Find someone who… Summer holiday edition

Posted on September 29, 2015October 4, 2016 by Tim Warre

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

This is my version of the classic “Find someone who…” speaking and ice-breaking activity designed for teenagers for the first class after the summer holidays. I’ve also added a version for adults.

Download the handout here:

Find someone who – teenagers

find-someone-who-adults-edit

Warmer – Guess my holiday

Students get 20 questions to guess where the teacher went on holiday.

Allow students to ask you more questions to find out some information about the holiday.

Main Activity

Project the handout onto the board. Students must circulate, speaking to all their classmates until they have found someone who did all of the listed activities during the summer holidays. When they find someone who has done one of the activities they must also ask them for some details and record them in the details column.

Before starting model past simple yes/no questions on the board:

Went to another continent:

Did you go to another continent?

Also model questions for details:

Where did you go?

What did you do there?

What did you eat?

The winner is the first person to find someone people who have done each of the things on the list or prove that nobody has done them by speaking to everyone.

Handout

Try to speak to everyone in the class. You must find someone who did the following things in their summer holidays.

Find someone who…

Activity	Person	Details
Went to a different continent
Tried some new food
Went to a summer camp
Had a party
Ate McDonald’s
Tried a new activity
Visited another part of Spain
Saw an amazing monument
Hurt themselves
Didn’t leave Catalonia
Earned some money
Bought some new clothes
Went on holiday without their family
Visited a famous city

Conversation Classes, Ice-breakers

Icebreaker: Show me a picture of…

Posted on September 28, 2015September 29, 2015 by Tim Warre

Image credit: http://www.tribunahacker.com.ar/2014/05/android-a-las-camaras-o-el-regreso-de-la-polaroid/

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

Thanks to Nicky Hockly at The Consultants-e for the inspiration for this lesson plan. It’s an icebreaking lesson in which students can use their mobiles (shock horror) for intermediate levels and up.

Introduction

In a new class students are always keen to learn a bit about their new teacher and if you’re willing to share and personalise your classes the students will reciprocate with you and each other. So start by projecting some photos of things from your life on to the board with some sentence stems for deduction.

Intermediate levels:

He/she/it could/might/may be his girlfriend (possibility)

He/she/it must be his brother (almost certain)

He/she/it can’t be his sister (impossible)

Higher levels:

I’d say that…

I’d hazard a guess that…

I bet you €X that’s his brother.

I (don’t) reckon that…

I’m absolutely certain that…

There’s no doubt in my mind that…

There’s a good/strong/slim chance that…

I could be wrong but I think…

Drill sentence stress and intonation. Then put students in pairs and show them some of the pictures. Monitor them as they make guesses about who the people in the pictures are and have students share their deductions with the class. Award points for correct guesses.

Here are some example pictures from my life:

Other useful language:

You look just like (your mum)

You don’t look anything like (your sister)

You are the spitting image of (your Dad) (you look exactly the same)

You take after (your Dad) – you look/act the same.

Step 2: Pair work

Put students in groups of 2/3 and tell them to take out their phones and go to their photo albums. They must then take it in turns to show their group a picture of the following things:

A parent
A grandparent
A pet
A very close friend
An activity you love
A great meal
A fantastic day
An amazing view
A selfie

The others in the group must use the language of deduction to guess what the picture is and then they can ask questions to discover more information about their partner.

You might want to model some questions on the board:

When was the photo taken?

How long ago did you take this photo?

Where were you when you took the photo?

What does your Dad do?

How long have you been …ing?

Language for reactions:

Wow! That looks amazing/lovely/gorgeous

No way! Me too!

Your Dad works in finance? No way, mine does too!

That must be (amazing/fantastic etc.) – present event/state

That must have been (amazing/fantastic/so much fun) – past experience

Give SS 10-15 minutes to talk, encourage the use of the vocabulary, award points to groups using the most.

Students then report back to the class about the favourite photo their classmates showed them. If you can, project the photos onto the board so the whole class can see them.

Follow up/Homework

Story behind the picture. SS write a composition (150-200 words) telling the story behind one specific picture. Encourage them to copy paste the picture at the top of the page. This is a good opportunity to practice narrative tenses: “I had been walking all day, that’s why I look a bit tired in the photo.” “The sun was shining, the wind was blowing in the trees” “It was the scariest thing I have ever done.” “I was walking down the street when I saw a…”

Conversation Classes

Dilemmas and Debates

Posted on June 2, 2015June 2, 2015 by Tim Warre

Image credit: www.osomac.com

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

This is a straightforward “What would you do?” speaking activity to practice hypothetical conditionals and just generate debate and conversation. Download the powerpoint below and project it or print it:

Dilemmas and debates

Language of agreeing and disagreeing will be useful.

Agreeing	Disagreeing	Ending an argument:
We see eye to eye I couldn’t agree with you more. That’s exactly how I feel. You have a point there. I was just going to say that. Absolutely.	We don’t see eye to eye I take your point but I tend to disagree with you there I’m afraid I have to disagree with you there I beg to differ That’s not always the case.	Let’s just move on shall we? I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree.

Credit to: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tracyclayton/moral-dilemmas-that-will-break-your-brain#.lhwmbK9XK

For a couple of the ideas.

Conversation Classes, Grammar Classes

3rd Conditional: Balloon Debate

Posted on May 5, 2015May 28, 2018 by Tim Warre

Photo credit:en.wikipedia.org

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

Before you use these materials, why not check out our new podcast for learners and teachers alike? It’s called 2Ts in a Pod, have a listen here:

This is a conversation lesson plan to practise past (3rd) conditional structures whilst debating the value of specific professions to society. Credit to the university of Kent for the inspiration for the activity. I have changed the wording of the task slightly so that students must imagine a world without the achievements and inventions of some famous names from history.

You will need the handout, I have made 4 versions:

Intermediate teens:

Balloon Debate intermediate teenagers

Intermediate adults:

Balloon Debate Intermediate adults

Advanced teens:

Balloon Debate Adv teenagers

Advanced adults:

Balloon Debate Adv adults

I planned this as an activity to practise uses of advanced 3rd conditional structures such as:

But for + noun phrase, would/could/might have….

But for Thomas Edison, the lightbulb would have been invented much later.

Or inverted past conditionals:

Had it not been for Shakespeare, we wouldn’t have such a rich vocabulary.

You may want to preteach these structures using my other materials which you can find here and here.

Below you will find they advanced adults version of the activity.

Balloon Debate

You are in a hot air balloon which is losing height rapidly and will soon crash because it is overweight. You are travelling with a group of school children who will grow up to be very famous. You have to decide which 7 to throw over the side; if the balloon crashes you will all die. The passengers are:

Mother Teresa
Mao Tse-tung
Mahatma Gandhi
Florence Nightingale
Nelson Mandela
Mikael Gorbachev
Charles Darwin
William Shakespeare

Diego Maradona
Albert Einstein
Leonardo da Vinci
Abraham Lincoln
Beethoven
Vincent Van Gogh
Jane Austen
Steve Jobs

Language

Conditionals	Making Decisions
If_____ hadn’t invented_____, _____ wouldn’t have happened.	There’s no way we’re throwing ______ overboard because______
But for ________ we wouldn’t have________.	Throwing _______ is out of the question because________
If it hadn’t been for ______, we wouldn’t have _______ now	I think ________ is expendable.
Had it not been for _______, we wouldn’t have________.	What did _______ really do for us?

Examples:

If Charles Darwin hadn’t discovered evolution, society wouldn’t have developed like it has.

If it hadn’t been for Gandhi, India would still be a British colony.

But for Shakespeare, we wouldn’t have such a rich language.

Had it not been for Abraham Lincoln, the slaves wouldn’t have been freed.

Homework Activity:

Students write an essay examining two of the people from the balloon and deciding which one has contributed most to society. They must compare and contrast the achievements of the two and reach a conclusion as to which should be crowned as the most inspiring person in history.

Conversation Classes, Grammar Classes, Video Classes

Zero Conditional: Hiccup Cures!

Posted on March 24, 2015May 28, 2018 by Tim Warre

Before you use these materials, why not check out our new podcast for learners and teachers alike? It’s called 2Ts in a Pod, have a listen here:

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

This is a lesson plan to help students put the zero conditional into practice in conversation.

Download it here:

Zero Conditional

Introduction

Ask students the following: What do you do when you get hiccups?

Show them the following video and tell them to write down as many causes and cures for hiccups as they can.

Mine the video for vocabulary:

Spasm, stuck, breathe, gasp, exhale/inhale, hold your breath, difference between breathe (verb, long vowel sound) and breath (noun, short vowel sound), chug, pull, tongue, drink from, wrong side, take a sip, swallow, tip your head back, plug your nose, a teaspoon of, sprinkle, squeeze your pinky, pressure point, pinch, recite, backwards, think of, bald, cure/get rid of hiccups.

Ask them which methods from the video they use.

Model a few sentences on the board:

When/whenever I get hiccups, I ask a friend to scare me.

