One of the first things that inspired me to teach English was after watching this sitcom back in the 70s (oooh I’m so old!) and after all these years, I still find it hilarious. 🙂 I have had many funny moments in my classroom but never as crazy as Mr Brown’s! Here’s a video of […]
Read more "Mind Your Language"This book is a great source of reference for both teachers and students who would like to know more about appropriate punctuation. It was first published in 1995 but there are newer editions. What I like about this book is that it contains simple and brief explanations for the reader as well as activities to […]
Read more "IELTS Book of the Month"Our clocks moved forward an hour today and this has somehow confused my daughter who wonders where that one hour has gone! 🙂 For some explanations on how this works, check out the sites below: Daylight Savings Time Lesson ESLvideo.com :: How to adjust to daylight saving time (interesting video + quiz at intermediate level) […]
Read more "Is that the time?"This morning, a couple of teachers and I discussed types of questions: differences between interrogative clauses, wh-questions, alternative questions, yes/no-type question and tags. I’ve taught grammar for nearly half my life (tells you how terribly old I am! ;)) and am still not completely familiar with their terms, eg. subjunctive, non-finite verbs, etc. I only […]
Read more "Using questions in the IELTS"Today’s lesson involved discussing adverbs of degree, in particular, the differences between quite, very/really, extremely. These words are also known as ‘intensifiers’ in English grammar as they ‘intensify’ adjectives to make them stronger. Here are some activities for you to try out: Adverbs of degree English Grammar | LearnEnglish | British Council | Intensifiers Quite […]
Read more "Can you use intensifiers accurately in the IELTS?"I was told that there had been a minor earthquake tremor in the middle of the night last night. My children and I slept right through it although my husband and brother-in-law felt it. So did some people in the city. Rumour has it there will be another bigger one tonight and this is somewhat […]
Read more "The earth moving under my feet"Having travelled to so many countries on holiday or for work, I have become accustomed to making every place I go to feel like home. Below, you can see pictures of the living rooms I’ve had in various countries I’ve lived in: Morocco, Russia, Syria and the UAE. Can you tell which ones are which? Welcome to […]
Read more "Wherever I lay my hat"What is it? Well, here are some helpful sites to help you find out: Saint George’s Day – Lesson Activities, Quizzes and Worksheets St. George’s Day – cOOl stuFF (links to some activities here) BBC – Religions – Christianity: Saint George (information about St George) St George’s Day – Activities For Kids The English Blog: […]
Read more "Saint George’s Day"Today is World Earth Day and here are some lessons about this: ESL Holiday Lessons.com: Earth Day Earth Day Worksheets (downloadable) Podcast: Earth Day | ESL Library Blog (Unfortunately the lesson is not free, you have to buy a subscription. You can still listen to the text, though!) Earth Day Esl Vocabulary – Earth Day […]
Read more "Discussing earth and the environment in the IELTS"I had a conversation with a fellow teacher on the telephone which lasted for one hour! What did we talk about? Religion. And our *take on it in the classroom and staffroom. Having travelled to many different countries, I have been lucky to know not just more about other people’s cultures but their religious beliefs […]
Read more "Religion anyone?"