The 35 Best Web 2.0 Classroom Tools Chosen By You 100 Web 2.0 Tools Every Teacher Should Know About 44.24K Views 0 Likes We're always trying to figure out the best tools for teachers, trends in the education technology industry, and generally doing our darnedest to bring you new and exciting ways to enhance the classroom. But I wanted t... 20 Free and Fun Ways To Curate Web Content 23.98K Views 0 Likes What's the best way to organize it all into at least some reasonable manner? It’s Time To Crowdsource Your School’s Social Media Policy 12.53K Views 0 Likes Every school has a different policy when it comes to social media. Listen A Minute: Easier English Listening and Activities First Class Ice Breakers Using Mobile Devices I previously wrote about the importance of beginning a class focusing on the learners in the room as opposed to the content to be covered in Beginning the School Year: It’s About Connections Not Content. Most classes, starting with about middle school, begin the school year with reviewing the content to be covered, expectations regarding grades, and other academic information provided by the teacher or instructor. The human or social element is often disregarded.What is interesting is that most learners enter the classroom wondering who is in the course. They want to know about the teacher and the people in the class not what material is to be covered. What this says to me as an educator is that it all begins with a social connection – between the educator and the learners, and between the learners themselves. All of my classes, regardless of student age or demographics – elementary gifted students or graduate students, begin with ice-breakers and team-building activities. Cell Sharing
Photos of the Week: 8/30-9/5/2014 This week we have a look at the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn, Ecuador's still-erupting Tungurahua volcano, Iraqi forces taking the battle to ISIS, the massive Jurong Rock Caverns below Singapore, a kitesurfing world record in Spain, and an 82-foot-tall white rabbit in Taiwan, as well as many other subjects. [35 photos] Use j/k keys or ←/→ to navigate Choose: Leng Yuting, 26, poses underwater for her wedding pictures at a photo studio in Shanghai on September 3, 2014, ahead of her wedding next year. Her fiance Riyang said they had their wedding photographs taken underwater because "it's romantic and beautiful." In this aerial view, fountains of lava, up to 60 meters high, spurt from a fissure in the ground on the north side of the Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland on September 2, 2014. A dancer poses for a photograph during the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn, New York, on September 1, 2014. Cars sit on a street damaged by heavy rains in Veracruz, Mexico, on September 2, 2014.
Elimination games with young learners | Super Simple Learning Blog ♫ One potato, two potatoes… ♫ Many of us remember playing elimination games like Musical Chairs and Simon Says when we were young. These are games where you start with a group, and each round, one or more players is “out” and eliminated from the game. However, for some very young learners, these kinds of elimination games can be very upsetting. There are a few ways to handle this. 1) Demonstrate how to “lose” positively If you do play a game where participants get eliminated, be sure, as the leader, to eliminate yourself first. 2) Make getting “out” fun When a child does get eliminated in the game, give her a high five, let her sit in a special chair, make a silly noise, maybe even give her a sticker. 3) Eliminate the elimination For very young learners, often there is no need to have a winner or any sense of competition to make the activity fun. In this version of Musical Chairs, no students are ever “out”. This kind of thinking extends to all kinds of activities with young learners.
Four hats for discussion Introduction In the 1980s Edward de Bono came up with his Six Thinking Hats idea, in which businessmen use a parallel thinking process which helps them become “more productive, focused, and mindfully involved”. A similar process can be used effectively in the English classroom to get learners more involved in discussions. By wearing a coloured hat, learners are given help, guidance and more support when they are taking part in discussions. They are also free of the burden of having to share their own opinions, which can be useful if they have very little to say, or feel shy about giving their views. Topic Any current or relevant discussion topic. Level B2+ (but could be adapted for lower levels) Time 40-50 minutes Aims To encourage learners to use English in a creative way.To develop learners’ speaking skills.To role-play a character type while having a discussion. Materials Teachers' notesThinking hat role cards You can download these below.
Beginning the School Year: It’s About Connections Not Content Most classes, starting with about middle school, begin the school year with reviewing the content to be covered, expectations regarding grades, and other academic information provided by the teacher or instructor. The human or social element is often disregarded. What is interesting is that most learners enter the classroom wondering who is in the course. They want to know about the teacher and the people in the class not what material is to be covered. What this says to me as an educator is that it all begins with a social connection – between the educator and the learners, and between the learners themselves. Because of this belief, I begin all classes focusing on having the students make connections between themselves and me. You are the focus of the class not me.You are important as a learner in this class.You will be expected to engage in the learning activities during class time. Based on age/grade level, I have begun my classes in a variety of ways. Team Contract About Me Posters
12 ways of creating stories with your EFL students I’ve been reading a fair amount recently about the value of storytelling – and, in particular, the telling of vivid and emotionally-engaging stories – to memory in general, and vocabulary-learning and grammar practice more specifically. It certainly seems that learning new words from a list is a duller and less efficient alternative to acquiring and retaining new vocabulary than involving your learners in narratives using the target words. With this in mind, here are four ways you can involve your learners in creating stories around particular lexical or grammatical themes, and a list (and brief descriptions!) of eight other methods from various corners of this site: Stories from boxesDraw eight rectangles on the board, with space between each one.Invite student volunteers to come and draw one thing, each in a different rectangle. Note: The two ideas above come from Creating Stories with Children by Andrew Wright. Stories from blank paper Show your students a blank sheet of paper.
