Category: English games

Games to help students learn English.

Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives are extremely important for learners of English. Words like my, your, his, her, their and our belong among the most frequent ones in English. Thus, you have to know them. Moreover, you have to learn them early to be able to understand and communicate in the foreign language.
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[showmyads] To help your students learn these super important words, Susan Brodar and I have created this post. There is an awesome chant by Susan, a clear mind map with several activities for your classroom, a quiz and a game. We are pretty sure that these activities will make it easier for your students to remember the possessive adjectives in English.

Possessive adjectives – chant

This wonderful chant was created by Susan Brodar. She has published it on her website http://bilingual-communications.weebly.com/. There are many wonderful materials worth seeing, so do not hesitate and visit her site.

First, ask the students to listen and then listen and repeat together with Susan.

Possessive adjectives – mind map

Print out the following mind map and go through it with your students. If you teach a monolingual class, ask the students to translate and retranslate the example sentences. Another activity your students could do is to cover the end branches with a paper and write the correct possessive adjective and their own example sentences.

Possessive adjectives

You can download the full image here:
Possessive adjectives – mind map

Possessive adjectives – Quizzes

The following quiz can help your students practise the possessive adjectives either at school or at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should match the pronouns and possessive adjectives. In the second part, students have to put the right possessive adjectives into the gaps. The students will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.
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[showmyadsa] Possessive adjectives – quiz

The second game is called Teacher Invaders. Students’ aim is to complete each sentence with the correct possessive adjective and then shoot all the Invaders. Good luck. As the game is in Flash it will play only on desktops.

Possessive adjectives – Invaders

Possessive adjectives – Links

You will find more chants and materials by Susan Brodar here.

There are some wonderful materials by British Council here.

Learn the Parts of Speech
Learn the Parts of Speech

For ESL students and pupils in Great Britain, India, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries, it is crucial to learn the parts of speech in English. In fact, this knowledge is very useful for EFL learners too, as it helps them get more information from dictionaries and grammar books. And as this topic is not difficult, it is worth spending a few minutes on it.
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[showmyads] In this post there is a wonderful song by Fluency MC, an infographic and several games which will help you master the parts of speech. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead!!!

Parts of Speech – song

The following song was created by Fluency MC. Listen and sing along. It is easy

Click here to get Fluency MC’s new (and FREE!) YouTube Songbook and to check out his new online speaking and listening program. the Weekly English Workout.
http://fluencymc.com/weekly-english-workout/

Parts of Speech – infographic

The following infographic contains all the information from the song. The parts of speech are organised into a mind map which allows your students to revise the facts. Ask the students to cover either the definitions or the parts of speech and then recall the covered information (They could do this in pairs too).

Parts of Speech infographic

If you want to download the full picture, click the button:

Parts of Speech – infographic

Parts of speech – games

Let’s start with a quiz which will help your students practise the parts of speech either at school or at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should match the words and the names of the parts of speech. In the second part, students have to write the name of the parts of the speech behind the words. The students will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Parts of speech – quiz
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[showmyadsa] The second game is called Fling the Teacher. To win the game, you have to answer all the questions by choosing the correct answer. If you answer all the questions correctly you will fling your teacher. (But I am sure, that he/she will not mind as long as you know all the parts of speech πŸ™‚ ). The game is in Flash and it will only play on desktop computers.
Parts of speech – Fling the teacher
To practise the parts of speech you can play the following game. Its name is En Garde. Your task is to choose the correct answer and then stop the target as close to the centre as possible. Hopefully, you will be faster and more accurate then your opponent. The game is in Flash and will play only on desktops:
Parts of speech – En Garde game
The last game is called Penalty Shootout. In this game you should choose the correct part of speechand then try to score a goal. Good luck.
As the game is in Flash, it will only play on desktop computers.
Parts of speech – Penalty game

Learn the parts of Speech

Phrasal verbs with BRING
Phrasal verbs with BRING

A few days ago my friend Shanthi Cumaraswamy Streat publised a great post called “20 Phrasal Verbs with β€˜BRING’ – Let’s Explore“. I liked it so much that I contacted Shanthi and she kindly agreed to my turning her post into infographics and games. And here you can see the final result of our great cooperation.

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Phrasal verbs with BRING – infographics

On her blog http://englishwithatwist.com/ Shanthi comes up with twenty different meanings of the phrasal verbs with BRING. Here, we tried to put the information in two infographics (as it was not possible to put all the information into just one πŸ™‚ ).

Phrasal verbs with Bring infographic web

Phrasal verbs with Bring infographic web 2

You can download the full-size pictures here:
Phrasal verbs with Bring infographic 1

Phrasal verbs with Bring infographic 2

Phrasal verbs with BRING – games

Once the students study the infographics, it is time to practise their knowledge. I created 3 games to help them with the revision.

The first game is called On Target. Students should read the sentence and complete it with the correct option A-D. If they answer correctly, they are given a chance to shoot the bad ducks. They can shoot one of the bottles on the sides and get a bonus. This game is in Flash and it will play only on desktops.

