Spelling is often over-looked in the classroom as a distraction from communicative goals and that is a sentiment with which (as a terrible speller) I sympathise but…… Firstly, students often pass or fail Cambridge (and other) exams on a single misplaced letter. The merits of this may be debatable, but I have a duty to prepare students for it. Second and more importantly, students tend to encounter and take on most new vocabulary through exposure to written texts. So they often need to figure out how words sound from the spelling in order to recognise it when listening and use it correctly when speaking Spelling is inextricably linked to phonology. So by learning about how things are spelt, students are also learning about how they sound benefiting both pronunciation and listening skills. So no excuses, let’s make a start! Basic pronunciation: The vowels Stressed vowels have 2 main sounds: 1: a/e/o/i/u as in hat/hot/hit/hut 2: A/E/O/I/U as it sounds when we recite the alphabet as in Hate/Hive/Hotel/Tune Unstressed vowels (that’s most of them) tend to have a schwa sound /ə/ As in: There isn’t much local support for an elephant farm. I believe that awareness of unstressed vowels is essential. Not because students necessarily need to pronounce words in this way (you can be understood without using the /ə/ sound), but because learners who can’t recognise and anticipate weak vowel sounds will struggle to comprehend native speakers of English. What has this got to do with spelling? Some letters and suffixes change the sound of stress syllables from group 1 (a/e/i/o/u) to group 2 (A/E/I/O/U) These include: -e -le -able -al -ing -ance -ence -y It’s not just the “magic -e”! If a vowel is to maintain its group 1 sound it needs to be separated from the vowel by at least 2 consonants: Shopping Swimming Apple Exaggerate luggage occurrence If a vowel has a group 2 sound, this doubling is unnecessary.* Refusal Hazy Hotel rising hormonal If a vowel is not stressed it is also unnecessary.* Intoxicate interest definite penitence deliverence *This applies to the root word (such as satisfied) if we add a prefix or suffix to it then there may be a double vowel for that reason, rather than due to word stress. For example Dis- + Satisfied = Dissatisfied Beautiful + -ly = Beautifully. Ok, so how do we teach it? Try misspelling words and asking students how they would sound: When I knocked over my cofee, creating a pudle on the tabble, I picked up my Aple computer as quickly as I was abble (whether I was quick enough is debattable!) I love wining swiming contests, but I need to work on my timming, instead of spending all my time winning and dinning. His refussal to help was evven worse than lossing my mind. In the begining I prayed for deliverrence but then I lost interrest. By drawing students attention to the way spelling works, you are also helping them to pronounce words which they come across on the page. Super Geeky Bonus Material: some other spelling rules. i before e except after c and when it sounds like way How would I went to weigh my neighbours sleigh sound if it was spelt like this: I went to wiegh my nieghbours sliegh? (let's just pretend foreign, height, either, neither and their don't exist, shall we?) -cian or -tian This is a frustrating one because the two spellings sound the same, but there is a rule which the following words follow: Beneficial Spacial Special Facial Essential Partial Substantial Can you tell what is is yet? After a vowel -cial After a consonant -tial Except (sorry there always have to be exceptions in English) Initial, financial and commercial.

