web page: ORAL PRACTICE: http://www.britishcouncil.org/ (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: PICTURES: http://recursostic.educacion.es/bancoimagenes/web (QV)

Web page: PICTURES: http://www.picto.qc.ca (QV)

Web page: PICTURES: http://www.sxc.hu/index.phtml (QV)

Web page: PODCASTS: http://www.podcastsinenglis.com Listen to podcasts and learn English. (Cristina Arnau)

Web page: PODCASTS: http:///www.eslpod.com/website All podcasts are free for language learners and teachers, but only members receive the learning English worksheets, vocabulary tasks, webquests and transcripts. (Cristina Arnau)

Web page: PODCASTS: http://www.clickcaster.com You can create, edit podcast easily. (Cristina Aranu)

Web page: OUR MEDIA: http://www.ourmedia.org You can find, share and create podcasts. (Cristina Arnau)

Web page: PROJECTS: http://www.globalschoolnet.org/index.cfm . It is an organisation which aims to provide educational opportunities that connect US students with students worldwide, so that they may communicate, collaborate and learn from one

another. They have a very easy-to-use database of current projects (click on Projects Registry). (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: PROJECTS: http://www.iearn.org/ The main objective behind all their projects is that teachers and students all across the planet work collaboratively on projects that make a difference in the world. All those projects involve a final “product” or exhibition of the learning that has taken place as part of the collaboration. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: QUOTES: http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: READING: http://www.xtec.es/cirel/02/my_statue/index.htm What a Statue! is a set of material that incorporates ICT into foreign language learning. It is aimed at the 2nd cycle of ESO, although it could easily be adapted for 2nd ESO as well. It gives learners an opportunity to learn about the world around them. The focus is not on the language itself but on the use of the language as a means to widen the cultural and personal background of the learners.The material provides a set of stimulating activities that involve the learners in solving problems. They do quizzes, read, write, talk, and at the end of each stage they must gather some information to prepare for a final activity: the creation of a new statue. This final project must then be presented orally with the support of power Point slides. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: READING: http://www.xtec.net/aulanet/ud/angles/love/index.html In Love with Shakespeare is a didactic unit for Batxillerat. It can be done as a whole or selecting some of the units and doing them on their own. The main objectives here are to develop communicative strategies, both spoken and written, and to get to know some aspects of English culture (basically history and literature), with the aid of ITC. In other words, this is a clear example of Content and Language Integrated Learning - C.L.I.L. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: READING: http://www.xtec.cat/cirel/02/middle_ages/alumne/index.htm This is a Crèdit Variable for 4t ESO in which the students create the characters, settings and plot in order to write a play which they will then perform. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: READING: http://literacyworks.org/ learningresources /index.html It offers a number of texts adapted from the news (CNN, CBS…) together with a variety of interactive activities to test comprehension. Each module includes the full text of each story, the abridged version and the outline. The learner can choose to read the text, listen to the text, and view a short video clip of the story. There's also some follow-up notes and related websites. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: READING: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ As the website says, it contains Ready-to-use EFL / ESL Lesson Plans & Podcast. All the articles come with a lesson plan at two levels (easier and harder). Each contains a warm-up, some before, while and after reading/listening activities, discussion questions, speaking practice and even homework. A great site! (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: READING: http://www.crayon.net/ It lets you create your own newspaper by choosing which sections from which newspapers you want to read. It then presents everything in a webpage. You must register for free and log in. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: SCRIPTS: http://scriptsforschools.com/files/http://www.imsdb.comhttp://transcripts.cnn.com (Josep Súller)

Web page: SOFTWARE: http://flixtime.com/ Online software provider that lets you easily produce high quality, short video pieces from photos, images, video clips and music.