Tell students that this is called the zero conditional. Give out the first page of the handout and go over it quickly.

We use the zero conditional to talk about general or scientific truths and habits.

If you heat ice, it melts. (General truth)

If I drink coffee after 6pm, I can’t sleep. (Habit)

We also use it to talk about what people should do in certain situations.

If you feel tired, stop for a rest.

If you feel ill, take your medicine.

The formula is:

If/when/whenever + present simple, present simple.

Matching exercise

Match numbers 1-5 with letters a-e to make zero conditional sentences.

1. If it rains,	a. The roads are dangerous.
2. If it snows,	b. I try a new flavour of ice-cream
3. Whenever I visit Rome,	c. Tell a security guard.
4. If you see someone stealing	d. It boils.
5. When water reaches 100º C,	e. We play basketball inside.

Matching Key

1-e, 2-a, 3-b, 4-c, 5-d

Conversation exercise

Cut the following cards up. Students take them one at a time and discuss them in conversation. Encourage the use of: “Me too/neither” or “So/neither do I”

Whenever I go on holiday…	When I go to the dentist…
If I drink too much red wine…	Whenever the sales are on…
If I see a beggar in the street…	If I see a tourist with their bag open…
When I go to the beach, I always…	When it’s my birthday…
If I’m feeling blue…	Whenever I need help at work/school…
If I eat too much…	When I watch a sad film at the cinema…
When I forget to do something important at home…	If I have free time…
Whenever I go to the city centre…	When I visit my relatives…
If someone asks me for directions in the street…	If you get hiccups…
If you have a hangover…	If you feel ill at work/school…
If you need to take a day off…	When I have too much work to do…

Here are some alternatives for teenage students:

When I get bored…	If I feel sleepy at school…
If I drop my ice-cream on the floor…	If a wasp comes near me…
If I can’t sleep…	If my brother/sister annoys me…
When I don’t feel like going to school…	When my teacher puts a video on…
When I forget to do my homework…	If I get sunburnt…

Photo credit: http://imgkid.com/too-much-coffee-meme.shtml

Video credit: buzzfeedyellow

Conversation Classes, Games, Grammar Classes

Modals of Obligation, Necessity and Prohibition: Pictionary!

Posted on May 5, 2014May 28, 2018 by Tim Warre

Just a quick note…

Before you use these materials… We’ve created a new podcast aimed at B2+ level English students and teachers alike. You can listen for free at our SoundCloud page below. You can download teacher’s notes to accompany them from our Facebook page or from this blog. All comments and feedback welcome! Give us a like and a share 😉

https://soundcloud.com/2tspod

https://www.facebook.com/2tspodcast/

Modals of Obligation, Necessity and Prohibition: Pictionary!

This is part of a series of 30 minute lesson plans I have been writing for conversation classes with small groups of teenagers. Each one covers a specific grammar point and features a game to encourage surly teens to use it.

Introduction

Write “rules” on the board. Tell students to tell you all the rules that their school imposes on them and board them all. Try to elicit the following structures:

Prohibition:

Mustn’t/can’t/not allowed to

You mustn’t run in the classroom. You’re not allowed to use your mobile phones in class. You can’t smoke in school.

Obligation:

Must/have to

You have to study. You have to be at school at 9am. You must bring your gym kit for PE.

Lack of obligation:

Don’t have to (careful with this one, ensure they understand the difference between mustn’t and don’t have to)

You don’t have to come to school on Saturday. Children over 11 don’t have to wear uniform.

Once you have brainstormed all the different rules, ask the students this:

Which rules do you follow?

Which rules do you break?

Which rules annoy you the most?

Do any teachers let you break the rules?

Pictionary

Print and cut up the handout.

Draw the following picture on the board:

Elicit the prohibition: You mustn’t smoke.

Split the class into teams of 3-4. Tell them they are going to play pictionary. However, some of the rules are a little strange. Give students time to think of a team name and invite the first person from the first team to the board. They have a minute and a half to draw as many rules as they can for their team, for each rule they guess they get 1 point. The winning team is the one that gets the most point after 2-3 rounds. If you run out of rules, get students to come up with new ones for the other teams to draw and guess. Encourage them to make them as strange and difficult as possible.

Here are the rules from the handout:

You mustn’t sleep in your car	You have to wear a helmet
You are not allowed to feed the lions.	You mustn’t touch the dolphin.
You have to switch off your mobile.	You mustn’t play ping-pong when it’s raining.
You have to be in bed at 10pm.	You mustn’t speak during the opera.
You have to wear long trousers.	You’re not allowed to drink in the computer room.
You mustn’t sing to the monkeys.	You’re not allowed to play video games after 11pm.
You have to take your medicine before going to bed.	You’re not allowed to go skiing in the dark.
You mustn’t drink the water.	You have to have a shower before going in the swimming pool.

