What makes a good worksheet for an English lesson, and why do some classroom materials engage learners while others fall flat?

Gav and Em explore how teachers can choose, adapt and structure worksheets that support learning without allowing a piece of paper—or a PDF—to control the entire lesson. They discuss how a well-designed worksheet can give a lesson focus, provide a clear record of learning and guide students through a logical sequence of activities.

What should a worksheet begin with? How can teachers move from a warmer to language input, listening or reading tasks and freer practice? And when should you change the order, skip an activity or abandon the worksheet altogether?

Drawing on their classroom experience, Gav and Em demonstrate these ideas by turning the episode itself into a worksheet-based listening and speaking lesson. They model gist listening, detailed comprehension, predicting from pictures, checking answers with a partner and building towards collaborative free practice.

Guests Tobin and Kay, the teacher-founders of Quick and Easy English, explain why they began creating practical ESL materials for adults. They discuss searchable resources, levelled activities, teacher feedback and the importance of testing worksheets in real classes. They also share their aim of making lesson planning quicker for teachers while keeping activities engaging for learners.

The episode finishes with Learn-a-Word, where Gav and Em explore “format” as both a noun and a verb.

Find Quick and Easy English:
https://quick-and-easy-english.com/
https://www.instagram.com/quickandeasyenglish/

Download Gav and Em’s worksheet for this episode:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vyfhyjbim8up7ew/Worksheet.pdf?dl=0

If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks at https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Visit https://howtoenglishpod.com for practical teaching ideas and resources ready to use.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to worksheets in English lessons
01:02 Do worksheets help or hinder learning?
03:26 Introducing Quick and Easy English
05:08 Turning the podcast into a worksheet activity
06:42 What is a worksheet?
09:17 What makes a good or bad worksheet?
10:54 How to structure worksheet activities
13:21 Tobin and Kay’s teaching backgrounds
16:06 Using gist and detailed listening tasks
19:10 Preparing students for comprehension questions
21:22 Why Quick and Easy English was created
23:44 Checking answers and supporting learners
27:08 Intercultural communication and course planning
29:41 Testing teaching materials in real classes
32:05 Creating a final collaborative speaking task
33:45 Where to find Quick and Easy English
34:37 Learn-a-Word: format
36:15 End of the episode

Do you use worksheets in your class? Does your teacher use interesting and engaging resources? Teachers, are you looking for some inspiration? Catch this week's How to English Podcast with Gav & Em to find out what makes a good or bad worksheet for your class. Audio with transcription: https://share.descript.com/view/nTQTvnk4CeF Support Gav & Em: https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Quick and Easy English:

https://quick-and-easy-english.com/

https://www.instagram.com/quickandeasyenglish/

Gav and Em's worksheet for this episode: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vyfhyjbim8up7ew/Worksheet.pdf?dl=0

Could English teachers support learners more effectively by becoming accountability partners rather than relying on traditional lessons?

Gav and Em are joined by Reinventress, an engineer turned English trainer from India, to explore a more natural approach to teaching and learning English. She shares her own difficulties moving from textbook knowledge to confident communication and explains how this inspired her Achievable English System.

Her five-step method encourages learners to take a “grammar holiday”, absorb sentence patterns through stories and conversations, learn phrases rather than isolated words, develop speaking through listening and begin thinking directly in English instead of translating.

Drawing on their own classroom experience, Gav and Em consider what this approach means for working English teachers. Is conversation enough to make a session a genuine lesson? How can teachers correct mistakes without interrupting fluency? Do learners really want grammar exercises, or do they simply believe that traditional study is what learning should look like?

They also discuss how teachers can uncover learners’ interests, choose productive conversation topics and balance natural communication with focused language development. An accountability partner does more than have an informal chat: they establish goals, select suitable methods, provide meaningful feedback and help learners maintain their progress.

The episode concludes with Learn-a-Word, examining accountability, account for and the important difference between being accountable to somebody and accountable for somebody.

If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks at https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Visit https://howtoenglishpod.com for practical English-teaching ideas and resources ready to use.

Reinventress

Website:
https://englishwithreinventress.com

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/englishwithreinventress/

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@englishwithreinventress

Other references

Accountability partner:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accountability_partner

Sabira Merchant:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabira_Merchant

Chapters

00:00 – Reinventing English teaching and learning
01:52 – What is an accountability partner?
02:51 – Reinventress and the Achievable English System
06:54 – From textbook knowledge to natural communication
09:20 – Should teachers become accountability partners?
13:15 – Balancing conversation, grammar and vocabulary
16:20 – Correcting mistakes without interrupting fluency
19:26 – Finding conversation topics learners genuinely enjoy
22:00 – A five-step approach to learning English naturally
26:01 – Thinking in English instead of translating
27:36 – Creating structured but organic English lessons
30:18 – Learn-a-Word: accountability
32:30 – Accountable to somebody or accountable for somebody?
34:43 – Defining teachers’ responsibilities to their learners

Are you looking to reinvent your teaching and learning? Any idea what an accountability partner is? Join Gav and Em on their quest to find a new and effective way to teach and learn with the invaluable insights and intriguing teaching methodology of their very special guest, Reinventress. Don't forget to hang around for the word of the week. Transcription with audio: https://share.descript.com/view/wTX5bUxhgxB Support our podcast here: https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Reinventress' links: 

https://englishwithreinventress.com

https://www.instagram.com/englishwithreinventress/

https://www.youtube.com/@englishwithreinventress

Other references:

An accountability partner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accountability_partner

Sabira Merchant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabira_Merchant

How can English teachers use AI to create personalised lesson materials without spending hours planning?

Gav and Em explore AI lesson planning with Alina from Twee, an English teacher, former university lecturer and member of the Twee team. They discuss whether artificial intelligence could ever replace teachers—and how it can instead support them by handling time-consuming materials preparation.

Discover how AI tools can generate reading texts, dialogues, stories and activities based on your students’ interests. Gav and Em demonstrate how one topic can quickly become a complete English lesson containing a tailored text, gap-fill exercise, vocabulary practice and discussion questions.

They also explore practical ways teachers can use AI to:

• create multiple-choice, open and true-or-false questions
• generate dialogues for speaking and role-play
• produce questions and answers for YouTube videos
• suggest essay topics and arguments for exam preparation
• develop activities around highly specific learner interests
• adapt materials when suitable coursebook content is difficult to find

Drawing on their classroom experience, Gav and Em explain how they used Twee to prepare lessons about electric cars, hosting a party and even crankshafts. The technology produces the materials, but the teacher still chooses the topic, adapts the activities and creates the human connection that makes the lesson work.

Will AI replace English teachers? Hopefully not soon 😉 But could it reduce planning time, provide fresh ideas and help busy TEFL, ESL and EFL teachers personalise their lessons? This episode offers an early, practical look at what AI-assisted lesson planning can do.

📚 FREE AI LESSON-PLANNING GUIDE

Read the complete guide to using AI and Twee for personalised English lessons, including the classroom examples from this episode:

https://howtoenglishpod.wordpress.com/can-ai-give-english-teachers-their-time-back-s02e02/

Explore more practical articles about AI, technology and online English teaching:

https://howtoenglishpod.wordpress.com/home/technology-ai-online-teaching/

🔗 TOOLS AND REFERENCES

Try the AI teaching tools discussed in the episode:
https://www.twee.com

Watch the lesson-planning demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjfQOLOqm-M

Listen with the original transcription:
https://share.descript.com/view/kEpddqKhMR7

☕ SUPPORT THE PODCAST

If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks:
https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Visit our website for practical teaching ideas, classroom activities and resources ready to use:
https://howtoenglishpod.com

