Cold Hands in your English class
A school story in 18 short episodes, written by an English teacher, with a grammar challenge for each episode. Season 1 is free to read online.
Teenagers first. Not only teenagers.
The original edition: Middle school, high school and university students, and adults who read in English. It suits learners working towards B1 and B2.
The simplified English edition for young readers: The same events in shorter sentences, aimed at A1–A2 learners. It follows the original episode by episode, so a mixed-level class can read the same story.
Before you choose a class: The story deals with humiliation, revenge, lies and blackmail between teenagers, and Episode 0 opens with a bear attack. Read Episodes 0 and 1 first.
One rule. One lost match.
Bueno is fourteen. Since he was four, his grandmother has told him the same thing every morning: A man never bends.
On the first day of eighth grade, he tries to impress Elisa. She dares him to arm-wrestle her in front of the class. He loses, and the whole class laughs.
To win back his pride, he goes to Mr. Igor, who sends him to Faris: younger, smaller, and national arm-wrestling champion for his age. Faris’s training is not free. Each episode ends with a choice that makes the next one harder.
Episode 1 and Challenge 1
Episode 1, “First Day First Fight”, is free to read and to print. Challenge 1 is built on it. Plan one or two lessons.
1. Read: Read Episode 1 together in class, or set it as homework the day before.
2. Find the Lie: Three statements about the episode. One is false. Students choose it and explain why, using the text.
3. Questions and a quote: Four comprehension questions, then: “Try a smaller animal next time, polar boy.” Who said it, and in what context? Students rate the joke out of 10.
4. Simple Present: A short rule, then five sentences from the story to complete: “The icy wind ___ (nip) at students’ cheeks every winter morning.”
5. Dictation: Students listen to the “Story take”, then the slower “Practice take”, and type what they hear. The transcript stays hidden until they choose to reveal it.
6. Writing: About four lines. Option A: you are Bueno, and your hand has just hit the table. What do you do? Option B: rewrite the ending so that Bueno wins, and make it funny.
One grammar point per episode
The 17 challenges work through English grammar in order. The names stay in English, as students see them.
1. Simple Present · 2. Simple Past · 3. Present Perfect · 4. Negation in simple tenses · 5. Questions in simple tenses · 6. How old / how long / how tall / how much · 7. Review test: challenges 1 to 6 · 8. Present Continuous · 9. Past Continuous · 10. Present Perfect Continuous · 11. Continuous tenses: negation · 12. Continuous tenses: questions · 13. Everyday conversation: suggesting, giving opinions, agreeing, asking for clarification, feelings · 14. Test: continuous tenses · 15. Will vs going to · 16. Modal verbs · 17. Final test: everything so far
Reading: Find the Lie or True or False, comprehension questions, and “Who said this?”
Listening and spelling: 16 dictations, each with a story take, a slower practice take and speed control.
Writing: A choice of prompts, 4 to 8 lines: what would you do, a funny rewrite, a prediction, a letter.
Extras: “Grammar Detective” error hunts, rewriting a scene in another tense, and some translation to and from French.
What is free, and what is in the books
Free on NeoProf, no account needed
All 18 episodes of Season 1, in the original and the simplified edition.
All 17 interactive challenges. Answers are saved only in the student’s browser.
Printing: the introduction and Episodes 0 to 3.
On Amazon: All of Season 1 on paper, its exercises book, and Seasons 2 and 3, which are not online.
Four steps
1. Tonight, read Episodes 0 and 1, then open Challenge 1.
2. In class, print or project Episode 1 and read it together.
3. Do Find the Lie, the Simple Present blanks and the dictation.
4. For homework, set one of the two writing options. Next lesson: Episode 2 and the Simple Past.