TEFL Prague and Abroad

   Here's a reported speech lesson that you can do with Intermediates and up that deals with celebrity gossip. At the end of the lesson, students will use reported speech by taking the roles of journalists to describe the events of a crazy hollywood party. Introduction: (just a few minutes) Here are some possibilities and any of them will work. 1. Come in whispering various things in students' ears 2. Come in roleplaying being a reporter 3. Show different tabloids of celebrities 4. Show a clip of a TMZ-like show With all of these you want to try and elicit the concept of gossip (especially celebrity gossip) Lead in: (around 7 minutes) Demo these questions out and then have students answer them in groups or pairs. 1. What is gossip? 2. Where can you hear about celebrity gossip? 4 different ways/sources. 3. Any interesting celebrity gossip currently happening now? Name 3.  Target Language: (under 10 minutes)  Tip: In general with reported speec...

 Using Improvisational games/activities/exercises can be a lot of fun in the classroom and are great linguistic training opportunities. Most activities in language classes deal with students presenting some kind of pre thought out  discourse. The problem with this is that speaking in real life is not as planned. Using Improv will help your students to think on their feet and discuss a variety of situations immediately without translating ideas or writing things down. Here are 6 activities that I created (although I'm sure others have thought of them) that I use in my classes. Tip: Improv is hard stuff and should only be used with students who have a solid speaking base. Most of these activities are only useful for upper intermediate and advanced students. When you first do improv, it will most likely not work that great. Don't worry, with practice and more exposure, your students will get more comfortable and you will see a tremendous growth in their overall output with othe...

   Mob Boss - A  lesson plan that you can't refuse.       Here's an incredibly engaging lesson you can do with upper intermediate classes (outgoing though) and above depending on the target language you want to use. It's mostly lexis based with a large amount of speaking. It is probably best suited for young adults, but you can use it really for any group that likes to have fun.  In the lesson, students will create their own organized crime syndicate (mafia) and eventually try and take out the other group's boss. (this can easily take up 90 minutes so shave off stuff accordingly to your time frame).   Support my efforts - Follow the blog or add your email here ----------------->>>> Introduction  (a couple of minutes max)  1.  Have the theme from the Godfather playing in the background and come in dressed and acting like Marlon Brando. Students have to guess who you are and what you do. Tip:  Not feeli...

  This lesson was requested by Lon a graduate of the January 2011 Language House TEFL course.   It has an accompanying reading that you can find here Lesson Reading and is geared towards an advanced class.   If any one of you want your own lesson created, I'm happy to do it. Sign up and follow the blog please.    Introduction (a couple of minutes)  1. write 'From sea to shining sea' on the board and play 'America the Beautiful'  Ask students what they think this means.   or if you know your class well you could... 2. Come in and declare that all of the students have to move to the back of the classroom and share a single desk because you needed more room to teach. This would introduce the idea of expansion and its effect on other people. (This could be pretty funny and effective, but make sure the students know you and like you or you'll look like a jerk).   Tip: Why not make it more engaging by dressing up or showing a pictur...

  This lesson gets students speaking about a mocked past vacation using gradable and ungradable adjectives. It can be used with really most levels above pre-intermediate, but you'll probably have to teach some auxiliary vocabulary about holidays/vacations to help them with their activations.   (Hey, follow this blog by clicking the follow button or entering your email---------------->>>>>)   Want a lesson plan just for you? Leave a comment on what you want and I'll personally create one for you. Introduction -(couple of minutes) Use any of these ideas a. Have various pictures of different travel locations and things to do on vacation up on the board. b. Come in with a suitcase and say you're gong somewhere. c. Tell short story about a past vacation you went on. Make sure to use gradable and ungradable adjectives in your telling. Lead in (7-10 min) 1. Where did you go on your last vacation/holiday 2. Who did you go with? 3. Name five ...

 This is another fast 45min-60 min lesson dealing with Adjective Order with the topic of trying to find something that has been lost. I like it because it uses the students' own possessions in the lesson for props and it's an effective way of hammering these points down with a lot of repetition. You can also have a secondary focus on the function of asking for help and giving help if you want to. Want a lesson plan just for you? Leave a comment on what you want and I'll personally create one for you.   Thoughts on Adjective Order in general A lot of teachers have a hard time activating this grammatical point. Often times they spend upwards of 30 minutes just going over all of the rules on the correct ordering which is usually number, opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material and purpose (NOSASCOMP). Don't do it that way. Is it important for your students to be using all of the adjectives at once? Of course not. We don't speak this way. When have y...

  Here's a fun original lesson that you can use with intermediates and above dealing with theme/amusement parks. Depending on the level you can simplify the lexis or make it more difficult. Introduction (2-3 minutes) (Use any of the below suggestions)  a. Post some pictures of rides or amusement parks on the wall.  b. Come in dressed as Mickey Mouse or have a picture of him (elicit Disney Land).  c. Role play being on a roller coaster and have students guess where you are.  d. Show a video of a roller coaster from 1st person perspective .   The key is to try to elicit the word/idea 'amusement park'. Your students might not know what that word is in English, but they will all understand the concept. Lead in (about 5-10 minutes) Have these questions up pre written on the board or as a handout. With a 45 minute class you probably won't need 5 questions. 1. Do you like amusement parks? When was the last time you went to one? 2. Is there an a...

What is an Introduction to a Lesson? All good lessons for the most part should have a greater topic that your target language fits under. The Introduction is a way introducing your topic and possible target language in an interesting and engaging way. In general, introductions are only a few minutes long and don't necessarily have to include a lot of student output.                           Why are Good Introductions Important? Introductions serve to engage the class right from the beginning. You want your students to get involved and be interested in what they are about to learn. Most teachers that complain about their students being lazy or apathetic or unmotivated or unresponsive probably are not engaging their students enough and probably don't have really solid Intros. If you can get your students engaged in the first few minutes of the lesson you're likely to carry that energy throughout your lesson. This ...