Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #20: To be in one’s element

Today’s phrase is…

To be in one’s element

Introduce it to your students with some examples:

I had a dinner party last week with loads of old friends from university, I love telling jokes and old anecdotes about our uni days I was in my element.

There was a lot to get done before the wedding but my uncle was in his element; he was giving out orders, making phone calls and making sure everyone was involved.

Lead students to the meaning: to be in a situation where you feel comfortable and perform well.

Put students in pairs or small groups and have them discuss the following questions:

  • When are you in your element?
  • How do you feel in the following situations?:
  • When people are looking to you to make decisions.
  • In a group of people cracking jokes and making fun of each other.
  • In a large crowd at a concert or festival with loud music.
  • In the sales in a busy shopping centre hunting for bargains.
  • Planning a social event.
  • Working on a creative project on your own.
  • Leading a team of people.

Here’s the Quizlet set of all the previous phrases of the day.

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Proficiency, Writing Classes

C1/C2 Review Writing Task: A Life of Crime

This is a writing task for C1/C2 students who are preparing to take the C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency exams and need to practise writing film/TV reviews. You could set it for homework after having used my vocabulary/use of English training activity The Heist. You may also find my lesson plan on incorporating engaging hooks into this type of writing task useful.

Download the handout below:

Task:

Your university’s film club is asking for reviews of films or TV shows on the topic of crime. Maybe you’ve seen a thrilling heist movie, a dark film noir or a TV show about the nefarious adventures of a mafia family. Your review should comment on the plot of the film/show, the quality of the script and acting and recommend the film/show to a specific demographic or warn a specific group against watching it. C1: 220-260 words C2: 280-320 words

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #19: To be out of touch with

Today’s phrase is….

to be out of touch

Introduce it with some examples:

The politician’s response to that question just shows that he is completely out of touch with the ordinary person on the street.

I used to listen to the latest pop music when I was younger but I‘m a bit out of touch now.

They’re completely out of touch with reality if they think building more coal power plants is a good idea.

Lead the students to the meaning of the expression: to not be aware of recent changes to a situation or to not understand a situation fully.

Put students in pairs and have them discuss the questions in pairs:

  • Do you keep up with any of the following things?
  • Football/pop music/fashion
  • Do you think politicians understand what life is like for ordinary people? Why?/why not?
  • How would you describe yourself, are you a pragmatist with your feet on the ground, or do you tend to have wild and unrealistic hopes and dreams?

Here’s the Quizlet set of all the previous phrases of the day.

Posted in Exam Preparation Class, Proficiency, Writing Classes

C2 Proficiency: Report on a Charity Concert

This is another report task for students preparing to take the Cambridge C2 Proficiency exam. It’s designed to give them some practice of planning a report task for part 2 of the writing paper.

A common problem I find is that the report tasks are often quite open and require a bit of creativity and imagination. They may be required to invent a company or organisation they work for or a school they attend. My students often neglect to do this and end up writing things like:

The aim of this report is to evaluate the company event that took place last week.

They don’t use their imagination enough or really generate the situation which leads to bland, unfocused pieces of writing. Therefore, in this worksheet, students will put some time into generating ideas about the charity they work for, the event they organised and what went wrong. They will also revise some inverted conditionals so they can put them to use in their final compositions. Download the handout and key below:

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #18: Come to terms with

Today’s phrase is…

to come to terms with

Introduce it by showing your students the photo on the left. Have them discuss the meaning in pairs. Lead them towards the idea of the empty nest as the family home once all the children have moved out. Ask them to discuss how parents tend to feel when they become “empty nesters”, then show them the sentence below:

It can be difficult for parents to come to terms with being empty nesters.

It can be difficult for parents to come to terms with the fact that their children are independent adults who can fend for themselves (mostly).

Lead them to the meaning of the expression: to accept a new and painful event or situation.

Put students in pairs and have them discuss the following questions:

How would you describe the process of accepting/adapting to the following important changes in life and how long do you think the process takes?

  1. The death of a family pet
  2. Breaking up with your childhood sweetheart
  3. A romantic partner cheating on you
  4. Your child becoming a teenager
  5. Your football team being relegated
  6. Retirement from a job you loved

What unique challenges does each situation involve?