Phrasal verbs with Bring – On Target

The second game is called Penalty Shoot Out. At school students love playing in two teams against each other. They have to choose the correct answer and then they should score a goal. It is not easy but it is great fun. This game is in Flash and it will play only on desktops.

Phrasal verbs with Bring – Penalty

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[showmyadsa] The third game is called Goose Science Quiz and the students click on the die and move forward. From time to time they have to answer a question. If they answer correctly they move forward and if they answer incorrectly they move backwards. The winner is the student who gets to the FINISH first. The game is in HTML5 and it will play on all electronic devices.

Phrasal verbs with Bring – Quiz

Phrasal verbs with Bring – Links

If you want to see the original blog post by Shanthi go here.

There are several interesting posts on Phrasal verbs at British Council pages too.

In this post we tried to introduce twenty different meanings of Phrasal verbs with Bring. If you would like to see more posts on phrasal verbs, you can go to Phrasal verbs in a story or Phrasal verbs Fred and Betty.

Phrasal verbs with BRING

How to Form and Use the Third Conditional
How to Form and Use the Third Conditional

The third conditional is the most feared grammar point I know. Students of English think that it’s hard to form and understand. Therefore, when they start learning the grammar they are paralysed with fear. And as a result, they fail to learn it. Thus the third conditional keeps its reputation.
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[showmyads] But the truth is that the third conditional is not difficult at all. In this post I will show you how to teach this grammar quickly. I hope to destroy the myth that the third conditional is difficult.

Third conditional – song

Start the lesson with the following song:

Here is a short worksheet that will help you introduce the grammar:

Third conditional song lyrics

Third conditional – infographic

Display the following infographic or print out copies and hand them out. Draw the studentsΒ΄ attention to the form.
Third conditional web

You can download the full image here:

Third conditional infographic – full image

Next, explain the meaning of the third conditional. Tell your students that the if-clause of the conditional speaks about a situation in the past that did not happen. The second part of the sentence expresses our hypothesis about what could have happened if the first part of the sentence were true. In both parts we speak about the past, and none of the actions happened. The ideas expressed in the third conditional are about the past and they never happened.

Now, ask your students to form three third conditional sentences using the clues in the infographic and to describe the situations in which they might be used. For example: Martina went to a party yesterday. She got drunk and the police arrested her. If she had stayed at home, nothing of this would have happened.
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Third conditional – quiz

The following quiz can help your students practise the third conditional either at school or at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should match the beginnings and ends of the third conditional sentences. In the second part, students have to put the verbs into the correct form to form the third conditionals. The students will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Third conditional – quiz
Teaching English using Poetry
Teaching English using Poetry

Have you ever used poetry to teach English in your class? If you have you can probably confirm that it was not a great success. The majority of your students were probably bored and didn’t share your passion for the poem. And thus they found your lesson boring and useless.

Therefore, it may seem that using poetry for teaching is a waste of time. So, how about if I offer you a poem your students will love and remember for a long time? Do you think it is impossible? Well, try the following lesson plan and see if you don’t change your mind.
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Using poetry – Teaser

Introduce the topic. Tell your students that you are going to play a video for them. Play the following video till the time 0:50. Then ask your students whether they want to see the whole thing. I am sure their answer will be YES.


Using poetry – vocabulary

Explain that they need to know a lot of vocabulary in order to understand and enjoy. To introduce and teach the vocabulary I use the following method which I call Remembering Tables. Print out the following worksheet. Each student needs to have his/her own worksheet.

Eugene poetry vocabulary

I usually print both pages on one sheet of paper, but you can print it on two different sheets of paper, too.

Make sure that the students are looking at the same page as you and read the words in the first table aloud. Ask your students to repeat the words after you. Then ask them to read the definitions. If you teach a monolingual class, ask them to translate the words. If you teach an international class, check your students’ understanding of the words by using concept questions.

Once your students understand all the words, tell them they have 20 seconds to remember them. When the 20 seconds are up they have to cover the table on the left and complete the table on the right by filling in the words. Once they finish they can check and complete their answers using the table on the left.

Do the same with the second, third and fourth tables, but increase the time given to remember the words to 30, 45 and 60 seconds.

Do both of the pages with your class and then you can move to the following task:

Using poetry – Speaking

I love using the following activity to practise the new vocabulary. Print out or display the following questions and ask your students to complete them using the new words:
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  1. What time did you __________ the school today?
  2. How do you feel in ________________ places? Do you like it when there are many people around you?
  3. What would you like to ______________?
  4. When was the last time you gave somebody an ____________? What were you sorry about?
  5. What do you think about _____________? How often do you read a poem?
  6. Have you ever performed on a _______________? How many people watched you?
  7. Can you describe your ________________? What are you like?
  8. What is your _____________? How often do you do it?

The correct answers are: 1 enter 2 crowded 3 give a go 4 apology 5 poetry 6 stage 7 personality 8 passion.
Next, I ask my students to choose 3 questions they would like to ask me. They ask me the questions and I answer as well as I can.

