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

Grammar & Usage

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

Teaching with Ellii

<blockquote>
<p>Nobody wants to be isolated&mdash;not even verb&nbsp;tenses!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Most textbooks present verb tenses in isolation. Students study the simple present before moving onto the present progressive, simple past, etc. This is necessary at first because students need to learn all the rules and exceptions for the <strong>form</strong>&nbsp;(how to form the verb) and <strong>function</strong> (when it&rsquo;s used) of each verb tense in&nbsp;English.</p>

<p>After they&rsquo;ve learned a verb tense, however, it&rsquo;s not always beneficial to only give exercise after exercise where students must produce that one tense. It&rsquo;s easy enough to produce the simple present when it&rsquo;s the only tense being asked for, but can your students distinguish when to use the simple present vs. the present progressive? How about the present vs. the past and&nbsp;future?</p>

<h1>Mix It Up</h1>

<p>When I was teaching four‑skills classes, I found most textbooks were sorely lacking in this area. The tenses were only taught in isolation, and though my students could ace an exercise, they couldn&rsquo;t use the tense properly in general speech or writing. My TOEIC students had the advantage of studying/reviewing some or all the tenses at the same time.</p>

<p>When I saw how teaching and practicing multiple tenses worked for the &ldquo;big verb tense picture,&rdquo; I started creating my own review sheets that mixed the tenses. That way, my students learned how the tenses worked together, and they really understood the importance of <strong>context</strong> and <strong>time markers</strong>. They were better able to <strong>produce the correct tense in everyday speaking and writing</strong>. And as a teacher, I could easily see which tenses were still causing trouble for my&nbsp;students.</p>

<h1>Time for a Change</h1>

<p>At ESL Library, we strive to provide much more than the average textbook. We recently created a NEW, ready‑made mixed tense lesson in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> section: <strong><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1963">Verb Tense Review 1 &ndash; The Simple&nbsp;Tenses</a></strong>.</p>

<p>This lesson offers 13 pages of various combinations of <em>the simple present</em>, <em>simple past</em>, <em>simple future</em>, <em>present progressive</em> (also known as <em>present continuous</em>), <em>past progressive</em>, and <em>future&nbsp;progressive</em>.</p>

<p>You&rsquo;ll find exercises that&nbsp;combine:</p>

<ul>
	<li>all six tenses</li>
	<li>the present, past, and&nbsp;future</li>
	<li>the simple present and present&nbsp;progressive</li>
	<li>the simple past and past&nbsp;progressive</li>
	<li>the simple future and future&nbsp;progressive</li>
</ul>

<p>The exercises include verb worksheets as well as speaking and writing exercises, so you will clearly see which tenses your students have mastered and which still require some&nbsp;work.</p>

<p><strong><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1997">Verb Tense Review 2 &ndash; The Perfect Tenses</a>&nbsp;</strong>is also available now. This review features a mix of <em>the present perfect</em>, <em>present perfect progressive</em>, <em>past perfect</em>, <em>past perfect progressive</em>, <em>future perfect</em>, and <em>future perfect&nbsp;progressive</em>.</p>

<p>We hope these worksheets are beneficial to you and your students! Please let us know what you think in the comment section&nbsp;below.</p>


Teaching Mixed Tenses

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<p>ESL Library&rsquo;s teaching theme for January is&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/collections/8/lessons">Innovation</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is&nbsp;stupid.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Albert Einstein</p>
</blockquote>

<p>There are those lessons in which our learners come out feeling empowered, as if they have the ability and skills to make a positive impact in the world. These are the lessons in which you leave with an extra jump in your step and it feels great to be a teacher. These are the kind of lessons I live for, the ones in which I feel my students have left with more than knowledge. They have left my class feeling passionate and excited about learning. They have left wanting to create with their&nbsp;knowledge.</p>

<p>This semester try one of the lesson ideas below to get your students feeling innovative&mdash;creating and exploring while they are learning. Then revisit us and let us know how your students responded and&nbsp;reacted.</p>

<h1>Idea #1</h1>

<h4>Advertising This Tool</h4>

<p>Break students into pairs or small groups. Begin this lesson by giving the groups an everyday object like a pen, water bottle, or paperclip. Tell the groups that each object does so much more than what we see. For example, the pen might write secret messages that self destruct. The students can imagine all kinds of possibilities. Then the groups have to create short advertisements to market these new inventions. Here&rsquo;s <a href="http://innovativeproductandmarketingcompetition2011.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">a lesson plan for this project</a> by a language teacher in India. Here are the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/ipm201112?feature=watch" target="_blank">commercials her students came up with that also showcase their inventions</a>. I liked this one where they <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH6LFbfNv70&amp;list=UUz0pKncdmZXq2vVL2HWKM0A&amp;index=6" target="_blank">invented a new kind of&nbsp;chalkduster</a>.</p>

<h1>Idea #2</h1>

<h4>An Innovation Day</h4>

<p>Have a day in which students are able to create an invention with the help of a mentor. Then give students a chance to showcase their inventions for the community. This idea was inspired by this article, <a href="http://www.good.is/posts/why-every-school-needs-an-innovation-day/" target="_blank">Why Every School Needs an Innovation&nbsp;Day</a>.</p>

