American English File Starter Coolers

1A
Divide your class into groups of four or five students. Write the list of items below on the board.
Have them rate the items on a scale of 1 to 10, emphasizing that they should practice saying the
numbers. (1 = not important to me; 10 = very important to me)
cell phone

school

e-mail

English

pizza

photos

friends

family

1B
Have students practice the dialogue from section 2 GRAMMAR on Student Book page 6 with
different movies and actors. You can bring in pictures of movie posters from newspapers or the
internet, or you can give them a list of movie titles and actors and the country they come from.
Possible movie/actor/country list:
The Science of Sleep (Gael Garcia Bernal, Mexico / Charlotte Gainsbourg, England)
Star Trek (John Cho, Korea / Winona Ryder, the United States)
Memoir of a Geisha (Togo Igawa, Japan / Samantha Futerman, Korea)
Vanilla Sky (Tom Cruise, the United States / Penlope Cruz, Spain)
Austin Powers (Mike Myers, Canada / Elizabeth Hurley, England)

You might want to teach students the expression, I didnt see it. They can use this and No, it isnt
for the opinion part of the dialogue (Was it a good movie?)

1C
Divide the class into three teams. For large classes, have four teams, and for small classes have
two teams. Have one student from each team come to the board. Say a country from Part B in
the Vocabulary Bank on Student Book page 103. Students write the nationality for that country on
the board. The first person to write the correct nationality and spell it correctly gets a point for his
or her team. Remember, each nationality must start with a capital letter for it to be correct. Repeat
until every student has had a turn. The winning team is the one with the most points at the end of
the game.

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2A
Put students in pairs. Have them brainstorm a list of common items that they think people might
leave in one of these places:
on a bus
on a plane
at home (when going to work or school)
on a subway

Tell them to write their ideas on a piece of paper. Then ask students to work with another pair that
chose the same category and compare answers.

2B
Have every student in class take an object out of his or her desk or bag. Hold up an object from
your desk and start by saying, Its my (name of object, e.g., pen). The next student must say your
object, e.g., Its her pen, and then say his or her own object, e.g., Its my ID card. The next
student says your object, the first students object, and his or her own, e.g., Its her pen. Its his ID
card. Its my watch. Remind students to use the correct possessive adjectives. Continue until
every student has had a turn. When finished, play again with new objects, this time asking
students to use the possessive s, e.g., Its Ms. Carters umbrella. Its Ricardos photo. Its my
credit card. You may want to reverse the order so that different students have to speak more.
Alternatively, you may want to put stronger students at the end as they will be challenged by
saying more.

2C
Put students in small groups. Have them decide the best type of car for the following people:
a family of six

a male student

a family of four

a 16-year-old girls first car

a female student

a 16-year-old boys first car

Have them decide what color, model, and nationality the car is. They can also use the common
adjectives from the Vocabulary Bank on Student Book page 106 to describe the car.

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3A
Have students write two sentences about themselves that are true, and one that is false, using
the common verbs from the Vocabulary Bank on Student Book page 107. Say two true sentences
and one false sentence about yourself, e.g. I live in an apartment. (T), I have five children. (F), I
speak Japanese. (T). Ask students to guess which sentence is false. Then ask students to read
their sentences and have the rest of the class guess which statements are false. Alternatively,
have students work in small groups.

3B
Have your class count off from 1 to 3 until each student has a number. On the board, write 1.
Breakfast, 2. Lunch, 3. Dinner. Have students who got the number 1 write a breakfast menu,
students with the number 2 write a lunch menu, and students with the number 3 write a dinner
menu. Every student writes one menu using the words from the Vocabulary Bank on Student
Book page 108 and other food words they know. Then put students in groups of three, so that
one person has a menu for each meal. In the groups of three, have students look at the menus
for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and pretend those are the three meals they would eat in one day.
Have them talk about the meals and decide on any changes they would make.

3C
Write these words and phrases on the board:
a uniform

a desk

a hat

a computer

Have students work with a partner to make a list of who they think would need each item at work.
Ask them to use the jobs vocabulary from the Vocabulary Bank on Student Book page 109. Then
have students work with another pair to compare their answers.
Possible answers:
A uniform: a doctor, a nurse, a salesperson, a waiter or waitress, a policeman or policewoman, a
factory worker
A hat: a policeman or policewoman, a factory worker
A desk: a teacher, a doctor, an assistant, a lawyer, a student
A computer: a teacher, a doctor, a nurse, a salesperson, a waiter or waitress, an assistant, a
lawyer, a factory worker, a student

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4A
Give each student in the class ten paperclips or small pieces of paper to use as counters. Say
something that you never do, e.g., I never have eggs for breakfast. Each student that does that
activity brings a counter to the front of the room (you can collect them in a box or just on a desk or
table). As each student gives you a counter, ask them to tell you how often they do the activity,
e.g., I always have eggs for breakfast., or I sometimes have eggs for breakfast. Then ask another
student to say a statement about what he or she never does, e.g., I never do housework on
Saturday. Each student that does the activity brings a counter to the front of the room, making a
statement about how often he or she does the activity, e.g. I usually do housework on Saturday.
Repeat the activity until every student has had a turn to make a statement using an adverb of
frequency. If students have trouble thinking of ideas, have them look at the phrases in the
Vocabulary Bank on Student Book page 111 for ideas. The student with the most counters left at
the end of the game, wins. Alternatively, play the game in small groups.

4B
Have every student choose a vacation spot in your country or in another country that they know
well. Tell students they are going to be experts on this place. Write these questions from the
reading on Student Book page 36 on the board:
Do a lot of tourists come to _____?
When do they usually come?
Is the winter very cold?
What do people do in the winter?
What do people do in the summer?
Do you prefer the summer or the winter?
Do you like life in _____?
Put students in pairs and have them take turns asking and answering the questions using
information about the places they chose.

4C
Ask students to turn to the Vocabulary Bank on Student Book page 112 for examples of verbs.
Put students in ten small groups. The groups do not have to have the same number of people if
your class does not divide into ten groups evenly. Assign each group a place from this list.
a library
a gym
a pool
an airport
a bus
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Each group writes a list of at least three things people can and cant do for their place. Then have
the groups with the same place work together and compare answers. If you have a small class,
you can have individual students write the lists and then compare answers in pairs.
Possible answers:
a library: cant play tennis; can use the Internet; can take a break
a gym: can swim; can play tennis; cant play the piano
a pool: can swim; cant change money; cant play computer games
an airport: cant play sports; can use the Internet; can change money
a bus: cant play tennis; cant play sports; can drive

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5A
Practice the simple past by giving students a quick dictation. Write these sentences on the board:
She is a singer.
Im not famous.
They are doctors.
We are factory workers.
You arent a teacher.
Have students write the sentences in the simple past in their notebooks. Check the simple past
sentences on the board (ask one student to come write their answer for each sentence).
Answers:
She was a singer.
I wasnt famous.
They werent doctors.
We werent factory workers.
You werent a teacher.

5B
Have each student write a blog about what he or she did yesterday. Alternatively, have students
write about a different day in the past if you think it would be more interesting, e.g., last Saturday
instead of yesterday. You may want to have them read the blogs from READING AND WRITING
exercise a on Student Book page 47 again before they write their own. Ask a few volunteers to
read their blogs to the class.

5C
Write a list of regular verbs on the board. Include one verb for each student in your class, plus
one for yourself. You can use verbs from this list or other regular verbs that your students know.
arrive

like

rent

walk

change

listen

start

want

cry

live

stay

work

help

park

study

learn

play

use

Start telling a story. For example: Yesterday I walked to work early in the morning. Cross the
word work off the list on the board as you say the sentence. Students take turns continuing the
story in the simple past, using one of the verbs from the list. Cross off the words as they are used.
Continue the story until every student has had a turn and every verb has been used. Encourage
the last few students to give the story an ending. Help students with the pronunciation of the -ed
endings as needed.
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6A
Play Hotel Hangman with words from the Vocabulary Bank on Student Book page 114. Choose
a word with at least six letters, e.g., ELEVATOR. Write a dash on the board for each letter in the
word:
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
Students raise their hands and say letters one at a time. If the letter is in the word, (e.g., E) fill it in
each time it occurs, e.g., E __ E __ __ __ __ __. Only accept letters that are pronounced
correctly. If the letter is not in the word, draw the first line of this picture on the board:

