It can be hard to find good-quality, engaging videos to use in class or for students to watch on their own. There are a ton of “Learning English” videos out there on YouTube, but most of them are simply explanations about grammar points or lists of things to know (e.g., “Learn 10 English idioms about …
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Listening and Reading with the “Sentence Detectives” Activity
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 …
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Turning “What Did You Do This Weekend?” Into a Task
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 …
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“Crazy Socks at a Funeral”: A Reading Passage for Intermediate-Level Students
Why did President George H.W. Bush wear colorful patterned socks to his wife's funeral? I made a one-page reading passage for intermediate-level English language learners that is accompanied by previewing and post-reading questions. It's a fun news article that talks about President George H.W. Bush and his connection to John Cronin, a 22-year-old man with …
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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 …
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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