March 17 is St. Patrick's Day. The holiday is marked by parades in cities across the United States. The largest parade, in New York City, is said to draw more...
Writing should be an important element of ESL classes. In addition to its intrinsic use, it also assists with language acquisition as students can try out...
Here is a writing activity that can be used at any level. Give each student a picture of different chairs or dresses or any other item. Students begin by...
Here is an activity to illustrate the use of brainstorming. Read to the class any newspaper article or passage rich with detail and have students work...
Teaching writing has not seen much of an emphasis for a number of years. More recently, teachers have realized that students want and need to learn how to...
How can we help students remember what they are learning? Information enters the brain in short term memory. Short term memory can hold 7 plus or minus 2...
Retention of information is improved with each increase in the number of times that the information is met. Information in short term memory must be rehearsed...
Prior knowledge influences all learning. According to David Ausubel, "The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows....
One of the major ways that the brain stores information is phonetically. There is a specific area of the brain responsible for cataloging the sounds that are...
Another way our brain stores memories is through the emotional area of the brain. Emotions associated with a learning become part of the non-declarative memory...
The best way for students to remember what they are learning is by recoding it. That is, students need to take the material and put it into language they...
No matter how a class is set up, it is multilevel in one way or another. Students all come in with different levels of education and motivation. Students from...
Now that the school year has ended, it is time to think about changes to your classroom. One easy thing to do is to turn the walls into magnetic boards,...
"When we have a chance to answer a question, make the other students quiet, because it takes a time to transfer thoughts in words." Comment from an ESL student...
Researchers found that if teachers waited at least three seconds for a student response, many good things happened. In addition to an increase in the length...
Here are some other ways to limit the impulsive speakers so that all students have a chance to respond. Have the students write their answers, either on paper...
Summer is often the time of year when programs consider purchasing new textbooks. There are many things to consider when evaluating textbooks. This chart may...
Textbooks are a key component of many English classes. In some classrooms they serve as the content for the language instruction learners receive and the...
While textbooks may be complete without any additional activities, there are many other things that can be done with the text. For example, a picture on page...
Students come to class with varying amounts of motivation, both extrinsic and intrinsic. Since there is research to show the importance of motivation and its...
Goal setting is often done during a student's orientation to the program. As mentioned previously, goal setting can go a long ways towards increasing student...
Goal setting can and should be done frequently. The classroom goals should be short term goals with manageable benchmarks, so that students can see progress....
If your students are setting goals and keeping a record of their progress in achieving them, this is a good time to look at portfolios as a means of collecting...
Portfolio assessment is being used more and more in adult ESL classrooms. The most significant way that portfolios differ from standardized testing is that...
It is a good idea for teachers to post a daily agenda on the wall or board every day. Students should see this as soon as they enter the room. It conveys the...
It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. There are many teaching activities that can be done with a picture. Pictures can be used for very...
ESL students need to understand and respond to different types of questions. Using a picture with the questions can provide a quick assessment of learning...
Previous postings have discussed yes/no, wh- and choice (either/or) questions. There are four other types of questions that students should be able to respond...
Last posting discussed question types to use while talking about a picture. Remember that the new Ventures series has a large picture introducing each unit as...
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