Interactive Stories
Interactive Stories or Guided Stories is the name of an English language teaching technique developed by Mark White, a language teacher/writer. What is an Interactive Story? The technique consists of a story, which includes both sentences and questions so that as one student reads it to the other, the listener can respond to the questions and interact with the storyteller and the story itself by making it up as they go along. What are they for? The goal of an interactive story is to teach narratives in graded language (like graded readers), but orally and interactively. Learn more: Things you can do with an Interactive Story The Origin and Evolution of Interactive Stories Interactive Stories: An Interview with Mark White Examples of Interactive Stories: Advanced English The Banjo Player’s Brother Upper Intermediate English Love and Death World of Water The Story of Green WillowThe ObsessionTibetan StoryThe Children of Kenji Takeuchi Intermediate English The Secret of the Black Drink Asian Odyssey
Past Simple and Past Continuous Exercise 1
Here's an exercise to practise the verb tenses. Choose the past simple or past continuous tense. You can review how to use the past simple here and how to use the past continuous here. Finally, click here to download this exercise in PDF with answers. Need more exercises? Make the past simple or past continuous Go back to the main grammar exercises page
My Favorite Vocabulary Activities
That vocabulary is a basis for language learning is a given. When people travel abroad, they take dictionaries and phrase books, not grammar guides. Therefore, every course we teach should have a substantial focus on vocabulary. The more vocabulary one knows, the more families are known, and the more one can both derive and express meaning. Vocabulary is infinite; grammar is not. So, how best to teach vocabulary? Part I – Activities Taboo - Taboo is one of my go-to activities for all levels. One variation I play is that, at the end of the game, students take the cards they have won and defines them for the group, or makes sentences with them. Though this game is simple, students have always been engaged and it seems to really help them recall vocabulary and gaps in their vocabulary. Hot Seat - This is a game I have been using more of lately with my students as a vocab review and warm-up. The Popcorn Game - This is an ELT variation of the Korean “Nunchi Game” (눈치게임). Part II – Techniques
Adjectives and Prepositions
Download this explanation in PDF here. Some adjectives need a preposition before their object. There doesn't seem to be a logical rule, I'm afraid! Here are some of the most common ones: famous for France is famous for its food.proud of He is very proud of his new car.interested in Julie is very interested in sport.pleased with John is very pleased with his new suit.bad at They are very bad at maths.good at Einstein was very good at physics.married to My mother has been married to my father for 20 years.excited about I'm very excited about my holiday.different from / to Coffee is different from tea.afraid of I'm afraid of spiders. Try an exercise about these adjectives and prepositions here.Click here for all the exercises about prepositions.
lesson plan: about jobs
The aim of this class is to talk about different jobs and compare authentic job descriptions. The idea for this lesson came to me after stumbling upon this amazing website: I found the idea really interesting and decided to introduce my students to this community. The Task The lesson consists of two parts. Part 2 involves working with the website. Personal Experience My teenage students LOVED THIS CLASS. Materials Lifetramp Like this: Like Loading...
English grammar | PDF + Online
Ten Videos to Teach English
Here are ten videos which can help students learn English writing skills. This is a process writing project. Students will need to draft and rewrite at least two versions before a satisfactory piece of writing can be completed. These videos are appropriate for high intermediate to advanced levels students. Writing interesting and reflective pieces that summarize the content and the students’ impressions will require some ability to conceptualize abstract concepts. Most videos are about 4 minutes in length. ESL Video Lesson Instructions Explain the writing objectives. Choose a video for the lesson.Briefly review key words such as plot, character and setting.Watch the video once.Students write first draft of a summary which is factual a description of the plot, character and setting.The second part is student input. 1. Room 8 is a wonderful, clever video prompt because it can stimulate interesting and philosophical questions about the meaning of life. 2. 1. 2. 3. 1. 4. 5. Teach writing.
The definite article
The word "the" is one of the most common words in English. It is our only definite article. Nouns in English are preceded by the definite article when the speaker believes that the listener already knows what he is referring to. The speaker may believe this for many different reasons, some of which are listed below. When to use "the" General rules Use the to refer to something which has already been mentioned. Examples On Monday, an unarmed man stole $1,000 from the bank. Use the when you assume there is just one of something in that place, even if it has not been mentioned before. We went on a walk in the forest yesterday. Use the in sentences or clauses where you define or identify a particular person or object. The man who wrote this book is famous. Use the to refer to people or objects that are unique. The sun rose at 6:17 this morning. Use the before superlatives and ordinal numbers. This is the highest building in New York. Use the with adjectives, to refer to a whole group of people.
