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1. Identify topic sentences and the main idea of paragraphs. Remember that every paragraph usually includes a topic sentence that identifies the main idea of the paragraph.

2. Distinguish between general and specific ideas. If you want to know what I mean, have a look at this reading exercise

3. Identify the connectors to see how they link ideas within the text. For a full list of linking words, have a look at these linking words grouped by category.

4. Check whether or not predictions and guesses are confirmed. A reading class might start with one of these pre-reading activities. Some pre-reading tasks might go beyond its stage.

5. Skim a text for specific information. Skimming is the ability to locate the main idea within a text, using this reading strategies will help students  to become proficient readers.

6. Answer literal and inferential questions: Literal simply refers to what the text says and inferential is using the text  as a starting point to get a deeper meaning

7. Infere the meaning of new words using the context: All language learners rely on context to decipher the meaning of a word, a reading strategy used quite a lot when you do extensive reading.

8. Coding text involves teaching students a method of margin marking so they can place a question mark next to an statement they don’t understand or  an exclamation mark next to something that surprised them.

9. Student-to-student conversation, you can ask students to have a conversation after they have finished a paragraph or a stanza of a poem so they can clear up any confusions they might have.

10. Scan a text for specific information: You scan when you look for your favorite show listed in the TV guide, when you look your friend’s phone number in your contact list. If you want to use this reading strategy successfully, you need to understan how the reading material is structured as well as have a clear idea about what specific information you have to locate. This technique is key if you need to find information in a hurry

Source: https://englishpost. org

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#1 Discussion
Create a discussion about the topic. Teacher prepares 4 sentences expressing opinions about the topic, then sticks them in 4 corners of the classroom. Students go and stand near the opinion they disagree with the most. The group explains why the disagree about the topic.

#2 I’m listening to You
Ask students to work in pairs. Challenge them to talk in English  for 1 minute about a topic.  Repeat with a new topic, students change roles.

#3 Quotations
Find a quotation about the topic, students discuss the quotation. What does it mean? Do they agree with it? Why/Why not.

#4 Guessing from Words
Before students look at the text they are going to read, the teacher writes 5 or 6 words from the text on the board and asks the students to guess the topic.

#5 Guessing from Pictures:
The teacher finds 3 pictures or objects which are connected to the story and ask the students to guess how they are connected. Students read the text to check.

#6 Pictionary
Select some of the key words from the text. Put the class into two or three groups. In turn, a learner from each group (at the same time) comes to the whiteboard. They are told the word and they have to draw that word. They are not allowed to use letters or numbers in their drawing. The other students try to guess the word and earn points for their team. This can get very lively indeed!

#7 Guessing from sentences
The teacher dictates 3 sentences from the passage. Students write them down and check with a friend. The sentences go on the board if necessary as a final check. Then the teacher asks how these sentences might be connected. What is the text about? Students predict then read the text quickly to check their predictions.

#8 How many words do you know?
The teacher prepares the board by writing the letters of the alphabet in 3 or 4 columns. The students form two lines standing behind each other. Use 2 colored markers so you know which team wrote what. The first student at the front of each team gets the board marker. The teacher gives a topic to the class. The 2 students move to the board and write one word related to the topic on the board next to the letter it begins with, then pass the marker/chalk to the next students in their team and go to the back of the queue. The 2 teams compete to write as many words as possible on the board in 3 minutes. The team with the largest number of appropriate and correctly spelled answers wins!

#9 Speed chatting
Prepare one or two simple questions related to the topic of the reading. Ask the class to make two rows facing each other. Then, encourage your learners to ask each other the questions, but warn them that they only have 60 seconds to do so. Once the 60 seconds are up, one of the rows rotates so each learner has a new partner. Repeat the process several times.

#10 Videos
There is so much good free content available these days. First, find a short video relating to the topic of the reading. I would suggest something around three minutes long. After watching the video yourself, prepare some simple discussion questions. Play the video and then ask the students to talk with a partner about what they saw.

#11 Brainstorming
The teacher gives the title of the reading to the learners and students have to share their all their knowledge about the topic. The goal of this activity  is help learners create expectations about what they are about to read and then see if their expectation were met. For example if you have to teach about the influence of social media on teenagers, students can take turn and talk about the topic, as they read they can confirm if the study they read confirm their expectations.

#12 True or False
Let’s take the example of the influence of social media on teenagers again, you can come to the classroom and read a few statements and ask them if they think those statements are true or false. don’t reveal the answers and let them confirm if they were  right or wrong when they are doing the reading.

#13 Introducing Vocabulary
In the context of an ESL Clasroom, it will always be important to introduce key vocabulary so students don’t get discouraged by unknown words while they read.  Introducing vocabulary doesn’t have to be a boring  task, you can easily create a wordle with key vocabulary and see if students can tell you something about those words.

#14 KWL Charts
Have you ever used KWL Charts in the classrooms, KWL Charts are simple. Just have students write everything they know about the topic  (K column) and everything they want to know (W column) and what they learned after the reading (L Column)

#15 Quotations
Prepare some quotes related to the topic and ask students to comment on them. They don’t have to do that as a class, they can make groups of  3 to 5 people and then a member of each group can share the ideas with other groups.

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1. Creative Writing
Ask students to choose 10-15 words from the text. You can provide categories for the words e.g. the most interesting words / the most important words. Students then write a text using the words. This text could be a story, poem or newsreport.

2. Areas of Interest
Ask students to say which part of the text is the most important/interesting and which part is not interesting or important.

3. Creative Discussions
Prepare four or five simple questions and ask students to talk about those question for 3 minutes and after that ask one member of each pair to go and talk to another person of the group.

4. Quiz Your Classmates
Ask your students to prepare  5 questions about what they read, once they have them ready, you can tell the students to make groups of 4 and then they can ask those questions to each other.

5. Finding Related News
After students have finished reading, they can browse on the internet for a new related to something they read, for example: if they read something about moral and values, they can find examples of altruism on the web and they  can share that information with their classmates.

6 Prepare a Survey
Students can prepare a survey about the information they just read, using again the example of the moral and values reading, students can prepare questions such as:

What would you do if you found a wallet near to your house?
What would you do if you found a five dollars bill in the classroom?
they can prepare the survey in class and ask the survey to their classmates or they can go home and  bring the results and report them during next class.

7. Parts of the Speech
Ask students to spot the different parts of the speech from the reading, then they quiz their classmates asking questions such as:

why type of word is moral? How would you use that word in a sentence?
If you need to know more about the parts of the speech in preparation for the class. The Parts of the Speech website can help you with that.

8. Questions from Pictures
Teachers shows a collage and ask student to look at the collage carefully and how some of the pictures relate to the reading they did.

9. Character Analysis
If you read a story, there must be one or two characters involved, analyze those characters and prepare a set of question that you would like to make them. When all classmates have prepared their questions, ask them to give you their answers and then as a group try to answer the questions.

10. A Graphic organizer
(also known as a concept map or mind map) is usually a one-page form with blank areas for learners to complete with ideas and information which are connected in some way.’

Source: https://englishpost. org

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7 Sure- Fire Tips To Get Your Students Speaking So Easily 

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7 Sure- Fire Tips To Get Your Students Speaking So Easily 

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WHEN IT COMES TO SPEAKING, CONFIDENCE IS THE KEY, PASSWORD, LOGIN AND BIOMETRIC SECURITY THAT STUDENTS NEED IN ORDER TO SUCCEED AT SPEAKING WITH EASE. Once a student builds the confidence to speak, their abilities begin to improve at breakneck pace. Students who lack confidence are the ones who stumble and resort to their L1, and develop a fear of making mistakes that manifests itself if not ironed out quickly.

As a teacher, you cannot magically click a button and provide the students with the confidence to speak, but you can be there to encourage them to build their confidence by trying a few new little tricks, or even something as simple as nodding your head and smiling a little bit more.

No matter what lengths are taken, the foundations of succinct, accurate and fluent speech are through a high level of confidence. This article will take a look at some of the methods to help students speak by opening the door to some of the untapped confidence that lies within. Here’s a few of the best that we could think of.

HOW TO PROCEED

1 FORGET THE ERRORS; JUST BE HAPPY  THAT THEY’RE SPEAKING
Yeah! See how well they’re speaking? Yes it may not be accurate or fluent, but hell, sure enough they are using English! Sure, they may be speaking in purely the present simple, but hey, keep sitting back smiling and nodding, and you will do wonders with helping the student cross the first hurdle of building their confidence with speaking.

2 GIVE THEM EASY TOPICS THAT THEY KNOW A LOT ABOUT... THEM!
We all love to do it, recalling an amusing story about our lives in our home country, telling a tall tale about teaching a government minister or even the introduction class where we get the students to ask us questions. The most familiar topic anyone can talk about is oneself. We do it, they can too.

3 PROVIDE THE CUES, GIVE THEM THE IDEAS
One of the things that I like to do is draw a diagram that outlines me. In the middle of the board is a little stick figure of me, leading out to all of the influences in my life. The best way to describe it is like a mind-map, but I prefer to call this a “life map”. The life map allows students to see influences, likes, dislikes in their life and then give them the necessary cues to speak about themselves.

4 IF THE CUES FAIL, GIVE ‘EM THE OUTLINE
If the visual cues fail, give the students a virtual template to work off. The teacher can simply write the language and the structures on the whiteboard for the students to fill in with the appropriate words.

5 TAKE THEM FOR A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE,  OUTSIDE THEIR COMFORT ZONE
If the potential is there or the student’s skill is just lying underneath the surface, one of the ways I like to deal with that is to push the students a little bit harder and chip away at what’s underneath the service. I love pushing students to the best of their abilities, and if there is a mere inkling of the confidence, I will be there to prod and poke it as much as I can. I love to give little challenges to my students such as talking for 30 seconds or a minute non-stop on a topic. This seemingly difficult activity will make life so much easier when it comes to speaking about the simple things.

6 LISTEN TO THE REAL DEAL
Sure enough, students who have been away from the English language for a while, only need to listen to a dialogue before they begin to grab their confidence by the horns and take it for a ride. A good dialogue that clearly outlines the language can be used as a starting point, while providing students with a chance to “mimic” the accent and the style. The more “brave” students will quickly take to the task and instantly pick up on some of the key vocabulary, while adding their own personality into replicating the dialogue.

7  SMILE, BE PATIENT, AND SMILE AGAIN!
No matter how many different activities that you try with your student, nothing beats a smile when it comes to unlocking the confidence. A smile provides the students with positive re- assurance to keep at it and give them a positive outlook on what they can perceive as being the impossible task of speaking a foreign language.

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13 Strategies for Helping ESL Learners Through the Writing Process 

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13 Strategies for Helping ESL Learners Through the Writing Process 

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Writing does not exist in a vacuum. It is a natural extension of listening and speaking, true in any language, but no less true for speakers of other languages and those in the process of learning English.

Because of that spoken-written word connection, engaging these skills in your ESL students when they write will help them move smoothly through the writing process. By helping your students engage the oral and aural skills they have acquired in their studies of English, they will find that writing is not as impossible as it might otherwise seem.

PREWRITING
Prewriting is the stage of the writing process when the writer generates ideas for his writing. For ESL learners, this is also an opportunity to generate vocabulary and grammatical structures that will be necessary for writing on a particular topic. At times, your students will be more successful in groups. Other times they may need your assistance as they generate their ideas. You may find at times your direction is enough to set them going in the right direction, and then they will be able to work independently. They key is to be flexible and read your students. Here are some things you can do to get the writing process started.

