TEFL Resources and Lesson Ideas

Suggested level: intermediate.
Aims: Students practise listening and speaking on the topic of superstition, and writing using the first conditional (I would use this after a lesson on the first conditional, as this is good free practice of it).
Materials needed: a recording of the song “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder (a great version on YouTube is here). [...]

Suggested levels: intermediate to upper-intermediate.
Aims: Students practise listening, speaking and writing, and learn miscellaneous vocabulary.
Materials: You will need a recording of “She’s Leaving Home” by the Beatles (a YouTube version is here), a copy of the lyrics, several copies of the first verse printed out (widely spaced) for the running dictation, copies of the gapfill [...]

Suggested levels: Pre-intermediate to low intermediate.
Aims: to build vocabulary and practise using functional language connected with travel via airports.
Materials: an interactive whiteboard; this IWB lesson; enough copies of this text and this gapfill task for each student, or pair of students.
Procedure:
1. Introduce the task by asking students what the longest journey they’ve ever taken is. [...]

NB I have adapted this activity from Deck of Conversations, on the onestopenglish website.
Suggested Levels: elementary and above .
Aims: to practise speaking, listening and polite turn-taking in informal conversations.
Materials needed: dice and students; a list of conversation topics.
Procedure: Before the class, prepare a list of conversation topics, one for each number of the dice; [...]

Aims: to practise using intonation to convey interest and enthusiasm, and to encourage students to bond as a group by giving feedback to each other.
Suggested levels: Strong pre-intermediate and above.
Materials needed: Copies of the Chindogu inventions at the bottom of this page (one for each group of three students), and paper and pens.
1. Pair your [...]

Please note that the idea of the body language table comes from Listening by Goodith White (Oxford Resource Books for Teachers: 1998).
Suggested levels: strong intermediate to advanced.
Aims: to focus on body language and how this affects communication; to focus on appropriate body language in different settings; to acquire and practise using vocabulary connected with the [...]

Note, a lot of this information comes from Steve Castle at St Giles College London Central.
Webquests are sheets of questions designed for students to answer together, either by conducting their own searches online (which can allow for richer material to be discovered) or by looking at specific websites chosen by their teacher.
According to webquest.org, the [...]

Suggested levels: intermediate to advanced.
Obama’s Inauguration Speech 20 January 2009
Aims of the lesson
Listening:

-         Sts will get a global understanding of the first part of Obama’s speech

-         Sts will understand that listening for key (prominent) words can assist them in their understanding.

-         To practise the ability to listen for key [...]

You can use this method to interestingly revise either present or past narrative forms.
Suggested levels: pre-intermediate to advanced.
Aims: to revise present or past narrative forms; to practise note-taking and writing stories; to practise listening for detail; to practise conveying emotion through different intonation patterns.
Preparation: a short, strange/ ghost story to tell your students. It should [...]

Note: this idea was inspired by Keith Johnstone’s book, Impro for Storytellers (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1990).
Suggested levels: pre-intermediate to upper-intermediate.
Aims: to revise adjectives describing people; to practise using body language and intonation patterns to convey one’s feelings; to notice and listen to changing intonation patterns and body language in others to gauge their [...]