TEFL Resources and Lesson Ideas

Suggested level: advanced.
Aims: to engage with a classic of English literature; to practise writing and giving presentations; to experiment with different intonation patterns to evoke different emotions and convince an audience; to read for gist and detail.
Materials: these pictures of busts of Mark Antony, Julius Caesar and Brutus; these speeches from Julius Caesar; these [...]

Suggested levels: upper-intermediate to advanced.
Aims: to practise the “pure sounds” of English; to hear and produce these sounds in a published poem.
Materials: the YouTube lessons below (familiarise yourself with these before the lesson); this recorded poem by Thom Gunn.
This is a great way to practise pronunciation of individual phonemes (especially monophthongs) and sentence stress; it [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Suggested levels: pre-intermediate to low upper-intermediate.
Aims: to revise grammatical structures; to encourage creative use of language, to aid memory; to focus on natural and unnatural contexts for specific language items in English.
Preparation: think of an unusual sentence containing the grammar structure you want to focus on, or google the grammar structure and see what comes [...]

Suggested levels: strong pre-intermediate to low upper-intermediate.
Aims: to revise past or present narrative forms; to practise telling and writing narratives; to practise changing intonation patterns to convey different emotions and affect an audience.
Preparation: none.
Ask a student what they did yesterday after school. Board their replies, changing the words slightly and asking questions so that each [...]

Please note, this idea comes from Storymaking in Education and Therapy (Gersie and King, pub. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd, 1990).

Suggested levels: pre-intermediate to advanced (please note, with lower level students, you should pre-teach the sound words below).
Aims: to revise words describing different sounds; to focus on how different volumes and vocal qualities affect listeners’ [...]

Suggested levels: intermediate to advanced.
Aims: to focus on how different vocal qualities affect meaning; to practise creative writing; to bond the learners together as a group.
Materials needed: an MP3 player and speakers, or an interactive whiteboard. Paper and pens for the students.
Play a poem in a language none of your students understands (e.g., this one, [...]