A mix of old and new materials on “be like”, “look (like)”, “taste (like)”, etc. At the moment the two pages are just the same worksheets arranged differently depending on what your main language focus is, but as usual with my new pages, I’m just getting started on these new obsessions and so many more PDFs and articles will be coming soon.
Sense verbs/ Verbs of perception games/ worksheets – NEW PAGE
Like as a preposition games/ worksheets – NEW PAGE
Over 300 pages of classroom-tested photocopiable activities on starting meetings, chairing, turn taking, giving and responding to opinions and advice, smoothly progressing through the meeting and bringing them to an end, etc, etc. Includes stacks of roleplays and meetings language games, and links to other language points like numbers, trends, and business abbreviations. For all levels from Elementary to Advanced (depending on which materials you use).
Available now here:
Teaching Meetings: Interactive Classroom Activities – NEW
As well as being full of great material, all the cash goes to me and so can help me find time for writing more stuff for TEFLtastic and Usingenglish, and to finish off my e-books on FCE, CPE, IELTS, grammar, functional language, negotiations, etc, etc, etc. If you don’t need to teach meetings but would like to support TEFLtastic, my other e-books are, so far:
Teaching Social English: Interactive Classroom Activities 2nd Ed. (the one that is most likely to be useful to everyone)
Teaching Emailing: Interactive Classroom Activities (perhaps the one which is most different to other books on the same topic)
Teaching IELTS Writing: Interactive Classroom Activities (another candidate for most different from other books)
Teaching Presentation Skills: Interactive Classroom Activities (the one that ties together most as a book and so is really worth having as one volume even if you have some of my worksheets on the topic)
Teaching Telephoning: Interactive Classroom Activities (my first e-book for teachers)
Really Learn the Most Important Telephoning Phrases (for self-study and homework)
A list of every index page on TEFLtastic. There are quite a few! There is also an A to Z of just the grammar pages here, and links by topics and sub-topics here.
If you like anything you find here and would like more, please support TEFLtastic.
Updated 8 March2022
All index pages A to Z
Academic applications games/ worksheets – See University applications worksheets
Academic discussions games/ worksheets
Academic English (EAP) games/ worksheets
Academic English first lessons page
Academic Word List (AWL) games/ worksheets page
I’m still struggling with how best to teach this tricky bit of grammar, and have twice given up on articles I was trying to write on the topic. However, I have come up with two nice communicative practice activities and made a brand new page of those and some other useful materials I’ve found:
Participle clauses games, worksheets, videos and songs – NEW
As the TEFL blog boom years during which I started TEFLtastic fade further from view and more social-media-savvy generations have taken over, I more and more picture myself as an ageing rock star saying “We feel like our new album is our best ever” while everyone just wants the same old hits or are surprised you are still alive. Unlike the Rolling Stones, however, I am correct when I say that right now I am definitely producing the best work of my life by far(and certainly much better than the crap I was churning out when I first went online). Anyway, you can be the judge of that, with a selection of what I consider to be the cream of that new crop. As with previous years, this list is mainly my own personal preferences, but I’ve also included a few that were surprisingly popular and I also think are not too bad. And if those aren’t enough or aren’t good enough, there are also the materials I think are good enough to be worth paying for.
