Practical ideas galore!
Happy Easter if you celebrate it! I haven't got any chocolate for you I'm afraid (I've already eaten your share - now you know my weakness) but I do have a newsletter packed full of really practical ideas, so I hope this will count as my seasonal gift to you.
We're going to mix the order up a bit today. Let's start with my new video for the week...
Something new
Although this is 'something new', it's about something VERY old. However its one of my all time favourite activities. I often think it's good to mention older resources. They go in and out of fashion, so those of you who are more novice teachers might not have come across them and those of you who, like me, have been around the block a few times, might find it a helpful reminder.
If you've never heard of Cuisenaire Rods, they're those little coloured sticks that you might have used when learning maths in primary school. They've also long been associated with English teaching and the set I have, I've been using for well over 25 years (OMG that makes me feel so old!). Although there's nothing that special about them, they've had an engaging effect on every class I've ever used them with. They're a bit of magic, somehow.
This video will show you how you could use them to teach vocabulary. If you haven't got a set of rods you can find them for sale online (e.g. here on Amazon- not an affiliate link) or just use other bits and pieces (pencils? Strips of cardboard?) to do the activity. Check it out.
Something old
As well as being Easter weekend, it's also April 1st tomorrow. Hard to believe- the year seems to be spinning past. No April Fool from me, but I have a great resource to share that I think would make a fabulous (and topical) Jigsaw Reading. If you're not sure what a Jigsaw Reading is, here's a video walk-through that'll give you some helpful hints to make the lesson go super-well. It's a brilliant, versatile activity that practises reading, speaking and listening and the only drawback with it is in finding appropriate texts to use...
Would I leave you in the lurch though? Of course not!
This link will take you to a site that has stories of SEVEN incredible historic April Fool's Pranks. It includes the Spaghetti Harvest, Big Ben going digital and changing its name to Digital Dave (that one's fab!) and others that made me literally laugh out loud.
领英推荐
When I first saw these texts, with my English teacher's hat on, I couldn't help thinking that they'd be brilliant fodder for a jigsaw reading. You might not want to use all of them- maybe choose your favourite three or four and try them out for a topical lesson tomorrow! If you think the language is pitched too high for your class, you can edit it yourself or paste it into Chat GPT or Gemini with a command to 'rewrite this text so that it's suitable for A2 level learners of English'. Let me know how you get on if you use it in class.
Something borrowed
As that last activity involved reading texts about news, even if it was hoax news, I thought I'd remind you of another site where you can get useful material- all for FREE- with news as a basis.
It's Breaking News, Sean Banville's site. This has long been a favourite of mine and it has an enormous archive (3,403 lessons at 7 levels!) of short, manageable news stories with more ideas for activities than you'd ever manage in one class. Here's an example of an Easter themed one to start you off.
And as if all of this wasn't enough, a final recommendation for you....
The IATEFL conference is coming up and I'm going to be talking about it A LOT over the next few weeks but if you live in Spain and IATEFL is a bit too expensive for you, I noticed a great face to face conference in San Sebastian next week that might be a bit more local and affordable and has a star-studded line up of speakers!
OK- that's it for today. Have a great weekend and I'll see you next week.
Best