In this post we have searched for interesting, funny, inspiring and poignant articles from around the internet, which should stand the test of time and provoke an interesting conversation.

As always, we would like to thank the contributors to #sharingmaterials on Slack for their additions to this post.

Adventure

National Geographic: How Alex Honnold made the ‘ultimate climb’ – without a rope

Link: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2019/02/alex-honnold-made-ultimate-climb-el-capitan-without-rope/#preparingEmail

On a November morning in 2016 climber Alex Honnold climbed the 2,307-metre granite face in Yosemite Valley known as El Capitan – without a rope. This is his story.

Outside Online: My Drowning (and other inconveniences)

Link: https://www.outsideonline.com/2237326/my-drowning-and-other-inconveniences

An adventure writer’s story of almost dying after being thrown from a raft in Grand Canyon’s Lava falls.

Technology and science

Wired: ‘I Forgot My PIN’: An Epic Tale of Losing $30,000 in Bitcoin

Link: https://www.wired.com/story/i-forgot-my-pin-an-epic-tale-of-losing-dollar30000-in-bitcoin/

How a tech journalist tries everything to recover a small fortune in Bitcoin.

Vox: Why I gave my kidney to a stranger — and why you should consider doing it too

Link: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/4/11/12716978/kidney-donation-dylan-matthews

Would you give an organ to a stranger? Dylan Matthews explains his reasons why.

BLDGBlog: The Coming Amnesia

Link: http://www.bldgblog.com/2017/02/the-coming-amnesia/

A mind-blowing article about a point, in the very far future, at which all galaxies will be so far apart that they will no longer be visible from one another.

Business and work

Inc: Richard Branson to Young Entrepreneurs: ‘Just Do It’

Link: https://www.inc.com/oscar-raymundo/richard-branson-young-entrepeneurs.html

Advice from one veteran entrepreneur to the next generation.

Forbes: Mentally Strong People: The 13 Things They Avoid

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2013/11/18/mentally-strong-people-the-13-things-they-avoid/#5a7df8e13934

There is plenty of advice out there for what you should do to be successful, but how about exploring what you shouldn’t do?

Inc: 25 Tips for Perfecting Your E-mail Etiquette

Link: https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/email-etiquette.html

The things that no one tells you about writing work emails, that you really need to know.  

Forbes: Here’s why business leaders don’t want to support remote working

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminlaker/2020/06/24/heres-why-leaders-dont-want-to-support-remote-working/#158f77eb1bbd

The argument for and against remote working in clear points.

3 Harvard Business Review Articles

Work advice and insights from the best thinkers and researchers in the field.

How to Disagree with Someone More Powerful than You

Link: https://hbr.org/2016/03/how-to-disagree-with-someone-more-powerful-than-you

How to nail a job interview remotely

Link: https://hbr.org/2020/06/how-to-nail-a-job-interview-remotely

Will the Pandemic Reshape Notions of Female Leadership?

Link: https://hbr.org/2020/06/will-the-pandemic-reshape-notions-of-female-leadership

History

Atlas Obscura: In 14^th Century Florence, some residents socially distanced while others hit the bars

Link: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/did-people-social-distancing-during-bubonic-plague

So, what would you do when faced with a deadly plague? For some the answer was to spend time with their friends in the pub.

History Today: K Syndrome, the Disease that Saved

Link: https://www.historytoday.com/history-matters/k-syndrome-disease-saved

How an Italian hospital invented a disease to stop the occupying Nazis searching the wards for Jews, anti-fascists and partisans.

Language and Culture

GP Magazine: Why Netflix is the death of cinema – and the saviour of film

Link: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/netflix-death-of-cinemas

How the streaming giant has changed the cinema industry for the worse and why films made for the small-screen are now better than the big-screen.

Behemoth, bully, thief: how the English language is taking over the planet

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jul/27/english-language-global-dominance

An article charting the rise of English as the global language and what we can expect in the future.

World

Atlas Obscura: The strange saga of Kowloon Walled City

Link: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/kowloon-walled-city

Inside of Hong Kong there is a 1-mile square city which has become one of the most densely populated places on earth as it exists independently of Hong Kong and China.

Funny

The Guardian: Loo with a view: transparent public toilets installed in Tokyo parks

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/18/loo-with-a-view-transparent-public-toilets-installed-in-tokyo-parks

Worried about the cleanliness and safety of public toilets? No problem, Tokyo has solved that problem by making the cubicles transparent.

What is the difference between the PLACEMENT test and ASSESSMENT test?

Students take the placement test when they first arrive on the platform to assign them a level. Students take the assessment test in order to progress onto the next FL level.

Placement tests

How do the PLACEMENT and ASSESSMENT tests work?

The written part of the placement and assessment tests has 4 elements: Grammar, Business Vocabulary, Listening and Reading.

Students take the written test first. After that they take their speaking test with you, the tutor. It’s the speaking test that determines their final level.

Do students have to take a PLACEMENT test?

All students must be assigned a level. However, not all students take the written part of the placement test.

• English Score students do not take the written test. They are assigned a level based on the speaking assessment only.
• Some B2B students use a blended model (a mix of a self-study course called Fluentify Academy and lessons with a tutor). These students sometimes don’t take the written test and so must be assigned their level using the speaking test only.  

What happens if my student didn’t show up to their PLACEMENT test or we were unable to do the placement test due to technical difficulties?

Mark the student as absent in the feedback form. The student will have to use a new token for another test session. If they are a B2C student, they will have to buy a session pack to be able to book their next session.

How do I assess my student’s speaking level?

The following videos are designed to give you a reference for your PLACEMENT tests. In this case, the students haven’t completed a written test and so their levels are defined by the speaking test only.

Placement test with Jacopo

Placement test with Marco

Steps to defining a student’s level

1.Student introduction (2- 4 mins)

Listen carefully to the student’s speech to determine their ROUGH level in the FL scale. 

Questions below will suit a majority of adult learners but tutors can be flexible and modify them.

Questions

1. First of all, can you tell me something about yourself?
2. Where were you born and where do you live now?  
3. Can you describe your hometown or family?  
4. What do you like to do in your free time?
5. Where do you work? What does your company do?  
6. What do you like about your job? / What is your favourite thing about your job?  

In our example, the tutor started with a general question about free time. From there the tutor understood the rough level of around B1 (between FL4-FL7).

2. Determining a student’s exact level (10-15 minutes)

Once you have a general idea of your student’s level, move on to ask level specific questions. 

For example, if you think your student is a confident B1, start off with FL6 questions. If your student is doing very well, move on to FL7. If they are struggling with FL6 questions, go down to FL5.

In our example, the tutor went deeper into the student’s grammar knowledge by asking a FL6 question with ‘used to’.

The student failed to use this language point and so the tutor tested them with another FL6 question using ‘already’ and ‘yet.’

When the student got this question wrong (and also failed to use the present perfect) the tutor knew that he had to be a much lower level and so tested him with a modal verb question from FL4.  

From the student’s grammar ability, fluency, comprehension and pronunciation, she determined that his level was an FL4.

