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Here at VOA Learning English, we love to help those who teach English make learning more interactive, student-centered and fun. Besides our quizzes, downloadable lesson plans and other materials, there are other creative ways to use our programs in your classroom. Let’s start with speaking activities.
Beginners: Using the Day in Photos
Every day, VOA Learning English posts fascinating photos from around the world. We call it the Day in Photos.
Here’s a speaking activity that will inspire even the shyest beginning speakers to talk to their classmates. With students sitting in pairs, show an image on the screen. Have one student describe what she sees in the image. Then, have the other student imagine what the people or animals in the photo are thinking or saying.
Intermediate（之间的）learners: Using Learning English TV
Learning English TV features two-minute videos on topics from science to politics to health. For intermediate learners, you can use pair work to have students make a summary of what they learn after watching the videos.
Advanced learners: Using Learning English TV
For this level, have students do the activity exactly as they did in the intermediate activity, but ask students to come up with three questions on additional things they’d like to learn about the topic. You can also use our video series America’s Presidents to set off discussion on debatable topics. Students can work in small groups to express their opinions on what they watched in the video.
Advanced learners: Using English at the Movies
These short series explore an idiom, or common expression.
Students can use the context（上下文）of the movie clip and its explanation-based on the multiple choice quiz in the video-to develop their understanding of the expression.
One fun activity is to have students create two-or three-person dialogues using the new idioms. They can act out or voice the dialogues in their groups or share the dialogues with the whole class.
1. What should a shy beginning speaker choose?
A. The Day in Photos. B. Learning English TV.
C. America’s Presidents. D. English at the Movies.
2. What do we know about Learning English TV?
A. It covers broad topics.
B. It is designed for advanced learners.
C. It provides learners with common expressions.
D. It encourages learners to debate with each other.
3. What does the text mainly intend to introduce?
A. How to practice our spoken English.
B. An English learning website-VOA.
C. Easy ways to bring fun to speaking activities.
D. How to use VOA Learning English for speaking.
