Monday 24 September 2012

Past Continuous and Past Simple

Past Continuous and Past Simple

An exercise to introduce you to two forms of the Past Tense.  The exercise is a gapfill one where you convert the designated verb to it's past form (continuous or simple). This resource is suitable for A2 CEFR students.  Grammar support points are on the right hand side of the web page.

Saturday 22 September 2012

TEFL Global Grammar Resources

The Simple Past Tense - Regular and Irregular Verbs


Grammatical information on the context, form and uses of verbs (regular and irregular) in the Simple Past Tense.  There are also exercises to practise skills and a short reading and writing task in each resource.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

The Cat That Walked By Himself

The Cat That Walked By Himself


Which pet do you prefer? A cat or a dog.

A lovely poem by Rudyard Kipling which rhymes, has rhythm and a theme already introduced in the podcast comparing cats and dogs. 

Familiarize yourself with the vocabulary, read and listen to the poem and test your understanding of what you have read through the comprehension activities.

Irregular Verbs

Irregular Verbs


A list of approximately 60 or so irregular verbs with the base form, the past simple tense and the past participle in table format.  This resource could be used as a reference tool or you could start trying to memorize the verbs as they are commonly used in English.

There is also an exercise to do here.  Again keep your eyes out for news of my new website where I will incorporate a lot of this type of materIal.


Present Perfect

Present Perfect 

A B1 CEFR exercise on the Present Perfect Tense suitable for Pre- Intermediate level TEFL learners.  There is a combination of questions and sentences to complete for this gapfill exercise.

The Present Perfect Tense Slideshow  can be found on the grammar page of this blog. Check it out as it goes into more detail on the formation, meaning and uses of the present perfect tense.  It is interactive and there are exercises to do as you watch it.  I would say this is for those of you who may be meeting the present perfect tense again and can understand a little bit more detail this time (Intermediate level).

Keep your eyes open here as I am developing another website which will be more of a static one and will include more grammar exercises as they are proving to be popular.

British Council Elementary Podcast 5




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:




Download and do the exercises.

Main Contents of Podcast This Week

  • Describing cats
  • What famous person would you like to meet and why? Didier Drogba
  • Vocabulary quiz - words beginning with (single consonant sounds)
  • New Zealand - the landscape and scenery
  • Expressing an opinion - Which do you prefer cats or dogs?
  • Dialogue of Carolina from Venezuela when she meets her new flatmates in 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. Regular and irregular verbs
  2. The base form, the past simple tense and the past participle in the present perfect tense
  3. Informal phrases.
I will follow up with work that is related through the week.  This work will be graded for different levels of student ability.





Sunday 16 September 2012

[ THE DRIFTER and the GYPSY ]: Interview: ModCloth

[ THE DRIFTER and the GYPSY ]: Interview: ModCloth


If you are interested in women's fashion ModCloth uses 'vintage inspired designs from independent designers'.  Susan Gregg Koger was the founder of this internet based company at 17 years of age and is totally self taught in the business.  The resource is a transcribed phone interview. Read on and find out about Winston, the pug who is the company mascot!

[ THE DRIFTER and the GYPSY ]: A heart-shaped meadow

[ THE DRIFTER and the GYPSY ]: A heart-shaped meadow

An inspirational short love story.  We have a proverb in English 'true love never dies'.  I think this story and photograph are testimony to that!



Do you know of any true love stories? Do you believe in true love?

Leave a comment here or on our facebook page.

Saturday 15 September 2012

How to Say Different English Numbers - English Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson

How to Say Different English Numbers - English Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson


How to say numbers in different contexts.  For example in dates, when telling the time, with money (for British currency simply substitute pound for dollars and pence for cents), when scoring a football game etc.




How to Say Numbers 100-1 trillion - English (ESL) Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson

How to Say Numbers 100-1 trillion - English (ESL) Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson


Following from the last video posted here are some larger numbers.


How to Say Numbers 0-99 - English Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson

How to Say Numbers 0-99 - English Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson


Practise the correct pronunciation of numbers from zero to 99.



More Music Collaborations from the British Council




Watch this film and learn about musical projects between British musicians and artists and performers from around the world.   Five international musical pieces were developed representing all five continents of the world.  The music was performed at a spectacular weekend event of free music on the River Thames ('River of Music, July 2012').