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

Conferences

<h2>Music City Vs. The Big Guava</h2>

Every year, spring conferences bring&nbsp;us to new cities for professional development, team building, and a chance to showcase everything we&#39;ve been creating and releasing, including <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/new-content" target="_blank">new content</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/feature-releases-platform-updates-2023" target="_blank">courseware</a>.

This spring, Ellii hit two cities in one week, with COABE in Nashville taking place right before&nbsp;TESOL in Tampa! It was a whirlwind of a week, and I thought it would be fun to compare&nbsp;the two conventions in one reflective post. (Scroll to the bottom for the video highlight!)

<blockquote>
&quot;The period following a conference is essential for translating the enthusiasm and ideas from the event into actionable steps.&quot; 
 
~ Ixchell Reyes,&nbsp;<a href="http://Beyond the Buzz: 5 Ways to Cultivate Convention Connections" target="_blank">Beyond the Buzz: 5 Ways to Cultivate Convention Connections</a>
</blockquote>

<img alt="Ellii TESOL booth 2024" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3654/content_tesol-booth-2024.png" />

<h2>COABE &ndash; the Coalition on Adult Basic Education</h2>

Together in Harmony

It was Ellii&#39;s first time attending the COABE National Conference (and my first time in Nashville). While the venue was intimidating, I knew it was going to be a successful conference when the first visitor to the Ellii booth, an ESOL instructor&nbsp;from Owens Community College, arrived with a sunny smile and some live <a href="https://ellii.com/tour/testimonials" target="_blank">#Love4Ellii</a>.&nbsp;

<blockquote>
&quot;I love Ellii! I don&#39;t even bother looking anywhere else!&quot; 
~&nbsp;Duaa Mustafa Ali
</blockquote>

<img alt="Ellii subscribers with T-shirts at COABE" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3668/content_COABE-Ellii-Tshirt-subscriber-dua.jpg" />

We loved handing out I love Ellii T-shirts to all of the subscribers who visited our booth, and we often spotted people wearing them throughout the week.

COABE attendees loved Ellii for several reasons, including our:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/casas-competencies" target="_blank">alignment to CASAS competencies</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/pronunciation" target="_blank">pronunciation videos</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/grammar" target="_blank">foundational content</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/214-how-to-sign-up-as-a-student-using-a-class-code" target="_blank">ease of student onboarding</a></li>
</ul>

Unlike at TESOL, not all of the attendees at COABE were focused on English language teaching. However&nbsp;there was no shortage of attendees looking for a solution like Ellii. These&nbsp;topics were of outmost interest to ELT attendees:

<ol>
	<li>CASAS STEPS assessments that have replaced the Life and Work series</li>
	<li>English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS)&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Integrated English Training Courses (IET)</li>
</ol>

Ellii has new initiatives coming soon related to all of the above thanks in part to&nbsp;the feedback and requests we received at&nbsp;COABE! It&nbsp;is going to be an exciting year of new releases for Ellii.

<h3>COABE sessions</h3>

The sessions I found most useful at COABE were about the updated CASAS tests. We&#39;ve been following the updates closely and are excited to be in close connection with CASAS as we continue to develop content that is useful for skill-building and skill-using in preparation for these assessments.&nbsp;

<h3>Nashville &amp; the Opryland Resort&nbsp;&nbsp;</h3>

<a href="https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/bnago-gaylord-opryland-resort-and-convention-center/photos/" target="_blank">The Gaylord Opryland Resort</a> was enormous and not easy to navigate! Even after three days at the resort, finding our way around was difficult and we missed a few sessions due to getting lost in the labyrinth. We were grateful for&nbsp;the complimentary snacks that were often placed right in front of the Ellii booth. 
 
As for Nashville itself, the Ellii team spent some time with locals rather than venturing into the tourist areas. We loved <a href="https://www.urbancowboy.com/nashville/" target="_blank">Urban Cowboy</a> for its cozy atmosphere, live music, and delicious hot cider, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lockelandtable.com/" target="_blank">Lockeland Table</a> for it&#39;s great pizza and cool vibe. The highlight was&nbsp;American Legion <a href="https://www.post82.org/" target="_blank">Post 82</a>, where we got a real flavor of Nashville for&nbsp;Honky Tonk Tuesday. The hospitality&nbsp;(including friendly Uber drivers) in Nashville was possibly the best&nbsp;I&#39;ve experienced in all of my years of attending conferences in the US. I look forward to returning for a holiday in the summer!

<img alt="Ellii enjoying Nashville Urban Cowboy" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3669/content_Ellii-COABE-2024-Cider-Urban-cowboy-Nashville.jpg" /> 
&nbsp;

<h2>TESOL Convention 2024</h2>

Tampa Bay, Florida&nbsp;

As a TESOL sponsor it was fun to arrive at the Marriot to&nbsp;find&nbsp;Ellii represented on the hotel key cards!&nbsp;

<img alt="Ellii key card at TESOL 2024" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3662/content_key-card-2024.png" /> 
&nbsp;

<blockquote>
&quot;Go meet someone who will change your life.&quot;&nbsp; 
 
~ Shelley Taylor, TESOL President
</blockquote>

The TESOL setup was a long day for Lise and Ashley with the rest of our team&nbsp;finishing up at&nbsp;COABE,&nbsp;but like every convention season, it&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/all-hands-on-deck-all-the-time" target="_blank">all hands on deck</a> at Ellii! (And smiles all around.)

<img alt="Lise and Ashley from Ellii set up the booth for TESOL 2024" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3658/content_lise-ash-set-up-2024.jpg" />

TESOL always offers sessions on a wide range of topics, and we were curious if Emily&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elt-trends-to-watch-in-2024" target="_blank">ELT Trends</a> post was on target for 2024. Here are some topics that seemed to be getting a lot of interest at TESOL this year:&nbsp;&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Integrating AI&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Building community</li>
	<li>Storytelling</li>
	<li>Academic vocabulary</li>
	<li>Visual literacy</li>
</ul>

We attended sessions on all of the above and more! Here are some&nbsp;useful sources that were shared that we want to learn more about:

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/" target="_blank">The Manchester Academic Phrase Bank</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://press.umich.edu/Books/G/Grammar-Choices-for-Graduate-and-Professional-Writers-Second-Edition2" target="_blank">Grammar Choices for Graduate and Professional Writers</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/engage-your-audience-microsoft-teams-speaker-coach-/">Microsoft Speaker Coach&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0VkDf9LyEk" target="_blank">Jungle Chase</a> (Brain Break)</li>
	<li><a href="https://textinspector.com/help/corpus-of-contemporary-american-english-coca/" target="_blank">Text Inspector from COCA</a></li>
</ul>

Ellii&#39;s CEO Ben Buckwold gave several presentations that were well-attended, including a session on&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/ellii-polls" target="_blank">Ellii Polls</a>, our new FREE interactive feature. 
 
Some requests we received in our own sessions and at the booth included:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>a need for high-intermediate <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/real-world-reading" target="_blank">Real-World Reading</a> lessons</li>
	<li>a higher-level lesson on <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3867-reading-for-detail" target="_blank">Supporting Details</a></li>
	<li>an additional <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2230-how-to-cite-a-source" target="_blank">How to Cite a Source</a>&nbsp;in English&nbsp;lesson that focuses on&nbsp;APA instead of MLA</li>
	<li>higher-level <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/grammar" target="_blank">grammar</a> lessons</li>
	<li>more<a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/mini-debates" target="_blank"> Mini-Debates</a></li>
	<li>more lower-level <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/that-s-news-to-me" target="_blank">That&#39;s News to Me</a> lessons&nbsp;</li>
	<li>the ability for teachers&nbsp;to edit Ellii Polls</li>
	<li>sentence frames in the Stop &amp; Discuss area of&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/gather/ellii-polls" target="_blank">Ellii Polls&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li>the ability for administrators to create their own <a href="https://ellii.com/packs?page=1" target="_blank">Study Packs</a></li>
	<li>more accented voices in our audio and video</li>
	<li>standardized test prep content</li>
</ul>

<h3>Tampa &amp; the Convention Center</h3>

TCC was a great venue for TESOL! It was located right on the gorgeous <a href="https://thetampariverwalk.com/">Tampa Riverwalk</a> (ideal for someone like me who is training for a marathon).&nbsp;I even saw a dolphin during a boardwalk coffee break!

<img alt="Tampa Riverwalk" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3667/content_tampa-riverwalk.jpg" /> 
 
The lovely&nbsp;Marriot hotel, where some of the sessions were located, was just a few minutes-walk to the convention center, with&nbsp;good&nbsp;restaurants within steps of our room, including the&nbsp;delicious Mexican restaurant,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lonatampa.com/" target="_blank">Lona</a>. We also enjoyed the Cuban bread at <a href="https://tampabayhistorycenter.org/columbia-cafe/#menu" target="_blank">Columbia Cafe</a> and a windy dinner on&nbsp;the hotel patio with our new Canadian friend Johnny, founder of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.roshi.ai/" target="_blank">Roshi</a>!&nbsp; 
 
The TESOL Expo Hall felt&nbsp;a little too big for the number of exhbitors this year, but we were happy to meet so many teachers and administrators like we do every year!&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

<img alt="Ellii CEO Ben Buckwold with TESOL 2024 attendees" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3656/content_ben-attendees-tesol-2024.jpg" />

In addition to meeting subscribers and those who want to learn about Ellii, it is&nbsp;always lovely to chat with friends&nbsp;who&nbsp;we network with throughout the year! This year we got to meet Shey and Anna from our favorite ELT podcast,&nbsp;the <a href="https://www.teacherthinkaloud.com/" target="_blank">Teacher Think-Aloud Podcast.</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

<img alt="Anna and Shey of Teacher Think-Aloud Podcast with Ellii's VP of Publishing Tara Benwell at TESOL 2024" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3670/content_Ellii_Anna-Shey-Tara-TESOL-2024.jpg" />

To celebrate a successful&nbsp;week, we attended&nbsp;a stand-up comedy show at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thegimmickcomedy/?hl=en" target="_blank">The Gimmick Comedy Club</a> and walked through the lively downtown streets&nbsp;following&nbsp;a vibrant&nbsp;<a href="https://tampapride.org/parade-2/" target="_blank">PRIDE parade</a>. The ride back on the free <a href="http://www.tecolinestreetcar.org/" target="_blank">TECO streetcar</a>&nbsp;with new friends from a UK publishing team was a fun way to end a great week!

<img alt="Ellii team (Lise, Ashley, Tara, Ann) at TESOL 2024" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3671/content_Booth-Team-TESOL2024.jpg" />

<h3>Ending with a Full Circle Moment&nbsp;</h3>

While COABE was a great new experience&nbsp;and felt like the right place for Ellii to be, the highlight of the week for me was in the last few moments of TESOL,&nbsp;listening to our CEO, Ben, deliver the speech before the closing plenary. Ben had us in stitches and then almost in tears as he&nbsp;described the&nbsp;full circle moment of being in Tampa for TESOL as a top sponsor, the same city where our TESOL story began back in 2006. Here&#39;s the video recording. Thank you to everyone who reached out to say they loved this moment too!

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8vhmgjB8UM0?si=hq8Bz-NS1buZArQA" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>

 
We hope to see you next year in Dallas, Texas, for COABE 2025 and Long Beach, California,&nbsp;for TESOL 2025!&nbsp; 
 
~ Tara &amp;&nbsp;Team Ellii 
&nbsp;

PS. A special thank you to the&nbsp;TESOL attendee who delivered my purse&nbsp;safely to the information booth when I got a little too excited at an active storytelling session and left it behind. Though I may never get to thank you properly, this simple act of kindness left me full of gratitude&nbsp;(and gave me a story of hope to share with my Uber driver on the way home to Canada).

