Thanksgiving is coming up on November 23rd! If you’re looking for a Thanksgiving-themed lesson for ESL students, I created a plan and materials that I’m going to use with my students this Thanksgiving. I’m going to use this cute video called “Salt,” about a boy who makes a pumpkin pie for his family for Thanksgiving …
Turning Student Output Into More Input
One of my current classes, a Level 2 class, is quite chatty. They really enjoy talking to each other. Luckily, they’re pretty good about trying to talk together in English, the target language. I love it that they are enthusiastic about using the language and that they enjoy talking together. But at the same time, …
Two Song Ideas: “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Imagine”
I used two songs in my ESL classes this week that both went well, so I thought I’d share the ideas here. I love using music in class, and most of my students seem to love it, too. To get an overview of how I use music in class, you can check out my previous …
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The Joy of Teaching with Stories
My curriculum for all of my ESL classes is largely based around stories, no matter what level. I didn’t intentionally set out to focus on stories. When I first started trying to focus on providing more comprehensible input to my students, I did it because of what the research on second language acquisition shows and …
Book Review: “While We’re on the Topic”
I just finished reading Bill VanPatten’s newest book, While We’re on the Topic: BVP on Language, Acquisition, and Classroom Practice, and I thought I would write a review. The book is available on the ACTFL website. For those who aren’t familiar with him, Bill VanPatten is a prominent researcher in the field of Second Language …
Allison Lewis 