My country is yours (alternative to "Road trip")

The objective 
To plan a road trip itinerary using a roadmap in a multi-lingual class 

The language
First or Second Conditionals: If they go... or If they went...
Present simple: It´s...Have/has: They have...
Past simple: I went there...years ago.
Modals: They should..., They could..., They can...
Conditionals: If they visit X, they will see Y.
Adjectives: beautiful/interesting/fun/boring/etc.

The set-up
Ask learners to bring in maps of their home-countries which include large and small cities and major roads the day before class. They can print them off the internet. Or, if you are up for it, you can do it yourself. In either case, you´ll need to think how to pair off students. Here are two alternatives. You could:choose groups and ask each group to decide on just one country (a different day, another?) or, choose groups where everyone is from the same country (uneven numbers okay) 

The low-down
Tell the class that you´re thinking about your plans for the next holiday and would like the class to plan a road trip for you in order to inform your decision (it doesn´t matter if you don´t actually go). First, ask them to decide what information they need to know about your trip (for example, budget, interests, time, etc.). Randomly call on groups/pairs to ask you questions (if they need to, give them time to prepare the questions beforehand). Answer the questions (make sure you´ve prepared your answers) until everyone is satisfied they have enough information to begin planning. Now ask them to plan the route, including stops and what you can do or see.

Now what?
When they´ve finished. Ask them to present their ideas to the rest of the class. Then ask the class to comment on one thing that sounded interesting to them for each presentation.

Time to teach
Ask groups to come up with a summary of different ways we (choose one or all):make suggestions make plans agree/disagree 
More talk-time
What was the last road trip you took? Where did you go?Do you like taking road trips?What do you do in the car on long road trips?

On a diet

The objective

To discuss dieting and health and decide on the best plan for someone who wants to lose weight

The language

Imperatives: eat, do, run, exercise

Modals: You should..., I would..., You could...

Conditionals: If you run for 30 minutes each day, you will lose one kilo.

The set-up

Discussing weight can be a sensitive issue. Yet it´s a very conversation many have, and you´ll be surprised at how motivated your students will be to discuss the issue. One way we can still talk about it without discussing weight specifically, is to do the following:

The low-down

Tell students that you would like to lose some weight (a kilo or two?) in the next seven days (you could give a specific reason, such as fitting into a dress or going to the beach) but so far you haven´t been able to do it properly (if you´re obviously really skinny already then say it´s your partner or someone else who wants to lose the weight). Ask the class if they have any suggestions. (Here you should get some input but like with any open class discussions, if you don´t feel like people are responding, put them into pairs.) As you get feedback, put the ideas on the board. Next, put students into groups of 3 or 4 and ask them to come up with a seven-day plan for you to lose a kilo or two. Their plans should include both diet and exercise suggestions for each day.

Now what?

Write the question "Would this work for me?" on the board. Invite groups to present their plans to the class. While the class listens, they should be thinking about this question. After each group finishes their proposal, give groups 2 minutes to discuss the above question. Then in feedback, choose a student or two to respond. Move on to the next group and repeat.

Time to teach

Grammar-wise, this isn´t a complicated lesson. So probably your focus will be on vocabulary, phrases or word-chunks. If you note down enough vocabulary they had trouble with, try this activity: write the words on the board and ask students to work in pairs to write a text which begins with "I never usually...." using as many words as they can or all the words from the board. When they finish, call on one or two of the best to read theirs out loud.

More talk-time

Are you healthy? Why or why not?

What have you had to eat today? Was it all healthy?

What´s the best way to lose weight, in your opinion?

What are the worst things to eat, in your opinion?

Civil (dis)obedience

The objective

To discuss specific problems students have with where they live and decide what should be done about them

The language

Complaining: (refer to any coursebook for details)

Modals: should

Formal letter writing (again, refer to any coursebook for details)

The set-up

Think of something that bothers you about where you live (see my example just below) and how you would improve measures taken. Then, optionally, write a letter to your mayor about this issue which will serve as an example to students (see "now what?" for conditions).