1 ASK QUESTIONS
Ask questions to help elicit vocabulary or grammatical structures from your students. This will engage their speaking abilities as it gets them thinking, too.

2 CREATE A WORD BANK
Work together as a class to create a word bank that relates to the topic on which they will write. You may choose to display these work banks in your class- room or encourage your students to keep them in a vocabulary notebook.

3 DRAW PICTURES
When lower language proficiencies may inhibit your students’ ability to articulate ideas, sidestep the issue by asking students to draw pictures of their ideas. They will later use these pictures, rather than notes, when they write.

4 GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
Giving your students a blank tem- plate to organize their writing ideas may be just enough to get them going. Model filling one out, and then see what they can do as they make a plan for what they will write.

5 PRELIMINARY RESEARCH
Doing research on the web, in books or with interviewees may be what your students need to find useful vocabulary or to determine the correct format for answering a question. Give your class time to prepare before they sit down to write especially if you are giving essay questions on content material they have learned.

ORGANIZING
In the second stage of the writing process, students will take the ideas they generated in the first step and start put- ting them into their logical positions in what will become their composition. Again, giving your students a chance to speak and prepare for writing is the key. Try any of these strategies in the organization phase.

6 TOPIC SENTENCES
Ask your students to choose one or more ideas they generated in the pre- writing stage. Then have them write one sentence that introduces that idea to their readers. Explain to them that this is a topic sentence, which they can use to start a paragraph in their written pieces. Then have them organize any information about that topic under that sentence. When it is time to write, they will include that information in the paragraph with that topic sentence.

7 GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
Let your students think outside the words and put their ideas into place on the physical page. Using a flow chart, bullet point lists, bubble map or other organizers that show the relationship between ideas, have your students lay out their thoughts on the physical page. When it is time to write, they simply follow their ideas along the page.

8 OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS
Asking your students leading questions or open ended questions will help them flesh out their ideas before they be- gin to write. When students have chosen a topic, penguins for example, challenge them to answer questions that begin with the journalistic words (who, what, where, when, why, how). Who studies penguins? What do penguins eat? How do they spend their time? Where do they live? Why do penguins do the things they do? If you have pairs of students ask each other these types of questions, they will get the double benefit of conversation and grammar practice while they are or- ganizing their ideas.

WRITING
When your students enter the writing phase of the five step writing process, make sure they understand that a draft is not the final composition. When students strive for perfection in a written draft, the result is often paralysis. Instead, remind your class that writing is a process, and they will have an opportunity to find and correct their errors later in the process. Right now, their goal is to get something written out on the page.

9 FILL INS
Using a fill in the blank template for topic sentences, thesis statements and transitions may help your students as they write the first draft of their essays. When you give them the grammar and the organization, they can put all of their energy into the content as they write.

10 ORGANIZERS
Similarly, students working off the graphic organizers and templates they used in the organization stage will have a more thorough grasp of the vocabulary and content that they will need to write at this stage.

EDITING
In the editing process, writers look for major communicative gaps in their essays. When your students edit their compositions, encourage them to pay attention to writing elements such as thesis statements, content development, introductions and conclusions.

11 PEER EDITING
Peer editing is one of the best resources for ESL students at this point in the writing process. As- signing a partner to each student and asking that person to look for specific issues in the essay can be a price- less experience for your students. Encourage each person to look for any breakdown in meaning, confusion in organization, or topics that are not fully addressed in the composition.

REWRITING
Rewriting is just as important as the rest of the steps in writing a complete piece. Here your students will look for errors in grammar, sentence structure, word choice, spelling and punctuation.

12 DICTIONARY USE
Dictionaries are a tremendous resource for ESL students. Whether they use a bilingual dictionary or an English only version, checking for spelling and misuse of words
or word forms can be done here.

13 SENTENCE COMBINATIONS
This is also a good time to look at the sentence structure your students are using most often. Likely, they will be relying too heavily on simple sentences, so a quick grammar review on combining sentences with coordinating conjunctions and using relative clauses is perfect to introduce here.

Your students will find that the best compositions they write take them through each of these 5 steps, and some more than once.

WHEN YOU ENCOURAGE SPEAKING, LANGUAGE USE, VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT, AND GRAMMAR EXAMINATIONS, YOUR STUDENTS WILL FIND THAT THE PROCESS OF WRITING MAY NOT BE AS INTIMIDATING AS THEY ONCE THOUGHT IT WAS!

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Author:
Deborah Bullock
They include ideas on collecting information, the strategic use of questioning, giving feedback, and introducing peer and self-assessment.

Collecting information

Draw a face

At the end of an activity or lesson, ask learners to draw a face to show how confident they are about the topic. Smiley face = ready to move on,  neutral face = fairly confident,  sad face = not confident, need to review.

Summary sentence

Ask learners to write one sentence to summarise what they know about the topic at the start or end of a lesson. You could focus this by telling them to include e.g. what or why or how etc.

Pair share

At the end of a lesson learners share with their partner:

Three new things they have learnt
What they found easy
What they found difficult
Something they would like to learn in the future.
Traffic lights

Give learners red, yellow and green cards (or they can make these themselves at home). At different points during the lesson, ask them to choose a card and put it on their desk to show how much they understand (red = don’t understand, yellow = partly understand, green = totally understand).

Post-its

Use post-it notes to evaluate learning. Give to groups, pairs or individuals and ask them to answer questions. For example:

What have I learnt?
What have I found easy?
What have I found difficult?
What do I want to know now?
Draw a square

When a learner has finished a worksheet or exercise, ask them to draw a square on the page. If they do not understand well, they colour it red, if they partly understand, yellow and if everything is OK, green.