All Things Grammar - Home Banish Blithering Blabber: 6 Must Have Components to a Perfect Conversation Lesson There is little worse for a teacher than walking away from class feeling as though your lesson has been a flop. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. And perhaps the most challenging ESL class to feel good about is conversation class. How do you know if students really got the point of the lesson? If they really completed it successfully? If was just a bunch of people talking. 5 Must Have Components to a Perfect Conversation Lesson 1A Clear GoalWhat do you hope to accomplish in your lesson? Feedback- the 6th Element You want to make sure your students know how they did in a conversation lesson. You can feel confident about your conversation class when you make a point of including these six elements. That way you will know what you want to accomplish, you will give your students the tools to accomplish it, and you will see them reach the goal right before your eyes. Enjoyed this article and learned something? Want more teaching tips like this? Get the Entire BusyTeacher Library
Giving Opinions - ESL EFL Teaching Resources Really? ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 35 Minutes In this enjoyable group activity, students play a guessing game where they give true or false opinions about famous people or things. After reviewing how to ask for and give opinions, the students are divided into groups of three or four. Each group is given a set of cards. Each card contains the name of a famous actor, actress, singer, TV show, film, website, etc. Really.PDF Exclusive Controversial Statements ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 40 Minutes In this challenging teaching activity, students give opinions and argue for or against a set of controversial statements. Controversial Statements.PDF Exclusive Four Corners ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 25 Minutes In this fun class activity, students practice expressing and defending their opinions. Four Corners.PDF Free How to improve your English ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 30 Minutes How to improve your English.PDF Exclusive
Directions to a Restaurant: ESL Role-play Purpose and Audience: The purpose of these materials is to get the students to practice giving directions to a restaurant based on street names and other buildings in the vicinity: It's on Pine Street next to the post office. This is a fairly simple role-play intended for false beginners (or perhaps even beginners). In short, students will call up their classmates and ask if they want to go for a bite. Warmup or Preclass Activity: Go over the pair worksheet for directions. Class Set-up: The class is divided into two groups: callers and receivers. As a challenge, have the receivers face away from the callers (callers tap them on the back and say, "Bring!
ESL Lounge: Songs for English Teaching. Song Titles A to B Front Page Home esl-lounge.com Premium Site Guides Levels Test Prep Other Materials Reference Also On Site Song Lyrics A to B ABC - The Jackson FiveGreat chorus for kids classes! A Day In The Life - The Beatles Daily routine, the news. A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay Across The Lines - Tracy Chapman Across The Universe - The Beatles Gerund form, poetic English. Aeroplane - Red Hot Chili Peppers Against All Odds - Phil Collins "A" You're Adorable - Perry Como Ain't Got No, I Got Life - Nina Simone Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers All My Loving - The Beatles Futures Always - Bon Jovi Always on my Mind - Elvis Presley Past Modals Always on the Run - Lenny Kravitz Worksheet sent in by Ktia Martins Pereira teaching in Brazil. Come and join esl-lounge Premium. High quality PDF lesson plans. Premium Home Page | Free Samples | Why Join | FAQ | Sign Up! ★ Summer Coupon Discount★$8 off Lifetime Membership. America - Simon and Garfunkel Past Simple Angel - Sarah McLachlan
GRAMMAR-QUIZZES and Explanations Grammar-Quizzes › Noun Phrases › Nouns › Irregular Plural Nouns Irregular Plural Nouns Recognize nouns marked with plural forms: -ee, -i, -en, -a, -es, -ae Mid-vowel Change vs. ¹Plural form varies Fruit – plural form ²Plural form varies: Br-Eng shrimps / US-Eng shrimp Also see Unusual Singular/Plural Nouns (people, police, pants, measles, means). Irregular Plural Nouns (less common plural markers) Borrowed words -i, -en, -a, -es, -ae IPA Pronunciation Key *man— before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English man ( n ); cognate with German Mann, Dutch man, Old Norse mathr, Gothic manna; (V) Middle English mannen, Old English mannian to garrison **woman— before 900; Middle English womman, wimman, Old English wīfman, equivalent to wīf female + man human being; see wife, man1 octopus (The Greek plural is octopodes.) "Subversive Facts: Describing language objectively need not meaning doing so dispassionately." Plural Varieties *Yellow highlighted words are examples of incorrect usage. Practice 1