This is another edition of my “Where do you Stand?” conversation series. Students debate different topics related to science and technology but must rate their opinion on a scale from 1-6 before they begin the discussion. Download the PowerPoint and student handout below:
If you want to use it with B2 students you could use this phrase sheet.
Credit to Owlcation for some of the debate topics:
https://owlcation.com/academia/80-Science-Debate-Topics-for-Students
This is a guest post by Katy Wright. Students take part in an information gap activity in pairs in order to develop their understanding of phrasal verbs and other fixed expressions. Download the handout below:
Follow up: You could encourage students to write a text or a story containing these expressions
Student Worksheet
Student A worksheet
Student B’s Answers
Student B worksheet
Students A’s Answers
This is another edition of my “Where do you Stand?” conversation series. Students debate different topics related to entertainment and culture but must rate the opinion on a scale from 1-6 before they begin the discussion.
The PowerPoint contains examples of language of opinion, agreement and disagreement designed with C1 students in mind. If you are teaching lower level students, you could just use the student handout. You can download a B2 phrase sheet here.
Here are the topics students discuss:
The book is always better than the film.
There are too many sequels and spin-off films these days. There aren’t many original stories.
The original version of a song is always the best.
Celebrities shouldn’t complain about being in the public eye. It’s part of the jobNetflix will kill the cinema.
You shouldn’t watch films on your phone. It ruins the experience.
Watching a film at the cinema is always better than at home.
Violent films and videogames should be banned.
Music, art and drama should be compulsory subjects at school.
Social media companies should be responsible for the content that users post on their platforms.
Children shouldn’t play with “violent” toys like guns and weapons.
Something is always lost when a text is translated.
Physical books will disappear one day.
Governments should be allowed to censor some elements of the media including books and films.
The benefits of social media platforms outweigh the negative aspects.
Sports involving animals (hunting, horse riding, bullfighting, etc.) are an important part of my culture and must be protected.
Watching too much television makes you stupid.
This is a grammar lesson focusing on inversions based around the topic of the stresses of parenthood. Students read a text about new parents who get a weekend off, then transform the text using inversions. Download the handout and teacher’s notes below.
Possible Follow-up
As a follow-up to this lesson plan, you might want to revise inverted conditionals with your C1 students. To do so, you could use this great worksheet created by Andrew Farmer @andrewfarmer80:
Alternatively, you could set this page of inversion Key Word Transformations:
This lesson plan is designed to be used in several ways depending on your students’ level. The grammar focus is inversions, a structure that typically comes up at C1.
Write these questions on the board and have students discuss them in groups:
Feedback in open class and top up language. Somethings that came up with my students were:
Give out the text, fold the page so that they can’t see the grammar focus part yet, or just share the text if you’re teaching online.
Instruct students to read the text and find the answers to the lead in questions for the couple the text describes:
Feedback in open class.
Here is where you can choose a different path depending on how familiar your students are with inversions.
C1 – Introduction to inversions
C1 – Inversion Revision
C2 – Inversion Revision Super Challenge
Task Check
Show them the second version of the text with all the inversions.
Rarely do we have much time to ourselves. So busy is our schedule that we just can’t find the time to get out of the house. Not only do my husband and I both work full time, but we also have two small kids to look after. Little did I know that my parents were planning a special surprise for me this weekend. Only when I walked in the front door on Friday night did I discover what they had planned. No sooner had I opened the door than they appeared with a bottle of wine and the news that they were taking the kids to the local theme park for the weekend. Obviously the kids were ecstatic, not since they were four years old have they been to the theme park and that was just for 1 day, now they were going for a whole weekend! So grateful were we that we gave my mum and dad a massive hug. However, there had to be some ground rules for the kids. We told them that under no circumstances should they annoy grandma and grandad and on no account must they eat too many sweets before going on the roller coasters.
Hardly had my parents left the house when we opened the bottle of wine and sat on the sofa enjoying the sudden peace and quiet. Not until we sat down did we realise how tired we were. Hardly ever do we get a chance to watch a movie together over a glass of wine. However, barely had we chosen a movie and started watching it when we both fell asleep. Not until the next morning when we woke up did we appreciate how quiet the house was. Not since our second daughter was born had we had the house to ourselves. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves!
Challenge students to work in groups to continue the story. How did the couple spend the rest of their weekend off? Set them a time limit of ten minutes and encourage them to use as many inversions as they can.
This is a lesson plan designed to develop students’ understanding of common idiomatic expressions that can come up in the C1 Advanced exam. Students discuss the topic of problems in the workplace and look at fixed expressions in the context of a dialogue. Download the student handout and exam practice activity below:
I made this lesson plan by taking a bunch of the expressions that are tested in this quizlet set of key word transformations and shoehorning them into a dialogue. You may also wish to use this quizizz game for spaced repetition of the expressions.
Procedure
Give out the handout and have students discuss the pre-reading topic in small groups. Clear up any vocab doubts and briefly recap in open class.
Have students read the text and answer the gist question: Read the text, which workplace problems does it describe? The text describes a case of nepotism.
Have students answer the detail questions:
Students look at the language focus section. 2 expressions of surprise: come as a surprise to someone + be taken aback
Have them discuss the other expressions and come up with a simpler paraphrasing for the expression. What they’re doing essentially is writing the first sentence in a key word transformation exercise.
Have students flip the paper over and look at version 2. Now they must use the key words to recall the expressions from the original version from memory. They can then flip back over and check their answers, encourage them to focus on small details like prepositions and verb patterns (gerund/infinitive after the expression) as these can often be worth a mark in the exam.
Students then work in groups to write a new dialogue using as many expressions as possible. Set the key word transformation worksheet, which tests the same structures, as homework. Alternatively you could space it slightly more and have them complete the worksheet in the following class.
This is yet another designed to help students prepare for part one of the C1 Cambridge Advanced (CAE) writing exam. Some of the content has been rehashed from old posts but the approach is slightly different. Download the student handout below:
Give out the handout and draw students’ attention to the task on page one and the first version at the bottom of the page. Have them read the task, then the model answer, then answer questions 1-3 with their partner:
Now have students look at question 4. If you’re pressed for time, you could skip this part. Have students brainstorm more formal and advanced ways of expressing the parts in bold in pairs or groups. Perhaps you could assign one paragraph to each group and have them report back in open class. Board their ideas.
Now have students flip the paper over. Version 2 essential expresses the same ideas but with more advanced language and a more appropriate register. Direct students to find the “fancy” equivalents of the underlined phrases from version 1 in version 2.
Set students the homework task by first encouraging them to discuss the topic:
Factors when deciding where to go on holiday:
Encourage them to use the language from version 2 and the language on pages 2 and 3 in their compositions.
Read version 1 and answer the questions:
We’re always hearing in the news about how more and more people are buying things on the internet. It’s a big problem that fewer people are going shopping in physical shops nowadays. But, what makes people decide where to shop?
First, let’s look at convenience. It’s true that shopping online is much easier than shopping in physical shops. You can buy stuff on your computer and you can sit on your sofa, you don’t need to leave your house. Also, the stuff gets sent to your house. When you go to the physical shop you have to take it home yourself.
Now I’ll talk about cost. Some people think that cost is the most important thing people think about when they decide where to shop. For example, when the sales are on people buy things in shops they don’t normally go to. But some people don’t care about the price. It doesn’t matter if it’s expensive or not.
In conclusion, looking at the facts, I think that cost is the most important thing for most people because if you don’t have enough money, you can’t buy it.
Find and underline the ways that the same ideas are expressed in this version.
Hardly a week goes by without another news report about the recent dramatic increase in online shopping. The decline of the high street shop is undoubtedly a major issue in this day and age. However, which aspect of shopping has the biggest influence on where people shop?
The first area to take into account is convenience. It is undoubtedly the case that shopping online is much more convenient than shopping on the high street. Not only can you make a purchase with the click of a button, but also you can do it from the comfort of your sofa without setting foot outside your door. In addition, the goods are delivered directly to your door whereas when you shop in physical shops you have to carry it home yourself.
Another aspect to consider is cost. There are those who argue that cost has the biggest impact on where people decide to shop. This is illustrated by the fact that during the sales many people buy things in shops they would not normally enter. Nevertheless, for some people the cost is not an issue, they buy what they want to buy no matter the price.
In light of the above, weighing up all the evidence, it is probably true to say that cost does indeed have the biggest influence on where people decide to shop due to the fact that most of the time, if you cannot afford something then you will not be able to buy it.
(247 words)
Your class has had a class debate on the most important factors when it comes to deciding on a holiday destination.
Factors when deciding where to go on holiday:
Some opinions expressed in the debate:
Write an essay for your tutor, discussing two of the factors in your notes. You should explain which factor is the most important for most people, giving reasons to support your argument.
You may, if you wish, make use of the opinions expressed in the debate but you should use your own words as far as possible. Write your essay in 220-260 words in an appropriate style.
Second Paragraph
Third Paragraph
Language for introducing supporting ideas:
It goes without saying that …………………………………………………………………… A clear example of this is ………………………………………………………. In addition, ……………………………………………………………………. Nevertheless, …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Overall/in summary ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
OR
This is a discussion topic for B2+ students on the topic of animal rights. Download the student handout and PowerPoint below:
The PowerPoint contains advanced language for expressing opinion, personalising the topic, agreeing and disagreeing. It was made with C1/C2 students in mind. If you’re teaching lower levels, the student handout may be more suitable, although I recommend supplementing it with a phrase sheet, perhaps try my FCE Speaking Phrases post.
Put students into small groups (3/4) or conduct the activity as an open class discussion. Before engaging in discussion on the topics, students must decide individually to what extent they agree or disagree with the given statement by circling one of the numbers from 1-6. The idea is that students will be more likely to take a stand and defend their point of view and less able to go along with the crowd if they’ve assigned their opinion a numerical value.
You could also introduce the phrase “to play devil’s advocate” and encourage students do it during the discussion. Another idea could be to assign a specific student from each group as the devil’s advocate for each topic, thus forcing them to come up with counter arguments to what their classmates are saying.
Here are the discussion topics:
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
| Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly disagree |
A simple worksheet and discussion activity in which students look at 21 different phrasal verbs featuring either up or down. Download the student handout and answer key below, follow the link at the bottom of the post for a Kahoot game based on the target language:
Procedure
Put students into pairs or small groups and have them try to guess the preposition required to complete the sentence. It could be up or down.
Check answers in open class, then have students match the phrasal verbs with the definitions.
Have students test each other, one says a definition, the other recalls the phrasal verb.
Have students ask and answer the discussion questions in their groups
Kahoot
Use this Kahoot game for spaced repetition:
This is a lesson plan for C1/C2 students by Soleil García Brito on the topic of face recognition based around a video and a gapped text exercise. The warmer could also be used with lower levels (B1/B2). At the end of the lesson students can take an online test to see if they are “super recognisers”; you’ll find the link below.
Download the student’s handout and teacher’s notes below.
Here is the video:
This is a cheat sheet/reference grid explaining the different task types that students will be required to complete in part 2 of the Cambridge C1 Advanced writing paper. Download the handout below: