2Ts in a Pod: Podcast, Exam Preparation Class, Guest Posts, Reading Classes, Vocabulary Classes

Guest Post: B2 First – A Forgotten Dream

Posted on April 16, 2021April 16, 2021 by Tim Warre

This is a guest post by my friend, colleague and co-host of the podcast 2Ts in a pod, Katy Wright. It’s designed to help students preparing for the B2 first exam get to grips with some of the phrasal verbs and fixed expressions they might encounter in the exam. Students read a text about Jim’s forgotten dream, then try to recreate the text using key words. Download the student handout below:

b2-vocab-writing-a-forgotten-dream-1-1 Download

A FORGOTTEN DREAM

Look at the pictures. What is the story about?

Read the story. Were your predictions correct?

Jim couldn’t stand his job. All he did all day was sit at his desk and pretended to work while watching the heavy rain outside his window. He was meant to be selling insurance on the phone, but he wasn’t very good at it. In fact, he had sold very few contracts. This was because all he had ever wanted to do was be an actor in Hollywood. He had loved acting when he was a teenager, but instead of going to America he studied Business and he put off looking for fame. “I’ll look into that when I have finished Uni” he said to himself. This was his biggest regret in life. On his way into work that day, his 15-year-old car broke down. Standing in the rain trying to change the tire he made up his mind. He wasn’t going to carry on like this. He was going to make a big change…

Answer the questions in groups.
What is Jim’s big dream?
Why do you think Jim didn’t decide to become an actor after Uni?
What do you think makes him change his mind?
What big change do you think he is going to make?
What will happen at the end of the story?
What do you the expressions in yellow mean?
Can you translate them to Catalan/Spanish?
Do you have similar expression in Catalan/Spanish?

Try to remember the original expression used in the story. The words in brackets are to help you.

Jim hated (STAND) his job. All he did all say was sit at his desk and pretended to work while watching as it rained heavily (HEAVY) outside his window. He should have been (MEANT) selling insurance on the phone, but he wasn’t very good at it. In fact, he didn’t sell many (FEW) contracts. This was because all he had ever wanted to do was be an actor in Hollywood. He had loved acting when he was a teenager, but rather than go (OF) to America he studied Business and he postponed looking (PUT) for fame. “I’ll investigate (INTO) that when I have finished Uni” he said to himself. This was his biggest regret in life. On his way into work that day his 15-year-old car stopped working (DOWN). Standing in the rain trying to change the tire he made a decision (UP). He wasn’t going to continue like this any longer (ON). He was going to make a big change…

Write the original expressions here:
STAND…………………………………………………………………………
HEAVY…………………………………………………………………………
MEANT …………………………………………………………………………
FEW …………………………………………………………………………
OF …………………………………………………………………………
PUT …………………………………………………………………………
INTO …………………………………………………………………………
DOWN …………………………………………………………………………
UP …………………………………………………………………………
ON …………………………………………………………………………

Write the rest of the story. Use the questions to help you.

Middle:

What does he decide to do next?
How will he change his life?
What does he do to help him realize his dreams?

End:

Does he finally reach his goals?
How does he feel about his situation?
Does he ever think about his old life?

Read all of the paragraphs and vote on the you think is the best

Conversation Classes

Conversation Topic: Kids & Parenthood

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Tim Warre

Preparing your finances for parenthood | Vanguard

A simple conversation activity I designed as a follow-up to my previous post entitled “A Weekend Off”. It can be used with B1+ students. Students discuss various topics related to parenthood, kids and growing up. Download the handout below:

kids-parenthood-conversation-topic Download

Put students in pairs or small groups and have them discuss the questions. Pause regularly to feedback in open class. The activity should generate a lot of emergent language.

Student Handout

How does life change when you have kids?
How can other family members help with childcare?
What things do you think new parents miss about their old life?

What do you think are the biggest challenges for new parents?

Feeling unprepared for parenthood
Suffering from sleep deprivation
A loss/lack of intimacy
Changing dirty nappies/diapers
Picking kids up from kindergarten/nursery
Financial struggles

How is growing up different for:

The first child?
The middle child?
The baby?

What position were you in your family?

What are some stereotypes associated with the different positions among siblings?

What are the pros and cons of being an only child?

What do children learn from having siblings?

What do you think is the perfect number of children to have?

1?
2?
3?
4?
More?

What are the pros and cons of these stages of children’s lives?

Babies (0-1)
Toddlers (1-3)
Kids (3-10)
Pre-teens (10-12)
Teenagers (13-18)
Young adults (18-22)

What’s the most rewarding and most challenging aspect of each stage?

