Category Archives: Skills

Australian Broadcasting Corporation free podcasts

Posted on 28/12/2013 by alexcase

I’ve been recommending these Australian radio podcasts to my IELTS students for years, as many of them have problems with the Aussie accents in the listening paper. They are also worth a look for students who find BBC podcasts difficult … Continue reading →

Posted in Listening | 2 Comments

Testing and teaching detailed comprehension

Posted on 15/10/2013 by alexcase

Can’t remember how I got it into my head to write an article about such a huge and complex topic, but hopefully managed a mix of a summary of well-known but frequently ignored advice plus a few of my own less conventional ideas … Continue reading →

Posted in Listening, Reading | Comments Off on Testing and teaching detailed comprehension

Alex Case’s guide to modern online TEFL style

Posted on 22/08/2013 by alexcase

The last thing I worked on for TEFL.net/ Englishclub.com was a style guide for writers. Not all of my pet gripes made it in, and are unlikely to now I no longer edit stuff going on there, so thought I’d … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | 1 Comment

The most useless listening exercise in the whole of TEFL?

Posted on 22/07/2013 by alexcase

There’s quite a lot of competition for this prize, but the task I’m talking about is astounding not only for it being almost impossible for students to either learn language or improve their listening skills from it, but also for … Continue reading →

Posted in Listening | 3 Comments

An alternative to getting students to write second drafts

Posted on 05/07/2013 by alexcase

Although I can absolutely understand the language learning value of it and IELTS and Academic Writing students sometimes ask me if they can try again, I somehow can’t get myself to ask adult students to write second drafts. It’s probably … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | 2 Comments

New storytelling materials and ideas page

Posted on 23/04/2013 by alexcase

Actually, it’s a huge expansion of my writing stories page rather than completely new, but I doubt anyone ever ended up on the old one so it may as well be new. Now with 14 oral storytelling worksheets, flashcards and worksheets for … Continue reading →

Posted in Photocopiable worksheets, Writing | Comments Off on New storytelling materials and ideas page

Why does free con continue?

Posted on 04/04/2013 by alexcase

I’ve taught plenty of students whose progress stopped years ago but still insist on the same “method” of chatting on random topics in class, and few if any where it was the best possible way of improving their English in … Continue reading →

Posted in Speaking | 5 Comments

Discussion questions for brainstorming (or brainstorming for discussion questions)

Posted on 03/04/2013 by alexcase

Another one of those things that are so simple that it’s difficult to believe I’d never come across them or come up with them before. Simply design discussion questions to also be used after to brainstorm specific vocabulary. For example, … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion questions | Comments Off on Discussion questions for brainstorming (or brainstorming for discussion questions)

New page with my 26 articles on teaching speaking

Posted on 06/02/2013 by alexcase

My articles on teaching speaking There are also links from there to pages with my many articles on teaching functional language and oral practice for particular grammar points.

Posted in Speaking, Teaching English in Bosnia, Teaching English in Thailand | 2 Comments

Telephoning vocabulary and phrases – 29 worksheets now all together

Posted on 13/10/2012 by alexcase

37 if you include the teleconference and telephone interview ones that the page links to. It’s a bit of a bugbear of mine that books don’t spend enough time on this and emailing, so I’ve been trying to make up for it … Continue reading →

Posted in Telephoning | Comments Off on Telephoning vocabulary and phrases – 29 worksheets now all together