Teachers' Headway lessons | Oxford University Press http://elt.oup.com/teachers/headway/lessons?cc=global&selLanguage=...

Worldwide Help & support View basket Hello Griet van Dongen View My Profile Logout

English Language Teaching Search

Worldwide

Home Catalogue Oxford Teachers' Club Learning Resources Bank Buy from

Home Oxford Teachers' Club Wybieram Oxford Headway Teachers' Headway lessons

Teachers' Headway lessons

2010-07-21T09:13:18Z Share Print

Home Catalogue
Oxford Teachers' Club
Check here to see if there is an extra idea for a specific Headway lesson. All the ideas here have Student's Sites
been contributed by teachers. Help us make this a useful and comprehensive resource by sending in Buy from
your own ideas. You could win an Oxford Collocations Dictionary too! Email your Headway lesson Sitemap
ideas to: Job Vacancies
Help & Support
headway@oup.com View Basket
OUP Worldwide

New Headway Beginner

Level: Beginner – Elementary

Practice of short answer

This is a very simple activity that can be prepared quite quickly, and set up in many ways.

You can prepare a set of cards relevant to your students/about you/to use with any class/about famous
people.

It is a good idea to include some blatant lies!

If your class is strong they can make their own cards with true (and false) sentences about
themselves/you/famous people.

Students can work in pairs, as a class, or as a small group.

Cards can reflect particular language points (tenses/modals) or practise particular verbs.

Do you know your classmates well?

Shuffle cards and place face down on the table. Students take it in turns to take a card and read the 'fact'
aloud to classmates. Classmates say whether the fact is true or false through use of a short answer. If the
classmate doesn't know, s/he should guess.

Below are some example sentences that would relate to the first person singular with short answers, to
practise using different auxiliary verbs be /have /do /did.

e.g. 1:
Student 1 'I'm a woman.'
Student 2 'No, you're not.'

e.g. 2:
Student 2 'I drink coffee for breakfast.'
Student 1 (guesses) 'Yes, you do.'
Student 2 'No, I don't!'

TO BE HAVE GOT PRESENT SIMPLE PAST SIMPLE

I'm a woman.
I've got six children.
I drink coffee for breakfast.
I went on holiday to Africa last summer.
I'm not married.
I haven't got a pet.
I can't speak French or Italian.
I got an iPod for my birthday.
I'm a grandparent.
I've got two sisters.
I don't work in an office.
I didn't go to the cinema last weekend.
I'm very good at football.

1 van 9 23.08.2013 20:29

Teachers' Headway lessons | Oxford University Press http://elt.oup.com/teachers/headway/lessons?cc=global&selLanguage=...

I've got a Porsche.

I listen to rock music. Copyright © Oxford University Press, 2013. All Rights Rese
I ate pasta last night.
I'm 21.
I've got a mobile phone.
I always get up before 6 in the morning.
I wasn't at home last Friday night.
I'm a millionaire.
I've got a famous friend.
I eat in restaurants at the weekend.
I went to school with Prince Harry
I'm at a party.
I haven't got a bicycle.
I can't play the piano.
I visited London in 2002.
I'm a doctor.
I haven't got a pen.
I can sing opera.
I didn't have dinner yesterday.

* Thank you to Joaquím Sabaté from Spain for contributing this idea.

[top]

New Headway Elementary

Unit 2, page 16 Opposites
Aim: to revise the meaning of pairs of adjective opposites

Procedure

Divide the class into groups A and B, where each group gets a different set of adjectives written or
typed on pieces of paper,

group A:

big funny clever short new young fast lovely

group B:

small sad stupid tall old old slow horrible

Explain that the task of each group is to show, i.e. mime the meaning of the adjectives so that the
other group can guess them; students in each group take it in turn to mime the meaning of a word.
When all the adjectives have been guessed, it is the other group's turn to mime their adjectives.
During class feedback, ask individual (confident) students to mime a word in class, and when
someone has guessed it, ask a student to write the adjective on the board.

* Thank you to Robert Nowak from Poland for contributing this idea.

[top]

Unit 11 Describing people

For an alternative non-book presentation (or as a mini revision at the end of the lesson), cut out some
pictures of people from magazines. Make sure you choose pictures where you can clearly see the person
and/or what they are doing.

Then you can:

1. Show the pictures to the class and ask students to describe them as an open class activity.
2. Put the pictures up around the classroom. Then ask students to walk round, and make notes or
write a description of the people with a partner. Set a time limit on this and then have a whole class
feedback. You could ask students to read out their descriptions and the others have to guess which
picture/person they are describing.
3. With a stronger class, give each pair a picture and ask them to write a description with three
factual mistakes, e.g. the picture shows a person with blue eyes, but students write that the person
has brown eyes. This description is then passed on to another pair, and they correct the description.

