background preloader

Home (Posts Index)

Home (Posts Index)
These are all activities which I have used in class and which are designed to be used either by teachers in class with an interactive whiteboard / projector or by students working in a computer room, with laptops, tablets, smartphones etc. Posts Related:  Teaching English

The child as a learner 1 When to start language learningWhat stops children from learningHow children learn languagesGetting parents involvedGet to know how your children learn When to start language learning Most experts believe that when a child is introduced to a second language at an early age their chances of becoming more proficient in the target language will be higher. However, it is not necessarily true to say "the earlier the better". It is suggested that the most efficient time to learn another language is between 6 and 13. However, children who learn in pre-to-early teens often catch up very quickly with children who learn from an earlier age. Whatever the age, when children learn a second language they develop skills that will help to create opportunities in their future. What stops children from learning Reading the list above, you may be surprised at the number of items that remind you of traditional educational practices. How children learn languages Children learn by: Getting parents involved Tips 1.

Teachit ELT - Teachit ELT English language teaching resources - ELT resources online EnglishClub How to Assess Your Own Learning - InformED Most of us assume it’s up to someone else—a teacher, administrator, employer—to measure how much we’ve learned. But when we do this, we lose something very valuable: our own educational narrative. We may remember which subjects we excelled in and which subjects we failed, or recall when and where we learned particular bits of information, but for the most part we can’t make sense of our learning as one long, unfolding event. And cognitive science has confirmed that the whole is, quite crucially, more than the sum of its parts. Many employers complain that today’s graduates seem to have learned nothing at university. One problem is the limited nature of human memory, and the fact that our assessment systems don’t compliment the way the brain works. Another issue, seldom visited but equally important, is that students aren’t encouraged to assess their own learning. Shouldn’t each of us, with our unique backgrounds and study habits, have the most authority on our progress? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom If this is your first time here, then read the Teacher's Guide to Using These PagesIf you can think of a good question for any list, please send it to us. Home | Articles | Lessons | Techniques | Questions | Games | Jokes | Things for Teachers | Links | Activities for ESL Students Would you like to help? If you can think of a good question for any list, please send it to us. If you would like to suggest another topic, please send it and a set of questions to begin the topic. Copyright © 1997-2010 by The Internet TESL Journal Pages from this site should not be put online elsewhere.Permission is not required to link directly to any page on our site as long as you do not trap the page inside a frame.

Breaking News English Lessons: Easy English News | Current Events 6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use With Your Students What’s the opposite of scaffolding a lesson? Saying to students, “Read this nine-page science article, write a detailed essay on the topic it explores, and turn it in by Wednesday.” Yikes! No safety net, no parachute—they’re just left to their own devices. Let’s start by agreeing that scaffolding a lesson and differentiating instruction are two different things. Scaffolding is breaking up the learning into chunks and providing a tool, or structure, with each chunk. Simply put, scaffolding is what you do first with kids. Scaffolding and differentiation do have something in common, though. So let’s get to some scaffolding strategies you may or may not have tried yet. 1. How many of us say that we learn best by seeing something rather than hearing about it? 2. Ask students to share their own experiences, hunches, and ideas about the content or concept of study and have them relate and connect it to their own lives. 3. All learners need time to process new ideas and information. 4. 5. 6.

English Worksheets, Lesson Plans, Activities, Games, Puzzles -Simple ESL Think-Pair-Share Strategies for Reading ComprehensionThink-Pair-Share[Lyman, 1981] What Is Think-Pair-Share?Think-Pair-Share is a cooperative discussion strategy developed by Frank Lyman and his colleagues in Maryland. It gets its name from the three stages of student action, with emphasis on what students are to be DOING at each of those stages. How Does It Work? 2) Pair. 3) Share. Why Should I Use Think-Pair-Share? Because of the first stage, when students simply THINK, there is Wait Time: they actually have time to think about their answers. © 1998-present by Raymond C.

Think Alouds Classroom Strategies Background Think Alouds help students learn to monitor their thinking as they read an assigned passage. Students are directed by a series of questions which they think about and answer aloud while reading. This process reveals how much they understand a text. As students become more adept at this technique they learn to generate their own questions to guide comprehension. Benefits Think Alouds are practical and relatively easy for teachers to use within the classroom. Create and use the strategy Begin by modeling this strategy. What do I know about this topic? Teachers should next (1) give students opportunities to practice the technique, either in pairs, small groups or individually; and (2) offer structured feedback to students. Initially, the teacher reads the selected passage aloud as the students read the same text silently. Further reading Davey, B. (1983). Olshavsky, J. Wilhelm, J. Wilhelm, J.

David Petrie: A house of mystery and secrets So here are six ways I think you could exploit this image with your classes. I’ve tried to come up with one idea for each level, or approximate level, of ability – there should be something for everyone! With all of these I’ve taken the approach of using the image as a springboard for language production – the image is the stimulus if you will, the prompt to try and help learners generate language. Who lives in a house like this? The learners develop a profile of the mystery owner, thinking about simple biographical information like: name, age, job, hobbies, favourite foods, favourite sports etc. and of course his “horrible secret”!!! A variation on this is to create the profile in a circle fashion, so that after each piece of biographical information has been written down, the paper is circled to the next student who writes down the next bit. What happened here? The teacher then collects in all the slips of paper and redistributes them randomly amongst the class. Sell it to me!

Video Lesson Framework – short animations | teflgeek It’s getting close to the end of the year, when it starts getting difficult for our students to maintain their motivation for English and when teachers are busier with testing and reports and the like. My students have been clamouring for a video lesson for weeks now, but I always feel as though I would be short changing them with a feature length film – so my concession to their desperate desire is the cartoon. I have in the past used this lesson framework with Tom & Jerry cartoons – they tend to be around the ten minute mark and as there’s no dialogue they work well for lower level classes and especially well with young learner classes. That said, some of the content is quite dated and is what you might call “a product of it’s time” – in short you might want to review them to make sure they fit your context before using them in class. More recently I prefer using Shaun the Sheep episodes – it helps that I have a wide range of these DVDs at home! Feedback on the ideas. (@15 minutes)

Related: