Posts describing lessons or activities for the ESL classroom.

Activities

<p>We&rsquo;ve all been there: it&rsquo;s quiet enough to hear the heater humming or that pesky fly buzzing near the window. Your students&rsquo; eyes glaze over, and you fight the urge to once more repeat, &ldquo;Anyone? Anyone?&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<p>An uninterested class is much more entertaining onscreen than it is in your classroom.</p>

<p>Here&#39;s an activity that can help your students reset while also increasing overall student talk time in the classroom. I call it the &ldquo;Line Up Game,&quot; and it can be done at almost any point in class.</p>

<h2>How it&nbsp;works</h2>

<p>You can get as creative as you want with your topic and how you ask your students to line up, but here&rsquo;s an example:</p>

<p><em>Line up in alphabetical order based on your first language.</em></p>

<p>Display the directions on the projector&nbsp;or write them on the board, and provide a written example of how you would like your students to communicate with one another.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Hiyab: Hi. What&#39;s your first language?<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<p>Yusuf: My first language is Arabic. What&#39;s your first language?<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<p>Hiyab: My first language is Amharic.<br />
&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>From here, students can work together to figure out which language comes first alphabetically and where they fit into the line with the rest of the class. More conversation may naturally unfold from their initial questions, depending on their English level and comfort with speaking.</p>

<p>Students will move around the room talking to each other in English, trying to figure out where everyone needs to line up.</p>

<h2>After students line up</h2>

<p>After the entire class has lined up, you (the teacher) can have each student say something like: &ldquo;Hi, my name is ____ ,&nbsp;and ____ is my first language.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The amount of time you have, the language level of your class, the size of your class, etc., will determine how quickly you move on to the next student or how many follow-up questions you ask. You could also give other students the opportunity to ask follow-up questions.</p>

<h2>Variations to try</h2>

<p>There are so many ways you can do this activity. You can line students up alphabetically or numerically (e.g., How many siblings do you have?), or even in reverse alphabetical or numerical order if you are looking for even more of a challenge for your class.</p>

<h2>Teacher tip: Use it for new groupings</h2>

<p>This activity gets your students up out of their chairs and&nbsp;gives them an opportunity to put their English skills into action.</p>

<p>Additionally, this kind of activity can help build your classroom community by helping students learn more about each other and encouraging them to work together.</p>

<p>As an added bonus, you can use this as a&nbsp;chance to assign students to new groups. If students always sit in the same spot in class and work with the same people, you can put them into new groups for the next activity when they are in line at the end of this activity.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>What ideas do you have for boosting student talk time?</p>
</blockquote>


Boost Student Talk Time with the Line Up Game

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

For Students

<p>The end of the year is the perfect time to stop and think about life. We can look back at the things we have done and what we have learned. This helps us to decide what we enjoyed and what we want to do next year.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Sometimes people make &quot;resolutions&quot; at the beginning of the year. These are promises that you make to yourself. For example:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>I will exercise for 20 minutes every day.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>I am going to study on Ellii for one hour a day.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>I plan to speak B2 English by the end of the year.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<p>These resolutions can be difficult to keep, so I&#39;d like to share an activity to help you plan next year in a kinder way.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>1. Choose your paper</strong></p>

<p>This activity is best on BIG paper. I think A3 (or bigger) is best, but A4 will also work well. If you prefer digital, you can use a drawing tool like Procreate (only for Apple users), Adobe Fresco, Concepts, or Canva Whiteboard.&nbsp;</p>

<p><b>2. Draw out last year&nbsp;</b></p>

<p>First, draw a line and then divide it into 12 months. The easiest way to do this is to start with a line and then divide it into six parts:&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Timeline 1" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5148/content_Timeline_1.png" /></p>

<p>Then, add more lines to divide it into 12 parts.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Timeline 2" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5149/content_Timeline_2.png" /></p>

<p>After that, you can write the months of the year. You can shorten them by writing the first three letters of each month or even just the first letter!</p>

<p><img alt="Timeline 3" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5150/content_Timelin_3.png" /></p>

<p>You can divide the top and bottom parts of the page into different parts of your life&mdash;for example, family, home, health, work, study, money, and fun.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Timeline 4" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5151/content_Timeline_4.png" /></p>

<p>In this example,&nbsp;the top part of the page is for &quot;professional&quot; things. For example, things you did at work or that you studied. The bottom part of the page is for &quot;fun&quot;&nbsp;things&nbsp;like travel, seeing friends, and visiting family.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You can add&nbsp;little drawings to help you think. I chose a rocket to show moving forward quickly&nbsp;and a star to express fun.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>3. Add what you did&nbsp;last year</strong></p>

<p>Now, add all your important memories from last year.</p>

<p>Think about:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>things you learned</li>
	<li>courses you took</li>
	<li>people you met</li>
	<li>your work</li>
	<li>places you visited</li>
</ul>

<p>If you find it difficult to remember, look back at photos on your phone or your calendars and diaries.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Don&#39;t worry about getting the&nbsp;dates correct or having something for each month. The main idea is to write down the most important things that happened.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here&#39;s an example:</p>

<p><img alt="Timeline 5" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5152/content_Timeline_5.png" /></p>

<p>You can add quick drawings or just write down your ideas. Using drawings gives you the chance to play and think more&nbsp;about how things felt. It also&nbsp;helps you to really<strong> see</strong> your year. The drawings don&#39;t need to be artistic. Simple and messy is perfect!</p>

<p>At this point, you could also highlight the best bits in different colors, cross out the worst bits, or draw little emoji.</p>

<p><strong>4. Decide your &quot;more&quot;&nbsp;and &quot;less&quot;</strong></p>

<p>New Year&#39;s resolutions are promises&nbsp;that you might break. But in this activity, we choose what you want &quot;more&quot;&nbsp;or &quot;less&quot;&nbsp;of in your life. Look at your last year and choose the things that made you smile. Write down one or two things that you want more of this year. Then do the same for things you want less.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here&#39;s an example:&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Timeline 6" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5153/content_Timeline_6.png" /></p>

<p>As an extra, write all the things that you want more of on another piece of paper. Put it somewhere safe. At the end of the year, look back and see if you really got more of what you were looking for.&nbsp;</p>

<p>I hope this activity helps you to think about your year ahead and make a plan that works for you.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here are some other blog posts that we think you might enjoy:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/six-ways-to-use-journaling-to-learn-english-fast">6 Ways to Use Journaling to Learn English Fast</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/english-belongs-to-everyone-here-s-how-to-own-your-english">English Belongs to Everyone: Here&#39;s How to Own Your English</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/what-is-cockney-rhyming-slang">What is Cockney Rhyming Slang?</a>&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Looking Back to Look Forward: A Classroom Activity

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

Teaching with Ellii

<p>Ellii&#39;s new <a href="https://ellii.com/packs/?category=6&amp;page=1" target="_self">career-specific courses</a> were initially designed to be used as self-study solutions for English learners looking to explore a variety of career pathways. While some students are waiting patiently to get into English language classes, others are looking for specialized content that meets their specific needs outside of a General English class.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Teachers or administers can assign a course, and&nbsp;ELs&nbsp;can work their way independently&nbsp;through the digital-only units on their laptops or mobile devices. All tasks and assessments are autoscored; however, we hope that teachers are&nbsp;monitoring students&#39; results and progress and helping as much as they can along the way.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
But what if you want to teach Ellii&#39;s workplace&nbsp;courses in a group setting? We know now that many teachers are previewing these ready-made courses with this question in mind.</p>

<p>Here are some ideas for adding speaking, writing, and other group activities into a classroom setting. Please share your own activity suggestions and feedback in the comments below!&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Exploit the dialogues in pairs&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Each unit in a career-specific course at Ellii&nbsp;centers around one dialogue with two or three speakers. As a self-study task, students can read and listen to the dialogues and review vocabulary in context. As a class, you can play the audio and students can follow along. Students can also take turns reading the dialogue out loud. But what else can you do in class with ready-made dialogues? Here are some ideas:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Read the dialogues&nbsp;out loud as a pair&nbsp;and then swap roles</li>
	<li>Peform the dialogues for the teacher and work on pronunciation and intonation</li>
	<li>Swap out a set number of words or expressions and perform a new dialogue&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Write an entirely new dialogue using the key vocabulary and expressions&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Role-play what happened before</li>
	<li>Role-play what happens next</li>
</ul>

<h2>Have a class discussion after&nbsp;each scenario</h2>

<ul>
	<li>What was the dialogue mainly about?&nbsp;</li>
	<li>What went wrong?&nbsp;</li>
	<li>What went right?&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Do you think this scenario would happen&nbsp;on a daily basis? If not, how often?</li>
	<li>Is this a scenario that you could see yourself excelling in? Why or why not?</li>
	<li>Are you still interested in this career after studying this scenario? Why or why not?&nbsp;</li>
	<li>What else do you want to know about this type of scenario?</li>
</ul>

<h2>Help the new vocabulary become more sticky</h2>

<p>Here are a bunch of activity ideas we have shared in the past about reviewing vocabulary with ELLs. We also recommend using these blank&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2966-vocabulary-cards" target="_self">Vocabulary Cards</a>.</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-remember-vocabulary" target="_self">How to Remember Vocabulary</a>&nbsp;(Share the URGE&nbsp;method with your learners)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-activities-for-reviewing-vocabulary" target="_self">4 Activities for Reviewing Vocabulary</a> (Hot Seat, Matchup, Concentration A &amp; B)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/one-to-one-vocab-review" target="_self">One-to-One Vocabulary Review Ideas</a>&nbsp;(Wh-questions;&nbsp;Reduce, Reuse, Recyle; Speed Sort; Word Soup; and more!)</li>
</ul>

<p>In addition, we&nbsp;hope you have already discovered the places to find related <strong>flashcards</strong> and <strong>silent clips</strong>&nbsp;(and how to use them) in this&nbsp;post: <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/career-pathways-for-newcomers" target="_self">Career Pathways for Newcomers</a>.</p>

<h2>Have students quiz each other&nbsp;before assigning the assessments</h2>

<p>Each workplace course has two assessments&mdash;a mid-course and a final assessment. Your students can work in pairs&nbsp;to quiz each other on the vocabulary and scenarios&nbsp;using the <strong>Review</strong> task from each unit. Alternatively, ask each student to come up with five questions and then pull them out of a box and quiz the class as a group.&nbsp;Students can raise their hands or approach the board to answer. Examples of question types include drawing, spelling, or defining&nbsp;words. Encourage students to also ask&nbsp;main idea or detail&nbsp;questions about the scenarios.&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Draw a <em>call button</em> for me.</li>
	<li>When would a nursing assistant use <em>an ear thermometer</em>?</li>
	<li>How does a pharmacist technician verify a person&#39;s ID?</li>
	<li>How do you spell <em>autoclave</em>?</li>
	<li>What kind of questions does an EMT ask when arriving at the scene of an accident?</li>
</ul>

<h2>Create your own additional units together</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Put students in pairs or groups of three.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Have groups come up with a new scenario involving the worker (e.g., nursing assistant) and a colleague or patient/customer from the course.</li>
	<li>Encourage students to research their new scenarios. (They may want to try to use AI for this task, but make sure that they fact-check the results!)</li>
	<li>After writing a new short dialogue, encourage students to choose about 6&ndash;10 keywords that they want to teach from it. (Alternatively, encourage them to&nbsp;recycle vocabulary they learned in&nbsp;the course.)</li>
	<li>After writing their new dialogues, have students work together to peer-edit each other&#39;s work (try our <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2218-writing-correction-key" target="_self">Writing Correction Key</a>). Where would the new scenario fit best into the course?</li>
	<li>Students can then try to create other tasks to build out their lesson (matching, dialogue, vocabulary review, comprension, review), using the template that Ellii has used in the course.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Interview a professional</h2>

<p>To build these courses, Ellii collaborated with people in the field, including nursing assistants, phlebotmists, and others. Your students could do this as well!</p>

<p>Do you or any of your friends, colleagues, or even students know someone who works in this field? Would they be willing to come into your class to talk to the students or even call in via speaker phone?</p>

<p>Have your students prepare&nbsp;some questions for a professional whether you find someone to ask or not. If you can&#39;t find someone to answer the questions live for you, consider putting students to work researching the answers to their own questions.</p>

<h2>Reflect on the course</h2>

<p>We hope you and your learners always take the time to reflect on the content you use at Ellii. We have plenty of reflection tools that you can use in our Assesment Tools area. Some of these tools may be useful for you to use alongside these courses. You could even have students share comments on this blog post!</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2557-3-2-1-reflection" target="_self">3-2-1 Reflection</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2228-exit-slips" target="_self">Exit Slips</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3085-wrap-up" target="_self">Wrap-Up</a></li>
</ul>

<h2><br />
Help Ellii design a printable workplace course template</h2>

<p>If you are&nbsp;hoping to use paper-based versions of Ellii&#39;s workplace courses, we would love to hear from you!</p>

<ul>
	<li>Which tasks and activites would you like to see in a paper-based version of Ellii&#39;s courses?&nbsp;Would you use an abridged printout that has the dialogue and comprehension questions, or are you looking for a full printable lesson with all of the tasks from the digital version (i.e.,&nbsp;similar to an Everyday Dialogues PDF)?</li>
	<li>Would you be using the printable version in a group or one-to-one setting?</li>
	<li>Is there a reason the digital version is not currently meeting your classroom needs?</li>
</ul>

<p>Any suggestions or feedback you have will help as we explore how to reverse-engineer our courses for your printable needs in 2025. Thank you for your requests!</p>

<blockquote>
<p>What ideas do you have for adding&nbsp;engaging classroom activities to self-study materials.</p>
</blockquote>


Transform Self-Study Workplace Courses into Engaging Group-Learning Experiences

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

Conferences

<p>At <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP0N5nuiA3aOIoCMzz9RNamAKTpqXQTvQ" target="_blank">ElliiCon2023</a>, Jamie Keddie, the <strong>ELT King of Storytelling</strong>, shared some wonderful stories. He had the whole audience captivated. As teachers, this is exactly how we want our students to feel about their English lessons. Stories are therefore perfect for the ELT classroom.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Why use stories in language classes?</h2>

<p>Not only are stories captivating, but they also offer students a chance to practice all four skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing), develop their vocabulary, and get creative.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s a sketchnote I did of Jamie&rsquo;s session, which summarizes some of the benefits of using stories in class:&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Emily Bryson's sketchnote of Jamie Keddie's ElliiCon 2023 session on storytelling" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3477/content_Jamie_Keddie.jpg" /></p>

<p>If you&rsquo;d like to try using storytelling in class, Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/story-prompts" target="_blank">Story Prompts</a> are a great way to get started. These fun, minimal preparation, digital lessons are suitable for all ages and can be adapted for any level of learner.&nbsp;</p>

<p>One of the many benefits of Story Prompts is that they can be used in many ways. As Jamie pointed out during his session, one story can be many different stories. It depends on who is telling it, how much detail is included, and what perspective is chosen.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In this post, I&rsquo;ll look more closely at how to use Story Prompts to inspire your learners.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>What topics are found in&nbsp;Story Prompts?&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Ellii&#39;s Story Prompts have topics that kids love. Here are some examples:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Space</li>
	<li>Playgrounds</li>
	<li>Fairy Tales</li>
	<li>Superheroes</li>
	<li>Oceans</li>
	<li>Farms&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Christmas</li>
</ul>

<p>As Jamie pointed out, stories are a great way to introduce a topic. So if you&rsquo;re planning on exploring ocean plastics, outer space, or getting festive, why not start with a Story Prompt activity?</p>

<h2>How can I use&nbsp;Story Prompts?&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Each of Ellii&#39;s Story Prompt lessons are available online and the activities are graded for beginner, low-intermediate, and intermediate learners. The art is made in-house by Ellii&#39;s own talented illustrators!</p>

<p>At every level, students explore key vocabulary and are supported to create a story using a picture scene.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For example:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Beginner: </strong>Use the flashcards to pre-teach vocabulary.</li>
	<li><strong>Low Intermediate:</strong> Match the vocabulary to the images.</li>
	<li><strong>Intermediate:</strong> Look at the picture story and list what you can see.</li>
</ul>

<p>Students then use the picture story to create their own stories. Here&rsquo;s the picture scene for the <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3649-ocean-story" target="_blank">Ocean Story</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Ellii's Ocean Story Story Prompt picture" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3478/content_Ocean-Prompts_watermark-1.png" /></p>

<p>Depending on the level, there are a variety of tasks students can do to prepare them for telling their stories:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Describe the picture</li>
	<li>Describe the characters</li>
	<li>Describe the background and the setting</li>
	<li>Write captions for each person in the picture</li>
	<li>Write a dialogue between the characters</li>
	<li>Think of a problem one of the characters has (and solve it)</li>
	<li>Think of a beginning, middle, and end to the story</li>
	<li>Think what happened before or after the picture</li>
</ul>

<p>Once students are ready, give them time to write their stories and practice telling them in pairs or small groups. They may then wish to tell their stories to the whole class.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It&rsquo;s always interesting to see how different every story is!&nbsp;</p>

<p>You can access Ellii&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/story-prompts" target="_blank">Story Prompts</a> lessons here. There are also helpful <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4294-teachers-notes " target="_blank">Teachers&#39; Notes</a>, where you can find more teaching ideas and example stories.</p>

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-one-image-can-develop-visual-literacy-and-critical-thinking" target="_blank">How to Use One Image to Tell a Story</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-ways-to-use-silent-video-clips" target="_blank">How to Use Silent Video Clips</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/create-your-own-adventure-teaching-english-the-wordless-way" target="_blank">How to Use Wordless Stories</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-pictures-as-grammar-prompts" target="_blank">How to Use Pictures as Grammar Prompts</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-stories-we-tell" target="_blank">The Stories We Tell</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/wordless-lessons-project" target="_blank">Ellii&#39;s Genius Hour Projects</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Watch Jamie&rsquo;s full webinar from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP0N5nuiA3aOIoCMzz9RNamAKTpqXQTvQ" target="_blank">ElliiCon2023</a> and be sure to join us next year!</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Clp3PioRXHQ?si=HuKknt0HjtSY4Wwi" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>


Simply Storytelling: Inspiring English Learners with Story Prompts 

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<p>The main goal of language teaching is getting students to communicate. This is why it might sound counterintuitive to use wordless stories and videos as a teaching tool.</p>

<p>However, using wordless visuals as a resource is fantastic for developing students&rsquo; creativity and critical thinking skills&nbsp;as well as encouraging&nbsp;ownership of the language. It also lets the teacher choose the target language based on the learners&#39; needs or allows language to emerge organically.</p>

<p>As with most visual resources, the possibilities are endless. One picture story or video can lead to multiple learning opportunities. It is essentially a classroom pick-your-own-adventure!</p>

<p>In this post, I&#39;ll give some activity ideas for <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/visual-learning">using wordless videos and stories, such as Ellii&#39;s</a>.</p>

<h2>Activate schemata</h2>

<p>As with most language teaching lessons, this is a good place to start. Schema activation sounds much more technical than it is. Put simply, it&rsquo;s about helping students to get in the zone and get them thinking about the topic they&rsquo;ll be discussing.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Showing them a static image from the video, a scene from the wordless story, or the whole story is a good place to start. Then you can ask questions to get them thinking about what they already know about a topic. Here are some warm-up&nbsp;questions from Ellii&rsquo;s <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4282-birthday-celebrations">Birthday Celebrations</a> wordless video:</p>

<blockquote>
<ol>
	<li>How are birthdays celebrated in your country of origin?</li>
	<li>What do people often do at birthday parties?</li>
	<li>How would you feel if someone threw you a surprise birthday party?</li>
	<li>Do you like going to school or work on your birthday?</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>

<p>Another great way to activate schemata is by bringing in realia. For example, you could bring in cake, candles, or a present to show the class and generate discussions. If you bring a cake, you&nbsp;get the added benefit of eating it too!</p>

<h2>Explore vocabulary</h2>

<p>Wordless stories allow students the freedom to share words they know with other students and learn new ones in context&nbsp;as they emerge. Show students the video or pictures and ask them to describe what they see. Support them with any new words and make suggestions for useful language.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Beginner students may use basic nouns while more advanced learners may wish to use more complex adjectives or give more detail. Encourage learners to write down any new words, share ideas, and create example sentences.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You can use Ellii&rsquo;s online task suggestions to help. Here&rsquo;s an example from the <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4331-first-day" target="_blank">First Day</a> Picture Story:</p>

<p><img alt="Task from Ellii's First Day Picture Story Lesson" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3438/content_Screen_Shot_2023-10-04_at_3.35.33_PM.png" /></p>

<h2>Ordering or re-ordering</h2>

<p>As students watch a wordless video, you could ask them to take note of all the things that happen. Ask them to share their answers with a partner. To check as a whole class, play the video again, pausing it at key points and inviting students to describe what&rsquo;s happening. For an additional discussion point, you could ask students to consider what happens before and after the video.</p>

<p>For the wordless stories, set students the challenge of re-ordering the story. Cut each individual image out and give one picture to each student (or two to stronger students, depending on numbers). Tell them not to show their image to anyone else. Then ask them to describe it to the other learners. Their goal is to put the story in order by describing the image they have. Students stand in the order of the story at the end of the activity and retell the story together.</p>

<p><img alt="Wordless video" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3437/content_Screen_Shot_2023-10-04_at_3.35.51_PM.png" /></p>

<h2>Voiceover, dialogue &amp; role-play</h2>

<p>Wordless stories are a perfect blank canvas for adding words! These could be in the form of writing the story, describing it, or writing a voiceover&nbsp;or even the dialogue between each character.</p>

<p>You could have a bit of fun by giving each student one image and asking them to add dialogue. Then&nbsp;put the story together and ask students to read out the captions they wrote for each scene. This can end in hilarity, as the dialogues may be strange or make little sense!&nbsp; As an alternative, boost students&rsquo; collaboration skills by asking them to create the dialogue as a class or small group project. Once they have created the dialogue, students can role-play it, record it, or even perform it for&nbsp;other classes.</p>

<p><img alt="First Day Picture Story on Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3436/content_Screen_Shot_2023-10-04_at_3.36.07_PM.png" /></p>

<h2>Targeted or emergent language</h2>

<p>Wordless stories are flexible and allow you to cover a range of language structures:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Present progressive to describe current actions</li>
	<li>Narrative tenses (simple past, past progressive, and past perfect) to describe a past event</li>
</ul>

<p>Time markers and sequencers such as <em>then, next, after that, once, following, meanwhile</em>, and <em>at the beginning </em>or<em> end</em> also occur naturally in this kind of task. Ask students to share which ones they already know and use them throughout the activities.</p>

<p>Other language that may naturally emerge could be describing places, appearance, or emotions. It&rsquo;s up to you whether to approach these with a linguistic plan or to go with the flow.</p>

<h2>Personalization</h2>

<p>As a final task, encourage learners to consider how the theme relates to their own lives. For example, ask learners to share what their first day&nbsp;of school was like,&nbsp;how they celebrate their birthday, or what their favorite wedding traditions are. The Ellii online tasks offer some ideas here.</p>

<p>You can access our Wordless Videos and Stories in our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resources/visual-learning" target="_blank">Visual Learning</a>&nbsp;section.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You may also like these visual-learning-themed blog posts:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/wordless-lessons-project">Wordless Lessons Project&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-simplify-complex-tasks-with-visual-prompts">How to Simplify Complex Tasks with Visual Prompts</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-one-image-can-develop-visual-literacy-and-critical-thinking">How One Image Can Develop Visual Literacy &amp; Critical Thinking Skills</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/3-tips-for-using-flashcards-no-prep-required">3 No-Prep Tips for Using Flashcards</a></li>
</ul>


Create Your Own Adventure: Teaching English the Wordless Way! 

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Find useful resources and tips for teaching English with interactive apps and sites.

EdTech

<p>Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the hottest topic of 2023. It exploded shortly after I submitted my <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/6-english-language-teaching-trends-in-2023" target="_blank">6 English Language Teaching Trends to Watch in 2023</a> post.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Who could have predicted just how much AI could change the world we live in, the way we teach, and the way our students learn? Not me!</p>

<p>There is always a fear that students use tools such as translation apps or AI to cheat on their assignments.&nbsp;However, harnessing AI&#39;s potential can be a fantastic way to learn a language.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In my last post, I wrote about <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/10-practical-ways-teachers-can-excel-with-ai" target="_blank">10 Practical Ways Teachers Can Excel with AI</a>. In this related post, I&rsquo;d like to explore ways teachers can show students how to become more autonomous by&nbsp;using&nbsp;AI tools like <a href="https://chat.openai.com/" target="_blank">ChatGPT</a> or <a href="https://bard.google.com/" target="_blank">Bard</a>&nbsp;responsibly.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<h2>1. Tricky questions</h2>

<p>AI chat tools are a wonderful, nonjudgmental&nbsp;source of information. They are perfect for asking difficult questions or queries that students may not feel confident to ask their classmates, teachers, or other English language users.&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>For example, if a student is struggling with the difference between &quot;there,&quot; &quot;their,&quot;&nbsp;and &quot;they&rsquo;re,&quot;&nbsp;they could ask AI&nbsp;about it and receive a succinct, bullet-pointed response.&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>To practice this in class, ask students to make a list of things they find difficult in English. Support them to ask an AI tool about one or two items on&nbsp;their list and then share the answers they received with the rest of the class.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>2. Error correction</h2>

<p>What we don&rsquo;t want is for students to ask AI to write entire essays, emails, or presentations for them. However, AI can give pretty accurate feedback on their written work or phrases they want to use.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For example, they could ask:&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Is this correct English?&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;<em>I hope that I will speaking English well.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>ChatGPT can provide a corrected version.&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The sentence that you provided is not grammatically correct. It should be:</p>

<p><em>I hope that I will speak English well.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Students could then ask it to clarify the reason for any corrections.&nbsp;For example:&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Why is &quot;will speaking&quot;&nbsp;not correct?&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The AI tool can then offer an explanation that the student can explore further.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This error correction technique works best with short phrases, sentences, or paragraphs. Longer texts can be more complicated, but can still be helpful to higher-level or more confident learners.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>3. Translations</h2>

<p>Translation tools can often be quite literal in their translations. AI tools seem to have a better grasp of idiomatic language or regional language variations.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Students can ask AI to translate words or phrases from one language to another.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>4. Inspiration</h2>

<p>AI chat tools can provide simple writing frames for learners. If their homework is to write a letter of complaint, students could ask AI to give an example, some structural tips, and a few useful phrases.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For example, the prompt could be:&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I have to write a letter of complaint for my English homework. Can you give me an example? What do I need to include? What phrases might be useful?&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In this instance, make sure students are aware that they are only cheating themselves out of learning if they copy the example&nbsp;rather than use&nbsp;it for inspiration!</p>

<h2>5. Synonyms &amp; alternative phrases</h2>

<p>As students progress through the levels, they&rsquo;ll want to use a greater variety of lexical items. AI tools can provide a variety of rich language ideas.</p>

<p>For example, a prompt of &quot;How else can I say &lsquo;very good&rsquo;?&quot;&nbsp;returned the following responses on ChatGPT:&nbsp;</p>

<ol>
	<li>Excellent</li>
	<li>Outstanding</li>
	<li>Superb</li>
	<li>Impressive</li>
	<li>Exceptional</li>
	<li>Marvelous</li>
	<li>Terrific</li>
	<li>Wonderful</li>
	<li>Brilliant</li>
	<li>Splendid</li>
</ol>

<p>Students can also do this with phrases and longer expressions. Here are some suggestions to try in class:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>I was late.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>I don&rsquo;t understand.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>When is break time?&nbsp;</li>
	<li>What&rsquo;s the homework?&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Do we have class tomorrow?</li>
</ul>

<p>You could add an extra element of fun to this by asking students to predict what the chat tool might say and then comparing the responses.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Learn more at ElliiCon2023</h2>

<p>If you loved this post, why not join us at <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2023" target="_blank">ElliiCon2023, Ellii&#39;s FREE virtual conference</a> on September 14 and 15? We will be exploring <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/behind-the-scenes-choosing-the-theme-for-elliicon2023" target="_blank">Humanity &amp; Technology in ELT: Striking a Balance in the Age of AI</a>!</p>

<p>We&rsquo;ve got an all-star lineup with digital experts such as <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-jamie-keddie" target="_blank">Jamie Keddie</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2023-speaker-spotlight-charles-browne" target="_blank">Dr. Charles Browne</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-dr-amin-davoodi" target="_blank">Dr. Amin Davoodi</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/elliicon2023-speaker-spotlight-angela-tribus-ramos" target="_blank">Angela Tribus Ramos</a>, and the fabulous Ellii crew: Tara Benwell, Ann Dickson, Tanya Trusler, Jen Artan, Lise Papineau,&nbsp;Ben Buckwold, and Eduardo Prause. Plus special guests <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/diego-boada/" target="_blank">Diego Boada</a>&mdash;instructional designer from the Catholic University&nbsp;of America&mdash;and Shelynn Riel and&nbsp;Anna Ciriani-Dean from the <a href="https://www.teacherthinkaloud.com/" target="_blank">Teacher Think-Aloud Podcast</a>!</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2023" target="_blank">Sign up for free now!</a></p>

<blockquote>
<p>How do you use AI with your learners? We&rsquo;d love for you to share your own tips and activities.&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Related Lessons</h2>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1679-artificial-intelligence" target="_blank">Artificial Intelligence</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4579-when-chatbots-get-it-wrong" target="_blank">When Chatbots Get It Wrong</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/that-s-news-to-me/4500-tutoring-with-chatgpt" target="_blank">Tutoring with ChatGPT</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4468-ai-generated-content" target="_blank">AI-Generated Content</a></li>
</ul>


Developing Learner Autonomy with AI

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<p>When ChatGPT was released at the end of 2022, people around the world trialed it (and other AI tools) with awe and trepidation. There was surprise and admiration at the ease it could generate texts and find solutions to complex problems. There was also concern that students may misuse it for written tasks. And, of course, there was the little voice at the back of our heads saying, &quot;How long will my job exist?!&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Personally, I like to believe that teaching roles are safe. AI is fabulous in many ways, but us teachers have empathy and creativity on our side! We&rsquo;re pretty awesome. And now we have AI to make us even more so!</p>

<p>In this post, I&rsquo;ll explore 10 ways that teachers can use AI to their advantage&nbsp;to make their teaching even more fabulous&nbsp;and&nbsp;save time!&nbsp;</p>

<h2>1.&nbsp;Example texts</h2>

<p>AI can generate texts for a specific topic, level, and language focus. These texts are not always super engaging or creative, but they&rsquo;re definitely functional. This can be really useful when you&rsquo;re rushing to cover a lesson&nbsp;or when your lesson goes off on a tangent and you want something tailored to the students&rsquo; needs immediately.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You can, of course, generate the text in class with the students&rsquo; input and have them rewrite it,&nbsp;or you can add your own unique style to it. And if you need comprehension tasks too, AI will also generate these&nbsp;with answers.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><img alt="AI prompt" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3363/content_AI-1.png" /><br />
2.&nbsp;Lesson planning&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Planning what to teach is probably one of the most time-consuming tasks for teachers. Using Ellii materials is one of the simplest ways to reduce this time. A quick search of Ellii resources usually returns a number of options, but occasionally you&rsquo;ll be searching for something a bit more obscure.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This is when you can ask AI to plan your lesson for you! I was surprised just how comprehensive a lesson plan it provided.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><img alt="AI prompt" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3364/content_Screen_Shot_2023-09-12_at_10.15.07_AM.png" /></h2>

<p>It gave the following information:&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Objective<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Level<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Duration<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Materials<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Warm-up<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Introduction activities<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Vocabulary activities<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Grammar activities<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Discussion<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; &nbsp; Final reflection<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Homework tasks<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Assessment ideas<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Extension activity suggestion</p>

<h2>3.&nbsp; Extension activity ideas</h2>

<p>Finding the perfect activity to match the lesson topic can sometimes be tricky. AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT or Bard, can give suggestions.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Take this Ellii sample lesson on <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2719-online-privacy" target="_blank">Online Privacy</a>, for example. It&rsquo;s already pretty comprehensive with a reading text, comprehension questions, vocabulary review, discussion and debate topics, and a written task.&nbsp;Perhaps you want to review the topic in your next session with the class, but you&rsquo;re not sure how.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><img alt="AI Prompt" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3365/content_Screen_Shot_2023-09-12_at_10.15.14_AM.png" /></h2>