Reflecting on Spring Conferences 2024: COABE & TESOL

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2511/Tara_Reflecting-on-Spring-Conferences-2024-COABE-TESOL_Banner.png

Did you attend ElliiCon2023 this&nbsp;September? If you did, I hope you&#39;re bursting with inspiration and ideas like we are here at Ellii!&nbsp; 
 
More than 2,200 English language educators&nbsp;signed up for our third annual virtual conference, and we had a record-high live attendance on both&nbsp;days.&nbsp;Even more impressive than the numbers&nbsp;was the engagement!&nbsp;In all of the virtual webinars and conferences I&#39;ve attended over the years, I don&#39;t think I&#39;ve ever seen&nbsp;a chat as active as I did at this year&#39;s ElliiCon.&nbsp;Keeping up with the Q&amp;A and comments was nearly impossible, even with our signature conference style of&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/all-hands-on-deck-all-the-time" target="_blank">all Ellii hands on deck</a>. 
 
After any major <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/categories/conferences" target="_blank">conference</a>, virtual or in person, I always take at least a day to reflect on the learning and experience, often focusing on the takeaways in relation to the&nbsp;theme.&nbsp;While some <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/behind-the-scenes-choosing-the-theme-for-elliicon2023" target="_blank">conference themes</a> feel like a stretch or an afterthought, I think&nbsp;we got ours just right this year.&nbsp;

<blockquote>
Humanity &amp; Technology in ELT: Striking a Balance in the Age of AI.&nbsp;
</blockquote>

If you participated&nbsp;in ElliiCon2023, I hope you agree&nbsp;that together, the organizers, speakers, and attendees tipped the scales in the right direction. While we explored many impressive uses of AI, in the end we&nbsp;all agreed on one thing: teachers will not be replaced by technology anytime soon.&nbsp; 
 
Humanity for the win!&nbsp; 
 
For this year&#39;s ElliiCon reflection, I&#39;ll highlight&nbsp;five reasons why humans shine brighter than our new&nbsp;friend ChatGPT&nbsp;in the field of ELT.

<h2>1. Humans tell better stories</h2>

When people ask why I&#39;ve worked&nbsp;at Ellii (formerly ESL Library) for 17 years, I often point to&nbsp;my love of stories. Our CEO, Ben, who many of us consider to be both a colleague and a friend, is the best storyteller I know. Every team meeting, business trip, and meal Ben hosts always starts with&nbsp;a good story or two.&nbsp;

We knew Jamie Keddie, a master of ELT storytelling, would be a great addition to this conference. Jamie captivated attendees with stories, even when sharing a&nbsp;boring one written by ChatGPT! In under an hour, Jamie showed us how being able to tell a personal story in the classroom is a superpower teachers should try to hone.&nbsp;

<img alt="Jamie Keddie trashes ChatGPT for its storytelling abilities" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3380/content_trash-keddie.png" />

After trashing ChatGPTs storytelling abilities, Jamie&nbsp;went on to demonstrate (through story) how to tell a good one, painting the perfect picture of&nbsp;how stories can be used in a myriad of&nbsp;ways for language learning. Just as I predicted, Jamie&#39;s session,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clp3PioRXHQ" target="_blank">Stories from the Teacher</a>, was the highlight of ElliiCon2023 for me. It seems our CLB materials writer, Jen, was also inspired. Check out Jen&#39;s&nbsp;latest Ellii post,&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-stories-we-tell" target="_blank">The Stories We Tell</a>.

<img alt="storytelling bullets Jamie Keddie" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3392/content_story-bullets_keddie.png" />

Why stories? Here&#39;s a summary of the benefits of story that Jamie outlined in his ElliiCon session, which played out like a story itself. Don&#39;t take my word for it&mdash;watch the recording! (Then look up.)

<h2>2. Humans aren&#39;t just &quot;adaptive,&quot; they&nbsp;adapt&nbsp;</h2>

If you&#39;ve never seen this error message below, you are probably like many&nbsp;ElliiCon attendees who surprised us by admitting they&nbsp;knew little to nothing about&nbsp;Open AI&#39;s generative AI tool, ChatGPT.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<img alt="ChatGPT error message" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3382/content_Screen_Shot_2023-09-18_at_2.06.25_PM.png" />

After&nbsp;our first <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD67hbuy27k&amp;t=2s" target="_blank">Coffee Talk</a> featuring first impressions (and confessions) of AI&nbsp;from the Publishing team, our CEO realized&nbsp;much of our audience was newer to this technology than we&#39;d anticipated. Ben quickly adapted his welcome speech to clarify that our conference would highlight some features at Ellii, but also explore generative AI, a technology Ellii is playing with,&nbsp;that according to the head of education at Pearson,&nbsp;is &quot;moving faster than real life.&quot;

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD67hbuy27k&amp;t=2s" target="_blank"><img alt="Coffee Talk with Ellii's Publishing team" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3388/content_Screen_Shot_2023-09-21_at_10.46.25_AM.png" /></a>

Despite the speed at which this technology snuck into the field of language learning, the&nbsp;reality is that many teachers are still printing PDFs and dealing with student onboarding and Wi-Fi issues. Ellii&#39;s Product team heard these sentiments loud and clear and are already pivoting to include some new features to address these more pressing issues.&nbsp;

<h2>3. Humans are human</h2>

Russell Stannard, ELT&#39;s EdTech guru, had to make some adaptations of his own on the fly when his AI-recorded audio wouldn&#39;t play in a window and he had to read it out loud. There was also a missing cat (typed &quot;at&quot;) in his AI-generated image, which Ellii&#39;s eagle-eyed editors would never have missed (and our talented illustrators&nbsp;might have drawn <a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards/idioms-phrasal-verbs/halloween-idioms?flashcard=5217" target="_blank">like this</a>).&nbsp;

Russell&nbsp;shared some <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcn8oCl53ic" target="_blank">fun AI-powered activities</a>, but admitted that&nbsp;90% of the EdTech tools he reviews aren&#39;t even worth sharing. Have you ever heard a statistic that bad when it comes to English language teachers?&nbsp;Also, do you know any teachers who would turn down a real-life teaching assistant in exchange for a paid version of&nbsp;ChatGPT?

This is not to say that AI can&#39;t be taught humanistic behavior! One attendee mentioned that ChatGPT offered condolences after being prompted to help write a eulogy. That&#39;s a story that might hit the movies soon if real writers continue to strike.&nbsp; 
 
A related topic&nbsp;that came up in the ElliiCon chat (and internally at Ellii) was on the importance of using&nbsp;polite and friendly language when interacting with ChatGPT. This seems like a no-brainer since we&#39;re training AI to do what we want. As we learned from our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPg8qkpwBWk&amp;list=PLP0N5nuiA3aOIoCMzz9RNamAKTpqXQTvQ&amp;index=9" target="_blank">Day 2 Coffee Talk</a> facilitator, Diego, failure to engage with AI could have dangerous consequences.&nbsp;

<img alt="tone AI" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3390/content_content_tone-chat-gpt.png" />

Do you know what else teachers were interested in? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ZVMn1dx5s&amp;list=PLP0N5nuiA3aOIoCMzz9RNamAKTpqXQTvQ&amp;index=13" target="_blank">Life skills!</a> Jen walked teachers through all of the content and collections that focus on this target, including our NEW&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/vocabulary" target="_blank">Vocabulary video</a> series and our&nbsp;dialogue-focused <a href="https://ellii.com/packs" target="_blank">Study Packs</a>, which were a huge hit.

<h2>4. Humans are the machines</h2>

One thing I love about ElliiCon is that it gives&nbsp;team members outside of the Publishing and Customer Support teams a chance to interact with teachers. At ElliiCon, our Product team&#39;s developers and designers were available in the chat and at the virtual tables talking directly with attendees about AI, tech, AND the humans behind our new features.&nbsp;

At Thursday&#39;s Lunch &amp; Learn:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFGCJis6RZQ&amp;list=PLP0N5nuiA3aOIoCMzz9RNamAKTpqXQTvQ&amp;index=10" target="_blank">How Ellii Blends AI with Human-Powered Teaching Tools</a>, Ellii&#39;s CTO Eduardo took attendees behind the scenes to share all sorts of ways his team is exploring AI for features including autograding and&nbsp;feedback, content&nbsp;recommendations, and class insights (pictured below&nbsp;and coming soon).&nbsp;

<a href="https://youtu.be/QFGCJis6RZQ?si=Max7LxTJEjcxW10X" target="_blank"><img alt="AI generated Class Insights coming soon to Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3387/content_class-insights-elliicon.png" /></a>

Do these features build themselves? Absolutely not. They are designed, tweaked, and implemented by a human team with people such as Decio,&nbsp;Jessica, and Nicholas, who you got to Meet &amp; Mingle with if you joined us at ElliiCon. Like Ellii&#39;s lessons, our features are reviewed and tested by humans and updated based on user&nbsp;needs. Similiary, Dr. Charles Browne described the human side of developing the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66ppRWXrkF4">New General Service List</a>&nbsp;and helped teachers better understand just how many words students really need to know.&nbsp;

Our invited speaker Dr. Amin Davoodi emphasized this very point throughout his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_cwm_Hyc-8&amp;list=PLP0N5nuiA3aOIoCMzz9RNamAKTpqXQTvQ&amp;index=12" target="_blank">session</a> while making a case for AI being a tool teachers should embrace. If you didn&#39;t get a chance to see his session&nbsp;and you are skeptical about the use of AI in English language teaching, please treat yourself! You might also be tempted to buy an <a href="https://shop.ellii.com/" target="_blank">Ellii T-shirt</a>.

Amin&#39;s main argument:&nbsp;

<blockquote>
Technology (such as&nbsp;AI) doesn&#39;t make you a better teacher or a worse teacher. It only magnifies who you are as a teacher. If you are a good teacher, it will definitely make you a better teacher. If you are a bad teacher, it will probably make you a worse teacher. Always, always pedagogy comes first. Technology is just a tool...with ChatGPT you get what you ask for.

Dr. Amin Davoodi
</blockquote>

<h2>5. Humans have meaningful conversations</h2>

Nik Peachey&#39;s demonstration of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zReNEm4s60&amp;list=PLP0N5nuiA3aOIoCMzz9RNamAKTpqXQTvQ&amp;index=4" target="_blank">using ChatGPT for simulated role-plays</a>&nbsp;on Day 1 got teachers excited about how to start coming up with creative prompts for personalized learning. The goal, however, is not for learners to be able to have stimulating conversations with a robot! As&nbsp;Angela Tribus Ramos emphasized in the final ElliiCon session, the goal (and Ellii&#39;s mission) is for everyone to have more meaningful conversations in real life.&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3386/content_Angela-7-takeaways.png" />

As we went off into breakout rooms, Angela challenged us to think about elements of humanity that we cherished. I shared my strong connection to real human voices and we talked about how&nbsp;terrifying (and exciting)&nbsp;it is that we can now clone our voices with AI.&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3385/content_Screen_Shot_2023-09-18_at_3.41.15_PM.png" />

Angela&#39;s tips in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMvZ_yg5bzk&amp;list=PLP0N5nuiA3aOIoCMzz9RNamAKTpqXQTvQ&amp;index=14" target="_blank">Seven Strategies for Meaningful Conversations</a>&nbsp;were&nbsp;so empowering&nbsp;that I noticed Gustavo, an active&nbsp;attendee, utilizing some techniques at our final mixer. Gustavo made&nbsp;a graceful exit using signposting (and even followed up with a kind&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7109523789662609408/" target="_blank">LinkedIn message</a>). Likewise, ElliiCon&#39;s host, Lise, thanked Angela graciously for wrapping things up so perfectly that we barely even had to offer our own closing. My heart was full in this moment!&nbsp;

<h2>ElliiCon2023 YouTube Videos</h2>

While you can&#39;t&nbsp;get the full human experience of a conference like ElliiCon without attending live (emojis, chat comments, Q&amp;A, Table talk), you can catch up on some recorded sessions you missed. All of the sessions are now available to view in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP0N5nuiA3aOIoCMzz9RNamAKTpqXQTvQ" target="_blank">ElliiCon2023 playlist</a> on our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ElliiTeachers" target="_blank">Ellii for Teachers</a> YouTube channel. If you attended ElliiCon, we&#39;d love to hear about your own highlights and takeaways in the comments below.