Then the students work in pairs and ask and answer the questions.

Using poetry – Video comprehension

Now it is time to play the whole video. Turn on the closed captioning if you feel that your students’ level of comprehension is not high enough for them to understand all of it.

Ask your students to read the comprehension questions first, and check that they understand the questions:

1. How old is he?
2. What is his job?
3. What is his passion?
4. Why does Piers buzz him?
5. Who thinks that Eugene is a loser?
6. What do girls do when Eugene enters a room?
7. What do the judges say at the end?
8. Is Eugene happy at the end?

Using poetry – Finish

To finish the lesson, it is ideal to practise the new vocabulary and do a speaking activity.

Start with the speaking activity. It is a simple role play. Ask the students to work in pairs. One of them is going to play the role of Eugene and the other is a reporter. It is one week after the show was broadcast, and the interviewer wants to know what has changed in Eugene’s life. Thus the interviewer asks questions and Eugene answers as best as he can.

To practise the vocabulary, you can use the following crossword and a fill-in-the-blank exercise. The students can do the exercises at school or at home. Please print 2 pages on one page for best results.

Eugene poetry crossword

Eugene poetry crossword key

Using poetry – Conclusion

This lesson plan is based on a video of Eugene performing his poem in the talent show called Britain’s Got Talent. In this lesson, students will learn 25+ new words and phrases, and they will get a chance to use the phrases at school. To make the lesson even more concentrated on poetry you can ask your students to write their own poem in English.
Here is a brief summary of the lesson plan:

1. Video teaser
2. Vocabulary – memory tables
3. Speaking – complete the questions and ask your partner
4. Video + comprehension questions
5. Speaking – role play
6. Vocabulary revision

I hope that this lesson serves as a great demonstration of how to use poetry to teach English and that your students will remember a lot of real-life vocabulary.

Teaching English Using Poetry

Prepositions of place – speaking activities
Prepositions of place – speaking activities

Recently, in the post called Questions with Like, I asked you to choose the activity you would like me to write about. Most of you voted for a Speaking activity, so I prepared a set of speaking activities to practice the prepositions of place.

I have already created a post on prepositions, so this time there will be no infographics just two speaking activities. If you are looking for more speaking activities, you can find a two great speaking activities here.
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Speaking activities – Battle

The first activity is called Battle and it was devised and recommended by K. Folse in his book The Art of Teaching Speaking.

First, print out the worksheet with 18 pictures. Each picture is different and they are labelled with letters A to R.

Ask students to work in groups of three. They should label themselves A, B, and C. Student A starts.
Student A will choose a room in the worksheet. Then students B and C will take turns asking yes – no questions to identify AΒ΄s room. For example, B asks: “Is the table in front of the sofa?” If student A answers “Yes, it is,” student B asks another question. He continues in this way till student B answers “No.” Then it is studentΒ΄s C turn. Students go on like this till someone identifies the picture student A is thinking of.

After student B or C has guessed AΒ΄s room, student B chooses a room and students A and C try to guess it in the same way as they did with student A.

Students keep track of how many rooms they guessed correctly, and the winner is the one who guessed most.

Here is the worksheet students will use (it is enough to print out just one worksheet for each group.)

Speaking activities battle room worksheet

Speaking activities – Language needed

To be able to do the task above successfully, your students need to know the following vocabulary and grammar:

Vocabulary: plant, picture, lamp, table, cushion, plant, sofa, floor, wall, chair, ball and the prepositions of place (you find the materials to teach Prepositions of place here).
Grammar: to form question with is/are and the phrases There is / there are.

If your students do not know the language mentioned above, the speaking activity will not work!!!

Speaking activities – Drawing a Picture

First you need to print out the following worksheet once for each pair of students. They should cut it in the middle and each student should keep one sheet. (Now each student has two pictures with the room.)

Then, each student draws between 5 and 10 objects into one of his pictures. He or she has to draw objects they know the English words for. I personally ask my students to draw pieces of furniture we learn in the textbook unit.

Students sit with their backs to each other and one describes their picture for their partner, and the partners draws the objects into the picture he or she has not drawn into yet. When one student finishes they swap their roles and the other student describes their picture.

At the end the students compare their pictures.

Here is the worksheet:
Speaking activites drawing a picture web
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To be able to print out the worksheets in the best possible quality, use the following pdf file:

Speaking activities pdf worksheet prepositions of place

Speaking activities – Language needed

To be able to do the task above successfully, your students need to know the following phrases:

Can you repeat that?
Tell me again.
Where does the …. go?

Speaking activities – Conclusion

I hope you will find both of the speaking activities useful and interesting, and that they will make it into your classroom. Both of the activities should ensure that your students will produce a lot of language and they will practice their knowledge of prepositions of place.

Speaking activities – prepositions of place

Questions with LIKE
Questions with LIKE

The word LIKE is one of the most productive words in English. However, many students often confuse the meaning of the questions with LIKE and they give completely wrong answers. Especially pre-intermediate students of English find these questions really difficult.
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[showmyads] The aim of this post is to explain the meaning of different questions with LIKE and give students a chance to practise and remember the questions. To achieve this there is a video which is based on BBC programme called Grammar Challenge. Moreover, there is an infographic and a quiz to practise the grammar.

Questions – video explanation

When I asked my brother what he does on the Internet he told me that he spends most time watching videos. And in my experience that is true for most of teenagers. To attract them to learning English I decided to create a short video explanation based on BBC learning English programme called Grammar Challenge. Watch the video and try to understand the grammar.

Basic questions_fb
Questions in present and past tense

Questions with LIKE – infographic

Once your students have watched the video, you can hand out the following infographic. Go through the sentences and elicit the correct answers to the questions in the picture.

Questions with like

Questions with like – online quiz

The following quiz consists of two parts. In the first part students listen to the answer and they have to choose the correct question. In the second part, students see the answer and part of the question and they have to type in the missing words to make the question correct. If the students pass the tests they will be rewarded with a game.

The quiz is in HTML5 and it will work on the desktop and all mobile devices.

Questions with LIKE – quiz

Please let us know what you would like to read about next (there is just one question). Thank you.
[viralQuiz id=8]

School subjects – speaking activities
School subjects – speaking activities

Speaking activities are the most important component of English courses using communicative approach. However, it is very difficult to find quality speaking activities that would work. That is why I would like to publish a speaking activity here once a week. All the activities will be based on the recommendations given by Keith S. Folse in his wonderful book The Art of Teaching Speaking.
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[showmyads] In the first post I offer you two pair speaking activities using school subjects and the verb HAVE. Let’s start!

School subjects – language for the activity

To be able to complete the task successfully, students will need the following sets of language: the verb HAVE (or have got) and the names of the school subjects.

If you have not taught the school subjects yet, it is necessary to do so before you start the speaking activities. For the following tasks, your students need to know the following school subjects:

School subjects mind map web

The other set of language your students need to know is the usage of the verb HAVE for questions like “What subject has she got on Monday?” or sentences like “She has chemistry on Monday at 11 o’clock.” You can find materials for teaching the verb HAVE GOT here. Once your students know the vocabulary and grammar you can move to the next part. Please, do not skip this step. Otherwise, your students might be either very quiet or use their native language to accomplish the tasks.

School subjects – speaking activities

In my experience students speak most when they work in pairs or groups of three. In bigger groups some students tend to dominate the task and some opt for not doing anything. That is why all of these tasks are designed for pairs or small groups.

The first activity is called Information gap. In this task students trade missing pieces of information to complete their sheet.

Information gap – in class

Put the students in pairs.

Hould up an example of the two sheets and explain that you’ll give each pair an A sheet and a B sheet.

Each sheet has a school timetable, but each sheet has only part of the timetable. Pairs need to work together to find out their missing information so that they end up with two complete and identical sheets.

Distribute the papers. Tell them not to look at each other’s papers. Let the students do the task.
Once they finish they can show each other the sheets and compare them.

Here are the two sheets:

Pair speaking activity School subjects

Pair speaking activity School subjects sheets

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Battle: Find it first – in class

In this task, students work in groups of three and they take turns asking yes/no questions to identify the picture that one student has in mind.

Print out one copy of the sheet (all 9 timetables) for each student.

Hold up one of the sheets and show everyone that the sheet contains nine timetables that are similar yet different. Students need to listen, think and then ask questions so that they can guess which picture the person is thinking about.

Put the students in groups of three.

Student A will pick a timetable and then students B and C will take turns asking yes/no questions to try to identify A’s timetable. B begins with a yes/no question. If A answers yes then B continues. If A answers no, then c asks a question. The goal is the to be the person who gets a yes answer to the a question such as, “Is it Jane’s timetable?”

After B or C has guessed A’s timetable, then A and C try to guess B’s timetable. Finally, A and B try to guess C’s timetable.

The winner is the student who guesses most timetables.

Here is the sheet each students should get:
Speaking activity school subjects timetables

I hope that you find the School subjects – speaking activities useful and that you will use them in your classes. You can download the worksheets in pdf here. All the pictures are in much better quality here:

School subjects speaking activities worksheet

English irregular verbs in context
English irregular verbs in context

My bad dayIn this post, I offer a set of activities for teaching 9 English irregular verbs. I have tested the sequence in class several times, and I have tried to improve it to get even better results. Right now I feel that the following sequence will ensure that students will learn the past tense of at least seven of these verbs.
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[showmyads] The sequence contains the following steps: a vocabulary activity, reading and comprehension questions, a listening drill, a Grammar Up activity, a crossword, a wordsearch, a word order activity and a speaking exercise.
Let’s start.

English irregular verbs – vocabulary

First ask your students to translate the following list of words into their mother tongue. If you teach an international group of students, ask them to use their own dictionaries and elicit or demonstrate the meaning of the words.

tabulka

English irregular verbs – reading

Ask the students to read the following story and answer the comprehension questions below.

