Tag Archives: speaking

Lesson Plan: Going Vegan?

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For over 30 years, I’ve been a proud pescatarian—a semi-vegetarian, if you will—happily skipping steak. Let me tell you, being “the one who doesn’t eat meat” in a region, Asturias,  famous for its chuletones and fabada can make for some hilarious and eyebrow-raising moments: from explaining my choices at barbecues to finding the right food for me in a menu full of meat choices, I’ve collected plenty of anecdotes along the way.

So, in this lesson aimed at B2 + students,  we’re going to explore the fascinating world of vegetarianism—a topic that sparks some seriously interesting conversations.

Ingredients of this lesson plan.

  • Warm-up: speaking and a fun video
  • Introducing Vocabulary with a home-made IAnized 🙄 video: Vegan vs Vegetarian
  • Vocabulary
  • Speaking: two corners
  • Scattergorix Game
WARM-UP: Speaking and one of my Favourite Videos

To kick things off, I’ve got a video I’ve been using for years to introduce this lesson. Now, I’ll admit that the quality is terrible. It’s grainy but it’s absolutely hilarious, and I just can’t bring myself to part with it. Before we jump into it, though, let’s set the scene with a couple of thought-provoking questions:

  • Have you ever gone on a date with someone who was vegan? How did it influence your choice of restaurant or food?
  • Do you think food choices (like being vegan) should be a factor when choosing a partner? Why or why not?

LISTENING:Note-taking: Vegan vs Vegetarian

Time to clear up the terms vegan vs. vegetarian, often confused! I’ve made a quick video using AI magic to explain the basics.

Students watch the video and jot down the key differences. In retelling the main differences, make a point of writing key vocabulary on the board.

 Differences between de cristina.cabal

Vocabulary

Do we need a vocabulary exercise? Absolutely! The more words we know, the more we can express ourselves—plain and simple.

 

Speaking Practice

Let’s get moving with an expressing opinions activity! It’s all about taking a stand—literally.

Step 1. I’ve kept it simple—just grabbed three plain sheets of paper, and wrote I agree, I disagree, and I can’t decide, and stuck them in the corners with blue tack.

  1. I agree
  2. I disagree
  3. I can’t decide (optional, if you have a larger group).

Step 2. I display the first statement, Being a vegetarian is the best choice for both personal health and the planet . Once students decide whether they agree or disagree with the statement, and before they stand up, I offer some guidance by suggesting ideas they can use to explain their position on the statement.

So, if they AGREE, they can use these reasons;

  • Reduces risk of chronic diseases (heart disease, diabetes)
  • High in nutrients like fibre, antioxidants, and vitamins
  • Avoids animal cruelty in factory farming
  • Lower carbon footprint and reduced resource use (water, land)
  • Helps combat deforestation and biodiversity loss

If they DISAGREE, they can use these

  • Risk of B12, iron, and protein deficiencies without careful planning
  • Limited food options in some cultures or regions
  • Costly and hard to access plant-based substitutes
  • Large-scale plant production can also lead to deforestation and water use

Step 3.  they are ready now.  Sudents move to their corner and discuss with like-minded peers for about 5 minutes.

Step 4. After about 5 minutes, they’ll pair up with someone from a different corner and try to change their mind—debate time!

For the next statements, they’ll have a moment to prepare their reasons before standing up and choosing their corner.

Going vegan? – Presentación de cristina.cabal

Game: Scattergorix

After hard work comes the reward—this time in the form of a game! Have you ever played Scattergorix? In this round, the list of categories is all about food. Hey!!! And yes, I got a little help from ChatGPT. Sometimes, it’s not so easy to come up with something for every category.

These are the rules of the game and below, the home-made game I created for my students.

scattergorix de cristina.cabal

 


Food Scattergorix de cristina.cabal

 

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A Mind-Blowing Free Tool for Student Speech Recordings: Transcriptions, Audio, Summaries and Easy Sharing with the Teacher

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Oh wow! This is quite a long title but I’ve stumbled upon an absolute gem of a website that I have to share with you all. If you’ve ever struggled with deciphering student recordings, trying to make sense of mumbled words, or spending precious time replaying audio to catch what they said—those days are officially over!

