Smart.fm is a very useful free site for pre-teaching or for reviewing vocabulary. Users can create lists for online flashcard-type drills, short matching quizzes, productive quizzes, and dictation. There is a wealth of material already there for students to access. Most of my students have quickly found either TOEIC and TOEFL prep or more casual and idiomatic vocabulary such as slang or song lyrics.

The system works by spaced repetition and some of the content is rich enough to maintain interest over time. There is also a social aspect that allows users to follow and encourage each other.

I recently created a list of 40 key vocabulary words from units 9-12 of Let’s Talk 1 for my Level 2 Eigo IIA class, but the system is open and anyone can use the list. Please take a look and consider giving it a try with a class if you have time in the computer room. Each target word has one or more example sentences with high quality audio for some basic, brief listening input and dictation practice.

Eigo IIA: U-80: Step 1: Units 9-12

Site navigation is in Japanese or English and login is quite simple. If students already have a Mixi, Yahoo, or Google account, they can simply login in with that username and password.

This is a commercial that I found on the net. I have used and still use it in my reading classes. I have prepared a number of comprehension questions that I give the students or ask the students to find the answers for. There are some other extension questions too.The commercial is about “Grandpa Chew”watch?v=9ll-bDmK3EAThe questions are at this link reading-comprehension-questions-for-grandpa-chew-life-insurance-commercial

This is a simple activity that needs a bit of preparation before the class, but is usually enjoyed by the students. It’s a simple game where the students have to correctly identify the object that has been taped to their foreheads by asking a series of questions.

Put the students into small groups of four or five, and place the object cards face down in front of them with the sticky tape or blue-tac already attached to the back of the cards. When you say go, the students should place the cards on their foreheads at once, and janken to decide who goes first. Each student then takes it in turn to find out what they are “advertising” by asking Yes/No questions. If the answer to the question is “Yes” they may ask another question, if it’s “No” then the turn moves to the next player. Obviously the player who guesses first is the winner, but you may want to keep the game going until everyone has discovered their product. For the faster students, have them try to guess the exact product (brand etc), for the slower ones a generic object would probably suffice as an answer.

The time-consuming bit is in the preparation – it’s best to cut up the pictures – which you can download here (cards) – and put them onto some kind of card so the students can’t see through the paper. Two sets per class should be enough

This is a sheet with Classroom English that I often use in class. Attached with this is a set of audio files that students can download and listen to if they want to practice them.
Classroom English audio files:classroom-english
Classroom English handout: Classroom English Handout

Level 2 Reading teachers are due to give a minimum of five quizzes this semester. As well as the in-house quizzes that you can use with your classes, there are also a set of publisher tests. They are a little easier than the in-house ones, as vocabulary is not recycled from previous units.
unit-quizzes-for-totally-true-3.pdf
unit-quiz-answers-for-totally-true-3.pdf

Download the complete transcript of listening tasks from Unit 10B. Transcripts can be used to create other exercises. One self-study type activity is provided.

Let’s Talk Unit 10B Transcript PDF
Let’s Talk Unit 10B Activity PDF

Download the complete transcript of listening tasks from Unit 11B. Transcripts can be used to create other exercises. One self-study type activity is provided.

Let’s Talk Unit 11B Transcript PDF
Let’s Talk Unit 11B Activity PDF

Download the complete transcript of listening tasks from Unit 13B. Transcripts can be used to create other exercises. One self-study type activity is provided.

Let’s Talk Unit 13B Transcript PDF
Let’s Talk Unit 13B Activity PDF

Download the complete transcript of listening tasks from Unit 15B. Transcripts can be used to create other exercises. One self-study type activity is provided.

Let’s Talk Unit 15B Transcript PDF
Let’s Talk Unit 15B Activity PDF

This is a tapescript cloze activity (with answer key) for Level 2, Unit 12B.

Let’s Talk 12B cloze w/key.doc

This is a communicative activity for Level 2. Let’s Talk Unit 12.