<h1>Idea #3</h1>

<h4>Recycled Invention</h4>

<p>Have families, businesses, and the community donate recycled machine parts from cell phones, computers, appliances, and so forth. Spread out these parts on a table, and supply students with glue guns, duct tape, and other supplies to help them create robots or inventions with the recycled materials. Then have students take a photo of their invention and use an app like <a href="http://voicethread.com/" target="_blank">Voicethread</a> to describe their invention. When I worked at a museum, this was an ongoing free project for kids and they loved working with their hands to build with the recycled machinery. They were very creative and loved describing their&nbsp;invention.</p>

<h1>Idea #4</h1>

<h4>Create an App</h4>

<p>Various online tools make it easy for students to create free apps on Google Play. Have students work in pairs or small groups to design an app or you can have your class work with an app developer to create an app. You can try any of these following free app developers: <a href="http://www.webmobi.com/" target="_blank">WebMobi</a>, <a href="http://appshed.com/" target="_blank">AppShed</a>, or&nbsp;<a href="http://mobile.conduit.com/" target="_blank">Conduit</a>.</p>

<h1>Idea #5</h1>

<h4>Solve a Real-World Problem</h4>

<p>Have students brainstorm problems within their community or facing the world. Then students can work in small groups to come up with ideas to solve that problem. You can find a list of <a href="http://prezi.com/z1vfhc7q5xuz/dare-to-believe-problem-based-learning-with-icts/" target="_blank">problem based lesson plans here</a> and discover kids that are coming up with solutions to fix problems worldwide&nbsp;<a href="http://prezi.com/z1vfhc7q5xuz/dare-to-believe-problem-based-learning-with-icts/" target="_blank">in this presentation</a>. <a href="http://www.randomkid.org/" target="_blank">RandomKid</a> is a database dedicated to getting kids to solve world&nbsp;problems.</p>

<h1>Idea #6</h1>

<h4>Life Would Be Easier if&hellip;</h4>

<p>Have a roundtable discussion in which each student talks about what they wish someone would invent to make life&nbsp;easier.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Before the discussion, have students brainstorm problems they deal with daily or what irks them. They can work in pairs and create a mindmap of these problems or jot them in a chart. Try <a href="http://popplet.com/" target="_blank">Popplet</a>, <a href="http://www.twiddla.com/home.aspx" target="_blank">Twiddla</a>, and <a href="https://www.lucidchart.com/" target="_blank">LucidChart</a> to get your students brainstorming with graphic&nbsp;organizers.</li>
	<li>After they come up with problems, it&rsquo;ll be easier for them to jot down possible&nbsp;solutions.</li>
	<li>After they come up with solutions, they will be ready to come up with inventions that will solve these problems. Have them draw a model of this invention and describe&nbsp;it.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Idea #7</h1>

<h4>Interview an Inventor</h4>

<p>Students enjoy learning from creative types. Try finding an inventor in your community who will visit your students live. Have your learners prepare questions for this inventor. You might try Skyping or having a Google HangOut with an inventor you see&nbsp;online.</p>

<h1>Idea #8</h1>

<h4>Develop a Game</h4>

<p>Free <a href="http://scratch.mit.edu/" target="_blank">online tools like Scratch</a> allow students to create their own interactive games and stories that others can play. Have your students develop a game then have others play the game. You can give them a checklist of requirements for the game and assess them with a rubric. Your students can also map and image games with <a href="http://www.purposegames.com/" target="_blank">Purpose Games</a> and various <a href="http://www.classtools.net/" target="_blank">arcade games and QR games with&nbsp;ClassTools</a>.</p>

<h1>Idea #9</h1>

<h4>Discover an Animal, Insect, Species, or&nbsp;Planet</h4>

<p>Many sites and apps inspire kids to describe a creature from their imagination. Below are a list of great webtools and apps to get your students creating their own animals, monsters, bugs, and&nbsp;more.</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://www.nightzookeeper.com/" target="_blank">Night Zookeeper</a> &ndash; Students listen to stories from the Night Zookeeper, play creative games, then create animals for the Zookeeper to take care of. You can find several <a href="http://www.nightzookeeper.com/teachers/" target="_blank">lesson plans for teachers on the website</a>. There is a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/night-zookeeper-drawing-torch/id573502313?mt=8" target="_blank">free app for the iPad</a> where the students can draw their animal and describe&nbsp;it.</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.moshimonsters.com/" target="_blank">MoshiMonsters</a> &ndash; This is a game where students invent a monster, create its home, and then take care of the&nbsp;monster.</li>
	<li><a href="http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/make-your-own/make-your-monster" target="_blank">Make a Monster</a> &ndash; Students create a monster with various physical feature options. Then the monster comes to life, dances, and sings a funny song. I have used this activity for students to create a monster then they have to describe the planet their monster comes from. We usually end the lesson <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Oobleck/" target="_blank">making Oobleck</a> in different colors and the students pretending the Oobleck is their planet. You can also have students use Playdoh instead to create their planets. The students also write stories featuring their monsters and the planets they live on. You might try <a href="http://littlebirdtales.com/" target="_blank">Little Bird Tales</a> or <a href="http://zooburst.com/" target="_blank">Zooburst</a> to create these stories&nbsp;online.</li>
	<li><a href="http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/make-your-own/make-dangerous-animal" target="_blank">Make a dangerous animal</a> &ndash; Students create a dangerous animal by choosing from various body part options. Have them create a story featuring their dangerous animals. You might try <a href="http://littlebirdtales.com/" target="_blank">Little Bird Tales</a> or <a href="http://zooburst.com/" target="_blank">Zooburst</a> to create these stories&nbsp;online.</li>
</ul>

<h1>More Great Websites &amp;&nbsp;Resources</h1>

<p>Find more ideas of how to effectively teach about innovation by visiting the resources&nbsp;below:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://www.inventivekids.com/" target="_blank">Inventive Kids</a> &ndash; Great way to discover the latest inventions by kids and find tips to inspire kids to be&nbsp;inventors</li>
	<li><a href="http://inventorspot.com/" target="_blank">Inventor Spot</a> &ndash; Resources for inventors including a database of recent&nbsp;inventions</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.kidinventorsday.com/teachers_guides.htm" target="_blank">Kid Inventors Lesson Plan&nbsp;Ideas</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.ellentv.com/categories/kid-inventors/" target="_blank">Kid Inventors: Video Interviews by Ellen&nbsp;Degeneres</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.kidzworld.com/article/1010-kid-inventors-in-history#" target="_blank">Kid Inventors in&nbsp;History</a></li>
</ul>

<p>What other ideas do you&nbsp;have?</p>

<p>To see more of Shelly&rsquo;s tips for online resources for teaching English, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/authors/shelly-terrell">check out her&nbsp;feed</a>!</p>


9 Activities to Get Your Learners Thinking Like Inventors

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Posts describing lessons or activities for the ESL classroom.

Activities

<h1>Listen up! Transcripts can add a variety of activities to your repertoire.</h1>

<p>Listening is one of the most challenging skills of learning a second language. No matter how well a student may understand the written word or be able to speak in another language, when he or she hears it spoken naturally (i.e., quickly), it can be daunting. You can make it easier on your students by making use of the listening transcripts (for students who are visual learners, transcripts are a godsend). Whether the listening exercise is written out within the lesson (as is the case with ESL Library&rsquo;s lessons) or at the end of the textbook in transcript form, you can now present the listening exercise in many different ways. Why not mix it up from class to class? Variety is the spice of life, after all!</p>

<h3>Method 1: Listen only first, listen with transcript second</h3>

<ol>
	<li>It&rsquo;s a good idea to go over some vocabulary before you listen. You can pick out some tough words from the transcript to cover with your students.</li>
	<li>Present the listening first (without giving students the transcripts). For longer listening tasks, you may want to allow your students to take notes. You could also play the recording a second time before handing out the transcripts (especially for low level students, or difficult, long passages).</li>
	<li>Now give students the transcripts and play the recording again, letting the students listen and read at the same time. Ask students if they have any additional vocabulary questions. This is a great time to go over any slang or idioms that come up.</li>
	<li>For any related comprehension questions that follow, mix it up! You can have them answer the questions after the listening-with-transcript task, or have them answer questions before you do the final listening with the transcript so that they can catch anything they might have missed. If there aren&rsquo;t any comprehension questions available, ask some yourself. Students are a lot more engaged when they know they will be asked questions afterwards.</li>
</ol>

<h3>Method 2: Listen with transcript first, listen only second</h3>

<ol>
	<li>Start with vocabulary. You can pick out some tough words to teach the students, or have students skim the transcript and ask you words they are unfamiliar with.</li>
	<li>Present the first listening while they are reading the transcript. If the material isn&rsquo;t too difficult, you could have them do different things while they listen and read, such as focus on intonation or pronunciation, or underline words they don&rsquo;t know.</li>
	<li>Have them turn over the transcripts and listen to the recording for a second time. Now that they&rsquo;ve heard and read it once, it should be easier to follow this time around. This method is often less frustrating for students, but there should be occasions when you also try method #1, to challenge them. Whether or not to listen for a third time is up to you. I usually go by what the majority of the students want. It&rsquo;s a fine balance between helping out the slower students and not letting the faster students get bored. You could also make the recording available after school or during lunch for any students who want to practice the listening again. This is also part of the beauty of transcripts...slower students can study the written-out recordings later at home.</li>
	<li>Present the comprehension questions and go over any other difficult vocabulary.</li>
</ol>

<h3>Method 3: Fill in the blanks while listening</h3>

<ol>
	<li>This is a fun, different way to use transcripts and vary the listening exercises you give to your students. First, make one copy of the transcript and white out a word or phrase from each speaker&rsquo;s comment, or from every two sentences or so. The amount of blanks will depend on the level of your students. Just make sure not to have too many back to back, as students may get frustrated if they can&rsquo;t keep up.</li>
	<li>Play the recording and let students try to fill in the blanks as they listen. This method ensures engagement during the listening and really makes them aware of each word.</li>
	<li>Play the recording a second time so that students can fill in any blanks they missed during the first go.</li>
	<li>Check the answers together. Make sure you have them check their spelling.</li>
	<li>Now that the blanks are filled in, play the recording a third time and have students concentrate on the overall meaning of the passage.</li>
	<li>Do any comprehension questions and go over any difficult vocabulary.</li>
</ol>

<h3>Method 4: Cut up and put in order</h3>

<ol>
	<li>This is another way of using transcripts creatively. There are two ways to present this method (I prefer the first way). One way is to listen to the recording first, then give the cut-up transcript pieces and have students put them in order second. The second way is to give the cut-up transcript pieces first and have students put them in order, and listen to the passage second. Try both ways for variety and see what your students respond to best.</li>
	<li>To do this method, cut up the transcript into speakers&rsquo; sections (if it&rsquo;s a dialogue) or paragraphs (if it&rsquo;s one long passage). The idea behind presenting the transcript this way is that it forces the students to really think about the meaning of what they&rsquo;re reading and hearing. You can&rsquo;t put something back in order if you don&rsquo;t understand it well. If the transcripts aren&rsquo;t available in the textbook, I always copy them out for students who want to study the dialogue, vocabulary, etc. later at home. In the interest of saving trees, I usually ask how many students actually want a copy, since undoubtedly some of the students will just throw them out. On average, I would say about half the class wants a copy. If you have another way of using transcripts, I&rsquo;d love to hear it! Drop me a line in the comments section below. I hope these tips help your students become great listeners!</li>
</ol>

