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Coffins
A firm of undertakers in Ireland is hiring out hardwood coffins to meet growing demands to cut funeral costs and spare precious timber. (Funerals, death, belief, obituaries, the use of "since".) Please Note: This lesson looks at funeral practices and rites. Please think about your students' cultural backgrounds before choosing this lesson. The lesson also raises questions about death and what happens to people after they die.
Intermediate
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Modals4 - 'must' in the past
This is the fourth part of Anna's five part reply giving help with modals. This week she looks at modality in the past.
Intermediate
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Giving Up
A man who camped alone in the Australian outback for six months after driving off in a fire truck said on Friday he hadn't been looking for enlightenment but was simply trying to give up smoking. Well if it works .....
(smoking, addiction, the Australian desert, linking words)
Pre-Intermediate
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For Better or Worse?
A study in California has shown that recently divorced and widowed men eat fewer vegetables, drink more alcohol, and are less likely to quit smoking than their married counterparts. (Health, lifestyle, marriage, conjunctions, word forms.)
Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate
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Fish and Chimneys
Father Christmas is not alone. Read about this amazing survival story and unusual weather. (Strange stories, birds, fish, revision of verbs in the past simple)
Pre-Intermediate
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Environmentally Friendly
Are you being confused and misled by the hodge-podge of environmental claims made by household products. You are not alone and help is at hand. Read on. (Product labels, clean green, consumer issues, active and passive verbs)
Upper-Intermediate
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Down on the Farmer
A recent study in Britain found that children had negative stereotypical images of what a farmer looked like... certainly not like the "suited and cleanly shaven" reality of the modern farmer. (farmers, city children, stereotypes, adjectives, quantifiers)
Intermediate
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Dangerous Activities
It may look pretty, but ballet is more like a contact sport when it comes to injury. (Risk, Sport, ballet, injury, relative clauses)
Intermediate
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A Very Old Post Card
A postcard that took 112 years to get from Brisbane to Scotland has been sent back to Australia to be reunited with the granddaughter of the man who wrote it! (Parts of speech - nouns as verbs)
Elementary
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A Burglar's Finger
Police who were investigating a burglary in southeast Spain found more than just fingerprints to help them. (Crime, Spain, fingerprints, the use of articles)
Elementary
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Armstrong Unveils Century's Top Ten
This is about the top engineering achievements of the 20th century. What was number one? We can't spoil the surprise, but we can tell you that the Internet was number 13. This lesson also has some remarkable quotations from a magazine published in 1890, giving comments on what would go on to become the number one engineering achievement of the 20th century. This is a lesson that spans three centuries! (Top engineering achievements of the 20th century, Prefixes.)
Upper-Intermediate
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A 5-year-old Bungee Jumper
This article is about a man in France who has been stopped from getting his 5-year-old son into the record books as the youngest ever bungee jumper. (Parents' rights, children, dangerous activities, world records, sports, past simple and present perfect)
Elementary
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Modals3 - "will"
This is part three of Anna's reply to a letter asking for help with modals. In this section Anna looks toward the future.
Intermediate
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Antibacterial?
"Right now, the antibacterial obsession of the public is providing us with products that kill off beneficial microorganisms - but leave some deadly bacteria in their wake." (Health, business, allergies, the passive.)
Upper-Intermediate
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Winning and Losing
A British couple bought a lottery ticket. The ticket won millions of pounds, but they had lost the ticket. They could prove they had bought the ticket, but the lottery company said that the rules said that no ticket means no prize. However, the company did pay for professional counseling for the couple. (Justice, fairness, rules, winning money, the uses of the present perfect.)
Upper-Intermediate to Advanced
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"none is" and "none are"
An argument in South Africa is hopefully settled by Anna.
Intermediate
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Choose Your Toy
The first day of the American International Toy Fair in New York was cheerful as manufacturers like Mattel Inc, MEGA Brands Inc and Spin Master try to encourage buyers from around the world. Movies and toys with the latest technology should help sell toys. (Toys, children, technology.)
Pre-Intermediate
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Caught!
There are some dumb criminals out there!!
(Crime, writing a story, escapes, past continuous.)
Pre-Intermediate
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Modals2 - Can and could
This is the second part of Anna's letter to Martine. She looks at can and could and their various uses.
Intermediate
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Worker Privacy
Employee privacy in the United States is under threat. A survey showed that Internet connections were monitored by 63 percent of companies, telephone use was tracked by 43 percent, computer use such as time logged on or keystroke counts was monitored by 19 percent, and video surveillance for security purposes was used by 38 percent. (Present perfect, oxymorons.)
Advanced
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Cooking
A survey says many British shoppers buy ready-made food and say it is their cooking. Another survey found that nearly half of men spent less than half an hour a week in the kitchen. (Cooking, eating, men and women, pronouns.)
Elementary
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Drunk Driver
Canadians reacted with "disbelief and outrage" after an Ontario court ruled that a drunk driver's accident was partly her employer's fault and ordered the company to pay her $200,000 in damages. What do you think? (Business, employer responsibility, crime, driving, modals in the past - 'should have')
Pre-Intermediate
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Don't Be Shy
Youngsters who are extremely shy can often overcome their anxiety with a combination of social skills training and the help of their more extroverted peers. (health, children, phobias, passive forms)
Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate
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Dashboard Diners
Cellphones only cause a small percentage of motor accidents... food and drink cause more than ten times as many accidents! (Driving safety, cars, cellphones, mobile phones, accidents, passive sentences using 'by'.)
Intermediate
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Old Games Or Dangerous Games
An increasing number of Indonesians are taking a stand against digital games like Pokemon Go. They are encouraging children to play traditional toys like wooden spinning tops and bamboo pinwheels. Parents in the US who are part of a growing trend of people turning to 'tabletop games' as a social alternative to screen time.
Pre-Intermediate
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Court Punishments
A 74-year-old grandmother to sew a quilt for charity in lieu of serving jail time. You be the judge. (Law courts, punishments, judges, crime, old age, age as an adjective.)
Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate
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Close Encounters
When animals attack! Well here are some strange ones and some gourmet delicacies. (Dangerous animals, kangaroos, pythons, grasshoppers, food, "to + infinitive")
Intermediate
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By Another Name
A new image for prunes after a $10 million makeover changing their name to "dried plums". (sales, marketing, food, adjectives, comparatives)
Pre-Intermediate
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Bug-Buster
Forget the fly swatter, a new trap has been launched in Singapore that lures biting insects to their doom by fooling them into thinking they are heading for a juicy human. (New invention, insects and pests, prefixes.)
Pre-Intermediate
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Foot-and-Mouth
The current foot and mouth epidemic in Britain. How did it get there? Do the lesson and find out.
(Foot-and-Mouth, disease, Britain, health, the passive)
Intermediate
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Barbara Cartland
Barbara Cartland, who died on Sunday aged 98, became the world's best-selling author by churning out romantic tales. (Biography, writers, famous people, romance, prepositions)
Intermediate
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Bank Robber!
At an age when many teenagers are just opening their first bank accounts, a 16-year-old Toronto girl was busy robbing them. (Youth crime, pronouns, referencing.)
Pre-Intermediate
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Another Risk
Blood transfusions may be able to spread BSE (Mad Cow Disease). The research uses sheep, so may not apply to humans, but it's a scary thought. (BSE, Mad Cow Disease, scientific research, health, word order)
Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate
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Animal Friends
A dolphin who saves people and a legal battle to possibly save a dog. (Animals, DNA testing)
Pre-Intermediate
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An Expensive Piece of Paper
A woman in New York found a painting among some garbage bags worth around $1 million and a sheet of pinkish paper the size of a postcard was expected to be sold for more than 3-1/2 million pounds at an auction. (Paintings, art, Leonardo da Vinci, Rufino Tamayo, comparative and superlative adjectives, discussion, comprehension.)
Elementary
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Air in the air
With cigarette smoking outlawed on all U.S. airline flights, complaints in recent years have shifted to other onboard air quality issues like low humidity, stuffiness and the potential for viruses to be transmitted through recirculated air. Will airlines do anything about it? (planes, health, travel)
Upper-Intermediate to Advanced
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A Quick Puff
A man has been arrested for allegedly allowing his 2-year-old son to smoke a cigarette in a restaurant. Find out what punishments he could face.(Children smoking, law courts, relative pronouns)
Intermediate
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A Long Goodbye
85 years after it was thrown into the sea, the goodbye mesage in a bottle was found.
(Amazing stories, love, messages in a bottle, word order)
Pre-Intermediate
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A Hitch In Your Hike
Peru plans to limit the thousands of visitors who hike its well-worn Inca Trail, because it says the ancient road is overrun by tourists.
(Tourism, Peru, conservation, participles.)
Intermediate
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A Fishy Business
Sadly fish stocks recover far more slowly from overfishing than was previously thought.(The environment, overfishing, conservation, modal verbs - may and might.)
Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate
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"What does this button do?"
A passenger was probably to blame for terrifying nearly 400 people by playing a silly trick. (Flying, frightening experiences, conjunctions)
Intermediate
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Deadly Blood Clots
Doctors from Australia and New Zealand have dismissed the concept of "economy class syndrome", but called for a major study to determine whether there is any link between air travel and blood clots.(Health, air travel, medical research, 'verb + that')
Upper-Intermediate
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A Wild Race
This is about the Eco-Challenge, billed as the world's toughest expedition race. Forget the Olympics... this is a REAL challenge! (Extreme sports, tough races, sport in wilderness areas, phrasal verbs.)
Upper-Intermediate
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A Lost Pet
Residents were warned to tread carefully as police and zoo officials were on the hunt for a deadly, runaway viper.
(Snakes, keeping dangerous pets, Canada, word order)
Upper-Intermediate
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24-hour plane delay
A pet squirrel grounded a jetliner for a day by playing hide-and-seek with engineers and airline crew. (Pets, diary writing, adverbs of time, spend + -ing verbs and prepositions)
Upper-Intermediate
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A Healthy Life
Can being more sociable make you healthier? Increasing numbers of reports are suggesting that folks with more active social lives live longer and get sick less often. Find out why?? (Social life, "such as" to introduce examples.)
Upper-Intermediate
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Modals -"must" and "have to"
Martine has asked for help with the teaching of modal verbs. This is the first part of Anna's 5 part answer and deals with "must" and "have to".
Intermediate
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Prepositions - Drills
Anna gives help to a teacher from New Zealand who is preparing their students for IELTS.
Intermediate
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Idioms - What Are You Up To?
Anna explains to Candy in Australia what this expression means.
Intermediate
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Quantifiers - "Some" and "Few"
Anna replies to a letter and offers some exercises.
Intermediate
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