Category Archives: Level: C1

Disturbing Dolls

Level: C1 and up Time: 60-75min

Halloween is here again!

Sometimes the best English lessons are the ones that make students stop and say, “Wait… what?!” This lesson plan, “Disturbing Dolls”, does exactly that. It takes a light-hearted look at the strange world of unwanted, creepy, or broken toys — and turns it into a fun and thought-provoking English class.

In this lesson, students:
🧩 complete grammar and vocabulary exercises based on a real article about a couple who collect “disturbing” toys,
💬 learn new expressions like “get your kicks from”, “rifle through” and “snowball”,
🗣 discuss fears, childhood memories and unusual hobbies,
🎭 take part in a speaking task where they have to pitch one of their old toys to be “rehoused” by the fictional company Unsettling Toys.

The materials are designed to develop communication skills, critical thinking, and a sense of humour — all while practising natural English vocabulary and idioms in context.

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What’s in it for us?

Level B2/C1 Time: 90min

Putin has declared that referendums in four partially occupied areas of Ukraine have delivered a mandate for assimilation into what Moscow calls Russian territory.

On top of that he has started ‘partial mobilisation’ with plans to recruit 300.000 civilians.

And last week it became clear that Kremlin wants the use of nuclear weapons to be considered a real possibility and, as Putin said, “it’s not a bluff.”

In such circumstances I felt that it’s necessary to introduce the topic of the war in Ukraine in my high school classes.

What started as a search for material on the war, ended up being a very fruitful and enriching experience and discussion on geopolitics, privilege and rhetoric skills.

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Summerhill – part 1

Level: B2 and up

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This is a worksheet based on 2008 movie ‘Summerhill’ about Summerhill School. It is a boarding school in Suffolk, England. It was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other way around. It is run as a democratic community; the running of the school is conducted in the school meetings, which anyone, staff or pupil, may attend, and at which everyone has an equal vote. These meetings serve as both a legislative and judicial body. Members of the community are free to do as they please, so long as their actions do not cause any harm to others, according to Neill’s principle “Freedom, not Licence.” This extends to the freedom for pupils to choose which lessons, if any, they attend. It is an example of both democratic education and alternative education. 

Students call Summerhill the happiest school in the world.

Check out why:

Link to the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9BgrGiIYc0

Introduce the two main characters Ryan and Maddy with the poster and then just follow the worksheet questions.

I was too lazy to do the Answer Key for this one. Hope you manage 🙂

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The Gender Tag

Level: A2 and up

Merriam-Webster announced that it has chosen “they” as the 2019 word of the year. The singular “they” is a pronoun used to refer to a person whose gender identity is nonbinary.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/woty2019-top-looked-up-words-they

I was really inspired by the story and decided to create a lesson plan that would allow some discussion on how my students perceive gender roles.

All I needed was an authentic piece of language that I could use as conversation starter. It turned out that Ashley Wilde did just that.

 

The Gender Tag Project is a YouTube “tag” video created by Ashley that encourages individuals to answer a set of ten prompts relating to their experience with gender in the form of a YouTube video. The Gender Tag videos are compiled in a YouTube playlist called “The Gender Tag Project,” found by clicking here.

Start the lesson with a discussion: ‘Why do you think THEY became the word of the year 2019?’

Watch the They/them pronouns video together. With more advanced groups you might want to read the Merriam-Webster article.

Follow with a general discussion on how the tradiotional gender roles have changed over the last 10, 20, 50 years.

Then distribute the handouts and invie your SS to answer the questions.

The Gender Tag (1) pdf icon

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Perfect Attendance Pencil

Level: B1 and up

One of my personal favorite lessons on Teacher-Parent-Student roles and responsibilities.

Before the lesson: Send SS a link to this post:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B79jz-iHDAq/?igshid=1d95kqebb5rgr

At the beginning of the lesson show your SS Attendance Award Pencil or a picture of one. Like this one here:

ołówek

Discuss with your SS:

What happened to the girl?

How does she feel about it?

How do you feel about the situation?

 

The video of Taylor went viral. As a result she was invited to The Ellen Show:

Watch the video and answer the questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKn4naaLuqs

  • On the scale from one to ten, how mad was Taylor? Why?
  • Has Taylor ever used the eraser? Why?
  • Was this the first time Taylor got the perfect attendance pencil?
  • When did Taylor realize her pencil was missing?
  • What did Taylor get from Ellen?
  • What does Taylor want to do when she grows up? Why?
  • What does Taylor get at the end of the show?

 

Discussion: The situation rises several issues and involves lots of people. Taylor, her friend Lizzie, Taylor’s mom, teacher, school authorities.

Discuss the issues mentioned in the comments below the video:

  • To teacher: First, I want to give the teacher the biggest side-eye. Why would you bother to give a child a perfect attendance pencil if it was free for all to use? Do not give me that “sharing is caring” baloney. While I believe in teaching a child to share, boys and girls should have the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their work. Also, they should be given the opportunity to share or to refuse. Either enforce that this is Taylor’s pencil only, or just give everyone the same pencil. Rules and structures should not be malleable.

 

  • To Taylor’s mom: I know that you are raising a beautiful daughter. I love how articulate she is. It was such a joy listening to her story. It sounds like you are raising an outstanding child. Just know that I am only commenting here as you put this story out there, and it went viral. That said, I would love it if you would stand up for her in this situation. Yes, it is nice for children to learn to be the bigger person, but it is also good for them to learn to enforce proper boundaries with others. If something has gone awry, they need to be able to rely on us for support.

 

  • To school authorities: Why do you give kids rewards for attendance? It’s like giving awards for not being ill? Or for coming to school despite feeling down or being ill? It’s discrimination!!! My son skips a day at school every fortnight because of his medical condition. Guess how he’s feeling when the perfect attendance pencils are distributed?

 

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Tighter Dress Code for Teachers

Level: B1 and up (first part great for Young Learners too)

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During the Covid-19 quarantine I struggle every morning to get dressed. Why would I want to get changed? Pajamas seem absolutely fine for online classes.

Do other people, my students in particular, experience that too?

Start the class with a discussion:

Has the quarantine changed the way you dress? How?

Then let the fun begin. Imagine that the quarantine is over and you can go out tonight. Invite ss to run to their closets and get changed for:

  • Movie theater
  • Date
  • Party in a club
  • Wedding
  • Other occasion of their choice

It’s gonna work best if you get changed too. Then let everyone talk about their outfits. Clothes vocabulary and second conditional will come handy for this lesson.

Next step is a video. TYT show on Paris Monroe also known as #TeacherBae

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F291o8Wx-LE

Monroe is an American teacher who gained a lot of attention by posting classroom photos on Instagram. It was followed by lots of discussion on appropriate dress code for teachers at school.

Before watching the video present and practice vocab here:

https://quizlet.com/502633359/tighter-dress-code-flash-cards/

The hosts are Alonso Duralde, Kenny Hamilton and Grace Baldridge. What do they think about these issues?

  • (00.00-02.30) Paris Monroe’s attire is appropriate for school.
  • (02.30-03.40) Women know if their outfit attracts attention.
  • (03.40-06.25) Attractive men are treated differently than attractive women.

Obviously let the ss express their own opinions on the issues above.

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Where are these pillows from?

Level: B1 and up (you might want to use the questions even with Young Learners)

Since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic I was trying to think of a way to share how we do our online classes.

The thing is, they don’t look much different than our classroom lessons.

What you should keep in mind is that, it’s close to impossible to learn a language without another human being. You need someone to communicate with in order to learn a language.

Doing multiple-choice-gap-fill-odd-one-out-jumbled-sentence type of activities might be an easy way to run that online class. But don’t fool yourself. Nobody has ever learned a language by filling gaps.

That is why our lessons are all about communication.

This is an example of such a class.

Talk with SS about Corona Virus influence on their life.

There are some conditional clauses used in the video. Pre-teach them if needed.

The SS might also not know who OMKalen and Ellen DeGeneres are. As a pre-watch activity you might want to see their Instagram accounts or see some of their videos.

Enjoy.

24 questions Worksheetpdf icon

24 questions Answers pdf icon

 

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Totally Inappriopriate Speaking Activities

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Materiały oparte na strukturze maturalnego egzaminu ustnego z języka angielskiego. Poniżej znajdziesz link do pliku pdf. Bierz i używaj 🙂

Na ostatniej stronie znajduje się przykładowy zestaw pytań dla egzaminatora… Tylko do pierwszego arkusza. Dla mnie to nie potrzebne, ale mogę napisać takie zestawy do pozostałych arkuszy. Pod warunkiem, że znajdą się osoby chętne żeby z nich korzystać. Daj znać co sądzisz. Wszelkie info mile widziane 🙂

TISA (1)  pdf icon

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Marketing and such.

Level: B1 and up

MLM, advertising, content marketing, product placement.

There are many ways in which companies promote their products and services. Some of them are effective, some are fun and some are neither.

Vocabulary and speaking material based on two videos regarding online reality show ‘Planet of the Apps’ which according to some is the very example of how you should not do marketing.

Two rather different points of view on one show. Watch, discuss, engage in critical thinking.

Product Placement Worksheet pdf icon

Product Placement Answers pdf icon

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