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You Can't Copy That!
A copyright dispute over two pieces of silence, one by American avant-garde composer John Cage and the other by a composer best known for novelty tunes, has been settled. (Plagiarism and copyright, music, scanning, guessing words in context, true or false, headlines, the expression: It was one of the most...I've ever..., discussion.)
Upper-Intermediate
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Checking Up on Supplies
The counting of toilet roll paper was successful for a British worker who won his employer thousands of pounds in compensation after he discovered that some rolls were not as long as they should be. (Consumer issues, information recall and exchange, working in pairs to reconstruct main points of a text, comprehension, too + adverb or adjective, word find puzzle, discussion and research activity.)
Pre-Intermediate
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A Different Taste in Music
Two brothers who perform all kinds of music using vegetable instruments and a vegetable orchestra. (Music, vegetables, puns, common suffixes, China, Austria.)
Intermediate
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Stop That Train!
A British train driver had to run 100 yards along the station platform to catch his train after it decided to start its journey without him. (Train travel, matching information and pictures, train vocabulary, comprehension, sequencing, writing a headline, the structure ...as+adverb+as I can, word find puzzle.)
Elementary
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Too Much TV Bad For Kids?
Kids who spend more time watching TV--regardless of the content of the programming--are more likely to behave aggressively and have other types of social problems, a study has found. (Television watching and children, True, False or Not Given, writing questions, main idea, past simple, role-play, crossword.)
Upper-Intermediate
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Long Hours
British employees work more hours per week than workers in Europe. Managers and professionals worked the longest hours. About half said that they were working longer hours to deal with excessive workloads. By contrast, 70 percent of skilled and manual workers said they put in extra hours to earn overtime pay. (The working week, hours of work, graph analysis, writing memos, using markers to show surprising ideas or contrast.)
Upper-Intermediate to Advanced
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This Is What I Know
Glenis from Peru says this is one of her favorite ways to motivate students to learn vocabulary.
Intermediate
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Auxiliary verb - do we?
Anna is needed to settle a blazing debate in a college in The Philippines. Hope we aren't too late!
Intermediate
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Idioms - There you go
Andrea asks about the usage and meanings of three different expressions. Here you go Andrea, Anna's reply....
Intermediate
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Ghostly Stories
This warmer encourages spoken fluency through storytelling. A great introduction to a lesson about Halloween, ghosts or paranormal activity.
Pre-Intermediate
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New Stoves Could Mark End of Indoor Cooking Fires
Eritrea is hoping a new stove design will do its part to fight the deforestation and lung problems caused by cooking fires used by an estimated 2.5 billion people in the developing world. (Scanning, choosing the best headline, completing the table of information, matching sentences, crossword, finding grammatical errors.)
Upper-Intermediate to Advanced
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A Very Long Ride
An American teacher has ridden a roller coaster for ten hours a day for the past three months to try to get a world record. (World records, listening for correct information, comprehension, collocations, irregular verbs, word find puzzle.)
Elementary
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That's My Kind of Music
Boston transit police have enlisted the late American composers George Gershwin and John Philip Sousa in their fight against crime. (Using music as a deterrent, classifying words, guessing meanings in context, scanning, using the verb 'have' in the continuous tense.)
Intermediate
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Confusables - Come and Go
Vanessa asks for help with explaining the difference between 'coming to' and 'going to' to her elementary class.
Intermediate
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Name Game
This activity can be followed up the next day by calling role using students' names and their 'likes.' It's a great way to learn everyone's name quickly.
Elementary to Pre-Intermediate
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Conditionals - first
Vincent from France asks Anna to explain why the present is used after when to express the future.
Intermediate
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Important Events in My Life
By discussing drawings of five important events in their lives, students can learn about each other on the first day of class.
Intermediate
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Alive or Dead?
An Austrian woman has had to convince her electricity supplier that she is alive after the company wrote to her asking for information about her contract following her "passing away." (Clerical errors and bureaucracy, reading for overall understanding, reading for details, sequencing, adding extra information to sentences, crossword.)
Intermediate
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Bring Your Parents
British pensioner Joseph Dickinson, 103, had a shock when his local hospital phoned him to ask him to come in for an eye test... and told him to bring his parents! (Making and answering questions, memorizing a short text, word find, discussion, simple past tense forms.)
Elementary
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Let's Close The Town
Residents of a remote Quebec mining community have voted to shut down the town following the closing of a local copper smelter, the area's main employer. (Small towns and employment, comprehension, true, false or not given, before +- ing, role play, essay topic, discussion.)
Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate
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Superlative Race
An inspiring and motivational way to practise the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives.
Pre-Intermediate
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Child Tracking Devices May Be Next
A British scientist said he received many requests from worried parents asking him to implant a tracking microchip into their children after the murders of two 10-year-olds in a quiet English town. (Tracking devices and children's safety, understanding the main idea, matching words and meanings, choose the best answer, reading carefully, 'say' and 'tell'.)
Pre-Intermediate
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Modals - Have to & Must
Jenny, a teacher in Japan, has written to ask Anna to explain the difference between have to and must.
Intermediate
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Nouns - plurals and irregulars
Ever wondered what fish and sheep have in common? Look at Anna's reply to Midori from Japan and find out.
Intermediate
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Mood Chart
This is a great warmer for class dynamics and fluency practice.
Pre-Intermediate
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Chef's Helpers
Max takes a look at words for cooking utensils - words like 'pfanna', 'spatha' and 'hlaedel'!
Intermediate
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Divorce Research
Unhappily married couples often get lots of advice and a new report offers some more: don't divorce, stick it out. (Divorce, giving an opinion, predicting before reading, reading and listening gap fills, a lot of / lots of / plenty of / much / many / few / little, making a speech, word find puzzle.)
Upper-Intermediate
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Batter Up!
Baseball managers should forget the traditional batting lineup and put the strongest hitter up second, instead of fourth, to improve the team's performance. (Baseball, baseball trivia and slang, comprehension, true or false, guessing idioms by context, third conditional, word find puzzle, discussion.)
Intermediate
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A Baby's Name
An angry Italian mother has gone to court after her husband secretly named their newborn son after a prize-winning horse. (Naming children, sequencing, reading for detail, a / an / the, word search puzzle, discussion.)
Elementary
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Sea Refugees
Nations must make plans to help tens of millions of "sea level refugees" if climate change continues to ravage the world's oceans. (Climate change, global warming, comprehension, true, false or not given, discussion, reported speech and direct speech.)
Upper-Intermediate
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I Want To Be Alone
More than 200 years after they went out of fashion in Britain, professional hermits are back in the job market. (Hermits, the advantages and disadvantages of living alone, predicting from the headline, comprehension, true, false or not given, discussion, present perfect and simple past tenses.)
Intermediate
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List and Listen
This warmer is a fun and competitive way to review vocabulary. It also encourages students to think 'outside the box.'
Intermediate
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Nouns - countable
Jean from Germany emailed Anna about categorizing countable and uncountable nouns.
Intermediate
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Verbs - to be
Sandra from Argentina wanted some more activities for her pupils about the verb to be, so Anna has made some. Enjoy!
Elementary
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eBay Watch
Few would question that auction enterprise eBay has become one of the most important companies on the Internet. But what was it about eBay that not only allowed it to survive, but thrive in a nascent industry where success became the exception rather than the rule? (The auction website eBay, guessing words from context, sequencing, role play, discussion, spot the mistake - grammatical errors.)
Advanced
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No More Recorders!
The humble recorder, played by generations of schoolchildren, has received an unwelcome blow when researchers revealed the average child hates it. (The recorder and other musical instruments, musical preferences, finding the main idea, synonyms, writing questions, expository essays, role play--making excuses, finding grammatical mistakes.)
Intermediate
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Get the Most out of your E-mails
When it comes to sending e-mails, the personal touch is best because the more people the message is copied to, the less likely the recipients will reply. (E-mails and communication, understanding the main idea, scanning, guessing unfamiliar words, sequencing, a / an, analogies, discussion and problem solving.)
Upper-Intermediate
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Category Contest
This is a fun and competitive way to review vocabulary. In teams, students recall words for specific categories.
Intermediate
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Ground Zero
Today's lesson looks back to the events of September 11, 2001 and analyses an article giving an account of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the ruins of the World Trade Center complex shortly after the event. (Vocabulary and style, scanning, text organization, synonyms, analyzing a text, expressive writing, human interest stories.)
Advanced
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Putting the Pieces Together
This activity is a visually friendly way to review grammar structures and sentence ordering.
Intermediate
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Young Whale Looks For Family
A young female killer whale rescued near Seattle swam to freedom on Sunday to join her relatives in what scientists hope will be a permanent and groundbreaking reunion. (Killer whales, animals in captivity, scanning, zoos or aquariums, true, false or not given, summarizing, 'if + present simple, will + infinitive', listening gap fill.)
Intermediate
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Adverbials - Too and Also
Jenny asks Anna about the difference between too and also.
Intermediate
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Super Seal Saves Dog
A seal saved an elderly dog after it was swept away by a fast-flowing river in northern England. (Rescues, animal behavior, sequencing, comprehension, reading for detail, using the word 'after', word find, pair discussion.)
Elementary to Pre-Intermediate
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The Cost of Tying the Knot
New York is the most expensive city in the United States to get married and many couples will spend about $27,000 to tie the knot and that doesn't include the cost of the honeymoon.
(Cost of a wedding, planning a wedding, finding the main idea, summarizing, find someone who..., persuasive essays.)
Intermediate
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Buskers Permitted Here
In the past, street performer Yasunori Koyama would be sent packing by police patrolling the streets and parks of Tokyo even as he performs his impressive juggling act to a visibly delighted crowd, but times have changed. (Street performers, city councils, predicting, true, false and not given, summarizing, relative pronouns (who, which, that), discussion.)
Intermediate
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Adverbs - intensifiers
Wahab from Algiers asks Anna what an intensifying function is.
Intermediate
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When I was a child....
This getting-to-know-you activity is great for practice talking about the past using used to.
Intermediate
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Spanish-to-go
Now we've become Spanish-to-go!!! Anna answers a question from an artist in Argentina.
Intermediate
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Complimentary Collocations
This simple warmer is not only a good way to practice collocations but it also helps create a friendly atmosphere in the classroom.
Intermediate
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Adverbs - recently
Jenny asks Anna about which tenses recently can be used with.
Intermediate
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