Grammar Classes, Guest Posts, Reading Classes

Guest Post: 3rd Conditional – What Bad Luck!

Posted on March 24, 2021March 24, 2021 by Tim Warre

$14.6 Million Winning Lottery Ticket Goes Unclaimed | PEOPLE.com

This is a guest post by Alice from Hot Take English on the topic of superstitions and bad luck. Students discuss common superstitions in English speaking cultures and their own, then read an article about some seriously bad luck. The main grammar focus of the lesson is the 3rd conditional to talk about hypothetical past events. Download the handout and teacher’s notes below:

third-conditional-worksheet Download

third-conditional-teachers-notes Download

Visit https://www.hottakeenglish.com/ to check out more of Alice’s work. She has some great, free materials on a range of engaging topics.

What Bad Luck – Student Worksheet

1) Warmer: superstitions

Below is a list of good and bad superstitions that are particularly popular in the UK and Ireland. Discuss them with a partner. From where do you think they originate? Do you believe they bring bad/good luck?

Things that bring bad luck:

Walking under a ladder
Seeing one magpie
Putting new shoes on a table
Opening an umbrella inside

Things that bring good luck:

Getting pooed on by a bird
Coming across a black cat
Finding a four-leafed clover

What superstitions are there in your culture or country?

2) Vocabulary

Match the words on the left with their meanings on the right.

1. jackpot	a) extremely shocked
2. invalidated	b) the sale was not successful/the money was not taken out of the person’s bank account
3. stunned	c) not enough
4. draw	d) the most valuable prize in a game or contest
5. the payment didn’t go through	e) very very happy
6. insufficient	f) stopped a ticket from being legally or officially acceptable
7. on top of the world	g) the act of selecting numbers or names randomly to decide the winners of a competition

3) Comprehension check

Read the article. Are these statements true or false?

Rachel Kenny lost the winning ticket.

The 19-year old student was aghast at what had happened.

Rachel and Liam chose different numbers each time they played the lottery.

The money for the lottery tickets was usually taken directly from Rachel’s bank account.

The problem was that Rachel didn’t have enough money in her bank account to pay for the ticket.

Rachel and Liam refuse to play the lottery any more.

4) Grammar practice

With a partner, write down as many third conditional sentences about the article as you can.

E.g. “If the payment had gone through, they would have won the lottery”.

Writing: My Biggest Regret

Write 100-500 words about your “biggest regret”. Include some third conditional sentences.

EuroMillions Player ‘Heartbroken’ After Finding Error Cost Her £182m Lottery Jackpot

The 19-year-old was in shock when her numbers came up – until she noticed a critical problem

Originally published 2 March 2021

A 19-year-old student who thought she had won a £182m lottery jackpot has been left “absolutely heartbroken” after realising an error invalidated the ticket.

Rachel Kennedy, 19, and her boyfriend Liam McCrohan, 21, were stunned when their regular numbers of 6, 12, 22, 29, 33, 6 and 11 came up in the EuroMillions mega jackpot.

Kennedy had played the same numbers for five weeks in a row and had a direct debit set up to automatically play the numbers each week.

The teen was greeted with a message saying she had a ‘winning match’ after last Friday’s draw, according to The Sun.

However, the business student’s hopes of being one of the richest women in Britain were crushed when she found the ticket sale had not gone through due to insufficient funds in her account.

Rachel, of Brighton University, said: “I called my boyfriend Liam and my mum into the room and they couldn’t believe it either so I was like, ‘Oh! My God! I need to call them’.

“I called the number thinking that I had won £182m and they said ‘yeah you’ve got the right numbers but you didn’t have the funds in your account for the payment of the ticket so it didn’t actually go through’.

“I was on top of the world when I thought I had won, but when I found out I hadn’t, Liam was actually more upset than me.”

Rachel said they were “absolutely heartbroken” – and now thinks of her usual weekly numbers as “unlucky” and has decided to change them.

Source: iNews, https://inews.co.uk/news/euromillions-jackpot-player-heartbroken-finding-error-cost-182m-ticket-895016

Advanced C1, Conversation Classes, Proficiency

Discussion: Where do you Stand? Animal Rights

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Tim Warre

This is a discussion topic for B2+ students on the topic of animal rights. Download the student handout and PowerPoint below:

where-do-you-stand-animal-rights-pp Download

where-do-you-stand-animal-rights Download

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:

Zoos have a positive impact on society.