As requested, here's the interactive version of another song-based activity. Should you enjoy these, I will continue developing new. Any ideas?

🎵 Song Task: "Used To"

Match the beginning of the sentences with their logical endings by writing the correct number in the box.

Beginning

1. A long time ago we used to be friends...

2. I used to rule...

3. Sweep the streets...

4. I used to roll...

5. I used to love her...

6. I used to love...

7. I used to love an...

8. I used to love this rock...

9. This used to...

10. This used to be my childhood...

11. This used to be the place...

12. You and me, we used to...

13. I want it, the way this...

14. I used to be an A student...

15. I used to go to parties...

Endings

An English girl and now I love a little German girl

But I haven't thought of you lately at all

But I had to kill her

Used to be

The world

And roll world

The dice

Italian girl, and now I love an Argentinean girl

Dream

I used to own

Be my playground

Be together, everyday together, always

I ran to whenever I was in need

I used to drink champagne

I never used to complain

✍️ Writing Task

Choose one of the bands mentioned (like Coldplay or No Doubt). Write a short paragraph about how their music or image used to be compared to now.

Gerunds and Infinitives

This activity is definitely the most popular I have developed. Here's the interactive version many people have requested! I look forward to your comments to generate a third version :)

Gerunds or Infinitives? - Song Lyrics

Listen to the tracks and complete the lyrics using the correct form of the verb (Gerund or Infinitive).

1. I want (break) free.

2. When I'm home everything seems (be) right.

3. Just try (not worry) you'll see them some day... and stop (cry) your heart out.

4. Do you want (know) a secret? Do you promise (not tell)? ... say the words you long (hear).

5. I can't help (fall) in love with you.

6. Keep (roll).

7. Remember (think) twice.

8. When I learn (fly).

9. How can you complain, if it's the way it's meant (be).

10. I tried my best (feed) her appetite... pretending (feel) the same.

11. One love, we get (share) it.

12. We started (live) in an old house.

13. The tiger's waiting (be) tamed.

14. I don't mind (spend) every day... ask her if she wants (stay) awhile.

15. Trying (keep) up with you.

16. I don't feel like (do) anything, I just want (lay) in my bed. Stop (pick) up my phone.

17. I can't stand (lose) you.

18. Soul starts (spin) again, I can't stop (feel).

19. Remember (let) her into your heart then you can start (make) it better.

20. I never meant (hurt) you, I never meant (lie).

Creative Writing Prompt

Pick one of the musicians from the lesson. Write a short review of their music. Include three things you enjoy doing while listening to them and three things you plan to do to learn more about them.

The Minion's past

Minions: Past Perfect Discovery

1. Watch & Tick

Before they met Gru, what had happened? (0:00 - 1:00)

Seen dinosaurs
Killed their first master
Met the Pharaoh
Built a world wonder
Been with Napoleon

2. What's the Grammar Rule?

Analyze this sentence:

"Before they met Gru, they had seen the Dinosaurs."

A. What is the tense of the blue verb?

B. What is the tense of the red verb?

C. Which action happened first?

Tip: Use Past Perfect for the "earlier" of two past actions.

3. Practice the Trailer

1. Before they (become) Gru's servants, the minions (serve) Dracula.

2. They (kill) Dracula by the time they (move) to the pole.

3. They (lose) their purpose, that's why Kevin (decide) to set out.

4. They (spend) a lot of time at sea before they (get) to New York.

4. Writing Task

Write about another adventure the Minions had before meeting Gru. Use at least two Past Perfect sentences.

What happens at home while you are away

Level: A1 Kids & Young Teenagers

The Secret Life of Pets

1. Watch the Trailer

Watch the video carefully and pay attention to what the animals do when their owners leave.

2. Ability: Can or Can't?

Complete the sentences about animal abilities using "can" or "can't".

Elephants climb.

Dogs bite.

Snakes run.

Penguins fly.

Monkeys climb.

Horses jump.

Kangaroos walk backwards.

Sharks grow teeth.

Giraffes run.

Octopuses walk.

Flamingos swim.

Spiders climb.

Cats bite.

Birds fly.

Sharks stop moving.

3. Listening: Fill in the Blanks

Watch the scene with Max and Gidget again and complete their conversation.

Gidget: Bye Max.

Max: Hey Gidget.

Gidget: Any plans Gidget?

Max: Yes, big big stuff today Gidget. I've got big . I'm gonna here and I'm gonna for Katie to back.

Gidget: Oh that sounds . Well, I won't interrupt. I've got a very busy day too.

4. Creative Writing: My Secret Pet

Imagine what your pet (or a dream pet) does when you are at school. Write a short story about their secret life!

Fame and celebrities

Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (Level B2)

1. Watch the Trailer

2. Vocabulary: Choose the Correct Word

Select the word that best fits the context of the documentary.

1. The --?purposeachievement of this documentary is to get to know Taylor better.

2. She mentions feeling the --?pressurerelief to be a perfect role model for her fans.

3. The film offers an intimate --?glimpsesurvey into her private life.

4. After the backlash, she felt a need to --?rebrandconform her image.

5. She talks about the --?significantvisible change she felt when she stopped pleasing people.

6. The film captures the moment she decided to --?speak outhush up about political issues.

7. She had to learn to --?defyembrace the expectations placed on her.

8. The documentary explores her --?vulnerabilityarrogance and the toll of fame.

9. She reflects on the --?lonelinesscompanionship that often accompanies stardom.

10. The film shows her --?candidguarded moments, revealing her hidden side.

3. Class Challenge

🎮 Play the Blooket Game

4. Closure: Journalist Interview

Role-Play Task: Work in pairs. One is a Journalist, the other is Taylor Swift.

Journalist: Use B2 markers like "As I see it..." or "They appear to be..." to ask about her transformation.
Taylor: Use "To my mind..." or "I believe..." to explain your new perspective.

Life changes

Movie Task: Cloud Atlas

1. Complete the Sentences

Use the correct verb forms to contrast the person's life across different timelines.

The Past: In the past, he a doctor. He dishonest. He by ship.

The Present: Nowadays he a scientist. Now he very correct. He people in a different way.

The Future: In the future, we don't know how he . He by car or he .

2. Trailer Comprehension

Watch the trailer and determine if these statements are True (T) or False (F).

Statement	Result (T/F)
The song sounds familiar to the woman.
The young man plays music the old man dreamed of.
The man experienced a déjà vu.
In the future, the waitresses have the same face.

3. Cloud Atlas Monologue

Fill in the missing verbs from the trailer's narration.

"Yesterday, my life headed in one direction. Today, it headed in another... Fear, belief, love—phenomena that determine the course of our lives. These forces begin long before we born and continue after we . Our lives not our own. We bound to others. By each crime and every kindness, we birth our future. I believe there another world waiting for us, a better world, and I waiting for you there."

4. Creative Writing: Your Life Map

How has your life changed? Write a short description using these expressions:

As a child, I used to... | Five years ago, I... | Nowadays I... | Next year, I'm going to... | In ten years, I might...

Biography writing

Movie Task: Bohemian Rhapsody

Level: CEFR B1 (Intermediate)

Instructions: Watch the trailer, complete the comprehension tasks, and use the guide at the bottom to write a short biography of Freddie Mercury.

Part 1: True or False

1. Freddie Mercury’s life was extraordinary.
T F

2. They needed a new lead singer.
T F

3. They didn’t like to experiment.
T F

4. He was a legend.
T F

Part 2: Biography & Past Simple

Freddie Mercury (be) born in Zanzibar. He (spend) time in India where he (study) piano. Later, he (go) to the Ealing College of Art. He (meet) Roger Taylor and Brian May. They (play) their first gig in 1971. Mercury (be) a showman who (know) how to entertain. He (like) to wear costumes and (run) around the stage.

---

Part 3: Writing Activity (Closure)

Use the following prompts to organize your ideas and write a short biography of Freddie Mercury.

Early Life	Childhood	Adulthood
- Name - Birthplace - Date of Birth - Family background	- Where did he live? - Where did he go to school? - Early experiences	- Education & Jobs - Bands & Success - Major achievements

Extreme Sports/ Extreme Adjectives

 Hi everyone,

Today I am sharing a lesson plan to talk about extreme sports and apply gradable and extreme adjectives and relative clauses. It's designed for B2 students or above.

I am trying to catch up with all the requests I have gotten in the last weeks. Google has changed its policies regarding sharing content and for the many messages I am getting, I understand that you are not being able to access the content. As I work out a way to make sure everyone can access all the content available in the blog, I will be granting you permission ASAP. It's great to see many people use the materials anyway, silver lining. 

 

I take advantage of this post to let you know that tomorrow I will be presenting at the re-evolution 2.0 convention. 

You can register for free here: 

Stay tuned,

Claudio

I wish I could have someone write this post :)

Hi everyone, 

It's been great to hear from you on LinkedIn, by mail, and other platforms! Thank you so much for the feedback and your nice words. I encourage you to leave your comments here as well, that way we can all profit from your reflections and ideas. 

After teaching for some years, I've noticed that students (at least mine) sometimes find it hard to understand the form, use, and meaning of causative verbs. That's why I decided to create a lesson plan to try to tackle the 3 of them.  

 

What do you think?

Stay tuned,

Claudio

Gerunds and infinitives

 Hi everyone!

Today I am sharing a new version of one of my most popular activities: the assessment of gerunds and infinitives through songs. I look forward to having a third version, that's why I await your recommendations! I want to thank my student Celeste Giraudo for her help in the making of this one. 

 

International Event

 Look forward to seeing you there!

The future looks good

Hi everyone,

It's been a whiiiiiile but it's my pleasure to say that I am back! The future looks uncertain and challenging rather than good and that's why I wanted to start sharing again. I believe that more than ever we need to enrich our practices by sharing and collaborating. Due to this, I will juggle work, training, studying and my two babies to try to make my contribution :). 

I sure hope this re-birth of the blog is a lot more collaborative and not as one-sided as it has been in the past; I want to hear your voices as well. Without further comments, here's the first post of 2021. In this lesson, we will introduce future tenses, attach the different purposes to each structure and try to find a meaningful production for students to apply what we have covered. This is meant to be used with B2 students. I hope you like it.

Here you have the videos:

And the Slides:

I took all the pictures used in this post from pexels.com.

How would you close this lesson in a meaningful way for your students?

I await your comments.

Families come in all shapes! :)

Infinite numbers, endless calculations.

Hi everyone,

Today I'm sharing an activity to work on the use of numbers and daily routines for A2 students. I used the opening scene from Stranger than fiction, where we become acquainted with Harold Crick's routine.

I hope you find it useful.



Here's the scene:

Here's the worksheet.

Stay tuned,
Claudio

Likes/ Hobbies

Hey Everyone!

It's so nice to be back. Thanks for all the nice comments, mails, etc. that you've sent me throughout these months, it's really rewarding to receive feedback and to hear that you find the material useful.

Today I'm sharing an activity for elementary young students to work on the use of possessives, and for them to share their preferences. I used this funny scene from the movie "Home".

Here's the activity:

  

Here's the scene:

Here's the worksheet.

Stay tuned,

Claudio

Limitless

Hi everyone,

Today I'm sharing an activity I created to talk about brain power and to go over the use of adjectives with ed or ing.

I've been using infographics for a while since they are a very dynamic and appealing way to present, analyze and use data. If you are not acquainted with them, I recommend them for your classes. There are many website where you can find them; these are the three I use the most:

http://elearninginfographics.com/

http://www.dailyinfographic.com/

http://infographicworld.com/

Here's one that tackles both topics, infographics in relation with the brain.

I had to work with a reading about the way we could enhance our brain capacity and I wanted to revise the use of adjectives with ed and ing, since I had noticed my students were having some trouble applying them. That's why I created this activity.

As a warm up I asked them what they knew about the brain and showed them some infographics: the way the brain works, the brain on coffee and alcohol, etc.

After they watched the trailer and completed the activity, they read the article on tips for enhancing their brain. Finally they discussed which of the tips the found more useful; applying the adjectives they had seen in the movie.

That's all.

Stay tuned,
Claudio

100.000 visits!

Hi everyone,

Wow! It's quite a number. This blog started as a course final project and it has exceeded my
expectations. It's really rewarding to read nice words from people all over the world about the materials, the tips, the ideas.

Somebody once asked me "why do you take so much time to make an effort and give away your work?". Because I believe in collaboration was my answer. I believe that we have the tools so as to work in a more collaborative fashion, and that way, enrich our practices and come up with better ideas. I have to add now, that it's worth it.

I'm sharing today a couple of activities to talk about culture shocks, perceptions, paradigms, methodology, ideals and or tradition and if you will, the very foundation of our teaching practices. Having recently talked about 21st century education, I decided to use two movies which take place in the educational context.

I hope you find it useful and as always, I await your feedback.

After generating ideas to defend one position or the other, have student's watch the following trailer and role play a discussion between the school authorities and Miss Watson.

Here's the worksheet

Stay tuned,

Claudio

Phrasal Verb Monster

Hi everyone!

Today I'm sharing a brand new activity I haven't even used with my own students on phrasal verbs. I was trying to explain the use of causative verbs with this trailer, and found out that it was a great example of the many phrasal verbs people use when they speak; in my experience, students are a bit afraid of phrasal verbs. That's why I generated this activity for students to match thirteen phrasal verbs with their definitions and apply them to a situation. The movie trailer is very intense and it is my intention to use that emotional component to fix these thirteen phrasal verbs! Let me know if it actually works ;)

NB: I developed this activity to be used with adults or young adults given the complexity of the topic and the violence shown.

Here's the task:




Here's the trailer:

Here's the worksheet.

Regarding the material requested by some people, I promise I will be sending you the info this week.

As usual, I await your comments.

Stay tuned,
Claudio

Shopping, likes and dislikes

Hey everyone!

I must confess I'm really happy to see that the blog is about to reach 90 thousand visits. Thanks to all the people who take the time to send feedback and comments, it has been the blog´s main objective since the beginning.

Today I'm sharing an activity to work on opinions, likes and dislikes, gambits and adjectives. I hope you find it useful.

Here you have the videos:

And here's the worksheet.

I look forward to hearing from you, as usual.

Stay tuned,

Claudio

Unexpected events

Hi everyone,

The posts are back! I missed it already.

Today I'm sharing a lesson plan I used with my students, for them to discover, practice and apply the use of simple past and past continuous. We were talking about vacations and cultural differences, and I decided to use two scenes from Outsourced and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

As usual, I await your feedback.

Here's the first video:

Here's the second video:

Here's the worksheet.

Stay tuned,

Claudio