Conversation Classes, Listening Classes, Video Classes

Past Modals of Deduction: The Hangover

Posted on April 1, 2014May 28, 2018 by Tim Warre

Just a quick note…

https://soundcloud.com/2tspod

https://www.facebook.com/2tspodcast/

Past Modals of Deduction: The Hangover

This is a lesson plan based around the theme of hangovers in which students get to grips with past modals of deduction, and question formation.

Introduction

What is hangover?

Do you get hangovers?

When was the last time you had one?

What’s the worst hangover you can remember?

Do any specific drinks give you a worse hangover?

Part 1:

Give out the situation handout.

Read out the situation and clear up any vocabulary issues.

You wake up on your sofa with a very sore head. Your friends are all sleeping on the floor of the living room. One of your friends is wearing a wedding dress. You have a big bruise on your knee. There is an unfamiliar cat walking around the room. The room smells of vomit. Your car is not outside.

What happened last night???

Possible past actions	Could/might/may have + past part.	My friend might have got married!
Almost certain past actions	Must have + past part.	We must have got really drunk.
Impossible past actions	Can’t have + past part.	I can’t have driven home.
Expressing regret	Should/shouldn’t have + past part.	We shouldn’t have drunk so much.

First brainstorm the questions for the mysteries.

Where did I leave the car?

Where did the cat come from?

Why is my friend wearing a wedding dress?

Why did I fall asleep on the sofa?

Why does my head hurt?

How did I hurt my knee?

Why does the house smell like vomit?

Part 2

Tell students you are going to show them a clip from the film “The Hangover” that contains a similar situation. Tell them that while they watch they should make a note of the different mysteries.

After watching brainstorm the mysteries, putting all of them on the board paying special attention to question formation.

Then have students speculate on the mysteries using past modals of deduction.

Follow up

Put students in groups and have them write new hangover situations with lots of mysteries, they then exchange situations with another group and speculate about each other’s situations.

Conversation Classes, Current Affairs Classes

Conversation Topic: Mars One

Posted on March 23, 2014March 23, 2014 by Tim Warre

This is a conversation activity in which students discuss human achievements and the Mars One colonisation project. Either split the class into small groups (3-4) or for smaller groups have a class discussion. You can download the handout here.

Introduction

How many amazing physical achievements (climbing Everest, walking to the South Pole etc.) can you think of?
Which achievement was the most impressive?
What’s the most physically difficult thing you’ve ever done? (climb a mountain, run a marathon etc.)
Are there any you would like to try in the future?
Are there any you wish you had tried in the past?
Are the world’s best athletes present at the Olympic Games?
What type of athletes or sportsmen/women do you think deserve the most respect?
What do you think of ‘extreme’ sports (bungee jumping, tightrope walking…)?
What do you think is the most impressive human achievement? (not necessarily physical, could be scientific/technological/medical for example the moon landings)

Mars One

How much do you know about Mars? Share your knowledge with your group.
Are you interested in astronomy and the science of space travel?
Do you have any memories of important achievements in space travel?
Have you heard of the Mars One project? Share your knowledge with your group BEFORE READING THE DESCRIPTION BELOW.

Mars One is a privately funded project which intends to establish a human colony on Mars by 2025. They plan to send an unmanned spacecraft to the planet in 2018 followed by equipment and supplies over the following 6 years. They are currently accepting applications to be part of the first 4-man crew that will take off in 2024 on a one-way 7 month trip to the red planet. Once the colony is established 4 people will be sent every 2 years.

What do you think of the project? Is it realistic?
The project is currently accepting applicants to be part of the 4 man crew that will leave in 2024. What kind of people do you think they are looking for?
Would you be interested in participating? Why? Why not?
What kind of people do you think would apply for the project?
If you were running the project what tests would you do on the applicants to check if they are suitable?
What are the biggest problems the people could encounter on the 7 month journey to Mars? And when they land?
How would you feel if a member of your family wanted to apply for the project?
Do you know anyone who you think would like to apply?
Why do you think people would apply to be part of the project?
Imagine you have been selected to be part of the first crew. You are allowed to take 1 item of hand luggage (standard budget airline size) of personal belongings. What would you take and why?