See you next year at ElliiCon2024! 
 
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD67hbuy27k&amp;list=PLP0N5nuiA3aOIoCMzz9RNamAKTpqXQTvQ&amp;index=2" target="_blank"><img alt="ElliiCon2023 Recordings" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3391/content_ScreenShot_2023-09-21_at_11.35.58_AM.png" /></a>

Reflecting on ElliiCon2023: 5 Reasons Why Humans Are Better than Machines in ELT

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When organizing a conference, it is crucial to nail down a conference theme in the early stages of the planning process. In the first year of hosting our own virtual conference (ESVC 2021), our theme was Empowering Teachers in the Digital Age. Though it may sound generic now, this theme was significant to us then as so many teachers were just starting to rely on our platform for our digital tools rather than just our PDFs. We (then ESL Library) were transitioning into an EdTech company. It was the perfect time to try hosting our own conference to help&nbsp;foster&nbsp;connections in our ELT community.

<blockquote>
&quot;Omg, it was better than Cats. Thanks!&quot;

&mdash;2021 conference attendee
</blockquote>

<img alt="Empowering Teachers in the Digital Age ESVC" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3344/content_Screen_Shot_2023-08-22_at_12.35.21_PM.png" />

In 2022 (now Ellii), our post-pandemic conference theme was Simplicity in #ELT. Teachers worldwide were struggling with burnout, and we wanted to do our part to help everyone (including our own team) take a breather and reflect on the basic essentials of language learning and teaching. Our staff and attendees embraced this theme, and the conference was a great success. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP0N5nuiA3aMqdcebjNOfZUGdOEGRmrms" rel="noopener" target="_blank">ElliiCon2022</a> was just what we all needed to kick off last year&#39;s school year. It also helped inspire some of the simple features we created this year.

<blockquote>
&quot;ElliiCon was one of the best PDs I&#39;ve attended in a while. It was helpful and FUN, and I&#39;m already using things I learned from the conference in my classroom. Great job, guys.&quot;

&mdash;ElliiCon2022 attendee
</blockquote>

When our team gathered to choose a theme for ElliiCon2023&nbsp;back in January,&nbsp;ChatGPT was the only thing teachers were talking about. Our content creators, engineers, and designers began soaking up everything we could about this fast-moving technology. Like you, we began thinking about the future of language learning in a whole new way.

What did generative AI mean for the #ELT industry and what did it mean for our teachers, their students, and our own team? 

Incorporating AI into our 2023 conference theme was a no-brainer, but we also wanted to keep Ellii&#39;s mission (improving communication around the world) in plain view. We looked at countless reviews and reflected on what teachers loved about ElliiCon2022. Did we consult ChatGPT to help brainstorm a theme that could inspire a similar feel? Yes, we did. But in the end, it was Ellii humans for the win!&nbsp;

<h1 style="text-align: center;">Humanity &amp; Technology in ELT: Striking a Balance in the Age of AI</h1>

<blockquote>
&quot;There is such vibrancy in the air on Ellii! I feel people who work for your company thoroughly enjoy their work and passing knowledge to us! Way to go!!!&quot;

&mdash;ElliiCon2022 attendee
</blockquote>

Like our new name, this year&#39;s theme feels just right for ElliiCon2023. We hope you&#39;ll join us September 14&ndash;15 for this year&#39;s free two-day virtual conference to explore the intersection of technology and traditional teaching. Connect with attendees, speakers, and the makers of Ellii as we unpack what this new technology means for our classrooms and careers.&nbsp;

<img alt="ESL Library becomes Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3346/content_Ben_Buckwold_day_1_final.jpg" />

At ElliiCon2023, you will&nbsp;participate in informal chats on first impressions of generative AI and watch expert sessions on tried and tested AI tools. You&#39;ll get ideas for using AI for storytelling, pair work, and gamified vocabulary review and explore everything from the dangers and limitations of AI to easy-to-use integrations. You&#39;ll also learn essential strategies for teaching meaningful conversations and life skills. Finally, Ellii staff will demo some of our new,&nbsp;simple tools and share how we&#39;re cautiously experimenting with AI behind the scenes.&nbsp;

<blockquote>
&quot;I loved getting to know the staff members, hearing their voices, and learning about their personalities.&quot;

&mdash;ElliiCon2022 attendee
</blockquote>

<img alt="Coffee Talk ElliiCon2022" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3347/content_Screen_Shot_2023-08-22_at_12.12.54_PM.png" />

<a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2023" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="ElliiCon2023 registration page">Register now</a> to reserve your spot and visit our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog" rel="noopener" target="_blank">blog</a> for spotlights on this year&#39;s speakers: <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2023-speaker-spotlight-nik-peachey" target="_blank">Nik Peachey</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2023-speaker-spotlight-angela-tribus-ramos">Angela Tribus Ramos</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2023-speaker-spotlight-jamie-keddie" target="_blank">Jamie Keddie</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2023-speaker-spotlight-russell-stannard" target="_blank">Russell Stannard</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2023-speaker-spotlight-charles-browne" target="_blank">Dr. Charles Browne</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2023-speaker-spotlight-dr-amin-davoodi" target="_blank">Dr. Amin Davoodi</a>.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Tara, VP of Publishing at Ellii

Behind the Scenes: Choosing the Theme for ElliiCon2023

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These posts are written for learners of English themselves. Find learning tips and ideas for learning English.

For Students

Do you know the expression &quot;one in a million&quot;? It means someone or something is rare or special. Ali is one of these people.

We learned about Ali from her father, an English language teacher named Harry Waters. He shared this video of Ali on his LinkedIn page. One in a million, right?

<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/opRvOjhliRc" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>

<a href="https://www.kidsagainstplastic.co.uk/1millionlitterpick" target="_blank">Ali has a huge goal</a>. She wants to pick up one million pieces of litter before her next birthday. She also wants to raise awareness about plastic consumption.

How can you help Ali? Here are two simple ways:

<h3>1. Learn about the dangers of plastic consumption</h3>

Watch Ali&#39;s video above and discuss it with your class. Then read about Ali&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kidsagainstplastic.co.uk/1millionlitterpick">campaign</a>. Why would you describe Ali as one in a million? 
 
Ellii has a few lessons you can use to learn more about this environmental issue. You can ask your teacher to share one of these lessons with you.

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1285-ocean-garbage">Ocean Garbage</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4031-un-plastics-treaty">UN Plastics Treaty</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4380-trashion-show" target="_blank">Trashion Show</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1212-garbage-solutions" target="_blank">Garbage Solutions</a></li>
</ul>

In our Famous Things section, we also have a lesson on <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1462-plastic">Plastic</a>. In this lesson, you can learn about the history of this material and find out when&nbsp;the plastic craze&nbsp;began. At the end of the lesson, you can share a personal response using the speaking task.

 
<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1462-plastic"><img alt="speaking task, plastic consumption" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3252/content_content_Screen_Shot_2023-06-08_at_11.33.20_AM.png" /></a>

Ali also cares about the <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/sustainable-development-goals">Sustainable Development Goals</a>. You can watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Wdt37YWyU&amp;list=PLuqJWaXJtKo_kd5lJk0yb2GRd1GKR3Faf" target="_blank">Ali&#39;s videos and tips </a>about these goals on&nbsp;YouTube.

<h3>2. Pick up litter (&amp; log it)</h3>

Ali needs your help to carefully dispose of litter (especially dangerous plastics) in your area. Your class can join this challenge together, or you can do your part individually.

<ol>
	<li><a href="https://www.kidsagainstplastic.co.uk/apphelp">Download the Litter Logging App</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.kidsagainstplastic.co.uk/alismap">Log your litter clean-up and get on Ali&#39;s&nbsp;Map</a></li>
</ol>

<h2>Glossary</h2>

<ul>
	<li>one in a million: a very special person or thing</li>
	<li>campaign: an organized plan to complete a goal</li>
	<li>consumption: the usage of a resource</li>
	<li>dispose: to throw out</li>
	<li>litter: garbage</li>
	<li>log: to record (write down) an action or item on a form</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
Do you know someone who could be described as &quot;one in a million&quot;? Tell us about this special person in the comments!&nbsp;
</blockquote>

One in a Million: Plastic Litter Challenge

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We&#39;re back! This year&#39;s TESOL team included (from left)&nbsp;Lei (Director of Accounts), Michelle (Accounts Manager),&nbsp;Tara (VP of Publishing, me), Tanya (Head of Video Production), Ann (Editor), Lise (Video Content Creator &amp; Producer),&nbsp;and Ben (CEO &amp;&nbsp;Founder of Ellii).

<img alt="Team TESOL 2023 in Ellii shirts" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3108/content_Team-TESOL-shirts-2023.jpg" />

In addition to the team above, we also had Ashley (Outreach Coordinator)&nbsp;working remotely with us all day, every day in &quot;Mission Control.&quot; From hotel and restaurant reservations&nbsp;to session rooms and booth maintenance, Ashley ensured that everything ran smoothly from beginning to end. (Ben describes Ellii&#39;s work ethic in this heartwarming,&nbsp;pre-conference post: <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/all-hands-on-deck-all-the-time">All Hands on Deck, All the Time</a>.)

If <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/takeaways-from-tesol-2022-7-points-to-unpack" target="_blank">last year&#39;s TESOL convention</a> was about sharing and caring about feelings&nbsp;in the midst of a&nbsp;pandemic (with a focus on the pros and cons of <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/academic-subjects/social-emotional-learning" target="_blank">SEL</a>), this year&nbsp;was more about putting out the feelers to see how&nbsp;the #ELT industry is responding in a time where education and technology seem to be changing at lightning speed.

Here are some of the questions we headed into TESOL with (and some buzzwords we heard this year):

1. What are English language teachers worrying about in 2023?

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2465-how-to-paraphrase" target="_blank">plagiarism</a></li>
	<li>equity</li>
	<li>community</li>
	<li>testing</li>
</ul>

2. What are some <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/6-english-language-teaching-trends-in-2023" target="_blank">important trends and targets in ELT</a>?

<ul>
	<li>ChatGPT</li>
	<li>digital &amp; media literacy</li>
	<li>critical thinking</li>
	<li>differentiation</li>
	<li>gamification</li>
	<li>translanguaging</li>
	<li>collaborative teaching</li>
	<li>virtual excursions</li>
</ul>

3. Where is the ELT industry&nbsp;heading next?

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4468-ai-generated-content">AI-generated content</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li>prompt engineering&nbsp;</li>
	<li>student-focused apps</li>
	<li>paid subscriptions&nbsp;(with reduced freemium features)</li>
</ul>

If you take a look at the #TESOL2023 chatter on <a href="https://twitter.com/ElliiLearning" target="_blank">Twitter</a>&nbsp;or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/esllibrary/">Instagram</a>,&nbsp;you&#39;ll notice one thing that is differed from last year. Everyone was thrilled&nbsp;to be face-to-face in community, sharing moments, ideas, and even food together. &nbsp;

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It&#39;s all about the people. From teachers from my <a href="https://twitter.com/ELPrograms?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elprograms</a> fellowship in Armenia and Ukraine to <a href="https://twitter.com/thinkaloud_pod?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thinkaloud_pod</a> guests to grad school mates to old friends at ETS and many more, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TESOL2023?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TESOL2023</a> has reconnected me with so many beautiful and talented humans. My heart is full. 💙💜 <a href="https://t.co/FV4WUu4Pfm">pic.twitter.com/FV4WUu4Pfm</a>
&mdash; Anna Ciriani-Dean ESL (she/her) (@acd_esl) <a href="https://twitter.com/acd_esl/status/1639677032710942721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2023</a></blockquote>

<h2>Session Topics</h2>

With so many sessions to pick from, Ellii&#39;s Publishing team&nbsp;typically heads to TESOL with a clear mission on which types of sessions we want to focus on. This year, we walked in with&nbsp;more of an open mind. Rather than choosing specific topics to research, our goal was to get a feel for&nbsp;what&#39;s important to English language teachers today&nbsp;and where the industry is heading.

