More tested lessons, suggestions, tips and techniques which have all
worked for ETp readers. Try them out for yourself – and then send us your
own contribution. Don’t forget to include your postal address.
All the contributors to It Works in Practice in this issue of ETp will receive
a copy of World Stories, published by Macmillan. Macmillan have kindly
agreed to be sponsors of It Works in Practice for this year.
Visitors to hell Podcast news for business English
This is a wonderfully fun and The business world changes every day, so partner’s opinions on it. With a higher-
effective activity for getting the keeping up-to-date with what is going on level class you can ask the students to
students use the present continuous. is essential for business people and find links between their story and all the
The class is divided into two groups would-be managers of the future. Even others. For example: My company has
– two families: one is a noisy family articles in the latest coursebooks can already gone bankrupt and yours is losing
and the other is an untidy family. quickly become dated – especially if they money and may go bust in the future. The
The students are told that they are are about a company which then goes first to find a link between their story
going to receive guests but it’s so bust. A good way to keep abreast of and all the rest wins.
unbelievably noisy/untidy in their happenings in the world of business is 4 Get the students to create their own
place when the guests arrive that with podcasts. They can be streamed
podcast archive and follow the stories as
they have to think of a number of from the net or downloaded as MP3s.
they develop.
good reasons to explain to their Here are some ideas for exploiting them
in the business English class, followed by 5 Post a podcast link on the class wiki and
visitors why it is so noisy or untidy.
You can set a time limit for the two a list of some good sites for sourcing ask the students to discuss it over the
families to brainstorm and come up business-related podcasts: week. They could also work together to
with their lists of excuses. create and correct a document in
1 Use them as extensions to the lesson
Then they take turns to receive response, such as a letter, report or
topic. Ask your students to find and
guests – the noisy family receives email.
make notes on a podcast related to a
the untidy one and vice versa. After company which they have learnt about 6 Record weekly student podcasts on a
the initial greetings, the hosts have in class. This is akin to updating the ‘topic of the week’ or put the students
to say things like: Sorry it’s so noisy coursebook, as the students are into groups and allocate each group a
– our little daughter is learning to essentially bringing the reading or different business topic on which they
play the trumpet or Our neighbours listening about company X up-to-date. record weekly news podcasts. They can
are having a birthday party or We’ve also interview other people and groups.
2 Use them to replace the coursebook.
just bought a new washing machine,
etc. The families take it in turns to Simply use a podcast instead of the Here are some good podcast sites:
receive each other until they run out listening in the book. You can then www.businessweek.com
of good reasons. ask the students what may have
www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/bizweekly
Of course, this activity can be changed since the book was written.
www.smallbizpod.co.uk/
used to practise structures other 3 Play a language lab listening version
entrepreneur-podcast-highlights
than the present continuous. Just of ‘Find someone who ...’. Tell the
tell the students when they are http://podcast.ft.com
students a topic or company you want
brainstorming their list of reasons to focus on and give them ten www.london.edu/videoandaudio/
what the target structure is that you minutes to find, listen to and make podcasts.html
would like them to include. notes on a relevant podcast. Then ask www.ibizradio.com
For homework, you can ask them them to mingle, explain their podcast www.businessenglishonline.net/resources/
to write down all the good reasons and write down what other people say podcasts (These ones are specifically
that the other family came up with about the podcasts they listened to. produced for ELT and are about business
to explain the noise or mess. If they find they’ve listened to the topics.)
Nataliya Potapova same one as the student they are Phil Wade
Uzhhorod, Ukraine talking to, they must ask for their La Réunion, France
34 • Issue 88 September 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
To craft, or not to craft?
The idea of planning activities using paint and glitter can fill Idea 1
some hard-working English teachers with dread. I have the When a student gets an egg, they have to think of words on a
luxury of being able to teach craft with English in a CLIL theme prompted by the teacher (eg food, clothes, verbs, etc)
environment for two-hour sessions, but less fortunate teachers that begin with the letter on the egg. So, for example, if a
may have some questions to ask ... student rolls the dice and gets the number 3, they have to find
an egg with the number 3 on it. If the egg they choose has the
Question 1: But what about in my daily classes? letter C, they can be asked to name three types of food
Timing and (a little) preparation should be taken into beginning with C. In order not to single out weaker students,
consideration, but knowing you are making a lesson memorable this can be done as a team game.
for your students makes it worth it. An added bonus is that you
can decorate your classroom at the same time. Craft also adds a Idea 2
different dynamic to the lesson, developing the students’ The students work in two teams. Team 1 rolls the dice or
curiosity in the lesson topic – and it can be fun, too. chooses a number and finds the egg with that number. The
teacher (or Team 2) thinks of a word that Team 1 has to spell
Question 2: But what about time, effort beginning with the letter on the egg.
and materials?
Idea 3
Use the materials available where you work (paper, whiteboard
Get very young students to select eggs by taking small
pens, card if provided, etc) and use accessible materials that are
coloured cards from a bag. They have to find an egg of the same
free or inexpensive (paper plates, toilet rolls, pegs, etc).
colour and then name the colour and the number and letter on
Create easy projects that can be re-used for revision purposes
the egg.
and which are useful for the daily classroom environment. For
example: pelmanism games, mini-books, alphabet/number
displays.
You can find instructions for lots of craft projects, including
a pelmanism game (good for vocabulary practice), mini-book
(writing and drawing new lexis) and displays for different
festivals (to make classroom decorations, greetings cards,
revision games, etc) at http://craftwithjack.blogspot.com (look
in the ‘Training sessions’ section of the site). These are all very
basic ideas – but easy, effective and great for revision. Here are Egg stencil
some examples of revision games involving Easter eggs – it
doesn’t have to be eggs; you could use other festival images
(eg Christmas trees) or other shapes (eg circles, squares, fruit
or animal shapes):
Easter egg revision games
Materials
Card, scissors, glue, colours, string, pegs
Procedure
1 Use a stencil like the one opposite to produce egg shapes on
thin card. Get each student to cut out one egg. (Cut them out
yourself for very young students.)
2 Get the students to decorate the eggs with crayons, strips of
wrapping paper, stickers, etc. They can add their names if
they wish.
Question 3: But what about ensuring success?
3 Put a large number (from 1 to 6) and a common letter of the
Always do the project first yourself, so the instructions are clear
alphabet on each egg. These could be drawn on or printed on and in order, and so that you identify and anticipate any
paper and cut out and stuck on. possible problems.
4 Peg the eggs to the string and display them in the classroom. For the inexperienced, steer clear of glitter and ‘Santa’
5 To play the revision games, use dice or number/alphabet projects using cotton wool and glue!
cards (these can be flashcards or random pieces of card with Happy crafting!
numbers or letters on that students choose like a ‘lucky dip’) Jacqueline Toon
for the students to take turns to get an egg. Seville, Spain
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 88 September 2013 • 35
