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
October news and
Competition to win free pie membership
Goodness, October is chock-a-block with special days, but somehow we do have podcasts for most of them! You can see them all in the sidebar on the levels pages but we want to highlight some here. For level 1 there's Beer'n'pizza, yes there's a special day for that (9 October)! What is your favourite drink and food combination? For level 2 we like Four-legged friends, we talk about our pets for World Animal Day, 4 October. Plus, for level 3, there is our pie video about Stephen Hawking for World Space Week, 4 - 10 October. But there are more, and more will go up later in the month, so do keep a look out!
We have also updated our Podcasts of the month. They include The fall for level 1, we talk about the cold but colourful season. There's Mushrooms for level 2, we talk about our favourite free food. And for level 3 we enjoy the slow life on the canals with Waterways.
Our latest podcast this month also includes one of our pie videos: The funfair. Come with us as we visit an annual fair with all the rides, noise and colour. This is for level 1.
We also put up recently Leaving home. This level 2 podcast looks at the challenges faced, and the things we have to learn, when deciding to go it alone.
We also have a new podcast for our beginners level. This month we talk about different feelings in Happy or sad? Do you feel sad in the rain? Do you feel cross when you watch TV? (We hope you feel good when learning English!)
This month we also talk about how life has changed since the pandemic. In this level 3 podcast, The new normal , we ask: is everything the same as before, or do we do things differently now? As always there are loads of worksheets and the transcript.
24 November is Black Friday, we are sure you are already bombarded with adverts for buying loads of stuff online. But Buyer beware! We have a great podcast for our level 2 listeners giving great advice about online shopping. Listen to this first before making any purchases!!
There are now 670 podcasts on the site. So you can imagine we struggle sometimes to come up with new topics (although, somehow, we always succeed!), but do please give us some ideas for the future. We love hearing from our listeners.
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 2023,
Richard and Jackie
The pie team
Competition time
Huy from Vietnam was the lucky winner of last month's competition. She correctly said that the answer was b) something you see in the sky at night.
For this month's quiz just answer this question:
How many stations does Jackie say there are on the London Underground? Is it a) 272, b) 277 or c) 262? The answer is in this beginner's level video: London transport.
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
Over 600 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 (on the left). 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 July 2021)
