Category Archives: Writing

Business communication reviews (TEFLtastic Classics Part 51)

Posted on 10/01/2023 by alexcase

Often after my last TEFLtastic Classic (needs and instant personalised practice), I often start business courses with a big review of the basic language for electronic and face-to-face communication, with materials like these: First contact and further contact picking roleplays … Continue reading →

Posted in Business English and ESP, Email, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Telephoning | Leave a comment

New Teaching Emailing book out now

Posted on 19/10/2020 by alexcase

300 photocopiable pages on opening and closing every kind of email, being formal and friendly, planning and paragraphing, fixing common emailing problems, etc – all with a surprising amount of classroom communication for a book on writing: Teaching Emailing: Interactive … Continue reading →

Posted in Email, Photocopiable worksheets, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, TEFL e books | Leave a comment

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 →

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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

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 | Leave a comment

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

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 | Leave a comment

New ELT worksheets and articles October 2011

Posted on 28/10/2011 by alexcase

Articles The advantages and disadvantages of blind observations When the demands of the students and the person who is paying clash Why does my teacher make me correct my own answers? Why does my teacher stop me using my dictionary? … Continue reading →

Posted in BULATS, Determiners and articles, Email, IELTS, personality vocabulary, TEFL, Thanking | Leave a comment

Can emailing really be fun? Part Two

Posted on 26/07/2011 by alexcase

Emailing in English is a very important skill for most students, as there are many more people who read and send loads of emails in L2 than there are people who spend most of the day in English language meetings. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Email, TEFL games | Leave a comment