Posted in Exam Preparation Class, Proficiency, Writing Classes

C2 Proficiency: Report on a Training Course

This is a worksheet to help C2 proficiency students practise writing formal reports in preparation for part 2 of the writing paper. Students will brainstorm ideas to complete the task then complete some exercises to help them include advanced grammar and relevant vocabulary. Download the handout and key below:

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #17: Be nothing short of

Today’s phrase is….

Be nothing short of

Introduce it with some examples:

The view from the boat was nothing short of spectacular.

It’s nothing short of miraculous that no one was hurt in the crash.

The desserts were nothing short of fantastic.

The way he treated you was nothing short of abuse.

The dinner party was nothing short of a disaster.

Lead students to the meaning and use: it’s typically used to emphasise a situation or quality, mostly followed by extreme adjectives, however, it can also be followed by some nouns, like the final two examples above.

You can check for more examples by using Skell, the free version of Sketch Engine.

Put students in pairs or small groups and have them discuss these questions, encourage them to use the expression:

  1. What’s the most beautiful view you’ve ever seen?
  2. Describe the best meal you’ve ever eaten.
  3. Have you ever been to a particularly disastrous party or meeting?
  4. Have you ever narrowly avoided having an accident?

Here’s the Quizlet set of all the previous phrases of the day.

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Grammar Classes, Proficiency

C1/C2: Advanced Conditionals Revision

While correcting a mock exam with my C2 group, it came to my attention that they needed a refresher on advanced conditionals. Things like inverted conditionals and also alternatives conditional phrases such as “on condition that”, “supposing…?” and “provided that”. So I put together a little PowerPoint as a refresher. It’s not the most inspired of formats, but I dotted in a few fun speaking activities along the way. Download the PowerPoint below:

You’ll need to prep by coming up with 3 sentences, one with each inverted conditional, here are my examples:

  1. Should I have time tonight, I’ll watch another episode of Ted Lasso. (inverted 1st conditional)
  2. Were I to win the lottery, I’d quit my job. (inverted 2nd conditional)
  3. Had I been born in the 1400s, I would have been an explorer. (inverted 3rd conditional)

The three sentences should be a mixture of true or false bits of information about you.

Read the sentences to your class one by one, students should take no notes, just listen. They should then debate with their partner whether or not the sentence is true. Reveal the truth, then move onto the next sentence.

Once you’ve finished, show the first slide of the PowerPoint (you’ll need to edit the first few slides so that they show your 3 sentences, or just do it on the board). Students have the basic information from the 3 sentences, but none of the grammar, they have to work together to recall what you said. Maybe they’ll remember the “basic” conditional structures (if….), or perhaps the sharper students will remember some of the inverted forms.

Once you’ve revealed and discussed the different forms, lead students through the rest of the PowerPoint, they will get more complete revision of each inverted conditional plus all the other alternative forms already mentioned.

I’m interested to see what hypothetical questions your students come up with for the “suppose”/”supposing” section, let me know in the comments!

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #16: To keep someone waiting

Today’s phrase is…

To keep someone waiting

Introduce the expression with some examples:

The hotel staff kept us waiting for the best part of four hours before our room was ready.

Keeping your date waiting for you to arrive is not a good look.

The expression means “to make someone wait”. There’s also a bonus expression today: “for the best part of an hour/a day/etc.”, which means “almost an hour/a day/etc.

Put students in pairs or small groups and have them answer these questions:

  1. How punctual are you in general?
  2. Do you have any friends/relatives who are always late?
  3. How do you feel when you have to wait around for someone?
  4. What’s the longest you’ve had to wait for a friend/relative to arrive?
  5. What’s the longest you’ve kept someone else waiting?

Here’s the Quizlet set of all the previous phrases of the day.

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #15: Go halves on

Today’s phrase is….

to go halves on something

Introduce it with an example:

On a first date you should always go halves on the bill when it arrives. Do you agree?

The expression means to split/divide the cost of something between two people.

Put students in pairs or small groups and have them discuss these questions:

  1. What’s your opinion of dating etiquette when it comes to paying the bill in a restaurant? How has this etiquette changed over the years?
  2. If you’re sharing a house/flat with a partner, what do you think is the best way to organise the finances? Should the two people’s relative income be taken into account?
  3. When you were a child/teenager and you wanted a particularly expensive item for our birthday/Christmas/another celebration, did you ever split the cost with your parents?

Here’s the Quizlet set of all the previous phrases of the day.