Category Archives: Fab ideas

The Student whisperer

Posted on 11/01/2015 by fabenglishteacher

The other day I wrote about the power of the bell that I use in class to get quiet and students’ attention. Today however I’d like to draw your attention to the other end of the spectrum – silence and near silence. … Continue reading →

Posted in classroom management tips, Fab ideas | Leave a comment

The Power of the Bell

Posted on 08/01/2015 by fabenglishteacher

Meet one of the most powerful classroom management tools I possess: The Bell has many talents; the first and most obvious is to get the students’ attention, usually when I want to bring a pair or group oral activity to … Continue reading →

Posted in Fab ideas | 1 Comment

Quick questionnaire

Posted on 06/01/2015 by fabenglishteacher

This idea is quick and simple and easy to adapt to just about any tense. After discovering the tense and form, The students copy and add questions to the following grid: Here we are practising “ago”, but you can use … Continue reading →

Posted in Fab ideas | Tagged | Leave a comment

Quick and easy back to school activity

Posted on 04/01/2015 by fabenglishteacher

I bet that, like me, you’ve taken plenty of photos over the last couple of weeks. It’s nice to be able to illustrate your chats about the holidays by showing your friends just how much your niece has grown, our … Continue reading →

Posted in Fab ideas | Leave a comment

Create a class memory jar

Posted on 30/12/2014 by fabenglishteacher

For the last couple of years our family has kept a memory jar. All year we fill it with train tickets, post-its, photos, special stones, etc. On New Year’s eve we open it together and remember all our adventures and … Continue reading →

Posted in classroom management tips, Fab ideas, teaching journal | Tagged | Leave a comment

What a classy cocktail party! -Teaching exclamations

Posted on 30/11/2014 by fabenglishteacher

This week my class had been studying exclamations. I always find it a little artificial to teach phrases such as: “How beautiful she is!” “What on earth is that?” when I haven’t met anyone who speaks like that in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Fab ideas | 1 Comment

Some ideas on how to effectively use L1 in the EFL classroom

Posted on 26/10/2014 by fabenglishteacher

Used well, your students first language has a valid place in your EFL classroom. Here are some ideas of activities to incorporate L1 into your lessons: 1) Translation Consequences Take a piece of paper for each student and give them … Continue reading →

Posted in Fab ideas | Leave a comment

Ways of encouraging Students to communicate in English in the EFL classroom

Posted on 26/10/2014 by fabenglishteacher

While L1 is becoming more accepted in the EFL classroom we still hope our students are communicating as much as possible in English. Here are some of the methods I use to ensure they speak English as much as possible: … Continue reading →

Posted in Fab ideas, Friday classes | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A new take on picture dictation

Posted on 13/10/2014 by fabenglishteacher

Revising the present continuous today we did a picture dictation with a difference. Half the class described a picture to their partners: Then the listeners went and drew the picture on the board: This activity was great fun, and a … Continue reading →

Posted in Fab ideas | Leave a comment

Using video in the classroom – webinar by Stephanie Dimond-Bayir

Posted on 09/10/2014 by fabenglishteacher

Yesterday I joined a great webinar on using video in class. I love webinars, it’s so handy to get a dose of CPD and motivation while curled up on the sofa, not to mention the handy ideas to use  in … Continue reading →

Posted in Fab ideas | Tagged | Leave a comment