How much truth is there in national stereotypes? - Some funny activities to overcome prejudice

Stereotypes are generalizations about groups of people, they can be positive or negative, they can be based on some truth  or completely invented. Clichés about national stereotypes can be great fun, but they mustn’t become prejudice! In this post I will try to talk about some stereotypes in a funny way. By laughing about the most common national stereotypes, you can understand the futility of some prejudices and the great...

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Poetry in EFL classes

Today I would like to talk about poetry. Could it be useful in an EFL class?  As usual, I try to imagine some activities that involve the use of different digital tools.What's poetry? At the following link you can find some great definitions (I made the above word cloud from some of these definitions using Tagul):http://poetinthecity.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/what-is-poetry-50-definitions-and-counting/Why study poetry in an ESL classroom? Poetry...

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London - let's make preparations for our journey!

Next July I am going  to London with some of my students. I would like to give them some information before leaving. Here there are some activities, videos, tips and a final webquest!Top 10 Attractions of London A brief history of London:http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/a-brief-history-of-london If you want to investigate the British history further:http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/A virtual tourNow let's take a virtual tour of London!...

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It's time to travel: let's consult some maps... or create one!

Summer is usually holiday time and some of us are planning a journey. We often consult a map to decide which places we want to visit and to define our route. Using digital maps before, during and even after our journey, can be great fun! These are some free map tools that can make our trip more enjoyable and can also be very useful as summer tasks for our students!(If we are not planning a trip, just imagining where we would like to go in the...

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Football World Cup

SOME RESOURCESFIFA official site:http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/vocabulary/football.shtmlFuleco, Brazil 2014 mascot:http://en.mascot.fifa.com/The World Cup Stadiums 2014:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10383648/World-Cup-stadiums-a-venue-guide-for-Brazil-2014.html HISTORY A brief history of the World Cup:http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1989102,00.html?xid=rss-photoessays&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+time/photoessays+TIME:+Top+PhotoessaysSOME...

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Food and recipes - some activities to improve English using digital tools

Talking about food and recipes can help ESL learners improve their: food related vocabularyoral skills (brainstorming, discussion, giving instructions)written skills (describing and giving instructions)knowledge of different cultures (learning foreign recipes, food and traditions)healthy habitsRECIPES VOCABULARY AND ACTIVITIESHere's a great site with exercises and activities about cooking and kitchens:http://www2.issbc.org/janis-esl/subtopicrecipes.htmlSome...

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