Vocabulary Poker – Vocabulary Activity

Vocabulary Poker is a great game for practicing vocabulary and semantic fields. It’s easy to play and great fun for the students. Although it can be played by beginners, it’s probably best for intermediate and advanced students. NB in some countries it may be culturally inappropriate to use a term […]

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Varieties of English Spelling

There are several major varieties of English‏‎: American, British, Australian and so on. This article looks at differences in spelling between these. It is a general guide which covers the majority of cases, however remember that there are exceptions which will need to be taught to your TEFL class on […]

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Using Realia in TEFL Teaching

The word real on which this word is built gives a big clue to what realia is. In foreign language instruction realia are real-life objects used in the classroom to illustrate and teach vocabulary‏‎ or to help students learn and produce. Realia can consist of almost anything including both objects […]

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Twenty Questions – speaking & listening activity

Twenty Questions is a simple game which can be played in class with minimal preparation. It is ideal for practicing both vocabulary (notably semantic fields) as well as making questions. Preparation Collect a group of pictures or photographs with different objects on them. (You can laminate these to make them […]

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The Most Common Words in English

In 1953 the General Service List was published. This was a list of about 2,000 most commonly used words in English. For many years this was used as a basis for materials writing. This list was useful in learning because anyone who knew all the words on the list would […]

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