Tag Archives: ELT

preparing for a grammar lesson (refreshing passive voice in an applicable way)

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

Last time I checked, there were not too many materials for teaching Passive. I mean, for teaching Passive adequately, and in a practical and possible-to-take-out-of-the-class manner. Somehow, speaking about animals, doing a geography quiz or discussing a process of coins … Continue reading →

Posted in Business English, grammar, intermediate, lesson plans, teaching higher levels, useful links | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

using Realtimeboard for teaching English online

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

I want to share an absolutely fantastic tool for online use: Realtimeboard.com As I already told, now I teach online, using Skype. When I was preparing for my first online lesson, I was feeling very uneasy – first of all, … Continue reading →

Posted in authentic materials, Business English, materials writing, useful links, vocabulary | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

my favourite ways of revisiting vocabulary

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

I’ve recently come back to work! yes, for 9 month I was off work – at least I wasn’t teaching English to real people, that is. I was a blogger and materials writer. But now 2 times a week I … Continue reading →

Posted in Business English, grammar, intermediate, lesson plans, lesson starters, lists, materials writing, Professional development, teaching higher levels, teaching lower levels, vocabulary | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

“lost interview”: a recreative activity to practise asking closed questions

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

here is a short but effective activity to train asking closed questions like are you…/ have you…/ did you…/ do you…?.- the ones that cause a lot of difficulties with some of our students… in this activity students are only … Continue reading →

Posted in grammar games, intermediate, lesson plans, lesson starters, materials writing, teaching lower levels | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

the Impossible Objects – and English?

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Svetlana Urisman

I was going through my old materials&worksheets and came across an immense sourse of inspiration – or at least, of speaking. What i am talking about is a number of illustrations of Jacque Carelman’s Impossible Objects. My first encounter with … Continue reading →

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2 talks from BESIG Prague

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Svetlana Urisman

I’ve had a great chance to “attend” (even if only online) 2 great talks from BESIG in Prague! One was by Christina Rebuffet-Broadus, called “Yes, and..”, and the second was from Marjorie Rosenberg, on learning styles. Both talks were amazing, … Continue reading →

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should we talk about how we learn?

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Svetlana Urisman

Well, I think we should. Because I’ve seen many times that it does make a difference – when you share the responsiblity of learning and studying with your students. When you are not the only person who constantly tries to … Continue reading →

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ways to finish a lesson – so that the students take something away with them

Posted on October 19, 2013 by Svetlana Urisman

There are lots of ways to start off a lesson beautifully, maningfully, logically, etc. For example, to talk about how your students spent their week (here are 2  worksheets to help), or to ask about their plans, or to discuss … Continue reading →

Posted in intermediate, lesson plans, lesson starters, materials writing, teaching higher levels, teaching lower levels, useful links | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

an activity on happy/ unhappy metaphors

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Svetlana Urisman

here is a short pre-int activity on happy/ unhappy metaphors I wrote to accompany a unit (unit 6, part 1, to be precise) from Global pre-int. I used it to make my student recall all the metaphors from our previous … Continue reading →

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superlatives for elementary

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Svetlana Urisman

A nice short speaking activity on superlatives! To practice phrases like “the best book/ the most interesting film/ the most difficult in a conversational manner, at an elementary level. for me and my group it work as a good finalising … Continue reading →

Posted in grammar, grammar games, lesson plans, lesson starters, materials writing, teaching lower levels | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment