This semester, I’m teaching a class that meets twice a week for four hours each class period—yes, four hours! When I first found out that I’d be teaching a four-hour class, I thought it would be the worst thing ever. I imagined that my students and I would be totally dead and bored by the …
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On Comprehension Checks and “Holding Students Accountable”
A few years ago, I read a book about designing listening activities for ESL students, and the author said that you should never have students “just listen”; they should always “do” something, like answer comprehension questions or complete some sort of activity after they listen. I think the reasoning was that if students don’t have …
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MovieTalking the Super Bowl Commercials
I'm not a football fan, but I always like watching the best Super Bowl commercials. This year, there were some great commercials, and I decided to use them for some little MovieTalks in class with my students today. I say "little" MovieTalks because I didn't spend as much time on these as I usually do …
How Do I Teach with a Focus On Comprehensible Input?
For many teachers who are new to the idea of teaching with a focus on providing students with comprehensible input, it’s difficult to figure out how exactly to implement it in the classroom. Many of us are so accustomed to the traditional textbook-based/rule-based approach of language learning that it’s hard to escape from that mentality. I …
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Allison Lewis 