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UK vs US English Vocabulary

US vs UK English vocabulary sorting exercise
(American vs British English)

 Students find the words with similar meanings and put them in the appropriate columns.

Click here for the US vs UK English vocabulary PDF file

Other resources

5 Intercultural Body Language, Gestures and Etiquette Language Exercises

8 Business English Vocabulary Exercises

5 Cool Advertising & Branding Vocabulary & Language Exercises

5 Kinds of Collocation and Phrasal Verb Exercises

 5 Describing Graphs  Language Exercises

10 Jobs and Careers Vocabulary  and Speaking exercises

4 Money and Finance Worksheets

10 Computing and  Internet Vocabulary and Speaking Activities

Wishes speaking activity

1 Wishes sentence writing practice

This is an  exercise  for English language learners to practice writing “wish” sentences. Students  try to write a wish for each picture.

(download PDF)

2 Wishes speaking activity

This is a speaking exercise  for English language learners to discuss their wishes. Students have to check/tick their own wishes and walk around the classroom and find 5 classmates who have the same wishes. Follow the instructions on page 2 of the PDF.

(download PDF)

Comparative adjectives listening/speaking

  Adjectives Exercises Including Adjectives for People and Things 

3 Parts of Speech Exercises

Picture-Based Present Continuous Worksheets (PDF)

Preposition Exercises for Location, Time and Movement (PDF)

  Useful Passive Tense Practice worksheets

  Present Perfect Language and Speaking Worksheets

Incredibly Useful Past Tense Simple Teaching Activities (PDF)

Reported speech and indirect requests

Food Vocabulary Communicative Classroom Lesson

fast food- something you eat when you are in a hurry
tip-…………………………..
recipe-………………………
ingredients-………….
bar-………………
counter-………….
service
menu
order
dish
take-away
bill/check

2 Model the exercise

This is a really simple, effective and communicative lesson for vocabulary reinforcement. The most important thing is to choose a good or “essential ” set of words.
* First, write the list on the right on the board.
* Ask for the definitions of one of the words and write it up.
* Then throw the students into groups (I like threes) and tell them to write their own definitions. Encourage them to be as creative as they like.

3 Speaking

Now you have 6 or 7 sets of meanings for the one set of words.
This is great material for a vocabulary reinforcement exercise. One student from each group stands up with his or her groups list of definitions and walks around the other pairs seated eliciting the vocabulary by reading his/her group’s meanings. Because the definitions are different and some words are close in meaning this is not as easy as it may seem.

For example:

Student A: This is something you ask for in a restaurant.

Student B: “Service”

Student A: No.

Student C: ” A dish”

Student A: No.

Student B: “A menu!”

Student A: Correct.

Related Resources:

Food, restaurants and cooking home

10 food, eating and restaurant vocabulary and speaking exercises (PDF)

8  hotel vocabulary and speaking skills exercises (PDF)

Icebreaker in a Foreign Country

(PDF download)

For this icebreaker you need to do a little bit of research beforehand. Learn a little about your students from someone who knows, perhaps another teacher or someone working in the school or organization.

1) Ask them questions about age, nicknames, occupations and general demographic make-up of the students.

2) Also ask questions about the local foods, popular places, popular TV shows and stars, local cars and any other topic that might relate to the daily lives of your students.

Once you have this information you are armed for an engaging introduction to the class. As you go through the name list of the students you throw in Yes/No questions as you try to predict likes, dislikes and habits of your students.For example you might have a list of student names but no nicknames so you ask…..

Somchai, is your nickname “Chai”? 

then you might ask…

Do you live on Blah Blah Road? 

or

Do you go to ZZZZZZ University? 

This can get quite funny when you actually start guessing correctly. You can pretend to be some kind of fortune teller. Also, you can use previous answers to formulate new questions…

Yui, which kind of food do you like, shark fin soup or bird’s nest soup? 

Ultimately, you should have succeeded in showing the students that your are interested in them and are willing to engage with their culture. So whatever you do next should flow smoothly. A possible follow-up to this activity would be to get each student or pair of students to write their own Yes/No or multiple choice questions and ask around the class.

Other resources

Pic Tac Toe

Ghosts Game

Champagne Story

FAQ Role Play

Debate Role Play

Eternal Mingle

Personal Complaints Role Play

Consumer Complaints Role Play

9 Super Elementary Speaking Exercises

5 Elementary Create a Conversation Exercises for Speaking Classes

5 Elementary Conversational Expressions Exercises

5 First Day Activities for an ESL Class

10 Really! Elementary ESL classroom icebreakers

7 Essential Speaking Activities for ESL Classes

3 Great Icebreakers to Start a Class

8 Invitation and Request Dialogues for Everyday Scenarios

Teacher language: classroom phrasal verbs

The exercise below is for practicing and exploring phrasal verbs used for communication in the classroom. Students and even fluent second language speakers have trouble with phrasal verbs as they have different meanings in different contexts. This exercise helps familiarize the students with some frequently used phrasal verbs. I am often surprised phrasal verbs I take for granted can be so difficult for English language learners. The following worksheet is suitable for more advanced learners.

(download PDF)

INTRO 

This is a well known theatre exercise which is extremely effective for encouraging controlled but spontaneous interaction in ESL classes.

STEP 1 PRESENT 

Begin by presenting a list of debate expressions such as those listed.

STEP 2 MODEL 

Model a discussion. Choose yourself as conductor and 4 other students to be conducted. First, the conductor presents a topic. He then selects a student and an expression for the continuation of the discussion.

Conductor: Elephants shouldn’t be allowed into Bangkok. Student B “Furthermore”

Student B: Furthermore, the government should fine their owners.

Conductor: Student A “On the other hand”

Student A: On the other hand, people in Bangkok are very generous when they see elephants.

Conductor: Student C “For example”.

Student C: For example, when they see elephants they feel compassion and give them food and money.

Conductor: Student D “You may have a point”.

Student D: You may have a point. Nevertheless, the pollution and traffic are terrible for the elephants’ health.

STEP 3 WRITING 

To reinforce the use of these expressions further, follow this activity by a debate or writing exercise