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Inauthentic Parmesan?
Italy has liberally sprinkled praise on a decision by Europe's highest court barring cheap imitations of Parmesan cheese. (Copies of products, Parmesan cheese, understanding the meaning, comprehension, guessing meanings of words by context, figurative language, discussion.)
Upper-Intermediate
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The Fuss About Fugu
One of Japan's most famous fish dinners could be a date with death. A meal of fugu, a poisonous blowfish, is famous throughout Japan. (Unusual meals, Japanese restaurants, scanning, matching information, true, false or not given, text organization, interviews, discussion, role play and word forms.)
Advanced
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Mime Your Holiday
This is a good activity to use when students have returned to school after a holiday.
Pre-Intermediate
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Questions - Did you not?
Sergiy from the Ukraine sent Anna a lovely letter asking about Did you not ..?, Didn't you ..? and the use of articles.
Intermediate
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Around The World In A Balloon
U.S. balloonist Steve Fossett ended his record-breaking solo round-the-world flight being dragged like a rag-doll through the dusty Australian outback. (World records, ballooning, ranking dangerous activities, comprehension, cloze listening, the structure 'by + -ing', planning a trip around the world.)
Intermediate
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Woman Remembers Three Centuries
The wrinkles in Hava Rexha's pale skin were carved by a life spanning three centuries, under Ottoman Turkish rule, Albanian monarchy, Italian occupation and Stalinist dictatorship. On August 14th 2002, surrounded by 120 offspring of four generations, she was 122 years old. (Longevity, biography, arranged marriages, crossword, listening and matching, debate, ranking, discussion.)
Upper-Intermediate
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Cyber Romance
A worldwide poll showed that 30% of web users regard the Internet as a good place to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. And despite the public perception that cyberspace is a shallow, hostile environment, lovers who meet through Internet chat rooms may actually end up forming strong relationships. (Internet chat room relationships, scanning, summarizing, 'despite', 'in spite of' and 'although', discourse markers, understanding a graph, writing an ad, interviews.)
Upper-Intermediate
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Lost Palace
Workers building a new town hall in Nicosia, Cyprus found the remains of an 800-year-old Lusigan palace whose whereabouts has been a mystery for centuries. (Medieval buildings and archaeological discoveries, Cyprus, reading for detail, discussion, time expressions with 'for', word find.)
Elementary
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Prepositions of time - at or on
Bia from Brazil asks about the difference between 'at Christmas' and 'on Christmas'.
Intermediate
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Topic Toss
This warmer is an engaging way to practice spoken fluency on a number of topics or language points and to encourage fellow classmates.
Pre-Intermediate
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Housework Bad For Health?
It's exhausting, time consuming and although it counts as physical activity, housework does not improve health or help to shed those excess pounds, British researchers say. (Housework versus exercise, true, false or not given, the suffix -ologist, discussion.)
Intermediate
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Fabric
Max takes us through words to do with fabric.
Intermediate
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Finders Keepers
An exciting way to teach prepositions and there is even a prize at the end of the activity!
Elementary
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Passive - Have something done
Luke from China asks about having things done!
Intermediate
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Vocabulary - Puddles and Pockets
Florencia from Argentina asks Anna about puddles and pockets.
Intermediate
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Amazon Destruction
The rate of forest destruction of Brazil's treasured Amazon jungle fell 13.4 percent last year from a five-year peak in 2000, but it is still at a pace that deeply troubles environmentalists. (Amazon jungle, scanning, comprehension, prefixes and suffixes, present participles.)
Upper-Intermediate
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Sports Equipment
This fun warmer aims to review sports vocabulary and encourage spoken fluency.
Intermediate
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Chimp Burglar
British police are looking for a chimpanzee who has stolen things from two London homes. (Chimpanzees, burglaries, predicting, mixed sentences, true or false, writing sentences using prompts, pair crossword.)
Elementary
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School Bullies Targeted
The largest U.S. doctors group has taken a stand against school bullies, urging a far-flung effort to change attitudes and asking colleagues to talk to younger patients who may be suffering in silence. (Bullying, predicting, scanning, true, false or not given, 'weak' and 'strong' adjectives.)
Intermediate
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Grammar Poker
This is a fun and different way to review grammar points.
Intermediate
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Accent on Second Language Development
Hearing a second language spoken day-to-day will not translate into fluency but it may help children speak with a more convincing accent, results of a study suggest. (Second language development, self-evaluation of language learning, finding the main idea, true or false, pronunciation of past tense verbs.)
Advanced
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Adjectives - comparatives and spelling
Mark from Japan asks about teaching students the difference between short and long vowels so they can remember how to spell comparative forms.
Intermediate
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That's stretching it
This warmer is effective when students are feeling lethargic and need something to help them focus on the next lesson.
Pre-Intermediate
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The Things They Get Up To In Europe
Europeans may love their television remote controls but most still don't use computers, a new poll showed. (Comparison of habits of Europeans (television, reading, computer use and music), map reading, pronunciation of names of countries and nationalities, conducting a survey, the word 'only'.)
Pre-Intermediate
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Europeans Get Slim
Guilt-ridden Europeans hoping to squeeze themselves into last year's swimsuits will spend a total of 96 billion euros (US$90.1 billion) annually on dieting products by 2006. (Dieting, scanning, true, false and not mentioned, summarizing, linking words: although, but, despite.)
Upper-Intermediate
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Phonemic Vocabulary Cards
This is a vocabulary warmer that empowers students, as they are usually very amused at my attempts to pronounce words in their language.
Pre-Intermediate
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Verbs - past continuous and past simple
Nadir asks about using the past continuous and a past simple in the same sentence.
Intermediate
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Can't Face the Stairs
Three elderly British holidaymakers who disappeared while traveling in France and started a huge manhunt have turned up safely, happily enjoying their holiday. (Strange stories, holidays, simple past tense verbs, crossword.)
Elementary
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Home Sweet Home
Max takes a look at words to do with houses and homes.
Intermediate
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Giraffe Gets New Leg
A young giraffe in Japan has gained a new lease on life thanks to his devoted keepers and an artificial leg. (Giraffes, artificial limbs, guessing words by context, sequencing, hyphens, the prefix 'fore'.)
Intermediate
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Mangrove Forest Under Threat
Bangladesh and India will work together under a UN plan to protect the Sundarban, the world's biggest mangrove forest. (Conservation, mangrove forests, endangered species, discussion, superlative adjectives, crossword.)
Pre-Intermediate
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The things we like about you
This warmer from Australia is great for increasing students' self-esteem.
Pre-Intermediate
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Gerunds and infinitives
Luke asks Anna about some of the paradoxical uses of infinitives and gerunds.
Intermediate
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The right mood
This is a way of getting students into the right frame of mind for studying; especially if your class is after lunch time.
Pre-Intermediate
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Nouns as adjectives?
Denise from Brazil passes on a student's questions about the order of adjectives and the use of "of".
Intermediate
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Finders Keepers
Two Australian families are arguing over $10,000 in cash dug up by a gardener in a back garden. (Lost and found, sequencing, reading for overall understanding, the structure used to, crossword.)
Elementary
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Irukandji Sting
A US tourist has become the second foreign visitor to Australia to die after being stung by an irukandji, a tiny, translucent jellyfish for which there is no known antivenene. (Finding the main idea; true, false or not given; after +-ing; the prefix 'anti'.)
Intermediate
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Comparatives - the more you ....
Wanda from Germany asks about the construction the more you work, the more you tire.
Intermediate
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The ole ball game
This is a fun warmer before a lesson about sports.
Elementary
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Biological Bad Luck
Plain old bad luck plays a major role in determining who gets cancer and who does not, according to researchers. Another study sees lifestyle during the first 20 years of life is a more important factor than one's origin when defining the risk of cancer. (Lifestyle, genes, true or false, cause and effect language, writing a pamphlet, debating.)
Upper-Intermediate
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Concerns for Child Asthma Sufferers
Laughter is not always the best medicine -- at least not for children with asthma. (Causes of asthma, comprehension, summarizing, listening dictation, fractions, adverbs showing certainty.)
Intermediate
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Sun-Protected Students
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released new guidelines urging schools to try to protect children from excess sunlight to help prevent skin cancer later on in life. (The danger of the sun, scanning, use of the pattern 'urge + object + to + infinitive.)
Pre-Intermediate
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Blind as a Bat?
British scientists have created a cane inspired by bats to help blind and partially sighted people find their way around. (Equipment to help visually-impaired people, guessing words from context, giving descriptions, reference words.)
Upper-Intermediate
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All together or altogether?
Gail from South Africa asks Anna to clear up the difference for her.
Intermediate
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All Roads Lead to...a Student's House
This activity brings fun and excitement to your pronunciation lesson. This warmer also has a complementary Instant Workbook exercise.
Pre-Intermediate
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Verb Ball Toss
This is a fun vocabulary or grammar revision warm up activity that can also be used as a drill.
Pre-Intermediate
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Compound Nouns
Huynh Quoc Dai from Vietnam has asked Anna "an interesting but difficult question ... about these maverick and arbitrary structures."
Intermediate
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Who Are You?
The need to prove identity in the world left changed by September 11, 2001 is driving technology designed to help people clear security checkpoints at airports and elsewhere. (Security identification systems, choosing appropriate verbs, listening, debate.)
Advanced
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Punctuation - apostrophes and surnames
Gena has asked Anna about adding an apostrophe to a last name that ends with s or z.
Intermediate
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Global Aging
More than half of babies born in rich nations today will live to be 100 years old if current life expectancy trends continue. Increasing numbers of very old people could bring major challenges for health and social systems, but the research showed that may be [lessened] by people not only living longer, but also staying healthier in their later years. (Life expectancy, aging, understanding statistical information.)
Intermediate
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