Describing People - A quick ppt show

Here's another PowerPoint show with loads of different types of faces and people for your students to describe. I've put down a few ideas on how you could get more out of it below, but if you just want to get straight to the content, click below.

Portraits http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/portraits.pptx

How to run this lesson
This ppt will work best to help practise vocab and structures used to describe people. You can pretty much use it with any level, higher students will be able to say more and lower students will be able to say something like 'He's got...'

1. Split your students into pairs and explain that the first student is number one and the second number two. Tell them that they are going to have two minutes to describe the face/person to their partner. Depending on how good your students are you might like to have them focus on one special aspect of the person, such as
- What they look like
- What their life history might be
- What their personality migfht be like.

2. Now show the PPT to students. Student 1 will talk about the first picture, then you tell them to 'swap' and the second student will describe the next picture. Repeat this until the end of the slide show.

3. When students have finished you can feedback on the language that you heard students producing (negatively or positively) or scroll back up to some of the more intereting faces and ask individual student to tell you what they think.

Here's the PPT file again : http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/portraits.pptx

The zombie lesson - reading and discussion lesson for Halloween

 

Can't be bothered to read the blog?  I wouldn't bother either, here's the worksheet:  http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/the-zombie-lesson.doc

I quite like zombie films and most of my pre-intermediate and intermediate students do as well. Here is a three part Zombie lesson to get them talking and reading about the most popular undead monster in modern culture.

Pre- reading. - You can dictate these questions or cut them up and ask students to read them together

Reading - You could dictate a few comprehension questions about this or blank out a few of the words to make it a gap fill exercise.

Discussion - ask students in pairs to make their own zombie apocalypse plan outlining what they and their partner would do to survive the zombies. I put a few sentences students could finish but they could write anything. Help them out by giving them some ideas. What would they do if there really was a zombie threat? Would they go to the supermarket to get food, the DIY store to get weapons? Where would they go long term? How would they really survive?

****WARNING**** I wouldn't do this lesson with students who aren't familiar with the Zombie genre, younger students or students who wouldn't like this kind of thing.

Here's the worksheet again http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/the-zombie-lesson.doc

Let me know if this lesson worked or not.

More of the same from: www.englishlanguagespacestation.com

The Royal Wedding ppt - a quick ten minute chat for your intermediate English class.

Can be bothered to read the short post?  - download the Royal Wedding PPT here.   (can you find the puctuation error?)



It's the most important wedding since the last important wedding but, like it or loathe it Prince William's marriage to Kate is big news and it might be a good subject to get your students chatting.

Here's my own royal wedding powerpoint that I've been using with my students. Click here to download the powerpoint.

Royal wedding lessons on the net

Breaking News English has a good Royal Wedding lesson here http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1102/110218-royal_wedding.html

The TES has a few Royal Wedding lessons but you have to be a member http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Royal-Wedding-Procession-Route-6073740/

Some great material for the Royal Wedding here at Michelle Henry http://www.michellehenry.fr/williamkate.htm

Really good lesson plans and a PowerPoint show from Guardian Teaching Resources, discussing, among many things constitutional changes. You must be a member to view these. http://teachers.guardian.co.uk/resources.aspx?q=The%20Royal%20Wedding

Using Board Games with your language students

Playing a board game is fun and requires more than a little bit of language. You have to explain the rules, give advice on how to play, ask for tips, encourage, cheat, discuss and generally chat while you play. All the perfect ingredients for a language activity that might not be good for a full class, but might be great to fill a tutorial hour with a small group or engage an 'English Conversation Club'. Here are my best board games to play with your students

Scrabble
The king of board games where player make words to score points. This has the added bonus of already 'looking like' it will be good for learning English. Get students to play together and allow them to use a dictionary to help them - it's not cheating!
Risk
The world conquest game is legendary. Simple, fierce and easy to learn, it will have your students engaged straight away. Use the goal cards with higher level students to encouarage sneaky tactics.

Monopoly
Complex, iconic and involved. What better way to learn a language than to engage in trade? Encourage students to make deals with each other by buying and selling the properties they have. Also, you must use the 'Free Parking Rule' - this puts lots more cash up for grabs.

Card Games
Pontoon (or twenty one) - Quick game to encourage speculation and guessing. Lots of opportunity for fun and laughs, good for lower level students who need to practise numbers.

Games I wouldn't recommend
Chess - too much thinking and not enough chatting. It's a bit like boxing in that both players just want to crush each other - not good for a friendly language activity.

Poker - again, too much frowning and not enough chatting.

Purely dice games like snakes and ladders or ludo, there's no chance to speak here.

Anyone know any other good board games to play? Or can I hear my voice echoing round an empty virtual hall?

Valentine's Day and Relationships - complete PowerPoint Lesson

Valentine's Day soon...

complete lessons using only PowerPoint slides.

Can't be bothered to read the post? Get the lesson here

http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/powerpoint%20lessons/Relationships.pps

I think this lesson on relationships fits in really nicely with Valentine's Day, especially since the audio features a lady dumping her boyfriend. It's for pre-intermediate learners and should take about an hour. You only need the PowerPoint show above and working speakers to play the audio, students only need a pen and some paper.

Slide 2

Elicit different types of relationship from the class before you show the slide - mother, father etc. Now show the slide, students have to write their own explanation for each word.

Slide 3

Students match the phrasal verbs to the meaning.

Slide 4

Ask and answer the pre-listening questions as a class before listening to the girl dumping her boyfriend. Students answer the gist question.

Slide 5

Now students listen again and answer the more detailed questions

Slide 6

Students ask and answer these questions in pairs or small groups. You can monitor and give feedback at the end.

Here's the PowerPoint lesson again

http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/powerpoint%20lessons/Relationships.pps

You can find more lessons like this at http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/complete_PowerPoint_Lessons.htm

Another Great PowerPoint Lesson - Real speaking situations

Here's an old favourite, a powerpoint lesson that you can show with a projector or on your interactive whiteboard. It focuses on students responding to visual prompts asking them what they would say in cetain situations.

Can't be bothered to read the post - download the lesson here.

Level: A2- B1 / Entry 3 / Pre-intermediate

Time: 30 mins

Technology needed: IAWB or projector to show the show.

How to run the lesson:

1. Before showing the ppt show, write these phrases up on the board. 'Cheers/excuse me/ take care/' and ask students to tell you what they mean and in what situations they would be used. 'Cheers' in modern English means 'thank you' as well as 'to your health' when drinking, 'excuse me' can be used to say sorry, or to express shock or concern at something if said with rising intonation as a questions. 'Take care' is something we say instead of goodbye and is a very nice thing to say.

2. Ask students to number a sheet of paper one to ten. As you show each picture ask students to write down what they think should be the response.

3. When you have done all ten elicit feedback from the students. You might like to look at the suggested answers on slide 11. 

Here's the lesson again -http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/speaking-prompts-suggested-answers-at-the-end.ppt

If you like this kind of lesson, check out the English Language Space Station's complete powerpoint page http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/complete_PowerPoint_Lessons.htm

Instant Lessons - The (Pub) Quiz lesson

Here's another class that needs no preparation or materials to run, just a bit of showmanship and some paper.

1. Explain the idea of the quiz in your country (in my case, the pub quiz in the UK). You might like to borrow my annecdote about my dad, which is half true. 'Every Tuesday night my dad, who's seventy two, goes down to the local pub/cafe to do the quiz with his friends. There are three of them, all over seventy and they'll all very serious about winning. My dad goes into the pub/cafe and pays his one pound/dollar to get a quiz sheet and then joins his pals to listen the questions. The quizmaster stands up and taps his microphone, 'right then,' he says, 'Question 1: which is the longest river in the world?' 'Question 2: How many people live in the African country Sudan?' At this point my dad politely explains that he has to go to the toilet [now walk across the class room and very slowly take your mobile phone/hand in the shape of a phone out of your pocket] 'Hiya [your name] I'm in the quiz and we've got a question, would you mind getting on the computer and finding out a few answers for me?' He does that to m every Tuesday night.

2. Now pass out some slips of paper and tell students they are going to have a pub quiz and that they are going to write two questions each. The number of questions very much depends on how many students you have and how good they are. In a class of ten who are pre-intermediate, I'd ask them  to write three each. Ask students to write the numbers 1-30 on their paper. Tell student 1 he/she is writing questions 1-3, the next students 4-6, the next 7-9 and so on. This would give you 30 questions to ask and answer.