Web page: SONGS: http://www.saberingles.com.ar/songs/index.html (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: SONGS: http://www.lyricstraining.com/ A site to learn the lyrics of songs. (Russell Stannard)

Web page: SPEAKING: http://www.talkenglish.com The aim of this site is to help students gain fluency when speaking English, to learn to speak without thinking about the rules and logic. The idea behind the project is that by listening to model conversations and repeating them, the conversations become part of you, and then they come out naturally. The lessons are varied, and classified under Regular English, Travel English, Useful phrases and idioms, Interview English and Business English. If you register - for free -, you may participate in the different message boards and submit your recordings. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: SPEAKING: http://voicethread.com/ It enables you to select photos or other images and talk about them. Get your students to present a recipe or tell a personal anecdote illustrated by photos. Its also a great way for practising for the Cambridge exams. (Ann Foreman)

Web page: SPEECHES: http://quotations.about.com/od/moviesandtvquote/a/oscars4.htm (Josep Súller)

Web page: SURVEYS: http://www.polldaddy.com With your free account from PollDaddy you can now create surveys and polls for your website, blog and social network profiles. (Cristina Aranu)

Web page: VIDEOS: http://www.telfclips.com . There are lesson plans for videos on Youtube. It is updated weekly. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: VOCABULARY: http://www.learningchocolate.com/ Site to practise vocabulary. (Russell Standard)

Web page: VIDEOS: http://animoto.com It enables you to create a smart video out of photos. Get your students to select photos about a subject that interests them, create a video, then interview each other. (Ann Foreman)

Web page: WIKIS: http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com/ Site to create wikis.

Web page: WRITING: http://www.eduplace.com/tales/ This is an interactive reading / writing game in which the students provide the designated parts of speech to complete a text. The resulting tale is usually nonsensical but fun to read. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web page: WRITING: http://www.toondoo.com A web page to create comics. (Lauro Delgado)

Web page: WRITING: http://www.voki.com A speaking avatar. (Master de Formació de Professorat)

Web page: WRITING: http://www.wallwisher.com An online notice board maker. (Master de Formació de Professorat)

Web quest: HALLOWEEN: Instructions: How much do you know about Halloween? You will use the Internet links below to engage in a Treasure Hunt to find out about this topic. You will use each Resource Link once to answer one question. When you have finished answering all the questions, go to the "Big Question" and synthesize the information together to get a better understanding of the topic. Questions:

1. When is Halloween celebrated?

2. What cultures have influenced the holiday we know as Halloween?

3. When did Halloween start?

4. How did the history of "Trick'O'Treating begin?

5. How do you explain the tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween?

6. Why is pumpkin carving a popular American Halloween celebration?

7. What is the history of the Jack O'Lantern?

8. What percentage of households celebrate Halloween in America?

9. How is Halloween celebrated around the world?

10. Why is Halloween important nowadays?

11. What is Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF?

Resources:

http://www.halloweenmagazine.com/history.htm The date of the celebration

http://www.holidays.net/halloween/story.htm The Story of Halloween

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween Ancient Originshttp://www.holidays.net/halloween/trick.htm Trick'O'Treat!http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween Modern traditions http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween All about pumpkinshttp://www.holidays.net/halloween/pumpkin.htm Jack O'Lanternhttp://www.halloweensurvey.com/ Halloween Survey http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween Halloween around the

worldhttp://www.halloweenmagazine.com/articles/whyb.htm Why save Halloween?http://youth.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/

Big question: How important has the celebration of Halloween been to the British and American communities? (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web quest: COMPILATION: http://www.mrsoshouse.com/ext/internethunts.html over 200 activities offered on a number of topics and at two different levels: elementary or middle/high school. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web quest: COMPILATION: http://www.xtec.es/recursos/webquests/ (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web quest: COMPILATION: http://webquest.org/ (English for Secondary Teachers)

Web quest: WEB QUEST GENERATOR: http://www.aula21.net/cazas/intro.htm. An easy way to create a scavenger hunt, even if you don't know how to make a web page. (English for Secondary Teachers)

Writing: MUSIC: Students are arranged in groups of 3. Play some music. Every 30 seconds stop the music. While the music is played, students write a story that comes to their mind as they hear the music. When the music stops they need to swap papers with their partners. When the music starts again, they need to continue their partners’ story. At the end of the song, students read the whole story. As an extension activity, students could take one of the stories and write it thoroughly. (Chaz Pugliese)