Not clear

At the end of an activity or lesson or unit, ask learners to write one or two points that are not clear to them. The teacher and class discuss these points and work together to make them clear.

Thumbs up!

Check class understanding of what you are teaching by asking them to show their thumbs. Thumbs up = I understand; thumbs half way = I understand some; thumbs down = I don’t understand.

KWL

At the beginning of a topic learners create a grid with three columns – what they know; what they want to know; what they have learned. They start by brainstorming and filling in the first two columns and then return to the third at the end of the unit.

Most ……. thing

Ask learners what was the most, e.g. useful, interesting, surprising, etc. thing they learned today or in this unit.

A, B, C, D cards

Give learners four cards: A, B, C, D (or they can make these themselves at home). Ask questions with four answers and ask them to show you their answers. You could do this in teams too.

Mini-whiteboards

Ask learners to write their answers on mini-whiteboards or pieces of paper and show it to you (or their peers).

Observing

Observe a few learners every lesson and make notes.

The strategic use of questioning

Questioning helps teachers identify and correct misunderstandings and gaps in knowledge. It gives teachers information about what learners know, understand and can do.

Use open questions

Closed questions only ask learners to recall. Use open questions to encourage the use of thinking skills, communication and eliciting more information. Examples of good question stems:

Is X important?
Why is X important?
Why does…?
What if…?
How would you…?
Can you explain…?

Use ‘might’

When questioning, use the word ‘might’ to encourage learners to think and explore possible answers. For example, ‘Why do teachers ask questions?’ and ‘Why might teachers ask questions?’ The first question seems like there is one correct answer known by the teacher, but the second question is more open and suggests many possible answers.

Wait time

Tips:

Give 30 seconds silent thinking before any answers.
Ask learners to brainstorm in pairs first for 2-3 minutes.
Ask learners to write some notes before answering.
Ask learners to discuss with a partner before answering.
Use think, pair, share.
Use higher order thinking skills (HOTS)

Don’t ask, e.g. ‘Is flour uncountable?’ Ask, ‘Why isn’t flour countable?’ Then learners don’t only recall, they reason too.

Prompt

Prompt for more information, e.g. ‘Why do you think that?’ ‘Persuade me!’

Bounce

Ask learners to build on each other's answers. E.g. ‘Maria what do you think about Javier’s answer?’

Giving feedback

Comment-only marking

Only write comments on learners’ work, and don’t give marks or scores. This helps learners to focus on progress instead of a reward or punishment. They will want a mark, but encourage them to focus on the comments. Comments should make it clear how the learner can improve. Ask if they have any questions about the comments and make time to speak with individual learners.

Feedback sandwich

Use a feedback sandwich to give comments. An example of a feedback sandwich is:

Positive comment, e.g. ‘I like … because …’
Constructive feedback with explanation of how to improve, e.g. ‘This is not quite correct – check the information with …….’
Positive comment, e.g. ‘You have written a very clear and ………’
Time in class to make corrections

Give learners time in class to make corrections or improvements. This gives learners time to focus on the feedback that you or their peers have given them, and make corrections. It also tells learners that feedback is valuable and worth spending time on. And, it gives them the opportunity to improve in a supportive environment.

Don’t erase corrections

Tell learners you want to see how they have corrected and improved their written work before they hand it to you. Don’t let them use erasers, instead tell them to make corrections using a different colour so you can see them, and what they have done to make improvements.

Introducing peer and self-assessment

Share learning objectives

Some examples:

Use WILF (what I’m looking for).
Point to the objectives on the board.
Elicit what the success criteria might be for a task.
Negotiate or share the criteria
Write these on the board for reference.
Two stars and a wish
A useful activity to use when introducing peer or self-assessment for the first time is ‘two stars and a wish’:

Explain/elicit the meaning of stars and a wish related to feedback (two good things and one thing you wish was better/could improve).
Model how to give peer feedback using two stars and a wish first.
Role play the peer feedback, for example:
- ‘Ah this is a really nice poster – I like it!’ (Thank you)

- ‘I really like it and I think you included most of the information.’

- [Look at the success criteria on the board]

- ‘Hmm, but there is no title for your poster so we don’t know the topic.’

Feedback sandwich (see above)

This is a useful activity when learners are more confident in peer and self-assessment. Model how to give feedback first.

Write the following text on the board:
- I like... because

- I think next time you should... because...

- ... is good because...

Elicit from your learners what a feedback sandwich is from the text on the board (what is good and why, what could be better and why, what is good and why).
Given an example like this:
"The poster gives all the necessary information, which is good but next time you should add a title so we know the topic. The presentation is good too because it is clear and attractive."

Learning wall

Make a ‘learning wall’ where learners can post positive feedback about others.

Peer check

Ask learners to read each other’s written work to look for specific points, such as spelling mistakes, past tense verbs, etc. During speaking activities such as role plays and presentations, ask learners to give each other feedback on specific points, e.g. how interesting it was, whether they understood what was said and any questions they have.

Self-assessment prompts

Examples:

Choose one thing in your work you are proud of. Tell the whole group why. You have one minute.
Discuss which of the success criteria you have been most successful with and which one could be improved and how. You have three minutes.
Three things

At the end of the lesson, ask your learners to make a list of two things they learned, and one thing they still need to learn.

I have a question

At the end of the lesson, ask your learners to write a question on what they are not clear about.

Journals

Ask your learners to keep a learning journal to record their thoughts and attitudes to what they have learned.

Portfolios

Ask learners to keep a file containing samples of their work. This may include work done in class, homework, test results, self-assessment and comments from peers and the teacher.

Reflection time

At the end of the lesson give learners time to reflect and decide what to focus on in the next lesson.

Setting goals

After feedback, encourage learners to set goals. Tell them they have identified what is good, what is not so good, and any gaps in their knowledge. Now they need to think about their goal and how they can reach it. Ask them to work individually and answer the questions:

What is your goal?
How will you achieve it?
Personal goals

Ask learners to set personal goals, for example: ‘Next week I will read a short story’.

