Giving Opinions Four Corners ESL/EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 25 Minutes In this fun class activity, students practice expressing and defending their opinions. The teacher places a different sign (Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree) in each corner of the classroom. Then, the teacher reads a statement that requires the students to give an opinion, e.g. Celebrities earn too much money. Four Corners.PDF Our Opinions ESL/EFL Writing and Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 40 Minutes In this productive teaching activity, students practice expressing and giving reasons for opinions, and writing simple sentences summarizing the results of a questionnaire. Our Opinions.PDF How to improve your English ESL/EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 30 Minutes This engaging teaching activity helps to teach students how to express opinions and ask others for their opinion. How to improve your English.PDF I Think That ... I Think That....PDF The Cycling Holiday The Cycling Holiday.PDF
Socratic Smackdown - A Game for Learning and Practicing Discussion Strategies Socratic Smackdown offers a fun approach to having students practice discussion strategies. Socratic Smackdown is a printable game designed to be played with up to forty students at a time. In the game students are awarded points for using each of six questioning and discussion methods. Students can lose points for interrupting or distracting others. The play of Socratic Smackdown can be organized around a text-based question or organized around debate a question delivered verbally. Check out the video below for a short overview of Socratic Smackdown. Applications for EducationSocratic Smackdown provides a great framework through which your students can develop discussion and debate skills.
Do You Hear Me Now? An Active Listening Exercise for Teachers Do You Hear Me Now? An Active Listening Exercise for Teachers Posted on Tue, Feb 18, 2014 @ 09:05 AM Listening well—actively and deeply—is a skill that requires both attention and intention. When you want your students to explore a specific topic or question, here’s a small group strategy to use that encourages active listening (along with offering all the advantages of collaborative learning). Before starting this activity, review the following guidelines with your students: First, you must listen with openness: suspend your judgments and biases and listen for those things with which you agree as well as those you might challenge. Second, listen with curiosity: engage your desire to learn and understand, rather than to try to fix anything or simply offer your own point of view. Third, listen respectfully: listen without asking questions that interrupt the speaker; jot these down and save them for later. There are only two rules: Step One: Break the students into small groups of four or five.
Intro to debate Getting Classroom Observations Right - Teacher evaluation research It is widely understood that there are vast differences in the quality of teachers: we’ve all had really good, really bad, and decidedly mediocre ones. Until recently, teachers were deemed qualified, and were compensated, solely according to academic credentials and years of experience. Classroom performance was not considered. In the last decade, researchers have used student achievement data to quantify teacher performance and thereby measure differences in teacher quality. Among the recent findings is evidence that having a better teacher not only has a substantial impact on students’ test scores at the end of the school year, but also increases their chances of attending college and their earnings as adults (see “Great Teaching,” research, Summer 2012). We find, first, that the ratings assigned teachers by the districts’ evaluation systems are sufficiently predictive of a teacher’s future performance to be used by administrators for high-stakes decisions. Observations vs. Grover J.
Teaching Your Students How to Have a Conversation I was recently in a third grade classroom and was struck by the presence of rules that were posted for how to have a conversation. The poster said, "Each person must contribute to the discussion but take turns talking. Ask each other, 'Would you like to add to my idea?' or 'Can you tell us what you are thinking?' Ask questions so that you understand each other's ideas. Having visited many middle and high schools, I think these same rules could -- and probably should -- be posted there as well. Maybe you have also observed how common it is nowadays for students to not know how to have a conversation. 8 Tips for Speaking and Listening While it is impossible to know all of the reasons, there is no doubt that learning to listen and talk is an extremely important way to broaden knowledge, enhance understanding and build community. 1. Make a point of having one-to-two minute interactions, one-on-one, at least a few times each week with students who struggle conversationally. "Really?"" 2. 3.
Five Peaceful Steps To Delivering Critical Feedback I know of something even more difficult and frightful and face-flushed-all-red than getting feedback. Giving it. In my role as assistant principal, I give a lot of feedback. Reflecting on years of giving feedback, and watching other people give me feedback, I believe that our surface perception of the feedback experience is inverse to what is really happening: the giver of feedback is as or more likely to feel stressed by the encounter as the recipient. Well, that is a challenging paradox to confront when our leadership role requires us to do it! Giving feedback is just as critical to good leadership as possessing the openness of mind and heart to receive it - and, when appropriate, practicing new behaviors in response to it. I have a few thoughts on the ideal conditions leaders can strive to meet in order to have meaningful, respectful, and healthy feedback conversations that strengthen relationships and nourish professional growth. 1. How can we avoid being angry? Dr. 2. 3. 4. 5.
useful interview expressions game useful interview expressions: Practice useful interview expressions game using this ESL fun Game.This game is also excellent for classroom teaching. Teachers can engage students in a classroom vocabulary or grammar review. It is suitable for intermediate and advanced esl learners. Games are great for motivating students to learn. More Games Video: Creating a Rubric in Moodle | Moodle News Welcome to Moodlenews.com A resource site for all Moodle-related news, tutorials, video, course content information and original resources. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe: RSS feed| Weekly Email Newsletter | Moodle News Twitter Thanks for visiting! Here’s a 10 minute video tutorial by Greg Bird which focuses on the advanced grading Rubric within Moodle [docs]. In the video Mr. Bird highlights how to configure an assignment all the way through configuring and building the criteria for your grading rubric, viewing and submitting as a student and then marking as an evaluator. Greg has a host of other elearning focused videos, including other tips related to Moodle. Direct video link