Read the text and put the actions into the order in which they happened:
Yesterday was a bad day. First I forgot to do my homework and my teacher was angry. I left school at 2 oΒ΄clock and I thought that everything was OK. I went home by tram and someone stole my money. Then I lost my keys and I couldnΒ΄t get into my house. So I went out, but I fell and broke my leg. In the evening I ate a bad sausage and then I had a stomach ache. It was a really bad day.

Put the actions into the correct order
go out
have stomach ache
forget homework
leave school
lose keys
eat a bad sausage
someone steals his money
teacher be angry
cannot get into house
break leg
fall
go home

English irregular verbs – Listening drill

Watch the following video and then listen and repeat the sentences.

English irregular verbs – Grammar Up

Here is an unusual exercise for your students. It is called Grammar Up. The students should read the text and add the missing grammar to it. All the verbs are CAPITALISED, and students should put them into the past tense. Instead of articles asterisks * are used, and all the prepositions are replaced with dashes -.

Yesterday BE * bad day. First I FORGET – do my homework and my teacher BE angry. I LEAVE school – 2 oΒ΄clock and I THINK that everything BE OK. I GO home – tram and someone STEAL my money. Then I LOSE my keys and I CANNOT get into my house. So I GO out, but I FALL and BREAK my leg. – * evening I EAT * bad sausage and then I HAVE * stomach ache. It BE * really bad day.

English irregular verbs – crossword

The next task is very popular with students. They should solve the crossword using the past tense of the missing verbs.
irrverbs pic

English irregular verbs – word order

In the following exercise students should put the parts in bold into the correct order.
irrverbs pic 2a

English irregular verbs – wordsearch

The following task is quite simple. Students should find the past tenses of the verbs in the wordsearch.
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English irregular verbs – speaking

In the last task of the series students should retell the story, using the clues. They have to tell the story in the past tense.

7. Retell the story. Use the clues below:

Forget homework
leave school
go home
steal money
lose keys
cannot get into my house
go out
fall
break leg
eat sausage
have stomach ache

If you would like to have all the activities in one worksheet, you can download the pdf worksheet here.

English irregular verbs in context

By now students should be able to remember the nine irregular verbs from this story. If you have time you should play the video again and ask your students to repeat the sentences. I believe that a good way to consolidate your students’ the knowledge of the English irregular verbs is to play the video once per class for a number of classes.

English irregular verbs in context

Gerund or infinitive?
Gerund or infinitive?

Engames and Fluency MC have joined forces again to bring you a post that will help you decide whether you should use a gerund or an infinitive after a verb. This post is not going to provide a comprehensive overview of the grammar. Our aim is to give your students a simple guide to help them decide correctly between the two parts of speech most of the time.
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The post contains a song, an infographic, an interactive online quiz and a game.

Gerund or Infinitive – pretest


Do you think you know the grammar already and donΒ΄t need to read the article? Try the following test and see how well you do.

[viralQuiz id=1]
[showmyads]

Gerund or Infinitive – song


Watch the following song and complete the lyrics. The aim of this song is to introduce the topic.

Here are the lyrics in a pdf file:
Lyrics gerund
Here are the lyrics as supplied and created by Fluency MC:
Gerund-or-Infinitive

Gerund-or-Infinitive-2

Gerund and Infinitive – infographic


The following infographic does not contain a comprehensive list of all the verbs. Only the verbs that are used in the song appear here.

Gerund or infinitive infographic
Gerund or infinitive infographic

These rules are so called rules of thumb. They work in most cases but not all. However, to use the rules correctly, students first have to understand them.
The rule goes like this: β€œIf the first verb happens before the second verb, use TO. If the second verb happens at the same time or before the first verb use the ending -ING with the second verb. “ Thus in the sentence “I hope to go to the party,” I first hope and then go to the party. That is why you use TO. On the other hand, in the sentence “I enjoyed going to the party,” I enjoyed the party at the same time as I was there.

Assess your students understanding of the rules using the following test. Choose 10 verbs at random and ask your students to write them down and write if they think they should be followed by TO or -ING. Then go through their responses and elicit the correct answers.

Once you feel that the students know the grammar, it is time to practise it.

Gerund or infinitive – online quiz


The best way to remember the verb patterns is by using them. The following quiz is in HTML5 and will work on all mobile devices.

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To display the quiz on full screen click the button below.
Gerund or infinitive? – quiz

The second game is in Flash and will play only on desktop computers. It is called On Target, and your task is to choose the correct option and then shoot all the bad cows and ducks. You can shoot one of the bottles on the wall to get a bonus. Enjoy.
Gerund or infinitive – On target game

Gerund or infinitive – links


At engames.eu I have already published two posts on the use of gerunds and infinitives in English. The first post is called Verb Patterns – preintermediate, and the second is called Verb Patterns again – final solution. You can practise the grammar there as well.

Gerund or infinitive

Past simple and past continuous
Past simple and past continuous

Yesterday a friend sent me a song he’d written that uses only the past simple and past continuous tenses. He asked me how I liked it, and I had to admit it was great. A few hours later I encountered a short explanation of the same grammar by Australiaplus.com, and I realised that I wanted to share both with my friends on the Internet. This post is the result.
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In this post there is the song by Chris Barickman, a video explanation, an explanation by Australiaplus.com, an infographic and an interactive quiz.

Past simple and continuous – song


Let’s start with the song. Please listen and complete the lyrics:

The lyrics worksheet:
Past continuous tense lyrics

Past simple and continuous – explanation


Now listen to the following explanation.

And here is another short explanation of the same grammar by Australiaplus.com:

https://soundcloud.com/australiaplus/past-continuous

Past simple and continuous – infographic


Here is a set of infographics created by www.engames.eu.

Past continuous tense affirmative

Past continuous tense questions

See how the questions are formed in the past continuous tense

Past continuous tense usage

See when you should use the past continuous tense


If you want to download the full infographic in superb quality, you can do that here:
Past continuous tense – full infographic

Past simple and continuous – quiz

The following quiz is in HTML 5 so it will play on all mobile devices and desktop computers. Your task is to choose the correct tense – either the past simple or the past continuous. Enjoy the games if you pass the tests.

Past simple or past continuous? – quiz

Past simple and past continuous

Past tense of modal verbs
Past tense of modal verbs

The past tenses of the modal verbs MUST, CAN and CAN’T often cause problems, even for advanced students of English. I have heard some of my best students, who had already passed the CAE exam, use words like MUSTED, and I was not happy about it. That is why I try to teach this grammar thoroughly.
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In this post I would like to share an infographic and additional exercises I use to teach this grammar point. I hope you find this post useful. Please don’t hesitate to share any of your materials on this topic. You can send them to my email: rotreklzdenek @gmail.com. Thank you.

Modals in the past tense – infographic


Display the following infographic to your students and explain that MUST does not have a past tense. Instead, they should use the past tense of HAVE TO. Go through all the verbs and elicit their meaning. Then ask your students to work in pairs. One of them will turn with their back to the screen, and the other will say the verb in the present tense. The student whose back is turned then has to say the verb in the past tense. It is a kind of drill, but if you ask your students to do this for one minute each, it is very effective.

Modals in the past tense

Modal verbs in the past tense – quiz


The following quiz is in HTML 5 so it will work on all mobile devices and desktop computers. Students can do the quiz either at home or at school in a computer lab. If they complete each of the texts with the correct modal verb in the past tense they will be rewarded with a game.

Modal verbs in the past tense quiz

Modal verbs in the past tense – links

There are some very interesting exercises at the British Council site.
There are more exercises on this topic at the BBC learning English site.

Clothes vocabulary
Clothes vocabulary

In my opinion, vocabulary is the most important part of language learning. If you know some words and no grammar, you can communicate. However, if you know a lot of grammar and no words, communication is impossible.
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In this post I would like to give you a chance to enrich your students vocabulary with words for describing items of clothing. There is an infographic, a film and an online quiz to help you teach over 30 words connected with clothing. I hope you find this post useful.

Clothes vocabulary – film


Here is a film to present and teach vocabulary connected with clothes. All the words are displayed, and pronounced by a native speaker. The video consists of two parts. In the first part the students see the clothes, and the word and they hear the native speaker pronounce the word. Their task is to repeat the words. In the second part of the video they only see the clothes, and their task is to say the correct word before they hear the speaker.


Clothes vocabulary – infographic


To make sure that your students can practise the vocabulary at home too, print out the following infographic and hand it out.
Clothes vocabulary infographic

Clothes vocabulary – online quiz


The following quiz is in HTML5 and will play on all mobile devices. It consists of two parts. In the first part, you should match the words with the correct pictures and then click on the correct piece of clothing.
In the second part of the quiz, you have to write the words you see in the picture. If you pass any of these parts, you will be rewarded with a game.
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Clothes vocabulary – quiz

Clothes vocabulary – Links


You can find some great materials to teach clothes vocabulary at the British Council site.

Facebook vocabulary
Facebook vocabulary

Facebook is the most popular social network in the world. Many of our students spend hours on it every day. But have you ever given them a chance to speak about Facebook in an English lesson?

In this post I would like to bridge this gap and give you a chance to teach some words connected with Facebook. Once the students know the words they will be able to talk about Facebook and what they do there. To teach the vocabulary, there is an infographic, a quiz and several speaking activities.
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Facebook vocabulary – infographic


Go through the following infographic with your students and ask them to translate the words if you teach a monolingual group.

Facebook infographic vocabulary

Facebook vocabulary – online quiz

In the following quiz your students can practise the vocabulary taught in the infographic. The quiz consists of two parts. It is in HTML5 and it will play on mobile devices and desktop computers.

