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

Teaching with Ellii

<h2><a id="scope-and-sequence"></a>What is a scope &amp; sequence?&nbsp;</h2>

<p>A scope and sequence is a planned curriculum for a book,&nbsp;course, or&nbsp;program. The <strong>scope</strong> refers to the <em>range</em> or <em>breadth</em> of material. The <strong>sequence</strong> refers to the&nbsp;<em>order</em> in which the content is meant to be used.</p>

<p>A curriculum or program may be&nbsp;organized by <strong>grade</strong> or <strong>proficiency level</strong>. In some cases, it&#39;s organized by <strong>subject matter&nbsp;</strong>(e.g., science)&nbsp;or<strong> theme </strong>(e.g., community).&nbsp;Ellii, on the other hand, is more of a content library than either a ready-made program or curriculum. However, we do have ready-made pathways to help if you are looking for more structure. Keep reading!</p>

<p>In this post, you&#39;ll find answers to the following frequently asked questions about Ellii:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="#ellii-s-s">Does Ellii have a scope and sequence?</a></li>
	<li><a href="#courses">Does Ellii have ready-made courses?</a></li>
	<li><a href="#teaching-order">Does Ellii have a&nbsp;suggested&nbsp;teaching order?</a></li>
	<li><a href="#curriculum">Can I create my own curriculum with Ellii?</a></li>
	<li><a href="#targets">What targets and themes should I focus on for each Ellii level?&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li><a href="#levels">What if I don&#39;t know what Ellii level my students are?&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li><a href="#assessment">Can I assess my students&nbsp;with Ellii?&nbsp;</a></li>
</ul>

<h2><a id="ellii-s-s"></a>Does Ellii have a scope &amp; sequence?</h2>

<p>If you&#39;re used to using a textbook series, you may be wondering where to find Ellii&#39;s scope and sequence information.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ellii (formerly ESL Library) has 2,500+ ready-made <strong>lessons</strong> and <strong>resources</strong> as well as&nbsp;4,000+&nbsp;<strong>flashcards</strong>. We also have <strong>videos</strong>, <strong>prompts</strong>, and other <strong>activities </strong>for teaching English&nbsp;for every <strong>age</strong>, <strong>level</strong>, and <strong>need</strong>. Our in-house publishing team adds new content daily based on teachers&#39; requests and needs.</p>

<p>Teachers from all over the world use Ellii in a variety of ways. Ellii materials can be used...</p>

<ul>
	<li>in <strong>traditional</strong> classrooms</li>
	<li>in <strong>online</strong> and <strong>hybrid</strong>&nbsp;classes</li>
	<li>to <strong>complement</strong> an existing&nbsp;curriculum (e.g., further practice with a&nbsp;target or theme)</li>
	<li>to <strong>build </strong>a&nbsp;curriculum</li>
	<li>to&nbsp;<strong>supplement&nbsp;</strong>a curriculum (e.g., lessons on holidays, current events, etc.)</li>
	<li>to focus on a certain <strong>macro</strong>&nbsp;(e.g., reading) or <strong>micro</strong>&nbsp;(e.g.,&nbsp;grammar) skill</li>
</ul>

<p>Teachers also use Elli with a variety of types of English learners. Teachers use Ellii with...</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>adult</strong> newcomers who require&nbsp;<strong>life skills</strong>&nbsp;and foundational English content</li>
	<li>&nbsp;<strong>K&ndash;12</strong>&nbsp;or <strong>higher-ed</strong> students who need English for <strong>academic purposes</strong></li>
	<li><strong>1:1 learners&nbsp;</strong>who need to learn English for specific purposes, such as&nbsp;<strong>workplace English</strong> or <strong>conversation English</strong>,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>or for improving a particular skill</li>
	<li><strong>multilevel</strong> classes</li>
</ul>

<p>At Ellii, we believe teachers know their students best! Rather than developing a single program that may or may not work for all students in a class, we focus on creating&nbsp;high-quality materials&nbsp;for every age, level, and need.</p>

<p>However, if you aren&#39;t sure what you need, we do offer mini-courses, collections, and a suggested teaching order for some sections.</p>

<p>Read on for Ellii tools and features that make planning easier.</p>

<h2><a id="courses"></a>Does Ellii have ready-made courses?</h2>

<p>Yes, and this area of Ellii is growing quickly. Visit our <a href="https://ellii.com/packs?page=1" target="_blank">Courses &amp; Study Packs</a> area and watch this library&nbsp;grow.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Example Courses &amp; Packs</strong><br />
<br />
Here are just a few of our ready-made Courses &amp; Packs:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/ell-grammar-curriculum" target="_blank">Grammar Courses 1&ndash;9</a>&nbsp;(Grammar)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/?category=43&amp;page=1">Ellii Up A &ndash; E</a> (General English) - More coming soon.</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/simple-present/materials" target="_blank">Simple Present Power Pack</a> (Grammar)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/112/lessons" target="_blank">Pre-Employment</a>&nbsp;(Workplace)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/135/lessons" target="_blank">Functional Business</a>&nbsp;(Workplace)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/english-at-work/materials" target="_blank">English at Work</a>&nbsp;(Workplace)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/122/lessons" target="_blank">Travel in English</a>&nbsp;(Dialogues)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/essay-essentials/materials" target="_blank">Essay Essentials</a>&nbsp;(Academic)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/77/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 1</a>&nbsp;(Vocabulary)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/79/lessons" target="_blank">Detective Series 1</a>&nbsp;(Vocabulary)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/medical-matters/materials" target="_blank">Medical Matters</a> (Life Skills)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/banking-basics/materials" target="_blank">Banking Basics</a>&nbsp;(Life Skills)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/pioneers-of-progress/materials" target="_blank">Partners in Progress</a>&nbsp;(Academic)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/moon-time/materials" target="_blank">Moon Time</a>&nbsp;(YL)</li>
</ul>

<p>Here is a scope &amp; sequence for Ellii Up A&ndash;E (low beginner). More courses in this General English (4 skills) category are coming soon.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/?category=43&amp;page=1" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/4951/content_Ellii-Up-A-F-Curriculum_chart_D.jpg" style="width: 1200px; height: 1062px;" /></a><br />
<br />
Please <a href="mailto:hello@ellii.com">get in touch</a> if there&#39;s a specific course or pack that would be helpful for your students. Be sure to mention their age, level, and specific needs.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><a id="teaching-order"></a>Does Ellii have a&nbsp;suggested&nbsp;teaching order?</h2>

<p>Ellii&#39;s materials are divided into lesson and resource sections.</p>

<p>Within one section, you will find content that&#39;s formatted in a similar way.</p>

<p>Some of Ellii&#39;s lesson sections have a built-in teaching order. We don&#39;t recommend only using content from within one section (unless it&#39;s a serial). However, we do recommend that you teach&nbsp;targets&nbsp;at the recommended proficiency level.</p>

<p>Here are some sections that have a&nbsp;<strong>Teaching Order</strong>. (This may not be the default sort filter, so you will need to change the category sort&nbsp;filter&nbsp;to Teaching Order.)&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons" target="_blank">Super Simple Grammar</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/110/lessons" target="_blank">Super Simple Questions</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons" target="_blank">Functional English</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Practive Worksheets </a>(Teens &amp; Adults) or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons" target="_blank">Fun Grammar Lessons</a> (YL)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons" target="_blank">Basic Grammar Sentences</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Stories</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Note that if you choose the&nbsp;Teaching Order sort filter in our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons" target="_blank">Holidays &amp; Events</a> section, you will see the content sorted by calendar order.</p>

<h2><a id="curriculum"></a>Can I create my own curriculum with Ellii?&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Yes! You can save and create your own materials to build a curriculum&nbsp;that meets the needs of your class or even one student.<br />
<br />
Learn all about how to use the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-elliis-lesson-planner" target="_blank">Lesson Planner</a> here.</p>

<p>More:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/217-how-to-use-folders" target="_blank">How to Use Folders</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/63-how-to-create-flashcard-sets" target="_blank">How to Create &amp; Save Flashcard Sets</a></li>
</ul>

<p>We recommend using our <a href="https://ellii.com/collections" target="_blank">Collections</a> to find content from all different sections based on the <strong>theme</strong>, <strong>target</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>subject, </strong>or<strong> competency.&nbsp;</strong>You can then filter by <strong>level</strong> or <strong>age</strong>. When you click into the content, you can save it to your folder of choice.</p>

<p>Here are some popular ways to use some of our Collections:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Find content by <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/new-content" target="_blank">What&#39;s New</a></li>
	<li>Find content by <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/grammar" target="_blank">Grammar Target and Level/Age</a></li>
	<li>Find content by <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/academic-subjects" target="_blank">Academic Subject&nbsp;and Level/Age</a></li>
	<li>Find content by <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/clb-competencies" target="_blank">CLB</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/casas-competencies" target="_blank">CASAS</a>&nbsp;competency</li>
</ul>

<h2><a id="targets"></a>What targets and themes should I focus on for each level?&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Here are some suggested targets, themes, and learning objectives for each proficiency level. Visit our<a href="https://ellii.com/equivalencies" target="_blank"> Equivalency Scale</a> for more information about levels.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Ellii level</th>
			<th>Suggested grammar targets</th>
			<th>Suggested themes</th>
			<th>Learning objectives</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pre&nbsp;Beg</td>
			<td>be, have, simple present, nouns, adjectives, yes/no questions, can</td>
			<td>colors, shapes, letters, numbers, signs</td>
			<td>identify letters and some numbers, count, read signs, understand very familiar everyday words or expressions (survival English)&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Low Beg</td>
			<td>be,simple present, singluar &amp; plural nouns, articles, pronnouns, imperative verbs</td>
			<td>familiar objects, food, daily routines, animals, family, body, familiar verbs, people, community</td>
			<td>say and read high-frequency words with visual support, describe everyday actions, describe familiar people and things, read and say short sentences, give date and time, give commands or warnings, describe daily routines</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>High Beg</td>
			<td>modals of ability - present, present progressive, simple present vs. present progressive, adverbs of frequency, prepositions of time, prepositions of place, parts of speech, simple past, there is there are, yes/no questions, wh- questions, adjectives</td>
			<td>stories, surveys, fables, shopping, restaurants,&nbsp;directions, travel, short narratives (fiction and non-fiction), health</td>
			<td>listen and read along to short stories, ask and answer simple questions, give personal information, write simple sentences,&nbsp;listen and comprehend more familiar information, understand and give directions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Low Int</td>
			<td>modals of ability - past, count vs. non-count nouns, quantifiers, possessive nouns, articles, adverbs of manner, prepositions, simple future, subject-verb agreement, pronouns, gerunds and infinitives, modals of advice, modals of possiblity, present perfect, present perfect progressive, comparatives</td>
			<td>workplace, sports, holidays and culture, fashion, biographies, education, school</td>
			<td>describe future plans, describe likes and preferences, follow and describe procedures, compare and contrast, make suggestions, discuss unreal situations and possibilities, understand information on less familiar topics, recognize informal English</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>High Int</td>
			<td>present perfect, present perfect progressive, modals verb collocations, first conditional, equative, second conditional, comparative and superlative adjectives, comparatives, present perfect, present perfect progressive, modas of necessity and obligation, conjunctions</td>
			<td>current events, workplace, relationships, environment, historic events, soft skills</td>
			<td>discuss complex issues, offer a personal response, use academic and business vocabulary,&nbsp;work independently in groups, understand more natural everyday English, critical thinking</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Adv</td>
			<td>tag questions, past progressive, future progressive, phrasal verbs, passive, causative verbs, third conditional, past modals, adjective clauses, adjective phrases, adverb clauses, passive causative, direct and reported speech, embedded questions, past perfect, past perfect progressive, subjunctive, noun clauses, future perfect, future perfect progressive</td>
			<td>psychology, technology, politics, business, media, human rights, social justice, crime and punishment, law</td>
			<td>debate and discuss controversial topics, work on projects, read some authentic materials, argue, understand and use collocations and phrasal verbs, comprehend information at natural speeds, understand more idiomatic language and slang</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2><a id="levels"></a>What if I don&#39;t know what level my students are?&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Try&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/4226" target="_blank">Ellii&#39;s Placement Test</a>&nbsp;(60-minute, 4-skills) or <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/4164">Ellii&#39;s Placement Quiz</a> (30-minute, M/C). You can also use&nbsp;our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-our-new-grammar-tests" target="_blank">Grammar Tests</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/125/resources/2872" target="_blank">Language Scenes</a> for placement.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><a id="assessment"></a>Can I assess my students&#39; progress with Ellii?</h2>

<p>Ellii offers <strong>formative</strong> assessment opportunities in every lesson. In the digital versions, you can view your students&#39; results. (Some tasks require manual scoring by the teacher.)&nbsp;<br />
<br />
Each lesson section offers a different approach to assessment. Some lessons include a formal assessment task at the end.</p>

<p>For example, all of our <strong>Grammar Practice Worksheets</strong> lessons have a quiz to check the understanding of the target. Other lesson sections, such as&nbsp;<strong>Functional English</strong>, have assessments at the end of the lessons with ready-made rubrics.</p>

<p>We also have ready-made generic&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources" target="_blank">assessment tools</a> that you can use or adapt to your own needs. You&#39;ll also find <strong>summative</strong> assessments in our&nbsp;mini-courses and some&nbsp;serials.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>What leveling and standards does Ellii align with?</h2>

<p>Teachers all over the world use Ellii for a variety of ages and levels, so we do not stick with one specific system. We have an <a href="https://ellii.com/equivalencies" target="_blank">Equivalency Scale</a> to help you out and we try to tag our content with every search term imaginable. Some teachers use <strong>CEFR</strong> levels and others use <strong>CLBs </strong>or&nbsp;<strong>ELDs</strong>. Others use something more aligned with specific assessments, such as <strong>CASAS</strong>&nbsp;competencies or&nbsp;<strong>NRS</strong> levels.&nbsp;In your <strong>Account</strong> settings, you can choose to view Ellii&#39;s levels and correlations in a few different ways. We are&nbsp;always adding new tags and filters, so let us know what you or your program needs! The Focus area of our lessons also includes <strong>modalities</strong> that may be useful for you to see.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
<em>We hope you find everything you need!&nbsp;</em></p>


Scope & Sequence FAQs

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Posts describing lessons or activities for the ESL classroom.

Activities

<div class="white-box">
<p>This post is part of our monthly&nbsp;<strong>Student Showcase series</strong> where we highlight teacher creativity and show off the amazing work students are doing around the&nbsp;world!</p>

<p>Since June 21 is officially the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the start of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, we&rsquo;re challenging English language teachers around the world to do one of these seasonal activities&nbsp;with their students in&nbsp;class.</p>
</div>

<h2>June&#39;s Student Showcase challenge: Changing seasons</h2>

<p><iframe allow="camera *; microphone *; autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; display-capture *;" height="600px" src="https://www.videoask.com/fspla9jmh" style="border: none; border-radius: 24px" width="100%"></iframe></p>

<p>The beginning of a new season is always exciting, isn&rsquo;t it? There are so many fun seasonal activities that we can only do at a certain time of year. What are you looking forward to this&nbsp;June?</p>

<p>To answer this question, we&rsquo;ve come up with some activities that you can do in class with your students to celebrate the changing&nbsp;season.</p>

<p>Start by completing&nbsp;one of the activity challenges&nbsp;below. Then&nbsp;upload your students&rsquo; work through the video above or send it to <a href="mailto:hello@ellii.com?subject=June Student Showcase">hello@ellii.com</a> with a brief description for a chance to be featured in our follow-up Student Showcase blog&nbsp;post!</p>

<p>We want to see how different teachers around the world are adapting the same activity to other class and community&nbsp;realities.</p>

<h2>Activity 1: Vocabulary builder for young &amp; beginner learners</h2>

<p>If you&#39;re teaching young learners, we have great vocabulary-building resource activities you can use in class for both <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/126/resources/2958" target="_blank">summer</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/126/resources/2957" target="_blank">winter</a>!</p>

<p>For&nbsp;this activity, get your students to color in the picture and label it with the related vocabulary&nbsp;words.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<p><strong>Summer Vocabulary:</strong> sand, crab, waves, sandcastle, sunglasses, sun, starfish, seagull, towel, beach ball<br />
<br />
<strong>Winter Vocabulary:</strong> scarf, snowflake, mitten, snowball, beanie, snowman, snowshoes, ice skates, sled, snowboard</p>
</div>

<h3>Summer Scene Coloring Picture</h3>

<p><img alt="Summer scene coloring activity page: Three people building sandcastles on a sandy beach by the ocean." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2442/content_Summer.jpg" /></p>

<h3>Winter Scene Coloring Picture&nbsp;</h3>

<h3><img alt="Winter scene coloring activity page: Girl throwing snowballs to boy on skates, child sledding, boy building snowman holding a snowboard, old man snowshoeing." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2443/content_Winter.jpg" /></h3>

<h2>Activity&nbsp;2: Adverbs of frequency for intermediate learners</h2>

<p>Take advantage of the theme of changing seasons to teach your intermediate students about <strong>adverbs of&nbsp;frequency</strong>.</p>

<p>Use our <a href="http://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2234" target="_&quot;blank&quot;">Adverbs of Frequency</a>&nbsp;lesson and then try this activity to learn more about how your students spend their time during the winter and&nbsp;summer&nbsp;seasons!</p>

<p>This activity can be done in class or online. Get started by&nbsp;following these three simple&nbsp;steps:</p>

<h3>Step 1</h3>

<p><strong>In class:</strong> Distribute five&nbsp;slips of paper to each student and have them write an action on each slip. Provide them with examples such as &ldquo;sleep under the stars,&rdquo; &ldquo;play ice hockey,&rdquo; &ldquo;plant flowers in the garden,&rdquo;&nbsp;etc.</p>

<p><strong>Online:</strong> Have your students write five&nbsp;actions on a piece of paper or in a private document on their computer or device. Provide them with&nbsp;examples such as &ldquo;sleep under the stars,&rdquo; &ldquo;play ice hockey,&rdquo; &ldquo;plant flowers in the garden,&rdquo;&nbsp;etc.</p>

<h3>Step 2</h3>

<p><strong>In class:</strong> Collect the slips of paper and mix them up. Divide your students into groups of four or five. Then divide up the slips and hand them out to the&nbsp;groups.</p>

<p><strong>Online:</strong> Divide your students into groups of four or five and send them into breakout rooms. If this isn&#39;t possible, you can always do this activity together as an entire&nbsp;class.</p>

<h3>Step 3</h3>

<p><strong>In class:</strong> Have your students take turns picking up a card and forming a question using &ldquo;how often&rdquo; and &ldquo;in the winter/summer.&rdquo; Each group member should then answer using an adverb of&nbsp;frequency.</p>

<p><strong>Online:</strong> Have your students take turns using the actions they wrote down to&nbsp;form a question using &ldquo;how often&rdquo; and &ldquo;in the winter/summer.&rdquo; Each group member should then answer using an adverb of&nbsp;frequency.</p>

<h3>Example</h3>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Student&nbsp;1:</th>
			<td>How often do you go swimming in the summer?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Student&nbsp;2:</th>
			<td>I <strong>often</strong> go swimming in the summer at my cottage.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Student&nbsp;3:</th>
			<td>I <strong>never</strong> go swimming in the summer because I don&rsquo;t know how to swim!</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Student&nbsp;4:</th>
			<td>I <strong>usually</strong> go swimming in my backyard pool when the weather is nice.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>Check out this&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-of-frequency" target="_blank">blog post</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;learn&nbsp;more about&nbsp;adverbs of frequency and how to teach them to your&nbsp;students.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5><strong>Submit your students&rsquo; work and&nbsp;get featured</strong></h5>

<p>Complete one of the activity challenges listed above, and then send over your students&rsquo; amazing projects to <a href="mailto:hello@ellii.com?subject=June Student Showcase">hello@ellii.com</a> by&nbsp;<strong>June 28, 2022</strong>. Don&rsquo;t forget to give us a brief description of your students&rsquo;&nbsp;work!</p>

<p>We&rsquo;ll select a few submissions at random and feature them at the end of the month in our follow-up Student Showcase blog post. We can&rsquo;t wait to see what you come up&nbsp;with!</p>
</div>

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/everyday-topics/weather" target="_blank">Weather &amp; Seasons</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards/weather-nature-environment/weather-seasons" target="_blank">Weather &amp; Seasons</a></li>
</ul>


Student Showcase: Changing Seasons Challenge

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<p><a href="https://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Edutopia describes scaffolding</a> as &ldquo;breaking up the learning into chunks and providing a tool, or structure, with each&nbsp;chunk.&rdquo;</p>

<p>In other words, scaffolding makes it easier for students to learn new concepts and master tasks because it breaks down the lesson into smaller, more manageable steps. Think of it like using training wheels when learning how to ride a&nbsp;bike.</p>

<p>One of the biggest benefits of incorporating instructional scaffolding is that it provides a welcoming and <strong>supportive learning environment</strong> for&nbsp;students.</p>

<p>Other benefits of instructional scaffolding:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Engages learners and motivates them to want to learn more</li>
	<li>Increases the likelihood students will achieve their instructional&nbsp;goal</li>
	<li>Improves problem-solving and comprehension skills</li>
	<li>Opens the door for peer-teaching and learning</li>
	<li>Minimizes student frustration</li>
</ul>

<p>As Ellii&rsquo;s Chief Impact Officer, I work with English language administrators all over the US. I know that scaffolding lessons is a very time-consuming process for teachers. There&rsquo;s also the potential to assign tasks that don&rsquo;t match the student&rsquo;s abilities, which can hinder&nbsp;success.&nbsp;</p>

<p>So it comes as no surprise that one of the questions I get asked the most is, <strong>&ldquo;Does Ellii provide scaffolded instruction for&nbsp;students?&rdquo;</strong></p>

<p>The answer is yes!</p>

<p>The Ellii platform is specifically designed for English learners (ELs). This means that all the lessons are already scaffolded for ELs, allowing for a more <a href="https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/gradual-release-responsibility/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">gradual release of&nbsp;responsibility</a>.</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s how Ellii incorporates instructional scaffolding in lesson plans to save your teachers time and support student&nbsp;learning:</p>

<h2>Warm-up questions</h2>

<p>Ellii lessons often start with warm-up&nbsp;questions.</p>

<p>These warm-up questions activate prior knowledge, which help your teachers assess what their students already know. Students also build the background knowledge necessary for understanding the text they&rsquo;re about to&nbsp;read.</p>

<p>Having a conversation at the beginning of a lesson does more than just get your students talking. It also helps them make connections between the material and their own lives, <strong>increasing their motivation to&nbsp;learn</strong>.</p>

<h2>Vocabulary preview</h2>

<p>Content-focused Ellii lessons also begin with a vocabulary&nbsp;preview.</p>

<p>Typically, students are asked to either match up a word with its meaning or fill in the&nbsp;blanks.</p>

<p>Front-loading vocabulary gives students the opportunity to review the vocabulary they will later encounter in the text. This <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/pre-reading-activities-to-boost-comprehension" target="_blank">pre-reading activity</a> helps students better understand a reading, especially one that has a lot of new&nbsp;vocabulary.</p>

<h2>Visual learning</h2>

<p>Many Ellii lessons include pictures, videos, and <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards" target="_blank">flashcards</a> to further engage students and help them grasp the material. These visual aids can be used with the lesson or on their own as a single&nbsp;activity.</p>

<h2>Reading &amp; listening activities</h2>

<p>During the reading component of the lessons, students hone their reading and listening skills. They have the option of reading the text themselves or using <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-microsoft-immersive-reader-on-ellii" target="_blank">Microsoft&rsquo;s Immersive Reader</a> to hear the language modeled for&nbsp;them.</p>

<h2>Writing &amp; speaking tasks</h2>

<p>After the reading, it&rsquo;s time to put their learning to the&nbsp;test!</p>

<p>Ellii lessons include&nbsp;plenty of vocabulary review and opportunities for students to show what they&rsquo;ve&nbsp;learned.</p>

<p>Through comprehension questions, vocabulary practice, grammar exercises, personal reflections, dialogues, role-plays, discussion questions, and speaking tasks, teachers can check for understanding while students practice writing and using English out&nbsp;loud.</p>

<p>ELs don&rsquo;t have to complete every activity either. Teachers can choose to focus on one specific skill if they&nbsp;like.</p>

<h2>Key takeaways</h2>

<p>It&rsquo;s important to encourage students to work independently. Teachers should only help their students with activities that are beyond their&nbsp;abilities.</p>

<p>Additionally, teachers should assign tasks that match the student&rsquo;s skill level. Activities that are way beyond their capabilities can cause stress or frustration. Same applies to tasks that are below their&nbsp;capabilities.</p>

<p>Lastly, while independent learning is important, teacher-student interaction is just as essential. Open conversation with students allows teachers to address questions and to tailor their instruction for more personalized&nbsp;learning.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Ready to get started with Ellii?</strong></p>

<p>If you&#39;re a teacher or part of a school or an adult education organization, please contact Lei at <a href="mailto:lei@ellii.com">lei@ellii.com</a>.</p>
</blockquote>


Instructional Scaffolding: How Ellii Supports Student Learning

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

Articles

<div class="white-box">
<p>This article is part of a series of posts highlighting our community of teachers around the world. We hope you find their stories interesting and&nbsp;inspiring!</p>
</div>

<p>After working as an advisor and mentor in higher education for a number of years, Madelyn Cardenas decided it was time to pursue her true passion: teaching&nbsp;English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Many times throughout my life&nbsp;I contemplated the possibility of teaching English as a second or other language,&rdquo; said Madelyn. &ldquo;My heart has always been with serving others, in particular teaching and&nbsp;mentoring.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After making this decision, Madelyn got her master&rsquo;s degree and graduate-level TESOL certification. To gain teaching experience, she volunteered as a teacher assistant and offered tutoring&nbsp;services.</p>

<p>In January 2022, she officially became a&nbsp;teacher.</p>

<p><img alt="Madelyn Cardenas, a smiling woman with shoulder-length brown hair, green eyes, pearl ear cuff earrings, white sleeveless top." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2379/content_content_Madelyn.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Madelyn Cardenas is pictured here.</p>

<p>Madelyn currently works at the <a href="https://www.vbschools.com/academic_programs/adult_education" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Adult Learning Center</a> which is offered through the <a href="https://www.vbschools.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Virginia Beach City Public Schools</a> district in Virginia. She teaches adults at the beginner&nbsp;level.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I feel truly fortunate to be part of the Adult Learning Center,&rdquo; said Madelyn. &ldquo;The staff are exceptional. The teachers have been key role models and their passion for teaching is&nbsp;contagious.&rdquo;</p>

<p>For Madelyn, a typical day of teaching starts at 8:30 am. She teaches two classes a day.</p>

<p>In between classes, she plans upcoming lessons, answers emails, and attends meetings when&nbsp;required.</p>

<p><img alt="Madelyn standing at the front of a classroom speaking to six students sitting at their desk" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2380/content_content_A6E78B97-FCAC-446D-9DB2-8BAB3184D09A.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Madelyn and a few students from her afternoon class are pictured here.</p>

<h2>How Madelyn uses Ellii in the classroom</h2>

<p>Madelyn usually starts each class with a warm-up activity that relates to the lesson material. This is often a&nbsp;worksheet from an Ellii&nbsp;lesson.</p>

<p>She presents the lesson topic while encouraging student participation. Students&nbsp;then&nbsp;work on an activity in pairs or in groups. This can be a worksheet or a related game. If there&rsquo;s new vocabulary to learn, Madelyn uses <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards" target="_blank">Ellii&nbsp;flashcards</a>.</p>

<p>Finally, they work through an Ellii lesson. This can be done individually or as a group. If there&rsquo;s a related grammar target in the lesson, Madelyn will show&nbsp;a video from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/Esl-library" target="_blank">Ellii&#39;s YouTube channel</a> that explains&nbsp;the grammar target in&nbsp;question.</p>

<p>One of her favorite Ellii resources to break out in class is our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2538" target="_blank">Prepositions&nbsp;of&nbsp;Place:&nbsp;In&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;On</a>&nbsp;resource&nbsp;from our Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;section.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The images are fun&nbsp;and simple to explain and understand for my level of students,&rdquo; Madelyn said. &ldquo;They enjoyed the images and the&nbsp;activities.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Check out Madelyn&#39;s&nbsp;text response below to learn more about why she loves Ellii and how she uses it with her&nbsp;students.</p>

<p><iframe allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *;" height="400px" src="https://www.videoask.com/ae5aqkja73g5nadkdsh37w7gzfkvd8dpdgwjmqea" style="border: none; border-radius: 24px" width="100%"></iframe></p>

<blockquote>
<p>Want the chance to be featured in our Teacher Feature series? Visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/20th-anniversary-giveaway" target="_blank">20th Anniversary Giveaway</a>&nbsp;blog post&nbsp;to tell us why you love Ellii and how you use it in your&nbsp;classroom.</p>
</blockquote>


Teacher Feature: Madelyn Cardenas

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<div class="white-box">
<p>This article is part of a series of posts highlighting our community of teachers around the world. We hope you find their stories interesting and&nbsp;inspiring!</p>
</div>

<p>Mayra Alves became an English teacher after the school where she originally learned English asked her to work there. She worked at the school for three years before going on to teach at a local&nbsp;university.</p>

<p>When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Mayra decided to open her own business and teach online.</p>

<p>Since 2020, Mayra has been teaching remotely from her home in S&atilde;o&nbsp;Paulo, Brazil. She primarily teaches adults at the A1 to B2 (Beg &ndash; High Int)&nbsp;levels.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I decided to&nbsp;become a teacher because I&nbsp;love the&nbsp;fact that I can inspire other people and teach them a language that&nbsp;changed my life,&rdquo;&nbsp;said Mayra. &ldquo;I always say that I didn&#39;t choose to be a teacher. Being&nbsp;a teacher chose me.&rdquo;</p>

<p><img alt="Smiling young woman with short brown hair, small hoop earrings, white t-shirt." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2378/content_Content_Mayra.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Mayra Alves is pictured here.</p>

<p>For Mayra, a typical week begins with preparation.</p>

<p>On Mondays, she plans out her classes for the week. Once planned, she sends her students all the information they need for their upcoming classes. The rest of the week, Mayra is busy&nbsp;teaching from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm, Tuesday through Friday. She also teaches Saturday mornings from 8:00 am until 12:00 pm.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The most rewarding part for me is when my students tell me they have achieved their goals because they&nbsp;started learning English with me,&rdquo; Mayra said proudly.</p>

<h2>How Mayra Uses Ellii to Teach Virtually</h2>

<p>Mayra is a big fan of Ellii.</p>

<p>One of her favorite lessons is our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/3715" target="_blank">Procrastination</a>&nbsp;lesson&nbsp;from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons" target="_blank">Discussion Starters</a> section because it includes grammar practice with the future perfect tense.</p>

<p>Check out Mayra&#39;s&nbsp;video response below to learn more about why she loves Ellii and how she uses it with her students.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe encrypted-media="" src="https://www.videoask.com/atep25m0aw7fkzw0fn6tlu2k7p9f651q3yd152b0"></iframe></div>

<p>When asked if she had any advice for aspiring teachers, Mayra said it&rsquo;s important to never stop learning.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Never stop learning and improving your English and your teaching techniques. Your development is as important as your students&rsquo; development.&rdquo;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Want to be featured in our Teacher Feature series? Visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/20th-anniversary-giveaway" target="_blank">20th Anniversary Giveaway</a>&nbsp;blog post&nbsp;to tell us why you love Ellii and how you use it in your classroom.</p>
</blockquote>


