Category Archives: Skills

The (mildly) autistic TEFL teacher

Posted on 29/10/2019 by alexcase

While adding two new articles and a list of useful phrases to my rapidly expanding small talk for EFL learners page, it suddenly struck me how ironic people who know me would find it that I’m teaching small talk, let … Continue reading →

Posted in Social English, Speaking, Teaching English as a Foreign Language | 1 Comment

New Xmas worksheets

Posted on 08/12/2016 by alexcase

Updated 12 January 2017 More seasonal cheer for specific language points: Xmas and New Year negotiations – NEW Describing Japanese and British Xmas and New Year – NEW Seasonal trends meetings practice (language of trends tied in with festivals and … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural differences/ cultural training, Modals, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Telephoning | 1 Comment

Complete guide to telephoning in different cultures

Posted on 15/11/2016 by alexcase

Three new articles on the topic published this month: British and American phone calls – NEW 50 ways to answer the phone (in English and other languages) – NEW Cultural differences in telephoning – NEW These links and many more … Continue reading →

Posted in Telephoning | 1 Comment

New telephoning in English resources for students

Posted on 16/05/2016 by alexcase

On top of my new book on English phone calls (Really Learn the Most Useful Emailing Phrases ), have put up a list of the most important language and articles on how to make calls: The 100 most useful telephoning phrases … Continue reading →

Posted in Telephoning | 3 Comments

TEFLtastic e-book – Really Learn the Most Useful Telephone Phrases

Posted on 09/05/2016 by alexcase

After 20 years in TEFL and more than ten publishing my ideas and worksheets, I’ve finally put together a whole book of materials – and one that goes against almost everything I’ve done so far. First of all, it’s a … Continue reading →

Posted in Self-study materials, Telephoning | 4 Comments

10 beginning and ending emails classroom photocopiables

Posted on 22/09/2014 by alexcase

New page on the most important part of emailing in English, and the point I probably spend most classroom time on, now I’ve realised how pointless (if fun) it is to spend much class time on First Conditional and Past Continuous … Continue reading →

Posted in Email | Comments Off on 10 beginning and ending emails classroom photocopiables

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

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 | Comments Off on 40 EFL presentation skills classroom activities now easier to find

How students can improve their fluency

Posted on 14/06/2014 by alexcase

… including things that they can do while and just before speaking, things that they can do while studying on their own, and things they can do with a teacher or conversation partner: 57 ways to improve spoken fluency I’d imagine … Continue reading →

Posted in Speaking | 1 Comment

The most important and neglected kind of academic writing?

Posted on 27/02/2014 by alexcase

To my pleasant surprise, about 80% of my academic writing students last term chose “emailing to academic staff” as the most useful thing we covered in that course. The surprise comes from the fact that I’ve never seen it in … Continue reading →

Posted in Email, English for Academic Purposes | Comments Off on The most important and neglected kind of academic writing?