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

"Been there. Done that" - Present Perfect / Past Simple Contrast + Game

You are going to

• practise the present perfect to talk about things you have done in your life
• use the past simple to give extra details about when / where / why you did it
• play a game to practise the present perfect / past simple

1) Discuss
A) How do we make the present perfect?
Answer - highlight below
The present perfect  = Have / Has  (‘ve / ‘s ) + Participle


B) Look at these verbs.
What are the participles?

 

Answers - highlight below
been  broken  caught  dressed  eaten  failed  found  flown  lost  met  played  ridden  sailed  seen  sung  skied  slept  swum  visited  won 



C) Present Perfect and Past Simple. What's the difference?

1. Which tense do we use to talk about something we have done in our lives (but when is not important)?
2. Which tense do we use to give extra information about the action (when / where / why...)?

Answers. Highlight below
Present Perfect - I have run in a marathon.
Past Simple - I ran in the marathon last year.






2) Speak
A) Look at the presentation and make and answer the questions in the present perfect.
You can answer the follow-up questions in the past simple

Have you ever...? - Present Perfect from David Mainwood

B) Now do the matching exercise

4) Speak / Play a game
What have you done?

1. Think of some things you have done in your life.
2. Write 8 sentences in the present perfect about things you have done. Can you think of anything that (in your class) ONLY YOU have done.

For example;
I've been to New York.
I've swum 400m
I've run in a marathon

Play the  "I'm the only one" game. 

1. Everyone says a sentence in the present perfect. You win a point if you have done something that no one else in the class has done.
2. Win another point if you say when or where you did it in the past simple.

The person or pair with the most points is the winner.





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

Present Perfect Simple Intermediate, Present Perfect Simple

Mystery Person Game Elementary Games, Kids, Past Simple, Speaking, Young Learners
 
Rolling Question Game Elementary, Games, Pre-Intermediate, Kids, Speaking, Young Learners

Rolling Word Game Elementary, Games, Intermediate, Kids, Speaking, Young Learners

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

The Rolling Question Game

(Beg.s > Pre-Int)

You are going to  

• play a revision game
• practise and revise vocabulary by answering questions

Teacher's note. I uploaded this here as, along with the Rolling Word Game here,  it has been very popular with my younger classes.
You can start or finish at any point depending on the level of the class. The questions are more or less ordered according to level from beginners vocab through to prepositions, present continuous, simple past, comparatives  etc


Instructions

1. Throw 1 or 2  dice.
2. Click the page forward according to the number on the dice.
3. Answer the questions
4. Continue. Play in teams. You can get a point for each correct answer. More points can be given if the answer requires more information.

Rolling question game from David Mainwood

Download as ppt file here

More

Rolling Word Game Elementary, Games, Intermediate, Kids, Speaking, Young Learners

Games and Quizzes EFL SMARTblog list

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 

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

"Going To" for prediction - Look at the photos and say what is going to happen

You are going to

• practise going to for predictions and certainty
• look at some photos and speak

Discuss
Look at the photos in the presentation below
What do you think is going to happen in each one?

Going to from David Mainwood

More

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

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

Breakfast with Eric and Ernie Auxiliaries, Beginners, Breakfast, Elementary, Film and TV, Food, Morecambe and Wise, Present Simple, Question Forms, Young Learners 

Looking to the Future - Activities and Achievements, Discussion Activities, Future, Future Continuous, Future Perfect, Intermediate, Predictions, Targets, Technology, 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

Jump and Slide 3 (Quiz Game - Pre-Int)

An pre-intermediate level quiz game to practise making questions in the past, present and future.

Individuals or teams see an answer and must ask the correct question.
A version for beginners is here Jump and Slide (Quiz Game - Beginners / Elem)
An elementary version is here Jump and Slide 2 (Quiz Game - Elementary)

Students should see the questions / answers "board" projected on an interactive whiteboard (if so they can come out and "touch" the numbers to play) or on a screen.
Students could also play it on tablets if available.


Note
1) You can download the "board" below and print it as A3. Teams throw a dice, land on a square and answer the corresponding question. If correct, they move a piece (as in a traditional snakes and ladders style game) until they arrive at the "end".

2) Or you can do it as revision quiz without the board
It can be downloaded as a ppt file below and adapted.

See below for game instructions



Board
This image can be downloaded below for printing.

Play

1. Click anywhere to start
2. Throw a dice. 
3. Move your piece. 
4. When you land on a square (on your printed sheet), click on the number in the game below and ask the right question. 
5. Click again anywhere on the screen to see if your answer is correct.
6. Click the blue triangle (bottom right) to go back to the home "game" page.
7. Continue until you reach the end.

Downloads
Game sheet is jpg here (right click and "save as") or word doc here
A version of the game as a ppt file is here

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section below




More

• Asking Questions Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Question forms

• Rolling Word Game Elementary, Games, Intermediate, Kids, Speaking, Young Learners

What is beauty?

You are going to

• discuss fashion, beauty and health
• practise words to describe people
• listen to someone talking about ideas of fashion, beauty and health

1) Discuss in pairs / write a list
In 60 seconds how many words can you think of which describe a person's appearance?
Make a note / write a list of them
eg tall, short...










2) Match
A) Choose the right category for each of the words below. Is it Build, Hair, Height or Opinion?







B) Now make a table and put all the words from the exercise and your list in the right column

Build	Hair	Height	Opinion
		tall

3) Discuss

• What is beauty?
• What makes someone beautiful or attractive?
• Where do we get our ideas of beauty from?
• Do ideas of beauty vary around the world?

4) Watch
Watch the clip "Food for Thought" below.
You are going to watch a woman called Mable talk about the first time she came to the UK.
A) Listen and answer

• Where does Mabel get her idea of beauty from?
• Why is she scared of coming to England?
• What does she learn about the British?

B) Watch again and fill in the gaps in the sentences

5) Discuss

• Why does Mabel think that beauty is what she sees in the magazines?
• What do you think “junk in the trunk” means? Junk = rubbish. Trunk (American) = the place where you put the bags in a car (boot in UK English). Can you guess what she means when describing people?
• Why do you think it is easier for an African to eat well and be healthy than for the British?
• Is it easy to eat healthily in your country? 
• Do you eat healthily?
• She says "the magazines show what the British want to look like."  Do you think this is true for all nationalities?
• Why do we want to look like the people in the magazines?
• Why does Mabel think she is lucky at the end?

6) Do the crossword

Click on a number and type in your answer. Click check to see the answers.

All the words are used to describe people.

Crossword printable version here

Printable exercises here






7) Play a game
20 questions.
Someone in the class thinks of a famous person. The others ask Yes / No questions to guess the name of the person.
- Is it a man? Yes it is
- Is he tall? - Yes he is.
- Has he got long hair? Yes he has

Continue until you guess. If you can't guess in 20 questions you lose!








8) Discuss / Write

A) In Pairs. Describe someone. Talk about their appearance and their personality. Don't say their name. Read your description to your partner or to the class. Can they guess who you are describing?


B) - IELTS

• The Fashion and clothing industry is becoming increasingly important in modern society. Is this a good or bad thing?

• Eating a balanced diet is the most important factor for a healthy life. To what extent do you agree?

More

• What Britain Loves Advertising, Beginners, Gerunds, Life in the UK, Present Simple, Travel and Tourism

• What's cooking? - 1. "Bubble and Squeak" Crossword, Elementary, Food, Imperatives, Instructions, Listening, Recipes

• 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 is the weight of the human race? Advice, Crossword, FCE, Food, Health, IELTS, Jamie Oliver, Listening, Obesity, Obligation, Writing, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate