Monday 10 September 2012

ENGLISH PAGE - Modal Verbs Exercise 1

ENGLISH PAGE - Modal Verbs Exercise 1


A gapfill exercise using the modal verbs - can, could, have to, must, might and should. Suitable for Intermediate students.

Sunday 9 September 2012

modals + have

modals + have

This resource will give you further information if you need it in using a modal + have + past participle.  The last exercise in Literature is Great Part 1 used this formation.  This article explains the grammar and theory behind it!

Literature is Great - Part 2

Literature is Great - Part 2


Part 2 of the British Council's 'Literature is Great' resource looks at 'Modern Day British Literature'.  Modern children's/teenagers books from the UK tend to be mainly in the fantasy genre.

Richard, the presenter introduces you to modern day British writers: George Orwell, C.S. Lewis, J R R Tolkien, J R Rowling, Philip Pullman, Anthony Horowitz and  Cressida Cowell.


Which book title and writer do you associate with these images?





The Learn English video exercises involve summarising the main message, answering comprehension questions and completing gap fills.

Additionally, it is worth noting that all the above images come from films.  Some children in the UK have only seen the films and have not read the books.  This varies from child to child and depends on their reading ability.  Is this the same in your country?

Films make the story more accessible for children who have difficulty with reading.  On the other hand, some children could read the books but choose not to because the film is just much easier for them to watch.  This addresses the issue in the podcast this week about reading the book or watching the film. 

What do you think? 

If you wish to express an opinion I welcome you to do so in the comments box below.

Literature is Great - Part 1

Literature is Great - Part 1

Geoffrey Chaucer, Thomas Hardy, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and 
William Wordsworth. 

Try to match these famous British writers to their photographs:



















The Learn English, British Council video resource attached to this blog post  is mainly about William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.  Other writers that are also noted such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Thomas Hardy and William Wordsworth.  Do you know any of their plays, novels or poems? 

Watch the video and find out where the writers came from in the UK. Richard, the presenter also visits two other places in this video: the Globe Theatre and the Charles Dickens Museum. 

Grammatical and communicative exercises follow developing your comprehension and understanding skills, sentence composition skills and finally grammatical skills using modal verbs (must, might, can) with the present tense or the present perfect tense.  As always there is also the opportunity to contribute your thoughts to the discussion forum at the bottom of the page. 

NB The latter grammatical exercise is more suitable for a higher level of TEFL student.

Horror Films

Horror Films

Do you like horror films? An audio file with a listening comprehension which requires you to answer true/false questions after familiarising yourself with some of the vocabulary associated with this genre of film. Add a comment to the website at the end of the exercise, it will give you the opportunity to express your opinion on horror films.


Personally, I don't like them.  I hide behind cushions on the sofa, go to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.  I do anything to get me out of watching them!

British Council Elementary Podcast - 4



TEFL Vocabulary, Grammar and Communicative Skills.



If you are a beginner (A2 CEFR level) these British Council Podcasts are excellent for getting you started.  As the week progresses I will post up other related work which will be appropriate for different levels of student ability.  If you are an Intermediate level of student you may want to use this resource to revise and then extend your knowledge.  Advanced students may just want to dip into the additional and other resources added during the week.



Find the audio link (MP3) right click and save it so you can listen to it whenever is convenient for you. The podcast comes with a support pack and transcript which is 22 pages long.  Use this link:
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/sites/podcasts/files/learnenglish-podcasts-elementary-01-04-support-pack-transcript.pdf

Download and do the exercises.

Main Contents of Podcast This Week

  • How are you feeling? Enquiring about somebody's health after they have been ill.
  • What famous person would you like to meet and why? Bob Marley
  • Vocabulary quiz - nouns and verbs
  • China - Cheung Chau Bun Festival
  • Expressing an opinion - Do you prefer to read a book or watch a film?
  • Dialogue of Carolina from Venezuela on the train on her way up to Newcastle.
  • Telling/retelling a joke
Here is a summary of the main language points of the podcast. Try to get more practise with these language points during the week if you can:
  1. British money - pounds and pence vocabulary
  2. informal phrases - what do you fancy, this ones on me, stuff
  3. phrasal verbs - it depends on
I will follow up with work that is related through the week.  This work will be graded for different levels of student ability.





Saturday 8 September 2012

BBC - Food - Occasions : Barbecue recipes

BBC - Food - Occasions : Barbecue Recipes


The summer is coming to an end in the United Kingdom.  It is warm at the moment and we are having the last weekend of sunshine that we may get for a while. So here are some ideas for barbecued food.  I love barbecued food but prefer vegetarian options. 

I have therefore chosen to share a BBC page focusing on vegetarian burgers and kebabs as well as meat and fish, and salads.  

Have a browse through the recipes and ideas.  If you live in a warmer part of the world you will be able to perhaps use these recipes for a longer period of time. You lucky people! 

This resource is probably suitable for an Intermediate/Upper Intermediate level of TEFL learner.

Vocabulary – How to Talk About the Weather in English · engVid

Vocabulary – How to Talk About the Weather in English · engVid

This video comes from Canada where there are 4 distinct seasons. It is the same in the United Kingdom except we don't quite get as much snow.  The presenter is lively and entertaining and extends the basic vocabulary.  There is also a quiz to do after the programme. This is suitable for an intermediate and upper level of student.

English Spelling – When to Double Consonants (“swimming” “stopped” etc.) · engVid

English Spelling – When to Double Consonants (“swimming” “stopped” etc.) · engVid

This is probably an Intermediate/Higher Intermediate level of resource.  Basically, consonants are doubled in some spellings of English words.  When this happens on of the consonants in the double is said to be 'silent' as we don't say the sound twice.

The rules of when consonants are doubled are covered in this video.

The consonant is doubled with comparatives (er endings), superlatives (est endings), with the past tense of verbs (ed endings)and the continuous forms (ing endings).

The rule of doubling the consonant when words end in a consonant, vowel and a consonant is also covered (the CVC rule).  For example - STOP - STOPPED.

Stress is in two syllable words is also noted, the consonant being doubled when the stress lies on the second syllable of a word.

Altogether, an extremely comprehensive resource.

Words With Silent Letters--Impediments to Spelling--Academic Support

Words With Silent Letters--Impediments to Spelling--Academic Support


Full and comprehensive information on spellings with silent letters. The words are assembled into a table and are sorted according to the position of the silent vowel within them. In some vowel digraphs have one silent vowel, some have a silent consonant sound in them and some have silent whole digraphs within them. There is also a list of words that have silent letters but when the form of the word is changed those letters then develop a sound.

Spelling & Pronunciation – Words with Silent Letters · engVid

Spelling & Pronunciation – Words with Silent Letters · engVid


This video very clearly explains silent letters and how to pronounce them.  It starts with words that begin with a silent 'k', 'p' and 'w' and moves on to look at silent letters in the middle of words 'l', 's', 'b' and 't'. An excellent video with oral cues that are reinforced on the whiteboard behind the presenter. Suitable for Intermediate learners and above.

Prepositions – Arrive AT, ON, or IN? · engVid

Prepositions – Arrive AT, ON, or IN? · engVid

This lesson is excellent.  It is clearly presented using a white board.  You can see the written structure of sentences on the board behind the presenter.  The presenter's explanations are very clear, precise and audible.  This lesson looks at the prepositions at, on or in.