Upper-intermediate Classroom Activities
Unreal situations
What would your kids do? ITV |
What would you have done? |
Try to guess what these kids would choose before they make a decision
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"What would you have done?" by esl-lounge.com advanced level topics. Think about what you would have done in these situations and compare with your partner. By the way, I would never say something similar to the last sentence... :)
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Answer these quizzes below. They are fun...
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Skwerl: Intonation. Showing interest and getting angry.
Create a dialogue in English for this fake conversation
How to improve your intonation: https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-english-learners-can-improve-intonation
Picture and paintings description: Las Meninas
Why is this painting so captivating?
Weather
Weather vs Climate
If you want to know the difference between weather and climate and other elements of weather, you'd better watch this video by Study Jams Scholastics
Is Prince Charles a weatherman? |
BBC Lower-intermediate course |
Prince Charles presents the weather forecast at BBC Scotland describing the unsettled picture of a low pressure weather front with outbreaks of rain in some areas of Scotland and there will be patches of rain and hazy (a bit cloudy and/or with mist) sunshine in other areas
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Unit 16 of this course is about weather and it is divided into 3 different activities that give a good explanation on this topic. The first activity is just to recognise some of the most usual symbols of the weather forecast but in the second activity, which is definitely over upper-intermediate, you will learn some engaging vocabulary related to weather forecast. You will also learn the difference between "downpours" and "showers" and when you will need to wear waterproofs (wellies) or carry a brolly or maybe forget about them because temperatures may get up to the mid or high teens (13-19 degrees).
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Would I lie to you?
Watch the three sketches from the BBC programme and try to determine if the situations are true or a lie. Then watch them again and answer the questions you can find at the multimedia section.
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1. David Mitchel's 3-point pen policy.David Mitchel's explains his 3-point pen policy...
Answer the questions on the Videos Downloads Multimedia section |
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2. Is Hugh Dennis superstitious?Hugh Dennis explains why he touches the tip of his nose frequently...
Answer the questions you can find at the Videos Downloads Multimedia section |
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Does Greg Wallace read books in the sauna?.Find out about Greg's custom.
Answer the questions on the Videos Downloads Multimedia section |
HALLOWEEN
Watch a video on facebook with subritles: https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/1071983299609843/ or learn about the history of Halloween with a video from Channel History and two hand-outs, one by Laura Porras and another by Joe Pinetreebush on http://joepinetreebush-ukculture.weebly.com/celebrations-and-festivities.html Enjoy a story with nice illustrations and a helpful glossary by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The New catacomb as well.
Christmas
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Find out more about the making of BBC Christmas film on BBC Radio 4 (Facebook)
Presentations and Other Activities (Archive)
1st term
This activity is OVER. Please, go to Classroom Noticeboard to see other activities
You are expected to give a 3-minute presentation about some of the topics we are learning in front of the class. Use the vocabulary section of your textbook to help you, apart from your class notes and explain any anecdote worth mentioning.
You need to choose one of these topics:
-Describe a job interview you, a relative, a friend or a person you know well had. Explain what happened, how it went and if they got the job in the end.
-Describe a time you had injuries, illnesses or a more serious condition. Explained what happened, what they need to do afterwards and how they got better
-Describe what the way you, a relative, a friend or a person you know well normally dress/ed, where they buy/bought their clothes, etc.
Find a list with the dates you have to give your presentation and a guide on how to make a presentation, to give it afterwards, on downloads/speaking.
You were assigned a compulsory date. If for any reason, you need to change it, you can do it with a classmate and tell me to do the necessary changes on the list afterwards.
This activity must be finished at the end of November. Those people who did not do the presentation the day they were assigned and/or did not make the necessary changes previously will not have any other chance to give the presentation.
I will send my comments about your presentations via email, so make sure I have your email address .
Tip! Find a file on the pronunciation of -ed endings for the regular past and past participle and review the irregular verbs on downloads/grammar
You are expected to give a 3-minute presentation about some of the topics we are learning in front of the class. Use the vocabulary section of your textbook to help you, apart from your class notes and explain any anecdote worth mentioning.
You need to choose one of these topics:
-Describe a job interview you, a relative, a friend or a person you know well had. Explain what happened, how it went and if they got the job in the end.
-Describe a time you had injuries, illnesses or a more serious condition. Explained what happened, what they need to do afterwards and how they got better
-Describe what the way you, a relative, a friend or a person you know well normally dress/ed, where they buy/bought their clothes, etc.
Find a list with the dates you have to give your presentation and a guide on how to make a presentation, to give it afterwards, on downloads/speaking.
You were assigned a compulsory date. If for any reason, you need to change it, you can do it with a classmate and tell me to do the necessary changes on the list afterwards.
This activity must be finished at the end of November. Those people who did not do the presentation the day they were assigned and/or did not make the necessary changes previously will not have any other chance to give the presentation.
I will send my comments about your presentations via email, so make sure I have your email address .
Tip! Find a file on the pronunciation of -ed endings for the regular past and past participle and review the irregular verbs on downloads/grammar
2nd term
You are expected to give a 3-minute presentation in front of the class, about some of the topics we are learning or we will learn in due course. Use the vocabulary section of your textbook to help you, any information taken and summarised (not copied) from the internet, or even your class notes. Explain any anecdote worth mentioning to the rest of the class. You are also advised to use or anticipate as many grammatical structures we have been studying or will study as possible.
You need to choose one of these topics:
- Irish Traditions
- Air Travel
- Weather
- Life/death situations
- Feelings
- Regrets
- Recycling/waste
- Music and emotion or The soundtrack of my life: Get the instructions on downloads/speaking.
- Arguments
- Cinema and acting / Body Language
- Crime
- News
You are invited to listen to your partners attentively and ask questions afterwards.
Find a list with the dates you have to give your presentation a guide on how to make a presentation and a list of speech transitions taken from six minutes (speech and presentations) on downloads/speaking.
Only people attending classes have been included. If you have any intention to give the presentation and you are not in the list, please contact me via email: [email protected].
You were assigned a compulsory date. If for any reason, you need to change it, you can do it with a classmate and tell me to do the necessary changes on the list afterwards.
This activity will begin at he beginning of March and must be finished at the end of March. Those people who did not give the presentation the day they were assigned and/or did not make the necessary changes previously will not have any other chance to give the presentation.
I will send my comments about your presentations via email, so make sure I have your email address .
Tip! Find a file on the pronunciation of -ed endings for the regular past and past participle and review the irregular verbs on downloads/grammar
You need to choose one of these topics:
- Irish Traditions
- Air Travel
- Weather
- Life/death situations
- Feelings
- Regrets
- Recycling/waste
- Music and emotion or The soundtrack of my life: Get the instructions on downloads/speaking.
- Arguments
- Cinema and acting / Body Language
- Crime
- News
You are invited to listen to your partners attentively and ask questions afterwards.
Find a list with the dates you have to give your presentation a guide on how to make a presentation and a list of speech transitions taken from six minutes (speech and presentations) on downloads/speaking.
Only people attending classes have been included. If you have any intention to give the presentation and you are not in the list, please contact me via email: [email protected].
You were assigned a compulsory date. If for any reason, you need to change it, you can do it with a classmate and tell me to do the necessary changes on the list afterwards.
This activity will begin at he beginning of March and must be finished at the end of March. Those people who did not give the presentation the day they were assigned and/or did not make the necessary changes previously will not have any other chance to give the presentation.
I will send my comments about your presentations via email, so make sure I have your email address .
Tip! Find a file on the pronunciation of -ed endings for the regular past and past participle and review the irregular verbs on downloads/grammar
ACTIVITIES WE DID IN ARACENA IN 2017 (archive)
Listening / speaking Activity: PODCASTS ofThe English we speak by the BBC learning English
Two sets of audio files that are some years of useful expressions fromThe English we Speak podcasts (up to 18th August 2015).
Instructions: In groups of 6 people, 3 of you download and listen to one set of podcasts, the other three people listen to the other set.
You will need to know what the expressions mean and use them with examples to explain them to your partners in turns. I will tell you the exact dates to do the activity in the classroom at the end of the first term, at the latest. That means that you have the whole 1st term including Christmas holiday to listen to them and take notes to help you.
Find the index and the scripts of all the podcasts on BBC learning English
Go to Downloads and get the podcasts!
Instructions: In groups of 6 people, 3 of you download and listen to one set of podcasts, the other three people listen to the other set.
You will need to know what the expressions mean and use them with examples to explain them to your partners in turns. I will tell you the exact dates to do the activity in the classroom at the end of the first term, at the latest. That means that you have the whole 1st term including Christmas holiday to listen to them and take notes to help you.
