Teaching tools and ideas for ELT

Sometimes you need inspiration more than you need a particular resource, a good idea that can be adapted for any class and any level. Here is a selection of tried and tested ideas, handed on from teacher to teacher, to get you started.

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36.4 k 31.7 k Word recognition game (16/08/2010) Related resources: Pronunciation | Vocabulary | Young learners (under 12) | Teaching ideas The 'traditional' version of this game has children running up to the board to circle words in their team's colour. For a more sedate lesson, try making the whizzy adaptation for interactive Magnet.

26.4 k 27.1 k Bat and ball (10/05/2010) Related resources: Vocabulary | Teaching ideas A word associations game where students volley words backwards and forwards across the class. If you use a real soft ball or a ball of paper it's even more fun!

31.0 k 34.3 k Build a story (10/05/2010) Related resources: Writing | Teaching ideas Also known as 'Consequences' – a chain story written round the class, with some surprising results. Includes a fairytale version too.

36.3 k 33.3 k Pen pictures (10/05/2010) Related resources: Writing | Grammar | Teenagers | Teaching ideas Students practise the past simple, present simple and present perfect by writing descriptions of famous people and guessing who their classmates have described.

52.0 k 39.4 k Time safe (05/05/2010) Related resources: Speaking | Teaching ideas Discussion on the things we would save to show to future generations. A thought-provoking way of doing fluency work on the subjects of books, media, music, politics, art and fashion. B1 | B2 | C1 | C2

48.7 k 33.3 k Gossip (19/04/2010) Related resources: Listening | Pronunciation | Young learners (under 12) | Teaching ideas | Intonation A chant full of idiomatic expressions to practise stress-timing and intonation. Students get the opportunity to invent their own gossip too. B1 | B2 | C1

60.9 k 40.4 k Mathematical magic (06/04/2010) Related resources: Listening | Vocabulary | Young learners (under 12) | Teenagers | Teaching ideas | Numbers Fun tricks with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Can also be extended to writing algebraic formulas to explain the magic. Ideal for a CLIL/EAL maths class.

54.1 k 38.4 k Noughts and crosses (06/04/2010) Related resources: Vocabulary | Young learners (under 12) | Teaching ideas A variation of the classic game which has students grouping picture or word cards into lexical sets. Perfect for revising vocabulary from the following resources: 10277, 11767, 11775, 11784, 12185, 12876, 13061.

54.2 k 41.5 k Heads and tails (06/04/2010) Related resources: Pronunciation | Vocabulary | Teaching ideas Guess the word from the first and last letter. Alternatively, give the head only or the tail only to practise consonant clusters. Useful for highlighting the fact that the same letter(s) may correspond to several different sounds.

59.1 k 59.4 k Building pyramids (30/03/2010) Related resources: Vocabulary | Teaching ideas | Spelling Build up words by adding a letter at a time and see who can make the biggest 'pyramid'.

69.2 k 33.8 k Vocabulary games with Wordles (24/11/2009) Related resources: Teaching ideas Original, colourful and inspiring ways of pre-teaching or revising vocabulary using Wordles: http://www.wordle.net/.

22.2 k 38.9 k 'Tom's Diner' by Suzanne Vega (23/11/2009) Related resources: Listening | Writing | Grammar | Teaching ideas | Music Practise the present continuous with this modern classic. Students get to write their own descriptive passage or song. Shows that simple language can be very evocative. A2 | B1

20.7 k 29.7 k Interactive dictation (02/11/2009) Related resources: Reading | Listening | Writing | Teaching ideas This activity can be used at any level and for any group of learners. It combines getting things exactly right (the dictation part) and being creative.

34.2 k 30.7 k Talk time ... a variation of speed dating (02/11/2009) Related resources: Speaking | Teaching ideas | Getting to know you Fun fluency practice or first-lesson ice-breaker. Can be adapted to any level. Includes a useful homework suggestion and an assessment for the teacher to gauge the success of the activity.

23.3 k 39.9 k Supermarket challenge (02/11/2009) Related resources: Speaking | Writing | Teaching ideas | Food and drink (intermediate) Can your students feed a family of four for £5 (or equivalent)? A series of lesson ideas based on supermarket magazines and recipe cards.

53.2 k 62.0 k Using monolingual dictionaries (28/10/2009) Related resources: Vocabulary | Teaching ideas A treasure trove of suggestions to enrich teachers' teaching and learners' learning.

30.7 k 65.0 k Turn the classroom into a travel agent's (10/08/2009) Related resources: Speaking | Teaching ideas | Travel Extended speaking practice with a minimum of preparation and materials!

81.0 k 56.8 k Word web (30/06/2009) Related resources: Vocabulary | Young learners (under 12) | Teenagers | Teaching ideas A creepy version of Hangman, highly suitable for a Halloween lesson or for Harry Potter fans, but not recommended for arachnophobes!

45.7 k 55.3 k Communicative writing tasks (28/04/2009) Related resources: Writing | Teaching ideas Do your students complain about doing writing in class? Do you and the students sometimes get bored with writing classes? Here are some activity suggestions that will make writing fun and communicative.

54.2 k 31.7 k What's wrong? (16/04/2009) Related resources: Listening | Young learners (under 12) | Teaching ideas Ideas for getting children to identify and correct mistakes – useful for EAL or CLIL as it can be used with any subject matter. The topic suggested here is animals.

36.0 k 38.4 k Words and shapes (16/04/2009) Related resources: Writing | Vocabulary | Young learners (under 12) | Teaching ideas Children visualise meaning and practise collocations and lexical sets with these simple poems.

61.8 k 163.8 k Fun with grids (08/04/2009) Related resources: Vocabulary | Teaching ideas Lots of suggestions for word games with grids, including simple crosswords and a DIY version of Scrabble.

37.6 k 30.2 k Giving and following instructions (08/04/2009) Related resources: Speaking | Listening | Young learners (under 12) | Teaching ideas Includes 'Simon says' and a game where children pretend they are remote-controlled robots. Loads of fun and particularly good outdoors!

26.0 k 25.1 k Collecting real English (23/03/2009) Related resources: Vocabulary | Young learners (under 12) | Teaching ideas Children use packets and adverts to explore the use of English words in their own language. Perfect for a very first English lesson or a project on advertising.

54.4 k 43.0 k Rhymes and chants (23/03/2009) Related resources: Listening | Pronunciation | Teaching ideas Some lovely ideas for practising word stress and sentence stress. No musical ability or instruments required!

90.8 k 947.7 k 221.0 k Jaws (02/03/2009) Related resources: Vocabulary | Young learners (under 12) | Teaching ideas A less ethically questionable but equally grizzly version of Hangman! Try the Promethean Flipchart adaptation for interactive whiteboards.

57.9 k 71.7 k Using Mr. Bean in the EFL classroom (03/02/2009) Related resources: Speaking | Listening | Teaching ideas | Books and movies Students love Mr. Bean and he's great for all levels. Here are some great suggestions for using Mr. Bean clips in 'split watching' communicative activities and to practise conditionals and modals. NB You will need to have access to the video clips on DVD or on YouTube.

36.6 k 62.5 k Using concordance lines in the EFL classroom (14/11/2008) Related resources: Grammar | Vocabulary | Teaching ideas Demystifies concordances and corpora and suggests some points to explore.

29.3 k 90.1 k Storytelling (18/06/2008) Related resources: Speaking | Writing | Teaching ideas Wonderfully creative suggestions to draw on students' hidden wealth of experiences and imaginative flair. Although the examples given are mainly suited to advanced students, they can be adapted to most levels.

27.2 k 32.8 k Illustrated stories (04/06/2008) Related resources: Listening | Young learners (under 12) | Teaching ideas | Narrative Teacher's notes to accompany the illustrated stories: Mini and Maxi mice meet; The time machine.

43.0 k 57.3 k Categories game (04/04/2008) Related resources: Vocabulary | Teaching ideas The game Categories can be played at all levels and is useful for practising the alphabet as well as activating and revising vocabulary.

24.2 k 35.3 k Disappearing words (28/03/2008) Related resources: Vocabulary | Teaching ideas Revising new vocabulary; spelling.

17.3 k 34.8 k Match the faces (28/03/2008) Related resources: Listening | Teaching ideas | Pictures Practising the vocabulary of facial description.

24.1 k 35.3 k My route (28/03/2008) Related resources: Listening | Teaching ideas Practising the language of explaining a route and giving directions.

18.2 k 38.4 k Your version, my version (28/03/2008) Related resources: Listening | Teaching ideas Listening for detail, correcting information.

16.6 k 37.4 k Association trees (28/03/2008) Related resources: Vocabulary | Teaching ideas Two lessons on revising and linking vocabulary.

16.4 k 32.3 k What am I thinking of? (28/03/2008) Related resources: Vocabulary | Teaching ideas Playful ideas for revising and expanding vocabulary.

15.8 k 31.7 k Follow me and answer (28/03/2008) Related resources: Listening | Teaching ideas An easy-to-use activity to practise listening for specific information.

15.7 k 32.3 k Stop me if it's wrong (28/03/2008) Related resources: Speaking | Listening | Teaching ideas A short, fun activity to practise listening for detail; correcting incorrect information.

16.0 k 35.3 k Spelling & vocabulary revision (28/03/2008) Related resources: Vocabulary | Teaching ideas A resource to use with any level to revise vocabulary and spelling.

25.3 k 33.8 k Real talk, real listening (28/03/2008) Related resources: Speaking | Listening | Teaching ideas | Pictures A stress-free resource to offer students an authentic, teacher-driven listening experience.

16.4 k 35.3 k Find the story (28/03/2008) Related resources: Listening | Teaching ideas A resource to practise intensive listening to a narrative for information, and the use of context to promote questioning for further information and the prediction of details.

13.9 k 30.2 k Speaking cycles (18/03/2008) Related resources: Speaking | Teaching ideas Handy notes explaining the concept of speaking cycles, a technique aimed at maximising the attention of students, whether in the role of listeners or speakers. The notes are divided into two sections, rationale and procedure.

35.0 k 109.1 k Spelling games (21/02/2008) Related resources: Vocabulary | Teaching ideas Two handy spelling games to use as warm-up activities. Suitable for all levels and guaranteed to get your students going!

25.0 k 31.7 k Name games (25/01/2008) Related resources: Speaking | Young learners (under 12) | Teenagers | Teaching ideas | Getting to know you Ideas for helping the class get to know each other.