While Lei, Michelle, and Lise&nbsp;held demos and chats with&nbsp;teachers at the Ellii booth and Ben focused on giving&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/where-to-find-ellii-at-tesol-2023">Ellii presentations</a>, Tanya, Ann, and I&nbsp;attended dozens of sessions and gained inspiration and insight on the following topics:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Plagiarism&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Differentiation</li>
	<li>Critical Thinking</li>
	<li>Storytelling</li>
	<li>Vocabulary Strategies</li>
	<li>Using Controversial Topics</li>
	<li>Academic Reading Strategies</li>
	<li>The New Academic Word List</li>
	<li>ChatGPT and AI Tutors</li>
	<li>Diversity</li>
	<li>Gamification</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-2023-takeaways-on-teaching-pronunciation">Teaching Pronunciation</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-2023-in-portland-top-takeaway">Correcting Listening &amp; Speaking Mistakes</a></li>
	<li>Assessment</li>
</ul>

<img alt="Supporting ELs in Content-Specific Classrooms" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3115/content_supporting-ELs-content-specific.png" />

TESOL 2023 Presentation by Sarah Levitt: Strategies for Supporting ELs in Content-Specific Classrooms

Watch for upcoming session highlights as well as content updates and additions born out of our research and reflection at TESOL 2023!&nbsp;

<h2>At the Ellii Booth</h2>

For many years, showing off ESL Library at TESOL was pretty simple. Teachers asked to see the PDF content, and we showed everything we had. Many loved our offerings and subscription-based service and signed up on the spot.

Last year in <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/takeaways-from-tesol-2022-7-points-to-unpack">Pittsburgh</a>&nbsp;(our first year as <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-our-new-name-ellii">Ellii</a>), we focused more on sharing our new features. Teachers (especially those still teaching fully online) were very excited about tools like our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-microsoft-immersive-reader-on-ellii">Immersive Reader</a> integration and digital&nbsp;<a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/241-speaking">Speaking task</a>. However, it became clear to us in recent months that while our tools and digital features are&nbsp;nice to have (or even a must-have), most teachers are still&nbsp;more interested in the content itself.&nbsp;

<img alt="Video team at TESOL 2023" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3113/content_team-vid-ellii.JPG" /> 
 
From Ellii&#39;s booth backdrop to our brochures and demos, we let our content drive our conversations&nbsp;at TESOL this year. Though we were&nbsp;thrilled to show off our new <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-elliis-lesson-planner" target="_blank">Lesson Planner</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-grade-feed" target="_blank">Grade Feed</a>&nbsp;(released just in time for TESOL), we recognized that what English language teachers really want and need from Ellii is ready-made, high-quality, relevant content for every age, level, and need.&nbsp;

Guess what else teachers wanted&nbsp;at our TESOL booth this year?&nbsp;T-shirts! Chocolate! Coffee! Stickers! (And photos&nbsp;with the team!)&nbsp;

<img alt="I love Ellii T-shirts" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3112/content_i-love-ellii-t-shirts.JPG" />

<h2>The City of Portland&nbsp;</h2>

It had been nine years since Ellii (formerly ESL Library) had been to Portland. We had fond memories of Portland being colorful, liberal, and welcoming, and we were not disappointed.&nbsp; 
 
Here are some local businesses and products we enjoyed:

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://q-portland.com/" target="_blank">Q Restaurant &amp; Bar</a> (our top pick, highly recommended by AC Hotel)</li>
	<li>Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen (huge portions)</li>
	<li>Mother&#39;s Bistro &amp; Bar (great service)</li>
	<li>Portland Mama Mia Trattoria (good appys)</li>
	<li>Portland City Grill (amazing view from 30th floor)</li>
	<li>Urban Farmer (cozy brunch spot where&nbsp;basketball players were signing autographs)</li>
	<li>40 LBS (trendy coffee shop)</li>
	<li>Voodoo Doughnut (tourist trap we had to check out and enjoy)</li>
	<li><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B09XZ33FTW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&amp;psc=1" target="_blank">&quot;I&quot;-Lignment</a> (a self-help book written by our Uber driver&mdash;ordered)</li>
	<li>Punchbowl Social (where we bowled with some locals)</li>
	<li>Powell&#39;s City of Books (where I found some local <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-delicious-reasons-to-learn-english-with-poetry" target="_blank">poetry</a>)</li>
	<li>Majita Wine Co. (featured at the women-owned Woodlark Artisan&nbsp;Market)</li>
	<li>Portland Farmers Market (every Saturday, across from Portland State University)&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Steel Bridge and waterfront (where we enjoyed&nbsp;the <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4064-cherry-blossom-festivals">cherry blossoms</a>)&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<img alt="Voodoo Doughnut Portland" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3110/content_Voodoo.jpg" />

Having shared these positive Portland experiences and eateries, it cannot go unsaid that Portland is different now than it was when we visisted for&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-portland" target="_blank">TESOL 14</a>.&nbsp;There is a major homelessness problem in this city, and we understood&nbsp;the need to take a bit more care getting around than we enjoyed almost a decade ago.&nbsp;During our week in Portland, we had several interesting conversations with drivers and hospitality staff&nbsp;in order to stay both safe and informed. 
 
During one of our seven&nbsp;presentations, Ben shared our Discussion Starters lesson on <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2820-homelessness" target="_blank">Homelessness</a>, which we think is a relevant conversation to be having with language&nbsp;learners all around the world, including the Canadian cities many of us work from (Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Windsor, where I&#39;m blogging from today).&nbsp;

<img alt="Using Controversial Topics in the Classroom TESOL 2023" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3116/content_IMG_7227.jpg" />

US State Department TESOL 2023 session on using controversial topics in class.

<h2>Thank You, TESOL &amp; Team</h2>

As Ben mentioned in his opening remarks at TESOL, it is a great feeling to be able to give back to the ELT community by sponsoring this important event each year.

<img alt="Ben Buckwold, CEO of Ellii (TESOL 2023 diamond sponsor) giving opening remarks before keynote " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3117/content_IMG_7202.jpg" />

Ben Buckwold, CEO of Ellii, giving opening remarks before TESOL 2023 keynote on March 22. Ellii was a Diamond sponsor at TESOL this year.

Working remotely has its perks, but heading home after spending a week together laughing&nbsp;and making memories is always bittersweet. A big thank you to Ben for bringing us along for this year&#39;s TESOL adventure. We love Ellii!

<img alt="Ellii team in welcome sign when TESOL 2023 was over" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3109/content_welcome-TESOL-2023.jpg" />

Ellii&#39;s 2023 TESOL team finally got a chance to pose in the Welcome sign after we took down our booth and got ready to say our final goodbyes.

Hope to see some of you next year for TESOL 2024 in Tampa!

~ Tara

<h2>Related Posts</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/all-hands-on-deck-all-the-time" target="_blank">All Hands on Deck, All the Time</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-2023-in-portland-top-takeaway" target="_blank">Takeaways from TESOL 2023: The Error-Friendly Classroom</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-2023-takeaways-on-teaching-pronunciation" target="_blank">TESOL 2023 Takeaways on Pronunciation</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-an-elt-conference" target="_blank">How to Get the Most Out of an ELT Conference</a></li>
</ul>

<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>

TESOL 2023 in Portland: Feeling the #ELT Pulse

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This post is in our For Students category and was written for English learners. If you are an English teacher, you can share a link and invite students to take Ellii&#39;s Grammar Day challenge.

<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio" style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/3077/grammar-day-2023-T.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

National Grammar Day is on March 4 (pronounced March fourth). Ellii&#39;s (formerly ESL Library&#39;s) writers and editors have been celebrating National&nbsp;Grammar Day for several years!&nbsp;

On Grammar Day, we&nbsp;honor English learners like you who work hard to improve your communication skills, one grammar target at a time!&nbsp;Understanding the rules of grammar will help you speak and write more clearly and effectively.

<blockquote>
&ldquo;Language is something to be celebrated, and March 4 is the perfect day to do it. It&rsquo;s not only a date, it&rsquo;s an imperative: March forth on March 4 to speak well, write well, and help others do the same!&rdquo;

&mdash;National Grammar Day website
</blockquote>

<h2>6 Common English Errors</h2>

<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio" style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/3076/grammar-day-2023-2.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

March 4* was chosen for National Grammar Day because the words &quot;forth&quot; (forward) and &quot;fourth&quot; (the number four in a series) are often confused.

March forth on the fourth (4th) of March.

*When using ordinal numbers (e.g., 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) as part of a&nbsp;date in a&nbsp;sentence, most grammar gurus&nbsp;recommend leaving the short forms out and just writing the number after the calendar month. For example: March 4, National Grammar Day, is on&nbsp;Saturday.&nbsp;

To celebrate National Grammar Day this year, we&#39;ve collected six more sets of words&nbsp;that are often confused (even&nbsp;writers and speakers whose first language is English confuse&nbsp;these). Do you know the difference between the words in this list? Click on the links for Tanya&#39;s&nbsp;tips on getting these right.

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/so-vs-too">So Vs. Too</a></li>
	<li class="correct"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/look-like-vs-like">Look Like Vs. Like</a></li>
	<li class="correct"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/affect-vs-effect">Affect Vs. Effect</a></li>
	<li class="correct"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/make-vs-do">Make Vs. Do</a></li>
	<li class="correct"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/aw-vs-awe">Aw Vs. Awe</a></li>
	<li class="correct"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-its-and-its">Its Vs. It&#39;s</a></li>
</ul>

Speaking of grammar...Did you know that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii">Ellii&#39;s YouTube</a> channel has free grammar videos for English learners to review the most common grammar targets? Here is just one example of a video from this playlist.&nbsp;

<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/-s1gu725tA4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>

<blockquote>
Grammar Day Challenge: Choose one of the word pairs above and write an example sentence that contains both words. Or, if you really want a challenge, write a paragraph or dialogue using all 12 words! As a bonus, try using &quot;forth&quot; and &quot;fourth&quot; too.
</blockquote>

6 Common English Errors to Review for National Grammar Day

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<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio" style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2999/poetry-1.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

Do you like poetry? Personally, I have never had much interest in it. But as a writer and lover of words, I knew that one day I would need to give poetry a chance. And that day has arrived!

Every year, instead of making a New Year&#39;s resolution, I choose one word to focus on for the entire year.&nbsp;I encourage friends and family (and Ellii staff) to choose a <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/word-of-the-year-2022">Word of the Year</a> too. This year, my Word of the Year is poetry.&nbsp;

<img alt="word of the year 2023 on Tara's office wall" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2996/content_Tara-Benwell-poetry-words-2023_Ellii.jpg" />

Tara&#39;s Word of the Year wall for 2023, featuring her word (poetry) as well as words chosen by&nbsp;those who accepted her challenge. In case you&#39;re wondering if the word <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-life-affirming-words-we-should-bring-back-into-use-174848" target="_blank">respair</a>&nbsp;is a mistake, it&#39;s not!&nbsp;

<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio" style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/3000/poetry-2.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

Though we&#39;re&nbsp;only a few weeks into 2023,&nbsp;I&rsquo;m embracing poetry like I never thought I would!&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

<blockquote>
Did you know? The word poetry&nbsp;comes from the Greek word poiein,&nbsp;meaning &quot;to make.&quot;
</blockquote>

<h2>4 delicious reasons poetry is good for language learning</h2>

As the head of the Publishing team here at Ellii, one thing I&#39;ve been thinking about a lot&nbsp;is how poetry could&nbsp;be used for language learning. 
 
