I’ve been crazy busy doing three jobs recently so not had a chance to post. Got a lot of recently made materials that I just haven’t had a chance to post, but hopefully that’ll change soon. Anyway, here goes:
This is a writing task for C2 Proficiency students. The task is taken from Proficiency test book one and the friendship expressions come from my old BFFs lesson plan. Download the handout with answer key below:
This is a little mini test of 25 key word transformation questions for C2 proficiency students. Most of the questions are based around fixed expressions that often come up at this level. You will find most of them in previous lesson plans I’ve made, so the test will serve as good spaced repetition for your students. Download the handout and answer key below:
Here’s a quizlet study set that students could use at home to revise the expressions.
This is a lesson plan for C2 students preparing to take the Cambridge Proficiency exam. Students will learn exam techniques to tackle part 7 of paper 1, the multiple matching exercise. The example task is taken from CUP test book 1. Download the PowerPoint and task below:
Procedure
Lead students through the steps in the PowerPoint. Students should focus on the list of questions first, underlining key words and trying to paraphrase the questions into simpler language where possible. The PowerPoint contains some examples of paraphrasing. Students should then tackle the reading texts in order while referring back to their notes. Encourage them to underline the parts of the text that they think answer each question.
Students should complete the first paraphrasing exercise in pairs. Then for the reading, they should work individually, set a time limit of 15 minutes for them to complete the exercise. Students should then compare their answers and show their partner the sections of the text that they have underlined for each question.
You will find the answer key and annotated copy of the texts on the final slides of the PowerPoint. You should set students another part 7 for homework so that they can put the technique into practice.
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 lesson plan for students preparing to take the Cambridge C2 Proficiency exam. Students create their own topic cards for part 3 of the speaking exam; the dreaded long turn! Download the handout and examples below:
Procedure
You could use this lesson plan to introduce the long turn, give students a chance to practice and go over some useful language before they make their own topic cards.
Print and cut out the example cards, these examples were created by my C2 group. As you can see they came up with some thought provoking topics that are definitely more engaging than some of the run-of-the-mill topics from most text books.
Put students in pairs and have them complete a timed long turn each to get them warmed up to the task.
Then give them a set of blank cards each (candidate A & B) and have them work together to create two topic cards with a main question and three bullet points. Tell them that their classmates are going to use their topic cards so they should choose engaging, open topics. Give them 3-5 minutes to do this. In the exam, after candidate A has finished their long turn, candidate B is asked a shorter question in response to what candidate A has just said, so you could have your students write a question for candidate B on the back of A’s card and vice versa for candidate B.
Have them pass their newly created cards to another pair so that everyone has a set created by another group. Instruct them to keep practicing two-minute long turns using the new cards. Then encourage students to give feedback to the group who wrote the topic card; was it easy to talk about for two minutes? Did the bullet points help? Could anything be clarified?
Students then pass the cards to another group, rinse and repeat. Students will get lots of practice for this part of the exam on topics chosen by their peers.
I was really impressed by the questions my group came up with, there weren’t too many softballs in there. Comment below with some of the topics and bullet points your students come up with and I’ll add them to the example doc, that we can create a big list of topic cards for future use.
This is a fun revision activity I have designed for my C2 students to revise some of the vocabulary we have studied this year. It’s based on a series of lesson plans and activities I have used throughout the course, all of which you can find on the blog. Download the student handout, answer key and PowerPoint below:
Show students the PowerPoint that will explain the rules. They should work in pairs or groups of 3 and come up with a team name. The second slide will explain the concept of a joker round. Each team can play their joker round once to get double points in one round, but they must decide when they want to play their card before they see the questions. So each team must decide when to use their joker round before the quiz starts based on the titles of the different categories. Make a note of the round each group has chosen for their joker before starting the quiz.
Give out the student handout and give them 5 minutes to complete round 1, if covid restrictions allow you could then have them pass their papers to the next team in order to correct them, if not, they can correct their own.
The winning team is the one with the most points at the end of the 8 rounds!
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 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: