Author Archives: alexcase

How to remember the spelling of definitely

Posted on 30/08/2014 by alexcase

A student recently refused to believe me when I corrected his spelling of “definately” and then he had a minor breakdown when his iPhone confirmed that he’d been spelling it wrongly for the last five years or so. He didn’t seem … Continue reading →

Posted in Typical spelling mistakes | 5 Comments

TEFL in the news August 2014

Posted on 23/08/2014 by alexcase

Most recent stories top: Dope smoking TEFLers arrested in Korea (Korea Times) 17 years TEFLing in Taiwan – what the hell do I do now? (Guardian) Malawi adopts English medium schooling (Al Jazeera) VSO/ British Council to send first foreign teacher … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English as a Foreign Language | Tagged | Leave a comment

Getting students to use more complex functional language

Posted on 20/08/2014 by alexcase

An expanded version of an article of mine just published in English Teaching Professional magazine as Keep Moving On Part One – available here on TEFLtastic for free! One of the best language learning tips that I have used and passed … Continue reading →

Posted in Apologies, English Teaching Professional, Functional language, interrupting, Requests, TEFL games | Leave a comment

How to really teach imperatives

Posted on 16/08/2014 by alexcase

Updated 29 October 2018 Back in the bad old days of New Cambridge English Course and its like, most courses had a completely pointless unit teaching students to say “Turn off the lights” and “Don’t touch the paint”. That is … Continue reading →

Posted in Requests | Leave a comment

40 EFL presentation skills classroom activities now easier to find

Posted on 15/08/2014 by alexcase

Many moons ago when I started this blog presentations was just an afterthought for me when teaching the language of meetings, so this page has been hiding in an obscure part of that section for the last seven years or … Continue reading →

Posted in Speaking | Leave a comment

79 board games for learning English (TEFLtastic classics part 23)

Posted on 11/08/2014 by alexcase

Board games PDFs and teaching ideas for EFL classes, part of the TEFLtastic Classics series of the most adaptable activities in TEFL. If you like anything here and want more, please support TEFLtastic. Using board games articles and blog posts … Continue reading →

Posted in board games, TEFL games | Tagged | 1 Comment

ISIS Schools – is the name just a coincidence?

Posted on 07/08/2014 by alexcase

I’ll admit that it’s unlikely that ISIS Schools have a connection to the more recently newsworthy ISIS, but apparently the whole Birmingham Islamic Trojan horse thing was true despite the letter that started the row being a fake, so maybe … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English as a Foreign Language | Tagged | 1 Comment

The simple but effective marking scheme I use in all young learner classes

Posted on 06/08/2014 by alexcase

It might well be a sign that I’m “doing a Tony Benn” (= actually becoming more left wing as I get older), but I increasingly avoid the competitive giving of points in YL classes, and absolutely refuse to get dragged … Continue reading →

Posted in HLT magazine, Teaching young learners | Leave a comment

New EFL games/ worksheets July 2014

Posted on 31/07/2014 by alexcase

Latest top: Use the storytelling phrases Storytelling phrases The same or different Present Perfect Practice Game- Progress Check Meetings (with contrast to Simple Past) Present Progressive Clothes Drawing Game Legal English Numbers Trivia Pairwork Brainstorm useful language to describe places … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English as a Foreign Language | Leave a comment

New English for lawyers games/ worksheets page

Posted on 31/07/2014 by alexcase

Have combined four specific new worksheets on the topic with some of my old crime and punishment classics to make a new legal English page: Legal English games/ worksheets

Posted in Business English and ESP | Leave a comment