Conversation Classes, Current Affairs Classes, Reading Classes

The Spanish Timetable: Reading and Speaking Activity

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Tim Warre

This is a reading and speaking activity based around an article from the New York Times about possible changes to the Spanish working say timetable. The original article is quite long so I have edited it down a bit, it should be suitable for B2/FCE upwards. Here is a link to the edited version and the discussion questions:

Spain time article

Start by asking students to tell the class about their average day with specific focus on the times at which they get up, eat, go to work, go to bed etc. Ask them if they follow the typical Spanish timetable outlined in the introduction to the article. Do they eat late? Do they have a siesta?

Once they have shared their different schedules set the class a time limit depending on their level to quickly read the article and underline any unfamiliar vocabulary. This could include:

To hunker down – to meet up/get together

a boon – a bonus

a lag – a delay

Go over the new vocabulary on the board, then either split the class into small groups and give out the discussion questions or hold a whole-class discussion. Below are the discussion questions from the hand out:

What’s your initial reaction to the article?

Do you agree with any of the opinions stated? Which ones?

Describe your daily routine; does it follow the “Spanish” timetable?

What are the advantages/disadvantages of both the Spanish and the “European” timetable?

How difficult would you find it to adjust to a new timetable?

Do you think changing the timetable would affect the country’s culture?

Do you think most people would find it easy of difficult to adjust to a new timetable?

Do you think the current system helps people be efficient?

When you have finished the questions you could organise a class debate for/against the idea of changing the Spanish timetable to be more in line with the rest of Europe. Sometimes when organising debate teams it’s a good idea to force your students to argue for a point that they don’t actually agree with. Debate structure should be as follows:

Each team presents their argument (3 uninterrupted minutes per team) – the other team must remain silent but can take notes for the rebuttals later
Rebuttals (10 minutes) – Teams can attack the opposition’s arguments based on statements made in the presentation of their argument.
Result – Teacher can decide which team has the most coherent argument.

You may find my activity on language of agreement/disagreement useful for the debate.

Conversation Classes

Role play: Making Polite Requests

Posted on March 2, 2014February 21, 2023 by Tim Warre

Just a quick note…

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Role play: Making Polite Requests

This is a fun conversation class to help students with language for making, accepting and rejecting polite requests in work or home situations. Download the handout here:

Start by asking students the following:

Have you ever asked for a pay rise?

Have you ever asked for time off?

When was the last time you asked for permission for something? What was it? How did you ask?

First have students brainstorm language of polite requests, then go over the language in the handout.

Making Requests

I was wondering if it would be possible to…….

Is there any chance that I could…….

Would it be alright if I……..

I believe I’m entitled to/I deserve…… (a pay rise/a day off)

Giving Reasons

You see the thing is……………

The problem is that………….

Accepting Requests

Ok, I don’t see why not.

Of course.

No problem at all

Adding Conditions

As long as/provided that/on condition that you……..

Rejecting Requests

I’m afraid that’s just not possible at the moment.

That’s out of the question.

I’m afraid I have to turn your request down.

Once you have gone through the language, put students in pairs and give out the role play cards. Tell students that it is important that they keep their role cards secret as some characters are required to keep certain information secret.

Run the same role play simultaneously and after 4-5 minutes have students report back what happened to the rest of class (a good opportunity to practice reported speech).

Role plays

You are an employee in a company. Next weekend your best friend is having his/her stag/hen party (despedida de soltero). You have to ask your boss for the Monday and Tuesday after off work. Your boss will probably reject the request if he/she knows you are going to a stag/hen party.

You are the boss of the company. An employee comes to ask you something. This particular employee has seemed distracted recently and keeps forgetting important things.

You are and sales person in a company. You are very stressed and you need a rest, you have decided that you want to take a sabbatical to go and volunteer in an elephant sanctuary in Africa for a year. You need to speak to the boss. You are very hard-working and the company is doing very well because of your hard work.

You are the boss of a company. One of your employees comes to ask you something. You have heard a rumour that this employee wants to take a sabbatical. He/she is your best sales person and the company really needs him/her. You can offer him/her a pay rise, a promotion and a 1 month holiday.

You are a strict parent. Your son/daughter comes to you with a request about the weekend.

You are a teenager. Your best friend is having a massive party at his/her house this weekend because his/her parents are away, the boy/girl of your dreams is also going to be there. You need to get your parent’s permission to go but they are very strict and will not give you permission if they know it’s going to be a crazy party.

You are a teacher. Your best student comes to you with a request.

You are a student. You are very intelligent and you work very hard. You want to be a journalist. You have been offered a part time job in a national newspaper. If you take the job you will have to work from 9am-12am on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays but you have classes on these days. Speak to your teacher and see if you can find a solution.