As a teacher, it would be&nbsp;easy for me to try to convince you that when you study poetry, you use the four&nbsp;macro skills (Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking) as well as the three&nbsp;micro skills (Vocabulary, Grammar, and Pronunciation), but that&rsquo;s not very poetic! Instead, let&#39;s think about the deliciousness of a poem.

<h3>1. Poetry is digestible</h3>

Unlike an article, a short story, or a novel, most poems can be read in a minute or two. You can enjoy the surface level of a poem or you can choose to go deeper and study it more fully.&nbsp;Think of a poem as just a moment in time. After you read or listen to a poem (and I hope you do both), try to have just one takeaway.

<blockquote>
Challenge: How did the poem make you feel?
</blockquote>

<h3>2. Poetry is full of delectable words</h3>

Poets are word lovers! They find the best words to describe exactly how they are thinking or feeling in a moment. When you start studying poetry, you&rsquo;ll recognize many words, but you&rsquo;ll also find delicious words you don&rsquo;t know.

<blockquote>
Challenge: Try to learn at least one new word from every poem you read. Make a list. (I do this myself!)
</blockquote>

<h3>3. Poetry comes in every flavor</h3>

You might think you don&rsquo;t like poetry because you associate poems with love. But there&rsquo;s so much more to poetry than sappy sonnets! There are poems about growing up, being in nature, leaving home, and getting a new job. Poems come in all shapes and sizes and can be about anything&nbsp;and everything (including AI).

<img alt="Chat GPT Limerick" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2997/content_Blog-ChatGPTLimerick.jpg" />

Screenshot from <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chatgpt-bot-passes-law-school-exam/" target="_blank">CBC video ChatGPT Bot Passes Law Exam</a>

<blockquote>
Challenge: Search the internet for &ldquo;a poem about&nbsp;(word of your choice).&quot; You could also search for&nbsp;lyrics, which can be a form of poetry.&nbsp;
</blockquote>

<h3>4. Poetry can make you hungry for more</h3>

When you&rsquo;re learning a new language (or anything new), it is easy to get sidetracked (in other words, you&nbsp;fall off the wagon). At times, language&nbsp;learning feels&nbsp;like just another thing on your to-do list. But what if you felt a hunger for learning English? If you give it a chance, poetry can actually entice you to keep learning.&nbsp;Instead of feeling like a chore, you&#39;ll start to&nbsp;crave a new poem!

<blockquote>
Challenge: Try reading a poem a day for a week. I hope you&nbsp;find 365 poems you love this year! (That&#39;s my goal.)
</blockquote>

<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio" style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/3001/poetry-3.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

<h2>4 things to do with a poem</h2>

If you aren&#39;t sure what to do with a poem, here are four things to try:

<ol>
	<li>Listen to the poem. (This is my favorite part of studying poetry so far.)</li>
	<li>Read the poem silently to your self. (Circle words you don&rsquo;t know and add at least one to your notebook.)</li>
	<li>Write a few lines in a notebook. (How was the poet feeling in this moment? How does the poem make me feel?)</li>
	<li>Recite the poem. (Look up words you don&rsquo;t know how to pronounce.)</li>
</ol>

Did you notice&nbsp;all the skills you used?

<h2>4 places to find poetry</h2>

Here are some places I&#39;ve been going to find poetry.&nbsp;

<ol>
	<li><a href="https://onbeing.org/series/poetry-unbound/">Poetry Unbound</a> (a delicious podcast hosted by Irish poet P&aacute;draig &Oacute; Tuama)</li>
	<li><a href="https://poets.org/">Poets.org</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/poem-of-the-day">Poetry Foundation&#39;s Poem of the Day</a></li>
	<li>The Poetry section of my local library and&nbsp;bookstore</li>
</ol>

Please share a tip if you have some suggestions of your own!

<h3>Glossary</h3>

<ul>
	<li>macro: large, main</li>
	<li>micro: small, minor</li>
	<li>digestable: easy to consume</li>
	<li>surface level: just the basics</li>
	<li>takeaway: an important thing or detail&nbsp;that you liked or learned</li>
	<li>delectable: delicious, attractive</li>
	<li>sappy: overly emotional&nbsp;</li>
	<li>lyrics: words in songs</li>
	<li>crave: to feel like you really want to eat (or have)</li>
	<li>recite: to&nbsp;say out loud, especially from memory</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
Will you give poetry a chance? Share your thoughts in the comments.
</blockquote>

<h2>Related tips for English learners</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-goals-to-help-you-focus" target="_blank">Struggling to Focus? 4 Types of Goals to Get Your Language Learning Back on Track</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/improve-your-listening-with-true-stories" target="_blank">Improve Your Listening Skills with True Stories</a></li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2907/content_lightbulb.png" />

<h2>Looking for more language learning fun?</h2>

Subscribe to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@Ellii">Ellii&#39;s YouTube channel</a>&nbsp;and enjoy free video content, including grammar videos and more!
</div>

4 Delicious Reasons to Learn English with Poetry

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We were thrilled to sponsor, attend, and present at&nbsp;TESL Ontario&#39;s 50th annual conference this fall! Like every year, there were a ton of takeaways at this landmark event.

Here&nbsp;are 10 tips Ellii&#39;s Publishing team&nbsp;collected and wanted to share with our ELT community.&nbsp;

<h2>1. Set multi-year goals&nbsp;</h2>

In his keynote, Make the Impossible Possible: Lessons from an Improbable Olympic Journey,&nbsp;Canadian rower Jeremiah Brown captivated the audience with his story-telling.

He also&nbsp;shared&nbsp;practical&nbsp;tips about <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2127-my-language-goals" target="_blank">goal-setting</a> that can be modeled or passed on to students.

Jeremiah recommended&nbsp;elongating our goals. Ask the question:&nbsp;Where do you want to be in 4 years? The Olympian recommended setting a multi-year overarching goal first&nbsp;and then breaking it down into <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools/2224-goal-setting-can-do" target="_blank">milestones</a>.

Jeremiah believes&nbsp;that daily execution is needed to see real progress, even if you can&#39;t see results&nbsp;for a few months. He also reminded goal-setters to always be flexible and to continue making adjustments.&nbsp;

<img alt="4-year Olympic rower Jeremiah Brown at TESL Ontario 2022." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2821/content_Jeremiah-Brown.jpg" />

Canadian rower and Olympic silver medalist&nbsp;Jeremiah Brown at TESL Ontario&nbsp;2022.

<h2>2. Identify the use case or purpose when&nbsp;validating an assessment&nbsp;</h2>

Throughout the conference, we learned lots of great tips about <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/assessment-tools" target="_blank">assessments</a> that we can apply at Ellii.

We thought this practical assessment tip (heard in a session titled: A Classroom-Based Validation Study of an English Listening Test) was worth repeating for teachers who create and administer assessments. As Jeanne Sinclair pointed out, teachers&nbsp;should always be able to answer whether an assessment is meant for admission, placement, achievement, or certification.

<img alt="Purpose of language assessments" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2822/content_Purpose-of-language-assessments.jpg" />

Language assessments presentation slide from Jeanne Sinclair and Karam Noel&#39;s TESL Ontario 2022 session: A Classroom-Based Validation Study of an English Listening Test.

<h2>3. Pause for twice as long as it takes to say a word&nbsp;in a Listen &amp; Repeat task&nbsp;</h2>

This&nbsp;simple but helpful tip, heard at a MOSAIC session titled, Instructional Design to Engage the Literacy Learner,&nbsp;is useful for publishers&nbsp;like Ellii&nbsp;as well as teachers who regularly model the <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/pronunciation" target="_blank">pronunciation</a> of sounds, words, and expressions and ask students to listen and repeat.&nbsp;

<h2>4. Practice&nbsp;answering the 5 Wh-&nbsp;questions when listening to dialogues&nbsp;</h2>

At an excellent session about CELPIP, Canada&#39;s general English test for <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/living-in-english/2268-canadian-citizenship" target="_blank">citizenship</a>, Brandi Robb encouraged teachers to get their students used to answering the 5 Wh-questions&nbsp;about any conversation they hear. They&nbsp;should also <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/everyday-dialogues" target="_blank">practice listening to dialogues</a> with two or three people to better prepare for listening&nbsp;tests like CELPIP.

Beyond the test, this will&nbsp;help learners&nbsp;comprehend and engage&nbsp;in&nbsp;real-world encounters.

<img alt="asking questions about speakers in a dialogue" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2880/content_Screen_Shot_2022-11-18_at_2.48.04_PM.png" />

Brandi Robb describes how to prepare students for the listening portion of a CELPIP exam.

<h2>5. Create needs assessments that specify real-life situations&nbsp;</h2>

This important reminder was repeated at a few different sessions. Instead of focusing on just the theme of health or even going to the doctor, a needs assessment worksheet should specify the real-world tasks (describing an illness or injury) that students come across in real-life situations.&nbsp;

At their <a href="https://issbc.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">ISSofBC</a>&nbsp;session,&nbsp;Sandra Carignan and Claire Pinkett gave attendees a chance&nbsp;to workshop improvements to a needs assessment resource.

<img alt="Needs Assessment presentation slide from TESL Ontario" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2823/content_Needs-Assessment.jpg" />

ISSofBC&#39;s Needs Assessment Workshop at TESL Ontario&nbsp;2022.

<h2>6. Include students when testing the validity of learning content</h2>

At <a href="https://mosaicbc.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">MOSAIC BC</a>&#39;s session on Core Principles for Coherent Online Curriculum,&nbsp;Dr. Noureddine Elouazizi, who conducted an evaluation of MOSAIC&#39;s curriculum, pointed out the importance of doing student surveys and not just relying on teachers, administrators, or&nbsp;AI&nbsp;to validate a program&#39;s coherence.

<h2>7. Utilize multi-modal tasks&nbsp;for deeper learning</h2>

Later in MOSAIC BC&#39;s session, Matthew Levan and Astrid van der Pol suggested that one simple way to&nbsp;improve a curriculum is to <a href="http://ellii.com/media/videos" target="_blank">bring in more video content</a>. This was just one of their tips about making system-wide improvements.

They&nbsp;highlighted the fact&nbsp;that LINC teachers trained in Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA) are used to systems and system-thinking&mdash;checking in and reflecting on what works and doesn&#39;t work. They also recommended this <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/manu_kapur_productive_failure" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TED Talk on Productive Failure</a>.

<img alt="Multi-modal learning MOSAIC slide at TESL Ontario 2022" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2824/content_Multi-Modal-Learning.jpg" />

Multi-Modal Learning presentation slide from MOSAIC BC at TESL Ontario&nbsp;2022.

<h2>8. Select&nbsp;one linguistical error at a time when giving interactional (person-to-person)&nbsp;feedback</h2>

At the Research Symposium: 50 Years of Reflexivity in TESL,&nbsp;Hossein Nassaji, Nina Spada, and Ron Thomson shared important research about feedback, including being selective about when and what you correct.&nbsp;On this note, the Ellii team also received lots of requests for an audio feedback tool!

<h2>9. Reduce student anxiety with clarity about the&nbsp;format of a test or task&nbsp;</h2>

As emphasized in Ken Beatty&#39;s session&nbsp;My Robot Teacher? Digital Futures for Language Learning, students perform better when there is&nbsp;clarity on how to do tasks, what the expectations are, and how much tasks are worth.

Students often admit&nbsp;to being more anxious about the format and expectations of an assessment than about the content itself.

<h2>10. Don&#39;t be tempted to show or tell everything you know</h2>

This advice, which we noted while&nbsp;attending Lisa Hererra&#39;s session on digital learning, is useful for&nbsp;teachers, students, and even bloggers!