⏱️ CHAPTERS AND TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Can AI make lesson planning faster?
01:22 – Alina introduces Twee for English teachers
04:30 – Why personalised materials take so much time
05:15 – Creating a reading lesson in three steps
07:04 – Turning a text into vocabulary activities
08:22 – Building a 60- or 90-minute English lesson
09:27 – Creating questions and other exercises
10:38 – Generating dialogues for speaking practice
13:10 – Using AI stories to practise English grammar
14:39 – Making questions from YouTube videos
15:22 – Essay topics, debates and exam preparation
16:08 – How Gav used AI to teach electric cars
17:05 – Em creates a lesson about hosting a party
18:01 – Using unusual student interests during lessons
19:08 – Will AI replace English teachers?

How can English teachers start a new year feeling organised, motivated and ready for their students?

Gav and Em begin Season 4 by reflecting on how they ended the previous teaching year and what they want to change. They discuss optional homework, restarting classes after a holiday and asking learners what they want to achieve in the months ahead.

Should every student receive homework? How can teachers improve an overloaded timetable? Is it possible to create fresh lesson materials when planning time is limited? Drawing on their classroom and online teaching experience, Gav and Em explore realistic ways to manage these challenges without attempting to transform everything at once.

They also consider teacher self-care, including posture, lighting, sleep, exercise and taking proper breaks. Em identifies an online teaching habit she wants to improve: recording useful vocabulary, phrases and links in the chat rather than allowing valuable emergent language to disappear.

Gav introduces SMART goals as a practical way to make progress. Instead of waiting for two or three free hours to create an entire worksheet, could a teacher build it gradually in short, manageable stages?

The episode concludes with the first Learn-A-Word feature. Gav and Em examine adaptable, adapt, adaptation and adapter—and consider why adaptability is such a valuable quality for teachers.

If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks at https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Visit https://howtoenglishpod.com for practical English-teaching ideas, classroom resources and conversations from Gav and Em.

Reference:

Self-care: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-care

Chapters

The PDF does not contain audio timings, so these are suggested chapter positions to check against the recording:

00:00 Welcome to Season 4
02:20 Reflecting on the previous teaching year
04:35 Should teachers set holiday homework?
09:50 Restarting lessons after a break
12:25 Asking students about their English goals
15:05 Reviewing your teaching timetable
19:40 Equipment and the online teaching workspace
22:10 Self-care, posture, breaks and sleep
26:20 Improving boardwork and online chat notes
29:15 Creating and updating lesson materials
32:15 Using SMART goals for manageable planning
36:40 Learn-A-Word: adaptable, adapt and adaptation
40:10 Closing thoughts

Welcome everyone to the New Year and new episode of Gav & Em's How to English Podcast. This week they are chatting on the topic of how they finished the last year and started the New Year. Stick around to the end of their show to catch the new feature: Learn-A-Word, where they describe a word and its common usage. Don't forget to check out the transcription with audio here: https://share.descript.com/view/GdkX05qudvu

Buy Em a tea or Gav a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Femur bone found: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2021/07/25/femur/

SMART Goals: https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/management/smart-goal/

Buy us a coffee or tea: https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpod

Are you a 21st Century teacher? Is your teacher a 21st Century teacher? Are you still teaching or learning in a 20th Century way? What should we consider focussing on in our curriculums and methods as educators and learners in this current century? Plus, find out about Teacher Imane: an educator, author, and content creator who talks about her journey through teaching and publishing children's books. So learn and have fun with Gav & Em's How to English Pod. Transcription with audio: https://share.descript.com/view/aiJ3WKGRb3K

Imane's links:

https://linktr.ee/Imane1

https://www.instagram.com/teacherimane/

Under the Sea: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09QKKSSPQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Ramadan ABC: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09V31GMVT/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Other resources:

21st Century skills –

Critical thinking, Communication, Collaboration, Creativity Written by the Helpful Professor – Chris Drew, PhD https://helpfulprofessor.com/21st-century-learning/

Make communication more meaningful to improve learning: http://psychlearningcurve.org/learning-more-meaningful/