Welcome to pie plus, our magazine with extra learning worksheets - updated weekly
Competition time why not try and win free membership?
Take a text 30 activities for teachers to use with reading texts
Information sheets to help you make the most of our site
How to find a specific podcast
January news and
Competition to win free pie membership
Happy New Year! No-one knows what lies ahead for us all in the coming year, but we do know that Being kind to each other is going to be very important. This is one of our podcasts of the month. Others include The market stall for level 1, a pie vid, where Jackie talks about her success at selling things. For level 3 we have actor David talking about a very traditional January event in the UK: The panto
And don't forget we have a beginner's level so of course we have included The first week which again includes one of our pie videos. (Did you see we now have 100 pie vids on the site!!) There are more! Check out the sidebar on the levels pages for other highlighted podcasts.
The winter months are the best time for looking at the stars. For level 1 Richard talks about what he can see in The night sky. However, you might not just see stars, a level 3 podcast talks about Starlink. And not forgetting the planets we have a level 2 podcast called Poor Pluto
We start the month, and the new year of course, with the second of our podcasts on Volunteering. This time we look at ways of helping others in your local community. This is for level 3.
If you find it difficult to find a podcast we have updated 'the lists'. Levels 1, 2 and 3 have details of all the podcasts listed by name and topic. You can find them here. We have also updated the list that details special days and events too.
Remember that while most podcasts are free podcasts 1 - 99 are for members only. Each podcast has essential transcripts, worksheets and extra materials for teachers and learners and with over 2000 to choose from, so Join pie now!
Good luck learning or teaching English in 2025.
Richard and Jackie
The pie team
Competition time
Luisa from Italy was the lucky winner of last month's competition. She correctly said that the answer was c) no animals.
For this month's quiz just answer this question:
When did Richard start looking at the stars? Was it a) when he was at university, b) when he was a boy, or c) a few years ago? The answer is in this level 1 podcast: The night sky.
Write your answer on our Contact us page. Remember to tell us your name and where you are from. One winner gets free pie membership for 3 months. Good luck! Answers by the end of the month.
We have our own facebook page. Please like us and meet us there - and why not write some suggestions for podcasts, we'd love to hear from you!
Take a text
Take a text is a collection of 30 activities that you can do with your course book readings. There are 23 pre-reading activities, and 7 post-reading activities.
Each activity has information on what it practises, its uses, preparation before the class and clear instructions on what to do in class. There are also example texts used from a variety of course books so the activities are super clear.
Who is the book for?
■ It's ideal for new teachers. We remember not knowing what a 'jigsaw' reading was, or a 'dictation race'. We also remember thinking that we could do a lot more with a text in a course book, but not knowing what exactly. Over the years we have collected loads of exciting ideas, and these are what we want to share.
■ It's great for more experienced teachers too. Having so many ideas collected together means that it's a practical, easy reference book and one that should remind teachers of tasks they may have forgotten about. We're sure there are some new ideas included too!
Is it free?
Almost! It's just 9 Euros.
Students' information worksheets
To help you make the most of the site. There are more information worksheets for teachers on the teachers' page.
► Using PayPal (pdf 60KB) How to find your pie log in details and how to cancel your subscription. For everyone.
► Listening to the podcasts (pdf 23KB)Ten top listening tips to help you to listen to and understand real conversations. For members.
► Watching the videos (pdf 23KB)Eight great ideas on how you can watch the videos and understand the podcasts better. For members.
► Using the webquests (pdf 205KB)An explanation of the words and phrases we use on our webquests. For members.
► Natural spoken English 1 (pdf 55KB)Tasks to help you recognise the key features of natural spoken English. For members.
► Natural spoken English 2 (pdf 35KB)This worksheet helps you recognise fillers - and encourages you to use them yourself. For members.
Find a podcast
Almost 700 podcasts! There are now three ways to find a podcast. One, go to the extras page where they are listed under topics. Two, type a topic into the search box (top, right). Three, by browsing the new lists of podcasts which we have compiled for each level:
►Level 1 list
►Level 2 list
►Level 3 list
And we have podcasts linked to special days throughout the year: ►Special days list
If you have a school subscription why not copy the lists and put them on the notice board for all your teachers to read.
PS Fill in the blanks as new podcasts come out until we renew the lists. (Lists last updated January 2025)
