Sure to get even the most introverted students talking!
This activity is something you should only use if you already know your class quite well and have been teaching them for at least a few months. The debate works best if you have an idea of what specific kinds of pop culture your students are in to (e.g. specific TV shows, songs, & singing groups).
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In this activity students will listen to a number of common answering machine messages and answer questions based on those messages.
Before class you will need to prepare about 10 recorded voice messages. You can do this digitally on your computer if you have speakers to hook up to them, or with a radio and tape deck. Leave 10 messages that all have the same general structure but differ in the content.
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The basic idea o this activity is to give a number of interesting problems or dilemmas to the students and have them come up with creative solutions. This activity is for an advanced class where students feel relatively comfortable speaking out.
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Whether you took a job teaching TOEFL to a class of students or one of your students approached you about getting help preparing to take the TOEFL below is some advice for teachers who are new to the game.
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In a recent Education Counsel meeting of Beijing schools the Chinese Government asked schools to stay away from Christmas celebrations. Previously, anything western seemed to be a novelty to Chinese schools and they couldn’t get enough of it. However, it seems now that Chinese public schools will be operating their Christmas holiday in the same way as many American public schools. Instead of hearing teachers in American schools say, “Merry Christmas” you will hear them say, “Happy Holidays.” Chinese public schools are now insisting that teachers do not use the term, “Sheng Dan Kuai Le.”
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After a few years teaching English in China I, like many others, felt like I could offer so much to my students. They were eager to learn and had a thirst for experiencing western culture. Many of my students dream of studying abroad and look to me for help in realizing this dream.
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I came to Jiang Xi a few weeks ago to help a school down here start a new SAT and TOEFL training program for a small class of students. The school contacted us very suddenly with an immediate need for teachers. My first impression was one of excitement and enthusiasm. The school was one of the best in Jiang Xi and the students numbered over ten thousand. “This school might actually be somewhat organized” I thought, “This will be a great chance to reach out to students who have no exposure to anything outside China.”
This activity fits well into any unit involving giving directions, transportation and/or city places.
You will need pictures of common things found in a city (e.g. post office, bank, library, apartments, super market, central park, etc.). At the beginning of class hold up the pictures and make sure everyone knows what the places are.
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This activity can be inserted into any shopping unit.
You will need to prepare lots of props for this activity. The props should come from things you, as well as the students bring into class. I’ve found that it works best if you surround the shopping activity around clothing items. There is a lot of versatility and choices that way.
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These words make all the difference because they are supposed to contain the twenty most useful prefixes, the fourteen most important roots, and are to be found in an estimated 100,000 words of an unabridged dictionary.
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