Stay up-to-date with ELT trends and ideas with articles from experts and teachers in the field.

Articles

<p>Every year, major dictionaries and language organizations announce their <b>Word of the Year (WOTY)</b> in December or January. The winning word is often a term that captures something essential about how we used language over the past 12 months. Sometimes the choice is obvious (e.g., <i>pandemic</i> in 2020), while other choices reflect deeper cultural and linguistic shifts.</p>

<p>And every January, editor Mark Allen hosts a discussion about the WOTY in his webinar called <em><a href="https://www.thatwordchat.com/" target="_blank">That Word Chat</a></em>,&nbsp;where he invites experts from dictionaries and other major publishers to explain their choices.</p>

<p>What made 2025&nbsp;especially interesting is that many dictionaries and language experts gravitated toward the same idea (and even the same word in some cases). The&nbsp;recurring theme that emerged in 2025 was <strong>our growing discomfort with low-quality information, online manipulation, and questions of authenticity in the age of AI</strong>.</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s a breakdown of the most talked-about WOTY contenders and winners this year&nbsp;and what they can teach us (and our students) about modern English.</p>

<h2>Slop</h2>

<p>The word <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year" target="_blank"><strong>slop</strong></a>&nbsp;was chosen as the 2025 WOTY by no fewer than four publications (<em>Merriam-Webster</em>, the <em>American Dialect Society</em>, the&nbsp;<em>Economist</em> magazine, and Australia&rsquo;s <em>Macquarie Dictionary</em>). According to Peter Sokolowski (<i>Merriam-Webster</i>), <strong>slop</strong> saw a huge increase in lookups&mdash;not for its traditional meaning (waste or animal feed), but for its new sense:</p>

<blockquote><strong>slop: </strong>low-quality, mass-produced content flooding the internet, often generated by AI</blockquote>

<p><b>Reasons why it was chosen:</b></p>

<ul>
	<li>It reflects distrust of online information.</li>
	<li>It joins words like <i>gaslighting</i>, <i>catfishing</i>, <i>trolling</i>, and <i>deepfake</i>.</li>
	<li>It highlights how much we value authenticity&mdash;perhaps more than ever.</li>
</ul>

<p>As Ben Zimmer (<i>American Dialect Society</i>) pointed out, <strong>slop</strong> has become so prominent that people no longer need to say the original, longer version, which was&nbsp;<strong>AI slop.</strong><i>&nbsp;</i>We even hear <strong>slop</strong> expanding to other areas, such as&nbsp;<i>work slop </i>and<i>&nbsp;friend slop.</i></p>

<h2>Rage bait</h2>

<p><em>Oxford Languages</em>&rsquo; WOTY for 2025&nbsp;is&nbsp;<a href="https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/" target="_blank"><b>rage bait</b></a>.&nbsp;Unlike most other dictionaries, which choose their WOTY based on the number of lookups, <em>Oxford</em> chooses theirs based on the corpus data (i.e., tracking which words show the biggest year-over-year growth in real usage).</p>

<blockquote><strong>rage bait: </strong>content deliberately designed to provoke anger or outrage, especially online, in order to drive engagement, clicks, or shares</blockquote>

<p>According to Fiona McPherson (<i>Oxford English Dictionary</i>), <strong>rage bait</strong> has narrowed to describe online manipulation&mdash;not real-life situations such as&nbsp;<em>road rage</em>.&nbsp;</p>

<p><b>Reasons why it was chosen:</b></p>

<ul>
	<li>It reflects increased awareness that our emotions are being exploited online.</li>
	<li>It follows a productive pattern (<i>clickbait, love bait, Oscar bait</i>).</li>
	<li>It also won Oxford&rsquo;s public vote by a wide margin.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Other notable Words of the Year</h2>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://www.dictionary.com/articles/word-of-the-year-2025" target="_blank"><b>67</b></a>&nbsp;(<em>Dictonary.com</em>; also spelled 6-7 or 6 7):&nbsp;so-so, this or that, maybe (though some people argue it has no meaning at all and is simply a phrase that youth use to confuse and frustrate adults)</li>
	<li><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/editorial/word-of-the-year" target="_blank"><b>parasocial</b></a>&nbsp;(<em>Cambridge</em>): a one-sided relationship in which a person feels emotionally connected to a public figure or&nbsp;influencer who does not know them personally</li>
	<li><a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/woty" target="_blank"><b>vibe coding</b></a>&nbsp;(<em>Collins</em>): an informal approach to programming where developers describe&nbsp;desired outcomes instead of writing detailed instructions, and then rely on AI to generate the code</li>
	<li><a href="https://corp.oup.com/news/brain-rot-named-oxford-word-of-the-year-2024/" target="_blank"><b>brain rot</b></a>&nbsp;(<em>Oxford</em>&#39;s WOTY in 2024; <em>American Dialect Society</em>&#39;s runner-up in 2025):&nbsp;the mental fatigue, reduced attention, or sense of cognitive decline caused by prolonged exposure to low-quality, repetitive, or overwhelming digital content</li>
</ul>

<h2>Words as time capsules</h2>

<p>As Ben Zimmer (<i>American Dialect Society</i>) reminded us in his closing remarks, Words of the Year act as linguistic time capsules. Sometimes they capture a single global event (e.g.,&nbsp;<i>COVID</i>). Other times, they reveal subtler shifts, such as changing attitudes toward truth, trust, and technology.</p>

<p>Several speakers noted a relative lack of political WOTY choices for 2025, which itself says something about how cultural anxiety is being expressed more through technology and media language than traditional politics.</p>

<h2>WOTY in the classroom</h2>

<p>For English teachers, WOTY discussions are a powerful classroom tool in the following ways:</p>

<ul>
	<li>They show students that English is alive and evolving.</li>
	<li>They encourage critical thinking about media literacy.</li>
	<li>They open conversations about tone, connotation, and register.</li>
	<li>They highlight how culture shapes vocabulary.</li>
</ul>

<p>Whether you explore <i>slop</i>, <i>rage bait</i>, or another contender with your students, one thing is clear: <b>the language of 2025 reflected a world questioning what&mdash;and who&mdash;to trust online</b>.</p>


Words of the Year 2025

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Learn how to make the most of your Ellii subscription with tips from our publishing team.

Teaching with Ellii

<p>Have you heard the talk of the town? Ellii&nbsp;has a new <strong><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/conversation-phrases-course/materials">Conversation Phrases</a></strong> course!&nbsp;</p>

<p data-end="438" data-start="251">This video-based course is designed to help students improve their speaking&nbsp;skills and&nbsp;focuses on <strong>reduced pronunciation</strong> for more natural, fluent speech.</p>

<p data-end="745" data-start="440">Throughout the course, students will become familiar with <strong>useful, everyday phrases</strong> they can use to greet people, make plans, make small talk, talk about preferences, and wrap up a conversation. Each video lesson also leads students through oral reduced pronunciation practice and provides opportunities for speaking in a guided conversation.&nbsp;</p>

<p data-end="745" data-start="440">By the end of this course, students will gain the confidence they need to <strong>interact comfortably</strong> in various everyday conversations.</p>

<p data-end="807" data-start="747">Watch the <strong>introductory video</strong> from this course to learn more:</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1098554567" width="640"></iframe></div>

<p data-end="859" data-start="811">The course includes the following <strong>lesson topics</strong>:</p>

<ul data-end="1010" data-start="861">
	<li>How to Start a Conversation</li>
	<li>How to End a Conversation</li>
	<li>How to Make Plans</li>
	<li>How to Make Small Talk</li>
	<li>How to Talk about Likes &amp; Dislikes</li>
</ul>

<p data-end="1371" data-start="1012">Each video-based lesson introduces 12 to 15 <strong>common, conversational phrases</strong> grouped into four sets of questions and responses. Students will hear natural examples of colloquial phrases and expressions, practice reduced pronunciation, and role-play guided conversations. The final video also teaches students how to agree and disagree with someone in a conversation.</p>

<p data-end="1542" data-start="1373">This&nbsp;course includes two digital <strong>assessments</strong> (a mid-course and final assessment) and an optional speaking task that teachers would need&nbsp;to review and score manually.</p>

<p data-end="1693" data-start="1544">You can find our new&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/packs/conversation-phrases-course/materials"><strong data-end="1605" data-start="1557">Conversation Phrases</strong></a>&nbsp;course in the&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/packs/?category=2&amp;page=1">Life Skills</a> section in&nbsp;Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/packs/?page=1">Courses &amp; Study Packs</a>.</p>

<p data-end="1842" data-start="1695">From the course page, you can easily click the <a href="https://ellii.com/packs/conversation-phrases-course/materials">&quot;Add to class&quot;</a> button to assign lessons to your students right away or schedule them through your <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/try-class-prepping-with-elliis-lesson-planner">Lesson Planner</a>.</p>

