A tribute to Dolly Parton

Photo by Kristopher Harris

via Wikimedia Commons

under CC BY 2.0

A listening and vocabulary lesson

I was never a huge Dolly Parton fan, if I'm honest. But her name came up in one of my adult classes last week and that was enough of a nudge to put together the lesson below (with a little help from Claude). I then tried it with another 'mini' group, who didn't even know who she was, but instantly recognised 9 to 5 and I Will Always Love You (Surprise surprise! – "Wait, that's hers originally?!"). So a tip for the Pre-watching stage: rather than just asking students which Dolly Parton songs they know, play them a couple of clips instead – you'll probably get a similar reaction.

News Quiz 2025: follow up

Image credits: Ruven Afanador [CC BY-SA 3.0]; 
Montclair Film [CC BY 2.0]; F darkbladeus [Public Domain]

Activities for reviewing and practising the language from News Quiz 2025

I hope you enjoyed the 2025 edition of the News Quiz. It’s true that sport was a little underrepresented this year – these things happen! That said, the quiz aims to reflect a broad range of news and topics, and I hope the accompanying activities provide an engaging way for students to work further with the language.