Facebook vocabulary quiz

Facebook vocabulary – speaking

The following section contains several speaking activities to give your students a chance to practise the new words in a meaningful way.
The first activity works very well with students who are 15 or older. Hand out the following questions and ask your students to choose three questions they would like to ask you.

a) What was the last post you put on your timeline?
b) Do you share your photos on Facebook?
c) What was your last comment?
d) How often do you comment?
e) How often do you write a status on your timeline?
f) What was the last post you liked?
g) How many friends do you have on Facebook? Do you know your friends personally?
h) Do you ever message anyone? How often and why?
i) What is in your cover photo?
j) What was the last thing you shared on Facebook? How often do you share things?
k) Do you use news feed or any apps on Facebook?
l) Are you a member of any groups? Why?

Answer the questions as best as you can and demonstrate the way you would like your students to discuss the questions.

Then ask your students to choose 7 questions they would like to ask their partner. Ask them to work in pairs and discuss the questions.

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The second speaking activity is called ranking. The students should rank the following Facebook features from the most useful and interesting to the least.

GROUPS, BOOST POST, STATUS, MESSAGE, COVER PHOTO, LIKE, SHARE, PROFILE, COMMENT, EVENT

If you have never done a ranking activity with your students before, it is a good idea to teach the phrases first. Teach phrases like: “I think …. is the most useful…,” “I think …. is the least useful …,” etc. If your students are not able to use these phrases, their discussion will not be very interesting or long.

Past tense of irregular verbs – VA method
Past tense of irregular verbs – VA method

Recently I have published 4 posts on teaching irregular verbs. The posts were based on a rap song by Fluency MC. This post is different.
This time I am introducing a new method of teaching the past tense of irregular verbs. The method is called the Visual-Audio Method, and I think it is completely new. I have managed to try it out with only with one class so far, but I can say that it worked.
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Irregular verbs – video


Here is the video for the Visual-Audio Method. It consists of three parts. In the first part the students listen to, read and repeat the sentences. In the second part they listen to the sentences and repeat them, but the words don’t appear on screen. In the third part they see the picture of the action and they have to supply the sentence before they hear it.

You should play the video at least once in each lesson for one or two weeks to ensure that the students remember the phrases.

Irregular verbs – infographic


The following infographic should help the students revise the words. You can ask your students to translate the phrases.

Irregular verbs VA method infographic

Irregular verbs – quizzes


Your students can test their knowledge of the past tense of the verbs in the following HTML5 quiz. The quiz will play on all mobile devices and desktop computers.
Irregular verbs Quiz


The following two games are in Flash and will play only on desktop computers. They are really fun. I often play them with my classes at school.

Irregular verbs Invaders game


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Irregular verbs Half a minute

Irregular verbs with Fluency MC 4
Irregular verbs with Fluency MC 4

This is the last post in which we try to teach the irregular verbs mentioned in the rap song by Fluency MC. This time there are 15 irregular verbs and to help you teach or learn them there is an infographic, a quiz and a game.

Irregular verbs – song


First, listen to the following song and complete the lyrics. Start at 2:45.

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The lyrics worksheet:
Irregular verbs song lyrics 4

Irregular verbs – infographic


Display or hand out the following infographic and go through the irregular verbs with your students. Explain the meaning of the more difficult verbs if necessary or ask your students to use dictionaries.

Irregular verbs with Fluency MC 4

To print ot the infographic, use the following pdf file:
Irregular verbs with fluency 04

Irregular verbs – online quiz


The following online quiz consists of two parts. In the first part the students should match the irregular verbs and their meanings, and then complete the sentences with an appropriate irregular verb in the past tense.
In the second part the students should drag the irregular verbs to the appropriate spaces in the sentences. After they pass each part of the quiz they will be rewarded with a game.
The quiz is created in HTML5, so it will play on all electronic devices and computers.

Irregular verbs Quiz

The second game is called Goose Science Quiz, and your task is to click the dice in the upper right hand corner and then answer the questions. If you manage to get to the finish first, you will win the game. The game can be played by multiple people at the same time.
Once again, the game is in HTML5, so it will play on all electronic devices and computers.

Goose Quiz on irregular verbs

Irregular verbs – all irregular verbs with Fluency MC posts


As I wrote above, this is the fourth post we have prepared together with Fluency MC. You can find the previous posts here:
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Six different tenses in English
Six different tenses in English

Students often learn just one piece of grammar in a lesson. Most of them master that day’s subject and move on to the next. But, when the time for revision comes, they often don’t remember what they’ve learnt.
For example, two weeks ago my class encountered an exercise in which several tenses were revised. First, they demanded that I re-explain the grammar and then they seemed really confused about what form they should use.
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That was why I decided to stop there and prepare several exercises and a clear mind map. You can find them here.

Six tenses – infographic


There are two different mind maps in this post. The first one shows when different tenses should be used. If you decide to use this mind map, you will have to explain the grammar yourselves.