This lesson is one I use regularly to practise giving advice and letter writing. It includes an idea I got from Cheryl Perkins, which helps students to structure their writing more effectively and is useful preparation for the PET writing exam. Speaking Game Giving Advice. Display the target language on the board, for intermediate students I use something like this: - If I were you I would ... - I reckon you should probably ... - Why don't you ...? Give each group of students a copy of the board pictured here, some counters and a die. Students take turns to roll the die and move their counter. Every time they move, their partner reads them a problem from the document below and they have to answer using one of the target phrases on the board. Problems for Advice HighImpactEnglish.docx As the game continues, begin progressively rubbing out the phrases so students have to remember more and more of them. - If I w____ ____ I w_____ ... - I r____n you s______ probably ... - Why _____ you ...? With teenage students, I've found it very effective to add the rule "every time you speak your L1, your counter moves back one space". The beauty of the game format is that students are very keen to police each other and enforce the rule. Recapping useful language. Optional review of vocabulary from the problem cards. Task 1 (easy) If you used my questions, you can review the language with this PowerPoint: Show the questions on slides 2-13 here: Giving advice - Problems HighImpactEnglish.pptx For each slide, students write the missing words on mini-whiteboards for points. Task 2 (this might be a review activity for the next class) Noughts and Crosses (line of 3/tictactoe). Show slide 14: Students have to say the problem to claim the square for their team. Preparing to Write: In The Classroom This brilliant activity came from Cheryl Perkins at The School: Thank you! Give each student one of the pictures from the gallery below (or someone famous from their culture) and get them to write a problem for them on a piece of paper and stick the picture to it. Ask students to stick their paper on the classroom wall. Give everyone 3 Post-it Notes. Students have to write a piece of advice for one of the people on each of their Post-it's. You can only write one suggestion for each person. You must use an advice phrase which isn't already on that page. Your advice must be different from the others on that page. Each problem can have a maximum of 3 suggestions. Each student takes their original page with (hopefully) 3 pieces of advice. At this stage, you may ask learners to discuss their suggestions in pairs, putting them in order of usefulness and justifying their reasoning. Do they have any better ideas? Online Alternative: Put each picture on a different slide in Google Slides. Students write a problem on the slide of their choice, then give advice on the other slides. For help using google slides (it's definitely worth learning if you teach online), see my post here. This is the Google Slides I used. You can make a copy of it in order to edit. The first couple of slides have been completed as an example of how it can build up to a finished letter (I would delete these after showing them to students, to avoid them using copy and paste instead of trying to remember the language). Writing a letter Show students the template on slide 16 and ask them to use it to write an "agony aunt" letter for their person. Because the ideas are on different Post-it Notes, the structure is very clear and students can visualise how to organise their writing. They need to explain each idea and use linking phrases between them. I tend to set the actual writing as a homework task. Obviously, it works great on paper (and there is an argument that the act of writing by hand could help students learn the phrases better than when they type) but Google Slides is also an option (see example document above). This way students can see eachother's work and how their advice has been incorporated into their classmates letters. Below are some silly characters to help inspire students to think of fun problems.

The 5 principal grammatical structures tested in FCE Use of English Part 4 with practice activities and explanations. For each type I have included: Documents with explanations and activities for students. Powerpoints for practice in class. A Quizizz online game (like Kahoot but better). Fce Sentence transformations test two key areas: B2 level grammar (covered here) and common phrases and vocabulary (in my next post). These resources are designed to be used as exam preparation or as a guide to help identify which areas to study. Modal Verbs Students need to be comfortable with using modal verbs: In the present: Must/Might/may/Can't/should/ought to/needn't + base infinitive (It must be) In the past: Must/Might/may/Can't/should/ought to/needn't + present perfect (It must have been) They should recognise phrases like the ones below and identify the best modal verb to replace it. It definitely was/sure/certain/bad idea/wasn't necessary/maybe/possible/likely/ supposed Here is a worksheet for your students: FCE Sentence Transformations with Modals.docx Here is a powerpoint to use in the classroom: Transformations in Categories Modal Verbs.pptx And here is an online quiz: Quizizz Sentence Transformations: Modals. Conditional Structures Students need to be comfortable using 1st, 2nd and 3rd conditional structures. They also have to use: I wish and if only with the 2nd or 3rd conditional. rather + verb and prefer + to verb as long as, provided, in case, unless and otherwise. Here is a worksheet for your students: FCE Sentence Transformations with Conditionals.docx Here is a powerpoint to use in the classroom: Transformations in Categories Conditionals.pptx And here is an online quiz: Quizizz Sentence Transformations: Conditionals. Passive Structures Students have to recognise when a noun changes from object to subject and vice versa as this indicates a change between active and passive structures. Also: They need to use the passive in a range of different tenses. They should know how to use reporting verbs in the passive (He is said to be...) They need to be familiar with the passive causative (I Got my car fixed) Here is a worksheet for your students: FCE Sentence Transformations with The Passive.docx Here is a powerpoint to use in the classroom: FCE Sentence Transformations Passive.pptx And here is an online quiz: Quizizz Sentence Transformations: Passive. Reported Speech Students have to be comfortable changing between active and reported speech in any tense. Also: They need to know how to use a variety of reporting verbs (She advised me to go / He denied going) They need to change direct questions to reported speech (He asked whether I knew the answer) They need to form indirect questions (Could you tell me what the answer is?)