We took pages of notes and learned&nbsp;so much at the TESL Ontario Conference. That said,&nbsp;we&#39;ve found that&nbsp;working with a small list of actionables based on some of our top takeaways is the best way to get the most out of our professional development.&nbsp;

As Jeremiah reminded us in his keynote,&nbsp;resilience&nbsp;can be defined as &quot;taking the smallest step forward when things feel hard.&quot;

<img alt="ISSofBC TESL Ontario 2022 session." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2825/content_Strategies-for-ensuring-successful-digital-skill-learning.jpg" />

Lisa Herrera&#39;s&nbsp;TESL Ontario 2022 session: How to Teach Digital Skills to Newcomers.

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Did you attend TESL Ontario 2022?</h5>

Please leave us a comment and share&nbsp;the best tip you learned at the conference. What&#39;s one actionable step you plan&nbsp;on taking to improve your teaching or program?&nbsp;
</div>

10 Tips from TESL Ontario's 50th English Language Teaching Conference

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

Teaching with Ellii

There&#39;s more to communicating than using words...

Writers and speakers often communicate by leaving some things&nbsp;left&nbsp;unsaid. Readers learn a lot by&nbsp;reading between the lines. Similarly, when listening&nbsp;we make inferences by analyzing&nbsp;the tone and emotion in a person&#39;s voice.&nbsp;

And then&nbsp;there&#39;s body language.

Body language can mean different things in different situations. Though some gestures are more or less&nbsp;universal (e.g., a smile or frown meaning happy and sad), some gestures&nbsp;also have cultural or even generational differences. A multicultural English language class is an ideal place for&nbsp;sharing what gestures and body language mean&nbsp;in different cultures and regions around the&nbsp;world.

Discuss these and other examples with the students in your class. Then try some of the suggested activities with the&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/silent-clips/body-language" target="_blank">Silent Clips</a>&nbsp;from Ellii&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos" target="_blank">Media&nbsp;Gallery</a>.

<h2>Common body language examples and their meaning</h2>

<h3>Facial expressions</h3>

<ul>
	<li>eyes suddenly closed tight&nbsp;= I don&#39;t want to see that</li>
	<li>eyes and mouth wide open = I&#39;m so surprised</li>
	<li>rolling eyes = I&#39;m annoyed by you</li>
	<li>teeth&nbsp;clenched and head shaking quickly = Brr, it&#39;s cold</li>
	<li>looking away and shaking one&#39;s&nbsp;head = I don&#39;t want to know any more</li>
	<li>wrinkled brow = I&#39;m confused</li>
</ul>

<h3>Hand gestures</h3>

<ul>
	<li>thumbs up = Sounds good / Yes</li>
	<li>fist bump = Nice to see you /&nbsp;We did it</li>
	<li>high-five = Congratulations</li>
	<li>palm held out&nbsp;= Nice to meet you</li>
	<li>palm cupped&nbsp;= Please give me some money</li>
	<li>fingers crossed =&nbsp; Wish me luck</li>
</ul>

<h3>Other body language</h3>

<ul>
	<li>shoulder shrug = I don&#39;t know</li>
	<li>arms crossed = I&#39;m not pleased</li>
	<li>foot tapping = I need to move / Hurry up</li>
	<li>hand to forehead (facepalm) = Oops, I messed up</li>
</ul>

<h2>5 body language activities to try with your students</h2>

The video clips in Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/silent-clips/body-language" target="_blank">Body Language</a> category are silent. Each video includes a word and an expression (e.g.,&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/video/interested" target="_blank">interested / Not bad</a>). Here are five&nbsp;ways to use this category:&nbsp;

<h3>1. Review the vocabulary and expressions</h3>

Teach the vocabulary from&nbsp;the video title and ask students to make a sentence describing what they see.

<blockquote>
<iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/746872096" width="640"></iframe>

Video not playing? Your school might be blocking Vimeo, our video hosting platform. Please ask your administrator to whitelist <a href="https://vimeo.com/" nofollow="" noreferrer="" rel="&quot;noopener" target="&quot;_blank&quot;">vimeo.com</a>.

&nbsp;

He is interested in someone on his dating app.
</blockquote>

Now ask students to pretend they are the person in the video. Repeat the expression from the video&#39;s subtitle&nbsp;(e.g., Not bad).

Work on&nbsp;the correct intonation and body language to express this emotion or&nbsp;meaning.

<h3>2. Practice making&nbsp;predictions and inferences</h3>

Have students guess what happened or what will happen next.

<a href="https://ellii.com/video/pleading" target="_blank">Who is she pleading to?</a>

<blockquote>
<iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/746871736" width="640"></iframe>

Video not playing? Your school might be blocking Vimeo, our video hosting platform. Please ask your administrator to whitelist <a href="https://vimeo.com/" nofollow="" noreferrer="" rel="&quot;noopener" target="&quot;_blank&quot;">vimeo.com</a>.

She is begging her parents to use the car.
</blockquote>

Discuss some related&nbsp;questions:&nbsp;What happened? What might happen next? Has this ever happened to you? You can even vote on whose prediction is most&nbsp;probable.

Encourage your students to think of at least three open-ended&nbsp;questions that go with the video. They can then work with a partner to answer the&nbsp;questions.

<h3>3. Extend the language</h3>

Though body language can say a lot on its own, we often add language to our gestures. You&#39;ll notice that in some of the videos, the people mouth&nbsp;something that you can&#39;t hear. What do your students think is being said?&nbsp;

Is &quot;irritated&quot; the best word to describe <a href="https://ellii.com/video/irritated" target="_blank">this silent clip</a>?&nbsp;What do you think he&#39;s saying?

<blockquote>
<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/746917722" width="640"></iframe></div>

Video not playing? Your school might be blocking Vimeo, our video hosting platform. Please ask your administrator to whitelist <a href="https://vimeo.com/" nofollow="" noreferrer="" rel="&quot;noopener" target="&quot;_blank&quot;">vimeo.com</a>.

You didn&#39;t pick up after your dog. I was watching out the window. How would you like it if I brought my dog to your front&nbsp;lawn?
</blockquote>

Can your students think of another word or a better expression that goes with&nbsp;this emotion or gesture? (E.g., He is really upset.)

<h3>4. Role-play</h3>

After watching some of the videos, invite&nbsp;students to go on camera or go to the front of the room and act out one of the gestures. (You may need two students in some cases.) The other students or you, the&nbsp;teacher,&nbsp;can shout out the word or expression. Your online students who never turn their cameras on may even want to participate.

<h4>Example</h4>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Student&nbsp;A:</td>
			<td>[Walks up to the front of the room to act out some body language from the category. Crosses her fingers and holds them up near closed&nbsp;eyes.]</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Student&nbsp;B:</td>
			<td>[Shouts] <a href="https://ellii.com/video/thrilled" target="_blank">thrilled / We did this!</a></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Student&nbsp;A:</td>
			<td>[Shakes head no.]</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Student&nbsp;C:</td>
			<td>[Shouts] <a href="https://ellii.com/video/hopeful" target="_blank">hopeful /&nbsp;Please let this work out!</a></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Student&nbsp;A:</td>
			<td>Yes!</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Student&nbsp;C:</td>
			<td>[Chooses a new body gesture/expression to act out.]</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>5. Observe and suggest new additions</h3>

As you and your students start to&nbsp;think about body language, you will naturally begin to notice it more often.&nbsp;You&#39;ll see people&nbsp;slumping in their seats, staring out the window, and fidgeting.

Start a list of body language on chart paper or the board&nbsp;and add to it every time you notice a new example.

Get your students to think of one word to describe the emotion or meaning&nbsp;and give them one expression that goes with it.&nbsp;

For the expression, think of&nbsp;something a person would say out loud (e.g., [looking at the clock or a watch]&nbsp;Can we go now?) or something a person might only say in their head&nbsp;(e.g.,&nbsp;This is so boring!). This activity will encourage your students to start&nbsp;thinking in English. 
 
You can use the comments to share some ideas with Ellii for <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/silent-clips/body-language" target="_blank">other&nbsp;Silent&nbsp;Clips</a> (body language/gestures) to add to this video&nbsp;category.

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Now it&#39;s your turn!</h5>

Use the comments to share&nbsp;an example of a gesture that&#39;s not mentioned in this list. Describe the body language and provide a word and&nbsp;expression for it in English.&nbsp;Can you or your students think of any gestures that are unique to a certain&nbsp;culture, age group, or region?
</div>

Let's Teach about Body Language

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Our second annual virtual conference, held on September 15 and 16,&nbsp;was a huge success thanks to all of the organizers, speakers, and attendees.

After attending any <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/categories/conferences" target="_blank">conference</a>, I love to jot down my top takeaways so that I can look back and see how far we&#39;ve come.&nbsp;

The theme for this year&#39;s conference was Simplicity in ELT, so here is my simple summary of ElliiCon2022!

<h2>S is for speaking activities</h2>

We were thrilled to have <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-shelly-terrell" target="_blank">Shelly Terrell</a>, a friend and former ESL Library blogger, join us at ElliiCon2022. Shelly has always shared the top digital tools with our community.

At ElliiCon, Shelly had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.shellyterrell.com/speaking.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">plenty of fun ideas</a> for getting students to speak up. I especially loved her idea of using avatar apps&nbsp;with shy students as well as this Show-n-Tell with a Cell activity.

<img alt="show and tell with a cell" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2746/content_Show_and_tell_cell_.jpg" />

Shelly Terrell presents her &quot;Show-n-Tell with a Cell&quot; activity at ElliiCon2022.

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-karina-zew" target="_blank">Karina Zew</a> from <a href="https://bridge.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Bridge</a>&nbsp;also shared a fun speaking task where students practice intonation and body language using the simple word &quot;hey.&quot;

<img alt="Drawing that demonstrates two people using different intonation and body language with the word hey." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2747/content_Hey.jpg" />

Karina Zew shows teachers how students can practice intonation using the word &quot;hey.&quot;

<h2>I is for inspiring ideas for assessment</h2>

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-dr-ken-beatty" target="_blank">Dr. Ken Beatty</a> kept things simple by helping teachers rethink assessment. His ideas included having students create their own assessments and asking them to predict&nbsp;what would be on a test.&nbsp;

<img alt="Dr. Ken Beatty's assessment idea." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2748/content_Student_Tests.jpg" />

Dr. Ken Beatty talks about agile assessment at ElliiCon2022.

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-keishia-thorpe" target="_blank">Keishia Thorpe</a> also talked about assessment and the importance of helping newcomer students feel safe and welcome in order to maximize their potential.&nbsp;

<img alt="Famous quote by Reyes et al 2012 on assessment." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2749/content_Assessment.jpg" />

Keishia Thorpe talks about a famous quote by Reyes et al. on assessment during her session at ElliiCon2022.

<h2>M is for more than just bubble baths&nbsp;</h2>

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-dr-katie-welch" target="_blank">Dr. Katie Welch</a> returned to ElliiCon2022 to talk more about social-emotional health.&nbsp;Dr. Welch shared practical tips for teachers&nbsp;including setting boundaries, streamlining with templates, and celebrating why we do what we do.&nbsp;

She got a lot of love for her&nbsp;Circle of Influence tip, where teachers focus on what they can do (vote, mentor, advocate for change) rather than what is out of their control.

<img alt="Presenter showing her Why I Teach Binder on screen." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2750/content_Why-I-teach-Binder.jpg" />

Dr. Katie Welch presents her Why I Teach binder as an example of how teachers can celebrate why they do what they do.

<h2>P is for prizes and prizewinners</h2>

There were fun prizes auctioned off after every ElliiCon session, including Ellii mugs, water bottles, hats, T-shirts, and most importantly, free subscriptions! All of the speakers also received the same swag that they were giving away, which was&nbsp;a fun way to model the prizes.&nbsp;

<h1><img alt="a list of the prize winners" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2756/content_Winners.jpg" /></h1>

List of ElliiCon2022 winners.

