Writing An Article - "The Amazon Echo"

You are going to 

• watch an advertisement
• answer some questions
• discuss technology
• write an article / review

Discuss

• What computer technology do you have / use?
• What activities do we use ICT (information and communication technology) for?
• What is your favourite device / app / website / online activity?

Watch
Watch the commercial for the Amazon Echo below
Answer

• What does it do?
• What questions do people ask?
• Would you like one?

Answers
How many of the questions can you answer?
Highlight below
What is it?
Is it for me?
How's it going?
Is it on?
Can it hear me right now?
What does it do?
What time is it?
Is that where we are going to put it?
How tall is Mount Everest?
How can it know so much?
How many teaspoons are in a table spoon?
What day is it?
What does a dog say after a long day at work?
How do you spell "cantaloupe"?




Discuss

1. What is it? How would you describe it one word?
2. What does it do? Give a summary of what it does in one sentence.
3. Is it important? Will it be popular? Why?
4. Is it useful? What are the advantages of having this product? Give 5 examples of the most important / useful things it does.
5. Does it have any drawbacks / disadvantages / negative aspects? Can you think of any problems it might have?
6. What do you think of it? Would you buy one? Do you think the Amazon Echo will be useful / popular? Could you use it to learn English?

Answers
Highlight below

1. A device called the Amazon Echo
2. It answers questions and performs a number of tasks
3. Student opinions
4. Student ideas - eg It answers questions, tells jokes, plays music, is an alarm clock and takes shopping orders ...
5. Arguments between family members? Privacy concerns? Is it listening to you? What does it know about you? Can it be hacked into?
6. Student opinions

Write
Write an article about the Amazon Echo (150 - 180 words)
Plan your writing

1. How many paragraphs will you use?
2. You can use your answers to the questions above to help you. How would you organize your answers into paragraphs?

Highlight below for answers
4 Paragraphs
Paragraph 1 = questions 1,2,and 3
Paragraph 2 = question 4
Paragraph 3 = question 5
Paragraph 4 = question 6




Read
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/with-amazons-echo-you-are-never-alone/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmoorhead/2014/11/11/amazon-echo-what-you-need-to-consider-before-buying/



 
More

• Are the machines taking over?  Advanced, Business, Future, Future Continuous, IELTS, Shopping, Technology, Upper Intermediate

• Are you always on your phone? Advanced, CAE, FCE, IELTS, Intermediate, Listening, Technology, Upper Intermediate, Writing, Writing an argument, Writing introductions for argument essays

• Could you live without it? Mobile phones, Living without electricity, Advantages and disadvantages, IELTS, Intermediate, Linking words, Listening, Reading, Smartphones, Writing an argument, Contrasting, Technology

• Who was the world's first online shopper? Business, Commerce, Communication, Differentiated Exercises, Intermediate, Listening, Pre-Intermediate, Science, Shopping, Technology, Upper Intermediate

How to be polite - Making Polite Requests

You are going to practise making polite requests


Note - this activity can be done in combination with this post
What is charm? http://efllecturer.blogspot.com.es/2014/05/what-is-charm.html



Discuss

• Why are we polite to each other?
• In what situations is it important to be polite?
• Are you likely to be more impressed by someone who is polite?
• In what ways do you show politeness or respect in your language?
• Does politeness change according to language and culture?
• How do we show politeness in English? What words or expressions do we use?

Look at the presentation.
Ask questions using the photos as prompts.

Polite Requests from David Mainwood

More
What is charm? Adjectives, Advanced, Being Polite, Charm, Describing a person, Listening, Manners, Speaking, Upper Intermediate

What is love? Intermediate , Listening, Love, Relationships, Upper Intermediate 

Life in the UK; The British and how to understand them Discussion Activities, Elementary, Intermediate, Life in the UK, Present Simple, Reading, Webquest, Writing a report

What should you do in a lightning storm?

You are going to 

• listen to a short radio interview about lightning
• look at vocabulary connected with storms, thunder and lightning and extreme weather
• do a comprehension exercise

1) Discuss

Public domain

• What kinds of extreme weather do you have in your country?
• What are the most dangerous kinds of weather?
• What is lightning?
• Are you afraid of it?
• Have you ever been struck by lightning?
• Do you know anyone who has been struck by lightning?
• What should you do in a lightning storm?
• Should you swim in the sea?
• Are you safe in a car?
• What are "wellies" and is it OK to wear them in a thunderstorm?
• What happens when lightning strikes a plane?
• Can lightning strike twice in the same place?
• What's a myth? Can you think of any examples?

Suggested examples of extreme / dangerous weather (students may have more).
Highlight below
tornado  hurricane  blizzard  thunderstorm  flood  hurricane  drought  lightning  ice  fog  heatwave  gales / high winds monsoon






2) Listen
Listen to lightning engineer Rhys Phillips on BBC Radio 4's PM program talking about lightning. 
How many of the questions above do you hear the answers to?

listen to ‘Thunderbolts of lightning, very very frightening’ on Audioboo

Listen again.
A) Do the vocabulary match and listen again.
Then do the comprehension exercise below.

B) Now fill in the gaps in the summary.

Download exercises here




3) Discuss

• What other dangerous kinds of weather are there? Think of some examples. 
• What should you do to avoid being hurt?

4) Write
Turn the information about lightning into an advice leaflet.
or
Make an advice or information leaflet about weather in your country.





5) Check Vocabulary
Can you explain the meaning of these words?

More
Weather forecast Elementary, Intermediate, Listening, Upper Intermediate, Weather 

The Truth About British Rain - The Great British W...Advanced, Describing a cycle, IELTS, Life in the UK, Listening, Upper Intermediate, Weather, Writing

Suggestions and Advice (Why don't you...? / Have you tried?) Advice, Intermediate, Modal Verbs, Suggestions

Giving Advice - should / ought to / had better / must / have to / can't. Advice, Intermediate, Modal Verbs, Pre-Intermediate 




More on lightning

What is lightning? https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/science-schools-%E2%80%93-electricity-lightning-workshop-what-lightning

Lightning protection of aircraft https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/science-schools-%E2%80%93-electricity-lightning-workshop-aircraft-design

Making a news report https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/science-schools-electricity-lightning-workshop-making-a-news-report

Remember + -ing (Gerund) or Remember + To (Infinitive)?

You are going to practise 

1. Remember + -ing (gerund) for remembering past actions.
2. Remember to + Infinitive for reminders (= remembering that you need to do something).

1. Remember + -ing (gerund) for remembering past actions.

Speak
The past
What can you remember doing when you were young, last summer / at the weekend?
Look at the presentation and make sentences about the pictures.

Remember + Gerund from David Mainwood

Discuss
Do you know the difference between these structures?

1. Remember + -ing (gerund) - I remember locking the door
2. Remember to + Infinitive - I remembered to lock the door

2. Remember to + Infinitive for reminding (remembering that you need to do something).

Discuss

• Do you sometimes forget you need to do things?
• What do you often forget to do?
• How do you remember to do things?
• What are the most important things we should remember to do?

Look at the questions below.
Match the questions with the answers. 
Can you think of any other important things we should remember to do?







Speak
Look at the presentation and answer the questions for each picture.

Remember + to (infinitive) from David Mainwood

3. Practise
Can you remember the difference?

1. Remember + -ing (gerund) for talking about the past / memories.
2. Remember to + Infinitive for reminding.

Do the exercise

More
Read

• What are the top 10 things people forget to do?

Find out here http://listverse.com/2012/10/27/top-10-everyday-things-we-forget/ 



Listen

• Look at these song titles. Do you know them?
• What are the songs about?
• What are they "remembering"?