<p>These prompts returned the following activity suggestions:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>A debate (which students would already have done)</li>
	<li>A role-play for a data breach response team (sounds fun)</li>
	<li>A news report about an online privacy scandal (intriguing)</li>
</ul>

<h2>4.&nbsp; Homework ideas</h2>

<p>Much like extension activities for inside the classroom, AI tools can help you create and select tasks for outside the classroom. Asking for a specific number of tasks will provide you with a selection of options to choose from.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3369/content_Screen_Shot_2023-09-12_at_10.25.05_AM.png" />This prompt gave the following ideas on the topic of &quot;accidents&quot;:&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Accident story rewrite: Rewrite a story about an accident they or someone else had.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Accident timeline: Draw a timeline with key moments. Write sentences to describe each one.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Accident interview: Interview someone about an accident they or someone else had.</p>

<h2>5.&nbsp; &nbsp;Vocabulary lists</h2>

<p>One of the things I love most about Ellii is that you can create your own flashcard deck. With <a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards" target="_blank">4,500+ flashcards</a> to choose from, deciding which words to focus on can sometimes be a challenge.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You could use one of Ellii&rsquo;s lessons for inspiration, or you could ask an AI tool for ideas.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="AI Prompt" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3366/content_Screen_Shot_2023-09-12_at_10.15.26_AM.png" /></p>

<h2>6.&nbsp;Mnemonic ideas</h2>

<p>Spelling in English is notoriously difficult, so we need to give students strategies to help them remember. <strong>Mnemonics</strong> are a great way to do this, but they can be tricky to create, especially at lower levels when vocabulary is limited.&nbsp;</p>

<p>I used this prompt with ChatGPT:&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="AI Prompt" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3367/content_Screen_Shot_2023-09-12_at_10.15.32_AM.png" /></p>

<p>It suggested <strong>&quot;Funny Rabbits In Every Neighborhood Dance,&quot;</strong>&nbsp;which is pretty good. Though I feel that &quot;neighborhood&quot;&nbsp;might be a bit difficult for some learners. I&rsquo;d perhaps change it to <strong>&quot;Funny Rabbit Is Eating New Dinner&quot;</strong>&nbsp;or work together with the students to create their own, using AI to help them.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>7.&nbsp; Apply for a job</h2>

<p>AI can provide helpful support with creating CVs, cover&nbsp;letters, or personal statements. You can enter your specification, plus your skills, qualities, and experience, and ask it to generate text suited to you.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It&rsquo;s obviously wise to use the generated text as a guide and to add your own personality!</p>

<p><img alt="AI Prompt" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3368/content_Screen_Shot_2023-09-12_at_10.15.37_AM.png" /></p>

<h2>8.&nbsp; Answer tricky questions</h2>

<p>We&rsquo;ve all been there. That moment when a student asks you something really hard and you think, &quot;I have no idea!&quot;</p>

<p>We can always throw these questions back at the class and see if another student can provide the answer&nbsp;or <strong>swot up</strong> (British English slang&nbsp;meaning <em>study intensively</em>)&nbsp;on the topic before the next class.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Now teachers can sneakily ask AI during a quiet moment in class&nbsp;or get students involved in creating their own AI prompt to find the answer.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>9.&nbsp; Give feedback</h2>

<p>Teachers can copy and paste students&rsquo; written work into AI chatbots and ask them to grade it or give feedback. The tools can give advice on grammar, vocabulary, style, punctuation, and structuring. Teachers can then decide which suggestions they&rsquo;d like to share with the learner.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Alternatively, teachers can do this with the student present to show learners how to use AI to improve their own work.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>10. Support learner autonomy</h2>

<p>Training students to use AI effectively can help them be more self-directed and ensure that they&rsquo;re not tempted to submit AI-generated work instead of their own. This reduces the time that teachers spend checking homework so they can&nbsp;support learners in other ways. Here is a related post on <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/developing-learner-autonomy-with-ai" target="_blank">Developing Learner Autonomy with AI</a>.</p>

<p>Did you know #Elliicon2023 is AI-themed this year? We have some incredible speakers who will be exploring humanity and technology in ELT. <a href="https://ellii.com/conference/2023" target="_blank">Join us for free on&nbsp;September 14 and 15!</a></p>

<blockquote>
<p>How do you use AI to help you as a teacher? We&rsquo;d love to know how you&rsquo;re using it! Share your ideas in the comments.&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Related Lessons</h2>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/that-s-news-to-me/4579-when-chatbots-get-it-wrong" target="_blank">When Chatbots Get It Wrong</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/that-s-news-to-me/4500-tutoring-with-chatgpt" target="_blank">Tutoring with ChatGPT</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4468-ai-generated-content" target="_blank">AI-Generated Content</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1679-artificial-intelligence">Artificial Intelligence</a></li>
</ul>


10 Practical Ways Teachers Can Excel with AI

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<p>Do you keep a journal? Researchers have found that <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-journaling" rel="noopener nofollow noreferrer" target="_blank">journaling has positive effects on a person&#39;s&nbsp;well-being</a> including drops in blood pressure, improvement in sleep, and decreases in stress markers. They&#39;ve also noticed that people who journal&nbsp;experience less&nbsp;anxiety and an increase in overall mood.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Journaling also serves as a valuable tool for English language learners (ELLs)&nbsp;to improve their overall fluency.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In this post, you&rsquo;ll learn some of the key benefits of introducing journaling in the language classroom. You&rsquo;ll also discover 35 inspiring journal prompts to&nbsp;encourage&nbsp;students to practice their writing and become more proficient.</p>

<h2>Benefits of journaling for English language learners</h2>

<p>In addition to both physical and mental&nbsp;health benefits, ELLs can gain in other ways as they express their thoughts and&nbsp;feelings, write about their hopes and fears,&nbsp;and&nbsp;record memories in a safe space.</p>

<p>Whether you decide to make it a repeating&nbsp;in-class activity or a regular homework assignment,&nbsp;journaling has&nbsp;the power to:</p>

<ul>
	<li>improve&nbsp;fluency</li>
	<li>track&nbsp;progress</li>
	<li>facilitate&nbsp;student-teacher relationship</li>
	<li>increase&nbsp;vocabulary</li>
	<li>encourage&nbsp;students to use grammar structures in context</li>
	<li>allow&nbsp;students to claim ownership of the language</li>
</ul>

<h2>35 journal prompts for writing practice</h2>

<p>Coming up with topics for your students to write about can be time-consuming. This list of 35 inspiring journal prompts is a great way to engage learners at&nbsp;all levels and get their words flowing on the page.</p>

<ol>
	<li>Describe your favorite holiday.</li>
	<li>Write about one of your hobbies and explain why and how you do it.</li>
	<li>Describe your best friend.</li>
	<li>Write about your first memory.</li>
	<li>Describe your home.</li>
	<li>Describe your neighborhood.</li>
	<li>Write about your favorite restaurant.</li>
	<li>Describe what you do when you have guests visit.</li>
	<li>Write about something that you have lost that you still miss.</li>
	<li>Write about a regret you have, either something you did or something you didn&rsquo;t do.</li>
	<li>Write about the best vacation you ever took.</li>
	<li>Write about everything you did last weekend in detail.</li>
	<li>Write about a habit that you would like to stop doing.</li>
	<li>Describe a childhood pet.</li>
	<li>Tell about a time you were embarrassed.</li>
	<li>Describe a perfect day.</li>
	<li>Describe something you couldn&rsquo;t live without.</li>
	<li>What do you do when you&#39;re frustrated at work?</li>
	<li>If you could travel to any time and place in the past, where would you go?</li>
	<li>Write about a difficult decision you&#39;ve made.</li>
	<li>Describe your ideal town or city.</li>
	<li>Describe the best party you&#39;ve ever been to.</li>
	<li>Write about the best gift you&#39;ve ever received.</li>
	<li>Write about a goal you have and how you plan to achieve it.</li>
	<li>Describe a time in your life when someone treated you unfairly.</li>
	<li>Describe your worst teacher.</li>
	<li>What advice would you give to a friend who just broke up with their partner?</li>
	<li>Describe your favorite piece of clothing. When do you wear it? How do you feel when you wear it?</li>
	<li>What 3 things would you take to a deserted island? Why?</li>
	<li>Tell about something you know now but didn&rsquo;t know last year. How did you learn about it? How do you use this information?</li>
	<li>Describe a situation that made you angry.</li>
	<li>Describe the person you admire the most.</li>
	<li>Tell about a time you were scared.</li>
	<li>Explain how to make your favorite dish.</li>
	<li>Describe how you are feeling right now, both physically and emotionally.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Useful writing resources&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Ellii&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/writing-in-english" target="_blank">Writing in English section</a> is ideal for helping students express their ideas on paper. For lower-level learners, check out <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2020-how-to-write-a-simple-sentence" target="_blank">How to Write a Simple Sentence</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2562-how-to-build-a-paragraph" target="_blank">How to Build a Paragraph</a>. For higher levels, try <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2563-how-to-write-a-basic-paragraph" target="_blank">How to Write a Basic Paragraph</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2116-how-to-write-a-descriptive-paragraph" target="_blank">How to Write a Descriptive Paragraph</a>.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your go-to journal prompts with us!</h5>

<p>Do you have any great journal prompts you&#39;d like to share? Please add them in the comments below!</p>
</div>


35 Inspiring Journal Prompts

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<p>Students can often feel overwhelmed by <strong>complex tasks</strong>. These are learning activities that are more difficult for a variety of reasons. For example, the activity may involve multiple stages, making the task&nbsp;difficult to follow. It may also&nbsp;require a lot of information to be processed at the same time.</p>

<p>A complex task could be...</p>

<ul>
	<li>listening to a long dialogue while&nbsp;reading and answering comprehension questions</li>
	<li>reading a heavy text and categorizing the information</li>
	<li>working on a group project involving many stages</li>
</ul>

<p>One of the best things about being a graphic facilitator is being able to use my skills to make learning more accessible. It&rsquo;s a good&nbsp;way to <strong>reduce cognitive load</strong> and <strong>make difficult tasks more achievable</strong>.</p>

<p>Simple drawings and visuals are a great&nbsp;way to simplify complex tasks because they can be used to help learners interact with and process&nbsp;information in different ways. This in turn helps <strong>improve understanding and memory</strong>.</p>

<p>Let&rsquo;s use this <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/english-at-work/1699-1-applying-for-a-job" target="_blank">free lesson on applying for a job</a>&nbsp;as an example. I&rsquo;ve chosen this one since it&#39;s complex in a number of ways:</p>

<ul>
	<li>There&#39;s a long text with comprehension questions.</li>
	<li>It contains a lot of new vocabulary and concepts.</li>
	<li>The process of applying for a job varies depending on location and industry, so this may be unfamiliar or different to some students.</li>
</ul>

<p>Here&#39;s a quick step-by-step guide on how we&#39;re going to simplify these complex tasks for your students using visual prompts. These same steps can also be used to help you break down&nbsp;other&nbsp;types of complex tasks in future lessons.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<ol>
	<li><a href="#identify">Identify the key points</a></li>
	<li><a href="#create">Create the &quot;containers&quot;</a></li>
	<li><a href="#add">Add information or ideas</a></li>
	<li><a href="#exploit">Exploit the content</a></li>
</ol>
</div>

<h2>1. Identify the key points</h2>

<p>When we take notes or summarize information, we usually <strong>look for the most important details</strong>. The same applies when simplifying complex tasks.</p>

<p>Take a look through the lesson and find the key points&nbsp;you want your learners to focus on. If you&rsquo;re doing a listening or reading activity, these may be based on the comprehension questions. For a writing task, these&nbsp;might be the topics you want them to cover.</p>

<h2><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2963/content_Ellii_job-email-example.jpg" /></h2>

<p>In this instance, I read through the lesson&#39;s&nbsp;job application letters&nbsp;and found the following main ideas:</p>

<ul>
	<li>personality</li>
	<li>skills</li>
	<li>qualifications</li>
	<li>experience</li>
</ul>

<h2><a id="create"></a>2. Create the &quot;containers&quot;</h2>

<p>In the world of graphic facilitation, <strong>containers</strong>&nbsp;<strong>are simple icons that can be used to &quot;contain&quot;&nbsp;ideas</strong>. For example, in&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/activity-to-boost-confidence-and-well-being" target="_blank">this blog post</a>,&nbsp;I use a thought bubble as a frame for students to add their inner thoughts.</p>

<p>For this lesson, I&rsquo;ve drawn:</p>

<ul>
	<li>a large head with a magnifying glass to represent <strong>personality</strong></li>
	<li>a big cog and a small star, tick, and tool to represent <strong>skills</strong></li>
	<li>a scroll to represent <strong>qualifications</strong></li>
	<li>a road map looking backwards to represent past <strong>experiences</strong></li>
	<li>an over-sized question mark to represent <strong>questions</strong></li>
</ul>

<p>The great thing about using containers is that they&#39;re&nbsp;flexible and can be used in many ways.</p>

<p>For example, I added the &quot;questions&quot;&nbsp;container so that students have a space to ask anything they&#39;re pondering or having difficulty with as they read. They can also use this container&nbsp;when preparing to write their own job application letters&nbsp;over email&nbsp;as a way to consider which questions they want to ask their teacher or potential employer.</p>

<p><b id="docs-internal-guid-94e38506-7fff-3f06-b5f4-33dbd2c793f1"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2964/content_Emily-Bryson-ELT-skills-whiteboard.jpg" /></b></p>

<p>You&rsquo;ll notice that these containers are drawn on a grubby whiteboard and are by no means perfect. That&rsquo;s because the purpose of using simple drawings is not artistic wizardry. It&rsquo;s about <strong>communication</strong>, <strong>inspiration</strong> and <strong>activating schemata</strong>. In reality, whiteboards often need a good clean, and teachers don&rsquo;t have time to create masterpieces!</p>

<p>If drawing isn&rsquo;t for you, there&#39;s&nbsp;the digital option&nbsp;where you use stock vector graphics or create the template using online design tools,&nbsp;such as <a href="https://www.canva.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Canva</a>, <a href="http://Jamboard - Google Google https://jamboard.google.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Jamboard</a>, or <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/powerpoint" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Microsoft&nbsp;PowerPoint</a>. However, this does mean that you&rsquo;ll have a bit more prep to do ahead of class.</p>

<h2><a id="add"></a>3. Add information or ideas</h2>

<p>This is where students get to interact with the content. It&#39;s an opportunity to step away from worksheet-based questioning prompts and towards a multisensory means of learning.</p>

<p>There are many ways to do this:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Ask students to copy the doodles to their notebooks and complete them solo.</li>
	<li>Provide photocopies for students to complete.</li>
	<li>Use a whiteboard. Students add their ideas using sticky notes or whiteboard markers.</li>
	<li>Use flipchart paper. Use one sheet per container. Then pass each sheet around the groups and have students add their ideas using pens or sticky notes.</li>
</ol>

<p><b id="docs-internal-guid-b4e864b3-7fff-643c-1767-4a21ba68aff4"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2965/content_Emily-Bryson-ELT-skills-whiteboard-notes.jpg" /></b></p>

<h2><a id="exploit"></a>4. Exploit the content</h2>

<p>The beauty of using containers to synthesize information in class is that you can use and reuse them&nbsp;for different purposes.</p>

<h3>Reading/Listening</h3>

<p>Ask students to read or listen to a text and complete the information. You could use containers to check for understanding. This means students can really focus on their receptive skills instead of being distracted by comprehension questions.</p>

<h3>Speaking/Writing</h3>

<p>Students use the containers to consider and add their own skills, experiences, personality, qualifications, and questions. They can then share their ideas, role-play interviews, or use the ideas to help them write a cover letter or personal statement.</p>

<p>You could also use the containers from this blog post with this lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/everyday-dialogues/1705-interviewing-for-a-job" target="_blank">interviewing for a job</a>.</p>

<p>If you like this idea and would like to learn to develop your drawing skills for teaching, <a href="https://emilybrysonelt.com/all-courses/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">check out my courses</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

<p>Have you used a technique like this in class? What did you do? How did it go? We&rsquo;d love to hear from you!</p>
</div>

<h2>Related resources&nbsp;</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/graphic-facilitation-101" target="_blank">Graphic Facilitation 101: Teaching English through Visual Communication</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/graphic-organizers-for-language-skills-development" target="_blank">Using Graphic Organizers for Language Skills Development</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/activity-to-boost-confidence-and-well-being" target="_blank">A Quick Activity to Boost Confidence &amp; Well-Being: Inner Troll Vs. Inner Angel</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-pictures-as-grammar-prompts" target="_blank">How to Use Pictures as Grammar Prompts</a></li>
</ul>


How to Simplify Complex Tasks with Visual Prompts

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<p><strong>Spelling </strong>can be super tricky for English language learners. There are plenty of examples of English words with silent letters&nbsp;or sounds that&nbsp;can be spelled in a multitude of ways.</p>

<p>In class, it can be helpful to <strong>draw attention to spelling patterns and irregularities</strong> as they emerge. You could also use Ellii&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/phonics-stories" target="_blank">Phonics Stories</a> to <strong>focus on certain sounds and spellings</strong>.</p>

<p>In order to practice each word and commit it to memory, it&rsquo;s important to give students plenty of chances to spell in class.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In this post, I&rsquo;d like to explore six&nbsp;of my favorite spelling games and activities that make learning English&nbsp;fun for students at all levels. I&#39;ve effectively used these spelling activities with adults and young learners. You may need to adapt them slightly for your class.</p>

<p>Let&#39;s get started!</p>

<h2>1. Spelling relay</h2>

<p>This spelling relay activity&nbsp;is a great way for students to work together and support each other.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Put students in teams and ask them to line up at the whiteboard. Make sure to give them one marker per team. Then tell students&nbsp;they must spell words by writing only one letter each before passing the marker to their teammate. The team that spells the word correctly first (and doesn&rsquo;t cheat) is the winner.</p>

<p>Shout out the word you&#39;d like them to spell (or ask a student to do this). Ensure each student only writes one letter before passing it to their teammate. Encourage teams to work together to help each other to spell the words correctly.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Multiple ways to adapt</h5>

<p>You could adapt this spelling activity by having students pass one piece of paper or a mini-whiteboard and one pen around their group&rsquo;s table.</p>

<p>Younger learners may also like to run from their team to the whiteboard and back from a particular point in the classroom.</p>
</div>

<h2>2. Spelling circles</h2>

<p>This fun game is a great way to <strong>improve spelling and pronunciation</strong>.</p>

<p>First, ask students to stand in a circle. Then shout out a word and ask them to spell it out loud&nbsp;as a group. Moving from one student to the next, each student says a letter until the word is spelled.</p>

<p>For example, to spell &quot;pin,&quot;&nbsp;the first student says the letter &quot;p,&quot;&nbsp;the next student says &quot;i&quot;&nbsp;and the third student says &quot;n.&quot;&nbsp;You could ask the fourth student to say the word &quot;pin.&quot;&nbsp;The fifth student could then suggest another word,&nbsp;and then the activity continues.</p>

<p>If English learners&nbsp;choose the wrong letter, you could ask them to spell the word from the beginning. Ask the class to support them as they do this and make the circle as collaborative as possible.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Want to up the engagement level?</h5>

<p>Passing a ball between the students as they spell can add an extra element of fun!</p>
</div>

<h2>3. Phonics spelling scrunch</h2>

<p>If you&#39;ve been practicing a few different sounds&nbsp;in class, write each on a piece of paper and scrunch it into a ball. For example, you might have sounds like&nbsp;/ay/, /sh/, /ch/, /th/, /ee/, /oo/, etc.</p>

<p>Give each student one of the balls (you can have duplicates of the same sound). Then ask one student to throw their ball to another student. That student picks up the ball, opens the scrunched paper and has to say a word with that sound (e.g., If /ay/&nbsp;is written on the paper, they could say the word&nbsp;&quot;day&quot;).</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Add an extra challenge</h5>

<p>To make the phonics activity more challenging, you could ask students to say a sentence with their chosen word.</p>

<p>When that student says the word, write it on the board to add additional support and opportunity to read the word. Then ask them to throw their ball to another student.</p>
</div>

<p>Continue this activity until all students have thrown their ball of scrunched-up paper and said a word or a sentence.</p>

<h2>4. Full-body spelling</h2>

<p>I got the full-body spelling&nbsp;activity from Johanna Stirling&rsquo;s wonderful book, <a href="http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/p/book-teaching-spelling.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><em>Teaching Spelling to English Language Learners</em></a>. She demonstrated this activity&nbsp;at the <a href="https://www.iatefl.org/conference/home" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">IATEFL conference</a> many moons ago, and it still stands out as the most fun session I&rsquo;ve ever attended.&nbsp;I do it every year with my adults, so don&rsquo;t let anyone tell you it&rsquo;s just for kids!</p>

<p>Ask students to work together to spell each word. You can do this in groups or as a whole class.</p>

<p><strong>In groups:</strong> You&rsquo;ll need at least one person for each letter of the word you want to spell (e.g., If you want to spell &quot;house,&quot;&nbsp;you&rsquo;ll need five students).</p>

<p>Ask students to use their bodies to spell each word. For example, a student might make the letter &quot;i&quot;&nbsp;by standing up straight and reaching their arms to the ceiling with their palms together. For &quot;n&quot;&nbsp;a student may stand facing to the side of the class and touch their toes.</p>

<p><strong>As a whole class: </strong>Shout out a word and ask students to work together to spell it.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Try this alternative</h5>

<p>In teams, you could whisper a word to each team and ask them to spell it. The other team then has to guess what the word is.</p>
</div>

<h2>5. Missing letters</h2>

<p>For this spelling activity, write some of the letters from an English word on the whiteboard. Leave spaces for the missing letters. For example:&nbsp;<strong>_nsw_r</strong>.</p>

<p>Students can add the missing letters in their notebooks or directly on the whiteboard. Encourage students to help and support each other.</p>

<p>This spelling game works particularly well when removing vowels and leaving consonants.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Try this alternative</h5>

<p>Scramble the letters and ask students to put them in the correct order.</p>
</div>

<h2>6. Tactile spelling</h2>

<p>This&nbsp;tactile spelling activity is&nbsp;great for <strong>learners who are developing their handwriting skills</strong>. There are two options:</p>

<p><strong>Option 1:</strong> Bring some sugar, salt, or flour to class. Give each student a plate and a pile of your chosen powder. Ask students to spell words in English using their fingers.</p>

<p><strong>Option 2: </strong>If your&nbsp;students are comfortable with each other, you could ask them to work in pairs and spell words on each other&rsquo;s backs. One student writes a word on the other student&rsquo;s back, and that student has to guess the word.</p>

<h2>Related resources</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/see-and-spell" target="_blank">See &amp; Spell: Interactive Spelling and Listening Practice for Beginner English Learners</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/spelling-variations-in-ellii-materials" target="_blank">Why We Use Spelling Variations in Our ELT Materials</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/typing-and-spelling" target="_blank">Fun Web Games &amp; Resources to Help ELLs with Typing and Spelling</a></li>
</ul>


6 Spelling Games & Activities That Make Learning English Fun

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<p>Language teachers are often looking for ways to integrate <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/academic-subjects/social-emotional-learning" target="_blank">social⁠⁠-⁠⁠emotional learning (SEL)</a>&nbsp;in their lessons to help students develop empathy, build self-esteem, and improve their communication&nbsp;skills.</p>

<p>Teachers also know the value of creating a structured environment aided by daily or weekly&nbsp;rituals.</p>

<p><strong>Rose, Bud, Thorn is a reflective&nbsp;activity</strong> that ticks both boxes while allowing teachers to check in with their students and get to know them&nbsp;better.</p>

<p>This social-emotional learning activity serves as a great warm-up that students benefit most from when it&rsquo;s part of their daily or weekly routine. This class activity is also&nbsp;effective with English&nbsp;learners of all&nbsp;ages.</p>

<h2>How to implement Rose, Bud, Thorn in 4&nbsp;steps</h2>

<h3>Step 1: Explain what each flower part represents</h3>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Rose:</strong> something good that&#39;s happened recently, something that you&#39;re proud of, or a success that you&#39;ve&nbsp;had</li>
	<li><strong>Bud:</strong> something that you&#39;re looking forward to or a new idea that you want to&nbsp;explore</li>
	<li><strong>Thorn:</strong> a challenge that you&#39;re facing or something that you need help&nbsp;with</li>
</ul>

<p>When you first introduce this activity, you may want to provide examples for each of the flower&nbsp;parts.</p>

<p>A rose could be something small and incidental like a nice breeze on a warm afternoon. It could also be a success while speaking English outside of the classroom such as being understood by the cashier at the grocery store when asked about bagging&nbsp;preferences.</p>

<p>A bud could be an upcoming day off from work, a coffee date with a friend after class, or the release of a new season of a favorite TV&nbsp;show.</p>

<p>And, finally, a thorn might be parenting a toddler who doesn&rsquo;t want to nap or having a car that needs expensive&nbsp;repairs.</p>

<p>But perhaps <strong>the best way to illustrate a rose, bud, and thorn is by modeling the activity with your own personal information</strong>. Seeing your willingness to expose your vulnerabilities may <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/activity-to-boost-confidence-and-well-being" target="_blank">give students the confidence boost they need</a> to be open&nbsp;themselves.</p>

<h3>Step 2: Have students jot down their ideas</h3>

<p>Give students 5&ndash;10 minutes to write down ideas for their rose, bud, and thorn. Students may find it useful to gather their thoughts in a graphic&nbsp;organizer. <a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/blog_printable/content_Rose-Bud-Thorn_Ellii.pdf">Click here</a> to print the activity below.</p>

<p><a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/blog_printable/content_Rose-Bud-Thorn_Ellii.pdf"><img alt="Rose, Bud, Thorn graphic organizer" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2813/content_Rose-Bud-Thorn_Ellii.jpg" /></a></p>

<h3>Step 3: Give students the opportunity to share</h3>

<p>Because this activity can be quite personal, some students may be more comfortable talking about their rose, bud, and thorn in&nbsp;pairs.</p>

<p>After students have had time to discuss their ideas with a partner, bring the whole class back together and give volunteers the chance to share with the entire&nbsp;group.</p>

<h3>Step 4: Provide a follow-up activity</h3>

<p>Help students <strong>improve their problem-solving skills</strong> by asking them to write down strategies for turning their thorns into roses. They can use their own ideas or get suggestions from their&nbsp;partner.</p>

<p>You can also ask students to come up with a reasonable time frame in which to turn their strategies into&nbsp;action.</p>

<h2>Take&nbsp;this activity one step further</h2>

<p>Encourage students to <strong>start a Rose, Bud, Thorn journal</strong>.</p>

<p>By keeping a written record of the&nbsp;good things that have happened&nbsp;in their lives as well as the challenges they&#39;ve faced, students will reap the rewards of practicing gratitude, learning to set goals, realizing when they need support, and reflecting on instances when they&#39;ve&nbsp;found solutions to their&nbsp;problems.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Now it&#39;s your turn!</h5>

<p>Share a recent rose, bud, and thorn of your own in the comments section. What strategies did you use to turn your thorn into a rose?</p>
</div>


Rose, Bud, Thorn: A Warm-Up Activity That Promotes Social-Emotional Learning

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<p>The first day of class can be daunting and challenging. It&rsquo;s an opportunity for students to get to know each other, get to know their teachers, and feel comfortable in their new classes.</p>

<p>Here are four of my favorite first-day-of-term activities to&nbsp;help break the&nbsp;ice:&nbsp;</p>

<h2>1. Picture me!&nbsp;</h2>

<p>For this activity, ask students to find (or draw) five pictures that represent them. Give them time to discuss in pairs or small groups why they chose each&nbsp;image.</p>

<p>You&#39;ll want to encourage them to ask as many questions and talk for as long as&nbsp;possible.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You could model this activity first by selecting five <a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards" target="_blank">flashcards from Ellii&#39;s Media&nbsp;Gallery</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Example</h3>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Student A: </strong>Why did you choose a&nbsp;bicycle?</p>

<p><strong>Student B:</strong> I love cycling.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Student C:</strong> Where do you cycle?&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Student B:</strong> I usually cycle along the river or to&nbsp;class.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Student A:</strong> I like cycling too.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Student C: </strong>I don&rsquo;t have a bike, but I want&nbsp;one.&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Online, this works well in breakout rooms and&nbsp;then as a whole class in the main&nbsp;room.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As an extension, you could ask your language learners to write about another student or introduce them to the rest of the&nbsp;class.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>2. Find someone who...</h2>

<p>Where would the English language teaching world be without &quot;Find Someone Who&hellip;,&quot; also known as &quot;People&nbsp;Bingo&quot;?</p>

<p>In this activity, students go around the room, asking their peers questions based on a list of personal attributes. When they &lsquo;&quot;find someone who&quot;&nbsp;meets the criteria they&#39;re looking for, they write their name on a list.</p>

<p>The first person to find someone who ticks each box on their list wins. But if you ask me, the real winners are anyone who has used their English as much as possible throughout the&nbsp;activity.</p>

<p>Here are some questions to get you started:&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Find someone who&hellip;</strong>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&hellip;got up at 6 am.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&hellip;has two brothers.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&hellip;lived in another country.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;&hellip;speaks three languages.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&hellip;enjoys swimming.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&hellip;loves carrots.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&hellip;can stand on their head.&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Online, you can do this using breakout rooms, switching the people in each room every 2&ndash;3 minutes to maintain&nbsp;energy.</p>

<p>You may wish to create your own questions&nbsp;or have students write their own. If you&#39;re already an Ellii subscriber, you can use their&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/2194" target="_blank">Find&nbsp;Someone&nbsp;Who&nbsp;template</a>.</p>

<p>You could also try this fun Ellii alternative: <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/2138" target="_blank">Find&nbsp;Someone&nbsp;Who&nbsp;Didn&#39;t</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>3. Two truths and a lie</h2>

<p>In this activity, students write two facts about themselves and one thing that isn&#39;t true. In pairs or small groups, they work together to decide which two out of the three statements&nbsp;are&nbsp;true.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Demonstrate the activity first by giving your own examples. Here&rsquo;s the one I usually&nbsp;use:&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<ol>
	<li>I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>I ran Edinburgh, Berlin, and New York marathons.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>My husband usually cooks for me.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>

<p>At higher levels, students can ask questions (e.g., Do you like cooking? What are your hobbies?) to discover the answers. At lower levels, they can have just as much fun&nbsp;guessing.</p>

<p>In terms of which of the example statements is true for me, I&rsquo;m going to leave you guessing here.&nbsp;Feel free to write your guesses (or questions) in the <a href="#comment">comments&nbsp;section</a>!</p>

<p><strong>Please note:</strong> Some students may not wish to tell lies for religious reasons. In this case, you can ask them to write correct&nbsp;and incorrect&nbsp;sentences&nbsp;instead.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>4. Adjective acronames</h2>

<p>This activity is a great way to review vocabulary and learn more about your new students&rsquo; language&nbsp;level.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The aim is for students to assign an adjective which describes them to each letter of their name. Students can refer to a dictionary, search online, or ask a peer for help.</p>

<p>First, think of adjectives that correspond to your own name. Then&nbsp;demonstrate the&nbsp;activity.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Example</h3>

<blockquote>
<p><b>E</b>nthusiastic</p>

<p><b>M</b>ysterious</p>

<p><b>I</b>maginative</p>

<p><b>L</b>ively</p>

<p><b>Y</b>oung&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This activity can be adapted for lower levels so that students can write any word beginning with that letter. You could also try this fun variation: <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/my-favourite-warm-up-activity" target="_blank">Adjectives&nbsp;with&nbsp;a&nbsp;twist.</a></p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Join the conversation!</h5>

<p>What&rsquo;s your favorite first day of class activity? We&rsquo;d love to know! Share your ideas in the&nbsp;comments.&nbsp;</p>
</div>

<h2><a id="comment"></a>Related materials</h2>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/everyday-topics/back-to-school" target="_blank">Back to School</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/2220 " target="_blank">Getting to Know You</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/75/lessons/1656" target="_blank">Getting Acquainted</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1737" target="_blank">Saying Hello</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1717" target="_blank">Making Introductions</a></li>
</ul>
