This is a booklet with exercises based on a graded reader by Pearson/Penguin on Forrest Gump (A2) level. It is primarily designed for French kids as difficult words are translated into French; however, you could simply change these words into your students’ L1. There are also some texts on the Vietnam War, American football and Nasa given that they are mentioned in the book. NOTE: I’m currently making a Tom Hanks biography (given that he’s the star of the Forrest Gump movie), which should be uploaded by 3.08.

Hi I have edited the Anne Frank diary for a B1 level. As far as I understand the copyright has expired, so I’m uploading this. I created it all myself and it’s taken hours with the vocab and comprehension questions and background information. I have also created three texts based on things Anne mentions in the diary: Churchill, Gandhi and Queen Wilhelmina and taken the reconstruction of their arrest from the Anne Frank website (it’s been edited a bit, with images added etc.).

Here is a resource on the (supposed) alien abduction of Travis Walton in 1975. I created this document as the chapter in the student book is narrative tenses and descriptive verbs. I got inspiration from a resource I saw on the British Council that dealt with an imaginary alien abduction to introduce narrative tenses. But I felt this way was better as it’s a real event (well, real in the sense that Travis is a real person, whether you believe he was kidnapped by aliens or not!) Students read the newspaper story to get a general idea of the story, then the class is divided into two: newspaper reporters and Travis. The newspaper reporters need to create questions based on my points, then the group with Travis needs to give information about the abduction based on my points. Then we read the story and answer the questions, then there is a buzzfeed video you can show them (about 7 minutes in length). TES don’t allow external links so if you want to show the video it is called “Three Bizarre Cases Of Alien Abductions.”

Hi I created this for a pretty low level class of young learners. It’s a biography of David Beckham. I recently improved it and added some French words but you could remove this part or change the words to your students’ L1. The questions are purposely designed to be quite simple and the ‘extra’ part is for stronger students.

Hi Here is a very simple guide on New Zealand. There is some information on Its origins Nature The Maori people Lord of the Rings - Hobbiton Haka + Hongi Usually for this kind of lesson I create a question worksheet but as I teach this at the end of the year I haven’t done this yet. But, I will probably create a worksheet later. The videos are embedded into the lesson.

Here is the second part of my lessons based on WW2. I recently modified this lesson and made the Battle of Stalingrad into a Microsoft Word document, but I have kept the original older lesson in case you prefer it.

Here are comprehension texts on Charlotte Brown - a blind pole vaulter (there are two comprehension texts - one is a bit easier) A basic guide to Braille Biography of Laura Bridgman Biography of Helen Keller Each exercise has some questions. This can be used for native English speakers but has been primarily designed for English learners with a low B1 level in mind. The texts have been taken from different websites, combined, merged, edited and rewritten in different parts.

Hello all, This pack consists of a set of lessons on WW1 This has taken me many hours to create, so I hope you appreciate it! There are some vocabulary lists as my students are non-native speakers but are in an international school so have a high level If your students are native speakers this part could be simply removed. Start of WWI Propaganda Britain’s underage soldiers Trenches WWI Letters, the ‘white feather’ campaign and a poem by Siegried Sassoon. The Christmas Truce of 1914

Reported Speech activities B1 Version This has been made by me to be used in conjunction with chapter 11 of Think 2 (Level B1, second edition), but you could use the reported speech grammar and song alone or with your textbook if it has one on reported speech. The Think book isn’t essential. Files / Activities: Document 1: Grammar lesson on reported speech Olivia Rodrigo Song “Good 4 U” reported speech activity Say vs Tell with reported speech (5 pages) Document 2: Reported Speech preparation for the class test (2 pages) (I used to have the actual vocab and grammar test uploaded but removed in case my students found it online!) I have created sentences then reported speech on those sentences to get students to understand the rules (e.g. present simple -> past simple etc), then they complete the table with the rules. Then students have the reported speech version of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 u” that I invented, which they need to convert into direct speech, then they can listen to the song and verify if it’s correct or not. There is one bad word in the song (the F word), but just once! The song is embedded into the Microsoft Word document. There is also a basic guide on say / tell with reported speech (which is better in conjunction with Think 2) **B2 Version ** Similar to above but it doesn’t include say/tell and goes deeper with reported questions, imperatives and requests. This is based on Think 3 (B1+/B2) It also has a gap fill based on songs by Dua Lipa & Bon Jovi. Group 1 has a piece of paper with the lyrics for Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now”. Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” has gaps. Group 2 has the exact opposite. Group 1 has a slip of paper with the lyrics to enter in the reported forms for Dua Lipa; group 2 for Bon Jovi. After they finish the students in each group swap, then the students in group 2 need to fill in the lyrics based on their classmates’ reported speech versions. After we listen to both songs and check.

Hello all When the Taliban sadly took over Afghanistan in 2021 I knew that some of my original lessons would be no longer relevant and out-of-date. They have been recently updated (November 2024 but I am still updating book 3). Just to note, sometimes there are key words translated into French as I teach in a French school (student level is B2/B2+)

Here is the life of Helen Keller. There are exercises and some texts on Laura Bridgman, Louis Braille and Charlotte Brown.

Hi I’ve been a Shark Tank fan for quite a while and thought it might be interesting to use in class as the current chapter in the textbook we’re doing is on jobs. There is also a dictogloss to do on Nike’s co-founder Phil Knight, and video on Youtube. Edit: I updated this as I decided to create something on Bombas. After watching a recent episode I realised Bomba is Shark Tank’s most profitable company. Their story is very interesting: for every pair of socks sold they donate one pair to homeless people.

I got the idea for this when I found some excerpts of the diary online which looked to be scanned from a class book, but I didn’t like the questions so I made my own. I have started with a very simple background on what Yugoslavia was with questions, then excerpts from the book along with comprehension questions every so often to check understanding of the text and then a conclusion on her life with comprehension questions. There are also some vocabulary activities to pre-teach difficult words, so if your students are native English speakers I guess you could simply edit and delete these sections.

Here is a lesson based on food. This is taken from the New York Times; however, it's been heavily edited, with vocabulary exercises, lots of formatting due to the layout on their website, so it's actually been several hours of work.

In textbook we use in school for my English learners the students are taught vocab such as someone, anyone, anything etc so I decided to use Billie Eilish’s song “Everything I wanted” as it uses these words. Then, as it is about dreams I have a comprehension text on dreams. And I have added part of my grammar lesson on indefinite pronouns. This should be used with a textbook that includes this grammatical concept (to do exercises on it for example).

This short story is available for free on The New Yorker’s website, but I have edited it slightly. Plus, I have created vocabulary exercises, preteaching vocabulary that appears in the text along with comprehension questions to check understanding of the text. I have also written my own biography of Haruki Murakami adding some information about “magic realism” given that this short story employs some magical realism techniques. There is also a short article on the difference between jealousy and envy (if you read the story you will understand why). This is a high level B2 or low C1 level on the CEFR scale. I found it great for students studying FCE or CAE level given that it has lots of advanced adjectives and great phrasal verbs needed at these 2 levels.

This is a set of lessons on Australia. I used to have the Commonwealth as the first lesson in my Australia scheme of work but have decided to not use it, so I’ll just add it as an extra. Lesson 1 – Penal Colony Lesson 2- The origins of Australia Lesson 3 - Tourism in Australia. I made this on Prezi but have made a new PowerPoint that has replaced the Prezi. Lesson 4 - Focus on Sydney (updated 11.2023) Although I call them Lessons 1, 2, 3 and 4 they will take more than one lesson depending on how long a lesson lasts in your school. I made class tests for each lesson but deleted them just in case my students found them! The workbook has a harder and easier version but the only difference is for the Sydney video as the video gap fill is a bit easier. The videos are embedded in the lessons, but if they don’t work you could copy the link and go to the site manually.

I created this for a literature class on the Boy in the striped pyjamas. There are vocabulary exercises to pre-teach difficult vocabulary from the book and questions to check understanding. For a few parts I’ve included a text with some historical context. If your students are native speakers I guess you could just delete the vocabulary parts. Mine are French.

Hi This is an excellent and dark short story by Jonathan Crag: “Call me Nick” from 1968 and featured on Hitchcock presents. Content Call me Nick - I have edited this short story to remove some really difficult words and use some slightly easier synonyms The Devil - an article on the Devil slightly adapted from a site online with images added showing the cloven hooves, trident and horns. Workbook - difficult vocab is defined (e.g. gasp, chuckle, stare, sin etc) and there are comprehension exercises along with a few idioms with the word devil. This has been used for a literature class with B2/B2+ students. I have divided the short story into two parts and between these parts students have an article about the Devil to read. This breaks it up nicely. This could also easily be used in a literature class for native speakers. I think my students enjoyed it! It took two whole classes to read and finish the questions (55 minute classes in my school, so if your classes are shorter you might need 3 lessons).

Here is a comprehension text on the life of Mozart. It can be used for native speakers but has also been designed for learners of English (B1-B2). It will be fine for B1 given that the vocab activity will help them with some of the more advanced vocab. Firstly there is a running dictation that can be done in lesson one then students can read the definitions and translate. In Lesson 2 they can read the text on Mozart’s life and answer the True or False exercise and then rewrite the false sentences. The answers for the exercises are given at the end.