Homework ideas: Alternatives to the photocopied worksheet General Encourage them to talk to themselves!

Having a conversation in a foreign language in your head is a great way to practise. It helps prepare you for real conversations, it can be done anywhere and it makes you think of ways round what you can t say without the pressure of someone waiting for you to say it. !end them something to read via email and ask everyone to do a task related to it: write a summary, find five words they didn t know, write a comprehension "uestion, anything you can think of! In class, ask them to interview a partner about their interests and then at home find an article online to interest the person they interviewed and send it to them. It might encourage them to actually do it, if they think they re letting someone else down. #ead a book together. $ind a book, and give the students a set number of pages to read for homework %start low, or they might get discouraged!&. 'he graded readers for E$( learners are good for this and can be bought)downloaded) borrowed from (inc and photocopied. *atch a tv series together: almost everyone watches tv series online now, so if you ve got a high level group with similar tastes get them to watch the same episode of a favourite series. +ou can talk about it in class. ,r not. Exam classes $-E)-AE: .ive students a short te/t, about the same length as the open clo0e from the use of english paper and get them to make their own gapped te/ts. +ou can use a te/t from a different coursebook, or a maga0ine etc. 'ell them to think about the kinds of words which are normally missing and chose similar words. If you use two different te/ts they can swap with a partner in the ne/t class and try and do each other s task. 'his works really well after you ve done one of the e/ercises in class. !ynonym hunts: give them each one or two words and tell them to find synonyms. 'his works best with words like good, bad, beautiful, frightening, difficult etc, the kinds of words they use five times in the same written te/t. 'here are specific apps for the -ambridge e/ams, some free some not, but they can practise grammar or vocab in short bursts on the bus, in the "ueue for lunch. -ambridge 1niversity 2ress have a phrasal verbs app called the 2hrasal verb 3achine that is "uite good fun. -hoose one of the writing te/ts and get them to write to you, or to each other. If they write to each other they can make suggestions for improvements)do some peer corrections and send it back for rewriting before you get the final draft.

Encourage them to read in any way you can: almost anything they read will be good for them and they can download books or read newspapers and maga0ines on their smartphones)tablets)e4readers. And ditto with listening)watching tv. Lower level groups (isten to songs in English and look at the lyrics: www.lyricstraining.com has rolling gap4 fills, the students have to type in the missing words, the music only continues if they type the right word, but there are hints and tips if they get stuck. Apps and online games are a good idea 4 the general vocab and grammar games and "ui00es which can be played in short bursts and involve a lot of repetition are perfect for lower levels. !uggest that they keep a vocabulary notebook and add a few words a week. +ou can go through them in class and keep a note of the words or 5ust let them get on with it. .ive the students si/ small pieces of paper and get them to write three words they find hard to remember %one word per piece of paper& and on the remaining three pieces, they write the definitions or a translation. +ou can use them in class as a matching task or as a "ui0. Kids 'here are plenty of online games for them to play, but you could also suggest that they play their own favourite video game with the language set to English. 'hey can tell their parents that it6s homework! Online resources 4 5ust one or two, obviously there are a ga0illion and you ll probably already have your favourites... 7ideos: www.ted.com www.video5ug.com !ongs and lyrics: http:))www.lyricstraining.com) ,nline games: http:))www.vocabulary.co.il) http:))learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org)en)kids4games http:))www.english4online.org.uk)games)game0one8.htm Apps: http:))learnenglish.britishcouncil.org)en)apps http:))www.cambridgeapps.org) %includes 'he 2hrasal 7erbs machine& http:))www.onestopenglish.com)skills)pronunciation)phonemic4chart4and4app) Also get them to look at wherever they normally get their apps from, there ll be something!