3. While students are writing their questions you must help them or the game will not work. Explain that students must not ask a question that is too difficult like 'briefly explain relativity' or 'What colour are my grandfather's eyes?'. Similarly they shouldn't ask questions which are too subjective like ' Which is the best football team in the world?'. Students should also know the answer to the question.

4. Now get students to ask their questions to the class. Students answer by writing the answers on their paper. Hopefully there will be some banter around the questions - asking for repetiton. You might need to paraphrase but let the question teller do most of the work.

5. When all the questions are done - elicit the answers and find out the winner. Stuident get free points for the questions that they wrote.

The really nice part about this lesson is the genuine communication that it produces, especially when there is cheating and uncertainty among the answers and questions. There may be petty squabbles about the longest river in the world, and you might need google to help you, but this is all part an parcel of this lesson. I usually put a tea bag into a sealed envelope and write the word 'winner' on it in big letters, this is the prize for the winner and I continually refer to it throughout the lesson to built up student expectation.

Using Text Messages to teach English - Part 2 'Following Instructions'

The lesson

In this lesson I used 'text messages' to give students questions that they had to answer in pairs. They left the classroom and went out into the surrounding environment and received messages from me at three minute intervals. I made sure that each group got a different message. I managed this, in the business sense, by writing down the numbers of each question, one to eight, next to each team name and crossing out each number as I sent the messages.



The Rationale

Yes, it's nice to send text messages that students read on their phones but it wasn't so much the technology that I wanted students to communicate with, rather, each other. Students had to talk to each other in English to accomplish many of the tasks, and actually answering the questions correctly was not as important as talking to each other to find it.

Here are the rules

-         You must stay together.

-         You must answer all the questions

-         You can find out the answers anyway you like.

Here are the questions that were sent

1. Go and find a book from the library with the word ‘fish’ in the title, write the name and author.


2. Find a joke in English. Write it down.


3. Get onto the internet. What is the temperature in your country today?


4. Find out what films are on the TV tonight. Write them down.


5. Tell each other something you’ve done that you’re proud about. Write it down.


6. Have a chat together about something. Write down what you chatted about.


7. Teach each other an English word that you didn’t know before. Write them down.


8. Find out the principal of your institution. Write their name down.

How did it go?



- students loved the tasks. By putting outgoing students with slighly more shy students they were able to complete the activities well.

- Some quick students said that three minutes was too long to wait between each text message.

- There was a lot of cheating, which for us was good. My students live in the target language and so any speaking with local people they means they are improving their English. This might not work so well where students live in a country where people don't speak the target language.

Quick PowerPoint lessons for ESOL / ESL/ IELTS - Quick Questions

Here's the first in a series of quick activities you can show on you IAWB or projector as part of a warm up, cool down or just a filler.

Can't be bothered to read the post download the lesson here.

Quick Questions

This is a pre intermediate - intermediate lesson and involves students answering questions as quick as they can. It should take about twenty minutes depending on the level of feedback and discussion after the main task.

1. ask students to write the numbers 1-30 (or less if you don't want to use all the slides). They are going to try and answer the questions they see on the screen as fast as they can.

2. Now run this powerpoint. Click the screen for the next question to appear. Allow students just enough time to read the question and write a brief answer.

3. When you've finished all the questions ask students to feedback their answers either to each other in pairs or groups or the whole class (I guess this depends on your class size).



Click here to download the 'Quick Questions' PowerPoint

Further ideas

This lesson works brilliantly in a computer room with all the students linked up to the same chat room and the questions either shown on interactive whiteboard or even just read out aloud- students can instantly see each other's answers and there's a great buzz as everyone fights to write what they want to say.

I originally designed this lesson for use with Nintendo DS machines as part of a Molenet project. By using the chatroom function, each student armed with their own Nintendo DS can read the questions and write in their answer. What they have written is instantly visible to the other students and the results were hilarious and genuine fun for the learners. For more on using the DS for teaching, check out my blog here. You can also visit the Molenet website where they have loads of ideas for students using mobile technology.

For more great powerpoint lessons go to http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/complete_PowerPoint_Lessons.htm

More Complete Lessons Using PowerPoint - Money and Banks

If you can't be bothered to read the post then download the lesson here. http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/money-and-banks.ppt

Here's another Complete Lesson Using PowerPoint following on from what the two I've done already, Complete PowerPoint Lesson - Relationships, Complete PowerPoint Lesson - Technology

This time I've gone for Money and Banks. The lesson is aimed at Pre-intermediate to intermediate students and is pretty straightforward to run with the answers already embedded in the files.

You will need a projector or an interactive whiteboard to show the presentation but your students don't need any text books and you don't need any photocopied handouts - watch and follow the instructions for a great lesson. Download the lesson here http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/money-and-banks.ppt

You can find more lessons like this and indeed more worksheets and ideas for teaching ESOL/ESL/IELTS and English at my trusty old website http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/complete_PowerPoint_Lessons.htm

Using Digital Cameras in the ESOL / ESL / IELTS classroom Part 2

Can't be bothered to read the blog? Download the lesson here http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/telling-stories-with-photographs.doc

This is the second time I've blogged about using digital cameras in the language classroom, so if you missed it, here's a link to my first effort. http://chrisspeck.wordpress.com/category/using-digital-cameras/

Last time I got students to take photos of different nouns, and also some abstract nouns like happiness and sadness. This worked well and generated lots of language between the students as they did the task as well as more  when they presented their pictures to the rest of the class via a slideshow on PowerPoint

This time I wanted students to really communicate with each other and try to tell a story using pictures and themselves as actors. This would generate huge and meaningful discussion as they did the task as a group and would also provide opportunities for presentation. I knew it would be hard for lots of students to understand a visualize what they had to do, so I found my own picture slide show for them to watch first.

Lesson Plan

I used this lesson with a group of older teenagers from various parts of the world.  To carry out the lesson we used: Digital Camera (many students used their phones), computers that we could upload the photos onto, an interactive whiteboard or projector so that students could show their work to the class. You also need a copy of the worksheet - which you cut up into four sections and distibute seperately: Get the worksheet here - http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/telling-stories-with-photographs.doc

1. Ask students if they read comics or picture stories in the newspaper or anywhere else. Elicit their views on them, do they think they are good way to tell a story?

2. Show them the first comic slide show - snoopy and ask what them to tell each other the story.

3. Now pass them the second picture slide show. Ask them to tell the story to each other once again.

4. Explain that they are going to try and make their own picture story using digital cameras. Before they do this, it's a good idea to go through the language section in Part 3 so that students are aware and have the tools to be able to make a story together.

5. Put students into groups and get them to do Activity 4. It might be tough for students who aren't very creative but remind them that it doesn't have to be a masterpiece. Indeed, this is an English class and not a photography or film class so the real task is not making a photo story but using English to do so.

6. Ask students to work in their groups, uploading their photos to software that will allow them to show their images and write some captions. Perhaps the easiest program to use is PowerPoint, but there many more avaliable including Picasa, Windows PhotoStory, Windows Moviemaker or even Flickr. They could also audio commentary.



7. Have students display their photo stories to the rest of the class. Encourage feedback and questions.

- When I did this lesson I was unsure whether students would 'rise to the challenge' and make a story, but they were very creative and surpassed my expectations.

Further Reading

21st Teaching has some good ideas on using photo stories http://21stcenturyteaching.pbworks.com/Ideas-for-Photostory-3-Projects

Complete Lessons using PowerPoint for IELTS / EFL / ESOL - Valentine's Day and Relationships

Here's the second edition of my complete lessons using only PowerPoint slides. Can't be bothered to read the post? Get the lesson here

http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/powerpoint%20lessons/Relationships.pps



I think this lesson on relationships fits in really nicely with Valentine's Day, especially since the audio features a lady dumping her boyfriend. It's for pre-intermediate learners and should take about an hour. You only need the PowerPoint show above and working speakers to play the audio, students only need a pen and some paper.

Slide 2

Elicit different types of relationship from the class before you show the slide - mother, father etc. Now show the slide, students have to write their own explanation for each word.

