Tag Archives: EFL

“the Apprentice” as a business English resource

Posted on June 16, 2018 by Svetlana Urisman

On the lookout for some video material for your Business English students, but have run out of the coursebook resources? Want them to watch and discuss smth (and it better be authentic) but series or TED talks are not exactly … Continue reading →

Posted in authentic materials, Business English, ELT, lesson plans, materials writing, one-to-one, speaking, teaching higher levels, vocabulary | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Direct TV commercial to teach narrative tenses

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Svetlana Urisman

Coming back to post about a commercial (or rather, a series of commercials) that can be used as a tool to train (or refresh) narrative tenses. The good thing about this commercial is that it describs and follows a chain … Continue reading →

Posted in authentic materials, grammar, intermediate, lesson starters, teaching higher levels, useful links | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

(authentic) resources for an HR English course

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Svetlana Urisman

I’ve recently finished teaching a one-to-one HR English course (which lasted, on and off, about 18 months), and I feel it would be good to share some materials I’ve been choosing, using and sometimes creating. The situation The course started … Continue reading →

Posted in authentic materials, Business English, HR, materials writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Intermediate+ speaking and reading worksheet:How to learn a new language: 7 secrets from TED translators

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Svetlana Urisman

If you ask me, I like to reflect (and inspire my students to do the same) on learning languages and what works and what doesn’t, so I’m always happy to offer to my students such opportunities. Here is a worksheet … Continue reading →

Posted in authentic materials, lesson plans, materials writing, reading, speaking, teaching higher levels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

a more personalised approach to ING and TO

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

The gerund vs infinitive grammar has always seemed quite tricky for teaching to me: I have always felt there wasn’t enough really good materials, especially for the one-to-one situation.  Of course there are all kinds of gap-fills and contextualised gap-fills (like … Continue reading →

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the most (?) unusual place to teach English

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

Have you ever taught English (or any other language) in the middle of a field? I have – now I can put a tick in “ELT experiences list” 😉 it’s been some time before I published anything here. Well, the … Continue reading →

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how much personalisation is enough?

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

That’s the question that has been constantly nagging  me laltely. Don’t get me wrong, I am a true advocate of personalising materials for our students, basing the whole activities on their experience and expertise, and asking them for their professional … Continue reading →

Posted in Business English, lesson plans, Professional development, teaching higher levels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

getting our students to focus on success

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

next time I get a new student, I’ll add one more point to my long-established 1st class procedures. it will be the GROW model suggested in “from English teacher to learner coach”. GROW stands for: goal -the end point where … Continue reading →

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end-of-unit experiment (with a lot of information in brackets)

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

I’ve experimented with it a couple of times already, but not always has it been very successful – due to the lack of time, apparently. As this experiment is somehow in line with the ideas and attitudes proposed by “from … Continue reading →

Posted in lesson plans, materials writing, Professional development, teaching higher levels, teaching lower levels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

a perfect homework: what is it like?

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

should all our students get homework? Even the busiest (and the laziest) ones? I am sure they should. Let’s see: if a student comes to class 2 times a week and doesn’t  get (or doesn’t do) any homework, that’s all … Continue reading →

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