Jeff Beck and Imelda May - "Remember (walking in the sand)"

Shakira - "I Can't Remember To Forget You"

More on EFL SMARTblog

Gerund or Infinitive? Gerunds, Infinitives, Intermediate, Pre-Intermediate

Giving Advice - should / ought to / had better / must / have to / can't. Advice, Intermediate, Modal Verbs, Pre-Intermediate

Have + Noun + Participle (Have Something Done) Intermediate , Passive

Past Continuous / Past Simple (Revison Quiz) Elementary, gifs, Intermediate, Past Continuous, Past Simple, Pre-Intermediate, Quizzes 

Modals for Obligation and Prohibition Intermediate, Modal Verbs

Modals of Deduction - Past and Present Deduction, Modal Verbs, Speculating, Upper Intermediate

Present Perfect Simple Intermediate, Present Perfect Simple

Gerund or Infinitive?

You are going to practise some verbs which are followed by another verb in gerund or infinitive.





1) Discuss
Look at these verbs.
Are they followed by a gerund or infinitive?

2) Speak
Look at the list of verbs in the presentation and make sentences using a gerund or an infinitive after each verb.
Example - I can't stand driving in the city.

Infinitive or Gerund? from David Mainwood

3) Practise
Do the exercise

4) Write
Write some sentences using the verbs above which are true for you.
Example - I detest eating prunes.
I'm just a poor EFL teacher. I can't afford to buy new shoes.






5) Practise
Here are 5 songs with gerunds and infinitives in the titles.
How many do you know? Can you think of any more songs with a gerund or an infinitive in the title?

I Promise To Try

I Can't Stand Losing You

Imagine (having no possesions...)

Learn to Fly

I Want To Break Free

More

• Giving Advice - should / ought to / had better / must / have to / can't. Advice, Intermediate, Modal Verbs, Pre-Intermediate 
• Have + Noun + Participle (Have Something Done) Intermediate, Passive
• Modal Verbs for Possibility and Certainty Intermediate, Modal Verbs, Upper Intermediate
• Modals for Obligation and Prohibition Intermediate, Modal Verbs
• Conditionals 1 and 2, Intermediate, Songs

Have + Noun + Participle (Have Something Done)

You are going to practise the construction Have + Noun + Participle (Have Something Done)





Discuss
What's the difference?

1. She cuts her hair.
2. She has her hair cut.

Answer.
In the 2nd sentence someone does the job for her




Speak
Look at the pictures and make sentences using the construction Have + Noun + Participle

Have something done from David Mainwood

Practise
Drag and drop the words to make a sentence. There are 10 sentences.





Write
How many things do you have done by others?
Make a list.




More
Comparatives and Superlatives, Intermediate
Past Continuous / Past Simple (Revison Quiz) Elementary, gifs, Intermediate, Past Continuous, Past Simple, Pre-Intermediate, Quizzes 
Passive (Present simple) Intermediate, Passive, Quizzes
Past Perfect Intermediate, Past Perfect, Upper Intermediate
Present Perfect Continuous / Progressive Intermediate, Present Perfect Continuous / Progressive, Upper Intermediate
Present Perfect Simple Intermediate, Present Perfect Simple
What will happen if..? (1st Conditional) Conditionals, Elementary, Future, Health and Safety, Writing a leaflet 

Giving Advice - should / ought to / had better / must / have to / can't

You are going to

• practise the language of advice, obligation and prohibition
• watch a news clip about online safety and do a comprehension quiz

1) Discuss
A) What language do we use to give advice?
Think of examples...






B) Do you know how to give advice using these words? 

2) Speak
Look at the pictures in the presentation below.
The language is in order of strength - 5. Have to / Can't is the strongest / most urgent.
Make sentences using should / ought to / had better / must / have to / can't

Advice - should / ought to / had better / must / have to / can't from David Mainwood

3) Practise
Fill in the gaps with the correct word from the list.
Ex 1

Fill in the gaps with the correct word from the list.
Ex 2

Printable versions here

Ex 3 - Have To
Now try this Have To word order exercise here






4) Discuss
Online Safety
What online safety advice can you think of for people who use the internet?
Try and use should(n't) / ought(n't) to / had better (not) / must(n't) / have to / can't






5) Watch
Watch a news clip about online safety from CBS News (there is a short advertisement before the news item starts).

• What online activities do they mention? 
• Do they give any advice?

Look at the exercise below and answer the questions.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tips-for-safer-browsing-on-safer-internet-day/

Now do the comprehension exercise.

Printable worksheet here





6) Write
In groups prepare, discuss and take notes to write an advice leaflet or an online guide / webpage giving advice to people called "How to be safe online"






More
Suggestions and Advice (Why don't you...? / Have you tried?) Advice, Intermediate, Modal Verbs, Suggestions

Exposed (CEOP Video - Staying Safe Online) Discussion Activities, Elementary, Exposed - Staying Safe Online, Intermediate, Listening, Present Simple, Writing. Technology

60 Seconds - Things That Happen On The Internet Every 60 Seconds - Things That Happen On The Internet Every Sixty Seconds, Intermediate, Numbers, Technology,  Passive, Upper Intermediate

Why do we celebrate Valentine's Day?

You are going to

• read information in a video about Valentine's Day
• do a true or false quiz based on the clip
• read an infographic about Valentine's Day

1) Discuss

• What do you know about Valentine's Day?
• Why do we celebrate it?
• Do you celebrate it in your country?
• What do people do on Valentine's Day?
• How and when did Valentine's Day start?

2) Watch
Watch the clip below.
What are the most popular gifts on Valentine's Day?

Now do the true or false quiz below

Printable worksheet here




3) Read
Look at the infographic.

• What additional information is there about the history of Valentine's Day?
• What is your favourite quote about love?
• What is your favourite funny verse?
• How do you say "I love you" in your language?

source http://www.cooldailyinfographics.com/post/the-best-valentines-card-verses





4) Discuss
Do you think Valentine's Day is popular because people want to be romantic or is it mainly a business and commercial interest?







More
What is love? Intermediate , Listening, Love, Relationships, Upper Intermediate  

Inspiring People Achievements, Crossword, Describing a person, Famous People, Inspiring People, Intermediate, Life and how to live it, Occupations, Past Simple

60 Seconds - Things That Happen On The Internet Every 60 Seconds - Things That Happen On The Internet Every Sixty Seconds, Intermediate, Numbers, Technology,  Passive, Upper Intermediate

What do you Know About YouTube? Business, Elementary, History,Intermediate, Internet, Numbers, Past Simple, Reading, Technology, YouTube 

What is love?

You are going to

• look at some vocabulary connected with love and relationships
• listen to someone talking about love, marriage and relationships

1) Discuss

• Have you ever been in love?
• What is love?
• Did you know the question "What is love?" is one of the the most popular searches on google? Why do you think that is?
• How many words connected with love and relationships do you know? Make a list.
• How many of the words below do you know?

Practise
How many of the words on the left can you match with the definition on the right.?









2) Listen
Listen to the clip from BBC Radio Devon's "Pause For Thought" below.
You are going to hear Ali Traherne talk about love and relationships.

• What does she say about the feeling of love when you first fall in love?
• What happens as the years pass?

listen to ‘Pause For Thought with Financial Expert Ali Treharne’ on Audioboo

Listen again and try the gap-fill exercise


Downloadable worksheets here

3) Discuss

• Do you agree that it's important to remember when you first fell in love?
• The Beatles sang "All You Need Is Love". Do you agree?

More
Famous quotes on Love
Do you agree?

Kurt Vonnegut: A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.

Ambrose Bierce in The Devil’s Dictionary:  Love, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky in The Brothers Karamazov: What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.

James Baldwin in "The Price of the Ticket": Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.

Iris Murdoch: Love is the very difficult understanding that something other than yourself is real.



What is Love? http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/13/what-is-love-five-theories



More on EFL SMARTblog

• What is beauty? Adjectives, Beauty, Crossword, Describing a person, Elementary, Fashion, Food, Health, IELTS, Intermediate, Life in the UK

• Icing on the Cake FCE, Gerunds, Intermediate, Listening, Past Habits, Remember + Gerund, Migration, The Icing On The Cake, Used to, Would 

• Miss Devine Describing a person, Intermediate, Listening, Miss Devine, Past Habits, Upper Intermediate, Would 
   

Real English - Popular UK Slang

You are going to 

• look at and practise some very common British slang expressions.
• try and guess the meanings of words from visual context
• do some matching and gap fill exercises

 
Teacher's note
I have seen many students come to the UK thinking they had a good level of English, FCE for example, but still struggle at doing basic things like talking to bus drivers or shop assistants. It's sometimes quite important to teach students "real" English instead of that boring, artificial and antiseptic textbook stuff.

Here is an example. How often do your students come into class with the odd and imperative sounding "Hello! How are you?" instead of the more natural sounding and (in the UK) now ubiquitous "Hiya! Y'alright?"
How many of us actually teach them to use "Hiya!", "Alright?" or "Cheers!" or "See ya!"?
Yet, informally, this is how most people in the UK actually speak to each other.

So, anyway, here are some informal expressions you won't find in many coursebooks or in any exams  but you will definitely hear when you come to the UK.

Warning. Be careful when you use some of these expressions. They are informal and a few may not be suitable for use in class, to your teacher or boss.







1) Discuss
1. How many of these very common expressions do you know?

2. Look at the presentation.

• How many of the words do you know? 
• Can you guess the meanings from the photos?

UK Slang Expressions from David Mainwood

Adapted from 17 British Slang Terms Americans Should Start Using Immediately







2) Practise
1. Try these matching exercises. 
Match the meaning on the right with the slang word on the left. One is done for you.

2. Now try this gap fill

Download printable worksheet (with answers) here






3) Write
Write some short dialogues using as many of the expressions as you can






More
1. One Direction explain some British vocabulary and slang.
How many of the expressions above do they talk about? 

2. English and American slang is different.
Hugh Laurie in The Ellen DeGeneres Show playing a game of American slang VS English slang.
How many of the expressions above do they talk about?

Slang links

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mackenziekruvant/british-slang-americans-should-start-using

http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml

http://thoughtcatalog.com/nico-lang/2013/09/71-simple-british-slang-phrases-everyone-should-start-using/

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/

http://www.slang.org.uk/




Of course there is a lot of UK slang and new expressions come into the language all the time. How many of these do you know?
Maybe we'll look at these next time.
Cheers!
See ya!

More 
EFL SMARTblog

CN U TXT? (Texting, language and mobile phones) Communication, Discussion Activities, IELTS, Intermediate, Mobile phones, Phrasal Verbs / Idioms and Slang, Smartphones, Speaking, Technology, Upper Intermediate   

Giving Up Marilyn Manson Fashion, Giving Up Marilyn Manson, IELTS, Intermediate, Listening, Phrasal Verbs / Idioms and Slang, Upper Intermediate, Writing

What are the most common words in English? Advanced, Reading, Upper Intermediate

Interactive Quiz - Are you a Good Language Learner? By Marisa Constantinides

You are going to do a quiz to discover how good you are at learning a language.

Discuss

• Are you good language learner?
• Could you be better?
• Try a quiz to find out how good you are.

Quiz
This quiz is copied directly from Marisa Constantinides' TEFL Matters blog here. All thanks are due to her for compiling the quiz questions.
All I have done is turn it into an interactive quiz for users of this blog.

Please read Marisa's original post here

Now try the quiz.



When you have finished your score should be visible below the title of the quiz.

Your Score
Quite obviously, the more a answers you have managed to collect, the closer you tend to be to the ideal profile of the Good Language Learner. Most Good Language Learners average a score of about 70%.  If you have scored more than 90%, well then, you are a rare creature indeed!

If you did not score high
If your score is less than the Good Learner average, identify the areas of difficulty and plan a course of action for yourself.

For instance, if you answered B for Question 23, make it a point of training yourself to be a better listener by listening to more tapes, switching regularly to watching English speaking TV  channels, You Tube videos and films, listening to TED talks on topics of interest.
 - Marisa Constantinides





More
Teaching and Learning Styles - What makes a good teacher? How do you like to learn? Advanced, Intermediate, Listening, Quizzes, Reading, Teaching and Learning Styles, Upper Intermediate, Writing

Who was the world's first online shopper?

