wish song – gorgeous Heather Headley ballad
This is a modern gem performed by the grossly underrated Heather Headley. In this gorgeous wish song, she woefully admits to being in love with an undeserving partner and belts out: “I wish I wasn’t in...
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teaching verb tenses with timelines
Timelines for teaching verb tenses are great. Seriously. I’ve been telling teachers to use timelines for as long as I can remember, but, strangely enough, they’ve often played a lesser role in my own...
View Articlemuppets should have video
Here’s a two-minute video to help you present should have. There are grammar discovery questions on the screen, but you might want to show students the actual scene only and devise your own questions....
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noticing and language learning
Of all the ELT buzzwords I’ve heard, thought about and used over the past decade, noticing has got to be by far the most frequent. Fortunately, noticing is nowhere near as broad and ambivalent as...
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be used to: a short video to help you teach it
This post contains a short excerpt from the now defunct Desperate Housewives in which Lynette (one of the housewives) complains about her routine using be used to. This show will be sorely missed. Be...
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second conditional video
Here’s a funny second conditional video you can use with your intermediate students. It’s based on a short excerpt from Jay Leno’s talk show. This is the third (and possibly last) installment of my...
View Article2-minute “second conditional” video presentation
This post contains a very short excerpt from Big Bang Theory with a classic “second conditional” example and on-screen activities. Last week I saw what was possibly the funniest Big Bang Theory episode...
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4 questions to help you plan your next grammar lesson
A lot of what we do in class tends to be related to grammar in one way or another. This post, which won the British Council Blog of the Month Award in Feb 2013, examines some of the questions that we...
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teaching inversion – guest post by Ricardo Barros
It has long bothered me that the use of inversions in speaking is largely seen as unnatural. Time and time again I would go to a training session or overhear other teachers speaking and inversions...
View Articlesubject / verb agreement mistakes: 7 things to bear in mind.
First things first: What is subject / verb agreement? It’s a grammatical rule that states that the verb must agree in number with its subject. In English, present tense verbs change to show agreement...
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internet memes & concept checking, by Marcelo de Cristo
Internet memes are all around us these days. Whether you like them or not, you are bombarded with them 24/7 through social media. And so are your learners – kids, teens and adults who sometimes find...
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texts full of present perfect examples
Teaching grammar is, indeed, a juggling act. Give students a drill or a very controlled practice activity and, in the end, they might not be able to say what they wanted to say. Give them an open-ended...
View ArticleControlled practice: 13 variations on the same grammar activity
For this article to make sense to you, you need to agree with three basic premises: 1. Language learning can be regarded as a form of skill learning. 2. Controlled practice has a role to play as a sort...
View ArticleSong to teach “must have”
I have good news and bad news. I was (literally) dusting off some of my old CDs this morning and I happened to stumble on a song containing – are you ready for this – fourteen different examples of...
View ArticleSecond conditional songs
Here’s a 10-minute video containing eight song excerpts filled with second conditional examples. If you want to use them, just Google the song title + lyrics and have fun. YouTube will have all the...
View ArticleDeclarative vs. procedural knowledge
Before we go any further, click on the link for a short post explaining the basic differences between declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge. This is an e-mail I’ve just received: Dear Luiz,...
View ArticleThe hazy line between grammar & lexis (1)
This post is a short anecdotal account of two lessons I taught in 2002. Why on earth, you must be wondering, would I have any sort of recollection of two lessons I taught nearly ten years ago. It so...
View ArticleSelfies: a video-based grammar lesson
This is a video-based grammar lesson intended for A2/B1 students. Its aim is to review/introduce the use of gerunds after prepositions. The grammar expansion section, which focuses on verb +...
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texts full of present perfect examples
Teaching grammar is, indeed, a juggling act. Give students a drill or a very controlled practice activity and, in the end, they might not be able to say what they wanted to say. Give them an...
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