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

Articles

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


Words of the Year 2025

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

Teaching with Ellii

<p><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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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>
</div>

<p>At the beginning of May, we recognized Mental Health Awareness month by challenging teachers like you to complete one of our positive mental health class activities with your students. We then asked you to share some pictures with us to show off your&nbsp;students&rsquo; work! Take a look at the&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/student-showcase-positive-mental-health-challenge" target="_blank">original post</a>&nbsp;that inspired these&nbsp;submissions.</p>

<p>Thank you to everyone who&nbsp;answered&nbsp;our Video Challenge. We hope&nbsp;these teacher and student submissions inspire you to try new and creative activities with your&nbsp;class.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Student Showcase</h2>

<h3>Student feature 1</h3>

<p>This student completed Challenge 1 with their class and wrote out a&nbsp;list of&nbsp;positive affirmations using some of our recommended sentence structures. The final results are guaranteed to make you&nbsp;smile.</p>

<p>Here are just a few of the affirmations they came up&nbsp;with:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I am smart. I am brave. I am strong.</li>
	<li>I try my best. I work hard. I study a lot.</li>
	<li>I am proud of myself for learning English.</li>
</ul>

<p>Way to go, we love your positivity!</p>

<p><img alt="List of 8 positive affirmations written on paper." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2433/content_positive-affirmations.jpg" /></p>

<h3>Student feature 2</h3>

<p>The second student featured in this month&rsquo;s Student Showcase completed Challenge 2 with their class. They created a beautiful poster that explains their emotions&nbsp;and what they do when they feel sad, angry, anxious, or scared.</p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong>&nbsp;When I feel anxious...</p>

<p><strong>Student&#39;s reply:&nbsp;</strong>&quot;I go somewhere that I feel safe and take deep breaths. I hug my dog and let my body&nbsp;relax.&quot;</p>

<p><img alt="My emotions poster where students write down how they feel when they're sad, angry, anxious, or scared." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2434/content_my-emotions-poster.jpg" /></p>

<h3>Student Feature 3</h3>

<p>Our final student feature also created a poster but decided to use stickers as their inspiration instead. Some of the stickers include affirmations like &quot;Take care of yourself,&quot; &quot;Share kindness today!&quot; and &quot;Good things are&nbsp;coming.&quot;</p>

<p>After drawing a picture, they wrote out their affirmations under&nbsp;the stickers to practice their spelling and learn a few&nbsp;new phrases.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This is an excellent&nbsp;way to give your students the chance to get creative in class, explore their emotions, and spread some positive&nbsp;vibes!</p>

<p><img alt="Collage of positive affirmation stickers." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2435/content_affirmation-stickers.jpg" /></p>

<p><img alt="Written list of the same positive affirmations found on the stickers." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2436/content_affirmations.jpg" /></p>

<p>We hope you find these projects as inspiring as we do. Try these <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/student-showcase-positive-mental-health-challenge" target="_blank">creative mental health challenges</a>&nbsp;yourself next time you teach about emotions or positive mental&nbsp;health!</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

<p>What kind of activities, projects, or games did your class do for Mental Health Awareness month? Tell us about them&nbsp;in the&nbsp;comments&nbsp;below!</p>
</div>


Student Showcase: Positive Mental Health Projects

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

For Students

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<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2373/blog-focus-1.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

<p><strong>Are you struggling to focus?</strong></p>

<p>I&#39;ve noticed many people complaining that they can&#39;t focus like they used to. They struggle to finish a book, pay attention during&nbsp;a meeting, or watch&nbsp;a full movie (without checking their news&nbsp;<strong>feed</strong>).<br />
<br />
I attended an online writing class this week, and the teacher started by asking us&nbsp;to <strong>eliminate</strong> all distractions. She reminded us that we&#39;d learn a lot more if we focused on the one thing we were supposed to be doing: watching her class (and maybe taking a few notes). It&nbsp;worked!</p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Tip:</strong> Good ol&#39; note-taking&nbsp;(by hand) can help you&nbsp;maintain&nbsp;focus during class because you aren&#39;t just sitting still. If&nbsp;you prefer to use a device&nbsp;to take notes, turn off your notifications and&nbsp;go offline (or on airplane mode).&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Improve your focus one goal at a time</h2>

<p>I listened to&nbsp;<a href="http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/johann-hari-stolen-focus-pt-1/id1264843400?i=1000555669267" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><em>Oprah&#39;s Super Soul</em>&nbsp;podcast</a> last weekend where&nbsp;Johann Hari summarized his research on distractions from&nbsp;his book <em>Stolen Focus: Why You Can&#39;t Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply&nbsp;Again</em>.</p>

<p>He reminded us of something important too: &quot;Your attention didn&#39;t collapse. Your attention has been stolen from you by some really big and powerful&nbsp;forces.&quot;</p>

<p>In the podcast, Hari recommended&nbsp;focusing on one goal at a time. In addition to being&nbsp;<strong>meaningful, </strong>a&nbsp;goal should be set&nbsp;just&nbsp;outside of your <strong>comfort&nbsp;zone</strong>.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Did you know? The average college student <strong>switches</strong> tasks <strong>every&nbsp;65&nbsp;seconds</strong>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Johann Hari,&nbsp;<em>Stolen Focus</em></p>
</blockquote>

<h2>4 types of goals to help language learners regain focus</h2>

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<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2374/blog-focus-2.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

<p>Johann Hari described&nbsp;four&nbsp;types of goals. <em>(You can use these as inspiration to get your language learning back on track.)</em></p>

<h3>1. Spotlight goals</h3>

<p>A spotlight goal is an immediate goal. You want to get something done right now (e.g., writing or reading this blog post). If we don&#39;t put a task like this into the spotlight, we&#39;ll undoubtedly&nbsp;get distracted by another shiny thing (or&nbsp;ping).<br />
<br />
For example, last week, my daughter asked me to print something for her. I went upstairs to my office, turned on my computer, and noticed a message from a colleague. I answered the message&nbsp;and then&nbsp;checked my LinkedIn updates. Then I turned off my computer and grabbed some dirty laundry and went back&nbsp;downstairs.<br />
<br />
<em>&quot;Did you print my essay, Mom?&quot;<br />
&quot;No. I&#39;ll do that. Can you bring down your laundry?&quot;&nbsp;</em></p>

<p>Clearly, I need to work on eliminating&nbsp;distractions when it comes to immediate tasks. I could also work on not&nbsp;distracting others who have an immediate task of their own to&nbsp;complete.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Challenge yourself: </strong>Your immediate language learning goal is to listen to and read this post without getting distracted. (Let&#39;s see if you can get all the way to the&nbsp;end.)</p>

<h3>2. Daylight goals</h3>

<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio" style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2375/blog-focus-3.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

<p>Hari described&nbsp;a daylight goal as the ability to simply know what your goals&nbsp;are.</p>

<p>One of my favorite ways to prioritize my&nbsp;goals is&nbsp;with Jennifer Louden&#39;s <a href="https://medium.com/@jenlouden/how-one-metaphor-can-change-everything-85a480b120be" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><em>Pots on the Stove</em> metaphor</a>.</p>

<p><img alt="Drawing of burners on a stove with goals written in each burner" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2371/content_Tara_daylight-goals-pots-on-a-stove.jpg" /></p>

<p>Once a week, I draw a stovetop in my journal&mdash;five circles of various sizes (some <strong>burners</strong> are bigger than others).&nbsp;Inside the circles, I write my main&nbsp;goals for the week, making sure to note which ones will require more attention. These&nbsp;may include work goals, personal goals, and other&nbsp;things&nbsp;that just need&nbsp;to get&nbsp;done.</p>

<p><strong>Challenge yourself: </strong>What are your language learning goals for this week? (Try the pots on the stove exercise above.)&nbsp;</p>

<h3>3. Starlight goals</h3>

<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio" style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2376/blog-focus-4.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

<p>A starlight goal is&nbsp;a long-term goal. If we allow ourselves to be constantly distracted, we won&#39;t achieve any of&nbsp;these.</p>

<p>Every year, I encourage my family, friends, and colleagues to choose a <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/word-of-the-year-2022" target="_blank">Word of the Year</a>. Unlike a New Year&#39;s resolution, the word you choose&nbsp;acts as a guiding&nbsp;light.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
<strong>Challenge yourself:</strong><strong><em> </em></strong>What&#39;s one long-term language learning goal that you have? (Make it meaningful and just outside your comfort&nbsp;zone.)</p>

<h3>4. Stadium light goals</h3>

<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio" style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2377/blog-focus-5.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

<p>A stadium light goal&nbsp;is a collective or group goal. This type of goal requires us to pay attention to each&nbsp;other.</p>