* *ok this isn't reported speech, but it follows a similar pattern and I had to put it somewhere. Here is a worksheet for your students: FCE Sentence Transformations with Reported Speech.docx Here is a powerpoint to use in the classroom: Transformations in Categories -Reported Speech.pptx And here is an online quiz: Quizizz Sentence Transformations: Reported Speech. Comparatives and Quantities Students have to be able to use the following: Comparative sentences with far and much. Not nearly as adjective as. Little, few, much and many. So and such Too and enough Here is a worksheet for your students: FCE Sentence Transformations with Comparatives and Quantities.docx Here is a powerpoint to use in the classroom: Transformations in categories Comparatives and Quantities.pptx Is that it? well..... A few years ago we could have guaranteed that these grammar structures would account for 80% of the questions. However, although we've definitely made a good start, these days Cambridge are adding more and more to test students' knowledge of vocabulary and the kind of language chunks and collocations that we used to associate with the Advanced exam. For students to ace the test, we are also going to have to look at vocabulary like this: Phrasal verbs (Take up, Set off) Connectors (despite, even though) Common phrases (it doesn't matter, I don't feel like it) The good news is that Cambridge use common phrases that will have come up repeatedly in the English our students have been exposed to, we just need to jog their memories. My next post will have some activities to do just that!

Another funny song by The Barenaked Ladies for a moment of silliness in class. Although it's a kids song, the language (and singing speed) is best suited to B1+ students. Useful language: Minding his business 2 + 2 makes 4 make do without something live without something Setting the Scene. Play the first 34 seconds, then show slide 2 to introduce the idea (that 7 ate 9). 789 HighImpactEnglish.pptx Listening for Gist. Explain that the song will force us to confront a world without the number 9. Ask students to listen for how our lives would be different and play the rest of the song. Show slide 3 (see picture) - can students remember what was said about these things? (repeat as appropriate). Listening for Detail. (Optional) Go through slides 4-6, students try to guess the missing words, then listen to check. (click on the speaker in the top right corner to hear the relevant section.)

Short texts and activities packed with the kind of phrases which come up a lot in natural speech (and The Cambridge Corpus) but not necessarily in the course book. This kind of language is becoming more and more important in Cambridge exams as they strive to reflect authentic English in their assessments. All of the vocabulary included in these activities has featured in FCE exams or official Cambridge practice tests, but is also likely to feature at CAE. If you are preparing students for the FCE Exam, I recommend looking at the previous post with the main grammar types first (see related posts below). This is because the questions here often combine new vocabulary with those structures. Lesson Structure The lessons (in the section below) all follow the same basic structure: 1. Read the text. A short text to present target phrases in context. 2. Gap Fill After reading the text, students complete a gap fill with key phrases missing. In each case the clue (in brackets) is the similar language which would be used in a sentence transformation question. 3. Use the Language Display sentence halves, in pairs take turns to complete the sentences so they are true for them (speaking only). Take away display and ask students to swap notebooks and write out their partner's sentences. (To do this they have to remember the phrases, facilitating the learning process.) In pairs learners check each other's sentences, then display sentence halves to confirm. Each student should now have a copy of the language in a context which is meaningful to them in their notebooks. They need to learn these phrases for a future next lesson. I believe strongly in the power of post-its. If a structure is hard to remember and a student can be persuaded to write it on a post-it which they stick on the fridge/above their bed/on the toilet door. Within a week they are pretty much guaranteed to remember it with very little effort required. 4. Sentence Transformation Questions Once students have been given a chance to learn the phrases, get them to complete the sentence transformation questions. This could be a straightforward worksheet task or copy and paste the questions into an online quiz. Alternatively, to add a little energy in the classroom you could display the original sentences on a board and turn it into a grass skirts activity or a treasure hunt. Grass Skirts: Cut the question paper into strips so it looks like a grassskirt (see picture). Each team has 1 "grass-skirt". A team member has to run to the skirt, remove one question and return to their team to complete it. When you have confirmed their answer is correct, another student can run for the next question. The winning team is the one that answers all of the questions first. Treasure hunt: Hide the questions around the rooms in strips. Teams race to find the questions and answer them. Materials Ready to use: Sentence Transformations Vocabulary 1.docx Language focus: call off cancel make the most of take advantage couldn’t make it unable to attend it doesn't matter I don't care fed up with annoyed get on with be good friends point out inform put it off delay/postpone take part in participate told me off shouted at Sentence Transformations Vocabulary 2.docx Language focus: Fall out argue Find out discover Even though despite the fact Run out have no more of No doubt certain Pick up collect Take no notice ignore feel like want to It's her fault she's to blame ought to should move out leave home make up your mind decide Coming soon: Sentence Transformations Vocabulary 3.docx Language focus: Get round to start doing Held took place No longer not anymore Make up for it say sorry No matter how despite Put up with tolerate Take no notice pay no attention Take his word for it believe him Talk you into it persuade Turn up arrive unexpectedly Sentence Transformations Vocabulary 4.docx Follow up. Once students have completed a few of these, get them to make sentence transformations for each other using the examples you've given them. This is a good homework task because then you can turn it into a quiz in class. Students tend to learn more from making the questions than they do from answering them because they have to really think about the context.

A classic cops n robbers speaking role play game. Great for practising questions in the past, reported speech and developing speaking fluency in a fun way. Zoom is the perfect platform for this activity as breakout rooms become perfect sound-proof "interview rooms". Make it Purposeful This activity is ideal for putting language into practice so before you begin, identify the language you want to focus on and do some practice activities (this may just mean something from the textbook). For example, you might want students to use one of these question structures (depending on level): Past continuous: What were you doing at half past 2? What were you doing at 3 O'clock? Past Simple: Did you walk to the restaurant? Where did you go? Indirect questions: Could you tell me how long it took you to get to the restaurant? Setting the scene. Split the students equally into 2 groups: Detectives and Thieves and explain the following scenario: Thieves you work in.. (local shopping centre) in... (elicit shop). At 2pm you went on your lunch break. At 2.10 you were seen standing outside...(elicit name of bank). At 2.15 a group of masked criminals robbed the bank. You should have returned to your shop at 3. Instead, you came back at 7. You returned 4 hours late wearing (elicit expensive brand) clothes and driving (elicit expensive cars). We know you robbed (name of bank) and used the money to buy the (type) cars and (brand) clothes, but we can't send you to prison unless we prove it. Preparing for the interviews Suspects I'm going to put you together in a breakout room. Come up with a story which explains what you were doing between 2 and 7 and how you got the cars and the clothes. Detectives, I'm going to put you together in a breakout room. Think of questions to ask the suspects. You will interview them separately and if you can find 3 differences in their answers I (the judge) will send them to prison. If you fail they will go free. Before they go, ask which of these questions are best: Where did you go? This is fine, but it's general and suspects will prepare for it. What colour were the waiter's shoes? This question doesn't work, because the suspect can just say they don't know or can't remember. Did you walk or take a taxi? This is a great question: Suspects would definitely know the answer but might not have prepared for it. As the 2 groups prepare, go between them helping police to think of questions or warning suspects what to prepare for to make sure neither group has too big an advantage. The Interviews When the groups have prepared their stories (thieves) or questions (police). Bring them all together to explain the next step, which is: Each suspect will be put in a breakout room with a detective for 3 minutes (-ish). In that time, the detectives will ask as many questions as they can to find inconsistencies in the story. After the 3 minutes are up police and suspects will be put back together to compare notes. "Suspects, you have rights! You only have to answer questions with "did" in them" (or whatever the target language is). Preparing for court When the interviews are complete, bring everyone back to set your language expectations for the next step. For B1 + groups, this is the perfect opportunity to recap reported speech. Here's how I do it: Once I've introduced the basic structure, I put some examples in the chat box and have the students private message me the reported speech version. To keep it snappy I either set a time limit or accept the first X replies. I give a point to the student's team (detectives or suspects) for every reasonable attempt (to encourage participation of students who are unsure) and 3 points if the attempt is correct (in the example image Chen gets 1 point for having a go and Lucia gets 3 for a correct answer). Police go to break out room 1 to see if they can find 3 differences in their suspects answers. Suspects go to break out room 2 to compare answers and discuss whether they think got away with it. In court Finally, bring everyone together, mute the suspects microphones and ask the police for their first piece of evidence. Then, mute the police and give suspects the opportunity to object before you (the judge) decide whether to accept it or not. Repeat for each difference the police present, then pass judgement. If you accept 3 or more of the police' accusations, the suspects go to jail. If not, they stay free and can continue to enjoy their stolen riches!

Young learner lesson with common action verbs, based around a classic Mr Bean clip. Mr Bean clips are always effective with primary-aged students because they are so visual and (for an 8-year old) funny. This lesson has 3 main stages: Predict and draw what ridiculous things Mr Bean will do to a palace guard. Watch a 3 minute section of the video below to check predictions (video bingo) Sequence the events, focusing on useful actions phrases like: Breaks ... Shouts at ... Cleans... Moves... Instructions Pre-Video Warmer Show the powerpoint below Mr Bean and the Guardsman.pptx Slide 1 Students come up with things you can see/do in London. Slide 2 Where is this? (Buckingham palace) Who lives here? (The Queen) Slide 3 What must the soldier do? What can’t he do? Perhaps get students to write down 4 things in pairs. They can’t move, They must stand, etc. Slide 4 Whole class: brainstorm some things Mr Bean might do. (board some of the things Mr Bean will do, alongside some red herrings) Then get them to draw 6 on a mini whiteboard (it's a good idea to set a strict time limit for this part). Video Students Exchange boards Play the video from 33:30 to 37:30. Students tick their partners pictures as they see them on the video and shout out when they get 3 right. After the video, students tell each other which they had got right. Post Video Give students the sentences from the Sorting Activity document below to put in order. (there are 2 options, present or past tense, depending on level). You can then skip through the video to check Bonus material The soldier is clearly pretty cross with Mr Bean, what's going to happen next? Board students suggestions "I think he's going to...." before playing 37:30 - 39:30 Follow up activity In a future class, use slide 6 or 7 (present or past) to review the great action verbs that came up in the clip.

This lesson is based around an advert featuring a ridiculously complex invention inspired by Rube Goldberg's illustrations. The video lends itself to sequencing language, verbs of movement and prepostions, depending on the level of the students and your language goals. This activity has 3 main stages: Pre teach vocabulary Watch 1 minute video Order events in groups Student A rewatches and describes to student B who checks order. Students use vocabulary to describe and draw incredibly complex inventions. Instructions Class activities using the Google Slides document here. It's set to view only so make your own copy to edit and use in class - here is a short video explaining how to use google slides. Optional Warmer GoldieBlox is a toy company that makes engineering toys for girls with the mission of "disrupting the pink aisle" and providing girls with more options for toys beyond dolls and princesses. So the advert gives us is a great opportunity to explore gender stereotypes. Show them the picture below (Slide 1 of google slides above) and ask the following questions: What colours did you prefer when you were little? Do you think girls really prefer pink when they're born? What were your favourite toys? Do boys and girls enjoy playing with dolls and toy cars just the same? Which of these professions tend to be associated with men or women? Why is that? Soldier Nurse Engineer Dentist Teacher Chef Builder Astronaut Main task Show students the video Use the images on slide 2 to pre-teach vocabulary (obviously you may expand or reduce this list depending on level) Then use slide 3 to reinforce the vocabulary and bring in prepostions of movement. These are really important in English but absent in many other languages so they are often omitted by students. Prepositions of movement allow us to describe movement with precision and help make English such an effective language for science and engineering. They may well be less widely used in your students' first language, so it's worth making an effort to draw attention to them. Once you have covered the target language. Students use it to put the images on slide 4 in order. Make one copy of this slide for each group. In these activities I tend to insist that students can only move an image after their partner has spoken about it and it's important to set out clear expectations for what the language should be: "This first!" NO "I reckon the ball rolls across the room first." YES Sequencing the images can either be done online using the google slides, or by printing out the images to be sorted manually. The video was very fast so students will probably (hopefully) be uncertain of the exact order at this stage. Next, get one member of each group to watch the first 20 seconds in slow motion (youtube settings allow you to change the speed) and explain what happens to their teammates who order the images. Then change roles for the next 20 seconds and so on. Finally, students label the pictures Physically - by sticking post-its to the images, then taking a photo for a record. Online - by adding comments to the images (see below). Follow up Task Put students in pairs. Each person has a different complex invention which they must describe in detail so their partner can draw it (slide 6 and 7). Again this can either be done in the classroom with miniwhiteboards or, by sharing the picture with one student online so that they can describe it to a partner in a breakout room.

Famous songs with either like or as in the lyrics. Students have to match the song to the artist, then identify whether the lyric should be with like or as. In spanish (and I'm guessing lots of other languages) the words like and as both translate to the same thing (como) which leads to a lot of confusion. In a really nice talk on using songs in the classroom (see video on the right) Paul Seligson suggested using song lyrics for this problem, so I did! Warm up HighImpactEnglish Like or As.pptx Show slide 2 from the powerpoint above. Students listen to the songs and try to match them to the artists (at this stage don't draw their attention to the like/as conundrum). In groups, speculate about when each song was released. With teenagers, this will probably be down to guess work based on the images. However, with adult students it's a great opportunity for past speculation: It must have been before 1990 because I remember listening to it at school. p.s. this last activity also works well with movie titles. Main Activity Show slide 3 - students decide whether each line should contain like or as and why. Explanation: In English we use like to mean "similar to" and as when it is this thing. Here are some questions which might help students to figure out the song lyrics (in order): Is the person actually ice, or just similar to it? Was she being a waitress or just impersonating one? Was madonna a Virgin, or did she just feel simlar to one? Were The Bangles being Egyptians or just impersonating them? Does Kurt Cobain want you to be yourself, or just similar to yourself. Is he Mick Jagger, or just dancing in a similar way? Show slide 4 to reveal.

Exam Techniques to tackle FCE Use of English Part 4 with a Power point to help guide your students through it. This is the first in a series of 3 posts on FCE sentence transformations. The Basics In this part of the exam students have to rewrite 6 sentences to incorporate a new word without changing the meaning, or as Cambridge put it: Each question is worth 2 points. For example, in the example below the student got 1 point for putting even though and another for writing she is. Teach the technique This Powerpoint (below) takes the students step-by-step through some transformations. The questions are simple because the focus is on strategy rather than language. However, it's important not to let the students jump the steps. A systematic approach will improve their chances on more difficult questions even when they are unfamiliar with the language. FCE Sentence Transformations Guide.pptx Below are images from the slides with questions to guide students through the process and the answers your students should give. Example 1: Changing a Verb What do we need to do first? - Cross out the words which are already in the answer* Where does went need to go? - At the end, with "to Shanghai" Which word should we replace with remember? - Forget. Do remember and forget mean the same thing? - No, it's the opposite. What's the opposite of "I will never remember"? - I will always remember. What needs to happen to went? Should it be to go or going? - going. *Crossing out repeated language is really helpful because it allows the student to focus on the words which need to be replicated. Overly-confident students often miss out this step and can lose marks for missing out minor words which they otherwise would have noticed. Example 2: Using Modals What do we need to do first? (cross out) Where does escaped need to go? (next to "to Shanghai") Well done, by putting escaped in the right place, we have already got 1 mark for this question, even if we don't know the language! Which idea should we replace with might? (it's possible) Do might and it's possible mean the same thing? (yes) Is might escaped right? No because after modal verbs, you need to use the base infinitive. Should it be might escape? No because the original sentence is in the past, and anyway, you just told us we got one mark for putting escaped at the end. So how can we use a modal verb in the past? Put the next verb in the present perfect, that way might is followed by a base infinitive but the sentence still has past meaning. Wow, good work students - I couldn't have put it better myself! Example 3: The Passive - What do we need to do first? (cross out) - Where does from need to go? (next to Mercadona) - What has happened to the subject? It's changed - before the bananas were after the verb - What does it mean when a noun that was after the verb goes in front of it (object becomes subject)? We need to change it to the passive. - Which verb should we add to make it passive? To be. - It needs to be in the same form as stolen, what's that? Past participle. - So...? Been. - Read through it - do the two sentences now have the same meaning? Yes! Example 4: A phrasal verb - What do we need to do first? (cross out) - Where does rob need to go? (next to banks) - Does GIVE mean the same as not? (no) - If we have a word like give but we don't want it to mean "give" we need to turn it into..? A phrasal verb. - Ok, so what type of word are we going to put after give? A preposition. - If you don't know which preposition to use, we can still get one mark by putting rob in the correct form. How should it be after a preposition? robbing. - Brilliant, so if we know we need a phrasal verb we can still get 50% even if we don't know what it is. - To get 100%, what preposition do we need? up.

