Earth Day is coming up this Sunday, April 22nd! Of course, it’s good to talk about protecting the environment on any day of the year, but Earth Day is a good reason to put a special focus on it in class. I’m planning on using two different activities. First, I’m going to use this video: …
Highlights from TESOL 2018
I attended the TESOL International Convention last week, which was a great experience. It was my first time attending the conference, and I went to a lot of interesting sessions. I decided to write up a little bit about a few of my favorite sessions here: Namhee Suk, “A Guide to Implementing Extensive Reading …
The Grammar Syllabus and Students’ Expectations
Scott Thornbury recently wrote an article titled “The Persistence of Grammar,” which was published in the TESOL Applied Linguistics Interest Section Newsletter. In the article, he questions why the grammar syllabus has persisted in language teaching, despite the research evidence showing its ineffectiveness. “The grammar syllabus” refers to the practice of breaking apart the grammar …
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How Should We Talk to Our Students?
If we’re serious about providing the input that our students need to acquire language, then we should be talking to our students—a lot. We know that we need to focus on communicating real messages and ensuring that our students are hearing words in meaningful contexts. But how exactly should we speak when we provide that …
The Best 2018 Super Bowl Commercials for Class
I didn’t watch the Super Bowl last night, but I was excited to see the lists of the best commercials online today. There are two commercials in particular that I think will work well in my ESL classes, and I’m planning on using them tomorrow. I’m going to use both videos as a MovieTalk. MovieTalk …
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Cooking in Class
This month, I started teaching a new class: an ESL cooking class. It’s the first time I’ve ever taught a cooking class, and it’s been a lot of fun for both me and the students. In this post, I’ll share some information about the class and give a couple of ideas for easy recipes that …
Embarrassment in the Language Classroom
“Embarrassment is a true enemy of learning,” writes Thomas Newkirk. I just finished reading Newkirk’s book, Embarrassment: And the Emotional Underlife of Learning. It’s a book about how feelings of embarrassment and shame often hold learners back in the classroom. In order to learn anything new, we all go through a period of incompetence, which …
