Experts Reveal Favorite Methods for Learning Vocabulary Learning more words: experts share their favorite strategy. Aaahhhh, learning vocabulary! It must be the sexiest element of learning a language. And perhaps the most controversial. It’s not for nothing that polyglots call it the Kim Kardashian of the language-learning community. (Actually, I made that up. ;-)) To add fuel to the discussion, and most importantly, to bring you fantastically useful advice on learning vocabulary in your target language, I asked a bunch of experts, authors, translators and bloggers the following question: If there was one method for learning vocabulary that you’d recommend to the world, which one would it be? The response was nothing short of overwhelming. Almost 40 replies flooded my inbox — creating a bomb of extremely balanced advice and giving you the opportunity to judge for yourself how to best go about learning more words in your target language. So, without further ado, let’s get comfortable and dive in! What a mammoth of a post! That’s it!
A Quick Guide To Questioning In The Classroom A Guide to Questioning in the Classroom by TeachThought Staff This post was promoted by Noet Scholarly Tools who are offering TeachThought readers 20% off their entire order at Noet.com with coupon code TEACHTHOUGHT (enter the coupon code after you’ve signed in)! Get started with their Harvard Fiction Classics or introductory packages on Greek and Latin classics. Noet asked us to write about inquiry because they believe it’s important, and relates to their free research app for the classics. This is part 1 of a 2-part series on questioning in the classroom. Something we’ve become known for is our focus on thought, inquiry, and understanding, and questions are a big part of that. If the ultimate goal of education is for students to be able to effectively answer questions, then focusing on content and response strategies makes sense. Why Questions Are More Important Than Answers The ability to ask the right question at the right time is a powerful indicator of authentic understanding.
How to Revitalize Your Students Have I let "instructional weeds" infest my classroom? I went out into my backyard today and was astounded about its condition. The hibernating Bermuda grass was yellow-brown as it should have been, but salt-and-peppered throughout the yard were bright green dandelions with the "I dare you to stop me" fluffy white seed flowers that had not been there in the fall. I thought I had eradicated them completely last summer, but the evidence was plain to see. Yes, I could blame the students for their behaviors or I could look at what I have been doing to allow these pesky learning inhibiting weeds to germinate and grow. Here is my reflection on the situation: I think I have been trying hard to get the students to learn. I thought students were slacking up a bit so I revisited the classroom rules after winter break to make sure the students knew what I expect from them. So, that's reflection.
The Best Ideas For Using Games In The ESL/EFL/ELL Classroom I have many “Best” lists related to using online games with English Language Learners, and you can find them all at A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Learning Games. I’ve also written a lot and published a number of posts and resources related to playing non-online games in the classroom, but just realized I had never brought them all together in one place. Here they are (feel free to offer more suggestions!): Here are two excerpts from our book on teaching ELLs: Using Games in the ELL Classroom, Part I Using Games in the ELL Classroom, Part II Awhile back, I invited ESL teachers to send in their favorite games and posted them: The Best Language Learning Games (That Are Not Online) In Pursuit of the Excellent Game is an excellent piece from TESOL on using games with ELL’s. Articles on TEFL games is by Alex Case. Humanising Language Teaching is one of my favorite online journals, and they’ve just published the newest issue. A homemade revision game is by Sandy Millin. This Is Wild! Kaboom!
5 Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Questioners The humble question is an indispensable tool: the spade that helps us dig for truth, or the flashlight that illuminates surrounding darkness. Questioning helps us learn, explore the unknown, and adapt to change. That makes it a most precious “app” today, in a world where everything is changing and so much is unknown. And yet, we don’t seem to value questioning as much as we should. For the most part, in our workplaces as well as our classrooms, it is the answers we reward -- while the questions are barely tolerated. To change that is easier said than done. How to Encourage Questioning 1. Asking a question can be a scary step into the void. 2. This is a tough one. 3. Part of the appeal of “questions-only” exercises is that there’s an element of play involved, as in: Can you turn that answer/statement into a question? 4. 5. If the long-term goal is to create lifelong questioners, then the challenge is to make questioning a habit -- a part of the way one thinks.
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning: 10 New Educational Web Tools to Try Out March 8, 2014 Once every two weeks I feature here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning a list of some of the new educational web tools I have been bookmarking. These are basically tools other teachers and edubloggers have reviewed in their websites and blogs and which I think are worth sharing with you and keeping you posted about the latest in the world of educational technology. 1- Exam Time ExamTime is changing the way students learn by providing free study tools for students and teachers. ExamTime has been developed to help students make studying more than just a mind exercise. It can be a “do” activity.Students and teachers all around the world are creating Mind Maps, Flashcards, Notes and Quizzes using ExamTime. Mathsframe has more than 190 free interactive maths games. 3- Screencastify Screencastify is a simple video screen capture software (aka. screencast recorder) for Chrome. 4- Shareor 6- Wonderville Wonderville.com is the flagship product from Learning Core.
Pourquoi les français sont-ils nuls en anglais ? [Infographie] Jeudi 26 septembre Web - 26 septembre 2013 :: 11:48 :: Par Valentin-Pringuay En Europe, la France est classée 15ème sur 17 sur son niveau en anglais.Une infographie compare le niveau de la France à celui de la Suède (leader européen sur son niveau d’anglais). Pili Pop (anciennement Babble Planet) milite depuis 2011 pour améliorer l’apprentissage de l’anglais auprès de nos chères têtes blondes (mais aussi brunes, rousses, …). Et la start-up profite aujourd’hui de la Journée Européenne des Langues pour sortir une infographie qui va venir comparer les méthodes d’apprentissage en France (notre pays étant classé 15ème sur 17) et celui des meilleurs en anglais en Europe, les suédois. Sans trop de surprises, nous découvrons que les français regardent leurs séries et films en version française et évitent de parler anglais lors de leurs voyages. L’infographie est disponible ci-dessous et vous pouvez l’agrandir d’un clic. Plus d'infos sur : anglais, français, langues, Suède
5 Powerful Questions Teachers Can Ask Students My first year teaching a literacy coach came to observe my classroom. After the students left, she commented on how I asked the whole class a question, would wait just a few seconds, and then answer it myself. "It's cute," she added. Um, I don't think she thought it was so cute. I think she was treading lightly on the ever-so shaky ego of a brand-new teacher while still giving me some very necessary feedback. So that day, I learned about wait/think time. Many would agree that for inquiry to be alive and well in a classroom that, amongst other things, the teacher needs to be expert at asking strategic questions, and not only asking well-designed ones, but ones that will also lead students to questions of their own. Keeping It Simple I also learned over the years that asking straightforward, simply-worded questions can be just as effective as those intricate ones. #1. This question interrupts us from telling too much. #2. #3. #4. #5. How do you ask questions in your classroom?
Systems Thinking Mind Map The Best Infographics About Teaching & Learning English As A Second (or Third!) Language I thought readers might appreciate this collection: Learn English with Kaplan How to learn English via Kaplan Blog Love learning English with Kaplan Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually. If you’re reading this post on an RSS Reader, I think you’ll have to click through to see this next one: Savefrom macmillandictionaryblog.comSo you want to become and English language teacher? “Truth of Studying a Foreign Language” Infographic Savefrom americantesol.comCommon Mistakes to Avoid as an ESL Teacher: I learned about all of these pitfalls as a TEFL trainee. Savefrom eyeoneducation.comInfographic: 15 Helpful Strategies (and Unhelpful Practices) for ELLs > Eye On Education: FullerTeaching ELLs Infographics about English is a nice collection from Pearson English. Related May 1, 2013
Why Great Educators Need to be Great Storytellers | MediaCore Video Platform Storytelling makes for fun learning Now, more than ever, great educators understand the need to keep students engaged. Sophomore student Gregoris Kalai sums it up bluntly: “What most professors fail to realize is that every time they stand in front of an auditorium and begin to lecture, they are competing for our attention with the infinite number of tabs we have open on our browsers.” I’m sure many professors and teachers will be sympathetic to this example. So, if you're concerned about student engagement and aren't already thinking about some way to incorporate storytelling into your lesson plans or assignments, it might be time to start. Technology helps you (and your students) get creative with storytelling Storytelling itself is an art that has changed remarkably little over the last several thousand years.
Super Teacher Tools Photo Collages as Writing Prompts In a post on Android for Schools I wrote about using Pic Collage on my Android phone to create a collage to summarize my day. Pic Collage is a free app available for Android and iOS devices. The app allows you to quickly arrange pictures on a wide variety of canvas designs, add text to your images, and add stickers to your collages. Applications for Education Students who struggle to get started on a descriptive writing assignment could benefit from first creating a photo collage about the event or concept that they need to write about. Pic Collage is a good option for creating collages on Android and iOS devices. See Angela Oliverson's guest post for more ideas about using PicMonkey in your classroom.