3. Goals analysis (5 minutes)

Next you should spend 5 minutes filling in the goals analysis function with the student to determine their goals. 

Questions

• What are your English goals/ What do you want to focus on? 
• How do you use English at work? How often?   
• What are your biggest difficulties with English?  
• What do you hope to do on Fluentify?

4. Conclusion (5-10 minutes)

Finally speak about how YOU, the tutor can help your student achieve their goals. Tell them about your teaching style and how your student can benefit from booking more sessions with you. You can tell them more about Fluentify (or English Score), and suggest “following you” by clicking on a red heart on your profile so that they can easily find you when they browse through the tutor page.

Things to remember

Lower levels: FL2-FL7

Your student could be a lower level than they first appear if they: 

1. Stick to just simple past, rather than using a range of past tenses.
2. Use the present simple when they should use simple past or a future tense.
3. Use a limited range of irregular verbs in past (most commonly just ‘went’ and ‘saw.’)
4. Have problems comprehending your questions. 
5. Keep their answers short (indicating that they lack the ability to express themselves fully) rather than expanding on the topic.
6. Express awkward body language such as looking down or to the side while they speak (indicating that they struggle with the language).

Higher levels: FL8-FL12

Your student could be a lower level than they first appear if they: 

1. Are very fluent when speaking about work but struggle to find the right words when speaking about another topic.
2. Use only ‘text-book’ English without phrasal verbs or expressions (indicating that they haven’t had the enough exposure to the language to speak naturally yet). 
3. Fail to use the conditional form when answering conditional questions.

Assessment tests

How many hours does a student need to do before unlocking the next ASSESSMENT test?

For B2C students, the number of hours varies depending on your student’s level. It ranges from between 10 hours for lower levels to 25 hours for advanced levels. Here they are:

FL0 10 hours
FL1 10 hours
FL2 10 hours
FL3 15 hours
FL4 15 hours
FL5 15 hours
FL6 15 hours
FL7 20 hours
FL8 20 hours 
FL9 20 hours
FL10 25 hours
FL11 25 hours
FL12 25 hours
FL13 – no test

Once your student has completed the required hours for their level, they will see an invitation to take the written test on their STUDENT DASHBOARD.

This system doesn’t apply to B2B students as they usually take the assessment test at the end of the contract (see below).

Does a student always have to take an ASSESSMENT test?

Once a student has completed the required number of hours a green button will appear on the top right of their Fluentify dashboard saying TAKE TEST. Here are some important points to remember.

• B2C students can choose to postpone or forego the test if they wish, however, it will mean that their level on the system will be inaccurate.
• B2B clients usually take the assessment test at the end of the contract so the number of hours spent on the platform may differ.
• Some B2B clients will not take the assessment test if it wasn’t included in the contract.

What happens if my student has a much higher level than their written ASSESSMENT test score?

The written assessment test can only move a student up one level – even if they aced the exam. This is one of the reasons why the speaking test overrides the written test.  Some B2C students ignore the invitation to take the test for months (and sometimes years), meaning that when they finally take the assessment, they have gone up two or sometimes three levels. Please bear this in mind when assessing students – the written test is not always an accurate reflexion of a student’s true ability.

The sites have been compiled from tutor recommendations on the Slack group #sharingmaterials. We thank everyone who contributes to the group.

What is IELTS?

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) assesses a person’s English fluency. Unlike other English exams there is no pass or fail. Instead students are given a score from 0-9. To give you an idea of the scores, 4.5 would be considered a regular intermediate, 6 a regular upper intermediate and 8.5 an advanced student. Universities in the US and UK usually require a minimum score of 6.5.

What IELTS exams are there?

There are two IELTS exams: General IELTS and Academic IELTS. The Academic exam is designed for participants who wish to study in an English-speaking country.

How long does an IELTS qualification last?

Two years. As IELTS is designed to test a student’s ability to enter a country for work or academic purposes, the qualification expires after a couple of years. After that a person must take another exam to demonstrate their new English level. This makes IELTS different from other Cambridge exams which have no expiry date.

Does IELTS use British or American English?

Neither (and both). It is an international exam, therefore both language systems are accepted. The important thing is that the student doesn’t mix British and American English. For example, if they choose to write with American spelling, any words spelt the British way would be considered an error.

How does IELTS work?

Like other Cambridge exams, students are assessed on four disciplines: Speaking, listening, writing and reading. Students will take the first three parts: Listening, reading and writing, on the same day and the speaking test either later that day or a few days after.

Listening – 30 minutes of audio with 40 questions (all IELTS students take the same test)

Reading – one-hour paper. Three passages with 40 questions. (General and Academic IELTS students will take different papers.)

Writing – one-hour paper. Two tasks. General IELTS must write a letter and an essay. Academic IELTS must write a report based from a chart or map and an essay.

Speaking – 11-14 minutes. A face-to-face interview with an examiner. All IELTS students take the same test.   

For more on the exam format, go to this British Council post here.

Tell me more about the speaking exam

The speaking exam will be the part that students will be most keen to practice with their tutor.

It consists of three parts.

Part 1: The examiner introduces themselves and asks the student general questions on familiar topics such as home, family, work, studies and interests. This section warms the student up in preparation for more complicated tasks ahead.

Part 2: The examiner gives the student a task card which asks them to talk about a particular topic, along with points to include in the talk. The student is then given one minute to prepare and make notes. They must then talk for 1-2 minutes on the topic without interruption. The examiner will then ask one or two questions on the same topic.

Part 3: The examiner then asks further questions which are connected to the topic of Part 2. These questions are designed to give the student an opportunity to discuss more abstract issues and ideas.

How can I help my student understand more about how the exam works?

There is a free British Council course to explain the exam in more depth.  https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/ielts/free-online-courses-understanding-ielts

How do I help my student prepare for IELTS?

IELTS Liz has loads of free listenings, readings and speaking and writing questions to help your students prepare.

Listening practice: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-listening/

Reading practice: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-reading-lessons-information-and-tips/

Writing practice: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-letter-writing-essential-tips/ and https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Speaking questions: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-speaking-free-lessons-essential-tips/

What vocabulary topics should I cover with my student?

To prepare your student for the speaking exam, you should go through the common topics discussed in the speaking part and expand your student’s vocabulary on each one.

According to IELTS Liz, the common topics are

• Work
• Study
• Hometown
• Home
• Art
• Birthdays
• Childhood
• Clothes
• Computers
• Daily routine
• Dictionaries
• Family and friends
• Food
• Going out
• Happiness
• Hobbies
• Internet
• Leisure time
• Music
• Neighbours and neighbourhood
• Newspapers, books and reading
• Pets
• Shopping
• Sport
• TV
• Transport
• Weather

You can find lexical sets for most of these topics right here on the Materials Hub. IELTS Up also offers vocabulary for many topics taken from exam answers and so students can see the phrase in context.

Link: https://ielts-up.com/speaking/ielts-speaking-practice.html

How else can my student prepare for the speaking exam?

Videos

Your student would benefit from watching videos of others taking the test. Test videos gives students a good idea of how they should approach questions and what their general level is.

Check out these test videos here.

