Collins ELT

CEFR Labels: Do Words Have Levels?

CEFR Labels: Do Words Have Levels?

Since the CEFR was first published in 2001, a number of projects have sought to attach CEFR level labels to words to help teachers and syllabus designers align their vocabulary syllabus with the CEFR criteria. The new edition of the COBUILD...

6 min

Grammar or vocabulary? A blurry line

Grammar or vocabulary? A blurry line

This article has been written by Julie Moore, who is an ELT materials developer and lexicographer. Most language learning coursebooks include grammar activities and vocabulary activities. As teachers, we talk about ‘teaching grammar’ and ‘teaching vocabulary’. Grammar and vocabulary...

6 min

A New Turn of Phrase

A New Turn of Phrase

When we think of language change, it tends to be new coinages that spring to mind (rewilding, deepfake, zoombombing), but in fact, a lot of new language is created by putting existing words together in new combinations, that’s especially true...

3 min

Exploring language change

Exploring language change

When a new edition of a grammar is launched, teachers and students may well wonder what can be new about a grammar. We all know about new words, which grab the headlines at every new edition of a big dictionary, but...

10 min

Futurity

Futurity

Very early on in my teaching career, I remember addressing a class of Russian teenagers with the statement, ‘Will is the future tense in English.’ It was only later as I started developing as a teacher and gaining greater insight into...

5 min

Modality and conditionals

Modality and conditionals

Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can? Sun Tzu The quote above, attributed to an ancient Chinese military strategist, is often used in leadership training to encourage people to act on their ideas...

7 min

Understanding academic grammar

Understanding academic grammar

For students new to dealing with academic texts in English, they can seem daunting; full of long words and long complex sentences. Are academics just trying to show off how clever they are and confuse their poor readers? Well, maybe...

6 min

Tense vs aspect

Tense vs aspect

Tense and aspect are often labelled as the same thing. It’s not uncommon to see the present progressive referred to as ‘the present progressive tense’ or will have + past participle referred to as ‘the future perfect tense’, for example. However, tense...

7 min

Grammar and register

Grammar and register

This article has been written by Julie Moore, who is an ELT materials developer and lexicographer. Our last post focused on the difference between a prescriptive and a descriptive approach to grammar. A descriptive grammar, such as the Collins COBUILD English Grammar, describes the language which people...

6 min

Prescriptive vs descriptive approaches to grammar

Prescriptive vs descriptive approaches to grammar

What's the difference between prescriptive and descriptive approaches to English grammar, especially in the context of the Collins COBUILD English Grammar? Penny Hands, one of our series editors, answers in this blog post.

6 min

Get your students off to a flying start with Amelia Earhart

Get your students off to a flying start with Amelia Earhart

We've compiled some classroom ideas showing how you can use Amelia’s story in Amazing Aviators with your students. You can adapt the ideas to use them for many of the other Amazing People ELT Readers to help support your students on their...

5 min

Phrasal verbs – our top tips and favourite classroom activities

Phrasal verbs – our top tips and favourite classroom activities

Phrasal Verbs are really tricky for our students. It’s just hard to get them right, and they are everywhere in the English language. It’s high time for some new teaching tips, activities and games to help you make phrasal verbs...

7 min