The low-down

Ask students if they ever participate in local government, such as protesting, voting, volunteering for a political candidate, etc. Tell them that today, they are going to write a letter to their mayor about a problem that bothers them. But in order to do so, first ask them to think of the problems that they see with their city/town and what they could do to IMPROVE the measures already (probably) in place. Give and example. (My example would be that where I live--a suburb of a large city--there are small parks with benches and olive trees but they also have a lot of dog dirt, rubbish, broken bottles, etc. It´s already prohibited but NOT enforced well. I would invest more money in clean up crews and in public-service posters to remind people to clean up after themselves). Students should discuss and brainstorm problems/better solutions for things such as traffic, parking, noise, pollution, rubbish, violence, littering, theft, graffiti etc. After a set amount of time, say 15 minutes, ask them to stop and organize their ideas from most important to least important.

Now what?

Tell students they should draft a letter to the mayor of their town/city regarding the most important issue they decided on. Here you can put up an example of the letter if you think students need it. The letter should be formal, and include a greeting, a statement about why they are writing, an explanation of the changes they thought of, a demand that the change be made and a conclusion with an expectation for action to be taken shortly. When they´re finished, ask groups to pair-up and comment on each other´s letters/ideas. Finish by asking if anyone read a particularly interesting, funny or good letter.

Time to teach

Here you´ll want to focus on either formal letter writing (not everything but that which they could improve or should know) or complaining (grammar, tone, language, etc). Both of which are surely in the coursebook you were assigned to teach--so feel free to teach it if they need more practice.

More talk-time

Do you think your city has comprehensive laws to cover all these issues?

Is the government doing well or badly? Why?

What could your city government do better?

Do you think citizens have enough say in what laws are passed?

Work it out

The objective

To discuss possible exercise routines which can be done despite busy schedules

The language

Modals: They should.../They could.../They might...

Conditionals: If they woke up at five o´clock, they could run for thirty minutes each day.

Present simple for routines

Relative clauses: They could go to a gym where they have exercise machines.

The set-up

None needed, unless you choose to print out the scenario below.

The low-down

Ask students what they do to stay healthy. Do they exercise? Focus the discussion on how they find the time to exercise. Now present them with the following scenario (dictated or written):

Hilda and John are a middle-aged couple living in the city. They both work from 8:30am to 7pm

with 1 and 1/2 hours for lunch. They take 45 minutes by car to get to and from the offices located in an industrial area where they work. When they get home, they prepare dinner, watch an hour of television and fall asleep on the sofa. At the weekend, they do the cleaning, the shopping and run various errands. Then they usually have dinner in a restaurant, go to the cinema and visit friends and family. By Sunday evening, they are finally able to relax a bit, reading or watching television before going to bed. The problem is that they are overweight. They don´t eat junk food, fried food or fatty food but they don´t exercise either--there´s just no time! Generally, they are very quiet people. Sometimes they go for walks or go cycling. But they don´t like exercising and it doesn´t form a part of their general routine. Still, they need to lose ten kilograms each and do it without changing their routine too much. What should they do?

In pairs/groups, ask students to decide on what they could do to change their habits in the little time they have available. They should make reasonable suggestions which won´t cost them a lot of money. Also, make sure to emphasize that they should be specific about what they should do, when they should do it, how much time they should spend, how frequently and the cost, if any. Give examples, if necessary.

Now what?

Ask students to present their ideas to the the rest of the class. As the others listen, ask them to take notes on what the essence of each idea is. When finished, ask them to rank the ideas in order from either (this depends on the ideas you hear) the easiest to do to the most difficult, the cheapest to the most expensive, the closest to their present routine to the most disruptive or that which they the students would most likely do to that which they would least likely do. Ask groups to share.

Time to teach

This will vary widely and depend on what the class has problems with. Listen, take notes and do a focus session on something they had problems with in general.

More talk-time

Do you exercise? Why or why not?

What do you do? How often?

Do you believe the people in your country are healthy in general?

What´s more important: eating a very healthy diet or exercising a lot?

That´s my business!

The objective

To discuss a case-study of a business gone bad and decide on a reasonable solution

The language

Conditionals

Conjunctions: although, unless, by

Predictions: will or going to

To..., For...: purpose

Modals: can, should, might, may

The set-up

None needed, unless you wanted to research the topic a bit on your own to be better informed.