Which thing had already happened? Past Perfect trivia quiz
Classroom language for Zoom lessons New version
What were people doing? Past Continuous trivia quiz
Can you eat your house? abilities mix and match
Prepositions of position mix and match
How long had…? Past Perfect trivia quiz
Weather vocabulary bluffing game
Good and taboo Present Perfect Simple and Continuous questions
Good and taboo Present Continuous questions
Good and taboo Past Continuous questions
Appearance words storytelling task
IELTS Writing Task 2 prepositions and determiners pairwork
IELTS Writing Task 1 prepositions and determiners pairwork
Business reports disappearing text
Emailing rotating revision board game
Social English rotating revision board game
Be used to and get used to sentence completion games (bluffing, things in common and guessing game)
Past numbers trivia board game narrative tenses review
Email enquiries disappearing text memory game
Starting and ending conversations disappearing text memory game
Prepositions of position things in common speaking
Good and taboo questions with Have Something Done
Emailing prepositions and determiners pairwork
Presentations prepositions and determiners pairwork
Good and taboo countable and uncountable questions
Socialising prepositions and determiners pairwork
Nouns which are both countable and uncountable pictionary
Used to, be used to and get used to sentence completion games
Used to, be used to and get used to discuss and agree
ed and ing adjectives bluffing games
Too and enough discuss and agree
Basic adjectives make me say ‘Yes’
Get Up Stand Up by Bob Marley quantifiers practice
There is & there are guess the place
UK or USA? British and American English trivia quiz
Imperative practice ball games
Some and any things in common speaking
Telephoning determiners and prepositions pairwork
How many… did…? trivia quiz irregular Past Simple practice
How many with irregular plurals trivia quiz
Strong and weak opinions on the news and media
There is/ are + Xmas vocabulary drawing game
Good and taboo passive voice questions
Good and taboo Past Simple questions
Enquiries about Zoom emailing lesson
Directions flashcard memory game
Festivals and celebrations vocabulary and discussion
Business Result Pre-Intermediate revision games
Classroom vocabulary first letters games
Talking about seasons with adverbs of frequency
COVID-compliant invitations lesson
Telecommuting policies roleplay meeting
Life events guessing and bluffing
Personal questions with appearance words
Jobs vocabulary random pelmanism
Short answers quick folding game (a great new variation on the Simplest Responses game)
Opinions on current affairs vocabulary
ed and ing adjectives coin games
How many… have? simple numbers quiz
How many times Present Perfect and Past Simple trivia quiz
Is there & Are there spelling games
Talking about cultural differences with ‘be used to’ and ‘get used to’
British or American food and drink trivia quiz
Adverbs of frequency good and taboo questions coin game
Is there/Are there Trivia Quiz
Giving medical advice Present Perfect practice
Ordering products on the phone line by line disappearing text
Gradable and extreme adjectives guessing game (with modals of deduction)
Guess the medical problems from the advice
Verbs of sensation mini-presentations
British or American transport trivia quiz
British and American household vocabulary quiz
British or American fashion trivia quiz
Talking about life changes with be used to/ get used to
Changes to culture be used to/ get used to discussion
Talking about problems and solutions with quantifiers
Be used to and get used to ranking discussion
Be used to and get used to dice games
Emails from other countries guess the place
Who in this class…? superlatives practice
Medical controversies vocabulary and discussion
Updated 5 May 2022
Back when I was studying to teach English for Business for the first time, what I most appreciated and gained from were lessons on doing needs analysis and on planning first lessons that cover things that most students are likely to need like practice of English numbers. When I then started teaching Business English and ESP, it slowly dawned on me that however good your guesses about those students, it would make more sense to use what you learn about their needs in the first class to get straight down to those things. For example, if they tell you that they most need emailing, you can move straight onto eliciting typical work emails for them onto the board, at least in one-to-one and other small classes.
It took me longer to work out how to set up instant personalised practice in bigger groups, especially if you want to cover each student’s biggest needs all in that first class. However, it is worth the effort, as it helps students appreciate that different people have different needs, and can help bond them as a group as they work together to improve everyone’s English.
The necessary steps to be able to do instant personalised practice in first classes with groups are:
Here are some of the many possible materials using that approach:
Photocopiable needs and instant personalised practice activities
Needs analysis extended speaking and instant practice – NEW
Personalised instant roleplays
Personalised instant practice for logistics staff
Needs analysis extended speaking and instant practice
Business communication needs analysis and instant personalised practice
English for logistics needs analysis and instant personalised practice
Different kinds of meetings needs analysis and instant practice (in this e-book)
Emailing needs analysis and instant personalised practice (in this e-book)
Discuss and practise your priorities
Telephoning in English discussion and personalised practice
Telephoning and teleconferences discussion and personalised practice
Needs analysis and small talk (in this e-book)
Academic Writing needs analysis and defining your terms phrases
Personal information in academic writing (for academic applications, academic bios, etc)
Writing academic bios lead-in/ needs analysis (a good first lesson for Academic Writing classes)
If that’s not enough, a few more needs and instant practice worksheets coming soon, and 49 other TEFLtastic Classics here.
I already did a post on “The Best End-of-term Revision Games”, but here I am again many years later without the final -s, because I think there is a clear winner:
Rotating revision board game (TEFLtastic classics part 14)
a terrible name for what is actually really intensive but fun practice of whatever you’ve covered as students go round (and possibly round and round). New board games revising emailing, social English and Business Result Pre just added, and the old ones cover countless textbooks for kids and adults, arts and media, and architecture.