Congrats to all winners! Be sure to complete our Post-Event Survey (sent via email) before September 26 for a chance to win the grand prize: an Apple Watch! Two runner-up winners will receive a 1-year subscription to Ellii. Registrants of ElliiCon2022, keep an eye on your inbox to enter.

<h2>L is for laughter and light-hearted learning</h2>

I&#39;m sure all attendees would agree that our lovely host (and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/esllibrary/?hl=en" target="_blank">Instagram</a>&nbsp;star)&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/authors/lise-papineau" target="_blank">Lise</a>&nbsp;helped set the mood for a light-hearted learning event.&nbsp;

<img alt="Ellii Staff at ElliiCon2022." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2752/content_Team.jpg" />

Lise (bottom left corner) and the Ellii team at ElliiCon2022.

At Ellii, we love telling and hearing stories and often start meetings with jokes or tales. Our&nbsp;CEO, Ben, kept things simple this year by shining a spotlight on our CTO, Eduardo.

Eduardo works tirelessly behind the scenes&nbsp;and is responsible for keeping Ellii running&nbsp;24/7 for teachers and students around the world. We hope you all got a chance to meet him at the Presenter Q&amp;A Table.

<img alt="Ben and Eduardo laughing at ElliiCon2022." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2753/content_Laughter.jpg" />

CEO Ben Buckwold (left) and CTO Eduardo Prauze (right) having a good time at ElliiCon2022.

<h2>I is for intensive listening activities&nbsp;</h2>

We were thrilled and honored to have <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-nik-peachey" target="_blank">Nik Peachey</a> speaking at ElliiCon this year. Nik shared simple, yet effective ideas and activities for listening practice,&nbsp;such as asking more questions that we don&#39;t know the answer to and having students convert closed questions (Yes/No)&nbsp;into open-ended ones.

The Publishing team was madly taking notes throughout Nik&#39;s session, inspired to continue improving our&nbsp;NEW&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/139/resources" target="_blank">Photo Prompts</a> section and <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/silent-clips" target="_blank">Silent Clips</a>&nbsp;video category.&nbsp;

<img alt="Nik Peachy talks about listening comprehension at ElliiCon2022." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2754/content_Open-ended-photo-prompts.jpg" />

Nik Peachey talks about listening comprehension at ElliiCon2022.

<h2>C is for Coffee Talks</h2>

A few members of Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;Publishing team (Jen, Ann, Tanya, and I) kicked ElliiCon off each morning with an informal Coffee Talk.

On Thursday we chatted about simplicity and shared some of our favorite simplicity hacks. (You all ran out and bought a pay-attention-rubber-chicken, right?)&nbsp;We also shared some improvements&nbsp;Ellii has made this year to make teaching easier (<a href="https://ellii.com/collections" target="_blank">Collections</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos" target="_blank">Video gallery</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/research-behind-ellii-auto-scoring-ai-feature" target="_blank">Ellii Bot</a>, and<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/feature-releases-platform-updates-2022" target="_blank">&nbsp;improved task designs</a>).&nbsp;

On Friday we focused on creativity and&nbsp;shared our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/word-of-the-year-2022" target="_blank">Word of the Year</a> wall as well as other creative projects we&#39;ve done at Ellii, including our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/wordless-lessons-project" target="_blank">Wordless Lessons</a>.&nbsp;We talked about what we do to incorporate creativity into our own lives and <a href="https://theimportantsite.com/10-reasons-why-creativity-is-important/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">why creativity is important</a>&nbsp;for teachers and students.

<h3>Watch Recorded Coffee Talk Sessions</h3>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_2RrMPK5WU&amp;list=PL0MvnNQjMzmYCMFFM_d_pbeEyoPqmVNQ3&amp;index=2" target="_blank">Coffee Talk 1: S is for Simplicity</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzwmlFk7eW8&amp;list=PL0MvnNQjMzmYCMFFM_d_pbeEyoPqmVNQ3&amp;index=7" target="_blank">Coffee Talk 2: Create &amp; Innovate</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>I is for innovative flashcard activities</h2>

Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;very own Jen took attendees on an adventure through the <a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards" target="_blank">Flashcard gallery</a>, sharing innovative ways to use images in the classroom while also highlighting lots of features Ellii subscribers may be unfamiliar with, such as the ability to edit text, play audio,&nbsp;and make changes on the fly.

I hope you&#39;ll all try Jen&#39;s <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dl7D2WCzc4">What are you doing this weekend?</a> activity.&nbsp;

<h2>T is for talking at tables with teachers</h2>

Between ElliiCon sessions, attendees could either take a break or stay online for speed networking or table talk!&nbsp;

At the Publishing Team Table, members of the Publishing team (including Alison, Lula, and Lara who weren&#39;t in the Coffee Talks)&nbsp;enjoyed meeting new teachers after every session. We took down some excellent requests for new <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons" target="_blank">lessons</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/feature-releases-platform-updates-2022" target="_blank">features</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards" target="_blank">flashcard</a> categories and also enjoyed some small talk.

<h2>Y is for &quot;You can draw too!&quot;</h2>

One of my favorite parts of the conference was the invitation to doodle along!&nbsp;

ELT graphic facilitator <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2022-emily-bryson" target="_blank">Emily Bryson</a>&#39;s interactive drawing workshop showed how simple&nbsp;illustrations&nbsp;reduce&nbsp;the processing load on our learners.&nbsp;From roadmaps and visual rubrics to the Feedback Fairy, I think we can all agree that graphic facilitation is a superpower we can find a use for!

<img alt="Drawings of common icons used in graphic facilitation like a drawing of an ear for listening and a drawing of speech bubbles for speaking." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2755/content_Graphic-facilitation.jpg" />

Emily Bryson shows how drawing simple icons can help students learn and retain new vocabulary.

PS. I had fun <a href="https://twitter.com/tarabenwell/status/1570818308504702977" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">sketchnoting Emily&#39;s session</a>&nbsp;while she&nbsp;created sketchnotes&nbsp;of all the other sessions. (Emily&#39;s summaries will be available soon!)

If you registered for ElliiCon2022 and missed out on the event or would like to relive the magic, you can watch a replay of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvm-WZozaTw&amp;list=PL0MvnNQjMzmYCMFFM_d_pbeEyoPqmVNQ3">ElliiCon sessions on YouTube</a>!

<div class="white-box">
<h5>What did you think of ElliiCon2022?</h5>

If you joined us at ElliiCon2022, please share your top takeaway!&nbsp;&nbsp;
</div>

ElliiCon2022: Highlights & Takeaways

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

Articles

Are you looking for a new teaching job? Will you be asked to deliver a demo lesson?

Many schools and organizations require job candidates to teach a demo lesson as a final part of the interview process. During your demo lesson, managers or administrators will observe your teaching skills and determine whether you will be a good fit for the students and&nbsp;school.&nbsp;

To help you get ready, we&#39;ve put together this&nbsp;comprehensive guide on how to prep and deliver a top-notch demo lesson with&nbsp;confidence.&nbsp;

We&#39;ll go over...

<ul>
	<li><a href="#8questions">8 questions to ask before your demo&nbsp;lesson</a></li>
	<li><a href="#6tips">6 tips for delivering a successful demo&nbsp;lesson</a></li>
	<li><a href="#5ways">5 ways Ellii can help you prepare for and&nbsp;present a demo&nbsp;lesson</a></li>
	<li><a href="#5topics">5 recommended topics and targets for demo&nbsp;lessons</a></li>
	<li><a href="#5resources">5 suggested Ellii resources for demo&nbsp;lessons</a></li>
</ul>

<h2><a id="8questions"></a>8 questions to ask before your demo lesson</h2>

Before you rush into making plans for this part of the interview, it&#39;s a good idea to do a bit of homework by asking yourself the following&nbsp;questions:&nbsp;

<ol>
	<li>Will the students be real learners or staff pretending to be&nbsp;students?</li>
	<li>Are the students young learners, teens, or adults?</li>
	<li>What&nbsp;level will the students be? (See <a href="https://ellii.com/equivalencies" target="_blank">Equivalency&nbsp;Scale</a>)</li>
	<li>Approximately how many students will there be? (Bring extra handouts&nbsp;and share with the interviewer(s)&nbsp;too.)</li>
	<li>Is there a set grammar&nbsp;target&nbsp;or function&nbsp;to cover?&nbsp;</li>
	<li>How long should your demo lesson&nbsp;be?</li>
	<li>Will the lesson be delivered in person or online?&nbsp;</li>
	<li>What tech and tools will be available? (Find out if there&#39;s Wi-Fi, speakers, a whiteboard, markets,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
</ol>

<h2><a id="6tips"></a>6 tips for delivering a successful demo lesson</h2>

At a recent panel discussion&nbsp;on demo lessons with <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/professional-development-with-bridge-education-group" target="_blank">Bridge&nbsp;Education&nbsp;Group</a>, presenters shared these six&nbsp;tips:&nbsp;

<ol>
	<li>If you&#39;re not given a specific target to teach, choose&nbsp;a low-intermediate (A2) target. It&#39;s easier to level up than&nbsp;down.</li>
	<li>If you&#39;re not given a specific topic, grammar is a safe target. Try to find a way to make it fun or memorable. Include&nbsp;visuals!</li>
	<li>Be mindful of the&nbsp;time you have. You may only have 20 minutes. Cut out any parts of a lesson that aren&#39;t needed&nbsp;and focus on the essential parts of a lesson that you learned in your teacher training&nbsp;(warm-up, presentation, production, and&nbsp;practice).</li>
	<li>Find a way to showcase your strengths as a&nbsp;teacher.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Use&nbsp;class time wisely. Make sure to use activities that get students talking but also highlight your ability to teach a concept.&nbsp;(Give feedback&nbsp;too.)</li>
	<li>Keep your lesson low-tech. If you&#39;re planning on using audio or video, make sure&nbsp;you have a backup plan if something goes&nbsp;wrong. If you&#39;re teaching online, make sure that you understand the platform&nbsp;fully.</li>
</ol>

<h2><a id="5ways"></a>5 ways Ellii can help you prepare for and&nbsp;present a demo lesson</h2>

A comprehensive materials provider like Ellii is a must-have for new teachers. But Ellii&nbsp;can help you even before you get your first teaching&nbsp;job.

<h3>1. Ellii&nbsp;helps teachers gain confidence teaching tricky grammar&nbsp;targets&nbsp;</h3>

New teachers often struggle with confidence, especially when it comes to teaching grammar. If you&#39;re going to teach grammar in your demo lesson (a&nbsp;safe choice for a language target), be sure that you understand how to teach&nbsp;it.

Ellii&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/categories/grammar-usage" target="_blank">grammar posts</a> offer lots of tips on how to teach different grammar points. You could even choose a target to teach in your demo lesson based on one of Ellii&#39;s blog posts.&nbsp;In the comments, you&#39;ll find lots of commonly asked questions that teachers and learners have. Make sure you&#39;re ready to answer a few questions about the target. Find a corresponding lesson in Ellii&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/grammar" target="_blank">Grammar&nbsp;collection</a>.

If you&#39;ve never taught the target before, try&nbsp;teaching it to some friends or family members before you step into the classroom. And you can always reach out to the Ellii team via our blog posts if you have a specific grammar&nbsp;question.&nbsp;

<h3>2. Ellii has ready-made visuals and charts that teachers can use in an in-class or in-person&nbsp;demo class (and&nbsp;beyond!)</h3>

<img alt="simple past vs. past progressive chart" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2566/content_Ellii_Visual.jpg" />

Simple past vs. past progressive chart

You don&#39;t have a lot of time to prove yourself in&nbsp;a demo lesson. You may also not have a lot of teaching experience.&nbsp;

Don&rsquo;t waste time writing out a lot of long explanations or grammar charts. Find some ready-made visuals and talk your students through them or project them in the classroom and encourage&nbsp;students to take notes or&nbsp;annotate.&nbsp;

Here are some places to find&nbsp;visuals:

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards" target="_blank">Flashcards</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources" target="_blank">Grammar Charts</a>&nbsp;(Not a subscriber yet? Visit our blog&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/categories/grammar-usage" target="_blank">Grammar&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Usage</a>&nbsp;section&nbsp;for lots of free tips.)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/grammar" target="_blank">Grammar Videos</a>&nbsp;(Not a subscriber yet? Visit our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ESLlibrary" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>.)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/124/resources" target="_blank">Sentence Stems</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources" target="_blank">Visual Learning&nbsp;</a></li>
</ul>

<h3>3. Ellii offers multi-level lessons on a wide variety of topics and&nbsp;targets</h3>

Show that you&#39;re prepared for students who are at different levels. Think of ways to&nbsp;make your lesson easier or more difficult or find similar lessons that are at different levels. Keep in mind that it&#39;s easier to make a lesson more difficult than it is to make it&nbsp;easier.

Look at&nbsp;a <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons" target="_blank">Super Simple Grammar</a>&nbsp;lesson compared to a <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar&nbsp;Practice&nbsp;Worksheet</a> lesson or&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons" target="_blank">Fun Grammar Lesson</a>&nbsp;on the same target. Then look at a <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Stories</a> lesson or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons" target="_blank">Basic&nbsp;Grammar&nbsp;Sentences</a>&nbsp;lesson to learn about teaching grammar in&nbsp;context.

<h3>4. Ellii has a wide variety&nbsp;to choose from, allowing teachers to showcase the importance of needs&nbsp;assessment&nbsp;</h3>

An important part of teaching&nbsp;is finding out what students&#39;&nbsp;needs and interests&nbsp;are.

With Ellii, you can offer a little choice to the learners in a demo lesson. Do they want to learn about <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2399" target="_blank">fruit</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2396" target="_blank">vegetables</a>? Would they like to&nbsp;practice <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/grammar/simple-verb-tenses/present-progressive" target="_blank">present progressive</a> while going on a&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/125/resources/2870" target="_blank">picnic</a> or to the <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/125/resources/2865" target="_blank">park</a>? Do they want to learn how to&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/3555" target="_blank">follow&nbsp;instructions at the doctor&#39;s</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2482" target="_blank">at the pool</a>?&nbsp;

<h3>5. Ellii has activities, assessments, and reflections to help you close your demo lesson in an impactful&nbsp;way</h3>

Showcase your understanding of assessment and reflection by leaving time for a short review or&nbsp;reflection.

You can play a fun game like <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-activities-for-reviewing-vocabulary" target="_blank">Hot Seat</a> to review some vocabulary or share an <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/2228" target="_blank">exit slip</a> or short <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/2557" target="_blank">reflection</a> to gauge how you did in your demo&nbsp;lesson.

<h2><a id="5topics"></a>5 recommended topics and&nbsp;targets for demo lessons</h2>

<ol>
	<li>Vocabulary (All Ages):&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2399" target="_blank">Fruit</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2396" target="_blank">Vegetables</a>&nbsp;(could pair with <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards/grammar-punctuation/like-don-t-like" target="_blank">&quot;like&quot;&nbsp;and&nbsp;&quot;don&#39;t like&quot;</a>)</li>
	<li>Grammar (Young Learners):&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/132/lessons/3174" target="_blank">Morning</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/132/lessons/3195" target="_blank">Evening&nbsp;Routine</a>&nbsp;(simple&nbsp;present)</li>
	<li>Grammar (Teens &amp; Adults): <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adjectives" target="_blank">Adjectives</a>&nbsp;(See <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2093" target="_blank">full lesson</a>.)</li>
	<li>Function (Adult Newcomers): <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1712" target="_blank">Going to the Supermarket</a>&nbsp;or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/3716" target="_blank">Going&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;Bank</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Function (Business English):&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/135/lessons/3757" target="_blank">Making Introductions at Work</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1749" target="_blank">Making&nbsp;Small&nbsp;Talk</a></li>
</ol>

<h2><a id="5resources"></a>5 suggested Ellii resources for demo lessons</h2>

<ol>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/categories/grammar-usage" target="_blank">Grammar &amp; Usage</a>: Choose or review a target from Ellii&#39;s most popular blog section.</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/grammar" target="_blank">Grammar Videos</a>: These videos can help you understand the target before you teach it.&nbsp;Visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ESLlibrary" target="_blank">YouTube</a>&nbsp;channel if you aren&#39;t an Ellii subscriber&nbsp;yet.</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/125/resources" target="_blank">Language Scenes</a>: See&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/125/resources/2872" target="_blank">Teachers&#39; Notes</a>&nbsp;for ideas on how to use&nbsp;these. Digital versions are in color and&nbsp;useful for online demos.</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards" target="_blank">Flashcards</a>: Bring visuals to class! Review&nbsp;<a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/63-how-to-create-flashcard-sets" target="_blank">How to Create &amp; Save Flashcard&nbsp;Sets</a>.</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/2228" target="_blank">Exit Slips</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/2557" target="_blank">3-2-1 Reflection</a>: Impress your interviewers by getting feedback from students, especially if the students seemed&nbsp;engaged.</li>
</ol>

Want to learn more about Ellii&#39;s content and courseware platform and how it can help you teach a better class? <a href="https://app.livestorm.co/ellii" target="_blank">Register for a free webinar today</a>.

Ellii's Comprehensive Guide to Nailing Your Demo Lesson

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<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio" style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2373/blog-focus-1.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

Are you struggling to focus?

I&#39;ve noticed many people complaining that they can&#39;t focus like they used to. They struggle to finish a book, pay attention during&nbsp;a meeting, or watch&nbsp;a full movie (without checking their news&nbsp;feed). 
 
I attended an online writing class this week, and the teacher started by asking us&nbsp;to eliminate all distractions. She reminded us that we&#39;d learn a lot more if we focused on the one thing we were supposed to be doing: watching her class (and maybe taking a few notes). It&nbsp;worked!

<blockquote>
Tip: Good ol&#39; note-taking&nbsp;(by hand) can help you&nbsp;maintain&nbsp;focus during class because you aren&#39;t just sitting still. If&nbsp;you prefer to use a device&nbsp;to take notes, turn off your notifications and&nbsp;go offline (or on airplane mode).&nbsp;
</blockquote>

<h2>Improve your focus one goal at a time</h2>

I listened to&nbsp;<a href="http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/johann-hari-stolen-focus-pt-1/id1264843400?i=1000555669267" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Oprah&#39;s Super Soul&nbsp;podcast</a> last weekend where&nbsp;Johann Hari summarized his research on distractions from&nbsp;his book Stolen Focus: Why You Can&#39;t Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply&nbsp;Again.

He reminded us of something important too: &quot;Your attention didn&#39;t collapse. Your attention has been stolen from you by some really big and powerful&nbsp;forces.&quot;

In the podcast, Hari recommended&nbsp;focusing on one goal at a time. In addition to being&nbsp;meaningful, a&nbsp;goal should be set&nbsp;just&nbsp;outside of your comfort&nbsp;zone.

<blockquote>
Did you know? The average college student switches tasks every&nbsp;65&nbsp;seconds.&nbsp;&nbsp;

&mdash;Johann Hari,&nbsp;Stolen Focus
</blockquote>

<h2>4 types of goals to help language learners regain focus</h2>

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Johann Hari described&nbsp;four&nbsp;types of goals. (You can use these as inspiration to get your language learning back on track.)

<h3>1. Spotlight goals</h3>

A spotlight goal is an immediate goal. You want to get something done right now (e.g., writing or reading this blog post). If we don&#39;t put a task like this into the spotlight, we&#39;ll undoubtedly&nbsp;get distracted by another shiny thing (or&nbsp;ping). 
 
For example, last week, my daughter asked me to print something for her. I went upstairs to my office, turned on my computer, and noticed a message from a colleague. I answered the message&nbsp;and then&nbsp;checked my LinkedIn updates. Then I turned off my computer and grabbed some dirty laundry and went back&nbsp;downstairs. 
 
&quot;Did you print my essay, Mom?&quot; 
&quot;No. I&#39;ll do that. Can you bring down your laundry?&quot;&nbsp;

Clearly, I need to work on eliminating&nbsp;distractions when it comes to immediate tasks. I could also work on not&nbsp;distracting others who have an immediate task of their own to&nbsp;complete.&nbsp;

Challenge yourself: Your immediate language learning goal is to listen to and read this post without getting distracted. (Let&#39;s see if you can get all the way to the&nbsp;end.)

<h3>2. Daylight goals</h3>

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Hari described&nbsp;a daylight goal as the ability to simply know what your goals&nbsp;are.

One of my favorite ways to prioritize my&nbsp;goals is&nbsp;with Jennifer Louden&#39;s <a href="https://medium.com/@jenlouden/how-one-metaphor-can-change-everything-85a480b120be" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Pots on the Stove metaphor</a>.

<img alt="Drawing of burners on a stove with goals written in each burner" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2371/content_Tara_daylight-goals-pots-on-a-stove.jpg" />

Once a week, I draw a stovetop in my journal&mdash;five circles of various sizes (some burners are bigger than others).&nbsp;Inside the circles, I write my main&nbsp;goals for the week, making sure to note which ones will require more attention. These&nbsp;may include work goals, personal goals, and other&nbsp;things&nbsp;that just need&nbsp;to get&nbsp;done.

Challenge yourself: What are your language learning goals for this week? (Try the pots on the stove exercise above.)&nbsp;

<h3>3. Starlight goals</h3>

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A starlight goal is&nbsp;a long-term goal. If we allow ourselves to be constantly distracted, we won&#39;t achieve any of&nbsp;these.

Every year, I encourage my family, friends, and colleagues to choose a <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/word-of-the-year-2022" target="_blank">Word of the Year</a>. Unlike a New Year&#39;s resolution, the word you choose&nbsp;acts as a guiding&nbsp;light.&nbsp; 
 
Challenge yourself: What&#39;s one long-term language learning goal that you have? (Make it meaningful and just outside your comfort&nbsp;zone.)

<h3>4. Stadium light goals</h3>

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A stadium light goal&nbsp;is a collective or group goal. This type of goal requires us to pay attention to each&nbsp;other.

For example, at work, we use roadmaps, objectives and key results (OKRs), and check-ins&nbsp;to keep us on track with annual and quarterly&nbsp;goals.&nbsp;

I share collective goals with some of my&nbsp;exercise club, such as meeting every week for a workout and meeting quarterly for a neighborhood fun&nbsp;run.

One goal I&#39;d like to set with my family is for everyone to remain at the dinner table until everyone else is finished eating. This time is important to me because it&#39;s when everyone shares a <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/improve-your-listening-with-true-stories" target="_blank">story</a> from their&nbsp;day.

Challenge yourself: What&#39;s one collective goal you could set with your language class? (If you aren&#39;t in a class, you could find&nbsp;a learning&nbsp;partner.)

<h2>Glossary</h2>

<ul>
	<li>switch: to quickly&nbsp;go from one thing or position to another</li>
	<li>feed: a constant stream of information or updates</li>
	<li>eliminate: to fully remove</li>
	<li>meaningful: having a real purpose</li>
	<li>outside one&#39;s comfort zone: in a place or situation where one feels a bit challenged or&nbsp;uncomfortable</li>
	<li>burner: the element on a stovetop where the heat comes&nbsp;through</li>
	<li>OKRs: objectives and key results, a goal-setting system for setting ambitious, measurable goals&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Complete your first spotlight goal in the comments</h5>

You made it to the end! Now, complete your spotlight&nbsp;goal.

Step outside your comfort zone and answer&nbsp;the following question in the comments: What distractions do you need to eliminate to achieve your long-term language learning&nbsp;goal?
</div>

VIEWING POSTS BY

Tara Benwell