In that time, about:
A list of new content and links on TEFLtastic, updated every couple of days. Newest stuff top:
Reviews vocabulary make me say yes – NEW
Useful language for reports make me say yes – NEW
100 IELTS Writing Task 2 teaching tips – NEW
Japanese things that do and don’t need translating – NEW
Competition in one-to-one classes – NEW
Sense verbs sentence completion games (bluff, guessing game and things in common) – NEW
Teacher vs student in one-to-one classes
12 fun business socialising language activities
Second conditional movies discussion
Describing countries with there is/ there are games
Things people love or hate like and be like game
Food which is both countable and uncountable dice and coin games
Adverbs of manner games/ worksheets
Talking about movies with like and would like (with movies vocabulary)
Animals and adverbs of manner guessing games
The 100 most useful phrases for IELTS Writing Task 1 pie chart tasks
Adapting free conversation classes
12 fun agreeing and disagreeing activities
21 fun Present Perfect and Past Simple speaking activities (for combining and contrasting the two tenses)
Updated 29 November 2022
As Teaching IELTS Writing: Interactive Classroom Activities seems to have been quite popular, I’ve now put together over 300 photocopiable pages of thoroughly classroom-tested materials that help really teach (not just practise) IELTS Speaking:
Teaching IELTS Speaking: Interactive Classroom Activities – NEW
Unlike many exam materials, the handouts also really help improve students’ speaking and English more generally. As well as getting stacks of great worksheets in an easy-to-use format for under a penny a page, buying a copy will allow me to spend more time writing, including finishing off similar books on Cambridge First, grammar, functional language, negotiating, writing, etc, etc, etc. If you don’t teach IELTS Speaking, the same great deal is also available on these topics:
Teaching Meetings: Interactive Classroom Activities (my last e-book)
Teaching Social English: Interactive Classroom Activities 2nd Ed. (the biggest one, for activities on meeting people, small talk, etc that could be useful for anyone)
Teaching Emailing: Interactive Classroom Activities (my most popular book)
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 all of my presentation worksheets)
Teaching Telephoning: Interactive Classroom Activities (my first e-book for teachers)
Really Learn the Most Important Telephoning Phrases (my only book for students)
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.
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
Academic writing functional language page
Adverbs of manner games/ worksheets – NEW PAGE
Alphabet – See Pronouncing the alphabet – NEW
There are so many possible fun presentation and practice activities for “This is/ That is/ These are/ Those are…” that you have to be careful not to spend more time on this minor grammar point than it deserves… However, I think my new activity and new variation should be considered for the lesson or two that this grammar is worth.
This that these those shapes
This is a nice variation on my other this/ that/ these/ those guessing games, because students get to choose which one they want to be tested with each time. Get some things with distinctive shapes such as plastic fruit (with “grapes” etc to practise these/ those) and two bags, one of which is a bit see through. Students choose if they want the object or objects to be put into a non-see-through bag that they can feel the shape through (“this” or “these”) or a semi-see-through bag that they can see the shape through from far away but can’t touch (for “that” and “those”).
This that these those big and little words
This is a smaller variation on my usual activities for this/ that/ these/ those, which I had to come up with in a hurry after another teacher rightly pointed out that purely oral practice wasn’t much good before a partly written progress test.
Draw a huge circle on one side of the board and a tiny circle on the other side of the board, with lines drawing them to suggest perspective to make the tiny circle look far away. Perhaps after guessing a few huge pictures in the huge this/ these circle and tiny pictures in the tiny that/ those circle (my usual drawing game for this grammar), you can do the same for words written with huge letters or tiny letters in the same two circles. This is most challenging and fun if the this/ these words are written so big that the circle cuts off part of the words (and ditto with any pictures you put in there).
Much less stuff than in the good ole days, but hopefully less quantity finally means more quality. Latest items top of each section.
New TEFL e-book
Teaching IELTS Speaking: Interactive Classroom Activities (over 300 pages on tips, vocabulary, functional language phrases, feedback, etc on IELTS Speaking Parts 1, 2 and 3)
New TEFL articles 2022 Part One
How to teach link verbs/copula verbs
How to teach like, be like and look like
How to teach consonant clusters to EFL learners
How to teach defining relative clauses
How to teach reduced relative clauses
New TEFL PDFs 2022 Part One
Starting academic writing determiners pairwork
Describing things with prepositions games
Needs analysis extended speaking and instant practice
Possessive adjectives brainstorming games
Useful phrases for reports sentence completion games
Determiners in names of places speaking activities
Positive and negative question tags card games
Good and taboo questions with irregular plurals
Starting and ending conversations simplest responses game
Requests and offers in business meetings imperative practice
Verbs of sensation discuss and agree
Likes and dislikes guessing objects games
Verbs of sensation discussion questions
Personalised instant roleplays
Superlative adjectives discuss and agree
Online meetings discussion and brainstorming
Guess the country warmer cooler
Participle clauses personalised sentence completion games
Strong and weak medical advice
School vocabulary things in common
Participle clauses storytelling game
Needs analysis extended speaking
Personalised instant roleplays for logistics
Business communication needs analysis and instant personalised practice
English for logistics needs analysis and instant personalised practice
*My attempt to start a “Q1”-style abbreviation for “first half of the year”, so I can also use H2 the next time I forget to do a quarterly update…
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
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
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
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 very cheap e-book)
Emailing needs analysis and instant personalised practice (in this very cheap 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 very cheap 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.
Updated 15 July 2022
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.
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