<p>&mdash;Tanya</p>

<h3>&nbsp;</h3>


Using Listening Transcripts in Class

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<blockquote>
<p>Practice makes perfect&mdash;reviewing new vocabulary can be&nbsp;fun!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Teaching new vocabulary is all well and good, but without review and practice, it&rsquo;s almost impossible for students to remember all those new words. Simply studying and memorizing the words and definitions can be pretty boring, which makes the new vocab harder to remember. By making vocab review as fun as possible, you will help your students stay interested, and they will retain the new words far more effectively. If you missed my post on <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-ways-to-teach-new-vocabulary">teaching new vocabulary</a>, check it out first, then use the following techniques to review the vocab on subsequent&nbsp;days.</p>

<h1>1. Hotseat</h1>

<p>This is a classic! If you know a variation different from the one I&rsquo;ll list here, feel free to leave a comment explaining the changes you make below. We&rsquo;d love to hear your&nbsp;version!</p>

<ul>
	<li>First, divide the students into two&nbsp;teams.</li>
	<li>Have one student from each team sit at the front of the class, in two chairs that face their classmates (with their backs to the board).</li>
	<li>Tell the two students that they&rsquo;re in the &ldquo;hotseat.&rdquo; You will write a word on the board, and students from their team can yell out descriptions of the word. They must not use gestures, give the first letter, or say the actual&nbsp;word.</li>
	<li>Write one word on the board and let the chaos begin! The first student to guess the word correctly gets a point for their&nbsp;team.</li>
	<li>Choose another member from each team, and repeat. Once all the students have had one or two turns (or you&rsquo;ve run out of words), add up the scores. The team with the most points&nbsp;wins!</li>
	<li>If neither student in the hotseat can guess the word, you can give them a hint such as the first letter or a clear&nbsp;description.</li>
</ul>

<p>Warning: This game can get very loud, but it is guaranteed&nbsp;fun!</p>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Teaching Tip</h5>

<p>When students know that this game will be played the following day, they are really motivated to study so that they don&rsquo;t let their team&nbsp;down.</p>
</div>

<h1>2. Matchup</h1>

<p>If you used this technique for <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-ways-to-teach-new-vocabulary">teaching vocab</a>, this is a great way to reuse the slips of paper that you cut&nbsp;up.</p>

<ul>
	<li>If you haven&rsquo;t already done so, print out a list of words and definitions (one list per small group or pair), and then cut all of the words and definitions into slips of paper and mix them up. Don&rsquo;t forget to keep a master list for yourself for easy&nbsp;reference.</li>
	<li>Distribute the words and definitions to the groups/pairs. For lower levels, separate the word slips and the definition slips into two piles to make it a bit&nbsp;easier.</li>
	<li>Tell students to match up the words and definitions. To make it more competitive, the first group/pair to correctly match everything up&nbsp;wins!</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Teaching Tip</h5>

<p>While this activity takes a long time when students are initially learning the words (and guessing), it is very quick as a review activity, and may not be worth all the time you spend cutting up the slips of paper if you didn&rsquo;t use them to teach the vocab&nbsp;too. Note that you can also use these slips for activities 3 and 4 below!</p>
</div>

<h1>3. Concentration &ndash; Activity&nbsp;A</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Use the slips of paper from activity&nbsp;#2, and arrange them face down on the table for each pair or small group of&nbsp;students.</li>
	<li>Students take turns turning over any two of the cards. If students choose correctly (they turn over a word that matches the definition or vice versa), they can keep the pair of paper slips. If they choose incorrectly, they must turn the slips over again and place them back in the same&nbsp;place.</li>
	<li>Once all the slips have been matched up, students should add up how many pairs they have. The student with the most matches&nbsp;wins!</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Teaching Tip</h5>

<p>This popular game is also known as &ldquo;Memory.&rdquo;</p>
</div>

<h1>4. Concentration &ndash; Activity&nbsp;B</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Draw a grid on the board with 20 squares (5&nbsp;&times;&nbsp;4). Write the numbers 1&ndash;20 in the top left hand corner of each square. Have a master list for yourself that you can refer to with ten words and ten corresponding definitions filled into the grid (one word or definition per square, with the order mixed&nbsp;up).</li>
	<li>Divide the students into two teams. Ask one student from team&nbsp;A to choose one box. Write the word or definition in the center of the box. Have that same student choose another box. Fill in that box&nbsp;too.</li>
	<li>If the two boxes create a match (word + definition), leave the words written in the boxes and give that team a point. If they don&rsquo;t match, erase both boxes and repeat the process with a student from team&nbsp;B.</li>
	<li>Continue until all the boxes are filled in. For the last pair of boxes, make it more challenging by having that team member guess the last box (i.e., if the word is chosen, write the word in the box, but then the student must tell you the definition without seeing the last box, and vice versa). The team with the most points&nbsp;wins!</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Teaching Tip</h5>

<p>Most boards will clearly show which spots have been erased, thus making it easier for students to remember which numbers have already been chosen. To make it more challenging, when setting up the board, run the eraser over the center of each box before starting the&nbsp;game.</p>
</div>

<p>I hope these activities will make it easier for your students to remember new words. Have&nbsp;fun!</p>

<p>Tanya</p>


4 Activities for Reviewing Vocabulary

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<blockquote>
<p>Mix things up by introducing new vocabulary with these fun&nbsp;techniques!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Vocabulary&hellip;it&rsquo;s a double‑edged sword. Students universally recognize the need to expand their vocabulary in order to improve their fluency, but it&rsquo;s difficult&mdash;and often boring&mdash;to memorize word after word. Varying the types of vocabulary exercises used will engage your students and enable them to retain the new words more effectively. Remember: your goal as a teacher is to get the students to be able to <em>use</em> the new words when they speak or write. As such, repetition is key&mdash;but using the same technique over and over will cause students to lose interest. Using a combination of the following methods will hopefully get your students excited about vocabulary&nbsp;again!</p>

<h1>1. Vocabulary Board Game</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Write all of the new words in a long list on the left side of the&nbsp;board.</li>
	<li>Divide students into two teams, and explain that you&rsquo;ll be reading out a definition to one team at a&nbsp;time.</li>
	<li>If that team can correctly guess the corresponding word, they get $100 (pretend money, of course!). If they guess the wrong word, the other team can &ldquo;steal&rdquo; the money by guessing the correct word for $50. If the second team still can&rsquo;t guess correctly, it goes back to the first team for $50, and so on until one team gets it right. Play then resumes with the next definition getting read to the second team, for $100 if&nbsp;correct.</li>
	<li>You can provide students with a copy of a word-definition list after the game to save them from having to stop and write down the definitions as you go. Or, to save trees, write the definitions next to the words as they are guessed correctly, and students can copy them&nbsp;down.</li>
	<li>The winning team is the one who has the most money once all the definitions are filled in! For the last definition (since it will obviously correspond to the only word left on the board), I often make it more challenging by making the team tell me what they think the definition is. If correct, they get $100; if not, the other team can try for $50, and so&nbsp;on.</li>
</ul>

<h1>2. Matchup</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Have one page of words and definitions for each pair or small group of students. Cut each word and definition from that page into strips (a paper cutter works wonders here). Repeat for each page (paper clips help to keep the piles separated). Don&rsquo;t forget that you can keep the strips for vocabulary review later, or for review for a&nbsp;test.</li>
	<li>Give a mixed-up pile of strips (words and definition) to each group. Get students to match&nbsp;up the words with the correct definitions.</li>
	<li>Circulate, pointing out where students have made an incorrect guess so that they can make another attempt with that particular word. Don&rsquo;t forget to keep a master list for yourself; it helps to refer to it as you&nbsp;circulate.</li>
	<li>When all the students are finished, you can go over the answers as a class. To make it more exciting, you can turn it into a competition by naming the first group to correctly match everything up as the&nbsp;winner.</li>
</ul>

<h1>3. Mini-Presentations</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Assign one new word to each student. Have them look up the definition in their dictionaries (preferably English&ndash;English).</li>
	<li>Tell them to write down the definition in their own words. They can ask you for help, if necessary. Circulate to check that their definitions are&nbsp;clear.</li>
	<li>Also, get them to write down an example sentence, so that their classmates will be able to better understand the meaning of the new word. Circulate to check that the example sentences make&nbsp;sense.</li>
	<li>When all of the students are done, have them come up to the front of the class one by one. Get each student to write the word and definition on the board, and while the other students are copying it down, have that student read the example sentence. You can add additional clarification at this time, if need&nbsp;be.</li>
</ul>

<h1>4. Context</h1>

<p>Being able to use the context (the sentences or paragraphs that surround the word) to figure out the meanings of new words is an essential skill that you want all of your students to be able to master one day. Because it is difficult to do, try it as a class activity once in a while to get students used to&nbsp;it.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Have students read through the text first. You can have them do it silently or out loud. Reading out loud enables you to correct their pronunciation and intonation, which is a good use of time since you&rsquo;re practicing several skills at&nbsp;once.</li>
	<li>Once you&rsquo;ve gone through the text, point out the new words one by one, and have students guess at each word&rsquo;s possible meaning as a class. After a few guesses, you can give students the answer if they are unable to come up with it. Point out the contextual clues that could help them figure out the meaning for next&nbsp;time.</li>
	<li>This exercise is especially helpful in preparing for examinations like TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS,&nbsp;etc.</li>
</ul>

<p>It&rsquo;s important to note that going over vocabulary only once will rarely result in retention. In my next post, I&rsquo;m writing about <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-activities-for-reviewing-vocabulary">fun vocabulary review activities</a>, so check back soon! You can also check out <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/10-ways-to-use-flashcards-in-class">10 Ways to Use Flashcards in Class</a> for ideas on using flashcards for vocabulary practice and review. Our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons">Simple Sentences</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons">Word Bank</a> lessons have lots of vocabulary activities for lower levels&nbsp;too.</p>

<p>I hope your students will find learning vocabulary to be more engaging after employing these&nbsp;techniques!</p>

<p>Tanya</p>


4 Ways to Teach New Vocabulary

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<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of&nbsp;being.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Goethe</p>
</blockquote>

<p>For many of us, the first day of our new classes is right around the corner. For many students starting classes is frightening.</p>

<p>Our learners will be meeting new teachers and students.</p>

<p>They will have to get used to a new routine, class schedule, and sleeping and eating schedule. They will have to adapt to new rules and new environments.</p>

<p>Sounds a little overwhelming, but as teachers, we have the ability to make the experience less frightening.</p>

<p>We can alleviate some of this stress by creating a safe and welcoming environment. If we do this at the beginning of our classes, our students will feel more comfortable participating, making mistakes, and using the language they have&nbsp;learned.</p>

<h1>Tips for creating a safe environment</h1>

<p>I hope the following tips and resources will help you in creating a safe environment for your learners.</p>

<h2>Tip #1</h2>

<h4>Let Them Know You Believe in&nbsp;Them</h4>

<p>All students should feel they can succeed in your classroom and that you aren&rsquo;t holding their past against them. Some of your students may have had behavior&nbsp;problems.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Greet them at the door with a smile, handshake or hi‑five!</li>
	<li>Let your students know they all have a clean slate and all can be successful if they choose&nbsp;to.</li>
	<li>Call their parents the first week of school and tell them something positive about their&nbsp;child.</li>
	<li>Find more parent engagement tips in this post, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tips-for-engaging-parents/" target="_blank">Tips for Engaging&nbsp;Parents</a>.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tip #2</h2>

<h4>Surround Them with Motivation</h4>

<p>When our students walk in the classroom, they should feel inspired to learn. Here are a few&nbsp;suggestions:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Post motivational posters around the&nbsp;classroom.</li>
	<li>Write a quote on the board each day they walk in the room. Have them submit their own favorite quotes as&nbsp;suggestions.</li>
	<li>You can find <a href="http://pinterest.com/shellyterrell/inspiration-for-world-changers/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">many inspirational quotes and posters</a> bookmarked in my&nbsp;Pinterest!</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tip #3</h2>

<h4>Establish the Ground Rules for Respect</h4>

<ul>
	<li>Gather in a circle and ask students to tell you what is acceptable/unacceptable behavior towards each&nbsp;other.</li>
	<li>Let your students know the signals you will be giving them when they need to stop what they are doing and listen to you, line‑up, etc. Try using nonverbal cues so that way you never have to raise your voice. One example is when you are getting the class to be silent, raise your hand and put your finger on your mouth. As students see this, they will also raise their hands until the entire class has their hands raised and is&nbsp;quiet.</li>
	<li>If a student misbehaves, speak with them privately versus embarrassing them in front of the class. If you begin instilling fear in the first week then you will create a wall between you and that&nbsp;student.</li>
	<li>Try not to grade anything the first week of class but instead have various participation activities so the students feel they are starting off successfully. When I have to give grades the first week, I give them free 100s activities. Basically, the student will get a free 100 if they complete a task like sending me an email, posting on the class website, filling out a survey,&nbsp;etc.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tip #4</h2>

<h4>Build Relationships</h4>

<p>Students need to feel like they can approach you with problems, questions, and ideas. That means they need to get to know you! Here are a few&nbsp;ideas:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Have them interview you! Give students slips of papers and have each student write a question for you. Don&rsquo;t have them sign their names. Collect the slips in a bag then pull each out and answer the question. Remind students to be respectful in their questions and make a clause that you have the right to not answer a question if it&rsquo;s too&nbsp;personal.</li>
	<li>Create a collage that gives students important information about you. Then have the students guess 3 things about you according to the collage. You can create a digital collage using <a href="http://glogster.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Glogster</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="http://thinglink.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">ThingLink</a>. Then have students create their own collages where their peers will guess 3 things about them.</li>
</ul>

<p>Students are less likely to pick on each other if they feel their peers are their friends. The first few days of class are great for getting our students to build relationships with each other. The following are some icebreaker&nbsp;ideas.</p>

<h3>Hotseat</h3>

<p>Play a hotseat game where students are gathered in a circle and the person in a designated hotseat is asked questions. You can start off in the hotseat and have students ask you questions.</p>

<p>One hotseat game I play is Who? What? When? Where? Why? Students ask questions during the first round that begin with What? In the second round they ask questions that begin with What? As they ask the questions, I write the correct form on the&nbsp;board.</p>

<h3>I can circle</h3>

<p>Students gather their chairs in a circle. You stand in the middle and begin. You will be playing this game with them which means there will always be one more student than a chair. The person in the middle says something he/she can do. The students who can do this will run to another chair, including the person in the middle. Whoever is left standing must say something he/she can&nbsp;do.</p>

<h2>More resources</h2>

<p>You can find more ideas in these&nbsp;posts:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="external-link"><a href="http://www.lessonplansinc.com/classroom_management_safe_environment.php" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Create a Safe Classroom&nbsp;Environment</a></li>
	<li class="external-link"><a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/20-tips-create-safe-learning-environment-rebecca-alber" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">20 Tips for Creating a Safe Learning&nbsp;Environment</a></li>
</ul>

<p>What other ideas do you have?</p>


A Beautiful Beginning: Tips and Resources for Creating a Safe Classroom Environment

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<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;At a funeral, people are five times more likely to want to be in the casket than giving the eulogy.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Jerry Seinfeld</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Public speaking is the number one phobia. People are more afraid of speaking in public than death which is why Jerry Seinfeld made the remark above.</p>

<p>At some point, our learners will have to give a presentation.</p>

<p>For many of our learners, presenting&nbsp;is a different type of skill they have to learn and their struggle with the language makes it more frightening for them. For teachers, this can be difficult to teach because we teach rehearsed language as well as presentation skills and presentation design skills.</p>

<p>However, teaching our learners how to present helps them with their English related to their working environment, and provides them with&nbsp;confidence and motivation to continue their English. Great presentation skills lead to promotions and accolades from colleagues!</p>