The low-down

Begin with a general class discussion asking if anyone knows someone who has started their own business and to describe the experience (why the started it, how they got capital, did they have any difficulties, etc.) Next, tell the class that you´re going to describe to them a case you know of someone who started a business but is having problems:

X worked for several years as a waiter and manager in several restaurants before finally deciding to start his own when he realized there was no restaurants in his town which offered creative cooking at affordable prices. He borrowed the start-up capital from a bank and hired a friend who was a good chef. The only space he could rent only allowed him to have ten tables. In addition, he had to hire two waiters to help him and a kitchen assistant to help the chef. The restaurant was successful from the beginning and tables always fully booked. The problem came when, after three months, X realized he was losing money!

Ask students to decide, in pairs/groups, why they think he´s losing money, what he should do to change things and make a profit and what the possible positive and negative effects would be from taking such action.

Now what?

Ask pairs/groups to present their ideas to the class. Ask the class to listen, take notes if necessary and ask questions to clarify. Make sure that each pair/group has fully thought out their ideas. For example, if a group says, "raise prices" then they should know that the negative effect might be that customers stop coming because X´s restaurant will be like all other expensive, creative cooking restaurants. So therefore, what will they do to differentiate themselves from the others? Invite groups to think further if others (or you) question their ideas and they don´t have answers. Finally, ask students to vote on the best idea.

Time to teach

Probably the most important aspect to focus on is the vocabulary--especially if you´re teaching a business class and they have difficulty with terminology needed.

More talk-time

Have you ever dreamed of starting your own business? If so, what would it be like?

Do you think it´s a good time to start a business? Why or why not?

Think of a successful business-person you know or have heard of. What was their secret to success?

Good parenting

The objective

For students to share and discuss their ideas about what makes a good parent

The language

Conditionals: If your baby cries, don´t come running immediately.

Imperatives: Set a sleep schedule.

The set-up

None, but I recommend that you first find out if you think this issue will be interesting to learners--generally it would be good for a class comprised of a number of adult learners who have children, but not limited to them only.

The low-down

Put students into groups of three or four. Tell them that you would like them to consider what makes a good parent (if they aren´t parents themselves, they can think about their own or others they know). Tell them that you´d like them to write an informal "Guide to Good Parenting". But first ask them to consider the typical problems parents have with children by the stages of a child´s life:

• Infant - 1 to 12 months
• Toddler - 1 to 3 years
• Pre-school and School Age - 3 to 12 years
• Teen - 13 and older

Once they´ve done that, ask them to think of solutions. For example, "When an infant cries, don´t come immediately but wait a few minutes to see if they stop", "When toddlers cry and make demands, don´t let them have their way". Of course they can write it any way they like, but monitor and make sure they´re on task. If they have problems coming up with ideas, you can bring the class together for a few moments so that others may share their examples of problems parents can have with children.

Now what?

When they´ve finished, pair groups together and ask them to share their ideas and note down which ideas were similar and which were different by first asking, "Did you discuss what to do when... (an infant cries)? This way, it becomes more interactive and they´ll be more likely to discuss differences. When they´re finished invite a few groups to share a similarity and a difference they thought was most interesting or one they couldn´t resolve.

Time to teach

I think learners will have a lot of questions about vocabulary, but there is also the possibility to focus on grammar such as for and since, register when using imperatives or use of the zero conditional.

More talk-time

How did your life change when you had children?

Do you think parenting has changed a lot in the last few years? How?

How was your experience as a child different than your children´t experience now?

It´s controversial

The objective

To discuss a controversial issue that affects the class and come up with solutions

The language

Conditionals: If they prohibit it, then.../If they prohibited it then,...

Future predictions: I think they will prohibit it./Based on the reports, I think they´re going to prohibit it.

The set-up

I´ve always noticed how teachers often used controversial news articles to generate discussion in class. The problem is, they focus too much on the article itself and the debate and no real conclusion comes from it. Here´s a way to change that: keep your eyes and ears open for a recent issue that´s in the news and inform yourself all about it--the more local, the better. Take notes on a few key points in favor and against, as well as possible solutions. For example, I used the issue of prohibiting bull-fighting in Catalonia, which was going to be voted on in parliament at the time.

The low-down

Tell students that you were reading about the issue in the newspaper recently and ask students what they know about it; if discussion doesn´t flow in open class, put students into small groups. Ask them to write down the relevant points to consider first such as: who does the issue affect? why is it a problem for some? why isn´t it a problem for others? and, what is being done about it? Once they have their ideas on paper, invite people to share them. As they do, you can note them down on the board--make sure to emphasize that at this point they should stick to the facts only. Once you have this down, ask people to take a moment to consider if they are for or against the issue. Ask them to write their name on a slip of paper with "yes", "no" or "not sure" written below. Collect the slips and put them into separate piles. Read off the names (without mentioning what their vote was) and put them into groups of three or four, according to their votes (this will eliminate arguments and get them focused on solutions); it´s not important if you they aren´t evenly divided; if there´s just one person for one of the categories, put them with one of the "not sure" groups. Now ask them to take a few minutes to brainstorm possible solutions to the problem. That done, ask them to vote within the group on the best solution (or most practical), then decide the following:

• how to implement it: if it´s to prohibit it, then how? by referendum or by legislation? how would the vote go?
• what would be the positive result: who would benefit? what would they gain?
• what would be the negative result: who would lose? what would they lose?
• on a scale of 1-10, how confident are they that this could happen in reality? why?

Those that are for the issue (in this case, for bull-fighting), as well as those that are against, could look at alternatives to the possibilities talked about in the news (for example, a type of bull-fighting which doesn´t kill the animals) and you can encourage these alternative ideas during the previous stage.

Now what?

Ask groups to present their ideas, without mentioning whether they are for or against. As others listen, ask them to take notes for questions or concerns. Encourage them to ask questions without arguing. Groups who are presenting may respond but don´t let them get into too much debate (I know it seems counter-intuitive but debates about these issues lead no-where, it´s solutions which can change minds). Once all groups have presented ideas (some may repeat others´ ideas but that´s fine; they should have differences in the positive/negative result categories, as well as the confidence category). Now ask for a second vote, again on paper. Compare the number of votes the first time, to the second. Hopefully there was a change. Invite those who changed their vote to volunteer to explain why they changed their mind.

Time to teach

You can focus on any of the above grammar structures, the vocabulary related to the issue or on reporting language.

The bracket

The objective

To make predictions of football championships such as World Cup, European Cup or National Cup

The language

Will for predictions: I think they´ll win the next match

Going to for predictions: They are going to win the match.

Present continuous: They are winning the championship.

Conditionals (all types): If they win, they´ll move on to the next round. If they won, they would move on to the next round. If they had won, they would have moved on to the next round.

The set-up

If you know there´s a championship on and that students (or the majority of students) are interested in football, then print out a bracket for an upcoming championship from the internet. Make sure you have a good idea of who´s in the championship and what the championship rules are.

The low-down

Show students the bracket and tell them that they are going to work in pairs or groups to predict the winners of the championship. Ask them to predict the winner and the score for each match.

Now what?

Ask each pair/group to present their bracket, starting with the four teams who will play the semi-final and explaining why, then finishing with who will be the winner and why. This is not meant to be a repeat of the activity but a general explanation of who they think is the best and why. Ask them to save their brackets and see who successfully predicted the winners.

Time to teach

You can work on, during or after the activity, any of the above grammar. In addition, consider the amount of football-related vocabulary which may turn up--positions of players, action verbs and ways of describing the brackets. I suggest you think through some of these things. Remember: when teaching vocabulary in this or any lesson, leave as much translation as possible to the students themselves and make sure to record all new words for later vocabulary review.

More talk-time

(Questions here are going to depend on your level of football knowledge)

Which team do you support?

Do you think they´ll make it all the way to the championships? Why?

Who´s their most valuable player? Why?

In a match between team X and team Y, who would win? Why?

Last minute details

The objective

To discuss common preparations we make before leaving the house for holidays

The language

imperatives with phrasal verbs: shut off, turn off, put on

verb+to+verb (as a reason): close to prevent, shut off to save, etc.

phrases with make: make it seem, make sure

The set-up

No set-up necessary, unless you choose to write this as a text and hand it out.

The low-down

Dictate the following sentences to students (or any others you like, modifying based on their level). The topic, Preparing your house/flat for a long holiday:

1. Shut off the gas main to prevent problems.

2. Turn off the freezer and the fridge to save energy.

3. Make sure the faucets don´t leak.

4. Put your lights on a timer to make it seem you are at home.

5. Close and lock all windows and doors.

Students compare and adjust their sentences as necessary. Any questions? Ask if they agree with each statement. Discuss.

Now what?

Ask students to revise these sentences in pairs/groups and to think of 3 more things they should do before leaving for a long vacation. Possible ideas--take dog to kennel, shut off main electricity, unplug computer and television, all devices turned off, close curtains, arrange for mail to be picked up, clean, clean fridge/freezer, plants on a watering system.

Time to teach

You can look also at the use of phrasal verbs, the use of should/must/can/etc. and/or the structure to+verb to indicate the reason for doing something.

More talk-time

Have you ever returned from a holiday and encountered a problem at home?

Do you do any of these things when you go away for the weekend?

Home improvement

The objective

To redesign/remodel a house or flat

The language

Present simple

The set-up

Make a plan of the house/flat where you live. If you´re good at drawing, make it photocopiable. If you´re not very good at drawing, make a general plan to be copied from the board. Make sure you label

• walls which cannot be torn down (these are called load-bearing walls; if you don´t know where they are, guess)
• doors (including entry-way)
• window locations
• room locations
• total square feet/meters

The low-down

Tell students that you are thinking about remodeling your flat/house and you would like their opinion about what to do. Present them with some conditions such as, you would like to turn two bedrooms into three or vice-versa; you would like a bigger kitchen or bigger bathroom(s); you would like to add a room (of any type); you need more storage space/closets; or maybe turn a terrace into room or vice-versa. Choose one, two or three conditions. Ask students to work together to redraw the plans. They can move or remove walls, doors, windows or rooms. Depending on their level, they can also discuss what general materials will be necessary, such as new windows, doors, kitchen cupboards, plaster, wood, nails, screws, tiles, lights, etc.

Now what?

Ask each pair/group to present their plans. After each presentation, stick the plans on the board and ask the class to vote on the best/most well-planned.

Time to teach

In addition to vocabulary (part of a house/flat), you can also take a look at conditionals (1st and 2nd) or reporting language (past tenses, simple future, relative clauses, etc). It really depends on what language the students use, what they have problems with or what you´d like to exploit in order to teach new grammar.

More talk-time

Have you ever made any changes to a house or flat like this?

What lessons have you learned from doing so?

Which do you prefer, an old (classic) house/flat remodeled or a brand-new one?

What are the benefits to remodeling an old house/flat, rather than destroying it and building new? What are the disadvantages?

Fresh air

The objective

To discuss and plan an itinerary for an outdoor hiking trip as well as what supplies would be needed

The language

future tenses

conditionals

past continuous and simple

The set-up

Find some physical or on-line brochures for country/mountain excursions in your area. They could also include information about rafting, cycling, climbing, canyoning, horse-back riding, etc. Bring enough so that each group has at least three choices.

The low-down

Put students into groups of three or four. Tell them that they will be planning a three-day hiking trip together. They can choose from various different routes in various locations. Ask them to decide the following:

• the route and location
• the best time to go
• how they´re going to get there and back home
• how far they´ll hike each day and where they will camp

Now what?

When all the details have been decided, present them with the following scenario:

Now you must decide on what supplies you´re going to bring such as:

• any extra clothing you´ll need to bring
• food
• gear (supplies) such as tent, sleeping bag, knife, light, map, compass, gps, etc.

Unfortunately, not everything you´ve chosen for this trip fits into your backpacks. You can only bring ten essential items. For example, a can of beans or a bottle of water or a knife counts as one item each. However, you can share items between you--so different people can bring different things. However, all items will be sized for only one person. For example, a bottle of water will be for one person. A tent will be for one person.

When they´ve chosen the items. Write on the board, "Will they survive 3 days?" Ask each group to present their ideas to the rest of the class. Ask the others to listen and answer the question on the board. For example, after listening to one group present their items, the speaker for one group says they won´t survive at night because they forgot to bring a flashlight and asks what they will do without it. The group decided not to bring it because they will have matches and build a fire to give them light.

Time to teach

Aside from vocabulary, you can focus on the use of tenses in reporting. So for example, "We have noticed that you aren´t going to/didn´t bring a flashlight" "We were going to bring a flashlight but decided we would use matches for light".

More talk-time

Do you go camping? Where?

Where is the best place to go?

Do you go hiking? Where?

Where are the best places to go?

The future sound of music

The future sound of music

The objective

To discuss the effect the internet has had on people´s music listening habits and the future of the music industry

The language

Present simple to describe habits: I listen to..., I use..., I prefer...

"Going to" for plans: We are going to...(allow people to download some music from our website)

Will for general future: Users will be able to..., People will..(download)

Comparatives and superlatives

The set-up

There´s no set-up needed.

The low-down

Ask students to work in pairs/groups and brainstorm the following:

• formats for listening to music (e.g. CD, Mp3, records)
• sources for listening to music but not owning (e.g. radio, streaming services, record-stores)
• sources for owning free music (e.g. copying a CD from a friend, P2P sharing, free downloads)
• sources for buying music (e.g.. record shops, i-Tunes store, street vendors)

These can be in the form of general terminology for these things or name-brands and should only take 5 minutes or so. Once they´ve done that, ask them to compare their answers with other pairs/groups. Clear up any problems with vocabulary. Next, ask the class to raise their hands if they buy CD´s in a record store. Few, if any, should raise their hands. Ask them why. Then ask someone who didn´t raise their hand where they get their music. Continue with the general discussion until it becomes clear to everyone that digital downloading (of just one song), streaming services and P2P sharing are the most popular ways of obtaining music nowadays. Then present them with the following challenge:

You and your partner/group are members of a rock/pop/electronic/rap group. You have decided to sell your music yourselves (not through a major record company). Consider how you are going to market and sell your music.

You can get the ball rolling by brainstorming in open-class if necessary.

Now what?

When pairs/groups are finished. Invite a couple to report their ideas to the rest of the class. Use their ideas to generate a general discussion on people´s habits in the present, how they´re changing and what the future will be like. Compare ideas and come to a decision as a class as to the best ways to market, distribute and deal with competition.

Time to teach

Regarding vocabulary, probably the most interesting thing to focus on would be on the use of words such as "download", "stream", "pirate" or even "listen" and how they work as adjectives, adverbs, nouns and verb.

Example chart:

Noun	Verb	Adjectives
download	to download	downloadable
stream	to stream	streaming
pirate	to pirate	pirated

More talk-time

How do you get your music?

Do you think it´s ethical to download music freely without paying or getting permission?

Example plan:

"We think that the best way for people to hear our music is to put it on the internet free. We will make a website which has all our artists and allow people to listen to samples in streaming format. Also, we will put our music videos on You Tube.

"To sell our music, we will sell on the i-Tunes store, other online stores and on our own website.

"We think the future of music is in "cloud-based subscription networks" so we will allow people to listen to our artists´ music for a monthly fee of 10 euros.

Bon appetit!

The objective

To discuss in detail aspects of a restaurant such as decor, food, location, type

The language

Adjectives of size, quality, quantity, opinion, decoration and people

Comparative and superlative adjectives

Compound adjectives

Adverbs of all kinds: Intensifiers, frequency, location, manner and negative (hardly, seldom, barely, not)

The set-up

The next time you´re out, pick up a take-away menu from a good (or maybe not so good) restaurant--or download the menu from the website of a restaurant you know pretty well (written in English). If possible, black out or delete the name of the restaurant.

The low-down

Ask students to look at the menu and think about what their impression of the restaurant is so far--positive, negative? Would they go? What would they order? Ask them to read carefully through and make sure they understand everything. When everyone has shared some initial opinions and you´ve worked through any problem vocabulary, tell them that they are going to start their own restaurant together and this is going to be the menu (proposed by the chef). Ask them to work together to decide what they think would be

• the name of the restaurant

• the type of restaurant (family, Italian, ethnic, trendy?)

• the best reasonable location for this type (neighborhood, street, mall?)
• the size (large, small?)
• the type of food (if not obvious already)
• the price (expensive, cheap?)
• the decoration (modern, traditional?)
• the client profile

When they´ve finished, ask them to present their ideas. Ask others to take notes and discuss in their groups which restaurant they would visit and why.

Now what?

Now ask them to recommend a restaurant to their partner. They should first ask some questions based on points from the first exercise like, What kind of restaurant do you like? How much do you want to spend? What neighborhood? The partner recommends a reastaurant and describes it a bit.

Time to teach

What to focus on is going to depend a lot on the level of your learners. Lower-level learners may need some review of adjectives, order of adjectives ( and maybe even comparisons, if they come up. Higher-level learners could use more complex adjectives (such as sizable, reasonably-priced, affluent, laid-back), as well as the use of intensifiers (extremely, fairly, wonderfully).

More talk-time

How often do you go to restaurants?

Where do you go? Why?

How do you choose a new restaurant you´ve never visited before?

Do you like to experiment with new types of food, flavors or dishes? Or do you prefer always the same?

Can you recommend some restaurants?

New car smell

The objective

To analyze and comparison-shop for cars using information/sales brochures in order to decide on the best model for various types of people

The language

Present simple: The BMW is..., It features...

The set-up

This may be difficult to pull off but you´re going to have to get some car brochures from various dealerships. Nothing beats the real thing--they´re glossy, full of beautiful photographs and even more full of information. However, if you can´t be bothered to stop by a couple of places (which I admit takes time), then the internet is not a bad second place. Look up any of the leading brands and see if you can print out a page or two about each car. Ideally, you´ll provide three choices (which can be passed around and shared).

The low-down

Tell students to imagine that they are shopping for a new car. What kinds of things do they look for? (If someone doesn´t have a car or doesn´t drive, you can ask them to stretch their imagination a bit). Get some feedback on this before handing out the brochures to each group. Tell them that you would like them to analyze the cars based on the following criteria:

• sportiness or ruggedness
• size
• design elegance
• features
• price
• fuel efficiency (if available)
• type of customer

Once they´ve taken notes on each car. Ask them to decide which is the best for:

• a family of four
• a single guy or girl
• a couple with a large dog
• a successful person
• a new driver

Now what?

Ask students to share their results and decide as a class the best car for each. You can ask students to choose one and write a report on the advantages and disadvantages of each car choice for that person/family.

Time to teach

Hands-down, the most difficult thing here is the vocabulary. A lot of vocabulary is going to come up. And it will be especially true if you hand out the English language versions from the internet, though still to an extent with the originals as well. My advice is to focus on the most common language and forget the most specialized. If you have students who really must know everything, tell them to look up the meanings of the more unusual words for homework.

More talk-time

Have you ever bought a new car? What influenced your decision?

Which of these cars would you buy? Why?

Stuck in traffic

The objective

To make a proposal for reducing pollution and traffic in students´ home-cities

The language

Present simple: Traffic is..., The city is..., Cars are..., The advantages are...

Modals: They should..., We should..., They could..., It would...

Conditionals: If they establish a tax, there will be less traffic; If they established a tax, there would be less traffic; If they had established a tax long ago, we would have less traffic.

The set-up

You probably just need to come prepared with some examples of how cities have combated pollution/traffic or some ideas of your own to get the ball rolling.

The low-down

Ask students if they´ve ever been in a traffic jam. Ask them where, when and why. Now ask if they think traffic and pollution is a big problem. If so, why do they think it´s such a problem? In other words, why is there so much traffic and pollution? Do they know what other cities are doing? After generating some general discussion, cut it short so that students will have plenty to say during the task. Tell them that you want them to decide on one solution to the problem. (This increases the difficulty by forcing them to think of one all-inclusive solution). Tell them, banning all cars is not an option because it´s unfair to the people who live there. Their proposal should include

• what should be done
• how it should be done
• Cost in general terms
• the advantages/disadvantages of their solution

Now what?

Now comes the part where pairs/groups present their ideas to the rest of the class. Allow each group to first give a short presentation followed by a Q/A session (though it could easily evolve into a debate). Finally, students vote for the best proposal (of course, they can´t vote for their own idea).

Time to teach

It will depend on the level/class but probably the most interesting thing to focus on here is the language of the Q/A session or debate. This could include something as basic as question forms or as complex as the language of interrupting, clarifying, fillers, agreeing, half-agreeing or disagreeing.

More talk-time

Do you have a car? If so, what do you use it for? Would it be possible to live without it?

Do you drive your car in the city?

What do you think is the future of the car?

When do you think change will happen?

Are there any other types of pollution which are a problem in your city/country?