Six tenses for you

The second infographic is much more detailed. You will have to explain this one to your students as well. You have to emphasize that they first have to ask when the action happens. Does it happen NOW, IN THE FUTURE, IN THE PAST or ALL THE TIME? Once they answer that question, they should follow the appropriate branch. If the action happens in the past, they have to decide if the action was a long one or a short one and then use the appropriate tense.
If the action happens in the future, they have to decide how certain the action is and then use the appropriate form. Promises and predictions are considered uncertain.
Six tenses in English

Six tenses – online quiz


Now that your students understand the grammar, they have to use it as soon as possible. Allow them to use the infographic here.
The following online quiz is in HTML5, so your students can try it out on their mobile phones while you do it on the interactive whiteboard. The quiz has two parts. You will get to play a game after each part if you pass.

Six tenses quiz

If you cannot do the exercise online, you can try the following paper version of the quiz.

six tenses worksheet

More exercises


You can find more exercises to practise different tenses at Five Tenses and Five Tenses additional exercises.

Teach irregular verbs with Fluency MC #3
Teach irregular verbs with Fluency MC #3

As I wrote before, irregular verbs are the most important thing for all students of English to learn. However, it is not easy to master them. That is why Fluency and I started to collaborate on a series of posts that deal with teaching just the irregular verbs.
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In this post we are going to introduce another set of 15 verbs. To learn them there is a song, an infographic, a quiz and a game. If you go through all the activities you will meet each word at least 6 times. We hope you will like our work and share the post.

Irregular verbs – song


Listen to the following song and try to complete the lyrics. To complete the lyrics start the song at 2:05.

You can find the lyrics here:
Lyrics part 3

Irregular verbs – infographic

Irregular verbs with Fluency MC

Here is the infographic with all the irregular verbs, you should learn in this post. For each word there is a definition (in either word or picture form) and two examples of usage.

Display the infographic and go through the verbs with your students. Explain the meaning of the difficult words.

Irregular verbs – game and quiz

Here is a two-part online quiz. Your task is to choose the correct answers and pass the quiz. You you will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz if you pass.
This game is in HTML5, so it will play on all mobile devices as well as desktop computers.

Irregular verbs Quiz

Irregular verbs – other sites

You can find more irregular verbs practise at https://grammarlane.com/irrverbs/irrverbsen.html . Choose the irregular verbs you want to practise and choose the mode (speaking or writing). Then write or say the past tense and the past participle of the verbs you see.

Irregular verbs by British Council.

Irregular verbs by BBC.

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A song by Fluency MC on irregular verbs:

Teach irregular verbs with Fluency MC #2
Teach irregular verbs with Fluency MC #2

In my opinion, irregular verbs are the most important thing one has to learn in English. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that students know them. However, teaching them is not easy. There are no rules, and the number of new words that students manage to commit to memory is quite low. Thus the teaching materials have to be interesting enough that students would return to them.

And one of the best materials for teaching irregular verbs is this song, which was created by Jason R Levine from Fluency MC:
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In this post we are going to deal with the verbs mentioned in the second verse of the song. Below you will find an infographic, an online quiz and a game to help your students learn the irregular verbs.

Irregular verbs – infographic


Display the following infographic and go through the words with them. Use the pictures to explain the meaning or ask your students to use their dictionaries.

Irregular verbs mind map 2


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Irregular verbs – an online quiz and a game


Start with the online quiz. The quiz is in HTML5 so it will play on mobile devices too. In the first part, you should drag the words to the correct spaces. If you pass, you will be rewarded with a game called Angry Farmer. In the second part, you have to look at the picture and complete the sentence. Use the past tense of a verb that best fits the sentence.

Irregular verbs quiz

Irregular verbs – links

You can practise the irregular verbs in sentences in the following video.


Irregular verbs by British Council.

Irregular verbs by BBC.

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A song by Fluency MC on irregular verbs:

Irregular verbs with Fluency MC
Irregular verbs with Fluency MC

I have already published 10 posts on teaching irregular verbs. You can see the list of the posts down here:

  1. Irregular verbs again
  2. Irregular verbs again 2
  3. Irregular verbs – third time lucky?
  4. Irregular verbs in context 1
  5. Irregular verbs straightforward

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  1. Irregular verbs straightforward #2
  2. Irregular verbs straightforward #3
  3. Teach 9 irregular verbs in one lesson
  4. Irregular verbs in context – Scream
  5. Irregular verbs in context – Teacher story

But I still cannot say that my students know the verbs. That was why I joined forces with Fluency MC, and this time we would like to teach the irregular verbs together.
To achieve this, we have prepared a song, an infographic, a game and an online quiz. We believe that if you go through all the activities, you will know the 20 irregular verbs we would like to teach in this post.

Irregular verbs – song

Listen to the song and complete the lyrics.

Irregular verbs lyrics first part

Irregular verbs – infographic


Show the following infographic to your students and ask them to go through the example sentences. If you teach a monolingual class, ask them to translate the more difficult sentences. Note that the print version of the worksheet looks different than the infographic here:

irregular verbs fluency MC

You can download the print version of the infographic here:

Irregular verbs with Fluency MC 1

Irregular verbs – online quiz

Now it is time to test your students knowledge. Ask them to complete the following online test. If they pass they will be rewarded with a game.

Online quiz on irregular verbs

Fluency MC – more videos


You can watch more videos by Fluency MC here: