Category: Vocabulary

Go and do something phrases
Go and do something phrases

In the last half a year I have taught this, in my opinion easy, piece of language and I have failed miserably in both cases. And on the basis of this failure I built this post. It contains a clear explanation in the form of a mind map, a worksheet and two games to practise the phrase.

Go and do something – mind map

The phrase I’ll go and do something is used when we want to express that our willingness or intention to do something. The students have to memorize the following phrase and try to use it creatively.
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Go and do something – games

Once the students master the phrase, it is time to test their knowledge. Here there are two games to practise the phrase.
The first game is in HTML5 and it will play on all mobile devices. Your task is to place the words into the correct gaps. If you pass the test, you can play the game called Make them Fall. Good luck 🙂

Go and do something – Make them fall game

The second game is in Flash and it will play just on your desktop. Your task is to click on the correct answer and then try to stop the circle in the middle of the basket.

Go and do something – Hoopshoot

Go and do something – Share

If you like the games you can use them on your website or offline in your classroom. You can download the files here:

Go and get_quiz (Web)

And the flash game is here:

go_and_do_flash

If you share the files on your website, please, could you provide a link to this site? Thank you 🙂

Jack the Giant Killer – part 2
Jack the Giant Killer – part 2

Jack the Giant Killer_img2In the first part of the comic story we met Jack and we learnt about 30 new vocabulary item. Now, it is time to finish the story and learn some more vocabulary. In this post there are several activities to learn or teach the new vocabulary, two games to check your vocabulary knowledge and comprehension and a video with the story. I hope you will find all the activities interesting.

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Extensive reading – video

All the activities in this post are connected with the following video:

If you like the story below there are several activities to exploit it and to learn or teach a bit of English.

Extensive reading – vocabulary

To be able to understand the video well, you need to know a lot of vocabulary. The following file contains 30 words and their definitions.

Vocabulary for Jack the Giant Killer part 2

You can print out the file and use the free spaces either to write your own sentences, or your translations of the words or associations to remember the words better.

If you want to practise the vocabulary, try the following file. It contains 4 crosswords and word puzzles to practise the target vocabulary.

Vocabulary_worksheet

There are many people who prefer learning online. For those there is a HTML5 quiz:

If you like playing it on the whole screen, click on the button below:

Vocabulary quiz

Extensive reading – comprehension

If you are going to play the video in your class the following mind map might come handy. Print it out and students should complete it.
Mind map_Jack the giant Killer_comprehension

Start with the section PART 1 which students should complete before they watch Part 2. (If you did not see part one, you can find it here). Then watch the video of part 2 and complete the rest of the mind map. Check the answers together and then the students can use the worksheet to retell the story.
I have included vocabulary section there, even though I deal with vocabulary above. However, I feel that if students choose vocabulary which they consider useful, they will remember it better.

Once again, if you prefer online activities, here is a game to check your comprehension. It is called on Target and your task is to answer the questions and shoot as many bad ducks as possible. You can get a bonus if you shoot one of the bottles on the sides.

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If you want to play the game on the full screen click the button:
Comprehension game – On target

Numbers from 0 to 99
Numbers from 0 to 99

I have already published a post on numbers. However, there I expected that you know the basics and that you need to learn a bit more about them. This post is different. Here, I would like to start at the very beginning and present the basic numbers from 0 to 99. To achieve this there is a mind map, two quizzes and several worksheets dealing with these.
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Numbers – mind map

In the following mind map I try to depict all the way in which we form the numbers from 0 to 99.
Numbers_0_to_99_full mind map
Be careful not to leave out the hyphen. If you write the number without it, then the number is wrong!!!

Numbers – worksheets

In this section I would like to share several worksheets to practise the numbers in a fun way.
The first one is a worksheet with two colourful crosswords. Print out the pdf file and solve the puzzles.
Numbers_crossword

The second worksheet contains four different tasks. There is a crossword, a spiral crossword, a wordsearch and a hidden words task. Once again, the file is in pdf, so you have to print it out to be able to solve it.

Numbers_word_games

You can find more interesting worksheet at Alenka’s site.

The third worksheet is for teachers. It contains a bingo game. Print out as many cards as necessary and then call out the numbers and decide who wins.
I play a slight variation by asking the students to read one of their numbers.
Numbers 0 to 99_bingo_cards
Numbers 0 to 99_bingo_cards_call out list
If you are a teacher you might like to have a dictation file.

Numbers – games

This part contains two quizzes and games to practise the numbers.
In the first quiz you have to write the numbers in words. If you pass the quiz you will have a chance to play a game to practise your vocabulary. Good luck!!!

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The second quiz is a listening quiz. You have to listen and choose or write the numbers you hear. Especially the last part is really difficult. If you pass, you can play the game calle Math pop. Good luck!!!