Slide 3

Students match the phrasal verbs to the meaning.

Slide 4

Ask and annswer the pre-listening questions as a class before listening to the girl dumping her boyfriend. Students answer the gist question.

Slide 5

Now students listen again and answer the more detailed questions

Slide 6

Students ask and answer these questions in pairs or small groups. You can monitor and give feedback at the end.

Here's the PowerPoint lesson again

http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/powerpoint%20lessons/Relationships.pps

You can find more lessons like this at http://www.englishlanguagespacestation.com/complete_PowerPoint_Lessons.htm

Complete Lessons Using PowerPoint for ESOL /ESL/

      

 

Years ago, I made some simple PowerPoint lessons that cover a range of different vocabulary sets.

They're currently housed on a very old and rusty website but they're free - so please use, change or copy them.

To get the audio working, you have to make the document a 'trusted document' or 'enable macros'.

The only material students need are paper, a pen or a pencil and their voices.

1. Technology PowerPoint Lesson

2. Relationship PowerPoint Lesson

3. Crime PowerPoint Lesson

4. Food and Drink PowrPoint Lesson

5. Giving Advice PowerPoint Lesson

6. Chatting with Friends PowerPoint Lesson

7. Health and Illness PowerPoint Lesson

8. House and Home PowerPoint Lesson

9. Money and Banks PowerPoint Lesson

10. Sport and Keeping Fit PowerPoint Lesson

Students taking Snaps - Ideas for Using Digital Photos in your ESOL / ESL / IELTS class.

 

If you haven't got time to read - here's the lesson

http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/taking-digital-photos-photograph-these-objects-chris-speck.doc

Students and teachers alike enjoying having their mobile phones switched on in class so they can look at text messages recieved, share photos of new editions to their family or tweets from people they have never met. Sadly, convention causes us to have our ringtones on silent and to gently chuckle along to ourselves as we read, look at a picture or digest the philosophical tweet. What, as someone in teaching recently has probably said over and over again, we turned the tables on this and used the phones as a teaching tool?  I'll be looking at this in more detail in other blog posts but here, we'll deal with photos.

Most mobile phones have decent cameras in them these days and with that much power, students have the ability to snap away at anything they like, for free. Of course, none of us are the very talented and famous photographer, David Bailey so we don't really care what the photos really look like, what's more important is the language that will be produced by talking about then before, during and after the process.

Before we start - some possible issues.

- Not everyone will have a camera phone. This might make some activities difficult, especially homework tasks. Your institution or school might have some digital cameras you could lend students, or they might want to consider investing in some.

- How do you share or show the photos? The best way to share photos is if you have an Interactive Whiteboard or a projector, but even just a standard computer monitor will do. Students can gather round to look at the photos together.  Annoyingly, lots of mobile phones don't have standard USB connection ports and this might make it difficult to quickly upload photos from the phones as students will need their special connectors. One way might be to ask students to upload their photos to a repositiory, you might have moodle at your institution or something similar, but you could also use the fabulous www.flickr.com and ask students to store their photos there or even facebook. If you do have an interactive whiteboard or will use a central computer you could ask students to store their photos on memory stick which they could plug in. 

Using Photos in Classroom Time.

1. In pairs students go away and take photos of  a series of increasing ly difficult objects to find. This is the only idea I've had enough time to develop into an actual lesson -  I've made a worksheet for this here.

http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/taking-digital-photos-photograph-these-objects-chris-speck.doc 

2. Signs. In pairs students take photos of signs.  They then come back and discuss these in class.

3. Where is it? Students take photos of familiar places that are not obvious, other students have to guess where it is.

4. Recreate these photos. Student have to try to reproduce famous photos or pictures. (not sure about this one!)

Outside class time - photo lessons that need some preparation.

1. Tell me about your favourite photo. Students bring in their own photo and talk about why it's important to them or why they like it.

2. A day in your life - in photos. Students take a sequence of photos showing a day in their life which they can them show and explain to the rest of the class.

3. What happened at the weekend? The same as the task about but this time about the weekend. This could also be extended to include a celebration or other party.

4. My favourite place/ food/ person.

Feedback- How did it go?

Will let you know. Please let us know of any other digital photgraphy lessons you've done.