Hundreds of famous songs use the conditional and they are a great way to introduce the target language and stimulate discussion. Here are 5 examples which I have found effective and the activities I use in class. In most cases the activities focus on one part of the song in order to focus on the specific structure that's used there (it's a language lesson with a song, not a song lesson with some language). 2nd Conditional I Wish One of my favourites is "I wish" by Skeelo, it's fun and has some great language: I wish I was.... I wish I had.. I would.. I use this powerpoint is great to drill the first verse. I wish I was a little bit taller.pptx If I were a boy Another great option is "If I were a boy" by Beyonce. (the geek in me is so excited that she uses the subjunctive were form). It links to the question of whether boys have it easier than their female counterparts. This is a debate everyone can relate to, so there's lots of potential for an interesting discussion. You can find lots of more detailed lesson plans for this song if you google it online, but here is the powerpoint I use: If I Were a Boy.pptx If I had a million dollars Bare naked ladies' if I had a million dollars is another possibility. Explain that the song is about all the wonderful things the singer would buy his love if he had a million dolIars and play to 0.38 to give them an idea (they say they'd buy a house). Then show students these two verses with blue words blanked out and get them to guess what they could be. If I had a million dollars Well I'd buy you a fur coat But not a real fur coat that's cruel And if I had a million dollars Well I'd buy you an exotic pet Yep like a llama or an emu If I had a million dollars We wouldn't have to walk to the store If I had a million dollars And we'd take a Limousine cause it costs more Then play 1.54-2.48 to check (there's a bit in the middle about John Merrick which I kind of ignore, but he was the elephant man in case you get asked (thanks google) Follow up Option 1 What would you buy if you had a million dollars? - make a list in pairs/small groups then vote for the best one. Follow up Option 2 Put students in 3's - student A and B have to compete for who can offer C (lets call him Fred!) the most amazing gifts. A: If had a million dollars, I'd buy Fred a monkey. B: That's nothing, If had a million dollars, I'd take Fred on an all expensive paid trip to Vegas A: Call that a holiday? If had a million dollars, I'd send Fred to the moon in Elon Musk's private car.... 3rd Conditional I Will Survive Yes it's horrifically cheesy, but that's fine if you embrace it in a "so bad it's good" kinda way and it's got a lot going for it too. A catchy melody (making the language memorable) , nice clear lyrics and it tells a story. Throw in some 3rd conditional and you've got the perfect song to teach with. Explain that you're going to hear a song about a relationship. What happened? Play the first 30 seconds and get the students to discuss what they understood. (if necessary you can use the youtube settings to play it back slower). Then give them the questions below, before repeating the first 30 seconds. How did she feel when her lover left? What did she realise about them? How does she feel about them coming back? Then show the lyrics to confirm, getting students to fill in the missing words (I've coloured the text I might blank out, putting them in groups of rhyming words). At first I was afraid, I was petrified Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong And I grew strong, And I learned how to get along And so you're back, from outer space I just walked in to find you here With that sad look upon your face So, what's she going to say to them? Elicit predictions, before playing until 0.46 to check. This is where the target language comes in. Try searching for the lyrics in students' L1 and getting them to translate into English. Translation is sometimes frowned upon and it's not something I do all the time. However, translating whole sentences can help students better understand how English works. To do it successfully you can't simply transcribe word for word but have to change and re-order the language to get the same sense. I googled the Spanish lyrics and got the students to translate it into English, before relistening to check. Yo debería haber cambiado esa estúpida cerradura