Teacher Feature: Mayra Alves

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<p>As teachers, there are small changes we can make to our teaching to ensure all language learners are supported and&nbsp;included.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Every learner has individual needs. Some learners may be blind or&nbsp;have low vision. Others may&nbsp;experience color blindness or require vision&nbsp;correction tools such as&nbsp;glasses.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The best advice is to talk to each learner about how you can support them in making their learning journey more&nbsp;accessible.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Learners who are blind</h2>

<p>For learners who are legally blind, your learning organization may be able to give individual support, such as a classroom assistant who provides audio descriptions and&nbsp;scribing.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If this is not possible, you can help students to access audio&nbsp;support.</p>

<p>For example, you could help them access the sound files for each Ellii text or introduce them to the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-microsoft-immersive-reader-on-ellii" target="_blank">Immersive Reader</a> function, which reads texts out loud and describes photos using alt&nbsp;text (a contraction of&nbsp;&quot;alternative&nbsp;text&quot;).<br />
<br />
<img alt="Ellii Lesson with Immersive Reader open" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2361/content_Emily_Accessibility-Supporting-Blind-and-Low-Vision-Learners_01.jpg" /></p>

<p>You can also include the rest of the class&nbsp;by asking other students to read out loud or describe images, which has the added bonus of additional speaking&nbsp;practice.</p>

<h2>Learners with low vision</h2>

<p>Learners with low vision, as well as those who need glasses,&nbsp;can be supported using larger fonts and double-spaced text. Use the zoom function on your browser or computer screen to enlarge text and ask learners about their sizing preferences.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ellii has a <strong>Fit Width</strong> option as well as a zoom feature (represented by the magnifying glass icon with a plus sign)&nbsp;to magnify the PDF view on&nbsp;screen.</p>

<p><img alt="Fit Width option selected on an Ellii Lesson PDF" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2362/content_Emily_Accessibility-Supporting-Blind-and-Low-Vision-Learners_02.jpg" /></p>

<h3>Don&#39;t forget about font size and&nbsp;style!</h3>

<p>It&#39;s&nbsp;essential to consider font size and style. Sans serif fonts (without &quot;flicks&quot;&nbsp;or &quot;tails&quot;) such as Arial, Trebuchet MS, and Calibri are easier to read. Ellii&nbsp;uses Open Sans, which is great for supporting students with low&nbsp;vision.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="A preview of the fonts Arial, Trebuchet MS, Calibri, and Open Sans" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2364/content_Emily_Accessibility-Supporting-Blind-and-Low-Vision-Learners_03.jpg" /></p>

<p>In general, these font sizes are advisable:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Print materials = 12 point minimum</li>
	<li>Presentations = 24 point minimum / 36 point recommended</li>
</ul>

<p>If your students&nbsp;are using their smartphones to access their learning, bear in mind that fonts can be even&nbsp;smaller.</p>

<p>In online classes, ask your students regularly if the text is large enough and make any necessary&nbsp;adjustments.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ellii&nbsp;uses a few different font sizes&nbsp;within their PDF worksheets. You can print these as A3 size paper&nbsp;to increase the font size. Content for young learners or made specifically for adult&nbsp;literacy are set higher at 14 point in a different font (Fredoka and&nbsp;Quicksand).&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Ellii young learner lesson using the fonts Fredoka and Quicksand" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2363/content_Emily_Accessibility-Supporting-Blind-and-Low-Vision-Learners_04.jpg" /></p>

<h2>Learners who are color blind</h2>

<p>Color blindness&nbsp;makes it difficult to distinguish and identify certain&nbsp;colors.</p>

<p>Remember to not rely solely on color&nbsp;to convey meaning. Make sure to also circle words, draw arrows, or bold fonts. These will provide clearer visual cues for color-blind&nbsp;students.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Avoid color combinations with red and green as these can be particularly difficult to&nbsp;differentiate.</p>

<h2>Supporting all learners</h2>

<p>It&rsquo;s not only blind or low-vision learners who will benefit from these adjustments in class. One small adaptation can be beneficial to many&nbsp;learners.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For example, learners can listen to the audio on the bus home from their language class&nbsp;or when they&#39;re making dinner. What&#39;s more, pretty much everyone finds larger fonts easier to&nbsp;read.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Do you teach blind or low-vision language learners?</h5>

<p>What adjustments have you found helpful? We&rsquo;d love to hear your ideas and tips.&nbsp;You can read more about <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-microsoft-immersive-reader-on-ellii " target="_blank">Immersive&nbsp;Reader</a>&nbsp;here.</p>
</div>


Accessibility: Supporting Blind & Low-Vision Learners

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

Grammar & Usage

<blockquote>Welcome to our&nbsp;<strong>Q&amp;A series</strong>! Our subscribers often write to our editors with excellent grammar or teaching questions.&nbsp;We wanted to share&nbsp;some of the more common questions and answers so that more people could&nbsp;benefit.</blockquote>

<h1>Question</h1>

<p>Are there cases where the <strong>present perfect</strong> and the <strong>present perfect progressive</strong> tenses are both&nbsp;correct? How can I explain this to my&nbsp;students?</p>

<h1>Answer</h1>

<p>One of the main uses of the present perfect tense&nbsp;is often interchangeable with the present perfect progressive (also known as the &quot;present perfect continuous&quot;), so this is a great&nbsp;question.</p>

<p>When I was doing my teacher training, a present perfect&nbsp;lesson was my first&nbsp;teaching assignment with actual students!&nbsp;I&#39;m not going to lie&mdash;I&nbsp;panicked and didn&#39;t explain it all that&nbsp;well.</p>

<p>In the years since, I got comfortable explaining both tenses, but I know how tough they are to&nbsp;teach.</p>

<p>Let&#39;s take a closer look!</p>

<h2>1. Form</h2>

<p>The first sentence below uses the present perfect tense (have + past participle). The second uses the present perfect progressive tense (have + been + -ing verb). Which is more common? Is there a difference in&nbsp;meaning?</p>

<ul>
	<li>I <strong>have studied</strong> English for five years.</li>
	<li>I <strong>have been studying</strong> English for five years.</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Function</h2>

<p>Both the present perfect and the present perfect progressive can describe an action that started in the <strong>past</strong> and continues to the&nbsp;<strong>present</strong>.</p>

<p>The reason we would choose to use the progressive form is to emphasize that the action will continue in the <strong>future</strong>.</p>

<p>It&#39;s not quite that simple, though. The present perfect is also commonly used for an action that will continue in the future. So how do we explain when to use these tenses to our&nbsp;students?</p>

<h2>3. Difference</h2>

<p>The <strong>focus</strong> of both tenses is on a past action that is continuing, and it&#39;s often not important to know if the action may or may not continue into the&nbsp;future.</p>

<ul>
	<li>If the future meaning is <strong>not important </strong>(which is the most common case), stick with the<strong> </strong>present perfect&nbsp;tense.</li>
	<li>If it&#39;s necessary to <strong>emphasize</strong> the future meaning, use the present perfect progressive&nbsp;tense.</li>
</ul>

<h2>4. Other tips</h2>

<p>I also share the following info with my students to make sure they&#39;re clear on which tense to&nbsp;use.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Overall, the present perfect tense is&nbsp;<strong>more common</strong> than the present perfect progressive, so it&#39;s usually the best&nbsp;choice.</li>
	<li>Verbs that are less active (like &quot;live&quot;) use the present perfect more often, while more active verbs like &quot;study&quot; can take either tense&mdash;though the present perfect is also&nbsp;more common in this case&nbsp;too.</li>
	<li>For example, it&#39;s more common to hear &quot;I <em><strong>ha<strong>v</strong>e lived</strong> in Canada for eight years</em>,&quot; but that doesn&#39;t mean that &quot;I <strong>ha</strong><em><strong>ve been living</strong> in Canada for eight years</em>&quot; is wrong (it&#39;s correct too, but less common and not necessary unless you really want to emphasize that you&#39;re going to keep living in&nbsp;Canada).</li>
	<li>An example of a good time to use the present perfect progressive is during a job interview when you want to emphasize that your training is ongoing (e.g., <em>I <strong>have been learning</strong> English since high school, and I&#39;m still taking night classes to further improve my&nbsp;fluency</em>.)</li>
</ul>

<h2>Related materials that will make teaching easier</h2>

<p>For a more detailed look at these verb tenses (including diagrams, time markers, and exceptions), check out these posts on our&nbsp;blog:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/present-perfect-two-uses" target="_blank">Present Perfect: Two Uses</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/present-perfect-vs-present-perfect-progressive" target="_blank">Present Perfect Vs. Present Perfect Progressive</a></li>
</ul>

<p>We also have videos on these two tenses that are free to watch on Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ESLlibrary" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>.</p>

<p>If you&#39;re subscribed to the Ellii platform, you can type&nbsp;&quot;present perfect&quot; or &quot;present perfect progressive&quot; into the search field on our site for a lot of great lessons and resources on these two tricky tenses, including the comprehensive <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1597" target="_blank">Present Perfect</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1598" target="_blank">Present Perfect Progressive</a> lessons in our Grammar Practice Worksheets&nbsp;section.</p>

<p>Good luck and happy&nbsp;teaching!</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

<p>If you have any questions want to ask me or suggestions you&#39;d like to share, please leave them in the comment area&nbsp;below.</p>
</div>


Q&A: How to Explain the Present Perfect & Present Perfect Progressive

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<p>Teachers often prepare&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/pre-reading-activities-to-boost-comprehension" target="_blank">pre-reading</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/9-post-reading-activities-to-help-students-reflect-on-a-text" target="_blank">post-reading</a> activities to help students develop their reading skills, but they don&rsquo;t always plan activities for students to do while they are actively&nbsp;reading a text.</p>

<p>Having students perform tasks as they read serves several purposes. It gives students the opportunity to confirm any predictions made during the pre-reading stage. It also helps students to read more carefully and focus on the content as they gather and organize information.</p>

<p>Here are 10 activities that will&nbsp;get your&nbsp;students to actively engage with a text and increase their understanding while reading.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>1. Skim for the main idea</h2>

<p>Before students get into the nitty-gritty of the text, have them skim the text for a general overview. Encourage them to look at headings, visuals, and bold words. These things will help students find the main topic&nbsp;or purpose of a reading quickly.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
Teach your students the basics of how to skim a text with Ellii&#39;s lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/127/lessons/3179" target="_blank">Skimming &amp; Scanning</a>.</p>

<h2>2. Scan for specific information</h2>

<p>Prepare a few questions that ask for specific information such as names, dates, times, and numbers. This will give students an idea of the scope of a reading.</p>

<h2>3. Summarize or paraphrase</h2>

<p>Put students in pairs then&nbsp;have them read one paragraph at a time silently. When they finish, ask them to take turns summarizing or paraphrasing the paragraph they&#39;ve just read.</p>

<h2>4. Use context clues</h2>

<p>As students read, have them circle any unfamiliar words or expressions. Before they reach for their dictionaries or phones, have them take a closer look at the words preceding and following the unknown terms. Using context clues, see if they can figure out their&nbsp;meaning.</p>

<h2>5. Make predictions</h2>

<p>After students have read a paragraph or section, have them pause and say what they think is going to happen next.</p>

<h2>6. Annotate the text</h2>

<p>As students read, encourage them to note their reactions to the text in the margins.</p>

<p>They can place a question mark when they don&rsquo;t understand something, a star when something is important, and an exclamation mark when they are surprised.</p>

<h2>7. Consider other perspectives</h2>

<p>After students have read the text one time, ask them to read it again and pretend they are reading it from someone else&rsquo;s point of view.</p>

<h2>8. Participate in a jigsaw activity</h2>

<p>This collaborative technique works well for longer texts.</p>

<p>Assign each student to a &ldquo;jigsaw&rdquo; group then&nbsp;give each student a section of the text to read. When they have finished, have them get together with members from the other groups who&#39;ve been assigned the same section.</p>

<p>In these new groups, students discuss and become &ldquo;experts&rdquo; on their section. Students then return to their original &ldquo;jigsaw&rdquo; groups and teach their group members about their section.</p>

<h2>9. Put text in order</h2>

<p>Cut up the reading and have students put it in order. This activity requires students to think logically as they examine sequencing words and transitions.</p>

<h2>10.&nbsp;Create a Venn diagram</h2>

<p>Students are often asked to read articles that compare and contrast two or more topics. (For example, see Ellii&rsquo;s lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons/1962" target="_blank">J-Pop Vs. K-Pop</a>.)</p>

<p>As students use this graphic organizer to note&nbsp;the similarities and differences of two or more items, they will better understand the relationship between them.</p>

<h2>Improve their reading experience with Immersive Reader</h2>

<p>In addition to these activities, students can also optimize their reading experience by using <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-microsoft-immersive-reader-on-ellii" target="_blank">Microsoft&rsquo;s Immersive Reader</a>, which is now available on the Ellii platform.</p>

<p>The Immersive Reader promotes accessibility for learners of all ages and abilities. By implementing it in class, you can help improve student comprehension and focus.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

<p>What activities do you have your students do while they&#39;re reading?&nbsp;Please share your ideas in the comments below.</p>
</div>


10 Activities to Increase Understanding While Reading

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

EdTech

<p>As Ellii&rsquo;s Chief Impact Officer, I&rsquo;ve enjoyed a long and passionate career in the EdTech space.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Starting in the mid &lsquo;80s when email in schools didn&rsquo;t exist, I&rsquo;ve observed the transformation and impact technology can have on the education sector. Some EdTech tools are great at giving teachers flexibility over their courseware, personalizing student learning, and driving student outcomes. Others leave much to be desired.</p>

<p>Many of us tend to go for the latest EdTech tool on the market thinking that new means better. But if there&rsquo;s one thing I&rsquo;ve learned throughout the years it&rsquo;s that just because an EdTech tool is new, colorful, and game-based doesn&rsquo;t mean it&rsquo;s <strong>engaging</strong>, <strong>user-friendly</strong>, or <strong>effective</strong> for teachers and their students.&nbsp;</p>

<p>So how do you know which digital learning tool to choose?&nbsp;</p>

<p>To help you identify the right EdTech tool for your school or district, it&rsquo;s important to ask the following questions:</p>

<ol>
	<li data-stringify-border="0" data-stringify-indent="0">Does the tool really focus on <strong>what teachers value</strong> and will actually use? Or does it try to be the solution for everything?</li>
	<li data-stringify-border="0" data-stringify-indent="0">Does the tool promote <a href="https://edtechdigest.blog/2014/04/04/concept-mastery/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">concept mastery</a> and does it correlate with the student&rsquo;s academic success?</li>
	<li data-stringify-border="0" data-stringify-indent="0">Does the tool heighten&nbsp;<a data-remove-tab-index="true" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-stringify-link="https://eleducation.org/resources/collaborative-culture-academic-talk" delay="150" href="https://eleducation.org/resources/collaborative-culture-academic-talk" rel="noopener noreferrer" tabindex="-1" target="_blank">academic conversations</a>&nbsp;and leverage existing knowledge?</li>
	<li data-stringify-border="0" data-stringify-indent="0">Does the tool support <strong>learning design</strong> for both the teacher and the student?</li>
</ol>

<h2>EdTech Tools Should Leave Room for Teacher-Student Interactions</h2>

<p>No matter which tool you go with, <strong>teacher interaction </strong>still remains incredibly important when it comes to personalized learning. When a teacher is less involved in their students&rsquo; learning journey, students tend to disengage, regardless of platform interactivity.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Now more than ever, students are craving connection and meaningful learning experiences where teachers can guide knowledge transfer.</p>

<h2>Choose an EdTech Tool That Makes Your Teachers Feel Valued</h2>

<p>In addition to facilitating a positive learning experience between teachers and students, a good EdTech tool should also make your teachers feel<strong> recognized</strong> and <strong>valued</strong>.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
English language teachers value EdTech tools that...</p>

<ul>
	<li>provide students with interesting and relevant content</li>
	<li>use the advantages of technology to enhance reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills</li>
	<li>are simple to use</li>
	<li>provide teachers with high-quality, ready-made lessons and the flexibility to modify as needed</li>
	<li>have multimodal assessment tools, such as the ability to record feedback (this is faster than writing, more personal, and builds students&rsquo; English listening skills)</li>
	<li>can be used at home and at school, and includes both digital and paper-based options</li>
	<li>gives students and teachers agency, allowing for teacher and student-driven experiences (e.g., the option to activate learning tools, like <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-microsoft-immersive-reader-on-ellii" target="_blank">Immersive Reader</a>, or not based on needs)</li>
</ul>

<p>Above all, a good EdTech tool should give teachers and students meaningful and personalized control&mdash;not just choice&mdash;over their teaching and learning.</p>

<p>Valuable learning tools&nbsp;like <a href="https://ellii.com/" target="_blank">Ellii</a>&nbsp;recognize that every classroom, teacher, and student is unique and has different needs.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Ready to get started with Ellii?</h5>

<p>If you&#39;re a teacher or part of a school, please contact Lei at <a href="mailto:lei@ellii.com">lei@ellii.com</a>. If you&#39;re from a district or an adult education organization, please contact Mari at <a href="mailto:mari@ellii.com">mari@ellii.com</a>.</p>
</div>


How to Choose the Right EdTech Tool for Your School or District

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<p>I teach people from refugee backgrounds in a Further Education college in Scotland. Many of my students&nbsp;have few&nbsp;digital skills.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Over the years, I&rsquo;ve taught my language learners&nbsp;basic <strong>digital literacy skills</strong> such as using a mouse, pressing the return key to send a message, and switching between capital and lowercase letters.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>While we often focus on reading, writing, speaking, and listening in the language classroom, it&rsquo;s also important to consider digital skills.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The best way to do this is to<strong> </strong><strong>incorporate digital tools</strong> into your classroom practices.</p>

<p>I&rsquo;ve found using the Ellii&nbsp;platform is an excellent way to do this as its navigation is intuitive.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here are my eight tips for using Ellii to help develop your students&#39; digital literacy skills.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>1. Keep It Simple</h2>

<p>Learning how to use new software for the first time can be overwhelming. Try to keep the process as simple as you can. If possible, use a platform your students are already familiar with.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For example, most language learners can use email or may be familiar with <a href="https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6020279?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Google Classroom</a>. Ellii PDFs can be emailed to students&nbsp;or embedded directly into Google Classroom.&nbsp;</p>

<p>When I first started using Ellii, I was nervous about my students remembering their login information&nbsp;or spelling their username and password correctly. I didn&rsquo;t need to worry since they can sign in with Google.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This was a game changer! Most of my students are already logged in to Google on their devices, so logging in to Ellii was simply a case of clicking&nbsp;<strong>Log In with Google</strong>.</p>

<h2>2. Send Hyperlinks</h2>

<p>This might sound simplistic, but you&rsquo;ll be surprised how often I receive a link that I need to copy and paste into my browser.&nbsp;This is fine if you know how to copy and paste.&nbsp;For students who don&rsquo;t, <strong>hyperlinks are essential</strong>.</p>

<p>Here&#39;s how you do it: When you copy-paste a link into your learning platform or into an email for homework, press the <strong>Return</strong> key (aka the Enter key) while the cursor is on the last digit of the link. The link will then turn blue and be underlined.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
<img alt="How to copy-paste a link and turn it into a hyperlink" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2316/content_copy-paste-hyperlink.jpg" /></p>

<h2>3. Send Simpler, More&nbsp;Accurate&nbsp;Links</h2>

<p>When I first started using the Ellii platform, I would send emails to students asking them to complete the homework on Ellii.com.&nbsp;I didn&rsquo;t realize I was adding an unnecessary additional step for students.</p>

<p>My students had to find the <strong>Log In</strong>&nbsp;button on the top right, then select <strong>Log In As a Student</strong>.&nbsp;This was too much for some.&nbsp;I soon realized that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ellii.com/students" target="_blank">www.ellii.com/students</a> takes students straight to the student login page.&nbsp;A rookie error, but an easy one to fix.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<h2>4. Try It Together</h2>

<p>When I introduce my English language learners to new technology, I prefer to do this face to face.</p>

<p>First, I demonstrate the steps, and then I&rsquo;ll ask students to do it themselves. If possible, I watch them do this so I know they can do it unsupported.&nbsp;</p>

<p>When they have difficulties, it can be tempting to take their phone and log in for them&nbsp;but this doesn&rsquo;t ensure they can do it alone. Allowing them time and space to figure out how to perform a digital task themselves lets them find their own way and gives them confidence in their own abilities.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>5. Bookmark Pages</h2>

<p>Bookmarking a page on your browser saves the site&nbsp;for later. This means students don&rsquo;t need to remember the name of the site or how to spell it. They can bookmark all the&nbsp;pages they frequently use for study, work, and life.</p>

<p>To do this, Google Chrome has a star icon in the right corner of your browser bar. Selecting the star adds the site to the bookmarks bar at the top of the browser window.</p>

<p><img alt="Bookmark star selected in Google Chrome browser" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2307/content_bookmark-chrome.jpg" /></p>

<p>In Safari, select the <strong>Share&nbsp;</strong>button then click on <strong>Add Bookmark</strong>.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Share button selected and Add Bookmark selected in Safari browser" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2308/content_bookmark-safari.jpg" /></p>

<p>Once you&rsquo;ve helped students bookmark pages on their own device, check that they can easily find and access them again.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>6. Use Instructional Videos</h2>

<p>As with any technology, instructional videos can be invaluable, especially if teaching online.&nbsp;</p>

<p>I used the&nbsp;<a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/218-how-to-sign-in-students" target="_blank">How to Sign In</a>&nbsp;video to help my students log in for the first time.&nbsp;You can also check out Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://help.ellii.com/" target="_blank">Help Docs</a> which include more instructional videos.</p>

<h2>7. Log In As a Student</h2>

<p>I&rsquo;ve added myself as a student to all my classes. This is a great way to show students how to navigate the platform because it allows you to&nbsp;demonstrate&nbsp;to them how to access assignments and flashcards.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<h2>8. Use a&nbsp;Digital Buddy System</h2>

<p>It can be a good idea to follow a digital buddy system where you&nbsp;match students with stronger digital skills with those who need more support. This way, your learners can teach each other how to use the platform.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If your students speak different languages, this offers an additional opportunity to practice their English. For students&nbsp;who speak the same language, this lets them learn new skills in their first language, without additional language stressors.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/3292" target="_blank">Digital Learning with Ellii</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards/electronics-gadgets/computers" target="_blank">Computer Vocabulary&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards/digital-literacy-with-ellii" target="_blank">Digital Literacy&nbsp;Vocabulary</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/3651 " target="_blank">Digital Literacy Needs Assessment</a></li>
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/folders/published/82130" target="_blank">Digital Literacy Ellii Folder (Beg &ndash; Low Int)</a></li>
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/folders/published/82132" target="_blank">Digital Literacy Ellii Folder (Int &ndash; Adv)</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2505 " target="_blank">Using a Computer</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2511" target="_blank">Using the Internet</a>&nbsp;</li>
</ul>


8 Tips for Developing Students' Digital Literacy 

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<div class="white-box">
<p>Are you proud of the amazing things your students have been doing in class recently? Well, we&rsquo;re curious and want to hear all about it! In our new monthly <strong>Student Showcase</strong> <strong>series</strong>, we&#39;re asking&nbsp;teachers like you to share the creative&nbsp;approaches you&#39;ve taken to&nbsp;teaching your students in class and to show off the incredible work your&nbsp;students have done.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Your students deserve to have their work front and center&nbsp;in our showcase, so stay tuned each month for a new challenge. Follow the <strong>Video Challenge instructions</strong> below for your chance to have your students&#39; work featured on our blog!</p>
</div>