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Author:
Andy
Songs can be exploited in many ways.

1. The cloze or gap fill

This is the most familiar and popular activity, and for that reason is probably overused. However, there are many important things to bear in mind when using them, and there are many different ways to use them.

Have a point, be it vocabulary or prepositions or whatever.
Don't cloze three or more in a row.
For lower levels: give the first letter, miss out word endings, give dashes for letters, or give a glossary.
Give vocabulary clues or synonyms for the missing words.
Get students to work in pairs to predict words before you play the song.
Insert extra words which students then cross out as they listen.
Change the words, as in 'Careful Shouts' or 'Countless Whiskies'.
Cloze unstressed, then stressed words in the same song, and have students discuss why one is easier than the other.
Cloze several words in a row and students have to guess not only form (adj., adv., n., vb, prep.) but words, rhythm and rhyme.
2. A-B activities

Students match beginnings and ends of lines, try 'Another Day in Paradise' (simple) or 'Private Investigations' and 'If Only ...' (more complicated).

3. Mixed-up activities

Generally, have the lines of the song on separate strips of paper.

Students put down strips as they hear them.
Mix up lines/verses.
Students try to organize in advance (use prompts).
4. Dictation

Wall dictation
Self-dictation (whole song blanked)
Part dictation

5. Translation

Class chooses a song from their own language.
Groups translate.
Check with other groups.
Combine the best. Then work on rhyme and rhythm.

6. Jigsaw-listening

Groups listen to different songs with the same (Luka/Behind the Wall) or different themes (Easy Street/Money for Nothing) and peer teach vocabulary, compare.
7. Composing

Listen to the song.

Students add verses of their own. Good songs for this are 'Imagine' and 'Man Gave Names to All the Animals' by Bob Dylan.
Students finish the line in each verse, then listen to check.
In groups, students then write their own verse.

8. Writing

Put random words from the song on the board. Students try and write the 'tale of the song'.

Students paraphrase the song.
Cut the song in half. Students predict the other half.

9. Pronunciation

He's got the whole world ... /h/ sound.
Do I speak double Dutch to a real double duchess ... /d/ sound.

10. Vocabulary

Miming verbs
Dictionary work
Matching

11. Listening

Give students a word list. Students number as they hear them.
Sound discrimination, e.g. tempted/tended.

12. Posters

Arrange lyrics and pictures, or just lyrics, or translate.

Bibliography

Music and Song (1992) Murphey, T. Oxford University Press

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Simple Visual Aids You’ve Gotta Use in Your ESL Classroom

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Simple Visual Aids You’ve Gotta Use in Your ESL Classroom

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Source: www.fluentu.com

The Benefits of Using Visual Aids in the ESL Classroom
Visual aids, like those two timelines, are so perfect for the ESL classroom. Here’s why:

Helps students understand and remember concepts more easily
When you present a concept using a visual aid, you are giving your students something they can associate with that concept. Later, when they try to recall it, all they have to do is bring up the image you used.

Visual aids also help you present clearly and smoothly, without complications or tangents.

Reduces Teacher Talking Time
Like I said at the top of the post, a picture is worth a thousand words. Visual aids allow you to explain the meaning behind various vocabulary and structures without explanation. In addition, you can ask prompting questions about your visual aids to boost Student Talking Time and lead them to the answer.

For example, if your visual aid is a timeline illustrating someone’s work experience, you can ask them “How long did Bob work for ABC Inc.?,” etc.

Provides a touchpoint you can refer back to throughout the lesson
Visual aids not only help put the new language out there, they also help remind students of the language they’ve learned as the class goes on.

For example, if your students make an error with the target grammar, or use a different word when they could have used a new word from the lesson, you can direct them back to the visual aid as if to say, “Try and say it like we practiced earlier.”

Makes the class more dynamic and fun
Visual aids add some pizazz to your lessons, and help take the focus off of you or the textbook.

Now that we’ve outlined just some of the benefits of using visual aids, let’s look at several visual aids that work.

1. PICTURES
Pictures are great for presenting many nouns, adjectives and simple sentence patterns. If you are using a textbook in class, make use of the pictures in it; they are sometimes very simple and effective. With younger students, solicit words by asking “What do you see?” Be sure to call on many students and meet all of their suggestions with positive feedback. With older students, you can have them predict what a chapter will be about based on the pictures from the opening page.

But what if your textbook doesn’t have any good pictures? Or if you’re not using a textbook?

In those cases, try using realia, such as pictures from newspapers or magazines. (We’ll touch a little more on realia later in the post.) If your school has them, flashcards or picture dictionaries also work well for teaching nouns, adjectives and verbs across a wide range of themes.

Here are a few ideas of how to incorporate pictures into your teaching:

Use personal pictures: Whenever possible, use pictures of yourself or photos around town/school (that students would recognize) in PowerPoints or games. This will make it much more interesting and memorable for the students, so words will stick that much easier.
Include celebrities for interest: Likewise, if you use pictures of a well-known celebrity (whether local or global) in activities, presentations or games, students will perk up and you’ll have captured their attention more than before.
Draw stick figures: When all else fails, or you need a quick solution, use the simple drawing or stick figure. Stick figures take only a second to draw, can be used to teach just about anything, and are guaranteed to get a chuckle (or at least mine are).

2. TIMELINE
One thing that pictures aren’t very helpful for is introducing grammatical structures, particularly anything beyond the present simple or present continuous.

For this, we have timelines.

Timelines are a great way to illustrate tenses and time expressions. For instance, suppose you are trying to teach the difference between “by” and “until.”

You could draw simple timelines to illustrate the following sentences:

Sun-Hee has to finish her thesis by March 12.

Sun-Hee will work on her thesis until 10:00 tonight.

Maximize your Student Talking Time by presenting timelines interactively and leading your students to the answer.

For instance, if you’re using timelines for the above sentences, ask questions like, “What is Sun-Hee working on now?,” “When is the deadline?,” “When will she stop working on it tonight?,” etc.

3. CHARTS & GRAPHS
These work beautifully for introducing and practicing a variety of structures. For example, you could use a pie chart or bar graph to illustrate comparatives and superlatives, such as:

ABC has a larger market share than XYZ.

LMN has the largest market share in the industry.

Because line graphs indicate change, they also work like a charm for verbs of change, like “increase,” “decrease,” “dip” and so on.

When you are working on vocabulary building in class, use a chart. I myself like to use charts to teach word families. I have columns for “noun,” “verb,” “adjective” and “adverb.” So let’s say the word “tired” comes up in class. I’ll expand on it by eliciting “tiredness,” “tire” and “tiredly.” Get the words in the chart, and refer back to it through the lesson.

4. REALIA
Realia is an incredibly effective visual aid in the ESL classroom. Realia means real-life, authentic items. For example, if you’re teaching a lesson about booking a hotel room, students will become much more engaged if they have an actual hotel brochure to look at. You could use the brochure to introduce new language items, and even as the basis for a role play if you wish.

I highly recommend taking some time to build a “realia collection” for your ESL classes. Take a walk around town or go online to gather some essential realia. Anything you print should be laminated to make it last longer.

Here is some “must-have” realia for you to start off your collection with.

Celebrity photos
Menus (eat-in and take-out)
Weather reports
Hotel pamphlets
Maps (world, country, street, train, subway)
Train/subway/bus timetables
Movie/concert schedules
Want ads
Property ads
Family trees
Car rental brochures
And there you have it! With these visual aids, you can teach a diverse range of structures, words and concepts with pizzazz and, best of all, very little talk time.

Practice trying out different types of visual aids in different situations. Over time, you will develop your “go-to” visual aids—ones that you’ll use every time you teach a particular lesson or topic, because you know they work. Good luck!

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Useful Tips to Boost Your Intermediate ESL Students’ Reading Comprehension

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Useful Tips to Boost Your Intermediate ESL Students’ Reading Comprehension

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1. Scan the text first.
Before your students read aloud, have them scan the text. They should be able to get the gist of the article or story they are about to read.

It helps to demonstrate how to scan. It can be tough to do this in a different language, so show students on a projector or whiteboard how to run through an article. They should be able to quickly read the subheadings and bullet points to pick up the main ideas.

To practice, give the students a passage to read and have them skim the content. Then ask what they think the article or story is about. Point out the important words they should have picked up on.

2. Look up unfamiliar words.
There are bound to be words that your students don’t know as they read. Have them mark these or write them down so they can look up the unfamiliar words in a dictionary.

For intermediate students, try getting them to read an English dictionary instead of translating the word.

3. Test the students.
Ask your students relevant questions, and then ask them to keep an eye out for the answers while they are reading. Questions might include:

What is the main character feeling?
Where does this story/article take place?
When does the story/article take place?
What is the point of this piece?
What does the main character look like?
4. Have students write down questions.
While your students are reading, they should write down anything they are curious about or don’t understand. Have them read out their questions after everyone has read the passage and encourage discussion among the students. If there is an idiom that someone doesn’t understand, see if anyone else in the class gets it and can explain it.

Activities for Intermediate ESL Reading Comprehension
When everyone is familiar with how to improve their comprehension, you will need to get them reading. It’s such an integral part of every day that your students need to learn how to quickly grasp the information they’re reading. The best way to do that is through practice.

Fiction vs. nonfiction
Both fiction and nonfiction have pros and cons. Chances are high that your students will be using more nonfiction reading than fiction at this point in their education. In many cases, textbooks, recipes and other practical guides are going to be used by your students more than novels or storybooks. However, it’s a good idea to give them some experience in each type of reading.

When it comes to nonfiction, look at newspapers, magazines and online texts that the students can read for practical reasons. Another option is ask your students to bring in interesting clips that they’ve found. This all but ensures the pieces will be the right level for the class, so you can take a day or two to review the text before using it in class.

Choosing appropriate passages
The piece that you give to your students to read should be appropriate for their level. While intermediate students can certainly handle more difficult pieces with some new words, the passages are meant to improve reading comprehension. This means the student should be able to read the piece fairly rapidly and pick out information from it.

Skip anything that is inappropriate content-wise, as well. You could end up losing students if you hand them a risqué article from Cosmo magazine, so keep it clean and simple. Take a look online for passages that are designed specifically for ESL students, as well.

Anything you give to your students should be something they can relate to. It may be difficult for a student living in a two-room home with ten other people to understand an article that’s written for very wealthy Americans. Choose food articles or other stories that will be something your students can read without finding themselves completely out of their element.

Quiz your students
The best way to ensure that students actually understand the passage they just read is to ask them questions. Quiz them on the main points of the story, but don’t forget to include some details as well. Students may pick up on the big things and completely miss the little mentions of details that could change the entire shape of the story or article.

Use worksheets
The internet is packed with awesome ESL worksheets for common books, or even with their own passages. You can easily create your own, as well. If you have a large class, it can be difficult to gauge reading comprehension by just asking questions verbally. Creating a worksheet will help you see exactly who needs extra help.

All you really need is Microsoft Word or another simple writing program to create a worksheet. Write down the questions you want to ask the students and leave space for an answer. Make sure everyone writes their name at the top so you can see at a glance who understood and who didn’t.

Have students create a map
Are your students reading something that describes a room or how to get somewhere? Have your class draw maps after they have read the passage. Hang all the maps on the wall and see who drew the most accurate one.