Find the index and the scripts of all the podcasts on BBC learning English
Go to Downloads and get the podcasts!
Presentation Activity with BBC Focus magazine
Performed in April 2017, I handed out some excerpts from a very well known magazine in the UK: Focus Magazine from the BBC. You will have to prepare a 3-4 minute presentation about the article/s that you read. Follow these instructions:
RULES and ADVICE
0- Get your articles/excerpts long before giving your presentation. Deadline 9th March. The list will be published 10th-12th March.
1-4 minutes is the maximum time you can be speaking to your audience. The presentation will be stopped at that point regardless of what part of your presentation you are in.
2- Reading is forbidden. You can have some notes but written full sentences are not allowed.
3- You can use the whiteboard to write or draw, or even real or printed material (images, nothing to read or be read) to show to your partners. The use of Powerpoint Presentations is not allowed.
4- As the language used by Focus BBC can be formal or technical summarise and simplify when possible what you are going to talk about and be ready to answer questions from your partner.
5- You will be obviously assessed and a grade will be given. It will evaluate, pronunciation, intonation. fluency, use of vocabulary, ability to summarise, use of connectors, etc.
6- If you cannot attend the date you are assigned, you can always change it with a partner. Inform me about the change. If you do not finally attend the date you were given, you will miss the opportunity. For organisational reasons no other date will be given.
HOW TO PREPARE IT
1- Make sure that the vocabulary you are going to use will be understood. You can only use Spanish in highly specialised cases. Use wordreference.com, linguee.es or any other online dictionary to help you with the meaning and translation of the words or expressions.
2- Find the pronunciation of words on websites like howjsay.com or Youglish
Find a huge number of online dictionaries on my learning resources site.
RULES and ADVICE
0- Get your articles/excerpts long before giving your presentation. Deadline 9th March. The list will be published 10th-12th March.
1-4 minutes is the maximum time you can be speaking to your audience. The presentation will be stopped at that point regardless of what part of your presentation you are in.
2- Reading is forbidden. You can have some notes but written full sentences are not allowed.
3- You can use the whiteboard to write or draw, or even real or printed material (images, nothing to read or be read) to show to your partners. The use of Powerpoint Presentations is not allowed.
4- As the language used by Focus BBC can be formal or technical summarise and simplify when possible what you are going to talk about and be ready to answer questions from your partner.
5- You will be obviously assessed and a grade will be given. It will evaluate, pronunciation, intonation. fluency, use of vocabulary, ability to summarise, use of connectors, etc.
6- If you cannot attend the date you are assigned, you can always change it with a partner. Inform me about the change. If you do not finally attend the date you were given, you will miss the opportunity. For organisational reasons no other date will be given.
HOW TO PREPARE IT
1- Make sure that the vocabulary you are going to use will be understood. You can only use Spanish in highly specialised cases. Use wordreference.com, linguee.es or any other online dictionary to help you with the meaning and translation of the words or expressions.
2- Find the pronunciation of words on websites like howjsay.com or Youglish
Find a huge number of online dictionaries on my learning resources site.
LUKE´S PODCASTS ACTIVITY
Here you will find four podcasts with their transcripts to choose just one to explain to your partners in April/ May. You will make groups of four to explain not only what the podcasts are about but also what new expressions and vocabulary you learnt from them. You can also find the files on ADVANCED Downloads.
David Bowie Part 1
David Bowie part 2
Memory, Mnemonics and Learning English
The UK´s top 13 superstitions
David Bowie Part 1
David Bowie part 2
Memory, Mnemonics and Learning English
The UK´s top 13 superstitions
London attack. 22nd March 2017
This terrorist attack happened on Westminster Bridge. Click on the picture to know more about the location of the bridge and its significance in British life and culture. You will find more information on the terror attack on BBC News: a plan of the crime scene and a Daily Mail journalist, Quentin Letts, commenting on what he saw from his office (You can alternatively get this track on downloads).
In moments like this you might be interested in having live information in English. I remind you that you can get TV channels around the world from Film on and also get the film on programme to download from their website
In moments like this you might be interested in having live information in English. I remind you that you can get TV channels around the world from Film on and also get the film on programme to download from their website
Gunpowder Plot
Please, read a text from ESOL COURSES and you can also watch two videos about this historical event below. Find a file with some questions on the Gunpowder Plot videos, the transcript and a Spanish/English glossary on both the text and the videos on Downloads.