<p data-end="1979" data-start="1844">Don&rsquo;t forget to check out the <a href="https://ellii.com/packs/conversation-phrases-course/materials">Materials</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/packs/conversation-phrases-course/overview">Overview</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/packs/conversation-phrases-course/notes">Teachers&#39; Notes</a>&nbsp;tabs&nbsp;for helpful resources and teaching suggestions.</p>

<p data-end="2119" data-start="2104">We hope you and your students enjoy this new type of course!</p>


Introducing Ellii's New Conversation Phrases Course

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<p>You may know that there are more than 600 long-form videos in <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos">Ellii&#39;s Media Gallery</a>, but were you aware that we also have a lot of short-form videos?&nbsp;We recently released our <strong>150th short</strong> on Ellii&#39;s social media channels and app, so what better time&nbsp;to discuss how you can make use of all this bite-sized content in class?</p>

<h2>Where can I find Ellii&#39;s shorts?</h2>

<h3>YouTube</h3>

<p>Have you seen Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii/featured">YouTube channel for students</a></strong>? We post weekly shorts&nbsp;on YouTube&mdash;usually one or two per week. We make shorts on all kinds of topics, including grammar, vocabulary, idioms, phrasal verbs, pronunciation,&nbsp;listening, and speaking.</p>

<p>Go to&nbsp;the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii/shorts"><strong>Shorts&nbsp;tab</strong></a> from our home page (or just click on the following image) to see them all.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii/shorts"><img alt="Image of shorts index page on Ellii's YouTube channel for students" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/4736/content_Youtube-Channel-Shorts.png" /></a></p>

<p>We also have our long-form <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii/videos">videos</a> organized by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii/playlists">playlists</a> on our channel, as well as a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii/community">community posts</a> area where we regularly pose questions to students about grammar, vocabulary, idioms, etc.</p>

<p>In case you missed it, we also have a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@elliiteachers">YouTube channel for teachers</a>!</p>

<h3>Instagram</h3>

<p>We also regularly post reels to our Instagram channel for students, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elliienglish/reels/">@elliienglish</a>. Reels are often shared as stories as well so that students can easily find our&nbsp;new content.</p>

<p>Go to the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elliienglish/reels/"><strong>Reels&nbsp;tab</strong></a> on our home page to view them all.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/elliienglish/reels/"><img alt="Image of reels index on Ellii's Instagram for students account" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/4735/content_Instagram-Reels.png" /></a></p>

<p>Looking for our Instagram account for teacher? Find it&nbsp;here: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/esllibrary/">@esllibrary</a></p>

<h3>Ellii Solo/English App</h3>

<p>Did you know we have a self-study add-on to Ellii called <a href="https://ellii.com/solo">Ellii Solo</a> that schools or libraries can purchase for pre-enrollment programs or computer labs?&nbsp;We also have a self-study app (called <a href="https://www.englishapp.com/">English App</a>) that&nbsp;students can purchase on their own. Both Ellii Solo and English App&nbsp;offer mini-courses,&nbsp;study packs, and a vocabulary bank&nbsp;for self-study along with videos and shorts for extra learning.</p>

<p>Once you&#39;re inside the <a href="https://www.englishapp.com/">app</a>&nbsp;(when using Ellii Solo or English App), go to <strong>Videos</strong> on the bottom menu, and then select&nbsp;<strong>&quot;View all&quot;</strong> to scroll through our library of shorts.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/solo"><img alt="Image of video landing page for Ellii Solo / English App" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/4725/content_App-Video-Feed.jpg" /></a></p>

<h2>How can I use Ellii&#39;s shorts in class?</h2>

<p>Now that you know where to find them, what can you do with them in class? Here are a few ideas you could use them for:</p>

<h3>1. Introduce or review&nbsp;a target</h3>

<p>Use a related short as a fun introduction to a grammar, vocabulary, or pronunciation target or to do a quick review of it the next day. For example, if you&#39;re about to start&nbsp;a unit on Travel English, you could use our <a href="https://youtu.be/cCQUp73awL4?si=-vCaU8_yqcCexmOP">Airport Vocabulary</a> short to introduce the topic and elicit vocabulary.&nbsp;You could also assign it as homework.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/990227625" width="640"></iframe></div>

<p>Curious how you can search for the topic you want? Never fear! We&#39;ll cover how to search for a specific topic in the next section of this post.</p>

<h3>2. Expand on a target</h3>

<p>No matter what skill you&#39;re teaching, we probably have a short (or five) that expands on that topic. For example, if you&#39;re teaching your students how to pronounce the /m/ sound,&nbsp;you could use our <a href="https://youtu.be/eUJ1Afz2Sf0?si=HiVGbfp3yumvvFYS">short comparing the three nasal sounds</a> to see if they can&nbsp;distinguish /m/ from&nbsp;the other nasal sounds in English.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1090980404" width="640"></iframe></div>

<h3>3. Answer questions that come up&nbsp;in class</h3>

<p>We often cover tricky topics such as commonly confused words or grammar exceptions in our shorts. We all know students love asking the tough questions about exceptions to a rule, so why not answer these in a fun, visual way? Check out this example that <a href="https://youtu.be/rgr_AEJZtjs?si=VDOJE7jMSptW37Dg">compares &quot;compliment&quot; and &quot;complement.&quot;</a></p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1065624880" width="640"></iframe></div>

<h3>4. Use shorts as a basis for a pair activity or presentation topic</h3>

<p>Get your students to scroll through our shorts for homework and pick one that they didn&#39;t know about. The next day, have them teach a partner, group, or even the whole class about what they&#39;ve learned. After all, the best way to learn something really well is to teach it! Here&#39;s an example with <a href="https://youtu.be/V1QA6y7vWHU?si=NzdxwPBd0qoOdn24">&quot;prefer&quot; and &quot;rather&quot;</a>&nbsp;that would work well as a presentation topic.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1084808845" width="640"></iframe></div>

<h3>5. Use them to keep faster students from getting bored</h3>

<p>In any class, there will always be students who complete an assignment more quickly than others. Having them watch shorts while they wait for their peers to finish up is a fun, engaging task they&#39;ll enjoy. If they don&#39;t have earbuds or headphones at hand, you can have them mute the audio because all of our shorts have closed captions on YouTube and Instagram. (Captions on our app and Ellii Solo are coming soon!)</p>

<p>For example, they might enjoy this popular short on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7b1NKPtrutQ?feature=share">&quot;especially&quot; and &quot;specially.&quot;</a></p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/989656485" width="640"></iframe></div>

<h3>6. Use them for extra practice</h3>

<p>Shorts are also great for extra practice on a topic a student is struggling with or is asking about. For example, if a student keeps making mistakes with articles, you could have them watch one or all of our shorts on <a href="https://youtu.be/lC9UsaCV-20?si=CoSV7TlWGBR8wOpK">articles</a>.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/989124592" width="640"></iframe></div>

<h3>7. Use them as a review before teaching</h3>

<p>Sometimes we all need a little refresher, especially when it comes to more advanced grammar targets. Our shorts might even inspire you to teach or present something in a new way. As an example, here&#39;s a good way to&nbsp;teach students <a href="https://youtu.be/WRzQc-SaVpM?si=IdilcxGkuKmouecz">how to use &quot;however</a>&quot; in writing.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1082695695" width="640"></iframe></div>

<h2>Can I search through Ellii&#39;s shorts by topic/target?</h2>

<p>If you want students to do one short per day or random shorts during a study break, there may be no need to search for a specific topic. But if you&#39;re looking for quick teaching tips on something specific, such as a particular pronunciation or grammar target, what&#39;s the best way to&nbsp;search through Ellii&#39;s shorts?</p>

<p>The easiest way is to use our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii/shorts">student YouTube channel</a>. Instagram doesn&#39;t show titles, which makes searching more difficult (though we&#39;ve tried our best to make the topic clear in the thumbnails). And though there are filters on English App/Ellii Solo for long videos, our shorts are not filtered just yet (that&#39;s coming in a later phase, though). That&#39;s why <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii/shorts">YouTube</a> is your best bet for search, followed by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elliienglish/reels/">Instagram</a>.</p>

<h3>YouTube</h3>

<p>To search for a topic on YouTube, go to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/@ellii">our channel&#39;s home page</a> and look for the&nbsp;search bar in the tabs on the home page (below the banner). Enter your keywords there, and YouTube will display results only from our&nbsp;channel. Don&#39;t be confused by the main search bar at the top of the page (above the banner)&mdash;that search will give you results from all of YouTube, not just Ellii.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii/featured"><img alt="Image of search field on Ellii's YouTube for students channel" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/4726/content_Youtube-Channel-Search.jpg" /></a></p>

<h3>Instagram</h3>

<p>While you can&#39;t search for a specific target as well as you can on YouTube, you can filter by general topic (grammar, pronunciation, idioms, etc.) in the highlights area on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elliienglish/reels/">Ellii&#39;s Instagram page</a>. Within these highlights are all our reels from 2025 grouped by topic that you can quickly flip through or watch one after the other. Note that the story highlight&nbsp;cuts off after a certain amount of time, but you can select &quot;watch full reel&quot; within any story to see the whole thing.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/elliienglish/reels/"><img alt="Image of highlights area on Ellii's Instagram for students account" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/4734/content_Instagram-Highlights.png" /></a></p>

<h2>Conclusion</h2>

<p>With Ellii&#39;s short-form videos, you have a lot of quick and easily digestible&nbsp;content at your fingertips. We hope our shorts and reels&nbsp;will be useful for both you and your students!</p>

<blockquote>How have you used Ellii&#39;s shorts in class? Share your experience with us in a comment below, or let us know if there&#39;s a target you&#39;d like us to cover in a short.&nbsp;We love taking requests!</blockquote>


How to Use Ellii's Shorts in Class

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Starter courses for each level with a suggested teaching order from the ESL Library publishing team.

Courses

<p>Did you see Ellii&#39;s first video-based course on<strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/packs/phrasal-verbs-and-pre-employment/materials">Phrasal Verbs &amp; Pre-Employment</a>&nbsp;</strong>earlier this year? Our follow-up course, <a href="https://ellii.com/packs/phrasal-verbs-and-employment/materials"><strong>Phrasal Verbs &amp; Employment</strong></a>, is now live as well!</p>

<p>In this series of video lessons, your students will learn vocabulary and phrases that they can&nbsp;use in typical interactions while working in an office and remotely. Students will follow a new employee&#39;s journey from her first day to her first week to her first year. We specifically chose to focus on a hybrid setting since working from home&nbsp;is increasingly common.</p>

<p>Lessons are based on&nbsp;dialogues between a new employee, her boss, and her colleagues in the following situations:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Onboarding</li>
	<li>Working Remotely</li>
	<li>Attending an Online Meeting</li>
	<li>Preparing for a Presentation</li>
	<li>Asking for a Raise</li>
</ul>

<p>Each lesson&nbsp;contains a video with a dialogue and six&nbsp;phrasal verbs in the employment contexts listed above. They are all followed by&nbsp;several&nbsp;digital tasks to check comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar. The&nbsp;course also includes two assessments.</p>

<p>Watch the introductory video from this course to learn more:</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1006368894" width="640"></iframe></div>

<p>Find&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/packs/phrasal-verbs-and-employment/materials">Phrasal Verbs &amp; Employment</a>&nbsp;in the&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/packs?page=1">Courses &amp; Study Packs</a> area of Ellii under the <strong>Workplace</strong> category.</p>

<p>From that&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/packs/phrasal-verbs-and-employment/materials">course page</a>, you can easily click on the &quot;<strong>Add to class</strong>&quot;&nbsp;button&nbsp;to assign it immediately or gradually from&nbsp;your <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/try-class-prepping-with-elliis-lesson-planner">Lesson Planner</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On that page, you can also&nbsp;view the&nbsp;<strong>Materials</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Overview</strong>,&nbsp;and <strong>Teachers&#39; Notes </strong>tabs for&nbsp;useful&nbsp;information and additional resources.</p>

<p>We hope&nbsp;your students find this course helpful whether they&#39;re planning on working in an English-speaking environment or just looking to improve their language skills.</p>

<p>Happy teaching!</p>


Phrasal Verbs & Employment Video-Based Course

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Learn tips on how to teach grammar and usage from our editors and grammar experts. 

Grammar & Usage

<h3><em>Editor&#39;s Note:</em></h3>

<p>This blog post was originally written a decade ago, but there is still a heated debate between those who prefer adding <strong>only an apostrophe</strong>&nbsp;to a singular noun that ends in -s (e.g., <strong>Dickens&#39;</strong> book) and those who prefer &quot;<strong>apostrophe s</strong>&quot; (e.g., <strong>Dickens&#39;s</strong> book). Recently <em>The Associated Press</em>&nbsp;(AP) published an <a href="https://apnews.com/article/harris-walz-apostrophe-possessive-grammar-967c0bbefc09be6c804588daabed7ec9"><strong>article</strong></a> on this ongoing argument about how to style the possessive form of Vice President <strong><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3413-kamala-harris">Kamala Harris</a></strong>. While everyone agrees that the possessive form of her running mate, Governor <strong><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/5125-kamala-harris-selects-tim-walz-as-running-mate">Tim Walz</a></strong>, is&nbsp;<strong>Walz&#39;s</strong>, the argument for <strong>Harris&#39;</strong> vs. <strong>Harris&#39;s</strong> persists.</p>

<p>Which side do you agree with: AP (<strong>Harris&#39;</strong>) or others such as the <em>The Chicago Manual of Style</em>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/10/us/harris-walz-apostrophe-possessive.html"><em>The New York Times</em></a>, and Ellii (<strong>Harris&#39;s</strong>)? You can watch the <strong><a href="https://ellii.com/video/an-apostrophe-battle-is-brewing">video</a></strong> below and/or read the following original post to see why Ellii chooses the latter. In fact, we update any AP articles in our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/that-s-news-to-me"><strong>That&#39;s News to Me</strong></a> section into our own house style so that we don&#39;t confuse students any further. If only all style guides could agree!</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/998764071" width="640"></iframe></div>

<h2>Original Post</h2>

<p>(from April 17, 2014)</p>

<p>&ldquo;Apostrophe s&rdquo; (<strong>&rsquo;s</strong>) is used for several reasons in English, such as for the contracted form of <em>is</em> and <em>has</em>, and also for indicating <strong>possession</strong> (belonging to someone). In general, we add&nbsp;<em>&rsquo;s</em> to a singular noun and add <em>&rsquo;</em> to a plural noun ending in <em>‑s</em>.&nbsp;For example, we would say <em>the student&rsquo;s book</em> (for one student) and <em>the students&rsquo; classroom</em> (for many students).&nbsp;</p>

<p>But what happens when the singular noun ends in <em>‑s</em>? The rules for this have gone back and forth, which makes it difficult for both ELLs (English language learners) and&nbsp;speakers whose first language is English. As an editor, I have to keep up with the current guidelines as set out by popular style guides such as <em>The Chicago Manual of Style</em>. I thought I&rsquo;d share the most recent &ldquo;rules&rdquo; with you so you can pass them along to your students! If you disagree with any of these guidelines, please share your opinion in the comment section below&mdash;it&rsquo;s always interesting to learn what different teachers think around the&nbsp;world!</p>

<h2>General Rules</h2>

<h3>1. Add &rsquo;s (apostrophe + s) to a singular&nbsp;noun</h3>

<ul>
	<li>the student<strong>&rsquo;s</strong>&nbsp;book</li>
</ul>

<h3>2. Add &rsquo; (apostrophe only) to a plural noun ending in -s</h3>

<ul>
	<li>the students<strong>&rsquo;</strong>&nbsp;classroom</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

<p>If the plural noun doesn&rsquo;t end in ‑s, then simply add &rsquo;s to the&nbsp;word.</p>

<ul>
	<li>the children&rsquo;s&nbsp;classroom</li>
</ul>
</div>

<h2>Rule for Singular Words Ending in&nbsp;‑s</h2>

<h3>Add &rsquo;s (apostrophe + s) to a singular&nbsp;noun that ends in -s</h3>

<ul>
	<li>the class<strong>&rsquo;s</strong> door</li>
	<li>Kansas<strong>&rsquo;s</strong> laws</li>
	<li>Dickens<strong>&rsquo;s</strong> stories</li>
</ul>

<p>According to <em>The Chicago Manual of Style</em>, 17th edition, the general rule for forming possessives also applies to words ending in -s&nbsp;(sections 7.15&ndash;7.19). This rule applies to both common nouns and proper nouns (including names ending in -s, -x, and -z), as well as letters and numbers. Here are a few more examples from <em>The Chicago Manual of&nbsp;Style</em>:</p>

<ul>
	<li>a bass&rsquo;s stripes</li>
	<li>Marx&rsquo;s theories</li>
	<li>Borges&rsquo;s library</li>
	<li>Berlioz&rsquo;s works</li>
	<li>FDR&rsquo;s legacy</li>
	<li>1999&rsquo;s heaviest snowstorm</li>
	<li>the Lincolns&rsquo; marriage (plural of the last name &ldquo;Lincoln&rdquo;)</li>
	<li>the Williamses&rsquo; new house (plural of the&nbsp;last name &ldquo;Williams&rdquo;)</li>
</ul>

<p><em>The Chicago Manual of Style</em> also explains that nowadays, unlike in previous years, words ending in unpronounced <em class="inlineBlock">-s</em> and proper classical names of two or more syllables that end in an &quot;eeze&quot;&nbsp;sound also follow the same rules, as noted in the following&nbsp;examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Descartes&rsquo;s three dreams</li>
	<li>the Ganges&rsquo;s source</li>
</ul>

<p>Basically, this is great news for us all because the same rules apply to almost every situation and are therefore easier to remember. English learners are always relieved when there aren&rsquo;t a lot of exceptions to a&nbsp;rule!</p>


Forming the Possessive of Words Ending in -s

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<p>Introducing<strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/packs/phrasal-verbs-and-pre-employment/materials">Phrasal Verbs &amp; Pre-Employment</a></strong>,&nbsp;Ellii&#39;s first-ever video course!</p>

<p>In this series of video lessons, your students will learn vocabulary and phrases that they can&nbsp;use in typical interactions when they&#39;re searching for employment.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Each lesson&nbsp;contains a video with a dialogue and six&nbsp;phrasal verbs in various&nbsp;pre-employment contexts. They are all followed by&nbsp;several&nbsp;digital tasks to check comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar. The&nbsp;course also includes two assessments.</p>

<p>Watch the introductory video from this course to learn more:</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/949286954" width="640"></iframe></div>

<p>The&nbsp;course includes the following pre-employment lesson topics:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Networking at a Job Fair</li>
	<li>Reviewing a Resume with a Career Counselor</li>
	<li>Completing a Phone Screening</li>
	<li>Arriving for a Job Interview</li>
	<li>Interviewing for a Job</li>
</ul>

<p>Find&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/packs/phrasal-verbs-and-pre-employment/materials">Phrasal Verbs &amp; Pre-Employment</a>&nbsp;in the&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/packs?page=1">Courses &amp; Study Packs</a> area of Ellii under the <strong>Workplace</strong> category.</p>

<p>From that&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/packs/phrasal-verbs-and-pre-employment/materials">course page</a>, you can easily click on the &quot;<strong>Add to class</strong>&quot;&nbsp;button&nbsp;to assign it immediately or gradually from&nbsp;your <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/try-class-prepping-with-elliis-lesson-planner">Lesson Planner</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On that page, you can also&nbsp;view the&nbsp;<strong>Materials</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Overview</strong>,&nbsp;and <strong>Teachers&#39; Notes </strong>tabs for&nbsp;useful&nbsp;information and additional resources.</p>

<p>We&#39;re planning on making two more related courses on <strong>Phrasal Verbs &amp; Employment </strong>and <strong>Phrasal Verbs &amp; Post-Employment</strong>&nbsp;later this year, so we would greatly appreciate any feedback you have on this course.</p>

<p>Happy teaching!</p>


Try Ellii's First Video-Based Course

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Tour around the ELT conference circuit as our team shares conference highlights and session reviews.

Conferences

<p>Last week, I had the privilege of attending the TESOL 2023 Convention in Portland, Oregon. I've been attending TESOL with Ellii (formerly ESL Library) since 2013, but this was my first one since the pandemic. Being able to attend an in-person event again, meeting subscribers and teachers from all over the world, and attending informative and inspiring sessions were all such a treat!</p>

<p>I went to all sorts of interesting sessions, but there were some on teaching pronunciation that really stood out to me. At Ellii, we've been busy this year adding <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/pronunciation">a series of videos</a> to our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/pronunciation">Pronunciation lessons</a>, and it was important to us to confirm that our content still follows best practices for teaching pronunciation.</p>

<h1>An argument for the IPA</h1>

<p>In her session entitled "An Argument for the IPA: Effective Strategies for Teaching Pronunciation," Heather Mehrtense from the University of Maryland explained how helpful using the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) has been in her classes. She began by listing some pros and cons for its use:</p>

<h3>Pros of IPA use in class</h3>

<ul>
	<li>accurate (unlike English spelling)</li>
	<li>comprehensive</li>
	<li>(mostly) standardized</li>
	<li>systematic</li>
	<li>used by most pronunciation resources and textbooks</li>
</ul>

<h3>Cons of IPA use in class</h3>

<ul>
	<li>can be overwhelming</li>
	<li>not completely standardized (e.g., not all dictionaries use it since many dicationaries employ their own pronunciation systems)</li>
</ul>

<p>Mehrtense developed a plan for teaching pronunciation with the IPA that she found worked well. She starts by introducing the IPA on Day 1 but only teaches a couple of sounds. On Day 2, she reviews consonant sounds, and then she covers vowel sounds on Day 3. Day 4 is for targeted practice based on her students' needs, which involves tasks with minimal pairs. She monitors her students' output and recycles and reviews as needed. Finally, on Day 5, students rehearse in class by performing a short dialogue that they've written (which incorporates the target sounds).</p>

<h3>Lessons learned</h3>

<p>Here are Mehrtense's main takeaways for teaching with the IPA:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Keep it as simple as possible.</li>
	<li>Focus on student needs.</li>
	<li>Accept non-standardization (comprehensibility is the goal, not accent reduction).</li>
	<li>Discuss variety (from different accents, etc.).</li>
</ol>

<h1>Phonetics in L2 pronunciation teaching</h1>

<p>Later in the week, I attended another great session on pronunciation called "Phonetics in L2 Pronunciation Teaching: Bridging Research and Practice." This session was led by a panel comprised of Tamara Jones from Howard Community College, Di Liu from Temple University, and Marnie Reed from Boston University. This session was presented as a series of questions and answers and contained valuable information for current pronunciation teaching practices.</p>

<h3>Why is pronunciation important?</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Listening, speaking, and pronunciation have a close relationship.</li>
	<li>Comprehensibility is far more important than accent reduction.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Do I have to teach all vowels and consonants?</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Focusing pronunciation instruction on several target sounds based on students' needs is better than teaching all the sounds in English.</li>
	<li>Functional load is important (i.e., sounds that affect the meaning of a word). For example, /p/ and /b/ have a functional load of 98 because they affect the meaning of many minimal pairs, such as "park" and "bark." Conversely, /th/ has a low functional load and isn't as important to teach as you may think.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Do I have to use the IPA?</h3>

<ul>
	<li>It's important to have a system in class, whether it's the IPA, the color vowel chart, or another system.</li>
	<li>Focus on learning the sounds more than the symbols.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Are sounds the only important thing to teach in a pronunciation class?</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Other features of pronunciation are just as important. Make sure you're teaching <strong>contracted forms</strong>, <strong>prosody/intonation</strong>, and <strong>meta-linguistic awareness</strong> (i.e., students often think the L1 speakers are talking too quickly, but they're actually just not catching the <strong>connections</strong> between words.)</li>
	<li>Intonation can carry a lot of meaning in a conversation. It's important to teach the functions of intonation.</li>
	<li>The goal should be to teach pronunciation within sentences, not just as individual sounds.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Ellii's takeaways</h1>

<p>We at Ellii agree with Mehrtense, Jones, Liu, and Reed—you don't need to teach the complete IPA to students. It's enough that they have a symbol to represent the sound you're currently learning. The goal of most language classes wouldn't be for students to be able to transcribe full words into the IPA, but rather to be able to understand and recognize the sound they're currently learning and are expected to reproduce.</p>

<p>Ellii's pronunciation materials use <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3352-basic-ipa-phonetic-chart">IPA symbols</a> to represent sounds. As a company with global subscribers, it is important to use a system that's recognizable worldwide. However, we do have customers write in asking for a different system on occasion, which is why we take care to note other symbols or naming conventions (e.g., /æ/ is also known as short A) within our lessons.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/pronunciation">Ellii's Pronunciation lessons</a> also include minimal pair practice (both receptive and productive tasks) because being able to distinguish two like sounds is a great way to ensure students have mastered those sounds.</p>

<p>We're planning on developing more materials on the prosodic features of pronunciation, such as intonation and reductions. Thank you to all the teachers who requested these materials at our booth this year!</p>

<p><div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7ZBufKMlhJg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div></p>


TESOL 2023 Takeaways on Teaching Pronunciation

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<p>Asking and answering questions is such&nbsp;an important part of having a conversation, and it&#39;s&nbsp;something language students&nbsp;learn early on in their studies.</p>

<p>One of our subscribers informed us that her students were struggling to answer Wh- questions in English. What&rsquo;s the meaning of the different Wh- words? How are they all used?</p>

<p>In this blog post, we explain <a href="#wh">what Wh- questions are</a> with examples and give you <a href="#tips">practical tips</a> to help your students form these types of questions with confidence. Make sure to <a href="#activity">try our fun activity</a> at the end!</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x_4AjSwTXdc" title="Wh- Questions in English" width="560"></iframe></div>

<h2><a id="wh"></a>What are Wh- questions and examples?</h2>

<p><strong>Wh- questions</strong> are questions that use specific words starting with the letters &ldquo;wh,&rdquo; like &ldquo;who,&rdquo; &ldquo;when,&rdquo; and &ldquo;what.&rdquo; &ldquo;How&rdquo; is also often included in this list. These words are often used when we want to request information from someone.</p>

<p>The most common Wh- question words in English are: &ldquo;who,&rdquo; &ldquo;what,&rdquo; &ldquo;where,&rdquo; &ldquo;when,&rdquo; &ldquo;why,&rdquo; &ldquo;which,&rdquo; &ldquo;whose,&rdquo; and &ldquo;how.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Let&rsquo;s take a closer look at each Wh- word with examples for context!</p>

<h3>Who</h3>

<p>Use &ldquo;who&rdquo; to ask about a<strong> person</strong>.</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Who is that?</td>
			<td>It&rsquo;s our new teacher.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Who did you invite to your party?</td>
			<td>I invited Maria, Lee, and Abdul.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>What</h3>

<p>Use &ldquo;what&rdquo; to ask about a<strong> thing</strong>.</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>What is your favorite movie?</td>
			<td>I love <em>The Shawshank Redemption</em>.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What did you do last night?</td>
			<td>I did my homework.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>&ldquo;What&rdquo; is often used with another word such as&nbsp;<strong>time</strong>&nbsp;(to ask about clock time).</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>What time is it?</td>
			<td>It&rsquo;s 4:30.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What time does the show start?</td>
			<td>It starts at 8:00 pm.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>&ldquo;What&rdquo; is also used before another noun to talk about a <strong>choice</strong>. It&rsquo;s usually interchangeable with &ldquo;which.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>What movie do you want to watch?</td>
			<td>Let&rsquo;s watch the new <em>Star Wars</em>.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Which movie do you want to watch?</td>
			<td>Let&rsquo;s watch the new <em>Star Wars</em>.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What kind of ice cream do you want?</td>
			<td>I would like chocolate, please.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Which kind of ice cream do you want?</td>
			<td>I would like chocolate, please.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>Where</h3>

<p>Use &ldquo;where&rdquo; to ask about a <strong>place</strong>.</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Where do you live?</td>
			<td>I live in California.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Where is your school?</td>
			<td>It&rsquo;s on Somerset Street.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>When</h3>

<p>Use &ldquo;when&rdquo; to ask about <strong>time</strong>. When asking about clock time, it&#39;s usually interchangeable with &quot;what time.&quot;</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>When do you start your new job?</td>
			<td>I start next month.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>When does the class start?</td>
			<td>It starts at 9:00 am.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What time does the class start?</td>
			<td>It starts at 9:00 am.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>Why</h3>

<p>Use &ldquo;why&rdquo; to ask about a <strong>reason</strong>.</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Why do you like reading so much?</td>
			<td>I like it because I can learn new things.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Why did you call me?</td>
			<td>I called you to invite you to my party.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>Which</h3>

<p>Use &ldquo;which&rdquo; to ask about a <strong>choice</strong>.</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Which do you prefer, chicken or steak?</td>
			<td>I prefer chicken.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Which dress did you decide to wear?</td>
			<td>I decided to wear the black one.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>Whose</h3>

<p>Use &ldquo;whose&rdquo; to ask about <strong>possession</strong>.</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Whose book is this?</td>
			<td>It&rsquo;s mine.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Whose car did you borrow?</td>
			<td>I borrowed my friend&rsquo;s car.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>How</h3>

<p>Use &ldquo;how&rdquo; to ask about a<strong> method/way</strong>.</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>How do you turn on this computer?</td>
			<td>You have to hold down the power button.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>How did your presentation go?</td>
			<td>It went well.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>Questions with &ldquo;how&rdquo; also often involve the way someone is <strong>feeling</strong>.</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>How are you?</td>
			<td>I&rsquo;m fine.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>How do you feel?</td>
			<td>I&rsquo;m nervous.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>How are you feeling?</td>
			<td>Not great. I caught a cold.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>&ldquo;How&rdquo; is often used with another word such as &ldquo;often&rdquo; (to ask about frequency), &ldquo;much&rdquo; (to ask about cost), or &ldquo;many&rdquo; (to ask about an amount).</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>How <strong>often</strong> do you brush your&nbsp;teeth?</td>
			<td>I brush my teeth twice a&nbsp;day.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>How <strong>much</strong> does this jacket&nbsp;cost?</td>
			<td>It costs $75.00.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>How <strong>many</strong> dogs do you&nbsp;have?</td>
			<td>We have two.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p><a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/blog_printable/Wh-Question-Words-in-English.pdf" target="_blank">Print this cheat sheet</a> to help your English language learners remember the meaning of each Wh- question word.</p>

<p><a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/blog_printable/Wh-Question-Words-in-English.pdf" target="_blank"><img alt="Wh- Question Words in English printable cheat sheet." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2990/content_Wh-Question-Words-in-English.jpg" /></a></p>

<h2>How to form Wh- questions using patterns</h2>

<p>There are two basic patterns you can use to form Wh- questions in English.</p>

<h3>1. With no auxiliary</h3>

<blockquote>
<p>Wh- word + be + subject</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Who is that?</li>
	<li>How are you?</li>
</ul>

<h3>2. With auxiliary</h3>

<blockquote>
<p>Wh- word + auxiliary + subject + verb</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>What do you want?</li>
	<li>Why did you quit?</li>
</ul>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>What&rsquo;s an auxiliary verb?</h5>

<p>In questions, an auxiliary verb uses words like &ldquo;do,&rdquo; &ldquo;does,&rdquo; or &ldquo;did.&rdquo; It can also be a modal like &ldquo;can&rdquo; or &ldquo;should.&rdquo; For different tenses, it can be &ldquo;will&rdquo; (future), &ldquo;have&rdquo; (present perfect), etc.</p>
</div>

<p>For basic question patterns and the difference between Yes/No and Wh- questions, see our blog post on <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/question-formation-in-english" target="_blank">Question Formation in English</a>.</p>

<h2><a id="activity"></a>Fun class activity with Wh- questions</h2>

<p>Ready to get your students practicing questions with Wh- words? For an easy warm-up or filler activity, try doing this student-designed Q&amp;A activity. Here&rsquo;s how it works:&nbsp;</p>

<ol>
	<li>Cut up enough blank cards to have five (or 10) per student.</li>
	<li>Get students to write conversation-style Wh- questions of their choosing on their cards. If needed, put some examples on the board (e.g., What&rsquo;s your favorite dish? When did you start studying English?).</li>
	<li>When they&rsquo;ve finished writing their questions, collect the cards and shuffle them together.</li>
	<li>Put students into small groups and divide the cards up evenly.</li>
	<li>Have students take turns choosing a question and asking it to one or more of their group members. (You can choose an overall time limit, such as 20 minutes, or let them talk until their cards run out.)</li>
</ol>

<h2>Related materials</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/question-formation-in-english" target="_blank">Question Formation in English</a> &ndash; Blog Post</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1627" target="_blank">Wh- Questions</a> &ndash; Grammar Practice Worksheets</li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2462-question-formation" target="blank">Question Formation</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage Resource</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons" target="_blank">Questions Using Various Tenses</a> &ndash; Basic Grammar Sentences</li>
</ul>

<p class="lesson"><em>Editor&rsquo;s note: This post was originally published in January 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.</em></p>


What Are Wh- Questions in English?

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<p>January is a time when thoughts turn to the upcoming year and the goals we want to set for ourselves. New Year&rsquo;s resolutions are a great topic to discuss with your students at this time of year! It&rsquo;s also a fun way to teach them about <strong>goal-setting</strong>.</p>

<p>Teaching your students how to set goals has many benefits, including:</p>

<ul>
	<li>helping learners develop a growth mindset</li>
	<li>increasing students&rsquo; motivation</li>
	<li>giving students focus and purpose</li>
	<li>ensuring accountability by putting the responsibility on students to achieve their goals</li>
	<li>creating a foundation for students to advocate for their needs</li>
	<li>empowering learners and boosting self-confidence</li>
</ul>

<p>Try these easy, creative ideas for turning personal and academic goals into an educational experience. You&rsquo;ll read about some important benefits for both teachers and students when it comes to setting personal and academic goals.</p>

<p><img alt="Person with thought bubbles of a guitar, money and person doing push ups" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2981/content_personal-goals.jpg" /></p>

<h2>Setting personal goals with students</h2>

<p><strong>Personal goals </strong>are short- or long-term lifestyle-related objectives (relationships, hobbies, finances, etc.) that your student would like to attain in the new year.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For example, your student may want to exercise more during the week, learn how to play guitar, or save money to invest in real estate.</p>

<p>There are many ways you can introduce personal goal-setting to your students&mdash;from verbal class activities to written exercises.</p>

<h3 dir="ltr">Small talk</h3>

<p>It&rsquo;s time to get your students talking with some small talk!&nbsp;</p>

<p>Put your language learners into pairs or groups and have them discuss their personal goals for the new year. You could even do it as a whole class, especially if you brainstormed common New Year&rsquo;s resolutions first. This topic would work well as a warm-up or filler.</p>

<h3 dir="ltr">Presentations</h3>

<p>Presentations are a great way to <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/sentence-stems/3029-the-language-of-presenting" target="_blank">get your students speaking in front of a group</a>, which is an important professional skill to learn. Additionally, the student presenting can provide valuable listening practice for the rest of the class.</p>

<p>Have students prepare mini-presentations about their goals for the year. You could even make them choose one specific goal and get them to present their step-by-step plan for achieving that goal.</p>

<h3 dir="ltr">Blogging</h3>

<p>Want students to practice writing in English? Have them write a blog-style piece on their personal goals. Try Ellii&rsquo;&#39;s lesson on <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1828-how-to-write-a-blog-post" target="_blank">How to Write a Blog Post</a>.</p>

<h3 dir="ltr">Essays</h3>

<p>Turn goal-setting into a more formal writing assignment by having students prepare an essay with an intro, body, and conclusion about their plans for the new year. This could be done in class or for homework.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Students struggling to focus on their objectives?</h5>

<p>Help them get their language learning back on track with <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-goals-to-help-you-focus" target="_blank">simple goals that improve focus</a>.</p>
</div>

<p dir="ltr"><img alt="Student sprinting up steps made of books" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2982/content_academic-goals.jpg" /></p>

<h2>Setting academic goals with students</h2>

<p><strong>Academic goals</strong> are short- or long-term education-related objectives that your student would like to accomplish during the term or course.</p>

<p>Academic goals are a great way to give your learners direction and motivate them throughout their language learning journey.&nbsp;</p>

<p>An example of an academic goal could be that your student may want to improve their English conversation skills or <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4311-how-to-write-an-email" target="_blank">learn how to write an email in English</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For setting academic goals with your students, try these effective exercises.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Group discussions</h3>

<p>Put students into groups and tell them to choose the top three areas that they want to focus on this year in order to improve their English. Have them talk about some of the challenges they will need to overcome in order to reach their learning goals.</p>

<p>Students will appreciate sharing common language learning obstacles with each other through group discussions. Finding out they have similar academic goals as their classmates (e.g., improving pronunciation) means they will feel more connected and be more willing to help each other out.</p>

<p>Having group discussions will also give valuable insight to the teacher about areas each individual student wants to improve.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Keep a list so that you can focus on each student&rsquo;s needs throughout the year and offer encouragement or suggestions for improvement in this area whenever possible. Use this information later in the year to point out how much the student has improved in this particular area.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Make sure the goals are realistic!</h5>

<p>If a student says, &ldquo;I want to be fluent in English this year&rdquo; and they are a low-level student, you can gently remind them that language learning is a long process. Suggest setting a smaller, more attainable <a href="https://helpfulprofessor.com/smart-goals-in-education/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">SMART goal</a>, such as &ldquo;I want to improve my vocabulary by learning five new English words per week&rdquo; or &ldquo;I want to understand gerunds and infinitives so that I can pass next month&rsquo;s grammar test.&rdquo;</p>
</div>

<h3>Grammar lesson on the simple future</h3>

<p>Teaching a grammar lesson on the <strong>simple future</strong> verb tense will naturally lead to a discussion about future plans.</p>

<p>You can present this verb tense in two ways:&nbsp;</p>

<ol>
	<li>Teach the grammar first and then discuss future plans.</li>
	<li>Discuss future plans first to elicit the grammar naturally, and then teach the finer points of the verb tense.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>

<p dir="ltr">Ellii has many teaching resources on the simple future:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-future-teaching-the-three-forms" target="_bank">Simple Future: Teaching the Three Forms</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1596-simple-future" target="_blank">Simple Future: Grammar Practice Worksheets</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1568" target="_bank">Future: What Are You Going to Do Tonight?</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1567" target="_bank">Future: Where Are You going to go?</a></li>
</ul>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Goal-setting isn&rsquo;t just for students!</h5>

<p>From exercising more to learning a new skill, everyone has goals they&rsquo;d like to achieve&mdash;even teachers. What are some personal and academic objectives you&rsquo;re looking to accomplish in and outside of the classroom this year? Let us know in the comments below!</p>
</div>

<p><em>Editor&#39;s note:&nbsp;This post was originally published in January 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.</em></p>


Creative Ways to Set Personal & Academic Goals with Students

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<p>When I was editing Ellii&rsquo;s <a href="http://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons" target="_blank">New Year&rsquo;s lesson plans</a>, I started to question the use of <strong>New Year&rsquo;s</strong>, <strong>New Year</strong>, and <strong>new year</strong>.</p>

<p>When do we use the possessive form of &quot;New Year&#39;s&quot;?</p>

<p>Also, there are instances where the words &ldquo;new&rdquo; and &ldquo;year&rdquo; shouldn&rsquo;t be capitalized. Confusing, right?</p>

<p>With the holiday around the corner, your students might be asking you about this very soon. I did a bit of research to find out what the style guides and dictionaries suggest, and I thought I&rsquo;d share the results with you.</p>

<p>Here are some teaching tips for when to write New Year&rsquo;s, New Year, and new year so you and your students can ring in the new year right!</p>

<p><img alt="Happy New Year" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2905/content_Happy-New-Year_Ellii.jpg" /></p>

<h2>&quot;New Year&quot; vs. &quot;new year&quot;: Let&#39;s talk about capitalization</h2>

<p>It can be tricky for English learners to understand the difference between &ldquo;New Year&rdquo; and &ldquo;new year.&rdquo; Why is New Year capitalized in certain instances and not others?</p>

<p>This breakdown should make teaching the difference to your students much easier.</p>

<h3>When to capitalize &quot;New Year&quot;</h3>

<p>Capitalize <strong>New Year</strong>&nbsp;when you&rsquo;re referring to the January 1 holiday.</p>

<p>For example:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy New Year!</li>
	<li>My sister sent me a card wishing me a happy New Year all the way from Mexico.</li>
</ul>

<h3>When to lowercase &quot;new year&quot;</h3>

<p>Lowercase <strong>new year</strong>&nbsp;when you&rsquo;re referring to the year as a whole.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>It&rsquo;s the first day of the new year, so let&rsquo;s&nbsp;celebrate!</li>
	<li>The new year is a great time to start new projects.</li>
	<li>He&rsquo;s decided to quit smoking since it&rsquo;s a new&nbsp;year.</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<p class="circleThumb"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2907/content_lightbulb.png" /></p>

<h2>Remember this trick!</h2>

<p>If you use an article (&ldquo;a&rdquo; or &ldquo;the&rdquo;), you should lowercase &ldquo;new year.&rdquo;</p>
</div>

<h2>When to use &quot;New Year&#39;s&quot;</h2>

<p>Use the possessive form <strong>New Year&rsquo;s</strong>&nbsp;when you&rsquo;re referring to December 31 or January 1, or when you&rsquo;re describing celebrations, resolutions, or activities made on New Year&rsquo;s Eve or New Year&rsquo;s Day.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>New Year&#39;s Day</li>
	<li>New Year&#39;s Eve</li>
	<li>We&#39;re celebrating New Year&#39;s at grandma&#39;s this year.</li>
	<li>I spent the night thinking about my New Year&#39;s resolutions.</li>
	<li>Try these Christmas and New Year&#39;s classroom activities.</li>
	<li>It was a fantastic New Year&#39;s celebration.</li>
</ul>

<p>According to <em>The Chicago Manual of Style</em>, when the words &ldquo;eve&rdquo; and &ldquo;day&rdquo; are present, we clearly need the possessive form &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s.&rdquo; Think of it like a shortcut&mdash;instead of saying &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s Eve,&rdquo; we can simply say &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>

<p>But what about when &ldquo;eve&rdquo; and &ldquo;day&rdquo; aren&rsquo;t present? People sometimes forget to include the &rsquo;s when it should probably be included.</p>

<p>For example, when I wrote a blog post called &quot;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-christmas-and-new-years-classroom-activities" target="_blank">7 Christmas and New Year&rsquo;s Classroom Activities</a>,&quot; I chose to write &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s.&rdquo; Why? Because I was&nbsp;thinking of the holiday &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s Day,&rdquo; and I was&nbsp;simply dropping the word &ldquo;day&rdquo; like you would when you say &ldquo;Christmas&rdquo; (instead of &ldquo;Christmas Day&rdquo;).&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/blog_printable/New-Years-Vs-New-Year-Vs-new-year_Ellii.pdf" target="_blank"><img alt="Learn the difference between New Year's, New Year, and new year." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2908/content_New-Years-Vs-New-Year-Vs-new-year.jpg" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/blog_printable/New-Years-Vs-New-Year-Vs-new-year_Ellii.pdf" target="_blank">Print this cheat sheet</a> for your English language learners.</p>

<h3>What the research says</h3>

<p>What do the dictionaries have to say about &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s&rdquo; vs. &ldquo;New Year&rdquo;?&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Collegiate Dictionary</em> has an entry for &ldquo;New Year,&rdquo; but states that usually &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s&rdquo; is used.&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English</em> does not have an entry for &ldquo;New Year&rdquo; but does have an entry for &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s,&rdquo; so clearly they advise using &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Final thoughts on &quot;New Year&#39;s,&quot; &quot;New Year,&quot; and &quot;new year&quot;</h2>

<p>I would use &ldquo;new year&rdquo; when following an article (&ldquo;a&rdquo; or &ldquo;the&rdquo;), and I would use &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s&rdquo; in all other cases, aside from the expression &ldquo;Happy New Year.&rdquo;</p>

<p>(Note: &ldquo;Happy New Year&rsquo;s&rdquo; is also possible, but not as common in North America.)&nbsp;</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>What do you think?</h5>

<p>What do you normally say: &ldquo;Happy New Year&rdquo; or &ldquo;Happy New Year&rsquo;s&rdquo;? Leave your comments in the section below. Happy New Year, everyone!</p>
</div>

<h2>Sources</h2>

<ul>
	<li><em>The Chicago Manual of Style</em>, 17th edition, section 8.89.</li>
	<li><em>Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Collegiate Dictionary</em>, 11th edition, entries such as &ldquo;New Year.&rdquo;</li>
	<li><em>Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English</em>, 1st edition.</li>
</ul>

<p><em>Editor&#39;s note:&nbsp;This post was originally published in December 2012 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.</em></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


New Year's Vs. New Year: Learn the Difference

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<p>&#39;Tis the season when people greet each other and wish each other well more often than usual.</p>

<p>Most English-speaking countries use certain <strong>vocabulary</strong>, <strong>expressions</strong>, and <strong>greetings</strong> for wishing each other a happy holiday. Your students will appreciate learning these English holiday expressions, idioms,&nbsp;and other common phrases. What&rsquo;s more, you can make this into a productive lesson by teaching them when to capitalize holiday-specific terms.</p>

<p>If you have a multicultural class, have students compare English holiday idioms and festive expressions with what they say in their own languages.</p>

<p>Ready to start teaching your students some fun holiday-related vocabulary and expressions in English? Let&rsquo;s dive in&hellip;</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="#vocabulary">Holiday vocabulary</a></li>
	<li><a href="#idioms">Holiday idioms and expressions</a></li>
	<li><a href="#greetings">Holiday greetings</a></li>
	<li><a href="#slang">Holiday slang</a></li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="English holiday vocabulary: Christmas, Hannukah, New Year's Eve." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2921/content_Holiday-Expressions_Ellii.jpg" /></p>

<h2><a id="vocabulary"></a>Holiday vocabulary: Learn the basics</h2>

<p dir="ltr">Before we <a href="#idioms">jump into holiday-related expressions</a>, it&#39;s important to first introduce&nbsp;your language learners to some <strong>holiday vocabulary</strong>.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Review the spelling and capitalization of these common holidays with your students:</p>

<ul>
	<li dir="ltr">Christmas Eve</li>
	<li dir="ltr">Christmas Day</li>
	<li dir="ltr">Christmastime</li>
	<li dir="ltr">Christmas morning</li>
	<li dir="ltr">Christmas dinner</li>
	<li dir="ltr">Boxing Day</li>
	<li dir="ltr">Kwanzaa</li>
	<li dir="ltr">Chanuka/Hanukkah</li>
	<li dir="ltr">New Year&#39;s Eve</li>
	<li dir="ltr">New Year&#39;s Day</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="English holiday idioms and expressions: feel stuffed, get into the holiday spirit, snowed in." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2922/content_Holiday-Idioms_Ellii.jpg" /></p>

<h2><a id="idioms"></a>Holiday idioms and expressions for better conversation</h2>

<p dir="ltr">Students love learning idioms and expressions for many reasons&mdash;they&rsquo;re commonly used in conversations, movies, etc., and they&rsquo;re fun to learn, especially when <a href="https://ellii.com/lesson/2185-holiday-idioms-expressions" target="_blank">accompanied by funny, literal illustrations</a>! Recognizing and using idioms also helps learners improve their overall fluency.</p>

<p dir="ltr">We&rsquo;ve compiled a list of eight familiar <strong>holiday idioms and expressions</strong> for you to teach this season.</p>

<p dir="ltr">After reviewing, you could follow up by asking if they know any others, having them draw their own literal illustrations, or having them include as many as they can in dialogues they write and perform in pairs.</p>

<h3 dir="ltr">1. The more the merrier</h3>

<p><strong>Meaning:</strong> the more people there are, the more enjoyable the event will be</p>

<p><strong>Example: </strong>A: &ldquo;Do you mind if I bring my friends along?&rdquo; B: &ldquo;Not at all! The more the merrier!&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<h3>2. Be / feel stuffed</h3>

<p><strong>Meaning:</strong> to be full after eating a heavy meal</p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong> No more turkey for me, thanks. I&rsquo;m stuffed!</p>

<h3>3. Deck the halls</h3>

<p><strong>Meaning:</strong> to decorate the inside of your home for the holidays</p>

<p><strong>Example: </strong>This weekend I will deck the halls with lights, shiny tinsel, and mistletoe.</p>

<h3>4. Snowed in</h3>

<p><strong>Meaning:</strong> unable to leave because there&rsquo;s too much snow&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong> My house is out in the country, so sometimes I&#39;m snowed in for a week or so.</p>

<h3>5. Get into the holiday spirit</h3>

<p><strong>Meaning: </strong>to feel joyful during the holiday season</p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong> Sherry baked gingerbread cookies and put on some Christmas music to help her get into the holiday spirit.</p>

<h3>6. Scrooge / Grinch</h3>

<p><strong>Meaning: </strong>a grumpy and unkind person who doesn&rsquo;t like celebrating the holidays</p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong> He wouldn&rsquo;t even let me put on some holiday music. What a Scrooge!</p>

<h3>7. Be there with bells on</h3>

<p><strong>Meaning:</strong> to be eager and more than happy to do something or go somewhere</p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong> I asked him if he was coming to the party. He told me he&rsquo;ll be there with bells on!</p>

<h3>8. Ring in the new year</h3>

<p><strong>Meaning: </strong>to celebrate the end of the previous year and the beginning of the new one</p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong> Carlos plans to ring in the new year with his three best friends.</p>

<p><img alt="4 holiday greeting cards in English." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2919/content_Holiday-Cards_Ellii.jpg" /></p>

<h2><a id="greetings"></a>Holiday greetings for cards, emails, or texts</h2>

<p><strong>Holiday greetings</strong> are spoken to friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, and even strangers on the street or in stores. These expressions are also written in cards, emails, text messages, etc.&nbsp;</p>

<p>When written, many people follow the holiday greeting with an exclamation mark (e.g., Happy Holidays!). Note: &ldquo;Happy Holidays&rdquo; and &ldquo;Season&rsquo;s Greetings&rdquo; are usually capitalized, but &ldquo;Happy holidays&rdquo; and &ldquo;Season&rsquo;s greetings&rdquo; are also possible.</p>

<p>Your students will likely appreciate knowing how to wish each other well in English during the holiday season.</p>

<p>Spread the joy with these popular English holiday greetings:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Happy Holidays </strong>(more neutral as it includes all winter holidays)</li>
	<li><strong>Season&rsquo;s Greetings </strong>(more neutral and formal)</li>
	<li><strong>Merry Christmas</strong> (common in American and Canadian English)</li>
	<li><strong>Happy Christmas </strong>(common in British English)</li>
	<li><strong>Happy Chanukah/Hanukkah</strong> (Jewish festival also known as &ldquo;The Festival of Lights&rdquo;)</li>
	<li><strong>Happy Kwanzaa</strong> (celebration that honors African heritage in African American culture)</li>
	<li><strong>Happy New Year</strong> (<a _blank="" href="https://ellii.com/blog/when-to-write-new-years-new-year-and-new-year">&ldquo;Happy New Year&rsquo;s&rdquo; is a common mistake people make</a>)</li>
</ul>

<p>Are your students planning on sending greetings cards or emails to their family or colleagues this holiday season? <strong>Try this festive activity</strong>: Have your students <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-write-holiday-greeting-cards-in-english" target="_blank">write a holiday greeting card in English</a> using their favorite holiday greeting.</p>

<div class="whiteBox">
<p class="circleThumb"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2907/content_lightbulb.png" /></p>

<h2>Keep in mind!</h2>

<p>People might be celebrating a variety of holidays during this season. If you&rsquo;re not certain if a colleague or acquaintance celebrates Christmas, choose a neutral greeting such as &ldquo;Happy Holidays&rdquo; or &ldquo;Season&rsquo;s Greetings.&rdquo;</p>
</div>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2923/content_Shorten-Holiday-Expressions_Ellii.jpg" /></p>

<h2><a id="slang"></a>Holiday slang words every student should know</h2>

<p>It&rsquo;s important for English learners to become familiar with <strong>holiday slang</strong> (slang is short for &ldquo;short language&rdquo;). These common, every day expressions and phrases are often used in informal settings.</p>

<p>Teaching them some fun holiday slang will help students improve their fluency as well as their conversational skills.</p>

<p>Here are two holiday words that are often used as slang:</p>

<h3>Prezzies</h3>

<p>This shortened form of &ldquo;presents&rdquo; is heard more and more these days. Both &ldquo;prezzies&rdquo; and &ldquo;pressies&rdquo; are pronounced <strong>preh zees</strong> (/ˈprɛ ziz/). The difference in spelling depends on where you live.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>prezzies</strong> (preferred spelling in North American English)</li>
	<li><strong>pressies</strong> (preferred spelling in British English, but prezzies is also common)</li>
</ul>

<h3>Xmas</h3>

<p>&ldquo;Xmas&rdquo; is the shortened form of &ldquo;Christmas&#39;&#39; and is pronounced <strong>eks&nbsp;muhs </strong>(/&#39;ɛks məs/). Xmas is most commonly used in informal settings, especially when writing to close friends and family. It&rsquo;s not so common in everyday verbal conversations.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Xmas</strong> (singular noun)</li>
	<li><strong>Xmases</strong> (plural noun)</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<p class="circleThumb"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2907/content_lightbulb.png" /></p>

<h2>Keep in mind!</h2>

<p>Some people might be offended by the abbreviation of &ldquo;Christ&rdquo; to &ldquo;X&rdquo;&nbsp;because it puts the focus on commercialization instead of on Christ, the religious figure at the center of this Christian holiday. When in doubt, don&rsquo;t abbreviate.</p>
</div>

<h2>Related materials</h2>

<p>We&#39;ve got you covered for holiday lessons and fun!</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/holidays-events/december-holidays" target="_blank">December Holidays collection</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards/holidays-events/christmas" target="_blank">Christmas flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards/holidays-events/new-year-s" target="_blank">New Year&#39;s flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/lesson/2221-how-to-make-a-paper-snowflake" target="_blank">How to Make a Paper Snowflake</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/gingerbread-door-classroom" target="_blank">Make a Sweet Gingerbread Door for Your Classroom</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-write-holiday-greeting-cards-in-english" target="_blank">How to Write Holiday Greeting Cards in English</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/difference-between-sleigh-and-sled" target="_blank">Sleigh Vs. Sled: What&#39;s the Difference?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/merry-christmas-or-happy-holidays" target="_blank">&quot;Merry Christmas&quot; or &quot;Happy Holidays&quot;? Let&#39;s Debate!</a></li>
</ul>

<p class="blog-post"><em>Editor&#39;s note: This post was originally published in December 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.</em></p>


English Holiday Idioms, Expressions & Other Common Phrases

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1448/Tanya_Holiday-Expressions_Banner.png

<p>Have your students ever mixed up &ldquo;<strong>sleigh</strong>&rdquo; and &ldquo;<strong>sled</strong>&rdquo;? Whether they&rsquo;ve just started learning English or have been speaking it for years, &ldquo;sleigh&rdquo; and &ldquo;sled&rdquo; are two winter-related words that many people still get confused.</p>

<p>That&rsquo;s because both sleds and sleighs are winter vehicles that work in a similar way. So how can you tell them apart?</p>

<p>In this blog post, I&rsquo;ve outlined the differences between sleigh and sled with some examples so that your students always know exactly when to use each term!</p>

<p><img alt="Two men sitting in a horse-drawn sleigh on snowy night." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2895/content_Sleigh_Ellii.jpg" /></p>

<h2>What does &quot;sleigh&quot; mean?</h2>

<p>A <strong>sleigh</strong> is a big, box-like, open-air vehicle on two ski-like runners that can transport people over snow and ice.</p>

<p>The main difference between a &quot;sleigh&quot; and a &quot;sled&quot; is that a sleigh is almost always pulled by a horse or a team of horses (or reindeer, if you&#39;re Santa Claus).</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>&quot;Sleigh&quot; can serve different functions in a sentence:</h5>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Noun:</strong> sleigh, sleighs</li>
	<li><strong>Verb: </strong>sleigh, sleighed, sleighing (Note: The verb&nbsp;<em>sleigh</em> is not common and best avoided.)</li>
</ul>
</div>

<h3>Examples of &quot;sleigh&quot; used in a sentence</h3>

<ul>
	<li>The Smith family rode around the lake in a horse-drawn <strong>sleigh</strong>.</li>
	<li>This hotel package includes dinner and a <strong>sleigh</strong> ride along the snowy trails around the village.</li>
	<li>Every year, Santa Claus travels across the globe in a <strong>sleigh</strong> drawn by reindeer.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="Two children sitting on a wooden sled going down a snowy hill." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2896/content_Sled_Ellii.jpg" /></p>

<h2>What does &quot;sled&quot; mean?</h2>

<p>A <strong>sled</strong> is a small, open-air vehicle that is flat-bottomed or on two ski-like runners. One or two people can ride a sled down a snowy hill. Sleds can also be pulled by a person or a team of dogs.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>&quot;Sled&quot; can serve different functions in a sentence:</h5>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Noun:</strong> sled, sleds, sledder</li>
	<li><strong>Verb:</strong> sled, sledded, sledding</li>
</ul>
</div>

<h3>Examples of &quot;sled&quot; used in a sentence</h3>

<ul>
	<li>My dad surprised me with a bright red <strong>sled</strong> for my birthday this year.</li>
	<li>Catherine went dog-<strong>sledding</strong> in Alaska last winter.</li>
	<li>Mount Orford created a fun path for <strong>sledders</strong> to speed down.</li>
	<li>Two kids <strong>sledded</strong> down a nearby hill, and their cries of delight echoed in the cold January air.</li>
</ul>

<p>&ldquo;Sled&rdquo; also sometimes gets confused with another related term: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toboggan?show=0&amp;t=1417644631" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">toboggan</a>. A <strong>toboggan</strong> is a type of sled with a flat bottom and a curved front edge. One or two people can ride a toboggan down a snowy hill.</p>

<p>It&rsquo;s best to only use the word &ldquo;toboggan&rdquo; when talking about a specific type of sled.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5><strong>Share your thoughts</strong></h5>

<p>In North America, the words &ldquo;sleigh,&rdquo; &ldquo;sled,&rdquo; and &ldquo;toboggan&rdquo; are all quite common. What&#39;s the most common term where you live? Share it in the comments section below.&nbsp;Happy Holidays!</p>
</div>

<h2>Related</h2>

<p>Get into the holiday spirit and find lots of related vocabulary in our winter holiday lessons!</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1946" target="_blank">Christmas - Beg</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1854" target="_blank">Christmas - Low Int &ndash; Int</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1853" target="_blank">Christmas - High Int &ndash; Adv</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/2096" target="_blank">New Year&#39;s - Beg</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1873" target="_blank">New Year&#39;s - Low Int &ndash; Int</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1857" target="_blank">Chanukah</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1856" target="_blank">Kwanzaa</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1913" target="_blank">Festivus</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1904" target="_blank">Boxing Day</a></li>
</ul>

<p><em>Editor&#39;s note: This post was originally published in December 2014&nbsp;and has been updated for comprehensiveness.</em></p>


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Tanya Trusler