* Thank you to Deniz Ersoz from Turkey for contributing this idea.

[top]

Unit 5 p 37 There is/are Is there a …/ are there any …. ?

Speaking follow up activity

I have found this a good revision game for the above target language and it can also be great for revising
previously taught vocabulary.

What's in my envelope ?

In the class room: ask everybody to think of a place and to draw what it contains e.g. a kitchen
which contains a cooker, plates, a fridge etc. Other places could be a farm/a kitchen/a bedroom/an

2 van 9 23.08.2013 20:29

Teachers' Headway lessons | Oxford University Press http://elt.oup.com/teachers/headway/lessons?cc=global&selLanguage=...

office/a park/an airport/a railway station/a clothes shop/a street etc. Only suggest places you know
that they will have some of the vocabulary for!
They mustn't let anyone see it. (If this is not possible in your classroom, you can ask them to draw
this picture for homework and bring the picture in for the following lesson inside an envelope).
If the students do the drawing in class, give out some envelopes and ask the students to put their
pictures inside and redistribute them.
In pairs or groups, students take it in turns to ask yes/no questions and find as many things as
possible in a minute that are in the picture, e.g. Is there a fridge in your kitchen?
I suggest the following format:

Student 1: My picture is a street.

Student 2: Are there any cars in your picture?

Student 1: There's one car.

Variation: If you feel that your students do not like drawing, you can bring in a magazine picture
and ask the class to guess what's in it.
A more challenging (and possibly risky!) variation would be to ask the students to bring in their
own magazine pictures and work in pairs or groups.

* Thank you to Deniz Ersoz from Turkey for contributing this idea.

[top]

Unit 14 page 108

A class questionnaire

As a follow-up to the listening in this unit, and as extended practice and class bonding, how about a class
questionnaire?

In groups, students make about five questions to ask the other groups. These questions can be a
mixture of the same questions as other groups, and some that are different..

e.g.

Have you ever broken a bone?

Have you ever met a famous person?

Have you ever been to England?

Have you ever been to hospital?

Have you ever won a competition?

Each group asks every student in the class their questions and writes down the answers/data.
They should also include their own group and themselves.

Once all the data has been collected, the groups write it up on the board or on a big sheet of
paper (which would be preferable if you can put the pieces of paper up in the classroom).
The end result for one group should look like this:

In our class….

15 people have broken a bone.

20 people have won a competition.

10 people have been to hospital.

1 person has met a famous person.

5 people have been to England.

(This idea originally comes from Classroom Dynamics - Jill Hadfield)

* Thank you to Deniz Ersoz from Turkey for contributing this idea.

[top]

Unit 11, page 89 In a clothes shop

Role-play cards to help students make more conversations

Aim: to help students to make more conversations in a clothes shop

Procedure

Ask the students to memorize any necessary vocabulary items (e.g. changing rooms , a tie, etc. )
or phrases (e.g. Where are the changing rooms? , I'm looking for a (tie)?,etc. ) from the dialogue

3 van 9 23.08.2013 20:29

Teachers' Headway lessons | Oxford University Press http://elt.oup.com/teachers/headway/lessons?cc=global&selLanguage=...

In a clothes shop .
Put the students in pairs to role-play conversations in a clothes shop.
Present the students with role cards giving some key information (and problems) to be included in
their dialogues (see below).
When the pairs have finished, ask them to swap role cards with another pair.

Example role cards:

Get these role cards as a Word document – you can print them and cut them out. You can also make
more cards with your own ideas.

Pair one

A.1. You are a shop assistant.

You only have white trainers. The price is $39.99.

B.1. You are a customer.

You want to buy a pair of black trainers. You have $40.

Pair two

A.2. You are a shop assistant.

You have a smart evening dress, price $79.99

You have a dress for $59.99, but it's dark green.

B.2. You are a customer.

You want to buy a light green evening dress.

The first one suggested is too expensive.

* Thank you to Robert Nowak from Poland for contributing this idea.

[top]

Unit 14 Present Perfect

This is useful for revising past participles as well as Present Perfect questions, positives, and negatives.
Students will need to be able to produce sentences with just , yet , and already .

Prepare a 'card game' worksheet: you will need 30 squares ('cards') to write the infinitives from p107, five
question marks (?), five positive signs (+), and five negative signs (-). Copy and cut up enough sets of
cards for each group.

Put students into groups of four or five. Give each group a set of cards to be placed face down on the
table. The cards should be in two piles; one of the past participles, and one of the signs.

Tell students they have to take it in turns to make a grammatically correct sentence using the cards. They
should take one card from each pile (the group must see the card, too!) and create a sentence, e.g.

Card 1: EAT

Card 2: ?

Student:
Have you eaten lunch yet?

The group then decide if the sentence is correct or not. If it is correct, then the student keeps the cards,
but if the sentence is wrong, then the cards are returned to the bottom of the pile. The next student then
takes one card from each pile, and so on. The winner is the student with the most cards.

* Thank you to Brian McFinney from the United Kingdom for contributing this idea.

[top]

New Headway Pre-Intermediate

Unit 1 page 12 Neighbours

A warm-up activity

Aim: to introduce students to the topic of the lesson, and get them to speak about their personal lives

Procedure

Ask one or two students some sample questions: Do you live in a flat or a house? Which floor do
you live on? Who are your neighbours? What kind of neighbours are they? What kind of
neighbour are you?
Give all the students the appropriate amount of time to answer these questions and ask them to:

take notes (individual work)

4 van 9 23.08.2013 20:29

Teachers' Headway lessons | Oxford University Press http://elt.oup.com/teachers/headway/lessons?cc=global&selLanguage=...

exchange the information with their partner (pair work)

talk in front of the whole group (I usually ask two or three students; first a fluent student,
then some shy ones, so that the students can learn something from each other)

Notes

As well as providing speaking practice, this is an opportunity for students to learn something about each
other. The teacher can participate not only by controlling the pace of the activity, but also by contributing
to it, by letting students ask questions about his/her neighbours if he/she wishes to.

* Thank you to Robert Nowak from Poland for contributing this idea.

[top]

Unit 2 page 20 You drive me mad (but I love you)!

A role-play activity

Aim: to give students the opportunity to speak more during the lesson

Procedure

After having completed all the exercises on page 20, tell students that they are going to act out the radio
programme.

Divide students into groups of three (Presenter, Carol, Mike) or (Presenter, Dave, Alison).
Give them about ten minutes to prepare for the task and memorize their roles. Students can make
notes (but make sure that they write a few words, not whole sentences from the dialogues) and
are encouraged to make use of the tapescript.
Ask the students to do the role-play. They can do it in groups first, and then you can choose a
couple of groups to do it in front of the class.
Evaluate the task (pinpoint the good sides of the students' conversations).

Note

The students should feel 'safe', as their presentation is based on material that has already been done in
the classroom. It is also an excellent way to revise the vocabulary that has been learned in the lesson.
You could do the role-play in a later lesson if there isn't enough time to do it after you have finished p20.

* Thank you to Robert Nowak from Poland for contributing this idea.

[top]

Unit 6 page 66 Problem page

A warm-up activity

Aim: to introduce students to the topic of the lesson and pre-teach some key vocabulary

Procedure

Bring (or ask students to bring) a magazine (a Polish one in my case) with a problem page in it.
Ask students to define what a problem page is and what it consists of. As the students brainstorm
ideas, you can organize them in the form of a mind-map on the blackboard. Below you can see a
possible outcome.

— problems
— personal
— health
— work
— home

— letters — readers
— women
— men
— teenagers

Problem page ?

— answers — help
— advice — picture — psychologist

— knowledge
— experience

After the mind-map has been completed, some students are asked to make a sentence about
problem pages using the given information, e.g. The person who gives help and advice on a
problem page is a psychologist, or someone with a lot of knowledge and experience of people's
problems . It's a good idea to choose a confident student first and then a shy one.

* Thank you to Robert Nowak from Poland for contributing this idea.

[top]

5 van 9 23.08.2013 20:29

Teachers' Headway lessons | Oxford University Press http://elt.oup.com/teachers/headway/lessons?cc=global&selLanguage=...

Unit 11 page 91

Reading predictions

How can we get our students to read a text in class with curiosity and motivation, feel relaxed, and have
speaking practice too? Read on!

This activity works well with texts that have data e.g. a famous person's life, discoveries or historical
events or general science or geography. These texts on tobacco, sugar and cotton work well.

Before asking the students to open their books, put these headings on the board – Tobacco/
Sugar/ Cotton.
Brainstorm in the class what the students know about these three things. If they don't know
anything, ask them what they would like to find out from the text.
Encourage statements or questions from each student and write them up correctly for them on the
board.
Don't correct any factual information even if you know it's wrong! Accept everything!
The board takes up to 15 statements and questions usually! e.g.

1. Tobacco kills
2. It's a plant.
3. Who discovered it?
4. Cotton is cheap.
5. Sugar is bad for you.

When the board is full, ask everyone to open their books and read the texts.
After a few minutes, ask them to see if their questions have been answered or if their statements
are true or false. Introduce the idea of 'not mentioned' or 'not there' for any statements or the
answers to questions which are not given in the texts.

* Thank you to Robert Nowak from Poland for contributing this idea.

[top]

New Headway Intermediate

Unit 3 page 22 Telling tales
Jigsaw Fairy Tale

Aim: to provide collective writing practice with narrative tenses

Procedure

Each student (or pair of students) takes a sheet of paper and writes the beginning of a fairy tale,
for example Once upon a time there lived a king/princess/poor fisherman.
After writing this sentence, students exchange their sheet of paper with another student (or pair of
students) and write a sentence to continue the story, before exchanging sheets again. The
teacher can help students and correct any mistakes which make the story difficult to understand.
Students are asked to complete the story in 6-10 exchanges.
When the stories are finished, the results of the collective writing are read aloud in class (or the
sheets of paper could be put up on the walls of the classroom for students to read).

Note

To make the writing more creative, the teacher could ask the students to use certain constructions in their
stories, e.g. comparatives – much more handsome than, not as cruel as , Past Continuous – She was
crossing the bridge when she saw a dragon .

* Thank you to Basil Bykow from Russia for contributing this idea.

[top]

Unit 4 p 37 Everyday English - Requests and offers

Tell it to the teacher first

Aim: to lift the target language off the page, get the students gradually aware of the meanings of spoken
English, and practise quick responses.

Procedure:

Before the class write the A box sentences on cards, e.g. Could you bring us the bill, please?
Tell your students not to open their books.
Give the students one sentence each or one per pair. It doesn't matter if two or three students or
pairs have the same sentence.
Go round and check the meaning and sentence stress and listen to the students saying their
sentences to you.
Tell the students to shout their lines to you as often as they want. Each time one of them shouts a
line, you answer with the correct reply, a B sentence. For example, Student : Could you bring us

6 van 9 23.08.2013 20:29

Teachers' Headway lessons | Oxford University Press http://elt.oup.com/teachers/headway/lessons?cc=global&selLanguage=...

the bill, please? You : Yes, sir. I'll bring it right away. Don't explain any of the language yet but
you can help with mime and expression.
Ask the students to swap their cards and repeat the procedure. You can do this more than once.
Take the cards away and ask the students to work in pairs or groups. They should try and
remember as many of the A and B sentences as possible.
Then ask the class to tell you what they can remember. The students should open their books on
p37 and do the exercise.
Answer any questions. The students then close their books and ask each other the A and B
sentences across the class. They'll be confident by now!

* Thank you to Filip Kaderabkova from the Czech Republic for contributing this idea.

[top]

Unit 2 p 20 Spot and Leisure vocabulary

I wouldn't be without my WORD BOX!

At intermediate level, it's difficult for students AND teachers to keep track of all that new topic vocabulary,
everyday expressions, phrasal verbs etc.

Here is a wonderful solution! For each class, keep an old shoe box and make it look as pretty as you can!

Tell your class that this is their word box for the term or course.
Always have a pile of scrap paper to write any new vocabulary items on. (Good for recycling all
that wasted paper too!)
Write only the new words or expressions on the clean side of the paper, NOT the meanings or
definitions!
Use one piece of paper for one word or one expression. If you want to put the target language into
a contextual sentence, feel free, but underline the new items e.g. Nicola loves doing yoga or Peter
wears a helmet and goggles when he goes snowboarding..
The teacher can spend the first 5 or 10 minutes reviewing the vocabulary the following lesson in a
variety of ways, e.g.

1. Give a definition – students shout out the word.

2. Give the opposite or a synonym.
3. Read out the sentence with a gap/mime or recall the context in which they met the word or
collocation or expression.

Eventually give the piles of paper to pairs, groups, or teams to test one another. Make sure they
have the language to do this by modelling the possibilities for them!
You – and your classes - have a wonderful record of all the target language and the more you
review it the more active the new vocabulary becomes.
Ask students to choose the words they want to use or remember. It then becomes part of each
lesson and also something they can become responsible for, rather than the teacher's selection all
the time.
At advanced levels, it becomes a wonderful way of improving the students' paraphrasing skills,
and at lower levels, it gives them help and awareness with what's involved in activating and
recalling new items.
As I said - I would never be without my word box now !

* Thank you to Joachim Schroeder from Germany for contributing this idea.

[top]

New Headway Upper-Intermediate

Unit 2 p 23 Hot verbs make and do / phrasal verbs

Slap the board – A fun reviewing activity .

This is a good activity whenever you need to provide students with a memory jogger for idioms and
phrasal verbs, or collocations that have already been taught.

Procedure:

Divide the class into 2 teams and ask them to come and stand in front of the board.
Write the target language on the board in random order (or project it on an overhead projector)
e.g. do away with /could do with /make something up/make a good impression etc (p23).
Shout out the definitions of the expressions in a random order.
Students take it in turns in their team to run up to the board, and slap or touch the answer they
think is correct.
Put the team scores on the board.
You can also do this with New Headway Upper Intermediate the New edition Unit 8 p. 76.
Adverb Collocations – extreme adjectives.
Put the extreme adjectives on the board and read out the ordinary ones. Students slap the correct
extreme adjective.

7 van 9 23.08.2013 20:29

Teachers' Headway lessons | Oxford University Press http://elt.oup.com/teachers/headway/lessons?cc=global&selLanguage=...

* Thank you to Joachim Schroeder from Germany for contributing this idea.

[top]

Unit 9 p 81 Adjective intensifiers

Memory matching

Aim: to practise or revise word pairs

Activity 1

1. Write the intensifiers on one set of coloured cards, and the adjectives on a differently-coloured set of
cards. You will have two sets of 20 cards.

2. Hand out a card or two cards to each student, depending on the number of students in the class. The
students should stand up, mingle, and find their opposite number/pair, in other words, the person with the
extreme or ordinary adjective which matches theirs.

Activity 2

1. Put your students into groups of 4–6. Give each group a set of coloured cards (one half of the
expression on one colour and the other half on another). Ask them to mix them up and lay them out face
down in rows, or at random on the table. I find that if they are in rows, it helps the students.

2. Each student in the group takes it in turns to turn over 2 cards. Everyone must be able to see what the
cards are. If the cards don't match (intensifier and extreme adjective), they are put back face down in the
same place. Each time the student turns over a card, they have to try and remember where the card's
partner is. When a student makes a pair, they have another turn.

3. The aim of the game is to make as many pairs of cards as possible by remembering where they are on
the table. The winner is the one with the most pairs.

(This would also work with the ordinary/extreme adjectives Unit 8 p 76 in New Headway Upper
Intermediate the New edition or any other vocabulary exercise with collocations/phrasal verbs and
idioms/general vocabulary. It also works with words/expressions and their definitions.)

* Thank you to Joachim Schroeder from Germany for contributing this idea.

[top]

New Headway all levels

One minute wonders

These are great fillers and can be done at any level. Especially good to keep students busy for a minute
or two while you get your books out/find your place on the tape/help a struggling student, or if you just
need to fill up a bit of lesson time when things have run more smoothly than usual!! You can supply the
topic, or a different student can each time you do it.

In pairs, students take it in turns to talk about a topic for one minute. If you feel it's worthwhile, students
can feedback on small details from their conversation. I think it's important to keep it light and keep the
pressure off. Let the make mistakes, be prepared to help with vocab if asked. Try to avoid students using
too much L1 (best if none, but hey! this is the real world).

You could extend the time and have a competition between two groups. A bit of refereeing is needed here
– have a pen that students must be holding in order to have a turn to speak.

People: me, my mum, someone I love, my neighbour, my best friend

Places: my house, my school (my children's school), my favourite place, a place I don't like

Times of day: mornings, afternoons, evenings, weekends

Likes/dislikes: etc …

More advanced levels

Something I saw on TV
Something in the news
A book I've read
The best Saturday
Friday or Saturday nights
A pet I know
An achievement (big or small)
My favourite colour (favourites are always good ones for all kinds of topics – My favourite day of the
week/my favourite holiday place/My favourite programme – brainstorm with the class – worst is also a
goodie)
Lunch

The possibilities for topics are limitless, and provided students have some vocabulary, it is truly surprising
how much they can think of saying about something.

8 van 9 23.08.2013 20:29

Teachers' Headway lessons | Oxford University Press http://elt.oup.com/teachers/headway/lessons?cc=global&selLanguage=...

Have fun!

* Thank you to Erica Martinez from Switzerland for contributing this idea.

[top]

Vocabulary

Tell your class to look at all the new words which they have written down in their books in the past two or
three weeks. Ask them to order them into categories of ...

Words I like

Words I hate

Words I find difficult

Compare with a partner and say why!

* Thank you to Erica Martinez from Switzerland for contributing this idea.

[top]

Part of...
Headway

9 van 9 23.08.2013 20:29