EFL Teaching Recipes

Guessing games are a standard way to play and practice/learn vocabulary.

Simply generate with the class your vocabulary list. It can be recent vocabulary from your book/lesson/unit.

Then, the teacher describes one thing/place/person on the board and students try to … Read More ....

Those with –ken past participle sound:

speak  spoke  spoken

take     took     taken

wake    woke     waken

break   broke    broken

shake   shook   shaken

Those with –sen past participle sound

choose   chose    chosen

freeze    froze     frozen

Those with –ght … Read More ....

Mr. Bean works well with this technique.

Get some great Mr. Bean videos here or here.

Backdoor is a technique where in pairs students sit back to back. One student watches the screen and describes the action. The teacher … Read More ....

This generates a lot of talk and students are always very interested in each other’s lives.

Write down on the board some of your own (the teacher) family names. Underneath write;

A. Who is …………………..?

B. …….. is ………..’s …………….… Read More ....

  This is just one of many ways your students can communicately introduce themselves.

Give each student a slip of paper. Ask them to write their name and two things they like (or you can switch this to suit your … Read More ....

Wordle is a wonderful tool for teaching English!

You can put in groups of words and then display them in a “cool” fashion. Your teenagers especially will love this personalization.

I designed a quick game of random wordles – What … Read More ....

This is a fun lesson. Lily is an amazing child and your students will be fascinated.

1. Choose a student and get the student standing at the front of the class. Place a map of the world at the front … Read More ....

A piece of paper, a chalkboard and a pair of scissors are a teacher’s best friends.  Tr.uly, let me explain with this one activity.

1. Give each student a blank piece of paper.

2. Ask them to fold it “hamburger”, … Read More ....

This is the perfect icebreaker and getting to know you activity! See an already made version HERE.

First, write 3 very simple sentence prompts on the board. For example something like this….

1. I like ………………………..

2. I don’t like … Read More ....

Here’s a unique way to learn and practice proverbs for a higher level class (and probably high school or univ/adults).

Put a few common proverbs on the board without the ending. You can bring a horse to water but……….

Solicit … Read More ....