Podcast

Students can also stay up-to-date with the latest questions asked on the exam with this short podcast produced by All Ears English.

Link: https://www.allearsenglish.com/episodes/ielts/

Mobile app

Finally British Council have produced an app which allows students free tests, grammar tips, exercises and quizzes.  

Link: https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/take-ielts/prepare/free-apps

Education

If your student is taking classes to enrol in an English-speaking school then it is prudent to focus on the education vocabulary for their new academic environment.

This section is divided by school subject with picture worksheets along the way to help your student learn the vocabulary.

For general education vocabulary, take a look at our Ability and Education post.

Maths/ Math

Maths (in the UK) and math (in the US) has a lot of vocabulary. Your student will likely recognise formal maths vocabulary such as, ‘subtraction‘, ‘addition‘ and ‘multiplication‘, as they are based on Latin words. However, maths has also lots of other vocabulary, such as ‘to add up’, ‘to take away’ and ‘to times’, that your student won’t have seen before and so should be taught.

Vocabulary

Addition: To add up, to add

Subtraction: To subtract, to take away

Multiplication: To times, to multiply by

Division: To divide by

Sums – general word for calculations (not ‘operations’).

To work out a sum – to calculate

Figures – another word for numbers commonly used for economics

A whole number – a number that is not a fraction (e.g. 2)

A fraction – a number that is not a whole number (e.g. 2.2)

To round up – 8.8 to 9.

To round down – 8.3 to 8.

Activity: Write some simple sums

Write some sums in the chat. Ask your student to tell you the sum and then complete it.

For example

Tutor (writing): 3 x 3 =

Student: ‘Three times three equals nine’ or ‘three multiplied by three equals nine.’

Numbers

Even numbers – e.g. 2,4,6,8

Odd numbers – e.g. 1,3,5,7,9

Big numbers

One thousand – 1,000

One hundred thousand – 100, 000

One million – 1,000,000

One billion – 1,000,000,000

One trillion – 1,000,000,000,000

Big numbers activity

Write some numbers in the chat and ask your student to tell you what they are. Start small and then get progressively bigger.

For example:

Tutor (writing): 1,245

Student: One thousand two hundred AND forty-five.

Tutor: 214,567

Student: Two hundred AND fourteen thousand, five hundred AND sixty-seven.

English literature

• Prologue
• Epilogue
• Scenes in a play
• To play a role
• Main character

Activity: Invent a story

Young minds are often very creative and can invent some highly imaginative and entertaining stories. Use these story prompts images to help your student invent a story using some vocabulary they’ve learned, plus the simple past.

Download story prompts teens

Writing

To paraphrase – to put what someone said into your own words.

To spell/ spelling – to write a word with the correct lettering

To quote/ a quote – repeat or write words spoken by another person.

To underline/ to highlight – to draw under a word or phrase to give emphasis.

Titles and headings

Capital letter (ABC), lower-case letter (abc)

Paragraph

Title / subtitle – used in essays/books

The headline – used in newspapers

Sub-headline – used in newspapers

Punctuation

Speech marks/ quotation marks – “”

Brackets – ()

Full stop – .

Comma – ,

Colon – :

Semi-colon – ;

Types of writing

An article – in newspapers and magazines.

An essay – a written argument.

A first draft – first, rough copy

‘I like to write a first draft.’

A review – an opinion piece on a product or piece of entertainment.

A report – an informational piece of writing,

Word activity: Plurals

The tutor says a noun in singular form and the student has to write the correct spelling of the plural form in the chat.

For example:

Tutor: Foot

Student: Feet

Irregular plurals

• Child – children
• Fish – fish/ fishes
• Foot – feet
• Deer – deer
• Goose – geese
• Man – men
• Mouse – mice
• Person – people
• Tooth – teeth
• Sheep – sheep
• Woman – women

Other plurals with spellings depending on the final letter

• Baby, lady – babies, ladies
• Leaf, shelf – leaves, shelves
• Potato, tomato – potatoes, tomatoes
• Witch, wish – witches, wishes
• Cactus, octopus – cacti, octopi

Science

For more science vocabulary, check out our Science and Environment post

Activity: Chemistry equipment

See how much of this chemistry equipment your student can name.

Vocabulary:

• Bunsen burner
• Test tube
• Beaker
• Scales
• Pipette
• Flame

Download chemistry equipment

Metals

Iron, steel, gold, silver, aluminium, bronze, copper

Water

• To boil
• To freeze
• To turn into steam
• To turn into ice
• To melt
• To spill water accidentally

Activity: Body vocab

See how many of these organs and body parts your student can name.

Vocabulary

• Heart
• Lungs
• Intestines
• Liver
• Kidneys
• Stomach
• Bladder,
• Veins
• Bones
• Muscles

Download organs worksheet

Animals

Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects

Vertebrate and invertebrate

Scales, feathers, fur, skin, wings, fins, beak, claw, to lay an egg, wildlife.

Planets

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto (which is now a dwarf planet)

Geography

Activity

See how much of this field trip equipment your student can name

Download field trip equipment worksheet

Sectors

Primary: Agriculture, fishing, mining, forestry

Secondary: Manufacturing, to manufacture

Tertiary: Tourism, retail, transport, logistics, the service sector

Natural and urban landscapes

Activity: Describing landscapes

Ask your student to describe to you these different scenes. Here is some vocabulary to help them.

Download landscapes worksheets

City: Harbour, bridge, skyscraper, streetlight, street light, roof top, stories of a building, floors in a building, sunset.

Country: Valley, meadow, mountain, hills, windy road, forest, clouds, farm house, picturesque.

Town: School, football pitch, running track, cross roads, zebra crossings, lake, fence, factory, chimney, harbour, church, fountain, field.

Street: Pavement, sidewalk, store, cyclist, market traders, to trade, food stall, spices, rugs, skyscrapers, walking stick, handbag, exhaust fumes.

Environmental problems and solutions

For more vocabulary, see our Science and Environment post.

Greenhouse effect

Global warming

Sea levels rising

To burn fossil fuels

Polar ice caps melting

To ban – to prohibit

To recycle, recycling

Solar energy

Wind power

History

General history

B.C.E – Before Common Era (before Christ)

C.E – Common Era (post Christ)

Centuries

Sources – evidence for historical theories.

‘What sources prove that this happened?’

Battles

Allies –countries who work together in a war.

To battle, a battle

To bomb, bombs – to drop an explosive

To conquer, a conquest

To defeat, a defeat

To invade, invasion

To surrender

Battle equipment

• Armour
• Shield
• Sword
• Soldiers
• Tanks
• Weapons

Kings and Queens

• Monarchs
• Monarchy
• To reign

Periods

Classical period

Medieval period (also known as The Middle Ages)

• Feudalism
• Nobles and peasants

Industrial Revolution (modern period)

• Factories
• To manufacture
• To trade
• To colonise, colonialism

Questions

• Tell me about a period of history that you are studying at the moment.
• Tell me about a historical figure who had a big influence in your country and why.
• Tell me about a famous battle in your country.

Physical education

For more sport vocabulary, see our Sports and Physical Activity post.

General vocabulary

• To cool down
• Locker
• Gym
• Gym kit
• To whistle, whistle
• To warm up
• To stretch

Football/ soccer

Injuries

To hurt yourself

‘I have hurt my arm,’ or, ‘my arm hurts’.

To injure yourself / to have an injury

‘I have injured my leg’.

Locations

Tennis and basketball court

Football and baseball pitch

Running track

Lanes – for a swimming pool or running track.

Questions

• Tell me about a famous sports match in your country. What was the score?
• What are your favourite sports to practise? How do they make you feel?
• What sports’ facilities does your city have? Can you describe them to me?
• Have you ever injured yourself or seen someone else get injured while playing a sport? Can you tell me about it?

Free time: Hobbies

• Chess
• To play video games, board games
• Photography
• Painting, drawing
• Walking, hiking

Phrasal verbs and expressions for beginning and ceasing a hobby

To give up – to cease a hobby, habit or activity.

To take up – to start a hobby, habit or activity.

To sign up for something – to put your name down for classes.

To get into something – to develop a passion for something.

To be into something – to have a passion for something.

Questions

• Tell me about an activity or sport that you took up when you were younger that you no longer do? Why did you give it up?
• What are you into at the moment? How did you get into it?
• Has anyone signed you up for classes that you didn’t want to do?

Fashion

For more about appearances including hairstyles, check out our Describing Personality Types and Appearances post.

To be stylish/ in fashion / in style/ trendy – to be the latest fashion.

To be out of fashion – the fashion has passed.

To be timeless – when a piece does not go in and out of fashion. It is always in style.

To dress to impress/ to kill – to be dressed in a stylish way.

To make a comeback – something that was out of fashion, becomes fashionable again.

Clothes shopping

To get a discount/ to get money off – to reduce the price of something.

An item of clothing – one piece of clothing.

To look for something – to search for something.

To refund/ to get a refund – to have money returned.

To suit /soot/ – expression to say an item of clothing looks good on someone.

‘That jacket suits you.’

To try on clothes – to try clothes before you buy.

To take something back – to return something to a shop.

Activity

Download shopping worksheet

• Look at this picture of a department store and describe what is happening.
• You’re the customer and I’m the shop assistant. Imagine you want to take back some shoes, what would you say to me?

TV and film

For general media vocabulary, checkout our Media and Marketing post

Vocabulary

• To animate, animation
• Cast
• Director
• Main character
• Script writer
• Producer
• Plot
• To perform, performance
• The set
• Special effects
• Soundtrack
• Screenplay
• Script, scriptwriter

The scene – a part of a movie.

To star in a movie – to be one of the main characters in a movie.

To be set in – when, where the story is placed.

A must-see – a film, place or event that someone must see.

A flashback – a scene in a film or novel set in a time earlier to the main story.

A cliff-hanger – an exciting end to a film when something has yet to be resolved.

Activity

You have $200,000 to create a low-budget film. The location is [tutor gives location] and the genre is [tutor gives genre]. Now you invent the plot for homework and tell me about it next time.  

Homework

Practise grammar and vocabulary with Friends

Friends has found a new audience of fans with Gen Z. ESL Video have created a series of vocabulary lessons using snippets from Friends. Ask your student to watch a few videos for homework and tell you the story of the episode next time and any new vocabulary they’ve learned.

Link: https://www.friends.eslvideo.com/

Learn vocabulary through music with Lyrics training

Music is a great way to engage your teen learner. Ask them to listen to a song or two for homework with Lyrics Training and do the gap fill exercises.

Link: https://lyricstraining.com/

Practise grammar and vocabulary with British Council Teens

The British Council has an excellent teens site where your teenager can reinforce the grammar and vocabulary knowledge with videos and interactive activities. Highly recommended.

Grammar link: https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar

Vocabulary link: https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/vocabulary

Final thoughts

What are your favourite activities for teaching teens. Add them to the comments section below and I’ll add them to the post.

Thanks to all the tutors on the Slack group #fluentify-for-kids who suggested sites and activities.

Important: The Young Learners’ speaking PLACEMENT test

Fluentify now uses a specially designed young learners and teens PLACEMENT test.

The test requires up to seven images. Please access the test and download the images below.

To access the PLACEMENT test, go to the HELP TAB on your dashboard. Type ‘Young learners’ placement test’ and you will find the Google Doc link.

Download placement test images

PLACEMENT-TEST-IMAGESDownload

First lesson: School equipment

If your student knows zero English, follow these steps for their first lesson to introduce them to ‘to be’ verb.

Link: https://tutorblog.fluentify.com/a-beginner-students-first-lesson-to-be-verb/

Download school equipment worksheet

Game: Practise the days of the week with Adventure Man

Help Adventure Man enter the temple by answering days of the week questions correctly. Post the link to the game in the chat for the child to complete for homework or in the lesson.

Duration: 3-5 minutes.

Vocabulary: Days of the week,yesterday, tomorrow, after, before

Link: https://www.abcya.com/games/days_of_the_week

Game: Practise the months of the year with Adventure Man

Help Adventure Man enter the temple by answering months of the year questions correctly. Post the link to the game in the chat for the child to complete for homework or in the lesson.

Duration: 3-5 minutes

Vocabulary: Months of year, after, before, last, next, ordinal numbers

Link: https://www.abcya.com/games/months_of_the_year

Game: learn the alphabet with Monster Mansion

Match the monsters with the letter. This is a great homework activity to help your student memorise the alphabet.

Link: https://www.abcya.com/games/alphabet_matching_game

Vocabulary: Basic nouns and letter sounds

Dive deeper into the alphabet with this phonics chart

Help your students understand the different vowel sounds with this chart. Model the word and ask your student to repeat.

Download link: https://alphabeticcodecharts.com/Training_illustrated_The%20English%20Alphabetic%20Code.pdf

Activity: Practise English with these Cambridge sample tests

Introduce your young learner to the four disciplines of reading, writing, listening and speaking with these Cambridge English Young Mover sample tests.

Link: https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/starters/preparation/

Sample paper link: https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/Images/young-learners-sample-papers-2018-vol1.pdf

Activity: Practise telling the time

Practise the time with this interactive clock. Share your screen and ask your student to tell you the different times that you create on the clock.

Link: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/time/teaching-clock

Activity: Practise weather vocabulary and seasons

Practice the weather and seasons with these pictures.

Vocabulary: Sunny, warm, hot, dry, windy, rain, snow, cold, freezing, snowman, beach, swimming, flowers, to water flowers, leaves.

Download Seasons and Weather worksheet

Questions:

Activity: Practise sport and ability vocabulary

Practise sports’ vocabulary and ability phrases (‘can’) with these pictures.

Vocabulary: To fence, to play basketball, to dance, to do gymnastics, to go canoeing, to swim, to go swimming, to dive, to go skiing, to ice skate, to ride a bike, to run / to go running, to play volleyball, can, to be able to.

Download Sports and Ability worksheet

Questions

• Name these different sports
• Which of these sports can you do? Which of them can’t you do very well?
• Which sport do you prefer and why?
• Which of these sports do you do at school?
• How often do you do this sport?
• Which of these sports can your mother, father, brother or sister do?
• Who, in your family, is good at basketball? And dancing?
• Who is better at running, you or your brother/sister, mother/father?
• Who, in your family, is the best at….?
• Who, in your family, is the worst at….?

Activity: practise comparatives

Practice comparative adjectives with these pictures. Give your student an adjective and ask them to make a comparative sentence.

Tutor: Big

Student: The black dog is bigger than the white dog.

Download comparatives worksheet

Vocabulary

Dogs: Big, small, weak, strong, heavy, light.

Skiing and sitting: cold, hot, happy, sad, tired, energetic, excited, bored

Rich man, poor man: Rich, poor, happy, sad, tidy, untidy.

Game: Who’s who to practise appearance vocabulary

Practise appearances with this game of Who’s Who.

Vocabulary: Red, grey, blond, brown, black hair, a beard, a moustache, a goatee, to wear glasses, to have long hair, to have short hair, to have curly hair, to have straight hair, to have a ponytail, to have a bun, to have a bob, to be white, black, brown.

Download Who’s who

How to play Who’s who

1. Share the worksheet with your student by attaching it in the chat or sharing your screen.
2. The tutor selects a character, but doesn’t tell the student.
3. The student asks ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions to eliminate characters until there is only one logical conclusion.

For example:

Student: Is it a woman?

Tutor: Yes (this eliminates all the male characters)

Student: Does she have red hair?

Tutor: No.

Game: What’s in the bag? to practise questions and adjectives

Practise ‘to be’ and ‘do’ questions with the game ‘What’s in the bag?’

Vocabulary: Big/small, hard/soft, wet/dry, expensive/cheap, common/unusual, fun/boring, fast/slow, new/old. To use it for work, play, in the house, outside, for sport, to play music.

How to play What’s in the bag?

1. The tutor places something in a small bag or pouch. They do not tell the student what it is.
2. The student must guess what is in the bag using ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions.

For example:

Student: Do you use it in the house?

Tutor: No

Student: Is it fast?

Tutor: Yes

Tip: Toys work well for this such as toy car. This allows the student to use things like fast, metal, drive, traffic, transport etc.  

Activity: Practise food and drink vocabulary, plus ‘how much/ how many’

Practise food vocabulary, how much/ how many and countable and uncountable nouns with this worksheet.

Download Food and Drink worksheet

Questions

• What types of fruit, vegetables etc can you name in this picture?
• What is your favourite fruit?
• How many apples do you eat a week? And your brother? And me? Ask me.
• What do you have for breakfast?
• How much milk do you have for breakfast? A lot, quite a lot, a little/not much/
• What vegetables do you like eating? What do you hate eating? And your sister?
• How many slices of pizza do you eat a week? And me? Ask me?
• How much salad?

Activity: What are they wearing? To practise clothes and frequency vocabulary

Ask your student to name you the different clothes worn by people in this picture.

Download What are they wearing? worksheet

Questions

• What is person A wearing?
• Do you wear a uniform to school?
• What do you usually wear to school? And your brother /sister?
• What does your father usually wear to work?
• What is your favourite outfit in this picture?
• What is your favourite outfit that you wear often?
• How often do you wear a t-shirt? And me? Ask me.
• What is something in this picture that you would never wear and why?
• Tell me about something that your parents sometimes force you to wear?

Activity: Practise the present continuous with these scenes

Practise the present continuous with these scenes. First, ask your student a question that they can’t get wrong, by giving them two options, one of which is ridiculous. For example, for the first picture you could ask: ‘Is the boy on the right writing on the blackboard or reading a book?’ 

Your student will automatically answer, ‘he is writing on the blackboard.’ Do this a few times until they are comfortable with the complete ‘he is’ or ‘she is’ answer and then start throwing curve balls. For example:

Tutor: ‘Is the girl on the right wearing a hat??

Student: ‘No, she is not wearing a hat.’

Tutor: ‘What is she wearing?’

Download Scenes worksheet

Here are some suggested questions:

Picture one: Kids in a chemistry class

• Is the boy with the pink glasses smiling or crying?  
• And you? And me?
• Is the girl next to him dancing?
• What is she doing?
• And you? And your brother?
• Is the boy with the orange glasses sitting or standing?
• And you?
• What is he wearing?
• Is he looking at you or the beaker? (‘cup’, if beaker is too difficult)
• What are you looking at? What are you listening to? And me?
• What is the boy with the orange glasses holding?
• And you? And me? And the girl in the picture?
• Is the girl with the green t-shirt wearing glasses?
• What is the boy with the blue t-shirt doing?
• And me? (drink a glass of water or another action)

Activity: Practise prepositions of place and furniture vocabulary

Practise ‘on’, ‘in’, ‘above’, ‘under’, ‘behind’, ‘in front of’, ‘next to’ and ‘between‘ with this worksheet.

Instructions

Using the shared screen function, point to an object. The student must tell you where it is using appropriate preposition of place. To practise negatives, ask your student things like, ‘is the dog on the sofa?’ and get them to answer, ‘no, it is not on the sofa, it is under the coffee table.’

This is also an excellent exercise to practise furniture vocabulary.

Download Prepositions of Place worksheet here

Activity: Interior of a house to practise house vocabulary

Practise rooms and furniture vocabulary with this picture worksheet.

Download House Interior worksheet

Final thoughts

What are your go-to activities for teaching children? Tell us about them in the comments section below and I’ll add them to the post. Happy teaching!

For this reason, Fluentify tutors often have a bank of go-to websites for homework activities. We have already covered listening and reading comprehension in our 25 Great Homework Resource Sites post.

Now, let’s talk about grammar and vocabulary.

These sites have been collected from tutor contributions to the #sharingmaterials channel on Slack.

Thank you to all the tutors who post on this channel; your advice, resources and insights are invaluable to help us all teach great classes on Fluentify.

This post is divided into videos, gap-fill exercises and quizzes, phrasal verbs and reading activities.  

At the bottom, you’ll find homework activities divided by parts of speech so that you can quickly find homework materials you need for a particular class.

Grammar and vocabulary videos

Engvid

If you’re student needs more explanation on a language point, you’re sure to find a video about it on Engvid. Ask your student to watch the video on the topic and complete the corresponding quiz for homework.

Link: https://www.engvid.com/english-lessons/

Simple English Videos

Again, you’ll find hundreds of videos on grammar, vocabulary, business English and pronunciation on this site. Each video comes with a useful transcript to analyse the language used.

Link: https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/videos/

ESL Video

ESL Video uses snippets of YouTube videos, TED Talks and TV series to highlight particular language points. Students test their comprehension with a quiz.

Link: https://www.eslvideo.com/

Gap-fill exercises and quizzes

Gap fills and quizzes are great homework activity to reinforce your student’s understanding of a language point.

Perfect English Grammar

This site is great for interactive grammar exercises, with hundreds of activities covering A1-B2 grammar. The student can then check their understanding themselves with the interactive form.

Link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/grammar-exercises.html

ELT Base

ELT Base offers word-ordering and multiple-choice quizzes on a range of grammar and vocabulary points.

Link: https://www.eltbase.com/quizzes

Englisch Hilfen

Englisch Hilfen also has a lot of free worksheets to reinforce grammar. They are not interactive, however, and so the tutor would have to give students both the worksheet and the answer key.

Link: https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/worksheets.htm

BBC English

BBC English offers, podcasts, videos and short courses on English grammar and vocabulary. Some videos also have a short quiz at the end. Here are some useful links:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/upper-intermediate

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/intermediate/unit-6

British Council

The British Council provides grammar and vocabulary lessons with videos and interactive activities.

For vocabulary: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/vocabulary

For grammar: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar

Phrasal verbs

Phrasal Verb Demon teaches phrasal verbs by preposition (or particle) rather than the verb. For example, the ‘on’ in phrasal verbs has the meaning of ‘to attach’ (e.g. ‘put on a jacket’) or ‘to continue’, (e.g.‘carry on with your work please’).

Teaching phrasal verbs this way makes much more sense to students. After teaching a set of verbs by preposition, tutors can reinforce the point by asking the student go into more depth with the relevant page on this site. They can also deep-dive into the 101 most common phrasal verbs and test themselves with a quiz.

Link: https://www.phrasalverbdemon.com/index.html

Reading

A great way for beginner students to start reading is to read with a parallel text in their own language. Parallel Text allows students to read classic texts such as Jane Ayre or Sherlock Holmes with half the screen in the study language and the other half in their own language.

Link: http://paralleltext.io/

Homework activities divided by language point

Need a homework activity fast? Here are some suggested videos, gap-fills and quizzes for each of the main grammar points.

Present simple

Video:  Carter’s breakfast routine (Simple English Videos)

Link: https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/carters-breakfast-present-simple/

Activity: Present simple ‘to be’ gap-fill (Perfect English Grammar).
Link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-simple-exercise-14.html

Activity: Present simple mixed verbs gap-fill (Perfect English Grammar)

Link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-simple-exercise-8.html

Present continuous

Video: Present simple or present continuous? (EngVid)

Link https://www.engvid.com/present-simple-or-present-continuous/

Activity: Present simple or present continuous gap-fill (Perfect English Grammar)

Link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-simple-present-continuous-1.html

Modal verbs

Video: May, might and could for future possibilities (Simple English Videos)

Link: https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/modal-verbs-may-might-could-possibilities-1/

Video: How do modal verbs work? (EngVid)

Link: https://www.engvid.com/how-do-modals-work/

Past simple

Video: Past simple tense (Engvid)

Link: https://www.engvid.com/past-simple-tense/

Activity: Past simple irregular verbs 1 & 2 gap-fill (Perfect English Grammar)

Link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/irregular-verbs-exercise-1.html

Link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com//irregular-verbs-exercise-2.html

Past continuous

Video: Storytelling – The past continuous and puppies (Simple English Videos)

Link: https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/storytelling-past-continuous-dog-rescues/

Activity: Past simple or past continuous? Gap-fill (ELT Base)

Link: https://www.eltbase.com/quiz/089_01.htm

Present perfect

Video: Past simple or present perfect? (EngVid)

Link: https://www.engvid.com/past-simple-or-past-perfect/

Activity: Present perfect or past simple gap-fill (ELT Base and Perfect English Grammar)

Link: https://www.eltbase.com/quiz/215_08.htm

Link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/past-simple-present-perfect-3.html

Present perfect continuous

Video: Present perfect or present perfect continuous (EngVid)

Link: https://www.engvid.com/english-grammar-present-perfect-simple-continuous/

Activity: Present perfect simple or continuous? Gap-fill (Perfect English Grammar)

Link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-perfect-present-perfect-continuous-2.html

Used to

Video: How to use ‘used to’ in English (EngVid)

Link: https://www.engvid.com/how-to-use-used-to-in-english/

Used to and to be used to

Video: I am used to and I used to (EngVid)

Link: https://www.engvid.com/english-grammar-i-used-to-im-used-to/

Activity: Used to, to be used to and to get used to gap fill (ELT Base)

Link: https://www.eltbase.com/quiz/076_01.htm

Will, going to and present continuous for future

Video: Will, going to and present continuous for future (Simple English Videos)

Link: https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/will-going-to-and-the-present-continuous-3-common-future-forms/

Activity: Future tenses quiz: will, going to, present continuous quiz (ELT Base)

Link: https://www.eltbase.com/quiz/154_01.htm

First conditional

Video: First conditional in action (Simple English Videos)

Link: https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/first-conditional-in-action-english-grammar/

Activity: First conditional form gap-fill (Perfect English Grammar)

Link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/first-conditional-exercise-1.html

Second conditional

Video: Second conditional in action (Simple English Videos)

Link: https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/the-second-conditional-in-action-english-grammar/

Activity: Make the second conditional form gap-fill (Perfect English Grammar)

Link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/second-conditional-exercise-1.html

Third conditional

Video: Third conditional in action (Simple English videos)

Link: https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/the-english-third-conditional-in-action/

Activity: Make the third conditional gap-fill (Perfect English Grammar)

Link: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/third-conditional-exercise-1.html

Mixed conditionals

Activity: Mixed conditional quiz (ELT Base)

Link: https://www.eltbase.com/quiz/153_02.htm

Final thoughts

What are your go-to homework resource sites? Tell us about them in the comments below.

To help your students remember, try this drill

The used + infinitive and to be used to + gerund drill

To be successful, your students should already know ‘used + infinitive.’ The drill is to help them learn ‘to be used to’ + gerund.

Instructions

Ask your student some questions based on these ideas. Alternate between the tense, ‘used to’ and adjective, ‘to be used to’ using the same verb so your student can practice the different structures. For example:

Tutor: Are you used to shopping on the Internet?

Student: Yes, I am used to shopping on the Internet.

Tutor: Did you use to shop on the internet when you were a child?

Student: No, I didn’t use to shop on the internet when I was a child.

Here are some questions to ask. Change the form of the verb depending on which ‘used’ question you’re asking.

• Shop on the Internet
• Vote in elections
• Earn money
• Drive in the city
• Be a + profession
• Take the bus to work
• Recycle
• Wake up early
• Cook for themselves
• Do exercise

Homework: Used + inf and to be used to + gerund activity

Help your students understand the difference between ‘used + infinitive’ and ‘to be used to + gerund’ with this exercise. Ask your students to fill the gaps with the correct ‘used to.’ They can then check their answers themselves with the answers on the second page.

Copy of the used to + inf and to be used to + gerund activity

Tom is a vet. He (1. wake up)____ and driving to work at dawn. When Tom was younger, he (2. live)____ in the city.

He (3. not own)____ a car and instead (4. cycle)____ everywhere. Back then Tom (5. do)____ lots of exercise and even competed in a few triathlons!

However, city life with its crowds, traffic and pollution was also stressful. Now Tom lives in the country and he (6. have)____ a slower pace of life. He is (7. hear)____ the sounds of farm animals and birdsong, although he is still (8. not be)____ alone yet.

Tom is getting (9. read)____ again. When he was younger, (10. read)____ a lot. Now he is even getting into the books he (11. not like)____ when he was a teenager. He usually reads two books a week and he is even thinking about writing one himself.

When Tom was a student, he never imagined that he would have a life like this. But he (12. used + inf/ to be used)____ the peace and quiet now and he is very content.    

1.is used to waking up, 2. used to live, 3. didn’t used to own, 4. used to cycle, 5.  was used to doing or used to do, 6. used to having, 7. is used to hearing 8. not used to being, 9.  used to reading. 10. used to read, 11. didn’t used to like, 12. is used to.

Final thoughts

We hope that exercises prove useful for your classes and students. If you’d like any other grammar exercise, please leave your suggestions in the comments below.

Simple past vs. present perfect

The difference between these two tenses is all about the time. We use the simple past when the action occurs in a time-frame that is finished. Another way to say this is ‘closed time.’

For example: ‘Steve played tennis yesterday.’

We use the present perfect when the action occurs in a time frame that continues. Another way to say this is ‘open time.’ Note: With present perfect, usually the action is finished, but it’s the time that continues.

For example: ‘Jane has eaten an apple this week.’ Jane finished eating the apple in the past but this week continues.

Simple past vs. present perfect activity

Help your students distinguish between these two tenses, with this activity.

Step one: Explain the ‘closed time,’ ‘open time’ concept.

Step two: Ask your student to give you examples using closed time markers such as ‘yesterday’, ‘last week’, ‘last year’ and open time markers such as ‘today’, ‘this week’, ‘this year.’

Step three: Next, ask your student to imagine that it is 3pm.

Step four: You say a time marker and ask your student whether it is open time or closed time. Each time they answer, ask them to give you an example. Make the time-frame gradually smaller until you end with ’10 minutes ago.’

Time frames

Step five: Finally, get your student to answer these questions using the past simple or present perfect. Then practice the other tense by saying things like: ‘And this week?’

Simple past vs. present perfect drill.

• How many coffees did you drink yesterday? (past simple)
• And today? (present perfect)
• How many packages have you sent this week?
• And last week?
• How many emails did you write this morning?
• And this afternoon?
• How many people did you see yesterday?
• And today?
• How many times have you gone to the gym this month?
• And last month?

Continue until your student understands the difference between the two tenses.

Present perfect vs. present perfect continuous

We use the present perfect continuous when the action starts in the past and continues to the present. For example: ‘She has been working for the company for 5 years.’

With the present perfect, the action has usually finished but in a time-frame that continues. For example: ‘I have watched two films this week.’ Watching the films happened in the past, but the week continues.

However, state verbs such as, ‘to have’ for possession and ‘to know,’ cannot usually be put into continuous tense. Therefore, we use the present perfect if the action continues and not the present perfect continuous.

For example: ‘I have known John for 10 years’, not, ‘I have been knowing John for 10 years’ or ‘how long have you had that pen?’ not, ‘how long have you been having that pen.’

Common state verbs are:

Opinions: To love, to like, to have, to think (as in opinion), to believe, to prefer, to appear, to seem, to suppose.

Descriptions of things: To belong, to contain, to exist, to consist, to be + adjective.

Also: To know, to understand, to have (as in possession), to remember.

State verbs that double as action verbs

Some verbs, however, can be either an action or a state as they have two meanings. These are:

Think: Is a state when it is an opinion; ‘She thinks France is a lovely country’ and an action when speaking about ideas; ‘He is thinking about going on holiday.’

Have: Is a state when it talks about a possession; ‘He has a car’ and an action when talking about ‘having food’ or ‘having a good time.’

Remember: Is a state when talking tasks; ‘Remember to turn off the light’ and an action when talking about memories; ‘He sat on the porch, remembering his Grandfather.’ This is mainly used in literature.

Homework: present perfect vs. present perfect continuous activity

Help your students understand when to use the present perfect and when to use the present perfect continuous, with this exercise for homework.

Copy of the present perfect vs. present perfect continuous activity

Melissa and John (1. to be married) for 10 years. Melissa (2. work) for her company for 10 years. She has also (3. study) for her MBA for the last two years.

John owns a furniture company. He (4. have) his company for 5 years. This week John (5. sell) 10 dining tables and 5 sofas.

Melissa and John (6. live) in their apartment for 8 years. They live next door to a young couple. They (7. known) their neighbours for three years. John likes home improvement. He (8. paint) the terrace for two weeks. It is a large terrace and he (9. use) two pots of paint already.

Melissa and John are looking after a friend’s dog called Sam. Sam (10. have) a long walk today and so he is happy. He (11. stay) with Melissa and John for quite a long time – over two weeks already.

Melissa and John don’t mind. They (12. enjoy) the company. Sam likes to watch the wildlife in the garden. He (13. chase) three cats around the garden so far.

Answers

1 have been married, 2. has been working, 3. has been studying, 4. has had, 5. has sold, 6. have been living, 7. have known, 8. has been painting, 9. has used, 10. has had, 11. has been staying, 12. have been enjoying, 13. has chased.  

Final thoughts

We hope that exercises prove useful for your classes and students. If you’d like any other grammar exercise, please leave your suggestions in the comments below.

Here are the six most common writing mistakes second language speakers make in writing and how to fix them. The post also includes a gap-fill exercise you can give to your student as homework, together with an answer key to check understanding.

Every day vs. everyday

 ‘Every day’ is an adverbial time marker which means the frequency in which you do something. For example:

‘Laura checks her emails every day.’

‘Everyday,’ on the other hand, is an adjective which means that something is common or used habitually. For example:

‘Traffic jams at rush hour are an everyday experience.’

It’s vs. its, you’re vs. your, and they’re vs. their

Many students confuse the contraction between the subject pronoun and ‘to be’ verb (it’s, you’re and they’re) and possessive adjectives (its, your, their).

How to fix it

If your student has doubts, ask them to say the word aloud while you’re writing it. Can it be separated into two words? For example: ‘They’re going for a picnic,’ can also be, ‘they are going for a picnic.’ If the answer is ‘yes,’ then it’s a contraction and needs an apostrophe.  If the answer is ‘no,’ then it’s probably the possessive adjective.

Capitals: The ‘common noun’ vs. ‘proper noun’ problem

There are two types of nouns in English: common nouns and proper nouns.

A common noun is the name of a word. It can be the name of a person, place or thing. These nouns are NOT capitalised, unless they start a sentence. For example: ‘man,’ ‘city’ and ‘car.’  

A proper noun is the particular name of a person, place or thing. These nouns ARE capitalised. For example: ‘Claudio,’ ‘Milan’ and ‘Mercedes.’  

The problem

However, sometimes a common noun is capitalised. This happens when a common noun is inserted into a document to avoid the repetition of the proper noun. You see this a lot in legal documents such as work contracts. For example:

‘This letter outlines your contract of employment with Telefonica. Your employment with the Company will commence on the 1^st April 2019.’

Here the word ‘company’ has substituted the name ‘Telefonica’ and so it is capitalised.

However, this does not mean that the word ‘company’ is a proper noun and should always be capitalised. It is a common noun and you shouldn’t capitalise it in normal sentences.

For example: ‘There are 40 major oil and gas companies in the world.’

How to fix it

Ask your student to think: ‘does this word substitute the name of something? Or, does it describe something?’ If it substitutes a name then it is capitalised, if it is a description then it is not capitalised.

Finally, remember that the days of the week and the months of the year are proper nouns in English and so they are capitalised.

This is a difficult language point to get right. Ask your student to practice with our worksheet below.

‘It’ for companies and organisations

Businesses, organisations, entities and brands are always singular and should be referred to as ‘it’ and not ‘they.’ For example:

‘McDonald’s is a multinational company. It is expanding further into the Asian market next year.’

Dates and numbers

Dates

When writing dates you eliminate ‘the’ and ‘of’ and write:

‘31^st January 2019’ (if you’re writing to someone in the UK, Australia or New Zealand). Or,

‘January 31^st 2019’ (if you’re writing to someone in the US or Canada).

Numbers

Write large numbers with a comma and not a point

Remember: Large numbers are separated by a comma in English, not a point.

For example: 1,327,564 (not, 1.327.564)

AND: Fractions are written with a decimal point in English, not a comma.

For example: 4.3 and 6.7 (not, 4,3 and 6,7).

Homework: Test your knowledge

Ask your student to test their understanding of these writing rules with this gap-fill worksheet. Your student can correct themselves using the answer key on the final page.

PDF download: Writing skills gap-fill activity

Help your students eliminate those common preposition errors with these activities and rules. Below you’ll also find a pdf gap-fill activity to give your student for homework.  

Activity one: match the verb and preposition

All of these verbs have a different preposition in Italian, and so students commonly get them wrong. First, warn the student that these are difficult verb + preposition combinations.

For this activity, the tutor must say the verb and the student says the correct preposition. For example:

Tutor: To depend.

Student: To depend on.

Verb + prepositions

• To arrive (at)
• To be capable (of)
• To be connected (to)
• To consist (of)
• To be composed (of)
• To count (on)
• To be covered (with/in)
• To crash (into)
• To depend (on)   
• To have/conduct an interview (with)
• To be interested (in)
• To be linked (to)
• To be married (to)
• To participate (in)
• To point (at)
• To be related (to)
• To suffer (from)
• To think (about)

The rules

At least some of these verb +prepositions combinations can be explained. Use the information below to clarify the ‘why’ with your student. After each explanation, ask your student to give you an example.

To – to be linked, connected, related, married to someone/something

‘To’ expresses a link between to things. For example, ‘she is married to him’, or ‘this issue is related to the software system.’

‘To’ is also plus a verb. For example, ‘He is studying to get a new job.’ ‘For’ is plus a noun, for example, ‘This cake is for the party.’

Of – to consist, be composed, made of something

‘Of’ talks about the content or ingredients of something. For example, ‘this book consists of 12 chapters’ or, ‘this soup is made of carrots and lentils.’

Note: ‘Of’ also means the object of ‘fear’. For example, ‘to be scared, afraid, frightened, fearful of something.’

About – to think, dream, speak, talk, learn, wonder, care about something

‘About’ expresses the topic of the sentence. For example, ‘I am thinking about starting a business’ or ‘they were wondering about that house. Is it for sale?’

On – to depend on, to count on

‘On’ expresses the focus of an activity, object or idea.

Other examples include, ‘to spend money on something’ and ‘to reflect, concentrate, focus, impact and work on something.’

At – to arrive, point at somewhere/something

‘At’ means location. For example, ‘they arrived at the cinema.’

It also means:

Time – At 2pm.

Events – At the conference, concert, party.

Festivals – At Christmas, Easter, a local festival.

Ability – To be good, bad, great, terrible at something.

To do something ‘to’ (and not ‘with’) the person or thing receiving the action – To laugh, look, point, shout, scream, stare, yell at someone/something.

In this way the person receiving the action is not collaborating or interacting with the person doing the action. They are the object which is having something done to them.

For example, ‘to laugh at someone,’ is bad (they are the object of the joke). ‘To laugh with someone,’ is good (you’re all laughing together).

Homework preposition activity

Download this proposition gap-fill activity and send it to your student in the chat, to complete for homework. The answers are in small print on the second page so your student can check their understanding themselves.

Download the preposition activity

Copy of the preposition activity

Interviewer: We conducted an interview 1. ______Dr Lauren Schneider about a study 2. ______determine common causes 3.______ anxiety at work. Dr Schneider, how did you first become interested 4. _______this subject?

Dr Schneider: I first became interested 5. ______ the topic 6. _______anxiety at work when I was working 7. ______my PHD thesis. We designed a survey which consisted 8. _______ questions to focus 9. _______ the different types of stresses that employees typically feel 10. ______ work.

Interviewer: What were the results?

Dr Schneider: We found that many mental health issues 11. ______ the workplace were linked 12. ______ relationships with colleagues. Whether a worker feels depressed, typically depends more 13. ______ factors like negative interactions 14. ______colleagues, or even bullying, rather than the amount 15. ______ work a person does in a week.

If an employee feels that they can count 16. ______the people around them and participate 17. ______ work activities as a respected member of the team, it is more probable that they will feel happy.

On the other hand, if an employee feels disrespected 18. _______ work; if they are yelled or laughed 19. ______ for example, it is more likely that they will suffer 20. _______ work-related depression.

*Note: This content is invented and not based on a real interview.

Answer key

1. with, 2. to, 3. of, 4. in, 5. in 6. of, 7. on, 8. of, 9. on, 10. at, 11. in, 12. to, 13. on, 14. with, 15. of, 16. on, 17. in, 18. at, 19. at, 20. from

Other preposition homework

Try this preposition activity from the British council.

Activity two: ‘On’, ‘in’, ‘at’ for arrangements

Another common issue for students is when to you use ‘on’, ‘in’ and ‘at’ for scheduling a date. Well, here are the rules.

At

‘At’ is for festivals (Christmas, Easter and so on), events (a party, concert or conference), time (2pm, lunchtime) and the outside of a location you can see in its entirety (the airport, the cinema, the entrance to the park), the weekend and night.

On

‘On’ is for days, (11^th, Tuesday, my birthday, Christmas day), floors in a building, planets and ‘on time’ – meaning the exact point in time.

In

‘In’ is for places you can’t see in their entirety (cities, countries, parks) as well as months, years and decades, seasons, morning, afternoon, evening, the future and a period of time (for example, let’s meet in time for Christmas).

Speaking practice: let’s meet

The tutor says four times, dates and places and the student must say the sentence again using the phrase ‘let’s meet’ and the correct prepositions. For example:

Tutor: ‘October, Paris, the Eiffel Tower, Christmas day’.

Student: ‘Let’s meet in October, in Paris, at the Eiffel Tower, on Christmas day.’

Other combinations

• The conference, 5^th floor, 2 pm, summer.
• Tuesday, lunchtime, 2021, the park.
• Night, April, your favourite restaurant, London.
• The weekend, the beach, breakfast, winter.

Final thoughts

We hope that these prepositions prove useful for your classes and students. If we’ve missed any common verb + preposition mistakes please tell us about them in the comments below. Happy teaching!