Word Fun & Games

Visit our Fun & Games page for a bunch of new word games. Try them out and let us know what you think.

Easter - Video Comprehension Exercise

Here's a video briefly explaining the history of Easter. It is followed by a few comprehension questions for intermediate level students.
This page is one of many from a site with a variety of festival related EFL exercises for various learner levels. Follow the links on the page for more resources.

Video Clips - Listening Comprehension

This link takes you to an external site where you will find a range of short video clips from feature-length films including 'The Great Gatsby', 'Silver Linings Playbook', 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy', plus many, many more.
With each video clip there are a small number of comprehension questions and answers. The level of difficulty for learners will vary according to the language and visual clues in each clip, but I would expect the easiest of these clips to be aimed at intermediate level EFL learners or above.
Although these exercises stand up on their own, not watching from the beginning of each movie removes a lot of the context. Not knowing the background to the situation viewed or the characters featured is a disadvantage for anyone trying to fully understand a short clip.
Ideally, learners could be encouraged to watch the whole film for gist, then they could do follow-up activities which could include these clips for specific comprehension, which could then lead to further language development.

Location, Location, Location?

If you're a TEFL teacher working away from home, why not let us all know which location, or even which organization, you think is the best,and why.

Third Conditional Fragments

Watch this video clip from Whatever Works, directed by Woody Allen. This clip is entitled Should Haves and Could Haves, as it focuses on what should have been or could have been. In other words it considers imaginary or alternative past times and events that didn't actually take place. It includes language expressing regret at lost opportunities, such as, "If only I had bought that stock" (I would have /could have been a millionaire by now) This third conditional structure is suggested in the clip but the second clause (in brackets, above) is not spoken.  The first phrase "If only.." is sufficient to tell us that missed opportunities are the key purpose of speech.

The third conditional sentence structure is a highly complex language structure and the concept that it describes is equally complex. Upper intermediate to advanced EFL learners should be able to manage the language aspects of this clip, but without a context such an audience may be lost as to the true meaning.  As with any clip, explanations or a summary of the film as a whole would provide a foundation for understanding the real meaning of the words.

Watch the whole film or see reviews for it by clicking the image below.


See more reviews and films from the same director, Woody Allen, by clicking the image below.

Ready to Learn from New Books or Discs? Trade in Your Old to Fund The New.