And once the students have finished making their maps, you can draw one on the chalkboard while soliciting key information from students. For example, they might shout out where each piece of furniture is located in a room, or you could ask what is on the north side of the park.

You could also use Google Maps to have each student plot a route from the text according to directions.

Follow written instructions
Another great way to get those ESL learners working on their comprehension is to write instructions on the board at the beginning of class. You can prohibit speaking and make a point of writing everything down. Students will have to follow your instructions in order to complete the day’s class.

Alternatively, try a fun reading comprehension test with an activity. Give students a recipe to make in groups of two or three, or have them build something through written instructions only. The results can be hilarious and everyone will have a lot of fun laughing at their mistakes. It’s also a very visual way to see if they understood what they read.

You could also have your students write out a couple of paragraphs explaining how to do something, and then trade with another student. Each student will have to follow their partner’s written directions to complete the task or activity.

Read, read, read!
The next step is to get your class reading! Pick something fun and interesting and have them read it in class. Make sure the students are practicing all the reading skills mentioned above. Soon, they’ll be reading for fun in English.

If you discover that some of your students are a little behind their peers, you can send homework home with them. The written instructions ideas above all make excellent homework that students will actually enjoy.
Source: www.fluentu.com

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Source:bbcenglishbooks

Whether you are a foreign student or a native speaker, English skills can always be improved. There are many tried and true tips for learning English. These are five English tips that are often taught to the foreign language speakers coming into English. These tips not only help learn English, but they are also tips on improving English skills.

1.) Read a book, newspaper or journal in English that is just above your current level of reading with a dictionary. This will help to learn new vocabulary words in a fun way. This is also a great tip for improving English in a technical field. Even by spending a mere 15 minutes a day, your skills can improve drastically.

2.) Listen to speeches or watch movies or documentaries in areas you aren't familiar with are fun tips on improving English. This activity will help improve listening and vocabulary at the same time. At first you can use subtitles, then turn the subtitles off when the listening part of this activity becomes easier.

3.) Although less fun, learning grammar is an essential tool for English. Knowing English grammar inside and out is one of the top tips on learning English. This should be tackled at the same time as both reading and listening exercises so that you understand how the sentence is constructed, and can manipulate it later to suit your needs.

4.) Keeping a diary allows you to utilize all of your English skills that you've been practicing with reading, listening and grammar. As a bonus, you can go back over your entries and grade yourself, noting where you can improve more. This is one of the greatest tips on improving English at any stage of learning the language.

5.) When you feel you are ready, go for total immersion. This means surrounding yourself by English speakers. Of all English tips, this one will test all of your skills.

After all your hard work, don't forget to reward yourself. Learning English is hard, but with these tips on learning English, you will get better

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Top 20 Ways to Use YouTube in the Classroom

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Top 20 Ways to Use YouTube in the Classroom

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If you sieve through the endless cat videos and clips of people falling over, YouTube is a treasure trove of educational content that can turn a one-dimensional lesson into an interactive discussion that really taps into the imagination of students.

As one of the most used sites on the web, YouTube can seem a bit daunting if you’re contemplating using it in the classroom for the first time, so we’ve put together some pointers to help ease the transition.

1. Trigger interesting and unique discussion.
Search for topical videos surrounding current affairs, such as clips from news stories, and ask the class what their thoughts or opinions are. News reports, especially the same story reported by two different news stations, can be a great way for students to deconstruct the motives and impact of competing broadcasters.

2. Use videos to inspire themed reflections in form time.
Form time is often used to encourage students to reflect on topical issues, such as Remembrance Day or Red Nose Day. YouTube has lots of clips you could use to generate topical discussion.

3. Access high quality educational instruction videos for free.
There are hundreds of high quality videos specifically made for a YouTube audience that are short, snappy, entertaining and educational.

4. Play videos of poets reading their own works.
An excellent resource for literature classes, a video of a writer reading their own work can breath life into the lines and encourage those who are not so confident to give reading poetry aloud a go. Stress, intonation and tone are far more effective when performed by those who wrote the lines.

5. Use short clips from documentaries to provide context to a topic.
The BBC, Channel 4 and many other large broadcasters upload small parts of documentaries to their own YouTube channel. These are great to use as part of your lesson planning, and help to bring a ‘real world’ element to the class.

6. Take advantage of YouTubeEdu.
These videos are specifically created for educational purposes and are often concise and professional in their style.

7. Find clips to use as an archive resource.
Great for contextualising historical context, there are plenty of clips on YouTube that feature archived footage from as early as the 1920’s. There are also plenty of ‘local’ clips that may show your city or town from decades before, helping children to link their experiences with those who lived in the same area many years ago.

8. Create playlists to help with future lesson planning and share amongst your department.
Once you have made an account, YouTube allows you to create and name playlists that videos can be added to in an ongoing fashion. This is a great way to archive your favourite videos and locate them easily in the future.

9. Engage visual learners with your lesson content.
No one child learns the same way, and whereas one may experience the ‘penny drop’ moment from a textbook, another will get it from a visual explanation.

10. Extension opportunities.
A video introducing a more complicated area of the current topic can be set to watch as homework for students who consistently overachieve in class.

11. Set an assignment that requires students to research and make their own videos to be later played in class.
If your school has access to cameras or tablets, students can be set an extended assignment to write, produce and edit videos on a specific topic. For instance, if you were looking at advertisements, children could be set a task to create a video advertising a product in a fun and persuasive way. There are plenty of video editing apps that students could use to create their final video before uploading it to YouTube, with a ‘screening’ of these videos at the end of the task.

12. Use video infographics as a compelling way to introduce a lot of information in a short amount of time.
13. Demonstrate experiments.
If you don’t have the means to create large scale experiments, you can bet someone on YouTube has done it for you.

14. Set a ‘video watch’ homework to prepare students for new material in the classroom.
With Ofcom’s 2014 report stating that ‘one in three children have a tablet at home’, the chance to set ‘video’ homework is ever increasing.

15. A step-by-step explanation of problematic equations.
Companies like the Khan Academy upload step-by-step equation solution videos onto YouTube, which is great for those looking to find resources.

16. Use videos as a writing prompt.
An emotive video can be an invaluable resource when planning a creative writing lesson.

17. Honing listening skills.
An excellent idea to perk up a class and engage their listening, there are plenty of interview videos on YouTube that you can use, asking the class to note down key pieces of information in a ‘journalism’ style task.

18. Deconstruct adverts.
Often included as part of the A-Level English Language curriculum, advertisements on YouTube can be used as a resource in practice ‘analysis’ tasks. Hint: The late 1970’s and 80’s provide fantastic archived materials.

19. Use YouTube as a reward.
It’s no surprise that young people love browsing videos on the web, so a carefully selected video that’s fun, yet educational can be used as a treat but also as a learning resource.

20. Set a research assignment.
During a computer or tablet based lesson, students can use YouTube to increase their knowledge of a topic whilst making notes to share with the class.

YouTube is a fantastic tool to use, so we hope this article has given you some ideas about how to implement it in the classroom. Both for accessing videos and hosting your own, YouTube is free and highly accessible, which is hugely beneficial to the teaching community.

Source: https://www.educationalappstore.com

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21 Ways to Check for Student Understanding

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21 Ways to Check for Student Understanding

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1. Avoid Yes/No questions.
Avoid yes/no questions and phrases like “Does this make sense?” In response to these questions, students usually answer “yes”. So of course it’s surprising when several students later admit that they’re lost. To help students grasp ideas in class, ask pointed questions that require students to use their own prior knowledge.

2. Ask students to reflect.
During the last five minutes of class ask students to reflect on the lesson and write down what they’ve learned. Then, ask them to consider how they would apply this concept or skill in a practical setting.

3. Use quizzes.
Give a short quiz at the end of class to check for comprehension.

4. Ask students to summarize.
Have students summarize or paraphrase important concepts and lessons. This can be done orally, visually, or otherwise.

5. Hand signals.
Hand signals can be used to rate or indicate students’ understanding of content. Students can show anywhere from five fingers to signal maximum understanding to one finger to signal minimal understanding. This strategy requires engagement by all students and allows the teacher to check for understanding within a large group.

6. Response cards.
Index cards, signs, whiteboards, magnetic boards, or other items are simultaneously held up by all students in class to indicate their response to a question or problem presented by the teacher. Using response devices, the teacher can easily note the responses of individual students while teaching the whole group.

7. Four corners.
A quick and easy snapshot of student understanding, Four Corners provides an opportunity for student movement while permitting the teacher to monitor and assess understanding. The teacher poses a question or makes a statement. Students then move to the appropriate corner of the classroom to indicate their response to the prompt. For example, the corner choices might include “I strongly agree,” “I strongly disagree,” “I agree somewhat,” and “I’m not sure.”

8. Think-pair-share.
Students take a few minutes to think about the question or prompt. Next, they pair with a designated partner to compare thoughts before sharing with the whole class.

9. Choral reading.
Students mark text to identify a particular concept and chime in, reading the marked text aloud in unison with the teacher. This strategy helps students develop fluency; differentiate between the reading of statements and questions; and practice phrasing, pacing, and reading dialogue.

10. One question quiz.
Ask a single focused question with a specific goal that can be answered within a minute or two. You can quickly scan the written responses to assess student understanding.

11. Socratic seminar.
Students ask questions of one another about an essential question, topic, or selected text. The questions initiate a conversation that continues with a series of responses and additional questions. Students learn to formulate questions that address issues to facilitate their own discussion and arrive at a new understanding.

12. 3-2-1.
Students consider what they have learned by responding to the following prompt at the end of the lesson: 3) things they learned from your lesson; 2) things they want to know more about; and 1) questions they have. The prompt stimulates student reflection on the lesson and helps to process the learning.

13. Ticket out the door.
Students write in response to a specific prompt for a short period of time. Teachers collect their responses as a “ticket out the door” to check for students’ understanding of a concept taught. This exercise quickly generates multiple ideas that could be turned into longer pieces of writing at a later time.

14. Journal reflections.
Students write their reflections on a lesson, such as what they learned, what caused them difficulty, strategies they found helpful, or other lesson-related topics. Students can reflect on and process lessons. By reading student journals, teachers can identify class and individual misconceptions and successes.

15. Formative pencil–paper assessment.
Students respond individually to short, pencil–paper formative assessments of skills and knowledge taught in the lesson. Teachers may elect to have students self-correct. The teacher collects assessment results to monitor individual student progress and to inform future instruction. Both student and teacher can quickly assess whether the student acquired the intended knowledge and skills. This is a formative assessment, so a grade is not the intended purpose.

16. Misconception check.
Present students with common or predictable misconceptions about a concept you’re covering. Ask them whether they agree or disagree and to explain why.

17. Analogy prompt.
Periodically, present students with an analogy prompt: “the concept being covered is like __ because __.”

18. Practice frequency.
Check for understanding at least three times a lesson, minimum.

19. Use variety.
Teachers should use enough different individual and whole group techniques to check understanding that they accurately know what all students know. More than likely, this means during a single class the same technique should not be repeated.

20. Make it useful.
The true test is whether or not you can adjust your course or continue as planned based on the information received in each check. Do you need to stop and start over? Pull a few students aside for three minutes to re-teach? Or move on?

21. Peer instruction.
Perhaps the most accurate way to check for understanding is to have one student try to teach another student what she’s learned. If she can do that successfully, it’s clear she understood your lesson.

Source: https://bit.ly/2GPEY1Z