If you think these faces are too serious and concentrated, you are about right. The guys you are seeing in the picture, part of our Oxbridge TEFL teacher team in Madrid, are deeply engaged in creating ESL activities for beginners. Four teachers. One activity. An ESL activity for beginner learners of English that will be used once and will last not more than 10 minutes. If the outcome is good, we might use it more times, but that would mean they have nailed it. They would have found the right approach of teaching functions to beginner learners in the target language only, they would have come up with the correct engaging introduction, they would have developed a communicative activity that activates the well measured and correctly graded target language, they would have selected the right images to stimulate visually the learners and help them understand the new vocabulary and structures without translating and without frustrating learners but in a carefully selected steps that guide the students to understanding. They would have done all this and much more. They would have thought of the best layout for their peers to use when preparing for classes, with all possible keys and materials that they might need for presenting the function with economy of preparation time. They would have basically produced an activity that works for both their students and peers.

The ESL activities for beginners developed by these guys, Pedro Pidal, Ben Martínez, Xabier Oyarbide and Katixa González, half of our team in Madrid, will be competing with the ones that their peers in Madrid and in Barcelona produce in a competition that will bring us all as a result a solid expertise in creating engaging and productive ESL activities. Out aim? To enable students to express basic ideas in English in a carefully selected steps and in English only and provide a 10 minute practice of the new target content.

What will happen next? Since these guys promised an amazing activity, we are expecting a brilliant outcome. Xabi, all heart and art, dreams of creating the never-seen-before-activity. The quality we are used to here at Oxbridge and that we take for granted, but that is also a result of intense brainstorming, debating and team working. A product worth sharing with teachers and students that is a consequence of a three sided process: shared experience, team discussion and implementing ideas through activities.



This is how every single new idea is born in Oxbridge TEFL. This is the gestation process for good activities for any level, age and purpose.

Births are never easy. But the creature is so great! We will post it soon right here!