<h2>April&#39;s Student Showcase:&nbsp;Earth Day</h2>

<p>On April 22, 1970, the very first grassroots demonstration to raise environmental awareness took place in the United States. Approximately 20 million Americans, including thousands of students, took to the streets in peaceful protest. Since this day, April 22 has been known as <strong>Earth Day</strong>.</p>

<p>All around the world, we celebrate and recognize the importance of Earth Day by discussing the many ways in which we can help preserve the environment and make the Earth a cleaner and healthier place for everyone.</p>

<h2>This Month&#39;s Video Challenge</h2>

<p>How do you teach your students about Earth Day? What topics do you focus on? What topics related to the environment are prominent in your community? We&#39;d love for you to show us some of the great activities, projects, games, and artwork your students have created on this topic!</p>

<p>Follow the Video Challenge instructions and submit a short video or text response about your lesson and students&#39; work related to Earth Day.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Video Challenge Instructions</h3>

<p><iframe allow="camera *; microphone *; autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; display-capture *;" height="600px" src="https://www.videoask.com/fuccs5oss" style="border: none; border-radius: 24px" width="100%"></iframe></p>

<p>You can also send additional pictures or material to us at <a href="mailto:hello@ellii.com">hello@ellii.com</a>. If your submission is chosen, we&#39;ll feature your students&rsquo; work at the end of the month in our follow-up blog post.</p>

<h2>Lessons on Earth Day</h2>

<p>Not sure how to teach about Earth Day? If you&rsquo;re looking for inspiration, here are some&nbsp;lessons and activities for all ages and language levels related to&nbsp;Earth Day and the importance of taking care of our environment.</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2682" target="_blank">Earth Day - Word Bank</a>&nbsp;(Lit &ndash; Pre Beg)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/134/lessons/3662" target="_blank">Earth Day - Word Bank Readers</a>&nbsp;(Beg / CLB 2&ndash;3)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/2199" target="_blank">Earth Day - Holidays &amp; Events</a>&nbsp;(Low Int / CLB 3&ndash;5)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1877" target="_blank">Earth Day - Holidays &amp; Events</a>&nbsp;(High Int &ndash; Adv / CLB 8&ndash;10)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2142" target="_blank">Earth Day - Idioms Poster</a>&nbsp;(Lit &ndash; Adv / CLB 1&ndash;12)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards/holidays-events/earth-day" target="_blank">Earth Day - Flashcard Set</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>Related Lessons</h2>

<p>Looking for a lesson related to some of the world&#39;s biggest environmental concerns? From climate change to vanishing honeybees, we&#39;ve got lessons on many Earth Day-related themes.</p>

<p>Check out our top-rated lesson list below or browse through our <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/the-environment" target="_blank">Environment</a>&nbsp;collection for all lessons, digital tasks, flashcards, and activities on this topic.</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/3235" target="_blank">Climate Change</a>&nbsp;(Low Int / CLB 3&ndash;4)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons/3821" target="_blank">Climate Change and Mental Health</a>&nbsp;(Int &ndash; High Int)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/2401" target="_blank">The Great Barrier Reef</a>&nbsp;(Int)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/73/lessons/1297" target="_blank">The Kyoto Protocol</a>&nbsp;(Int &ndash; Adv / CLB 7&ndash;9)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1280" target="_blank">Vanishing Honeybees</a>&nbsp;(High Int / CLB 6&ndash;8)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons/4024" target="_blank">UN Plastics Treaty</a>&nbsp;(High Int &ndash; Adv / CLB 6&ndash;12)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons/3698" target="_blank">Amazon Destroys Unsold Items</a>&nbsp;(Int)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons/2614" target="_blank">Wildfires</a>&nbsp;(Int &ndash; High Int)</li>
</ul>


Student Showcase: Earth Day Challenge

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<div class="white-box">
<p>This article is part of a series of posts highlighting our community of teachers around the world. We hope you find their stories interesting and inspiring!</p>
</div>

<p>At 35 years old, Kieran O&#39;Driscoll left his 17-year-long career at&nbsp;Tipperary County Council and Listowel Urban District Council in the Republic of Ireland&nbsp;to pursue his twin passions:&nbsp;languages and teaching.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I had always, from earliest childhood, been very interested in becoming a teacher,&quot; said Kieran. &quot;At&nbsp;age 18, I took a job in local government administration in which I stayed for over 17 years,&nbsp;but the love of languages&mdash;English, Irish, and French&mdash;never left me.&quot;</p>

<h2>A Fresh Start</h2>

<p>Kieran went back to school to study languages and translation, got his PhD in French-English literary translation studies and Jules Verne studies, worked as a lecturer and researcher at a few Irish and UK higher education&nbsp;institutions, and got his TESOL qualifications.</p>

<p>Today&nbsp;he teaches intermediate-level Academic English to adult students at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ucd.ie/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">University College Dublin</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ucdela.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">English Language Academy</a> in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.</p>

<p>He&rsquo;s been teaching for almost 19 years now.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Teaching Academic English,&nbsp;as I have done for the past few years on a university campus, is an ideal job for me as I can combine my academic research and writing experience with teaching English for specific&mdash;in my case, academic&mdash;purposes,&quot; said Kieran. &quot;I love the idea of teaching as I always loved learning.&rdquo;</p>

<p><img alt="Photo of Kieran O'Driscoll" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2263/content_content_PHOTOGRAPH_KIERAN_ODRISCOLL.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Kieran O&#39;Driscoll&nbsp;is pictured here.</p>

<p>For Kieran, a typical day of teaching starts at 9:00 am. He teaches Academic English in the morning and <a href="https://www.ielts.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">IELTS (International English Language Testing System)</a> exam preparation in the afternoon. He usually ends his day with an hour or two of lesson planning, marking, and responding to emails from colleagues and students.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Since January 2022, I&#39;ve been fortunate enough to be back full time in the physical classroom, which my students, colleagues, and I all&nbsp;prefer as there is often better teacher-student interaction and higher-quality communicative-based teaching and learning made possible by the traditional physical setting,&quot; said Kieran.</p>

<p>&quot;Having said that, it does have to be acknowledged that it was really helpful to have the opportunity to continue to teach and learn online during the worst of the pandemic. I admire all students and teachers who made the best of things in a difficult situation and carried on doing education remotely.&rdquo;</p>

<h2>How Kieran Uses Ellii in His Classroom</h2>

<p>Kieran is big fan of Ellii and has been for a long time.</p>

<p>Many of his favorite lessons are from the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons" target="_blank">Discussion Starters</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/73/lessons" target="_blank">Mini-Debates</a> sections.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I find the Discussion Starters and Mini-Debates really useful and engaging,&quot; he said. &quot;Always great for getting students talking, thinking critically, and working together whilst improving their reading and speaking skills.<br />
<br />
&quot;I also love the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/111/lessons" target="_blank">Group Projects</a>, which I&#39;ve used for group presentations in both General and Academic English. Students have thus given really interesting, information-rich, and visually appealing presentations on such project topics.&rdquo;</p>

<p>One of his absolute favorite lessons&nbsp;is the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1867" target="_blank">St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day</a> lesson, which he taught&nbsp;this March.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have a soft spot for the lesson on St. Patrick&#39;s Day as it&#39;s very relevant here in Ireland,&quot; Kieran admitted. &quot;I once again taught this lesson and students once more enjoyed it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Above all, Kieran loves seeing his students reach their personal, professional, and linguistic goals.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Seeing them happy at the end of a lesson and at the end of their course and watching them go on to great things&mdash;the quiet satisfaction of a job well done,&rdquo; he said.</p>

<p>When asked if he had any advice for aspiring teachers, Kieran said it&rsquo;s important to be confident.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Believe in yourself, enjoy the teaching, never stop learning, and have lots of fun&nbsp;whilst cultivating a healthy work-life balance.&rdquo;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Want the chance to be featured in our Teacher Feature series? Visit our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/20th-anniversary-giveaway" target="_blank">20th Anniversary Giveaway</a>&nbsp;blog post&nbsp;to tell us why you love Ellii and how you use it in your classroom.&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