This incredible tool (it’s a website, no downloads needed!) lets students record themselves, whether it’s a presentation, a speech, or just a spoken reflection. The best part? it doesn’t just capture the audio. Nope, it goes way beyond that and also provides a full transcription of what the students said.

This amazig webiste is called Spacebar.fm .

Do students need to register?

They’ve got two options to choose from, depending on their needs:

  1. No registration needed: You can speak for up to 10 minutes per recording with a total of 5 interactions.
  2. Register for a free account: If you sign up, you get 200 minutes of recording time, with each individual recording lasting up to 90 minutes
How do you start the recording?

Easy, click on Tap and Talk and start recording.

What do you get after the recording?

Now, here’s what happens after a student records. You ‘ll get,

  • A beautiful image of the memory shared. (I know, not very useful but nice)
  • A summary of what the student shared, highlighting the main points and key ideas.
  • The full accurate transcription of what the student said, right there for you to read through or skim as needed.
  • The original recording, so you can listen if you want, but you’re no longer reliant on just the audio.
How Do Students Share Their Recordings? 

Very easy! After the recording is done, students just need to click on Copy Shareable Link. and send it straight to their teacher’s email. If you want to access your previous recordings, you’ll find them in the Memo tab.

Why I think this tool is a must-keep

Can you imagine? No more:

  • Playing back a recording ten times trying to catch every word.
  • Frantically jotting down notes as you listen.
  •  Worrying that you missed an important detail.

With this tool, you get a clear, written record of what each student said. This makes it so much easier to:

  • Provide detailed feedback.
  • Check for content understanding.
  • Highlight areas for improvement without struggling to hear what they meant.

I really think this could be a fantastic way to assess student speaking skills. It’s also a brilliant option for remote learning or when students are working on independent projects.

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Prepping Students for Persuasive Role-Play: Remote Work vs. Office, and Reduced Working Week Debate

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If you’re like me, you’ve probably used role-play countless times to get students talking and thinking on their feet. But lately, I’ve found myself wanting to take it up a notch—giving students real-world topics that they’ll actually encounter outside the classroom. So, I created two role-play scenarios that bring today’s workplace debates right to our classroom: remote work vs. in-office and the reduced working week. These topics got my students diving into different perspectives and working hard to persuade each other.

ROLE-PLAY 1: Remote Work vs. In-Office Work Debate

MY PREP APPROACH

  1. Visuals.First things first—I kicked off the role-play by setting the scene with a quick, visual presentation. There’s nothing like a few eye-catching slides to spark interest. Don’t you agree?

Role-play: working remote vs in person de cristina.cabal

2. The Context. (also in the presentation above)

You and your next-door neighbor, who is also your best friend, have been working at the same company for five years. You carpool and split the costs, which has been convenient, especially with the high price of petrol.

Recently, the company has given employees the option to work from home, only requiring them to come into the office once a month.

3. Help is coming: Ideas. Here’s the PDF .I gave my students a handout laying out key points for each side. Students choose which position they want to argue, but I make sure we have an even split between pro-remote and pro-office advocates.. I encourage them to add their own points to this list to make their argument more personal and compelling.

CHOOSING ROLES AND PREPARING ARGUMENTS

Once they know their stance, students jot down three solid arguments that support their position

ROLE-PLAY AND PERSUASION TIME

Each student has 5 minutes to make their case, present their points, and then attempt to sway the other person.

 

ROLE-PLAY 2: The Reduced Working Week

This second role-play taps into another current trend: the reduced workweek. I wanted students to explore this not only from a productivity standpoint but also from a cultural and economic perspective. The debate centers around proposals to reduce the standard working week in Spain, traditionally from 40 hours to potentially 37.5 or even 32 hours, without reducing wages.

The procedure is just the same as above

MY PREP APPROACH

  1. Visuals.

    Role-play: The reduced working week de cristina.cabal

  2. Context: (also in the slides above)

It’s lunch break at a mid-sized company in Madrid. You and your colleague are discussing the news about possible changes to the work week while having coffee in the break room.

        3. Some Extra Help. Text? No, this time help comes in he form of a video

So this one  comes from a short, engaging video made on InVideo, an AI tool that helps you create quick, professional-looking videos. In this case, I found a piece of news in ElPais in English and just pasted it on Invideo. This tool is such a gem because I can tailor the content exactly to what my students need. It’s also great for visual learners who absorb info faster through media.

CHOOSING ROLES AND PREPARING ARGUMENTS

Students watch the video and then pick a side. I ask them to prepare 3-5 key talking points. Here’s where I get them to think critically: How could a shorter workweek boost mental health? What about the potential strain on business operations?

I challenge them to think beyond themselves and consider how this change might impact families, communities, and industries at large.

ROLE-PLAY AND PERSUASION TIME

Each student makes their initial case, and then they respond to counterarguments. It’s a great way for them to see how they need to think on their feet!

EXTRA SPEAKING PRACTICE

To wrap up the class on a high note, a whole-class speaking activity can be a great way to keep the conversation going and let everyone share their thoughts. A few open-ended questions about work culture can get everyone talking and reflecting on what they’ve learned.

Speaking de cristina.cabal

Exploring the World of Work (with a little help from Brad Pitt!)

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Oh, this lesson sounds like it’s going to be SO much fun! I love how interactive and engaging it is—plus, who can resist Brad Pitt doing all sorts of jobs? Those who know me know that Brad Pitt is a constant in my life, and whenever I can, here he is—brightening my lessons or adding a little spice to the mix! And in this activity, how could I resist? 😄

By the way,  I used AI to generate the images. Hopefully, Brad Pitt won’t mind being used for educational purposes!

Step 1:  Vocabulary. The hard work.

handout

First up, hand out the vocabulary, guiding students to describe what jobs involve. Responsibilities, pros, cons, you know the drill! Here’s the handout I have used + it contains a QR code to help with pronunciation.

 

This is what I’ve done to introduce the vocabulary little by little

  1. I asked them to silently read all the information under the heading General Responsibilities.
  2. Then, I played the audio to work on pronunciation
  3. After that, I displayed the image of Brad Pitt performing a job, and they used some vocabulary to describe the general responsibilities this job involves.
  4. I repeated the same procedure for the heading Advantages and Disadvantages to ensure they were comfortable with all aspects of the vocabulary.

This is the image I have used for this part

 

Step 2: The Guided Game (a.k.a. Guess Brad's Job!)

Now for the fun part—and this one is guaranteed to get the whole class involved! Here’s the game plan and again we go from guided practice to free practice.

FROM GUIDED PRACTICE TO FREE PRACTICE.

HOT SEAT with a volunteer.

  • Pick a student to face away from the board (let’s call them the “guesser”).
  • Display one of the job images on the board for everyone else to see.
  • The rest of the class will give clues about the job, but here’s the catch—they have to use the vocabulary from the handout! So, instead of saying, “He works in a hospital,” they might say, “This job involves communication skills because you need to explain medical conditions clearly to patients.”
  • IMPORTANT:They must describe the job without mentioning the place of work or giving obvious clues! For instance, if Brad Pitt is playing a chef in the image, the student can’t say “restaurant,” but they can say things like, “This job requires excellent time management because you need to prepare things on time, and it can be physically demanding because you’re on your feet for long periods”.

Students will work together as a class, tossing out clues about the responsibilities, advantages, or disadvantages of the job, and the guesser has to figure out what job Brad is performing in the image! We’ll play a couple of rounds to give students the opportunity to use the language.

HOT SEAT in TEAMS

  • Divide class into 2 groups and ask a representative from each group to take the hot seat facing away from the board.
  • Give each representative a bell.
  • The whole class will now start giving clues about the responsibilities, advantages, or disadvantages of the job. The first representative to guess the job will score 1 point for their team.
  • Rules: they have to ring the bell every time they want to guess. If they make a mistake, they won’t be able to ring the bell again until the other team has had a chance to have a guess, too.

Here you have the rest of the images I have used.

Add a heading by cristina.cabal

Step 3: Free Practice in Pairs

Students will team up: one student will face away from the board while their partner looks at the image.

The goal is for students to dig deep into their vocabulary  knowledge to give accurate but challenging descriptions. This not only pushes them to be precise with their language but also forces them to think critically about the roles we see in different jobs.

Do you think this activity will work well for your C1 students? Are there any jobs you’re dying to see Brad Pitt doing? Let me know!

Step 4:  Personalization

Time to get students working in groups of 4 or 5. One student in each group will choose a job—it can be their real job or their dream job. The rest of the group has to figure out what it is by asking up to 10 questions.

Important: Encourage students to use their newly acquired vocabulary. Instead of asking simple questions like “Do you work in an office?” they could ask, “Does your job require strong problem-solving skills?” or “Is teamwork a key part of your role?”

This brings the lesson full circle, with students practising vocabulary while keeping the conversation interactive and personal!

Another activity further practising this vocabulary is coming. Keep posted!!!

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ChatGPT Dicey Discussions: A Grammar and Conversation Challenge

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Welcome back, everyone! I’ve missed connecting with you and sharing ideas. Another year of sharing my classroom experiences with you all—20 years publishing and still going strong! I’m just as pumped about it, even though I barely have time to write. Al least, not as much as I’d like. Over the summer, I’ve been busy testing new ways to make the most of AI in our classrooms. I can’t wait to dive in and explore these exciting possibilities together!

Remember when we used to spend hours crafting conversation games? Well, those days are over! This prompt will save you tons of time while sparking lively discussions in your classroom. Plus, it’s a breeze—just roll a die! The best part? It also sneaks in some essential grammar practice during conversations.

OPTION 1. THE TRADITIONAL TOUCH I AM SO FOND OF.

Now, this is the prompt I’ve written on ChatGPT. I have used ChatGPT, but you can use any of his friends-Gemini, Bard, Claude, Llama…etc.

Create a conversation game using a die, where each number corresponds to [six] questions. The questions should cover [advanced] grammar points such as [conditionals, relative clauses, modal verbs, passive voice, reported speech], and other [complex] structures. Some other questions should explore a variety of semantic fields such as [emotions, travel, relationships, work, and technology]. Group the questions under each dice number according to the grammar points or to the semantic fields.

Now, let me walk you through how to use this in your classroom:

  1. Go to ChatGPT and paste in the prompt. (Easy peasy, right?)
  2. Watch in awe as it generates a full set of questions grouped by die numbers.
  3. Copy the results and print them out. (Or go paperless and display them on your smart board)
  4. Grab a die and roll it twice for each conversation. The first roll picks the category, and the second roll selects the question students will answer.
  5. Put your students in pairs and let conversations flow.
  6. Add movement: after about 5 minutes, have students stand up and switch partners, roll the dice again to get a new question and keep the discussions lively and engaging. It’s a simple and effective way to spark interaction while reinforcing key grammar points!
  7. Wanna add to the fun? Then, use a giant foam dice and let students roll it!!! Have a look at mine!

Note: These questions have been created by ChatGPT with the input of the prompt above. You can modify the prompt to fit your students’ needs.


Click here to go full screen. Roll the die and answer the question by cristina.cabal

OPTION 2. INTERACTIVE AND TECH-POWERED

If you can think it, you can probably make it happen! Tech has never been more accessible. Everything’s at your fingertips—you just need to know where to look.

So guess what? I’ve taken the game above and given it a fresh, interactive twist! We’re talking paperless, more engaging, and way more fun. Imagine the same game, but now it’s fully interactive and tech-powered.

This is the prompt I have used  to feed the amazing website Websim. https://websim.ai/c/nXmnW5OcZ7UNFCbWN

Create an interactive page with this prompt. Create a conversation game using a die, where each number corresponds to [six] questions. The questions should cover [advanced] grammar points such as [conditionals, relative clauses, modal verbs, passive voice, reported speech], and other [complex] structures. Some other questions should explore a variety of semantic fields such as [emotions, travel, relationships, work, and technology].  The questions should be grouped by grammar category or semantic field. State which grammar point or semantic field each number corresponds to and include a text “www.cristinacabal.com” which will link to this website. The background should be light red.

And this is what I got. Well, what do you think?

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t AI taking over our jobs?” Fear not! This is where our expertise comes in. We can use the AI-generated questions as a starting point, then tweak and personalize them to fit our students’ needs and interests. This is really the perfect blend of efficiency and personalization!

We are not replacing our teaching skills; we’re enhancing them. We’re eliminating the tedious prep work so we can focus on what really matters – connecting with our students and creating those “aha!” moments we live for.

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