I don’t see any reason why ESP classes can’t also have a bit of seasonal cheer, as long as you manage to tie it in with something useful such as meetings roleplays, pronouncing numbers, talking about trends, or telephoning practice. Luckily, tying together random language points is my chosen specialist subject, so have done many Business Chrimbo worksheets over the years.
In approximate order of how often I’ve used them:
Xmas party negotiations (the best ever game for the language of meetings and negotiations, as there is a clear winner, this version with some useful seasonal vocab)
Countable and uncountable nouns negotiation (similar to the one above, with Xmas and New Year vocab, and including grammar)
Xmas trivia number pairwork (good for Business English, Technical English and other ESP classes who need to be able to recognise and pronounce small, large and other tricky numbers)
Seasonal trends meetings practice (language of trends tied in with festivals and celebrations, starting with Xmas)
Telephoning on festivals and celebrations (starting with ones about Xmas)
Business meetings on festivals and celebrations (starting with discussion of office rules around Xmas)
Xmas and New Year negotiations
Describing Xmas foods bluff game – good for students who want to explain food from their own country to foreign guests, e.g. Business English students who often entertain clients
Direct, indirect and taboo Christmas questions (tying in with small talk and important grammar for polite enquiries)
Business English Christmas cards Do’s and Don’ts – imperatives and important cultural information
Xmas and the environment discussion questions
Xmas vocabulary passive voice guessing game (including important grammar for engineering and other STEM students)
Festivals and celebrations rules (discussing how a company should deal with seasonal events, starting with Xmas, with modal verbs)
All my other Xmas and New Year worksheets, including many others linking in with typical language points such as grammar, are here:
Xmas and New Year games, worksheets, flashcards, videos and songs for EFL classes
Favourite and/ or newest stuff that I haven’t mentioned yet top of each section.
New TEFL articles autumn 2021
How to teach defining and non-defining relative clauses
How to teach relative pronouns
How to teach much, many, a lot, etc
New TEFL photocopiables autumn 2021
Short answers quick folding game (a great new variation on the Simplest Responses game)
Starting and ending conversations disappearing text memory game
Telecommuting policies roleplay meeting
Emails from other countries guess the place
Verbs of sensation mini-presentations
Talking about seasons for adverbs of frequency
Opinions on current affairs vocabulary
Basic adjectives make me say ‘Yes’
Prepositions of position things in common speaking
Festivals and celebrations vocabulary and speaking
Giving medical advice Present Perfect practice
Who in this class…? superlatives practice
Imperative practice ball games
Medical controversies vocabulary and discussion
Good and taboo Present Progressive questions
Talking about problems and solutions with quantifiers
Some and any things in common speaking
Emailing prepositions and determiners pairwork
Telephoning determiners and prepositions pairwork
Good and taboo Past Progressive questions
Too and enough in fixed phrases activities, collocations and proverbs
Enquiries about Zoom emailing lesson
Zoom vocabulary checking/ clarifying practice and presentation
IELTS Writing Task Two on architecture and town planning
and over 300 pages more in my new e-book.
If that’s not enough, the same for summer is here.
It’s taken me a while, but I’ve finally made a page of materials specifically for Zoom (and useable or easily adaptable for Teams, etc), most of which also teach useful language for explaining how to use the software/ app:
Zoom lesson games/ worksheets – NEW
Including brand new PDFs on emailing, meetings and checking/ clarifying.
While searching my blog for broken links, I found that English Droid had disappeared yet again and that English Teacher X and Chase Me Ladies were locked behind walls with invitations needed for entry. Luckily, my selections of highlights from all three are still available here for all to read and enjoy:
The only remaining bits of the English Droid
The best TEFL bits of Chase Me Ladies, I’m in the Cavalry
The best of English Teacher X Part Two
Click on the TEFL humour tag below for more attempts at being amusing about teaching English.
 | Fernando on The CELTA failure rate |
 | Gen on The CELTA failure rate |
 | alexcase on Sentence completion guessing g… |
| alexcase on World Journal of English Langu… |
 | Tetyana on World Journal of English Langu… |
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