Yo debería haberte hecho dejar tu llave Si lo hubiera sabido por un segundo Que volverías para molestarme Vete, ahora vete Sal por la puerta Simplemente date la vuelta Porque ya no eres bienvenido. I should have changed that stupid lock I should have made you leave your key If I had known for just one second you'd be back to bother me Go on, now go, walk out the door Just turn around now 'Cause you're not welcome anymore Follow up Relationship roleplay: put students in pairs and explain that they have just broken up from a terrible relationship (this doesn't have to be romantic, friendship/workmates/housemates works fine if students are shy). Give them these structures: If I had known you'd ...(something terrible), I would have....(something even more terrible!) I should (never) have... For example: If I had known you'd lose my cat, I would have put ants in your cereal. I should never have introduced you to my mother. Should Have Said No Here's a slightly more up-to-date option with Taylor Swift. It tells a story and hits us with the target phrase repeatedly. Explain to the students that Taylor is cross with her boyfriend, ask them to guess why. Then play the song 0.22-1.14 students discuss what they understood. Here are the lyrics, (with blue words blanked out for students to listen for). Yesterday I found out about you Even now just looking at you feels wrong You say that you'd take it all back given one chance; it was a moment of weakness, and you said "yes" You should've said no You should've gone home You should've thought twice before you let it all go You should've known that word about what you did with her Would get back to me (get back to me) And if things are going well, you may choose to play the next bit too (1.14-1.30). And I should've been there in the back of your mind I shouldn't be asking myself why You shouldn't be beggin' for forgiveness at my feet You should've said no Baby, and you might still have me Follow up Option 1 Gloria Gaynor Relationship Roleplay (see above). Follow up Option 2 The rubbish friend role-play. Elicit some reasons why someone might be having a bad day and board as many as possible (headache, in trouble at school, failed an exam, etc.) Student A tells their partner a problem and, instead of lending a sympathetic ear, student B tells them what they did wrong. I've got a stomach ache Well you shouldn't have eaten all those sweets My mums cross with me You should have tidied your room! Bonus Material Well, this isn't a song, but the poem "would have, could have, should have" by Bobbi Duffy works really well for talking about regrets. Here it is with a couple of questions I ask my students about it. It's a nice activity because there are several, equally viable interpretations. should have would have could have poem.docx

●Contact has been made! Aliens have landed! ●Imagine you are a journalist: What questions would you like to ask the alien? ●Unfortunately the alien doesn’t speak English! ●Fortunately there’s a translator! Useful as a review activity and/or to practise reported speech. - Get the students in pairs and have them write 5 or so questions they would want to ask an alien. You could leave it free or you can get them to write questions incorporating language, structures or vocabulary they’ve come across during the term. - Then one pair comes to the front, one of them is the alien and one the translator. - The other students, the journalists, take it in turns to ask their questions. - The translator translates the questions into alien, the alien responds in alien and the translator translates the alien’s answer into English. - I tend to do it myself first with a volunteer to demonstrate both the activity and that it's fine to look a bit ridiculous. - Alien and translator can swap halfway through if they want so that both students from each pair get to have a go at each role. - Repeat for each pair. A typical interaction should look a bit like this: Journalist, “What's your first impression of our planet?” Translator, “Asijfhflskdhflksdjposfdd pp.” Alien, “Meerg.” Translator, “He said that it’s a bit dull and to be honest he wishes he had flown past.” Obviously, the students are putting words in each other's mouths quite literally so I would only do this with a class where the students get on and they can poke fun at each other without taking it too far.