Vocabulary games can be a fun break from regular class activities and can liven things up in class with a little competition. In this post, I'll describe three games that I've used successfully with my students. These vocabulary games encourage students to use any words they know; they are not intended as a way to …

Continue reading 3 Fun Vocabulary Games

How Languages Are Learned by Patsy M. Lightbown and Nina Spada is probably one of the best-known books that gives an overview of the research on language acquisition. Its latest edition—the fourth edition—was published in 2013, so it combines information about some of the early, foundational research studies on language acquisition along with some more …

Continue reading Book Review & Reflection: “How Languages are Learned” by Lightbown and Spada

It's almost 2021! Here are three easy ideas for class activities to start off the new year: The Year in Photos This is more of an idea to reflect and look back on the previous year, but it can also help your students to think about and make predictions for the upcoming year. Like every …

Continue reading 3 Teaching Ideas for the New Year

I love using pictures in class, and I've been trying out some new activities recently with pictures. Here are two of the ideas I've been using: "Find the Object" Pictures Someone recently posted this picture online and challenged people to try to find the cat hidden in the picture: If you can't find it, you …

Continue reading Fun Pictures for Class Activities

I try to use gender-inclusive language when possible in my own speech (though I'm definitely still working on it!), but, until recently, I had never talked with my students very directly about the topic or taught an entire lesson about it. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been more intentional about using gender-inclusive language …

Continue reading Singular “They” & Latinx: Talking to Students About Gender-Inclusive Language