A Communicative, Comprehension-Based Approach to Teaching Adult ESL
The Fourth of July is coming up! It’s the perfect chance to tell your students one (or more) interesting stories about the founding of the United States. Last week, I told the legend of Betsy Ross and the making of the first American flag to one of my classes, and I’m planning on doing it …
Continue reading The Legend of Betsy Ross and the First American Flag
I tried a new activity with my students today that I wanted to share. I like it because it requires students to process both oral and written input. I was inspired by an idea from Gianfranco Conti, who does an activity called “Sentence Detectives.” I deviated a bit from Gianfranco’s directions and adapted the activity …
Continue reading Listening and Reading with the “Sentence Detectives” Activity
On Mondays, I usually start my classes by asking students, “What did you do this weekend?” I like starting out class this way because: 1) It’s a nice way to warm up at the start of class, 2) Sharing information about what we do outside of class helps the students and me to get to …
Continue reading Turning “What Did You Do This Weekend?” Into a Task
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: …
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 …
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 …
Continue reading The Grammar Syllabus and Students’ Expectations
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 …
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A Communicative, Comprehension-Based Approach to Teaching Adult ESL
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A Communicative, Comprehension-Based Approach to Teaching Adult ESL
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A Communicative, Comprehension-Based Approach to Teaching Adult ESL
A Communicative, Comprehension-Based Approach to Teaching Adult ESL
A Communicative, Comprehension-Based Approach to Teaching Adult ESL