Six Methods to teach vocabulary using Mother Tongue
Six Methods to teach vocabulary using Mother Tongue

As a teacher working with a textbook you often need to pre-teach a lot of new vocabulary, because otherwise the text on the following page will be incomprehensible to your students, or you will face a barrage of questions „What does this word mean?“ However, when you scourge the literature for methods how to do this effectively and in a relatively short time you will see that there is very little help there.
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[showmyads] Even though P. Nation in his book Teaching Vocabulary Strategies and Techniques claims that „Every piece of research comparing deliberate learning with incidental learning has shown that deliberate word learning easily beats incidental vocabulary learning in terms of the time taken to learn and the amount learned,“ (Nation p. 104) there are only very few methods for deliberate teaching of vocabulary. In fact Nation in his book mentions only two: word cards and keyword technique.

Therefore I decided to start from there.

Word card method

This method is quite demanding to prepare. You have to prepare a stack of cards for each student.On one side of the card there is the word in the student’s mother tongue and on the other there is the word in English.
The teacher pronounces the words and the students repeat them. Then you ask the students to turn the cards so that they would see the English words. They work on their own. They read the word in English (silently) and translate it into their MT. Then they turn the card and if the translation corresponds with the word they produced they place the card at the back of the stack. If it didn´t they place the card somewhere near the center of the stack.
In this way the students work for 2 minutes. After the two minutes the students turn the whole stack to see the words in their MT. The students now have to say the words in English (aloud). Then they turn the cards and check their answers again and if their translation is correct the card goes to the end of the stack and if it isn´t it goes to the centre. After 4 minutes the students put the cards down and they work on something else.
After 10 or 15 minutes they return to the cards again and they repeat the procedure but this time the times are shortened to 30 seconds and 1 minute.

Repeated crosswords

Students are given words with their translation in their MT. Students listen and repeat the words with the teacher and then they are given a worksheet with 4 different crosswords. Each crossword contains all the words they should learn and the students´ task is to solve all the crosswords. The students usually needed between 20 and 25 minutes to do this (of course it depends on the number of the words).
The greatest disadvantage of this method is the fact that you need 4 crosswords which take a lot of paper and time to prepare.

Rhymes

Honestly, I love this method. I think it is similar to the key word method and therefore it is quite successful.
The teacher prepares short verses which are in the students´ MT and at the end of each line there is the target word in English. This target word rhymes with an MT word which is somewhere in the middle of the verse. (see the example below)
rhymes_teaching_vocabulary

You can see an example of the rhymes in Czech. The highlighted words rhyme with the bold words and there is a translation of the target word at the end of each line.
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[showmyadsa] Students first read the verses aloud and the teacher corrects their pronunciation of the target words. Then they have 2 minutes to remember the rhyming word, the target word and the translation. After the two minutes students turn their papers with the rhymes face down. The teacher reads the rhymes randomly and he pauses before the bold words and the students say the missing word. If they cannot produce the bold word, the teacher says the word and the students repeat it and the teacher later reads the problematic line again.
After going through all the words in this way, the teacher randomly reads only the MT translations and the students say the words. If the students fail to produce the word, the teacher returns to it again a few words later.
It is a good idea to prepare a table with the MT words and ask the students to complete it with the English words at the end of the procedure. Thus the students recycle the vocabulary.

Basketball

This method is very easy to prepare and doesn´t take much time. To prepare this it is enough to have a list of English words with their translation for each student. Read the words to your students and let them repeat the words. Then give them 3 minutes to commit the words to memory. In the meantime hand out dice. At the end of the allocated time ask the students to work in pairs and play the following game.
One of the students will take the die and turn the list of words face down. He/She will throw the die and his/her partner will choose a random word in MT from the list. If the student says the word in English correctly he writes down as many points as there are on his/her die. If he doesn´t produce the word correctly, he will get 0 points. The students should write their points on a piece of paper as to keep their scores in order. After 5 throws the students swap their roles. The students can swap their roles as many times as they like but they have only 7 minutes to play. The world record in this game is 103 points 🙂

Swimming pool

This activity is simple to organise and prepare.
In the first phase the teacher hands out the lists of words where the words are in English and MT. The teacher then reads the words aloud and the students repeat them. Then the students have 3 minutes to remember the words.
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[showmyads] Students work in pairs. They use the grid and go along the lines and together say the words in English. If they do not know the word, they can have a look into the original table. The grid is usually a table 3×25 and all the words there are in MT and they are in random order. (see below)

Swimming pool example

After about 3 minutes the activity changes and the students play the game Swimming pool. Students work in pairs or groups of three and each chooses a column. They mustn´t choose the same column as their partner. Once the teacher says start they start saying the words in their column aloud in English. They start with the word at the top of their column and they go down. If they do not know the word they can have a look into the original table. The winner is the student who gets to the last word in their column first.
As all the students speak at the same time it is a bit of a mayhem but it is not that bad.
Once all of them finish their columns, students change columns and play the game again. Students can play the game as many times as you like, but three times is ideal.
In the last step the students have 4 minutes to write all the words into the grid. If they do not know the word they can have a look into the original table. They mustn´t leave any square empty.

Clap your hands

Students usually do not like this method very much. It might be caused by the fact that they feel exposed and uncomfortable, but anyway their feelings do not seem to influence their learning results.

Teacher gives each student a word to remember and tells him/her its meaning in MT. Students and the teacher stand in a circle and they get their hands ready. On count of three they clap twice and the first student says his assigned word in English and Czech. Students clap twice and the second student says his word in Czech and English. Thus they go till they get to the last student.
In the second round the students again clap twice, but this time they say their words only in English. They go like this till all the students said their words.
In the third round students clap twice and the first student says her word in English. Students clap twice and the second student says the first student’s word, students clap twice and he says his word. The third student repeats the first student’s word, clap clap, the second student’s word and her word. Thus it goes till the last student repeats all the words.
Then all the students say all the words together and they clap after each twice. Students sit down and the teacher hands out tables where only the MT meaning is given. Students´ task is to complete the table with the new words. Then one of the students should write the words on the board and the students check their answers.
Below you can see a part of the table the students complete:

clap_your_hands
The greatest disadvantage of this method is the fact that the number of students present is extremely improtant. The ideal situation is when there are as many students as there are words to be taught. It is not advisable to give more than 1 word to each student.
I hope you will find these methods useful.

Greetings in English for elementary students
Greetings in English for elementary students

There are some words you cannot live without in any language, and greetings certainly belong among those words and phrases. In this post I aim at introducing and teaching nine basic greetings for elementary students. To achieve this goal I there is a nice mind map and several games to practise these words.

Greetings – mind map

In this mind map there are the basic greetings ordered according to their frequency in British English. So the most frequent word in British English is “HI”.
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The letters in the circles show how formal or informal the given expression is. If it is informal we use the greeting with people we know well and our friends. With other people we use the formal greetings.

Notice that HELLO is both formal and informal. This greeting is often used instead of GOOD MORNING etc. and no one thinks you are being impolite.

Greetings – games

It is time to practise the greetings and learn them. The first game is in HTML 5 and it will play on any mobile device you use. It is a simple crosword. Click on any square and at the top of the crossword there will appear a clue. Then just type your answer. You can print out the crossword too and then solve it on a paper. It is up to you:

Greetings – Crossword

The other two games are in Flash and therefore they will play just on your desktop. The first one is called Teacher invaders and you have to answer all the questions with the correct greeting and then shoot all the invaders. Good luck.

Greetings – Teacher Invaders

The second game is called half a minute and it is suitable for classes with an interactive whiteboard. When you start the game there will appear the jumbled greeting and students have to write it on their paper and then one of them can type it into the computer. However, you have to do this in 30 seconds. Have a good fun with it.

Greetings – Half a minute
Vocabulary placement test – intermediate students
Vocabulary placement test – intermediate students

Have you tried our vocabulary placement test for elementary students, and it was too easy for you? Have you scored close to 2000? Then this is the vocabulary test you should take. Here we test the words which belong between 2,000 and 5,000 most frequent words in English.
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[showmyads] There are 60 questions and the score at the end tells you how many words from the 3,000 words you know. If you add this score to the score from the test for elementary students, you will know how many words from the five thousand most frequent words in English you know.

Vocabulary placement test – test

Give a try to the following test. The score at the end of the test tells you how many words you know. So if it tells you that your Score is: 2,350 points it means that you know 2,350 out of the 3,000 words which belong into the group of 2,000 to 5,000 most frequent words in English.

If you want to do the test on the full screen, click the button below. The test is made in HTML5 so it will play on your mobile phones as well:
Vocabulary placement test – full screen

If you want to know the total number of English words that you know among the 5,000 most frequent words in English take the Vocabulary test for elementary students and then add the score to the score from the test above. Thus if you score here 1,750 and in the elementary test 1,800, you know 3,550 words from the 5,000 most frequent words in English.

Remember, THE MORE ENGLISH WORDS YOU KNOW THE BETTER YOUR ENGLISH IS!!!!

Vocabulary placement test – comment

Please, if you spot a mistake, or you come up with a better definition, please leave a comment. We are trying to improve each activity, and your comments help us a lot.
Thank you.

Jack the Giant Killer – comic story part 1
Jack the Giant Killer – comic story part 1

Students like reading comics. Comics are often the only thing students read. When I started an extensive reading project last year, students did not mind reading comics, however when we moved to short stories, more than half of them stopped reading and started to hate the programme. On the basis of this experience I have prepared a fairy tale comic for students to read.

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[showmyads] To be able to read a text and understand it, it is essential that you know the words. The more words you know the more you can enjoy the text. That is why I have so many materials dealing with the vocabulary here. First, learn the vocabulary with our associative method and then play the games. Once you know the words, watch the video and answer the comprehension questions.

Jack the Giant killer – vocabulary

First, learn the vocabulary using our associative learning method.

Associative learning method

When I study vocabulary, I am able to learn about 50 words a day. And here is how I do it.

The Associative learning method.
Take each word and find in your mother tongue or any other language you know some words it reminds you of. Thus for example, when I see the word GIANT I come up with these associations: Gigantic, Gigi (my former student´s nickname, anténa (antenae). When I create these associations I move to another word. I go on like this with four words. Then I cover the English words and I see just their translations and I recall them.
In this way I go on for as long as I feel like it and my vocabulary grows.

Vocabulary activities

Here are the words and materials to learn them using the associative method. You can verify your knowledge of the words at the end where there are two quizzes. If you pass the test you can play a game. All of the activities are in HTML 5 so you can learn using your mobile whereever you are.

For a better mobile experience it is better to click over here and see the activity full screen.
Vocabulary – associative method

If you prefer doing these activities offline, you can print out the following worksheets and try them out:
Word games_part01_giant

Word games_part01_key

Giant_page_pdf – associative method worksheet

If you like crosswords on your computer, you can try the following one. It is in HTML5 so it will play on all mobile devices too:
Jack the Giant killer – crossword

Jack the Giant Killer – video

Now, that you know the vocabulary, you can watch the first part of the video and enjoy it.

And now try the comprehension quiz. If you pass the quiz you can play the game called HOT RACE. The quiz is in HTML 5 so it will play on any mobile device. However, the game is only in Flash and it will play on your desktop only.

If you want to play the quiz on full screen, click the following button:
Comprehension questions – part 1

Associative learning method – comments

  • How did the method work for you?
  • How many words were you able to learn this way?
  • What problems did you encounter?
  • Is there anything more you would like to tell us?

Do not hasitate and comment below. Thank you 🙂

Vocabulary placement test – beginners
Vocabulary placement test – beginners

Recently we have published a placement test based mostly on grammar. Some of our readers commented that a vocabulary placement test might be useful too. That was why we have tried to create a test which would show you how many words you know. A part of the test is partly based upon the test by Paul Nation, however the first part is completely original.

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This test is for beginners and elementary students of English. Here you can find out, how many words from the 2,000 most common words in English you know. So, if you answer all the questions correctly, you know all the 2,000 most common words in English. If you answer only 50% of the questions, you know 1,000 words. Your aim is to score as much as possible.

Vocabulary placement test – beginners

The following test contains 60 items. Your task is to drag the most suitable word to a given picture or into a given gap. You can guess because there are many extra words which make correct guessing virtually impossible. Once you finish the resulting score tells you how many words you know.

If you want to do the test in a full-screen mode click over here for the HTML5 version:

Placement test vocabulary HTML5

If you want to do the test on your computer and you prefer flash, click on the button below:

Placement test vocabulary flash

If your score is close to 2,000 it is clear that you know more words. If you want to find out how many, you can try our Vocabulary placement tests for pre-intermediate and more advanced students (coming soon on this website.)

Vocabulary placement test – share

If you have a website where you would like to share this test, you can embed it there by placing the following code into it:

<iframe src="http://www.envocabulary.eu/placement test/Vocabulary placement test_beginners (Web)/index.html" width="560" height="500" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Vocabulary placement test – comments

We welcome any comments you might have, because they help us improve the posts here. We try to implement your comments into the activities immediately and we try to answer them. For example, there are nearly 20 comments to the Placement test post and thanks to you we were able to improve several questions, so now the test is much more reliable than it was before. Therefore do not worry and comment. THANK YOU.

Speak about means of transport
Speak about means of transport

Means of transport is one of the topics you cannot avoid. Nowadays people travel a lot and they often have to do it on daily basis. And thus it is one of the most natural topics for a conversation in a class. Here you can learn the names of several means of transport and you can learn to speak about them fluently. To help you achieve this there is a mind map, a video, several worksheets and two games.

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Means of transport – song

Start the lesson with the following song. It is fun and you can ask your students to count how many different means of transport they heard in the song:

The correct answer is 13.
In the following exercise, you can try listening again and tick all the means of transport you hear.

Means of transport – vocabulary

After introducing the vocabulary, it is time to learn it. The following worksheet contains three activities for you. There is a crossword, a spiral crossword and a set of jumbled words. Print the worksheet out and try to complete the activities.

Means of transport – worksheet

If you are a teacher, it might be a good idea to include the BINGO game in your lesson. There are 18 different BINGO cards for you to print out. You can either call out the words yourself or you can ask your students to write 3 sentences which contain one or two of their words. Then each student reads one of their sentences and the others cross out the words they hear. Do not forget to set the winning combination before you start the game.