Writing: MUSICAL DIALOGUE: Play a song with two instruments. Students are arranged in pairs. A writes a dialogue from the first instrument’s point of view and B writes the dialogue from the second instrument’s point of view. When the song finishes, all the first instruments get together and all the second instruments get together too. They share ideas with their partners. As an extension, students could write a word on a post-it note. This post-it note word should be inspired by the song. Then, students should try to find a partner who’s written a similar word and write the full dialogue together. (Chaz Pugliese)

Writing: DEAR MUSIC…: Choose some suitable music (something your students are not likely to know) and bring it to class. Play your piece twice in succession. Ask the students to focus on the music, trying to block out distracting thoughts. Then, tell them to keep the music in mind and to write a letter to it. Give out the following instructions: Write a letter to explain how you felt while you were listening to the song. Imagine it is a human being, decide what gender it is, its age and physical characteristics. Give a

name to the music. You can ask questions, or write simple comments. When the students have finished, they share it with a partner and look for similarities and differences. Collect the letters, read some of them aloud and elicit the class’s response. Rather than a letter, the students can write a text, message or email. What is important is their reaction to the music, practising writing and feelings and physical characteristics. (Chaz Pugliese)

Writing: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: You will need to photocopy a few examples from the “letters to the editor” section in a newspaper or magazine for everyone. Ask the students whether they have ever written a letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine. If not, why not? If so, elicit the following information: What prompted them to write? Was their letter published? Have they kept a copy? Ask them if they actually read the letters to the editor in newspapers or magazines. Hand out your letters and ask the students to read them and to consider the following: Why did the people write? To complain? To share? To vent their anger? What was the general mood? What or who made them angry? What or who made them happy? Now pair the students and have them compare their answers to the questions above. Ask them to pick one of the letters and write a concise response (60 words). Finally, invite one or two students to volunteer their letters and read them out for comments. (Chaz Pugliese)

Writing: ME – THE MOVIE: Ask the students, individually, to come up with at least three movies they think everyone should see. Ask them to make a list and write down three adjectives to describe each. Invite them to write next to each movie the reasons why they think it’s a must for people to see. Now have the students explain their choice of movies and words to a partner. Then, tell them a famous director wants to shoot a movie about their life. Ask them to choose the director, the genre, the setting, etc. Explain that their job is to write down on a piece of paper four scenes they would like to be included in the movie, as well as four scenes they would rather leave on the cutting-room floor. When they’ve finished, ask them to cast an actor / actress to play their role. Put the students into groups, and ask them to compare. Finish off with a whole-class discussion on movies. (Chaz Pugliese)

Writing: EMOTIONS: Tell your students to compile as long a list as they can of emotions eg: fear, reverence, anger, joy, jealousy, surprise, alarm, anxiety etc... They should then strike out from the foregoing list all the emotions they do not remember having experienced. After that, ask them to make notes on when and in what circumstances they experienced each of the rest and to what degree they would judge each. ( 3 for the most vivid, then 2 then 1) Ask them what sensory associations they have with each of these emotions? Pictures, sounds, bodily feelings, smells, tastes etc….? They should jot these down. After that, tell them to select those emotions they would like to experience again and tick them. Finally, tell them to choose one of the emotions they felt good experiencing and write three paragraphs about it. (Mario Rinvolucri)

Writing: POLITICAL LETTERS: On a day when your students will probably have seen a lot of TV and newspaper coverage of a major political change, ask them, for homework, to write short letters to one or more of the politicians involved. Examples might include a farewell letter to an outgoing leader and a letter of welcome to an incoming one. Group the students in sixes to read each other's letters and to react to

their contents. Get the students correcting each other's mistakes and go round helping where you are needed. (Mario Rinvolucri)

Writing: APPLICATION LETTERS: Select a few job adverts in the papers. Hang them on the walls and ask your students to walk around the room and choose one advert. Once they have selected a job, they should read it carefully and understand what is required. They should write an application letter to apply for that job in particular. (Laura Moré)