Niamh's classroom

One of the units we studied to prepare for the Cambridge B2 First exam centres around tourism and the environment. For a break from exam activities, I planned the following class to get students talking and thinking about the effect of tourism on nature. This is a lesson that covers all four skills. Warm up We started with some tourism-related 'would you rather' questions. Would you rather miss your flight or lose your luggage (your travel bags)? Would you rather spend the night in a luxury hotel with a stranger, or in a bad hotel with your best friend? Would you rather have free flights for the rest of your life, or eat for free in restaurants for the rest of your life? Would you rather only visit places you’ve already been, or only visit places you’ve never been? Would you rather sit next to someone who talks lots on a train/bus/plane, or a crying baby? Would you rather travel the world for a year on little money, or travel for one month in complete luxury? Would you rather v...

Introduction: Gap-fill Wow, do I love a gap-fill. A more interactive version of this activity can be found here . Basically, we're getting students to listen to the Avengers: Infinity War trailer and fill in the gaps. They will need to be somewhat familiar with the character's voices or names. Presentation Introduce some 'superpowers' to the students, and see if they can find an example of a superhero for each one. Make sure students know the word 'ability'. (For lower levels, this can be adapted to 'can' sentences, e.g. 'super-speed: you can run very quickly') Super-speed: the ability to move very quickly Flight: the ability to fly Teleportation: the ability to move from one place to another instantly Telepathy: the ability to hear what other people are thinking Invisibility: the ability to make yourself disappear, i.e. invisible Shapeshifting: the ability to look like someone - or something - else Super-strength: the ability to lift or move hea...

  Introduction Show the students the picture below of the toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol. Ask them for any thoughts on the image. Explain that the statue has raised a lot of controversy, due to Colston's links with the Atlantic Slave Trade.  Tell the students that this picture depicts the launching of the statue into Bristol harbour in June 2020 as part of the George Floyd protests related to the Black Lives Matter movement.  Ask students if they can think of any similarly controversial historical monuments or statues in their country. A Whole New Word Introduce the word 'heritage'. Have students look up a definition for it in their dictionaries. For example, Cambridge defines it as: " features   belonging  to the  culture  of a  particular   society , such as  traditions ,  languages , or  buildings , that were  created  in the past and still have  historical   importance ." Provide an exa...

Introduction Show the students the following picture: Elicit from the students ideas about what the tweet is referring to. Explain the controversy around wearing the qipao. Ask their students for some initial opinions on this. Getting to know the vocab Introduce the word 'cultural appropriation'. Ask students for ideas about what it means. This is a match-up activity where students can attempt to pair the definition with the term. Explain the similarities between 'cherry picking' and 'pick and choose', and stress the differences in the definitions of cultural 'appropriation' and 'appreciation'. Here is a further selection of words: The meaty bit Watch this youtube video on cultural appropriation. Perhaps skip the lingerie part, depending on the age of the students. Revise the vocab with the students. Chatting Ask students for their thoughts on the topic and query if they can think of any examples from their own country/culture. If they're qui...