Topics According with the CEFR levels.

What to teach? Any idea? Most of the schools have a syllabus, some other the coursebook, but here are some ideas according to the CEFR levels:

A1 Grammar topics

These are topics you need to study at A1 level.

• Adjectives: common and demonstrative

• Adverbs of frequency

• Comparatives and superlatives

• Going to

• How much/how many and very

• common uncountable nouns

• I’d like

• Imperatives (+/-)

• Intensifiers - very basic

• Modals: can/can’t/could/couldn’t

• Past simple of “to be”

• Past Simple

• Possessive adjectives 

• Possessive s

• Prepositions, common

• Prepositions of place

• Prepositions of time, including in/on/at

• Present continuous

• Present simple

• Pronouns: simple, personal

• Questions

• There is/are

• To be, including question+negatives

• Verb + ing: like/hate/love 

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A2 Grammar topics

These are topics you need to study to pass an exam at A2 level, such as Cambridge English KET, or PTE General level 1:

• Adjectives – comparative, – use of than and definite article

• Adjectives – superlative – use of definite article

• Adverbial phrases of time, place and frequency – including word order

• Adverbs of frequency

• Articles – with countable and uncountable nouns

• Countables and Uncountables: much/many

• Gerunds

• Going to

• Imperatives

• Modals – can/could

• Modals – have to

• Modals – should

• Past continuous

• Past simple

• Phrasal verbs – common

• Possessives – use of ‘s, s’

• Prepositional phrases (place, time and movement)

• Prepositions of time: on/in/at

• Present continuous

• Present continuous for future

• Present perfect

• How Questions

• Verb + ing/infinitive: like/

• want-would like

• Wh-questions in past

• Will / won't 

• Zero and 1st conditional

B1 Grammar topics

These are topics you need to study to pass an exam at B1 level, such as Cambridge English Preliminary:

• Adverbs

·         Both, either, neither

·         Broader range of intensifiers; So, such, too, enough

·         Comparatives and superlatives

·         Question tags

·         Conditionals, 2nd and 3rd

·         Connecting words expressing

·         cause and effect, contrast etc.

·         Embedded questions

·         Future continuous

·         Modals - must/can’t deduction

·         Modals – might, may, will, probably

·         Modals – should have/might have/etc

·         Modals: must/have to

·         Past continuous

·         Past perfect

·         Past simple

·         Past tense responses

·         Phrasal verbs, extended

·         Prepositions of place

·         Present perfect continuous

·         Present perfect/past simple

·         Reported speech (range of tenses)

·         Simple passive

·         Wh- questions in the past

·         Will and going to, for prediction

B2 Grammar topics

These are topics you need to study to pass an exam at B2 level, such as Cambridge English First:

·         Adjectives and adverbs

·         Future continuous

·         Future perfect

·         Future perfect continuous

·         Mixed conditionals

·         Modals – can’t have, needn’t have

·         Modals of deduction and speculation

·         Narrative tenses

·         Passives

·         Past perfect

·         Past perfect continuous

·         Phrasal verbs, extended

·         Relative clauses

·         Reported speech

·         Will and going to, for prediction

·         Wish

·         Would expressing habits, in the past

You can find a practice text here:

https://www.examenglish.com/grammar/

International language standards

About the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is an international standard for describing language ability. It describes language ability on a six-point scale, from A1 for beginners, up to C2 for those who have mastered a language. This makes it easy for anyone involved in language teaching and testing, such as teachers or learners, to see the level of different qualifications. It also means that employers and educational institutions can easily compare our qualifications to other exams in their country.

CEFR LEVELS:

CEFR CAN DO DESCRIPTION:

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/cefr/

Word Order

Word order refers to the way words are arranged in a sentence. The standard word order in English is: Subject + Verb + Object. To determine the proper sequence of words, you need to understand what the subject, verb and object(s) are.

The sequence of words is critical when communicating in English because it can impact the meaning of what you’re trying to say. The sentence, “The chicken crossed the road” and “The road crossed the chicken” take on two different meanings because the subject and object are inverted. The same would be true if the verb was used out of order, for example: “Crossed the road the chicken.”

I guess teaching grammar, special the word order in sentence it is quite difficult because English Vs Spanish have some differences.

You can help the students sing the forma above: Subject + Verb + Object.

Use colors, which helps the student to identify the part of the speech, and makes it more attractive.

Use Cards with the words in a sentence and ask the students to unscramble the sentence. This kind of activities are usually found on course books, interactive pages.

This is one I used in class:

https://www.toeflgoanywhere.org/es/node/300

Teacher´s Resources

Most part of the time, teachers need to adapt the material to the student’s level or supplement with materials related to the lesson.

Teachers can do it by themselves, but I takes a lot of time and work to do it, however it could be fun.

Or teachers can find some suitable materials on line by typing on Google (or any other browser) the name of the lesson. It doesn’t not guaranties that the material fits 100% your lesson aim, but you can adapt it too, by cut and paste, or you can edit them using paintbrush (some computers still have it) or some other editor (maybe Photoshop)

These are some pages I use a lot for this purpose:

www.cambridgeenglish.org
https://www.britishcouncil.org.mx/
www.englishforeveryone.orgwww.educando.edu.do https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org https://www.allthingsgrammar.com https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com www.esllibrary.com https://www.pinterest.com.mx/ https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk www.onestopenglish.com

www.onestopenglish.com

Shop online:

https://www.facebook.com/lanuevacasadelmaestro/

You can find:
posters
Flash Cards
Games
etc...

Oral Presentation

 An oral presentation is a short talk on a set topic given to a tutorial or seminar group. In an oral presentation one (or more) students give a talk to a tutorial group and present views on a topic based on their readings or research. The rest of the group then joins in a discussion of the topic.

Depending on your course, giving an oral presentation can involve:

• reading background material
• preparing and delivering a talk
• leading a group discussion
 • preparing handouts and visual aids
 • preparing relevant and thought-provoking questions
• submitting a written assignment based on the presentation topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPBo9mDTpqc&feature=youtu.be

I like these activities and project because they have the chance to talk and lose the fear bout it. they can use poppets too, animations, etc..

https://maths.ucd.ie/modules/sci10010/SCI10010%20-%2012%20Seminars%20and%20Presentations.pdf

Matching Activities

These kind of activities are very used for teachers and students, they are very easy, flexible and funny.

They require a lot of previous work, or the teacher can ask for help a couple of responsible students.

You can create your own, or look on the internet for some examples.

The most common activity is a worksheet, or to make it more interactive make some paper straps (big ones) so the whole class can see them and come to the board to answer the exercise.

I love them because you can do whatever you want. I mean:

a)        Word + definition

b)        Word + pictures

c)        Verbs (i.e. Present + past)

d)        Phrases (i.e. Conditionals)

If you have access to internet and invective programs, it will save you lot of work and time; that is even more attractive for the students.

 School Projects or Project-Based Learning

_____________________________________________________________________________

Project-based learning refers to any programmatic or instructional approach that utilizes multifaceted projects as a central organizing strategy for educating students. When engaged in project-based learning, students will typically be assigned a project or series of projects that require them to use diverse skills—such as researching, writing, interviewing, collaborating, or public speaking—to produce various work products, such as research papers, scientific studies, public-policy proposals, multimedia presentations, video documentaries, art installations, or musical and theatrical performances, for example. Unlike many tests, homework assignments, and other more traditional forms of academic coursework, the execution and completion of a project may take several weeks or months, or it may even unfold over the course of a semester or year.

In project-based learning, students are usually given a general question to answer, a concrete problem to solve, or an in-depth issue to explore. Teachers may then encourage students to choose specific topics that interest or inspire them, such as projects related to their personal interests or career aspirations.

In public schools, the projects, including the work products created by students and the assessments they complete, will be based on the same state learning standards that apply to other methods of instruction.

The projects could be anything: a Debate, a Play, a Performance, a Comic, and Investigation etc. That depends on program/teacher goals, and the level of English the students have, even the student’s interest and abilities.

A comic as a Project to show a real life problem:

https://www.edglossary.org/project-based-learning

Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is the ability to process text, understand its meaning, and to integrate it with what the reader already knows.[ Fundamental skills required in efficient reading comprehension are knowing meaning of words, ability to understand meaning of a word from discourse context, ability to follow organization of passage and to identify antecedents and references in it, ability to draw inferences from a passage about its contents, ability to identify the main thought of a passage, ability to answer questions answered in a passage, ability to recognize the literary devices or propositional structures used in a passage and determine its tone, to understand the situational mood (agents, objects, temporal and spatial reference points, casual and intentional inflections, etc.) conveyed for assertions, questioning, commanding, refraining etc. and finally ability to determine writer's purpose, intent and point of view, and draw inferences about the writer .

An individual's ability to comprehend text is influenced by their skills and their ability to process information. If word recognition is difficult, students use too much of their processing capacity to read individual words, which interferes with their ability to comprehend what is read. There are a number of reading strategies to improve reading comprehension and inferences, including improving one's vocabulary, critical text and practicing deep reading.

Comprehension Strategies

Research studies on reading and comprehension have shown that highly proficient readers utilize a number of different strategies to comprehend various types of texts, strategies that can also be used by less proficient readers in order to improve their comprehension.

1.   Making Inferences: In everyday terms we refer to this as “reading between the lines”. It involves connecting various parts of texts that aren’t directly linked in order to form a sensible conclusion. A form of assumption, the reader speculates what connections lie within the texts.

2.   Planning and Monitoring: This strategy centers around the reader’s mental awareness and their ability to control their comprehension by way of awareness. By previewing text (via outlines, table of contents, etc.) one can establish a goal for reading-“what do I need to get out of this”? Readers use context clues and other evaluation strategies to clarify texts and ideas, and thus monitoring their level of understanding.

3.   Asking Questions: To solidify one’s understanding of passages of texts readers inquire and develop their own opinion of the author’s writing, character motivations, relationships, etc. This strategy involves allowing oneself to be completely objective in order to find various meanings within the text.

4.   Determining Importance: Pinpointing the important ideas and messages within the text. Readers are taught to identify direct and indirect ideas and to summarize the relevance of each.

5.   Visualizing: With this sensory-driven strategy readers form mental and visual images of the contents of text. Being able to connect visually allows for a better understanding with the text through emotional responses.

6.   Synthesizing: This method involves marrying multiple ideas from various texts in order to draw conclusions and make comparisons across different texts; with the reader’s goal being to understand how they all fit together.

7.   Making Connections: A cognitive approach also referred to as “reading beyond the lines”, which involves (A) finding a personal connection to reading, such as personal experience, previously read texts, etc. to help establish a deeper understanding of the context of the text, or (B) thinking about implications that have no immediate connection with the theme of the text.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_comprehension

Comparison Diagram

Comparative diagram is a general type of diagram, in which a comparison is made between two or more objects, phenomena or groups of data. A comparison diagram or can offer qualitative and/or quantitative information. This type of diagram can also be called comparison chart or comparison chart. 

A comparison diagram is a general type of diagram, meaning a class of specific diagrams and charts, in which a comparison is made between two or more objects, phenomena or groups of data. They are a tool for visual comparison.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_diagram

Interactive Websites and Apps

Well, talking to real people is the best way to practice English, but for many reasons that’s not always possible.

Online websites and mobile apps, however, are much more available (easy to find and use).

There are also many, many, many English learning websites that help adults and kids to learn English—but the best ones are the interactive sites.

Why? Because interactive websites will help you practice all of your skills.

Instead of only learning new vocabulary or new grammar, you can also practice listening, reading, writing and yes—even speaking!

These websites (and mobile apps) have activities where you use more than one skill: listen and respond, read and then write—just like real life.

There is small list below:

https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/ 

https://www.englishgrammar.org/absolute-adjectives/ http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar 

 https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/ 

 http://englishgrammarexercise.com/english-grammar-exercises/ 

 https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/sites.htm 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/

APPS:

British Council: British Council actually has three separate sections on their website for different ages: kids, adults and teens. Each section features a huge variety of interactive lessons, videos, games and podcasts to learn just about any skill. This means that no matter what level you are at or what topic interests you, you’ll always find something on British Council.

Duolingo: Duolingo helps you learn new vocabulary and grammar through interactive games and quizzes both online and on their easy-to-use mobile app. Duolingo separates each lesson by category (food vocabulary, family vocabulary, the verb “to be,” etc.) and—on the desktop version at least—includes helpful tips and notes in case you need more explanation.

Quizlet: a mobile and web-based study application. It is currently used by 1-in-2 high school students and 1-in-3 college students in the United States. Quizlet trains students via flashcards and various games and tests. 

Tiny Cards:  its first app that can be used for learning virtually anything that involves memorization: vocabulary, equations, history facts and every Pokémon’s name and stats.Tinycards is a flashcards app that uses the same spaced repetition technique as similar apps, but in the backend, it also uses the same algorithms as the Duolingo app to adapt to every learner’s individual progress.

Rosetta Stone:Dedicated to changing people's lives through the power of language and literacy education. The company's innovative digital solutions drive positive learning outcomes for the inspired learner at home or in schools and workplaces around the world. Founded in 1992, Rosetta Stone's language division uses cloud-based solutions to help all types of learners read, write, and speak more than 30 languages.

Word Search

A word search, word find, word seek, word sleuth or mystery word puzzle is a word game that consists of the letters of words placed in a grid, which usually has a rectangular or square shape. The objective of this puzzle is to find and mark all the words hidden inside the box. The words may be placed horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Often a list of the hidden words is provided, but more challenging puzzles may let the player figure them out. Many word search puzzles have a theme to which all the hidden words are related. The puzzles have, like crosswordsand arrowords, been very popular in the United Kingdom, and - also in common with these latter puzzles - have had complete magazines devoted to them.

Word searches are commonly found in daily newspapers and puzzle books. Some teachers use them as educational tools for children, the benefit being that young minds can learn new words and their spellings by intensively searching for them, letter by letter, in the puzzle.

Word search puzzles are often used in a teaching or classroom environment, especially in language and foreign language classrooms. Some teachers, particularly those specializing in English as a Second Language (ESL), use word search puzzles as an instructional tool. Other teachers use them as a recreational activity for students, instead.

Sometimes you need to adapt the material from the course book to make it more atractive to the students and more dynamic, interactive. 

these are some website to create your own puzzles according with the topic you are teaching:

http://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/word-search-maker/wordsearch.php http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/WordSearchSetupForm.asp?campaign=flyout_teachers_puzzle_wordcross 

https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/generator-word-search.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_search

Crossword Puzzle

A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white-and black-shaded squares. The game's goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues, which lead to the answers. In languages that are written left-to-right, the answer words and phrases are placed in the grid from left to right and from top to bottom. The shaded squares are used to separate the words or phrases.

Capitalization of answer letters is conventionally ignored; crossword puzzles are typically filled in, and their answer sheets are almost universally published, in all caps, except in the rare cases of ambigrams. This ensures a proper name can have its initial capital letter checked with a non-capitalizable letter in the intersecting clue. Diacritical markings in foreign loanwords (or foreign-language words appearing in English-language puzzles) are ignored for similar reasons.

These are some websites where toy can create your own puzzles:

https://www.puzzle-maker.com/CW/ 

https://www.education.com/worksheet-generator/reading/crossword-puzzle/ http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossword

VOCABULARY  LIST:

Vocabulary is all about words — the words in a language or a special set of words you are trying to learn. Usually arranged in alphabetical order. Each list has a topic, a set of family words: Verbs, animals, food, etc. It is used in classrooms to introduce the vocabulary the students will use during a lesson that saves time instead of looking for words in a dictionary.  if you want it can include pictures.

POSTER

A poster is a large notice or picture that you stick on a wall or board. As a teacher you can find these materials available on stores, made them by yourself or as a class activity, the students can design them according with the topic you are revising.

Drill

A drill is a classroom technique used to practise new language. It involves the teacher modelling a word or a sentence and the learners repeating it. There are different kinds of drilling, such as choral drill, which involves the whole class, and substitution drill, where the teacher changes the cue words after each repetition.

Example:

The following sequence is an example of a substitution drill
Teacher: I like cheese
Learners: I like it
Teacher: I like apples
Learners: I like them
Teacher: I like Sue etc

In the classroom:

Drilling is a classroom technique which some teachers reject due to a possible lack of communicative quality and its highly controlled, teacher-centred nature. However, there are advantages to it also, such as offering learners an opportunity to practise pronunciation in a non-threatening dynamic.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/drill

Flashcards

A flashcard or flash card is a card bearing information, as words or numbers, on either or both sides, used in classroom drills or in private study. One writes a question on a side and an answer overleaf. Flashcards can bear vocabulary, historical dates, formulae or any subject matter that can be learned via a question-and-answer format. Flashcards are widely used as a learning drill to aid memorization. They are often associated with spaced repetition, i.e. reviewed at expanding time intervals.


Flashcards can be virtual, as those used by flashcard software, or physical.


Flashcards are an application of the testing effect − the finding that long-term memory is increased when some of the learning period is devoted to retrieving the information through testing with proper feedback.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashcard

Mind map

A mind map is a diagram used to visually organize information. A mind map is hierarchical and shows relationships among pieces of the whole. It is often created around a single concept, drawn as an image in the center of a blank page, to which associated representations of ideas such as images, words and parts of words are added. Major ideas are connected directly to the central concept, and other ideas branch out from those.

Mind maps can be drawn by hand, either as "rough notes" during a lecture, meeting or planning session, for example, or as higher quality pictures when more time is available. Mind maps are considered to be a type of spider diagram.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map

Gap-Filling

A gap-fill is a practice exercise in which learners have to replace words missing from a text. These words are chosen and removed in order to practise a specific language point. Gap-fill exercises contrast with cloze texts, where words are removed at regular intervals, e.g. every five words.


Example:

The first sentence above prepared to practise article use could read '______ gap-fill is ______ practice exercise where ______learners have to replace ______ words which have been removed from ______ text.'

In the classroom:

Gap-fills are often used to practise specific language points, for example items of grammar and vocabulary, and features of written texts such as conjunctions. They are common in testing. In listening to listen for specific information.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/gap-fill

Didactics Engineering

Didactics Engineering

  The digital age demands re-thinking of traditional teaching and learning. Rapidly growing technological innovations in education force a paradigm shift from traditional teaching to engineering of learning.

   It is assumed that in the field of e-learning cultural diversity is expressed in existing didactial diversity which points to different didactical traditions in European countries and which defines different didactical standards. These different didactical standards call for different standards of quality assurance.

  Engineering of learning requires new understanding and reconceptualization of traditional didactics toward e-Didactics in order to effectively design and skillfully align learning objectives, content, and assessment in the digital age classroom.