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QI
QI is a TV show that means Quite Interesting. Contestants get points for the wittiest answers, not for the correct ones. Get a file to answer some questions about Cruithne
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Dragons´Den. Very PC owner´s pitch
Very PC owner, Peter Hopton, pitches in Dragons´Den.
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I got part of this lesson from Debatable English. Click on the picture below to download all the material for Business Schools
Go to downloads to get the student´s file and the answers to what we did in the classroom
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Article from Daily Mirror explaining what happened afterwards.
Decline and Fall-TV mini/series
This was an activity we performed in May 2017 in Aracena. A three-episode TV series. Please find the glossaries, subtitles, Evelyn Vaugh's novel and study guide links on VIDEO Downloads. To get links to watch it, go to Upper-intermediate Classroom Activities
Try to anticipate the pronunciation of the words or check them on an online dictionary before watching the episodes
Try to anticipate the pronunciation of the words or check them on an online dictionary before watching the episodes
Here you can find the links to watch this mini-series. To get all the glossaries, and the worksheets related to this activity please go to downloads
WATCH THE EPISODES
You can try to watch the TV series online but WARNING! you will get lots of ads and pop ups to install extensions. Try to avoid them clicking on the tab and closing it quickly. Another idea to close them is to type Ctrl+Alt+Esc(Delete or Supr) and open the task manager to end/kill the task, or use one of these methods http://www.wikihow.com/Close-an-Internet-Pop-Up LINKS: Tip! To be able to watch the episodes with subtitles go to these links from fmovies or movieline, choose the server openload, click on CC and upload the right subtitle from your computer. Episode 1 with subtitles: https://fmovies.se/film/decline-and-fall.n3vwj/xxyw9q Episode 2 with subtitles: https://movieonline.io/movies/decline-and-fall-season-1.html Episode 3 with subtitles: https://fmovies.se/film/decline-and-fall.n3vwj/z509np Episode 1 without subtitles: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5hmnml_decline-and-fall-season-1-episode-1-s01e01-2017-tv-series_tv Episode 2 without subtitles: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5hk3kx_decline-and-fall-s01e02_tv Episode 3 without subtitles: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5iaetj_decline-and-fall-2017-seas-1-ep-3_tv |
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DOWNLOAD THE EPISODES
You can also download the programme utorrent and look for the Decline and Fall episodes torrents on websites like these: https://eztv.wf/shows/2053/decline-and-fall/ https://bt-scene.cc/results_.php?q=decline+and+fall utorrent will download them for you once you provide the torrents Unfortunately this option does not include subtitles. USING SUBTITLES IN MEDIA PLAYER
You can try to add the subtitles I provided above with the files you downloaded. To do so, you will need to follow one of these tutorials:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/this-is-how-you-can-add-external-subtitles-on-windows-media-player/ (English) or http://www.baluart.net/articulo/subtitulos-srt-en-windows-media-player (Spanish) |
OTHER ACTIVITIES WE MADE IN THE PAST (archive)
Pre-Monty python pilots sketch
Download the worksheet with the questions, answers and transcript on Videos Downloads
Airline Pilots Sketch by Marty Amok! (originally from pre-Monty Python
show)
This is the original sketch. The end is different.
TONGUE TWISTERS
Tongue twisters are very useful to pronounce different sounds. These two scenes from the film "Singing in the rain" serve as an example of their difficulty.
"Singing in the rain"- Diction coach.
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"Singing in the rain" - Moses Supposes
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To practise tongue twisters visit the following British Council page: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/tongue-twisters
Sustained inattentional blindness
This is the video they talk about in lesson 6C. Count how many times the team wearing white pass the basketball...
The answer is 15, but did you notice the gorilla?
Half of the people who did this test didn't see the gorilla. This is called sustained inattentional blindness.
Does it have to do with the distinction hunters-gatherers?
Half of the people who did this test didn't see the gorilla. This is called sustained inattentional blindness.
Does it have to do with the distinction hunters-gatherers?
1st listening Test (B2)
1. go to http://www.examenglish.com/FCE/fce_listening_part1.htm
2. visit http://www.examenglish.com/FCE/fcelistening.htm
2. visit http://www.examenglish.com/FCE/fcelistening.htm
Get a test online to practise the listening skills of this level.