New Year Resolutions – Simple low level ESOL / EFL lesson
Posted: December 28, 2009 Filed under: Celebrations and Traditions, Writing Lessons | Tags: educational games, EFL, English, ESL, ESOL, games, IELTS, new year, new year resoultions, new year's resolutions, resolutions Leave a comment »The new year is the natural time to think about changing the things that you do and the habits that you have. Most gyms will be full this week and empty by the end of February. Here’s a simple E2 ESOL lesson that will get students talking and thinking about the new year
Download the lesson here http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/newyear_sresolutions.doc
All these lessons and many more can be found on my website
www.englishlanguagespacestation.com
Writing Cards – Christmas Cards for ESOL, ESL and EFL
Posted: December 8, 2009 Filed under: Celebrations and Traditions, Writing Lessons | Tags: cards, Christmas, Christmas Card, Christmas Cards, EFL, English, English language, ESL, ESOL, IELTS, learn English, resources, Seasons Greetings, Teacher, x mas cards 2 Comments »
Can’t be bothered to read the post – Click here for the lesson on Writing Cards http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/writing-cards1.doc
Sending cards is an enourmous business in the UK and the USA with the average person spending way too much time and money on them. There’s also a lot of social pressure to send and receive them especially at Christmas time. Who hasn’t been presented with a card for someone who is leaving the office, sick or getting married, and thought ‘Idon’t know what to write!’?
It’s also pretty difficult for ESOL/EFL and second language English learners to write them to. I used this lesson with a group of pre- intermediate learners.
Here’s the lesson again http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/writing-cards1.doc
Here are the lesson stages
1. Ask the students to tell you when they last recieved a card of any description. Write a list of the cards they tell you about on the board. It might look something like this. Anniversary, wedding, congratulations, birthday, valentines, get well soon, sorry, condolences…
2. Now pass out the sheet and have the students correct the mistakes then match the card messages to the people they are for.
3. Now ask students to write their own messages in response to the prompts. You could ask them to work in pairs or alone and could check the answers by getting to write on the board.
4. There are some really good electronic greetings cards on the net. You might like to show these to your students if you have an interactive whiteboad or projector.
English Language Spelling Mistakes – We are not alone – Spelling help for ESOL / IELTS and EFL
Posted: November 24, 2009 Filed under: spelling, Writing Lessons | Tags: common spelling mistakes, EFL, English, ESL, ESOL, IELTS, learn English, resources, spelling, spelling mistakes, Teacher, TEFL, TESOL, worksheets Leave a comment »Quick spelling lesson for ESOL / IELTS /EFL
If you haven’t got time or can’t be bothered to read the post the spelling lesson is here:
The twenty five most common spelling mistakes in English. http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/the-25-most-common-spelling-mistakes-in-english.doc
The most pleasing things about making spelling mistakes when typing into Google is not that it offers you a handy correction, but the fact that there are hundreds of people who have also made the same mistakes, and have also gone the extra mile by putting these mistakes live on the web.
Websites that help with your spelling
There are some great webistes that can help your students with their spelling. The BBC have a really good Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check game as well as lots of others on their skillswise site. www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise
There are also some good flash spelling games at www.manything.org
Spelling Miatakes by Native English Speakers
There are lots of funny places to look at real life spelling mistakes in English, one great example from the north of England is by Prof. Vivian Cook who took photos of genuine spelling errors made by British people.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SpellingMistakes/MistakesStreetHand.htm
You can also find hundreds of honest spelling errors by visiting www.google.com and seraching for ‘spelling mistakes’ under images
Other Mistakes !
If you’re looking for something a little bit more hardcore then there are a whole range of websites that make fun of Chinese spelling mistakes. These are in vogue at the moment but some are a bit rude so I wouldn’t advocate showing these to your class.
http://www.squidoo.com/funnychinesesigns
Here’s a good one from www.engrish.com
Help for your students
Here’s a spelling video I made with the PSP camera, play it for your students while you go for a cup of tea.
