Tag Archives: C1

The Animal Kingdom: A Multi-Skill Lesson Plan for C1 Students

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Packed with engaging activities, this lesson plan about the animal kingdom is going to become your favourite. Trust me!!!

Have you noticed that it seems like everyone’s got a furry friend these days, and not so many babies? Parks are full of dog walkers, not strollers, you know what I mean? This is one of the things we’ll talk about in this lesson.

I was actually planning to publish this when I was not so busy with classes and teacher’s sessions, but I could not wait to get this into your hands because it is a lesson that worked really well. So before I forget, here it is! A lesson plan for C1 students about the animal kingdom and endangered species.

What you will find in this post is:

  • 2 Warm-up Activities
  • Revising and introducing the name of some animals
  • Vocabulary to talk about endangered species
  • Personalized Listening Comprehension
  • Grammar Game: Impersonal Passive
  • Out of their Seats: Controversial statements + some help
Warm-Up One: Sparking Discussion

If you have been reading me for some time, you know how much I like to play with IA, so to engage my students and spark discussion I have generated this image using Microsoft Designer.

In my experience, displaying the image is enough to create debate, but in case you need it, here is some help.

Question: It’s interesting to note the trend of more people opting for pets over having children. What do you think are some of the factors driving this shift in lifestyle choices?

Follow-up Questions: Have you observed this trend in your own social circles or community? How prevalent do you think it is? What do you believe are some of the advantages and disadvantages of having pets instead of children?

Warm-Up Two: Revising Animal Names Students already Know

Building upon prior knowledge is essential for effective learning, wouldn’t you agree?

In this spirit, I have asked my  C1 students to write a list of 10 wild animals excluding the usual : tiger, elephant, lion, zebra…. OK, you get it! I have given them one minute, and we have written the most interesting ones on the board, practising pronunciation.

Ready to revise and introduce some new ones?

Introducing New Vocabulary + Pronunciation
  • Endangered species
  • Threatened ,
  • On the verge of extinction
  • To become extinct
  • Deforestation
  • Habitat
  • Carnivore, herbivore, omnivore
  • Predator
  • food chain,
  • environmentalist,
  • ecosystem,
  • conservation effort,
  • global warming, recover,
  • vulnerable,
  • reforestation,
  • poach,
  • wildlife
  • to decline,
  • overhunt, overharvest, overfish,
  • To breed in captivity,
Helping Students pronounce better:

A word of warning: I forgot to insert some pauses in-between words, so you might need to stop the audio after each word. Sorry, but I realized once I was playing it for my students and I didn’t feel like doing it all over again.

ANIMALS VOCABULARY by cristina.cabal

Personalized Listening Comprehension
PDF here

Animals Listening comprehension by cristina.cabal

If you are wondering why I like using AI so much, I think this lesson is a good example. Most of the time, I am pressed for time and I don’t feel like trawling the internet or the hundred books on the shelves of the English department looking for the right listening comprehension, so now, I just create my own listening comprehension activities with the vocabulary that is relevant for my students. In this case, I have asked ChatGPT to create the text and then used Eleven Labs to read it. Easy-peasy!!

Grammar: Animals: Fact or Myth? Working with Impersonal Passive
Grammar and exercises here

That was fun.

  • I divided the class into teams and asked Team 1 to choose an animal. A representative read the sentence aloud and all teams – and this is really important-have to work  on their notebooks writing two impersonal passive sentences for each statement. Give them about  2 minutes to write both sentences. For example:

People believe that opossums are hanging by their tails.

  • It is believed that opossums are hanging by their tails
  • Opossums are believed to be hanging by their tails
  • When time’s up, ask the representative for Team 1 to read both sentences. If both are correct, Surprise!!!!! they’ll  get 1 point. If they are wrong or one of them is wrong, shout “NO” and the first team to raise their hand have the chance to say the correct sentence and get 1 point. Click on the PASSIVE button in the infographic to check it.
  • Now, back to Team 1. Ask, do you think the statement is a fact or a myth? Hover over the picture to read the answer.

 

 

Speaking: The Three Corners.
Material: Posters
Cards: here and here
  • Take 3 pieces of paper and write the following words on each: “I AGREE”, “I DISAGREE”, and if you have many students, “I AM UNSURE”. Place these papers in different corners of your classroom.
  • Explain they will see a poster with a debatable statement about animals and they will need to choose the corner that best represents how they feel about the statement.
  •  Explain that in their corners, they will need to talk about the reasons for their choice and develop strong arguments to support their opinion, as they will be challenged by students with opposing views. Encourage the use of vocabulary.
  • Give them enough time to come up with their own arguments to justify their position.
  • After a 10-minute discussion, ask students from both corners to face each other.
  •  Battle: This is the part I like best. Ask students to choose someone from the opposing corner. Pair them up and tell them they have 5 minutes to try to convince each other, using strong arguments,  to switch corners. For drama, ask them to use the phrase: “I challenge X”.

Note: Again, using AI, I have helped my students with some ideas to support their opinion. Of course, this is entirely optional, but I felt my class needed some modelling to get started. Here you’ll find the cards for two of the statements. Animal testing here and Animals in circuses here

I know writing is missing from this lesson plan. Keep posted! It’s coming!

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Politics: Biden and Trump Visit my Class. A Lesson Created with AI.

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Picture this. Me announcing to my C1 students that the next lesson in the textbook was going to revolve around Politics. To be honest, any other year, I would have probably shared my students’ feeling of apathy or disinterest.  But this year I was really looking forward to this lesson as AI is shaking things up in my English class!

Imagine my students’ jaws dropping when I announced a class debate featuring… wait for it… virtual versions of Biden and Trump! And both using the vocabulary we have been studying, revising and reinforcing.

In this lesson for C1 students, you will find

  • Tailor-made texts using specific vocabulary
  • Talking avatars reading these texts to create a listening comprehension activity
  • Mediation activity using the talking avatars and the texts
  • Speaking activity using target vocabulary

How I Did it

Using ChatGPT to Generate Text Using Target Vocabulary

Prompt: You are an English teacher. Write a text divided into paragraphs. Each paragraph should be preceded by a heading. The headings should be: economic policies and immigration policies. Write it from a Republican point of view. Write a short paragraph for each heading, using C1 English and include such as the verbs benefit, trigger, boost, undermine, bankrupt, to earn peanuts, to be into, compound, combat, and lead

I repeated the same prompt but asking ChatGPT to generate the text from a Democrat point of view.

Listening Comprehension: creating talking avatars to read the text

I created two separate talking avatars. I created Joe Biden and uploaded the text generated by ChatGPT, and then did the same for Donald Trump, and uploaded them to YouTube. This step was important as I wanted to use Twee.com to generate the comprehension questions, which you can find here.

Mediation Activity

Download:  Joe Biden PDF, Donald Trump PDF

And … we shouldn’t let the visit of these two politicians to our class go to waste, so the next step will be to use these talking avatars for a mediation activity, hitting several birds with one stone.

  • help students boost pronunciation
  • help students boost speaking and mediation skills
Steps:

Note:The day before, I asked my students to bring their earbuds and mobile phone s with a QR Code reader installed for the next class.

During the class, I organized the students into two groups – Republicans and Democrats – and paired them up accordingly. I handed out copies with Joe Biden to the Democrats and photocopies featuring Donald Trump to the Republicans.

Aim: engage in a mediation activity by conveying the information to the other candidate using your own words.

Instructions:
  • Scan the QR code to listen to the candidate reading the text. Repeat as many times as necessary until you feel confident in pronouncing the vocabulary correctly.
  • Take notes of what each candidate says. Note: You don’t have to copy word by word.

Joe Biden:

C1 Politics Joe Biden by cristina.cabal
Donald Trump

C1 Politics D. Trump by cristina.cabal

  • Time allotted for individual work in this part: 15 minutes
  • Finally, pair up students and ask them to retell their part, trying to use the target vocabulary. This part might take another 15 minutes.
Speaking: Retrieval Practice
  • Give students one minute to write in their notebooks all the vocabulary words they remember from this unit.
  • When the minute is up, ask the students to say their words and write the most interesting ones on the board.
  • Put the students in pairs or groups of three, underline two/three words and ask students the first questions, asking them to try to use all or some of the words underlined on the board.

 

  1. How important is it for individuals to stay informed about current political events?
  2. Do you think there’s a growing sense of disconnect between politicians and the people they represent? Why or why not?
  3. What do you think are the most important qualities for a good leader?
  4. Do you think that social media can be used to trigger political polarization? If so, how?
  5. What are the most important factors that people consider when casting their vote?
  6. Does the current political landscape adequately represent the diverse voices and needs of society? If not, what needs to change?
  7. Are there particular areas of policy you’re interested in, like education, healthcare, or the environment?

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Back to Basics: Conditional Sentences with Two Decks of Cards

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Imagine being asked this question: If you were abducted by aliens, would you tell anybody? or this one, If you could switch lives with someone for a week, living their experiences and routines, who would it be and why?   Imagine being prompted to use an alternative to IF in your answer like, for example, as long as or provided.

Fun, challenging and …. grammar-oriented

When preparing a lesson, I normally try to design activities that help students reinforce what we have been working with; more often than not, they have a communicative approach, as I firmly believe in giving students ample opportunity to put into practice what they’ve been studying.

And if there is one thing that clearly defines the way I teach is how I try to keep a balance between traditional teaching and the latest technology. These last weeks were all about AI; and today, we are going for traditional. The very traditional cards.

Materials:
  1. Questions. One deck of cards featuring engaging and entertaining conversation questions, each formulated as a conditional sentence. These questions include prompts like:
  •  If you were abducted by aliens, would you tell anybody? Why?
  • If you could have a conversation with your younger self, what advice would you give?
  • If you were granted two wishes, what would be your choices?
  • …etc

provided by ChatGPT, if I may say so.

2. Alternatives to IF: one set of cards containing alternatives to IF: provided (that), on condition that, supposing, as long as… etc.

Before the class, prepare a set with both types of cards for each group of 4 students.

Get the PDF here

Condtional Prompts by cristina.cabal

How to go about it
  • Put students into groups of 3–5 students and give them a set of cards with questions and a set of cards with alternatives to If.
  • Instruct students to place the cards face down on the table
  • Ask each student to draw a Question Card and an If-Alternative Card, and allow them some thinking time.
  • Emphasize the importance of elaborating on their answers rather than providing brief responses. In their answers, they will have to try to use the words in the If-Alternative card and speak for about 2 minutes, at the end of which they should pose their question to the members of their group.
  • Rotate turns, repeating the procedure for each student.
  • With my students, we have done two rounds of questions

Creative Collaborative Writing with a Touch of Fun to Fix Fossilized Errors

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It might not be your case, but most teachers, including myself, do not dedicate enough time to practise writing in class. And this needs to be fixed because students may simply get better if given the right guidance and enough practice. However, I think it’s crucial that we ask them to reflect on their errors and then, ask them to make the necessary corrections, rather than just correcting them ourselves.

This exercise you are about to read is fun, creative, and collaborative; it gets students out of their seats but most importantly, gives them an opportunity to learn from their mistakes and fix fossilized errors.

On Fossilized Errors

Fossilized errors are persistent mistakes that students make despite repeated correction. You know what I am talking about, don’t you?  While teachers play an important role in identifying and correcting these errors, it is imperative for students to take ownership and  conscientiously analyse and rectify their errors; that’s, in my experience, the most effective way to eliminate them.  If you ask me and generally speaking, when students are given a composition with corrected errors, they just have a quick look at them, but they don’t truly reflect on their mistake and then, inevitably, they are bound to make the same mistake over and over again.

IMPORTANT:For this activity, I have used a classroom that has several small whiteboards on the walls. I am not going to deny that using these whiteboards is more appealing, but what if you don’t have these cute whiteboards? No problem, it will work just the same with A3 or A4 paper (the bigger, the better)

Step by Step

STEP 1: FORMING PAIRS AND GETTING A STORY STARTER

  1. Pair up students.
  2. Display the visual below and explain that the boxes contain different story starters. Ask pairs to choose a box. The sentence inside the box will be the beginning of their story. All pairs must choose a different box, meaning they will all have different beginnings.
  3.  I have asked each pair of students to stand next to a board  (alternatively, as explained, a A3 or A4 sheet of paper ) and write the beginning of their story.
  4. Give students about 5/6 minutes to continue the story in any way they fancy.

STEP 2: ADDING A RANDOM PROMPT AND A CONNECTOR OF CONTRAST

After approx 5 minutes, draw students’ attention and ask a volunteer for the whole class to

  • choose a box from the exercise below. Pairs will have to continue the story, incorporating the prompt in the box. Right after opening the box with the prompt,
  • click on the wheel  (fed with connectors of contrast and purpose and some verbs) and ask them to continue the story using the connector/verb randomly picked in the wheel.

Give students 5 or 6 minutes to continue the story.


How many times have I repeated Step 2? 

I have repeated this procedure three times (i.e. three prompts+ three connectors). Make sure you tell them when they need to finish their stories.

Step 3. Giving students Feedback on their Writing 

Give students something to do while you quickly underline the mistakes in their writings. Keywords here: underline their mistakes. I don’t correct them, I underline them. This is vital if you want students to get rid of errors.

Step 4. Students correct their mistakes

Ask students to stand up in their pairs and comment, reflect and try to fix the underlined mistakes.

Important: I ask them not to delete the original text so that I can have it as a reference.

Step 5.  Quickly give feedback on their corrections
Step 6. Students vote for the best story

Student stand up again, read their classmates’ stories, and individually vote for the best. They do it by drawing a heart next to the story they like best.

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Exploring Cities: 3 Classroom Activities to Supercharge Speaking Skills

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I am not saying these three activities are great, but I am saying they are

  • visual
  • engaging
  • effective
  • dynamic
  • collaborative
  • thought-provoking
  • challenging
  • Interactive
  • … shall I continue?

So, they are the perfect answer to introduce and end a lesson about our cities and future cities.

1. INTRODUCING

Ask students to discuss the following question in pairs or small groups:

When you think about the concept of a futuristic city, what kind of city comes to mind?

USEFUL VOCABULARY

  • Sustainable development
  • Megacity
  • Vertical farming
  • Urban sprawl
  • Green architecture
  • High-speed rail
  • Smart city
  • Zero-emission autonomous vehicles
  • Renewable Energy
  • Sustainable Transportation
  • Eco-City
  • Drone Deliver

Display the pictures and allow students time to comment in pairs and then,  have a whole class discussion. These images are unique and, as I am sure you have guessed, created with AI.

HOUSING by cristina.cabal

2. DISCUSSING: GIVING A STUDENTS A CHOICE

This activity is designed to engage students in debates and discussions based on their chosen statements.

Before the class

  • In each corner of the classroom, hang a clothesline by using a rope and some adhesive hooks. You will need to assign a corner to each group of 4-5 students
  • Depending on the number of students you have, you will need to print as many sets of cards (one set for each corner) as groups in your class.
  • If you make groups of 5 students, you will need to come up with 5 controversial statements. You can read mine below. You will also need clothes pins to hang the cards on the clothesline. Assign a clothesline to each group.

During the class

  • Give the students a photocopy with some functional language to express opinion, agree and disagree with someone else’s opinion. Ask them to choose 3 or 4 expressions from each list and encourage them to use these expressions in this activity.
  • Divide the class into 4 groups and assign each group to one of the four corners of the classroom.
  • Tell the students to stand up, go to their assigned corner, and choose the statement (phrase) they like the most or believe they can argue for or against effectively from the cards hanging on their group’s clothesline.
  • Have the students sit down and give them 5 minutes to prepare their arguments.
  • Start the debate within each group. Student A should begin by showing their card, stating whether they are in favour of or against the statement, and presenting their reasons.
  • Encourage other group members to listen carefully, take notes, and contribute their opinions to the discussion.
  • After Student A has finished, it’s Student B’s turn to present their card and arguments.

These are the controversial statements I have used for this activity

AGREE OR DISAGREE by cristina.cabal

3. THE HOUSING CRISIS. ORAL MEDIATION: retelling in groups

Lead-in activity

Give each student a piece of paper and ask them to write down one idea for addressing the housing crisis. It could be an affordable housing initiative, a zoning policy, or a rent control measure. Collect the papers and randomly distribute them to different students. Put the students in groups of three and ask them to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the idea on their piece of paper with their group.

The activity

I have used AI to turn text into speech to enhance students’ pronunciation. You will find the QR Code with the audio on page 2  (below).

  • The handout below, Housing Crisis in Cities, is divided into three parts: causes, consequences and solutions
  • Divide the class in groups of 3 students and assign each student in the group a part ( causes. …). Ask them to individually read their part once, underlining any new vocabulary. Divide the whiteboard into three columns( causes, consequences and solutions)  and ask students to contribute with the vocabulary they have underlined. Explain meanings.

  • Once all vocabulary issues have been solved, give students about 5-10 minutes to read their part several times. If they want to improve pronunciation, instruct them to listen to their part  (audio provided by the QRCode). PDF here. 
  • Ask the students that have been assigned Causes of the Housing Crisis to retell the information they have read in as much detail as possible, and then ask the students in their group to contribute with their own ideas by asking :  Can you list more reasons behind/ consequences of /solutions for the housing crisis?
  • Repeat procedure for Consequences and Solutions, with students contributing with their own ideas.
  • Finally, engage students in a whole-class discussion.

Housing crisis by cristina.cabal

Follow-up: Give your students this quote: “Housing is a basic human right, and it is the responsibility of governments to ensure that everyone has access to safe, affordable, and stable housing.” Ask them to express their opinion about it.

More activities revolving around Cities