You are going to 

• discuss shopping online
• practise listening
• look at and practise technology vocabulary

Note - activities in this post are level differentiated and can be used with students from pre-intermediate to upper intermediate levels.The final gap-fill and crossword are aimed at upper intermediate students.
You will hear the following vocabulary.

Discuss 
You are going to watch a video about the first person to shop online.

• Do you ever shop online?
  
• What do you buy online?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of shopping online?
• Who do you think was the first person to buy something online?
• Do you think it was a man or a woman?
• How old do you think he / she was?
• What do you think he / she bought?
• When do you think it happened? Where?

Watch
Watch the video and find out if you are right.







Discuss

• Does anything in the story surprise you?
• Why do you think Mrs Snowball is called a "silver surfer"?

Practise 
1) Watch again and do the matching exercise.



 

2) Quiz - Answer the questions.





3) Do the vocabulary matching exercise.





4) Read the summary and do the gap fill exercise



5) Gap fill of complete transcript here


6) Crossword of vocabulary used here




Download printable worksheets
1) Sentence matching exercise here
2) Listening Quiz here
3) Vocab matching exercise here
4) Gap-fill here
5) Complete transcript gap-fill here
6) Print Crossword (and answers) here





Write
Choose one

• Write a report about online shopping. Explain how to do it, why people do it and what to be careful of.

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of online shopping?

• "Technology has transformed the way we shop and changed the face of our high streets."  To what extent do you agree?

More

• UK goes online shopping Advanced, Business, IELTS, Listening, Technology, Upper Intermediate 

• What is the most important innovation of the last 100 years? Debate, Intermediate, Inventions, Inventors, Listening, Presentations, Science, Speaking, Technology, Upper Intermediate

• 60 Seconds - Things That Happen On The Internet Every 60 Seconds - Things That Happen On The Internet Every Sixty Seconds, Intermediate, Numbers, Technology,  Passive, Upper Intermediate
  
   

Pop Quiz (Who? Whose? What? When? Where? Why? How much? / How many? / How old?)

You are going to

• do a quiz on pop music
• revise and practise these words for making questions - Who, Whose, What, When, Where, Why,  How...

Note - This activity is designed to be done as an interactive class quiz with students (individual or in pairs) having access to smartphones or tablets, laptops etc (however there is a downloadable printable worksheet for those who still like paper).



Discuss

• Do you like pop, rock, rap?
• Do you know any of the people below?
• How many do you like? 
• Who is your favourite singer / group?
• How much do you know about music?
• Do the quiz below and find out how much you know.

Do the quiz
A) First, make the questions by putting these words into the correct spaces;

Who, Whose, What, When, Where, Why,  How, How much, How many, How long

Do not answer the questions yet. You can do that in the next activity

 B) Now choose the correct answer for each question

Printable worksheet available here



More

Beatles Elementary, Famous People, Fashion, History, Intermediate, Listening, Music, Past Simple, Quizzes, Reading 

Questions Questions Questions Auxiliaries, Elementary, Intermediate , Question Forms, Questions  

Question forms (Beginners > Elementary) Present Simple, Question Forms

The Biggest and the Best - Superlatives Quiz Game Comparatives and Superlatives, Games, Intermediate, Quizzes

Past Continuous / Past Simple (Revision Quiz)

You are going to 

• revise the difference between the past continuous and the past simple.
• look at some gif images and make sentences using the correct tense

 
Go here to revise

1. Past Continuous (with gifs)  
2. Past Simple / Past Continuous (with gif images) 

Do the quiz.
Write the correct sentences for each image.
Be careful of spelling and don't forget full stops.
The gif images may sometimes be slow to display.depending on your connection speed.








More
Carry on Doctor - Practising the past continuous / past simple, Film and TV,  Intermediate, Past Continuous, Past Simple, Writing, Writing a letter of complaint