Author: brookehotchocolate

Using games is the best way to teach, review and practice vocabulary with ESL learners. I’ve found that playing simple games with my students provides amazing vocabulary retention. The best part is that your students will have a great time while playing! Any teacher can tell you that worksheets and monotonous repetitions of vocabulary in an English language classroom are not very productive. This method has proven to work for all ages. In this blog post, I’d like to talk about some of the various games and activities that can be played in different age groups and some appropriate materials…

When I moved to Italy to become an English teacher, I really had no idea where to start.  I was basically given a textbook with audio cd’s and told the ages and levels of my students. I soon realized that one of the most counter productive ways to learn a language is through “book learning”. Students of all ages need practical, hands-on activities, resources and games to acquire and gain confidence in a second language. I was also planning on staying in Italy for one gap year. I had signed a one year teaching contract and planned on living “la…

Here is a new card game to practice those tricky regular and irregular Past Simple Verbs and the Present Perfect. I find these card game to be so useful in the classroom after my traditional grammar lesson. It’s a great way to practice – It’s engaging and competitive and gets students speaking. These games are so more more fun to use than a traditional question and answer session. You’ll notice that the more you use these types of games in your classroom, the more your students will begin to play the entire game in English. They will start to automatically…

This is a great activity to help your students respond to questions using the Present Simple , Past Simple and Present Perfect verb tenses. If you need a great way to help your students with speaking skills, this is a must-have- After years in the classroom, I still find it hard to get my students to speak in English- spontaneously!   That’s when a SPEAKING JAR OR BOX comes in handy!   Do your students tend to answer questions with one word answers? I’ve got you covered. Having targeted topics help with speech production in a second language. I’ve found that rules need to be set up in…

Travel-Light ESL: UNO-Style Speaking & Grammar Card Games That Actually Get Kids Talking Teaching English abroad with limited resources? Same. When I moved countries, I was juggling a new culture, a new city, and new classrooms—with zero time to create elaborate materials. My students loved games (who doesn’t?), but once they’d mastered numbers and colors, I needed activities that pushed real speaking, listening, and grammar without turning the lesson into pure “play a card and giggle.” That’s why I designed a series of UNO-style ESL card games that layer meaningful language on top of the mechanics kids already love. Every…

Love is in the air. Here in Italy, it feels like Spring. I created these Valentine’s Day themed resources to fit all different age groups. Let’s start with teens and adults. This set of 48 Valentine’s Day Question Card prompts are perfect to use as a warm-up activity with students to talk about how they celebrate Valentine’s Day and what they love. It’s a fantastic activity to use with both adults and older teenagers in Pre-Intermediate ESL and EFL classrooms! All questions are in the Present Simple and Present Perfect verb tenses. Valentine’s Day Question Prompts Use them for: One-on-one lessons Large…

As teachers it’s not always easy to have a spontaneous conversation with our language users, trying to stay within a specific grammar target. Over the years I’ve had hundreds of university students and adults in my ESL classroom. They seem to always tell me the same thing, that they already know most of the grammar but they just want to practice CONVERSATION. Every ESL teacher’s worst nightmare is the “only conversation” student because we all know that it’s impossible to speak well without the necessary grammar. Usually, I try to follow a simple lesson plan. 1. Teach the grammar 2.…

I love these cards (well, I should. I made them😀) I created this set using all Present Simple questions. Sometimes I’ve found that beginning English students get frustrated because they want to speak but have limited vocabulary, grammar and comprehension. Sometimes teachers just don’t know what to ask – keeping it simple (Present Simple). These cards are great because they are also divided by category: Is/ Are Do /Does Adverbs of Frequency, How often questions to talk about daily routine Questions with What, Where, How Many, Who, When Have got questions to talk about possession. Here is a link to…