Let’s Talk 12A Comm.task.doc

This is a communicative task for Level 2, Let’s Talk Unit 9.

Let’s Talk 9A Comm.task.doc

The posted materials support Unit 15 of Let’s Talk for the Level 2 Speaking/Listening course. However, they might be useful for any class focusing on tenses. Essentially, the students have to compare their life now and their life ten years ago. Through reminiscing, there is plenty of potential to practice lots of useful grammar. The materials involve the teacher comparing their life now with that of ten years ago. Following this, the students have time to do the same. The handout contains a language box containing useful grammar forms and vocab items. Feedback welcome.

then-and-now.doc
then-and-now.pdf

The posted materials support Unit 13 of Let’s Talk for the Level 2 Speaking/Listening course. However, they might be useful for any class focusing on jobs and personal appearance. The materials are pretty self-explanatory. As in the children’s game of “Guess who?”, the students have to ask a series of yes/no questions to eliminate possible candidates from the 28 famous faces, and guess the celebrity who their partner is thinking of. A variation (see Part D) is to have the students take it in turns to ask questions and guess. The first person to guess the right famous person is the winner. Feedback welcome.

guess-who.doc
guess-who.pdf

The posted materials support Unit 10 of Let’s Talk for the Level 2 Speaking/Listening course. However, they might be useful for any class focusing on advice giving. The materials involve the students thinking of problems and giving advice. The handout has a language box, which provides suitable language for the task. When giving the task, I recommend making sure that the students have plenty of time to embellish their problems and make them as heartfelt as possible. Feedback welcome.

thats-good-advice.pdf
thats-good-advice.doc

Cat and Couple are Homeless

Ordering Activity

Here is an ordering activity using a similar Cat Adventure story to the one students will read in Chapter 13. You can choose to have the students cut the story into strips, or you can prepare it beforehand. When it is time to show the order of the story, open this file in class and page two of the document is a good size for showing on the OHP. This way you can easily highlight key words, phrases and ideas you might like to focus on.

Fashion Star

For this lesson, teachers could choose either of these ideas to prepare students for the following ‘Fashion’ topic.

One is stimulus for a conversation about Harajuku Fashion, to be taught any way you choose.

Harajuku Fashion

The next is a fun (I think so anyway) cloze exercise based on How to Dress Like a Ganguro Girl. The accompanying audio file can be found on CDs available from 2/10/2007 on the Level 2 shelf. Answers/ Transcript are at the end of the page.

How to Dress Like a Ganguro Girl

Hope these bring life to the topic for your class!

Level 2 Reading Chapter 11

This is a short warm up activity to get the students interested in the topic. There is a quick introduction of the key language and then some photos of four ads presented in unusual ways. The students have to guess what the ad is for.

All you have to do is go to this site in class and open the PDF file. The page will come up with the key language, the pictures and finally the answers.

For anyone who has been wondering, the notes for students and for instructors have been finished. There are very few changes in the curriculum from the autumn semester last year, but please make sure you take a good look at these notes before your classes begin.

Of course the big changes from the spring continues into the autumn semester: Foundation English is split into IIA (Listening and Speaking) and IIB (Reading and Writing). Also, Repeaters will be mixed into the regular classes the same as last term. Expect a few new faces to appear in some classes during the first two weeks as a result.

All of the notes are packed together in this convenient .zip archive for one-click download.

Or, you can download individual files below:
Level 1 Student Notes
Level 1 Instructor Notes
Level 2 Student Notes
Level 2 Instructor Notes
Level 3 Student Notes
Level 3 Instructor Notes

If you have any questions, please ask one of the Full-time team members listed in the notes for each level, or ask any full-time ELP staff.

Thanks!

This activity can be used to fill a whole 3 hours of a final class, or as a filler some time mid-term over a couple of weeks. It’s based on a couple of episodes of the US sitcom “Friends”, and the material can be adapted to suit both listening/speaking and reading/writing classes. You’ll need to download the Student sheets and the Teacher sheets below.

Friends teacher sheets Friends student sheets