<p>Presenting is not only for adult learners, though.</p>

<p>We can and should get our students to present to their peers from as young as 10 years old. The more they practice, the better they will be at it! Plus, these skills will help them present their ideas in future classes.</p>

<p>I hope the following tips and resources will help your learners&nbsp;improve their presentation skills.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Tips and resources for preparing their presentations</h2>

<p>Before your students present, they will need to prepare what they want to say. Here are a few tips to get them&nbsp;started:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Have them observe famous speakers and speeches! Show them <a href="http://ed.ted.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TED Talks</a> which are short and come with transcripts of the speeches. Here&rsquo;s a blog dedicated to <a href="http://esltedtalks.blogspot.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TED Talk lessons for English language learners</a>. Also check out <a href="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">American Rhetoric&rsquo;s top 100 speeches</a> of the century that include audio clips, video, and&nbsp;transcripts.</li>
	<li>Provide them with a simple checklist of what you expect from them as far as the topic, vocabulary to include, speech time, visual aides they can use, and&nbsp;more.</li>
	<li>Give them time to&nbsp;brainstorm.</li>
	<li>Have them diagram their presentations on paper before they begin putting it&nbsp;together.</li>
	<li>Allow them to write out their speeches and then have them summarize the main points. Many language learners will want to write out their entire speech so they can make sure the grammar is correct. Once you and their peers check their written speeches, have them create note cards with main&nbsp;ideas.</li>
	<li>Include a peer review process. <a href="http://voicethread.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Voicethread</a> is a great free tool for having peer reviews&nbsp;online.</li>
	<li>Give them plenty of time to practice, practice,&nbsp;practice!</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tips and resources for designing their presentations</h2>

<p>Now that your learners have determined what they are saying, it is time to get them to support these ideas with multimedia and visual aids. Here are a few&nbsp;tips!</p>

<ul>
	<li>Instruct them to support concepts and main points with multimedia, images, and videos. These aids should not distract from the message. The presentation should not have too much multimedia. Also, steer them away from using custom animations and transitions. Many times this will create problems with the&nbsp;presentation.</li>
	<li>Get them to use presentation tools other than PowerPoint. Here is a <a href="http://pinterest.com/shellyterrell/presentation-tools/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">list of various presentation tools</a> I&nbsp;recommend.</li>
	<li>They should design the presentation keeping their audience in&nbsp;mind.</li>
	<li>Teach them about creative commons. There are websites with free images and music. You can try <a href="http://flickr.com/" target="_blank">Flickr</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eltpics/sets/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">ELTPics</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://compfight.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Compfight</a>, <a href="http://www.morguefile.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">MorgueFile</a>, <a href="https://groovesharks.org/" target="_blank" rel=noopener noreferrer nofollow">Grooveshark</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Free Music Archive</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://soundbible.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">SoundBible</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.freesound.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">FreeSound</a>.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tips for dealing with the nonverbal communication</h2>

<p>Once the presentation is prepared, students should work on their nonverbal cues. They can practice giving their speech in front of a mirror or videotape themselves. Here are a few nonverbal issues that might&nbsp;arise.</p>

<ul>
	<li>To deal with pitch, pace, volume, and enunciation problems, students can practice the speech with a marker in their mouth. Once they let it out, they will notice the&nbsp;improvement.</li>
	<li>To deal with distracting pacing, students can practice presenting in a trashcan till they get&nbsp;better.</li>
	<li>To deal with too many umms, ands, and uhhs, students can practice with a peer who will ring a bell every time they do&nbsp;this.</li>
	<li>To help with eye contact, students can look at a point on the far wall and it will seem they are looking at the&nbsp;audience.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Lesson ideas</h2>

<p>Here are a few ideas to get your students&nbsp;presenting!</p>

<ul>
	<li>Have them do a short <a href="http://sixthings.net/2009/03/11/six-things-about-pecha-kucha-elt/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Pecha Kucha</a> or <a href="http://igniteshow.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Ignite presentation</a>. These are 5- to 7-minute speeches aimed at being highly visual and covering the most important points of a&nbsp;topic.</li>
	<li>Have them do a short online presentation with video and slides using free and user-friendly tools like <a href="http://present.me/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Present.me</a> or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.brainshark.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">BrainShark</a>.</li>
	<li>Have your students create their own short TED&nbsp;Talks.</li>
	<li>Have them present a project or topic in real time. They can receive immediate feedback from their peers.</li>
</ul>

<p>What other ideas can you think&nbsp;of?</p>


Tips & Resources to Help Learners with Their Presentation Skills

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<blockquote>
<p>&quot;The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.&quot;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Vladimir Nabakov</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Our language learners have powerful stories to share, but they need their teachers to help them get these stories out in English. When our learners can tell their stories in English, they are able to share these experiences with a worldwide audience. Like all storytellers, our learners are strongly motivated to share their stories with an audience who will listen. For this reason, we often see learners sharing personal events of their lives on blogs, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter. These social networks have millions of users and provide our learners with a global audience of parents, teachers, friends, and learners who will comment on their stories. Through storytelling we motivate our learners to apply, contextualize, visualize, and personalize the language they learn. There are great tools and websites to inspire your learners to think creatively and begin writing their thoughts. I hope the following tips and resources will help you along your journey towards integrating storytelling into your curriculum.</p>

<h3>Teach Them Free Writing</h3>

<p>Many times our students do not get the chance to write without having to edit themselves and worry about grammar. Being able to recall phrases and think in English without worrying about the structure is also an important part of learning the language. We can motivate our students to write for short time periods about whatever comes to mind. Some of the ideas below will help stimulate their minds.</p>

<h3>Get Them Writing Regularly</h3>

<p>Every day my students knew the drill. They would enter the class, look at the writing prompt on the board, and have 10 to 15 minutes to write in their journals. Every other Friday I would collect these journals and give them a completion grade. My concern was not over the grammar so much as getting them to apply the language they learned and helping them get into the habit of thinking and writing in English. Starting classes this way helped my learners to get their brains ready to think in English as well as express their thoughts on an interesting or thought-provoking writing prompt. Below, I share many websites where you can find 1,000s of writing prompts.</p>

<h3>Change the Environment</h3>

<p>On sunny days, my students and I would go outside and find a nice place around the school campus to take 10 minutes to write. These writings would be in their daily journals. I have also been part of a group that would go hiking once a month. Mid-hike we would stop and contemplate our natural setting and write any poetry, thoughts, or prose that came to&nbsp;mind.</p>

<h3>Stimulate with Music</h3>

<p>In these classes I often allowed my students to get out their mp3 players and listen to music. Many of them had English songs they listened to. They would have time to write while listening to the music. <a href="http://evasimkesyan.edublogs.org/2010/12/03/warmers-fillers-and-improvisations-in-efl-classrooms/">In this slide presentation</a>, Eva Buyuksimkesyan has many great ideas for using music to inspire your language learners to write. One of the activities includes playing a piece of music and then asking students to imagine what kind of movie would include this in the soundtrack. The students then write out the movie scene.</p>

<h3>Create a Scene</h3>

<p>Make a paper cut-out of a body and tape it to the floor (or create the body outline with masking tape). Put the students&rsquo; desks around this body and have them ask questions about the body, such as &quot;<em>What happened to this person? Is he/she dead or alive?</em>&quot;. Then the students write what happened to this individual. They can even do this as a news report. I got this idea from <a href="http://lessonstream.org/2011/02/27/lying-on-the-pavement/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jamie Keddie&rsquo;s lesson here</a>.</p>

<h3>Use Word Clouds</h3>

<p><a href="http://marisaconstantinides.edublogs.org/2010/07/31/word-clouds-to-integrate-reading-and-writing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Marisa Constantinides</a> created a great word cloud with images. She asks learners to create a story with the words then share the story on Voicethread. In classes, you can have your students create these stories in groups then listen to each group&rsquo;s stories to see if they are similar. With lower levels, I will ask students to use 5 to 8&nbsp;words.</p>

<h3>Writing Prompts, Story Starters, and Other Great Webtools</h3>

<p>These websites have plenty of writing prompts, story starters, and inspirational images to get your students writing.</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ShellTerrell/ideas-for-inspiring-students-to-write" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Slideshow presentation: Ideas for Inspiring Our Learners to Write</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://exclusivetutors.com/apps/journaljar/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Journal Jar</a> &ndash; free web and phone app that when shaken comes up with a question to write about.</li>
	<li><a href="http://piclits.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">PicLits</a> &ndash; choose an image and your students drag and drop words onto the image to create a story.</li>
	<li><a href="http://stopmotionmovies.yolasite.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kevin Hodgson&#39;s Animation Site</a> &ndash; Several incredible storyboarding worksheets to help your students brainstorm.</li>
	<li><a href="http://tinyurl.com/scholasticstory" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Scholastic Story Starters</a> &ndash; this is an interactive website where students write their names and fill out questions.</li>
	<li><a href="http://smories.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Smories</a> &ndash; 100s of children read stories they created out loud on video.</li>
	<li><a href="http://plinky.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Plinky</a> &ndash; a question appears and below the question students write their opinion.</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.storyit.com/Starters/ststart.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">StoryIt</a> &ndash; print out a picture that has the first paragraph of a story.</li>
	<li><a href="http://bogglesworldesl.com/creativewriting.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Boggles World Creative Writing</a> &ndash; several creative writing prompts to print that were especially designed for English language learners.</li>
	<li><a href="http://moodstream.gettyimages.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Moodstream</a> &ndash; beautiful images accompanied by great music to help with the brainstorming process. Use this website with teens or adults but always check before you use a website.</li>
	<li><a href="http://5card.cogdogblog.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Five Card Flickr</a> &ndash; 5 random pictures from Flickr are posted and students can write a story in the space provided or view several other pictures.</li>
	<li><a href="http://oneword.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">One Word</a> &ndash; This excellent website posts one word and your students have 60 seconds to write on the website whatever comes to mind.</li>
	<li><a href="http://writingfix.com/classroom_tools/dailypromptgenerator.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Writing Fix</a> &ndash; hundreds of journal writing prompts, writing games, and more.</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.lightningbug.com.au/index.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lightning Bug</a> &ndash; find a story idea or develop one.</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.100wordstory.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">100 Word Story</a> &ndash; an image is posted and you can submit a story that is only 100 words. This site doesn&rsquo;t filter so you can use your own images and have the students create the stories in class.</li>
	<li><a href="http://issuu.com/turtle2000/docs/interactive_writing_tools?mode=a_p" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Multimedia Uses: Using Interactive Websites</a> by Keith Schoch has various webtools and ideas outlined.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>How do you motivate your students to write?</strong></p>

<p>If you want to receive more of Shelly&rsquo;s tips for online resources for teaching English, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/authors/shelly-terrell">check out her other&nbsp;posts</a>!</p>
