My name is Tim, I’m a British English teacher, Teacher Trainer and materials developer living and working in Barcelona, Spain. I’ve made this site to give a little something back to the international community having ransacked various teaching blogs and sites on countless occasions. Feel free to use any of the lesson plans and let me know how they go or if you have any (constructive) criticism.
Here is my linkedin if you wanna connect:
Also follow me on twitter here:
Hi Tim,
Are you teaching CPE? I googled Cambridge’s CPE test and your site was one of the first results. I just started teaching it and feel a little in over my head. Either way, your blog is fabulous. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah I do teach CPE, I’ve only just started and I understand how you feel. I’m just focusing on improving their vocabulary at the moment, I don’t work on too much grammar, lots of sayings and slang. I’m also trying to incorporate video and TV shows to expose them to more natural English. I’ll be posting some more of those lesson plans soon. Glad you like the blog, good luck with CPE.
Ya, I thought that would be the best way to approach it. Do you use any books or any kind of curriculum in class? I’m using oxford’s Cambridge English Proficiency Masterclass (it’s pretty new, fancy and not so good 🙁
I’ve got a copy of Masterclass too, the grammar sections do seem very dense. I’m using an old book which just focuses on the use of English, it’s called LES Proficiency Use of English, it’s published by Longman, it breaks the grammar parts up quite nicely and has lots of practice tests. I also use http://www.quizlet.com a lot, you can make sets of flashcards to drill vocabulary and the students can use it at home, it’s very useful
Tim.
What a wonderful site. I am soon to start teaching English in Brazil and know this kind of resource will be invaluable. Keep it up, fantastic job.
A brilliant site.. I am full of admiration.. just stumbled across it this morning looking for inspiration for CAE lessons here in Sicily.. I will definitely be coming back to the site frequently. So professional-looking too. Many thanks indeed. Sophie
Thank you for sharing your lesson plans!!!!
Thanks Tim, I´m gonna use your complaining class later with a private class for a couple here in Barcelona. It fits perfectly cause last week they asked me for help to write an email to complain about a hotel experience.
Oh hi BTW Im Faye! I teach Buisness English, kids and also private 1-2-1
Stumbled on your site by accident and I love it!!! your students are lucky to have you lol and now so am I! I teach all ages from 3 up to CAE in Malaga. Can’t wait to try out some of your lesson plans. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Tim! I’m a TEFL teacher up in Zaragoza and your lessons have worked super well in class. Can I link to here from my website? I’d appreciate any reciprocal links to http://www.easyenglisharticles.com
Hey Jess, I found your site the other day. It looks great, I’m gonna use your google glass one with one of my teen groups. I’ll add you to my blog roll and put you in a post.
Done! Have a great weekend!
Huge congrats on your site! It looks awesome! And thanks a lot for sharing your lessons. The Mr. Bean one was a complete success in one of my Business English classes. I’ll be back for sure!
Hi Tim What a great website! Thank You so much! It’s very inspiring and will definitely help me with everyday teaching. I found it today, just in time! My CAE student, I teach on 1-2-1 basis, is taking her exam tomorrow and I found some real treasure here to help her with the final prep. in our tonight’s lesson. Some great advice! Cheers for this!
Hope you’re ok if sometimes I modify your handouts e.g. make them a little bit shorter or add a few points – but still of course include a link to your website but say ‘based on freeenglishlessonplans.org.’
Are you an examiner as well?
Barcelona, what a place to work in! I used to work in edu in the UK. It was fun:) Now I’m self-employed back at home teaching in a lang. school, 1-2-1 and in a company.
Once again thanks for making our work easier.
Best wishes
Do with whatever you like with it. I’d obviously appreciate any links or ping backs. Barcelona is a lovely place to live and work. I’m not an examiner, it’s something I’d like to get into some day though. Have a nice day, good luck to your student. I’ve got one taking it on Saturday.
Thanks, no worries, I’ll make sure there’s always a reference to your work.
Good luck to your student, too. I passed your wishes on to mine:)
Take care.
Just stumbled on your site – awesome stuff! Hopefully my blog will get to where you are at some stage 🙂
Thanks for the comment. I started mine as a database of activities because I kept writing them and then losing them on various pendrives and work computers, now I just upload them. It’s like my Dropbox! I recommend sharing your posts on the Teaching English British Council Facebook page, if they like it they’ll repost it and the hits will come flooding in. Happy blogging!
Thanks for the tip!
Hi, your lesson preparation is incredible – great very useful and organized content! I’ve been away from Britain too long and so much of what you use has fallen into my passive vocabulary – great way for me to update whilst preparing my students. Thanks!!
You recommend sharing posts on the Teaching English British Council Facebook page but for some reason I am not able to – I can do it on the Innovative Teachers of English group but not the British Council. Can you let me know how to do this. When I press share and type in the name it just doesn’t appear and therefore I can’t share it. Am I missing something?
You post it on the page but it won’t appear on the main feed, it’ll appear on the ‘posts to page’ section on the left. If they like your post then they’ll repost it on the main feed.
Thanks again for your feedback, I’m glad you like it.
Hi Tim,
I like your CAE icebreakers. Just a thought; you could have a condensed print version like there is on the Breaking News English website (saves paper and toner!).
Best,
Ivan
Good idea. I’ll include those in future. I’ll add in a simple word doc to the CAE one.
Hi Tim, just discovered this site & it looks great! Do you teach 1.2.1 or in a classroom? I do both. My biggest gripe is the amount of printed pdfs (master copies) I have to file & store here at home (we don’t follow a particular coursebook….unfortunately!), I’d love to devise a system using minimal paper, if anyone can offer any ideas….? Many thanks!
Dropbox – I store everything there and share with my students digitally or project onto interactive whiteboard. I have it on my iPad too to project when there’s no internet connection. I send the PDFs to the office by email when I need photocopies.
See my blogpost on the subject:
http://www.wiziq.com/teachblog/teaching-with-the-internet/
Yes, Tim, your blog is great!!!!
Susan Brodar
Thanks for the feedback guys. I generally use my blog as my dropbox because luckily I have a computer with a projector in all my classrooms so I often download the material straight to computer and use it from there. Obviously I need to printout worksheets for the students but I try to make a lot of the conversation topic lesson plans as paper free as possible just because it’s less hassle, time and money.
Wonderful site.I study for CAE by myself and I realised that it’s not an easy task.
Thank you
Federica
Ohhhh this looks fun! I can’t wait to dig around!
Hello Tim, Congratulations on such an excellent blog! I am teaching in N.E. Brazil and when I started teaching CAE I was really pleased to find your blog with all the creative, practical and useful ideas. I’m just starting a CPE class and was releived to find your ideas and suggestions as well.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Patrick
Hi Tim
I frequently use your website, and always with great success. Your plans are very useful, and I love the way you organise them. Your materials for CAE/FCE have proved particularly useful. Thank you!
I’m thinking about your philosophy of giving something back, and I’m going to start working on something similar to offer up some of my own material, that in turn will be able to help more teachers. I’ll leave a link when I finally get round to organising it!
Hey Tim! Thank you so much for sharing. Is there a way to send you a private message?
Hi, thanks for the message. You can send me a private message on twitter if you like. My twitter address is listed on this page.
Hi Tim!
Just discovered your site and I’m more than impressed! I’ve been searching the CPE files and I have to say you’re doing a great job.
Thanks for sharing!
Greetings from Greece
Fenia
Hi Tim,
I’d like to thank you for your resources. I’ve been using them a lot for a year or so (especially the ones for the CAE exam). They’re very useful and extensive. Keep up the good work!
Nevertheless, I am writing now because I’ve recently started creating and sharing my own worksheets for adults based on TED talk: http://ted4esl.com/ so I now I’m not just a “taker” but a “giver” too 🙂
I’d be more than happy if you check them out and let me know what you think.
All the best,
Staszek
Hi Tim! Just wanted to say thanks for all your hard work and your excellent blog which is helping me out in a big way. Thanks again, Angie 🙂
I really appreciate all the work you’ve put in for Advanced Writing (& Speaking) with the PACK of Phrases = “Cheat Sheets”…. just spotted a slip on PROPOSAL Writing tho’ (The principal aim etc …. NOT principle X Ooops! ) Thanks 😉
Hey there, it has been lovely to find a page where key grammar and many more bits and pieces can be found for CAE. Your work is much appreciated Tim!
Many thanks for sharing these lessons put in a digestible format.
Best from Hungary
Sandor
Thanks for the feedback Sandor!
Hi Tim,
I can never thank you enough for your generosity with this blog. I’m a new esl teacher in Quebec and am completely overburdened with a huge task this year. All of my classes are special needs teenagers of various degrees and being the only one in this position I find myself having no one to rely on and having no support… until I found you! With a little scaffolding and modification your lessons are literally godsent. Again, thank you, thank you, I will forever be in your debt.
Hi there. Love the blog! 🙂 I would love to know whether it would be possible to write a guest post/lesson plan for your blog? If so, do you have an email address that I can send my idea to? Thanks a lot!
Hi Alice, sure, you can write a guest post. I was just looking through your site, you’ve got some great content there. Are you on twitter? Send me a DM and I’ll send over my email address. @RobbioDobbio
Thanks a lot Tim 🙂
I think you have it so that you can’t receive DMs on Twitter… You’re welcome to email me on info@hottakeenglish.com
Ok cool, I’ve sent you an email, might have gone to spam.
Hi Tim,
Last year I passed the Advanced Test. Now it’s been hard to find “enjoyable” C2 classes. In the classes I’ve been, we mostly do excersises from the book, work that I actually do on my own. However, some months ago I found your website and I think the lesson plans and activities you post for Proficiency are magnificent and very well prepared. Therefore, I was wondering if you teach CPE online classes.
Thank you for sharing your ideas and material. Sometimes I feel like I’ve run dry on creative ideas. Much appreciated!