Category Archives: Twitter

Easy Way to Plan your English Class! - NEW VIDEO!

Easy Way to Plan your English Class! – NEW VIDEO!

Using a Real Text to Teach an English Class

Cast aside your outmoded EFL course book and try using a real text instead! In this free video I talk about using a text I recently found online, about the oldest pub in Britain:

Britain’s oldest pub forced to close ‘after 1,229 years’

I use the You Are The Course Book – Mode 2 framework to plan and run the class:

You Are The Course Book - Mode 2

You Are The Course Book – Mode 2

It really doesn’t take long to plan the class, once you have picked your text, found the topic, highlighted the target vocabulary, identified relevant grammar points, and planned some free practice activities – all based on the text. Find out more with this free manual:

https://purlandtraining.com/free-books/free-elt-book-you-are-the-course-book-lesson-plans-by-matt-purland/

There are more great tips for using a real text here:

Ideas for Using a Real Text in an ESL Classroom

If you try it, do let me know how it goes and how your students react! Find Purland Training on Twitter and Facebook or contact me here.

Hashtag Improve Your Life in Four Words - ESOL Game

Hashtag Improve Your Life in Four Words – ESOL Game

Hashtag Improve Your Life in Four Words – ESOL Game

This is a fun ESOL game inspired by the recent Twitter hashtag: #ImproveYourLifeIn4Words

Method:

  1. SS (students) work in pairs or small groups. They access the hashtag on Twitter and select ten (or more, or fewer) tweets. T (teacher) monitors and helps.
  2. They write the four-word phrases onto a sheet of paper, then delete one of the words from each phrase. SS could focus on deleting words from a particular word class, e.g. verbs, adjectives, or prepositions, etc.
  3. Next, SS exchange their paper with another pair or group, who have to complete each gap with one word only – or more than one word, if you want the game to be easier. Then both pairs of groups come together and compare their answers with the original tweets.
  4. Twist: SS have to suggest more than one word that could possibly fit, e.g. five words – the funnier the better!
  5. The whole class come together and different groups present their work to the class.
  6. Final quick-fire round #1: T (or a student) collects all of the four-word phrases and reads them to SS going round the whole class in a circle. The reader omits the final word and the student has to say the first thing that comes to mind, e.g. “I would buy…” “Sausages.” / “Bread.” / “A pizza.” – and so on. You could make it competitive by putting a five-second timer on each student – if they can’t think of anything, they sit out, and the game continues until there is one student as the winner!
  7. Final quick-fire round #2: T (or SS) collect a number of four-word phrases from the hashtag on Twitter. Play the quick-fire round, as above, but this time SS must come up with the real final word from the tweets. You could play it competitively too, as above.

By the way, don’t forget to follow Purland Training on Twitter! [Click here.] and let us know how it goes!


Example (with tweets below):

Education gives children __________.    e.g. headaches

Pledge to go __________!    e.g. green

Learn to love __________.    e.g. homework

__________, then laugh more.    e.g. eat

Laugh whenever it’s __________.    e.g. raining

Think about others __________.    e.g. sometimes

Go to bed __________.    e.g. late

Watch the Penguin __________.    e.g. film

A Weekend In __________.    e.g. Grimsby

Read more, sing __________!    e.g. less


#Education gives #children choices #ImproveYourLifeIn4Words pic.twitter.com/yOYzPDNfAR


Title image: https://pixabay.com