<p>For example, at work, we use roadmaps, <strong>objectives and key results (OKRs)</strong>, and check-ins&nbsp;to keep us on track with annual and quarterly&nbsp;goals.&nbsp;</p>

<p>I share collective goals with some of my&nbsp;exercise club, such as meeting every week for a workout and meeting quarterly for a neighborhood fun&nbsp;run.</p>

<p>One goal I&#39;d like to set with my family is for everyone to remain at the dinner table until everyone else is finished eating. This time is important to me because it&#39;s when everyone shares a <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/improve-your-listening-with-true-stories" target="_blank">story</a> from their&nbsp;day.</p>

<p><strong>Challenge yourself: </strong>What&#39;s one collective goal you could set with your language class? (If you aren&#39;t in a class, you could find&nbsp;a learning&nbsp;partner.)</p>

<h2>Glossary</h2>

<ul>
	<li><strong>switch</strong>: <em>to quickly&nbsp;go from one thing or position to another</em></li>
	<li><strong>feed</strong>: <em>a constant stream of information or updates</em></li>
	<li><strong>eliminate</strong>: <em>to fully remove</em></li>
	<li><strong>meaningful</strong>: <em>having a real purpose</em></li>
	<li><strong>outside one&#39;s comfort zone</strong>: <em>in a place or situation where one feels a bit challenged or&nbsp;uncomfortable</em></li>
	<li><strong>burner</strong>: <em>the element on a stovetop where the heat comes&nbsp;through</em></li>
	<li><strong>OKRs</strong>: <em>objectives and key results, a goal-setting system for setting ambitious, measurable goal</em>s&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Complete your first spotlight goal in the comments</h5>

<p>You made it to the end! Now, complete your spotlight&nbsp;goal.</p>

<p>Step outside your comfort zone and answer&nbsp;the following question in the comments: <strong>What distractions do you need to eliminate to achieve your long-term language learning&nbsp;goal?</strong></p>
</div>


Struggling to Focus? 4 Types of Goals to Get Your Language Learning Back on Track

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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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<div class="white-box">
<p>This article is part of a series of posts highlighting education systems around the world. With this article, we hope to raise awareness of&nbsp;both the needs of the students and the challenges of running an English language program online. We also hope to share heartwarming and inspiring success stories with our community of teachers around the&nbsp;world.</p>
</div>

<p><a href="https://www.outreach360.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Outreach360</a> was conceived&nbsp;when CEO and founder Tom Eklund visited an orphanage in the Dominican Republic in&nbsp;1994.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What he saw at that orphanage were children full of potential, but they just didn&rsquo;t have the same opportunities that he had had growing up,&quot; said Outreach360&#39;s President and Virtual Impact Program Director Coco Barrett. &quot;He wanted to make a difference. He wanted to make an impact for these&nbsp;children.&quot;</p>

<p>When Tom got back to the United States, he recruited volunteers interested in going to the Dominican and working with children. These volunteers supported orphanages, ran after-school programs, and operated learning&nbsp;centers.</p>

<p>Eventually, Outreach360 expanded their volunteer efforts to Nicaragua&nbsp;where they shifted away from working in orphanages to solely focus on providing educational opportunities for&nbsp;children.</p>

<p>When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Outreach360 decided to transition to a fully virtual program permanently, allowing them to reach more people in more&nbsp;countries.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What we do is we bring together volunteers from all around the world with our students who are all in Latin America,&rdquo; said Academic Director Adie&nbsp;Jalfin.</p>

<p><img alt="Screen view of six young students attending an Enlgish language class virtually from their home" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2347/content_Outreach360_Virtual-Language-Class.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">A virtual language class is pictured here.</p>

<h2>Outreach360 programs that make a difference globally</h2>

<h3>Virtual English Academy</h3>

<p>Their <a href="https://www.outreach360.org/virtual-english-academy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Virtual English Academy</a> is a Monday to Friday after-school program.</p>

<p>Through donations, students from all over Latin America receive full scholarships to attend. The program consists of formal online English classes and participation in additional enrichment&nbsp;activities.</p>

<p>Older students in the program also have the opportunity to receive their TEFL (English as a Foreign Language) certification so they can&nbsp;teach younger&nbsp;students.</p>

<p>Upon completion of the program, students are able to speak English fluently, have gained teaching experience, and are certified to teach English. Graduates have also acquired valuable skills in technology, leadership, literacy, and critical&nbsp;thinking.</p>

<p>&ldquo;All of our parents have communicated&nbsp;that the reason their children are in this [program] is that they&nbsp;know&nbsp;English is going to open up doors for them professionally moving forward,&quot; Adie&nbsp;said. &quot;They&rsquo;re going to have more&nbsp;opportunities.&quot;</p>

<h3>Virtual Impact Program</h3>

<p>Through the <a href="https://www.outreach360.org/virtualimpact" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Virtual Impact Program</a>, English teachers volunteer for three months at a&nbsp;time.</p>

<p>They receive training and support&nbsp;and are paired with another educator who teaches alongside them. Teachers follow a specific curriculum and are provided with pre-planned activities. If they want, they&rsquo;re welcome to plan additional&nbsp;activities.</p>

<h2>Expanding students&#39; knowledge &amp; opportunities</h2>

<p>The number of students Outreach360 is able to enroll in the program depends on the number of volunteers they&nbsp;have.</p>

<p>Presently, 60 students are enrolled in the academy and more than 100 are on a waiting list. Over the years, Outreach360 has provided educational opportunities to more than 12,000&nbsp;students.</p>

<p>Younaly is a student currently enrolled in the Virtual English Academy. She&rsquo;s nine years old and lives in Nicaragua. Her mother is incredibly grateful to&nbsp;Outreach360.</p>

<p>&quot;This opportunity that you are giving my daughter means something very important since,&nbsp;currently,&nbsp;the English language is essential in the professional field,&rdquo;&nbsp;said Younaly&#39;s&nbsp;mother.</p>

<p>&ldquo;In her future, she will get more opportunities to get ahead. If she wants to travel to other countries, either for work, study, or fun, she&rsquo;ll be able to communicate with other people. For these and many more reasons, I am immensely grateful to the academy for giving her this&nbsp;opportunity.&rdquo;</p>

<p><img alt="Younaly sitting at her wooden desk, smiling at her laptop while wearing headphones" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2348/content_Outreach360_Younaly.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Younaly (age 9) is pictured here.</p>

<p>Similar sentiments were expressed by Kamila&rsquo;s mother, whose 8-year-old daughter is also enrolled in Outreach360&#39;s Virtual&nbsp;English&nbsp;Academy.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This opportunity means a lot,&rdquo; Kamila&rsquo;s mother&nbsp;said. &ldquo;Seeing my daughter putting into practice what you teach her fills me with great satisfaction. As a mother, there is nothing left to say other than a thousand&nbsp;thank-yous.&rdquo;</p>

<p><img alt="Kamila wearing purple long-sleeve sweater with mint-green stripes on the arms and holding pink book with the title, The Alphabet" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2349/content_Outreach360_Kamila.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Kamila (age 8) is pictured here. She lives in El Salvador.</p>

<p>As a volunteer-run organization that receives no government funding, Outreach360 relies on donations from individuals, companies, and corporations to provide students like Younaly and Kamila with full&nbsp;scholarships.</p>

<p>Visit Outreach360&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.outreach360.org/donate" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">website</a> to become a monthly student sponsor or to make a one-time&nbsp;donation.</p>

<p>Want to stay in the loop with the latest Outreach360 news?&nbsp;<a href="https://www.outreach360.org/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Subscribe</a>&nbsp;to their newsletter or follow them on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/outreach360" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/outreach360" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/outreach360/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram</a>. You can also check out their volunteer opportunities on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/outreach360/jobs/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>.</p>

<h2>More inspiring organizations</h2>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/taking-action-for-education" target="_blank">Taking Action for Education</a></p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/building-an-alliance-for-international-women-s-rights" target="_blank">Building an Alliance for International Women&rsquo;s Rights</a></p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-isans-creates-possibility" target="_blank">How ISANS Creates Possibility</a></p>


How Outreach360 Empowers Students

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<div class="white-box">
<p>This post is part of our monthly <strong>Student Showcase series</strong> where we highlight teacher creativity and show off the amazing work students are doing around the world! Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, we&rsquo;re challenging English language teachers around the world to try one of these positive self-awareness activities with their students in class.</p>
</div>

<h2>May&#39;s Student Showcase challenge: Positive mental health&nbsp;</h2>

<p><iframe allow="camera *; microphone *; autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; display-capture *;" height="600px" src="https://www.videoask.com/f0f28zx88" style="border: none; border-radius: 24px" width="100%"></iframe></p>

<p>We want to support Mental Health Awareness month by promoting <strong>social-emotional learning (SEL)</strong> in the classroom. SEL is an important component of education, especially for newcomers who have the added stress of learning a language in a new school&nbsp;and community.</p>

<p>This month, we came up with&nbsp;two&nbsp;fun SEL activity challenges that you can do in your in-person or online class.</p>

<p>Start by completing&nbsp;one of the challenges below. Then&nbsp;upload your students&rsquo; work through the video above&nbsp;or send it to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:hello@ellii.com?subject=May Student Showcase">hello@ellii.com</a>&nbsp;with a brief description for a chance to be featured in our follow-up Student Showcase blog post! We want to see how different teachers around the world are adapting the same activity to other class and community realities.</p>

<h2>Challenge&nbsp;1: Positive affirmations for language learners</h2>

<p>Get your students to create a list of 20 affirmations.&nbsp;These should be personal, so make sure to give your students lots of time to reflect and come up with meaningful affirmations to help instill positive thinking and self-awareness.</p>

<p>You can use this activity to also practice relevant grammar and sentence structures that you&rsquo;ve been working on in class.</p>

<p>Easily adapt this activity to the level of your students by simplifying the structures or increasing the difficulty. You can do this last one by asking&nbsp;for more complex sentence structures or longer written responses.</p>

<p>Below are&nbsp;examples of grammatical structures your language learners can refer to when constructing their&nbsp;affirmations.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I am&nbsp;+&nbsp;<em>positive adjective</em>&nbsp;<span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Wingdings"></span></span></span>&nbsp;<strong>I am <em>strong</em>.</strong></li>
	<li>I am a(n)&nbsp;+&nbsp;<em>noun&nbsp;</em><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Wingdings"></span></span></span>&nbsp;<strong>I am a <em>survivor.</em></strong></li>
	<li>I&nbsp;+&nbsp;<em>simple present verb</em>&nbsp;<span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Wingdings"></span></span></span>&nbsp;<strong>I <em>work </em>hard.</strong></li>
	<li>I can/will&nbsp;+&nbsp;<em>base verb</em>&nbsp;<span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Wingdings"></span></span></span>&nbsp;<strong>I can <em>get </em>a job. I will <em>succeed</em>.</strong></li>
	<li>I am thankful&nbsp;for&nbsp;+&nbsp;<em>noun</em>&nbsp;<span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Wingdings"></span></span></span>&nbsp;<strong>I am thankful for <em>my family</em>.</strong></li>
	<li>I am proud of myself for&nbsp;+&nbsp;<em>ing verb</em>&nbsp;<span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Wingdings"></span></span></span>&nbsp;<strong>I am proud of myself for <em>participating </em>in class.</strong></li>
</ul>

<p>Check out our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/affirmations-for-english-learners" target="_blank">&quot;20 Affirmations for English Learners&quot;</a> blog post&nbsp;for more inspiration and instruction on this activity!</p>

<h2>Challenge 2: Create a poster</h2>

<p>Get your students to create an informative poster on positive Mental Health Awareness! We&rsquo;re looking for a poster that is solutions-focused.</p>

<p>This activity incorporates SEL and will help&nbsp;students of any age get in tune with their mental state. It will also guide them in recognizing their emotions and how to deal with them.</p>

<p>Ask your students to create a poster on what makes them feel sad, angry, stressed, or anxious. Include pictures and ask your students to think about what makes them feel better in those situations. How can they plan or prepare for these difficult situations by recognizing what helps them cope?</p>

<p><strong>Low-Level Example</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>When I feel sad, I can talk with my friends.</li>
	<li>When I feel nervous, I can count to 10.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Intermediate-Level Example</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>I feel angry and frustrated when I lose things. When I find them again, I feel happy. Therefore, I should be more organized with my things and keep my personal items in specific places so I&rsquo;m less likely to lose them.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>High-Level Example</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>Traveling to new places alone makes me feel scared and anxious, but having a map or access to Wi-Fi&nbsp;or an internet connection helps keep me feeling calm and in control of the situation. Knowing that, I can make sure to plan out my trip beforehand, print out maps or save them to my phone, and pay for an international chip or roaming charges so that I know I can always access Wi-Fi&nbsp;to make me feel safe and secure.</li>
</ul>

<div class="white-box">
<h3>Submit your students&rsquo; work and&nbsp;get featured!</h3>

<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=May Student Showcase">hello@ellii.com</a> by <strong>May 24, 2022</strong>. Don&rsquo;t forget to give us a brief description of your students&rsquo; 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 with!</p>
</div>

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/academic-subjects/social-emotional-learning/relationship-skills" target="_blank">Social-Emotional Learning</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/practicing-mindfulness-in-the-classroom" target="_blank">Practicing Mindfulness in the Classroom</a></li>
</ul>


Student Showcase: Positive Mental Health Challenge

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<div class="white-box">
<p>This post is part of our <strong>Student Showcase</strong> <strong>series,</strong> which highlights teacher creativity&nbsp;and the amazing work students are doing around the&nbsp;world!</p>
</div>

<p>At the beginning of April, we challenged teachers like you to share how you teach about Earth Day. We also asked you to show off some of the activities, projects, games, and pictures your students have created on this topic! Take a peek at the&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/student-showcase-earth-day" target="_blank">original post</a>&nbsp;that inspired these submissions.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Many teachers around the world stepped up&nbsp;and answered our Video Challenge.&nbsp;Take a look at some of the ways teachers introduced this relevant theme into their class, and get inspired by some of the unique posters, artwork, and videos their students&nbsp;made.</p>

<h2>Student Showcase</h2>

<h3>Student feature 1</h3>

<p>In <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teacher-feature-poonam" target="_blank">Poonam Sharma&rsquo;s</a> class, the students had an energetic discussion on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;My students had a great discussion on how to save our planet for ourselves and the generations to come. One student actually pleaded with tears in her eyes saying, &#39;Please save our Mother (earth).&#39;&quot;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Poonam Sharma</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Here&#39;s&nbsp;some of the artwork her students created for an Earth Day&nbsp;activity.</p>

<p><img alt="Hand holding an orange watering can with a recycling symbol on it and pouring water over a smiling planet earth" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2337/content_Lise_Student-Showcase-Lise_Student-Showcase-Earth-Day-Projects_01.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Drawing by Jenny Guan</p>

<p><img alt="Four trees growing out of a smiling planet Earth. Each tree includes a message: save trees, save water, pollution out, plants in." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2338/content_Lise_Student-Showcase-Lise_Student-Showcase-Earth-Day-Projects_02.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Drawing by Manchula Kumanan</p>

<h3>Student feature 2</h3>

<p>Julie De Costa challenged her students to create an Enviro News poster and to come up with some event ideas they could host for Earth Day.&nbsp;This work was designed by a LINC 5 class (preparing for CLB level 5) at Coll&egrave;ge Educacentre in Vancouver, Canada.</p>

<p>Take a look at Julie&#39;s video response explaining her class activity!</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe encrypted-media="" src="https://www.videoask.com/ayvuipfmg2y7iv1ggtrucoy4s1rdobqtjwgiuj46"></iframe></div>

<p>See below an Enviro News poster and three event ideas created by Julie&#39;s&nbsp;students.&nbsp;We love the game idea of wearing a blindfold and having to feel the items to guess if it&#39;s recyclable. How&nbsp;creative!</p>

<p><strong><img alt="Enviro News poster inviting people to an event about the importance of protecting the environment for future generations " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2350/content_Lise_Student-Showcase-Lise_Student-Showcase-Earth-Day-Projects_03.jpg" /></strong></p>

<p><img alt="Zero Food Waste culinary event poster" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2351/content_Lise_Student-Showcase-Lise_Student-Showcase-Earth-Day-Projects_04.jpg" /></p>

<h3>Teacher feature 3</h3>

<p>In her Video Challenge, Judy Lee explained how she contributes to helping the environment by changing her personal teaching&nbsp;habits.</p>

<p><iframe allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *;" height="400px" src="https://www.videoask.com/as92iouuuclz7vwlpeyvowlk9ahk0lj94tjfauxx" style="border: none; border-radius: 24px" width="100%"></iframe></p>

<h3>Student feature 4</h3>

<p>Finally, we received a wonderful video submission from an enthusiastic student named Iqra, who took the time to clean up the environment around her house. Iqra is from Afghanistan and currently living in Oshawa, Ontario. Way to go, Iqra! Let&rsquo;s continue making an effort to keep our neighborhoods&nbsp;litter-free.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe encrypted-media="" src="https://www.videoask.com/a2kkay0cnykc4oopac6imwssup886t6gvsjyo5f8"></iframe></div>

<p>We&#39;re very pleased to have received so many great Earth Day submissions of student work. Thank you to everyone who participated in Ellii&rsquo;s April Student Showcase, and congratulations to our featured teachers and&nbsp;students!</p>

<p>Another Student Showcase challenge will be coming your way at the beginning of May. Make sure to revisit our blog for next month&#39;s challenge and to follow us on social media so you don&#39;t miss out.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

<p>Did you do something interesting for Earth Day with your class? Tell us about it in the comments&nbsp;below!</p>
</div>


Student Showcase: Earth Day Projects

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<p>Previously I shared some reading recommendations for <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reading-recommendations-for-your-low-int-students" target="_&quot;blank&quot;">low-intermediate</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reading-recommendations-high-intermediate-students" target="_blank">high-intermediate</a> students. We covered middle-grade/children&rsquo;s books as well as young adult&nbsp;books.</p>

<p>This time, I&rsquo;d like to recommend a couple of fabulous reads for advanced&nbsp;students.</p>

<p>Advanced ESL students have a lot of options in terms of reading materials. Once learners reach this level&nbsp;they have access to the entire gamut of English language&nbsp;literature.</p>

<p>This list includes <strong>adult-level books</strong> featuring relatively simple language.&nbsp;I&rsquo;ve also made sure to include&nbsp;an array of non-fiction titles this&nbsp;time around.</p>

<h2>Reading recommendations your advanced students will love</h2>

<h3>Fiction</h3>

<ul>
	<li><em>The Midnight Library </em>by Matt&nbsp;Haig</li>
	<li><em>The Song of Achilles</em> by Madeline&nbsp;Miller</li>
	<li><em>Pride and Prejudice</em> by Jane&nbsp;Austen</li>
	<li><em>The Handmaid&rsquo;s Tal</em>e by Margaret&nbsp;Atwood</li>
	<li><em>Stardust</em> by Neil&nbsp;Gaiman</li>
	<li><em>The Five People You Meet in Heaven</em> by Mitch&nbsp;Albom</li>
	<li><em>The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</em> by Mark&nbsp;Haddon</li>
	<li><em>Lord of the Flies </em>by William&nbsp;Golding</li>
	<li><em>The Other Boleyn Girl </em>by Philippa&nbsp;Gregory</li>
	<li><em>Normal People</em> by Sally&nbsp;Rooney</li>
</ul>

<h3>Non-fiction</h3>

<ul>
	<li><em>Sapiens: A Graphic History</em> by Yuval&nbsp;Noah&nbsp;Harari and David&nbsp;VanderMeulen</li>
	<li><em>Eat, Pray, Love</em> by Elizabeth Gilbert</li>
	<li><em>A Really Short History of Nearly Everything </em>by Bill&nbsp;Bryson</li>
	<li><em>Freakonomics </em>by Stephen&nbsp;J.&nbsp;Dubner and Steven&nbsp;Levitt</li>
	<li><em>Me Talk Pretty One Day&nbsp;</em>by David&nbsp;Sedaris</li>
	<li><em>Tiny Beautiful Things</em> by Cheryl&nbsp;Strayed</li>
	<li><em>The Tipping Point</em> by Malcolm&nbsp;Gladwell</li>
	<li><em>The Prophet</em> by Kahlil&nbsp;Gibran</li>
	<li><em>The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up </em>by Marie&nbsp;Kondo</li>
	<li><em>The Library Book</em> by Susan&nbsp;Orlean</li>
	<li><em>When Time Stopped</em> by Ariana&nbsp;Neumann</li>
</ul>

<p>There are also many great reading resources on Instagram.&nbsp;If you&#39;re looking for a little book inspiration, make sure to check out <a href="https://www.instagram.com/bookosis/" target="_blank">BOOKOSIS</a>&nbsp;which is&nbsp;run by our Motion&nbsp;Graphic&nbsp;Designer,&nbsp;Lula!</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Now it&#39;s your turn!</h5>

<p>If you&rsquo;d like to add any of your own recommendations to this list, leave them in the comments section below. We&rsquo;d love to hear which adult-level books your students have enjoyed&nbsp;reading!</p>
</div>


Reading Recommendations for Your Advanced Students

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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>


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