Welcome to Thinking outside the Box

This is the website of John Warner, an English Teacher and Trainer based in Bielefeld Germany. This site aims to provide additional material for my students and former students as well as hopefully giving insights into the techniques and approaches I take. These pages represent material actually used and reference current and former students who have contributed to their own learning and helped me.
John Warner

I use a write-up language is called Textile which means that I can write up lessons and entries rapidly on a simple text editor on my smartphone. I therefore aim to put things up fairly rapidly after a class but will let students know if there might be delays.

The website is built using some software called Jekyll , a simple and straightforward website construction tool. Though it does expect you to understand web layout and some HTML.

I believe that all websites should always be a work in progress so I will be continue to work on the design and layout as well as the content of the website. This may result in pages seeming to disappear – they will likely still be on the site but the might have moved directories.

I always like to hear from readers and look forward to receiving messages via my contact page

I hope you enjoy reading my website and find it useful.



Blog Posts

10 Mar 2015European Parliament backs cap on card processing fees
09 Mar 2015homework for 12 March 2015
06 Mar 2015Rude homophones
04 Mar 2015Where do you work?
03 Mar 2015Dying in Zurich?
27 Feb 2015Looking into the future
25 Feb 2015cross-border pizza anyone?
25 Feb 2015Would your employer be an Employer of the Year?
24 Feb 2015a new greeting
24 Feb 2015it was eight hundred years ago, so what?
20 Feb 2015Tackling Unit one of the Textbook
17 Feb 2015Shrove Tuesday
14 Feb 2015A dictionary and some websites you might find useful
14 Feb 2015IMPORTANT: No Class on Rosenmontag (16 February 2015)
13 Feb 2015Room change
13 Feb 2015Notes from our first meeting
12 Feb 2015Welcome to the Cambridge Proficiency Class
10 Feb 2015What is your company culture?
10 Feb 2015Sweet dreams are made of these
05 Feb 2015Books For Course 2015
03 Feb 2015Planning a social media campaign
03 Feb 2015Topics for this semester
28 Jan 2015Susanne’s Rule
28 Jan 2015First lesson 2015
28 Jan 2015Welcome to Business English Refresher B1 2015
27 Jan 2015Welcome to English Conversation 2015
26 Feb 2014nouns and verbs
21 Feb 2014grammar and summarising
19 Feb 2014back in the office
18 Feb 2014three stories
14 Feb 2014start of a new semester
11 Feb 2014reporting back on a trade fair
11 Feb 2014the Sochi Olympics so far
05 Feb 2014new words
04 Feb 2014selling things at a trade fair
04 Feb 2014listening to the radio
29 Jan 2014welcome to the Business English Refresher Course 2014
28 Jan 2014welcome to the new semester
15 Jan 2014word of the day
15 Jan 2014the next Business English Refresher B1.3 course
14 Jan 2014the next English conversation course
14 Jan 2014last lesson of the semester
12 Jan 2014Voices of Science website
07 Jan 2014five tips for effective exam preparation and revision
31 Dec 2013How do your cows moo?
25 Dec 2013a christmas message
25 Dec 2013a CPE approved present
24 Dec 2013a discount advent calendar
24 Dec 2013different Christmases
23 Dec 2013political language
18 Dec 2013Bah Humbug
18 Dec 2013consequences
18 Dec 2013An Alternative Christmas Cake
17 Dec 2013Assessing a business plan
17 Dec 2013What is a Christmas Carol?
17 Dec 2013The twelve days of Christmas
17 Dec 2013Where is the biggest Hindu temple in Europe?
16 Dec 2013getting Snowmailed
15 Dec 2013Insulting Shakespeare
14 Dec 2013A little book you might find interesting
13 Dec 2013Saying Nelson Mandela’s middle name and the place he was born
12 Dec 2013It’s time gentlemen please!
12 Dec 2013A few ideas for during the break
12 Dec 2013a few presentations more
10 Dec 2013Do English tenses make you tense?
10 Dec 2013Books For Course
10 Dec 2013Nelson Mandela tribute from Maya Angelou
10 Dec 2013CPE Courses at the VHS Bielefeld
07 Dec 2013English Stammtisch in Bielefeld
06 Dec 2013Ich bin ein Berliner speech transcript
06 Dec 2013Have you ever noticed?
05 Dec 2013Presentations, presentations and more presentations
04 Dec 2013rubble and wreckage
03 Dec 2013Scotland: St Andrew’s Day and Helicopters
01 Dec 2013A little test of your grammar
29 Nov 2013Final CPE lesson
27 Nov 2013A funny thing happened at Oelde Station
26 Nov 201326-11-2013 Business English Class
25 Nov 2013Conversation on 25 November 2013
20 Nov 201319-11-2013 Business English Class