Means of transport – BINGO cards

Means of transport – mind map

This part is the most difficult one. While the previous activities were for elementary students of English, this one is more suitable for pre-intermediate and intermediate learners. Print out the following mind map and then watch the video and complete it.

Means of transport mind map
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At the end of the video there is a task to speak about the given topics for the set times. You can, or better you should, use your mind map with your notes. If you can speak about the means of transport, the following games will be a piece of cake for you.

Means of transport – games

The first game is quite easy. Complete the quiz and if you pass you can play the game called Tower defence. The game and the quiz are in HTML 5 so they will play on your mobile device.

Means of transport – Indiara game

The second game is slightly more difficult. Your task is to complete the sentences from the video, so if you are not sure what there was, play the video on means of transport again. If you pass the test you can play the Indiara game. Good luck.

Means of transport – Tower defence
Confusing words: BIG or LARGE, HIGH or TALL
Confusing words: BIG or LARGE, HIGH or TALL

For many learners of English the slight differences between the words BIG vs. LARGE and HIGH vs. TALL are very difficult to understand. In this post I will try to make the differences clearer and easy to remember. To achieve this, I have come up with two videos, two quizzes and two mind maps. I hope you will undestand the differences now.
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Confusing words – High and Tall video

The following video has been created by Australia + Learning English. This video clearly explains the differences in the usage of the words TALL and HIGH. Watch it and then complete the mind map below.

Once you have watched the video, try to complete the following mind map. Of course you can watch it several times if you need. Keep the completed mind map for your future reference.
Confusing words tall and high mind map

Confusing words – BIG and LARGE video

BBC learning English produced a great explanation of the differences between the two words on their pages. I have just turned it into an interactive video, which you can see below. At the end of the video there is a quiz to check whether you remember the most important facts.


The sound track comes from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1837_aae/page24.shtml
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BIG and LARGE – video explanation

Once again it would be ideal if you completed the following mind map to remember all the facts about the usage of the two words.
confusing words big and large mind map

Confusing words – revision

Now it is high time to practise all that you have learnt so far. In the following quiz you have to answer more than 70% of all the questions correctly to be able to play the game Angry Finches. Of course you can use all the materials from this post. All games and videos here are in HTML5 so they should play on your mobile devices.

If you want to see the quiz on the full screen, click the following button:
Confusing words – final quiz

TV programmes vocabulary: lesson plan
TV programmes vocabulary: lesson plan

Recently I published a post on TV programmes vocabulary. In this post I would like to add a few activities to help the teachers prepare a great lesson on this topic and to give students a few more activities to practise the vocabulary.

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Unlike in the previous posts, there are several worksheets which you can print out and use. There is a song and a gap fill, a bingo worksheet and a worksheet with five more activities to practise the vocabulary connected with TV programmes. And of course there is a mind map to help you remember the new words better.

TV programmes – song

I love using songs at the beginning of a lesson. Especially if they are popular, they can serve as a great starter. If you are just a learner of English, you can try the interactive quiz below.

For this lesson, I am going to use the song Throw Away your Television by Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Complete the lyrics:

I you need the lyrics for your classroom or a you simply prefer paper materials, here are two pdf files.

TV song_red hot chilli peppers

TV song red hot chilli peppers – key

At the end of the song I will elicit the topic of the lesson by the following questions:
What will be the lesson about?
What will we learn?

Once I get the topic of the lesson out of the students I move to the other part of the lesson.

TV programmes – Vocabulary presentation

There are three ways to go about presenting vocabulary. I would use the video from the previous post on TV programmes vocabulary and the following mind map.

TV  programmes_mind map2

If you do not like any of the materials above, all the new vocabulary is listed in the worksheets too.

TV programmes – Vocabulary practice

The practice is based upon the following worksheets. Print them out and follow the instructions:

TV programmes

TV programmes_answers

If you have already presented the students with the video and a mind map, start with the second exercise. Students should put the words into the correct form and complete the sentences. Once they complete them, discuss the questions in pairs and then as a whole class.

The other exercises are quite simple and quite fun. Ask the students to do as much as they can in 10 minutes. You can give them the answers at the end of the activity or you can check their answers.

Once we do the worksheets, I give my students a chance to use the new words creatively. Ask them to write 3-10 questions using the new words. Help the struggling students by giving them the simple example What sports programmes do you watch? and show them that they can create 12 questions by replacing the words sports programmes with other TV programmes vocabulary.

When the students write the questions give them a chance to ask you their questions. Answer the questions and at the same time you have a chance to correct the most striking mistakes.

After a while ask the students to discuss the questions in pairs.

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At the end of the lesson I try to put a game. This time I have prepared the Bingo game for my students. Print out the following worksheet and cut it. Shuffle the cards and give each student one. Ask them to work in pairs and say the names of the TV programmes they have on their cards. They can ask you if they are not sure.

TV programmes bingo call card

TV programmes bingo cards

If you are sure that the students know all the words there are two options for you. You can either read the words yourself or I ask each student to say one of the words. Remember to state the winning combination before you start the game.

And that is the end of the lesson. If I count correctly, the lesson will take about 40 minutes.

TV programmes – learn English vocabulary
TV programmes – learn English vocabulary

Everyone watches TV sometimes. Thus, to be able to speak about what they watch students need some specialised vocabulary. The aim of the following post is to introduce and teach 13 names of TV programmes.
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To achieve this, we have prepared the following activities: a video, a mind map, a pictionary and two games to practise the vocabulary you have learnt.

TV programmes – video

Watch the following video and repeat the words. Go through the video as often as you feel necessary to remember all the words for the TV programmes.

TV programmes – graphically

If you find the video to fast here is a pictionary. You can study the vocabulary from the following picture:

TV programmes pictionary: learn the vocabulary

You can learn the vocabulary here

Once, you feel that you know all the necessary vocabulary, it is a good idea, to print out the following mind map and complete it with all the words you remember. Try to add the names of some real TV programmes you watch too. For example write a comedy programme to the picture of Laurel and Hardy and write there Friends, too.

TV programmes mind map

Write the words you have learnt and examples of the programmes you know.

TV programmes – games

Now you have a chance to practise your knowledge in a playful way. The first quiz is fully in HTML5 so it should play on your mobile devices too. Try to solve the quiz by matching the words and the pictures and by writing the appropriate words to the pictures. If you pass you will play the game called angry Farmer. My best result has been 25. Will you be better than me?

TV programmes – HTML 5 quiz

The second game is going to play only on your desktop as it is in flash. The name of the game is Half a minute and your task is to unjumble the words. Good luck.

TV programmes – Half a minute game
The Kiss story by Kate Chopin
The Kiss story by Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin was an American author from the end of the 19th century and she wrote very interesting stories. I have taken one of the shorter ones and simplified it for pre-intermediate students.

The Kiss is a story about love and money. It is about a girl who has to choose between real love and a lot of money. What will she choose?
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The Kiss – mind map

Even though the story has been simplified there are still some words that may cause problems. The words are listed in the following mind map which can (and should) serve as a worksheet. Print out the pdf worksheet file or the picture and translate the vocabulary into your MT.
The Kiss by Kate Chopin mind map extensive reading

The Kiss Kate Chopin mind map.pdf

The Kiss – story

Now, that there are no unknown words it is time to read and listen to the story. Take the mind map, listen and answer the comprehension questions. It would be best to listen to the story at least twice.

The Kiss – games

Now there are several games and activities to check your knowledge and understanding of the Kiss story.

First, you can try two dictation activities. Listen and click on the sentences you hear.
The Kiss – Dictation 1 The Kiss – Dictation 2

Now you can play several comprehension games. First, you could try the Hoopshoot game. (This game is in Flash and might not play on your mobile device).

The Kiss – Basketball game

The second game is called Penalty Shoot out. Answer the questions and score! (This game is in Flash and might not play on your mobile device).

The Kiss – Penalty game

The third game is the most difficult one. It is called Fling the teacher and you have to answer all 15 questions correctly to win the game. (This game is in Flash and might not play on your mobile device).

The Kiss – Fling the teacher game

The last activity is called Storyboard and your task is to reconstruct the original text. This one is really difficult!!! Are you up to the challenge???

The Kiss – Storyboard

Other stories

If you like the Kiss, you might like the following stories too:
Two dates chapter 1
Two dates chapter 2
Two dates chapter 3
Two dates chapter 4
There are several short articles and activities at www.englishlearningmagazine.com:
Amelia Earhart story
Prague story
There are two more stories with vocabulary at our sister site:
Flatmates vocabulary 1
Flatmates vocabulary 2
Maths in English
Maths in English

“What does maths have to do with learning English?” you might ask. Many people believe that nothing. In fact many wrongly believe that you can be good either at maths or at English.

However, I think that mathematics and English have more in common than it might seem at the first sight. To be good at both of them you have to practise a lot. And to be able to solve the mathematical problem you have to understand it. And to understand the mathematics you need to understand the English first. Thus English and algebra have a lot in common.
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Mathematics problems – vocabulary

As I write above, to get to the algebra you need to understand the English first. Learn the following vocabulary using the mind map. All the words are explained and demonstrated. Print out the mind map and write the translation of the words into the empty boxes.

maths-ing-english

Vocabulary – quiz

Now it is time to practise the vocabulary you have learnt in the mind map. If you pass the vocabulary quiz you can play the game Tic_Tac_Toe. Both of the activities are in HTML 5 so you can try them out on your mobile phone or tablet. There is just one way to win the Tic Tac Toe game. Can you find it? Good luck.

Mathematic problems – vocabulary

Mathematics – problems

Now that you know all the vocabulary it is the time for the algebra. Can you solve these problems?

1. There is a big container full of lemonade. You can fill 114 bottles from this container. Each of these contains 0.7 litre. How many 0.3 litre bottles can you fill from the same container?

2. A restaurant bought 6.4 kilogrammes of pork, 3.5 kilogrammes of beef and 4.2 kilogrammes of ham. One kilo of pork costs 123 crowns, one kilo of beef costs 245 crowns, and one kilo of ham costs 156 crowns. How much did the restaurant pay?

3. Peter measured temperature during the day. He measured these temperatures: -2.0 degrees Celsius, 0.1 degrees Celsius, 3.4 degrees Celsius, 3.9 degrees Celsius, 0.5 degrees Celsius, -1.7 degrees Celsius and -3.5 degrees Celsius. What was the average temperature?

4. A pump delivers 50 litres per minute. How long will it take till a 10.2 cubic meter pool becomes full?

5. When James went to school he had $28.75 in his wallet. His friend gave him back $12.84. He then bought a burger for $3.86 and two books for $9.30. In the evening his father gave him $2.70 and he returned $5.00 to his mother. How much money did he have at the end of the day? Did he have more or less money and by how much?

Mathematics solution – mind map

Here you can see the graphical explanation how to solve the mathematical problems.
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maths-in-english

Mathematics – solution

Still not sure whether you have counted correctly? Insert your answers into the following quiz and see how many answers you got correct. If you manage to solve 4 or five problems you can play the game Angry Finches. Good luck.

Mathematic problems – solutions
Sports vocabulary
Sports vocabulary

Some posts take quite a long time to produce, but this one was an extreme case. Four people participated on it and I think we have produced a great material to teach vocabulary connected with sports.

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[showmyads] In my opinion there is everything. There is a video to help students with the pronunciation of the words. There are two mind maps to help you organise the new vocabulary in a way that will be easy to remember. And at the end of the post there are several activities to help the students learn all the words.

Sports vocabulary – VIDEO

Watch the video. Listen to the American pronunciation of the words and repeat.

Sports vocabulary – MIND MAP

In the following mind map you can see all the words and phrases clearly organised.
sports-vocabulary
The second mind map can serve as a worksheet. Your task is to complete it with the right words.
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Sports vocabulary – Games and quizzes

This time all the quizzes are in HTML5 so they will play on your mobile devices.

The first quiz is a way to learn the words. Listen and repeat the words. Then complete the quiz and go on. There will appear another set of words and a quiz. And so on.

Learn Sports vocabulary

The second game is called Kim’s game. You will see a set of pictures and then three of them will vanish. Your task is to write the words for the given missing words. However, you have just one minute to remember. And then three more pictures will vanish. Are you able to recall all the words?

Kims game – sports vocabulary

The third quiz is a dictation. In the first phase you will listen to several sentences and you have to click on the words you hear in the sentences. In the second phase you have to listen to the sentences and write them. Good luck.

Sport – dictation and listening
Similes – learn the phrases
Similes – learn the phrases

In my last post I try to teach 11 common similes in English. However, as some students still feel that they need more practise, I have decided to produce this post too. This post contains a visually appealing demonstration of all the 11 similes, a short film to learn the phrases and a dictation exercise.

Similes – picture

You can see all the similes in one picture. Go through them and try to remember the phrases.
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similes mind map 2

Do you know these similes?

Similes – video

In the following video you can see and hear all the similes. In the first part you are asked to repeat the phrases. In the second you have to produce the phrases on your own.

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Similes – dictation

In this task you will hear the similes used in simple sentences. Listen and write the sentences. If you succeed you can play the game Angry finches. Good luck

Similes – practice

If you know all the similes print out the following mind map and complete it with the similes. You should keep the printout and use it for future reference.

Similes mind map 3

Complete this mind map with the similes you remember

 

Similes for learners of English
Similes for learners of English

A year ago George Woolard published a book called Messaging. There he suggests that learners of a foreign language should learn the whole phrases and sentences. By learning the whole chunks the students will later be able to produce the language quicker and more precisely.
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[showmyads] I think that I can agree with this proposition. However, there is a problem. It is much more difficult to commit to memory long sentences than short words. That is why this method will probably never spread much.

Fortunately there is one area in English that follows the Messaging principle and at the same time does not overwhelm our memory. These are similes. As they consist of well known words and they have got their rhythm they are easy to remember.

In this post I am going to introduce eleven common similes which will be presented in a mind map. Then you can learn the phrases in a presentation and once you know all the similes you can test your knowledge in two quizzes. If you pass the quizzes you can play the games Car race and Angry Finches.

Similes – mind map

First study the similes in the following mind map once you know the phrases, cover the text and produce the similes looking at the pictures only.
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Similes mind map

Similes are easy to remember.

Similes – presentation

Go through the following presentation and try to remember the phrases. If you have remembered the phrases using the mind map, you can skip this exercise.

Similes – games

In the first game you should match the beginning and the end of the phrase. If you match more than 60% of the phrases correctly, you can play the game Car race. Good Luck.

In the second quiz you have to complete the sentences with the missing words. Each gap contains exactly one word. If you pass the test (you need 80% this time) you can play the Game Angry FINCHES. This game si fully supported by mobile phones.

Verbs and prepositions for elementary students
Verbs and prepositions for elementary students

Many verbs in English are often followed by the same preposition. Therefore it is best to learn them togehter from the beginning. However, even if you do this it is neccessary to sum it up from time to time.

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The following summary was created for my elementary students of English and it contains the verbs they know which are often followed by the prepositions FOR, ABOUT, AT and TO.

In this post you can find a mind map and two games to practise the usage of the given preposition.

Prepositional pharses – mind map

The following mind map graphically shows the verbs which are used with the prepositions FOR, ABOUT, TO and AT.

verbs and prepositions for elementary students

Learn the verbs together with the prepositions

Verbs and prepositions – games

Once you memorise all the verbs and prepositions that follow them you can try the following games. In the first game you should complete the sentences with the correct preposition. If you succeed you can play the game Highway Race. In this game you try to avoid all the cars on the highway. The best result has been 50,000 points. Can you do better?

The second game is a classic. It is called Teacher Invaders and your task is to shoot all the invaders before they destroy the whole planet. However, from time to time the game is interrupted and you have to complete a sentence with the correct preposition. Good luck.

More posts on prepositions

If you liked this post and you feel that you need to practise the prepositions more you might like the following posts on our site.

Adjectives and prepositions

Prepositions for places

Prepositions of time.

Do you think that we should create some more posts? Please leave a comment and we might do it.

The environment vocabulary for intermediate learners
The environment vocabulary for intermediate learners

The environment is one of the most frequently discussed topics in the world. However, to be able to speak about this topic you need some basic vocabulary. In this post I try to introduce some words related to the topic of Environment. Later you can practise the new words in games.

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In this post on you can find a video presentation of all the words given here:

urban
sewerage system
green
nature reserve
fossil fuels
smog
global warming
greenhouse effect
rural
endangered species
go off
die out
run out of
give off
cut down
bring out
clear up
throw away

Environment vocabulary – video

Here is a video presentation of the vocabulary connected with the environment.

Environment vocabulary – mind map

Once you know the words, try to divide them into the following mind map.

Environment vocabulary mind map

Environment vocabulary – games

As it is holiday over here, I have had a lot of time and I have created several games to practise the vocabulary.
The first game is a simple quiz. Your task is to match the words and definitions, and then complete the sentences with the new words. If you pass the quiz you can play the game called Angry Finches as long as you like.
Environment vocabulary – quiz

The second game is called Reaction and your task is to complete the sentences with the missing words and then click on the ugly frog as quickly as possible.

Environment vocabulary – Reaction game

The third game is a dictation game. Listen to the sentences and if you write them correctly you will be given a chance to play the game called Hot race.

Environment vocabulary – Dictation

The last game is just loosely connected to the topic. It is called Reaction and your task is to write the adjectives of the given words. If you create the adjectives correctly you will play the game Reaction. Wait till the ugly frog appears and then click on it as quickly as you can.

Environment vocabulary – Adjectives
Town vocabulary
Town vocabulary

In this post I would like to introduce about 20 new words connected with towns. These words are neccessary if you want to speak about the place where you live or stay.

The vocabulary is for elementary and pre-intermediate students and it covers different basic features which can be found in towns and cities.
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[showmyads] This post contains a video with the correct pronunciation and example sentences. Then there is a mind map to help you organise the vocabulary and learn it. In the last part there are several games to give you an opportunity to practise the town vocabulary.

Town vocabulary – video

Watch the video and repeat the words you hear and see. Try to understand the example sentences and later try to repeat them too:

If you feel that you need to practise the words, watch the video several times.

Town vocabulary – mind map

Now you should try to complete the following mind map with all the words from the video. The words are listed in the bottom right corner of the mind map:
town vocabulary for elementary students mind map

Town vocabulary – games

The first game will test your vocabulary knowledge. There are several quizzes and then, if you succeed, you can play a game. The game is called Hot race.
Town vocabulary – quizzes and games
Many of my students feel that listening is the most difficult skill. Therefore, I have prepared the following dictation activity. You will hear several sentences and your task is to write the sentence you hear. If you are successful, you will get a chance to play the game Rock, scissors and paper. (Of course, you can skip the game, if you do not want to play it. Just click on the NEXT button and you will get another dictation.)
Town vocabulary – dictation