Write any incorrectly guessed letters under the picture so that students dont repeat them. The
object of the game is to guess the word before the man is hanged. Students can try to guess the
whole word at any time, but another line should be added to the picture for each wrong guess.
The student who correctly guesses the word comes to the board and chooses a new word from
the lesson. Alternatively, students can play in pairs or groups drawing on a piece of paper.
Possible words:
bathroom

remote control

gift shop

shower

cabinet

elevator

pillow

parking lot

swimming pool

towel

reception

restaurant

6B
Give students a books-closed memory test on Benidorm. Give them a minute to read the text
from READING & LISTENING exercise a on Student Book page 56 again. Have them read the
chart they completed in exercise b, too. Then say the following sentences and have students say
if each fact is about Benidorm in the 1950s or today. Once they get the correct answer, have
them say what the figure is for the opposite time period. The answers are in parentheses.
3,000 people (1950s; today there are 65,000 people.)
no airport (1950s; today there is an airport 35 miles from Benidorm.)
4 million tourist a year (Today; in the 1950s, there were 3,000 tourist a year.)
3 hotels (1950s; today there 128 hotels.)
254 supermarkets (Today; in the 1950s, there werent any supermarkets.)
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6C
See if students can remember the text message that Olivia sent the man in the story Strangers on
a Train from Student Book pages 5859. Write part of the message on the board:
Sorry! In a _____. See you in the _____. Leave _____ at the _____.

Elicit answers, with books closed, until the message is completed correctly. Alternatively, have
students work in pairs to fill in the blanks of the message together. Then have students share
answers as a class or in small groups.
Answer:
Sorry! In a meeting. See you in the theater. Leave my ticket at the box office.

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7A
Put students in small groups. Have them talk about what they think the following people are doing
right now:
their parents
the leader of your country
Angelina Jolie (actress)
President Obama
their best friends
Pablo Aimar (soccer player)
their brothers or sisters
Shakira (singer)
Bill Gates (businessman)
You can substitute famous people that are familiar to your students for any of people on the list.
Try to use a variety of jobs, so they have the opportunity to use different verbs when they imagine
the people are doing.

7B
Make a list of travel destinations. Tell students to choose places they did not use when describing
their dream trips in 5 SPEAKING exercises a and b on Student Book page 67. Repeat the
speaking activity with new places. Have students plan a trip with a partner instead of working
individually for exercise a. Have them work with another pair for exercise b.
Possible trips:
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Tokyo, Japan
Cape Town, South Africa
Dublin, Ireland
Istanbul, Turkey
A safari in Kenya
The Colca Canyon in Peru
The pyramids in Egypt
A cruise to Alaska in the United States
A Caribbean island adventure
The Taj Mahal in India
Niagara Falls in Canada
You can substitute places that are familiar to your students for any of places on the list.
Alternatively, you can have students choose their own places without providing a list.

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7C
Put students in groups of three or four students. One student in each group draws six large
circles on a piece of paper, labeled as follows:

/ eI / train

/ E / egg

/ u / boot

/ oU / phone

/ & / cat

/ i / tree

Have each group choose a recorder, who will write down each word as you read it. Dictate the
words below, giving students a little time between each word to decide which circle the word
belongs in. The groups have to write each word in the correct circle according to the vowel sound.
As an extra challenge, have students underline the verbs.
black

have

play

blue

key

rain

camp

know

read

coat

late

rent

do

lose

send

friend

meet

ten

go

name

three

hat

no

two

Answers:
/ eI / train: late, name, play, rain
/ E / egg: friend, rent, send, ten
/ u / boot: blue, do, lose, two
/ oU / phone: coat, go, know, no
/ & / cat: black, camp, have, hat
/ i / tree: key, meet, read, three
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