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Teaching with Ellii

Discover what's new or coming soon, including upcoming lessons and resources and product feature updates. 

Announcements

<p>Are you teaching US history and government and&nbsp;preparing students for the 2025 Naturalization Civics Test? You are changing lives, and Ellii wants to help!</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Yes! Ellii is developing test prep materials for the 2025 Naturalization Civics Test.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>We began working on new content as soon as the notice went out about the new test (Sep&nbsp;18, 2025). If your students are preparing for the naturalization test, you&nbsp;can expect plenty of new content on Ellii in the next few months. We&#39;ll be updating this post as new content is available.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>What has changed with the 2025 Naturalization Civics Test?&nbsp;</h3>

<ul>
	<li>If applicants applied before or within 30 days of the notice (Sep&nbsp;18, 2025), they take the 2008 test.</li>
	<li>If applicants&nbsp;applied 30 days or more after this notice (Sep&nbsp;18, 2025), they take the 2025 test.</li>
	<li>On the new (2025) test, the&nbsp;USCIS officer will ask applicants to answer up to 20 out of&nbsp;128 civics test questions&nbsp;to prove their&nbsp;knowledge of&nbsp;US&nbsp;history and government.</li>
	<li>USCIS officers will&nbsp;stop&nbsp;after the&nbsp;applicant answers&nbsp;12 questions correctly OR misses 9 questions.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Note:</strong> Scroll down for useful external links to resources regarding these updates.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Ellii&#39;s Media Gallery</h2>

<p>Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;new <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/us-civics-test-prep" target="_blank">US Civics &amp; Test Prep</a> videos build history and government knowledge while offering practical test-taking tips. Choose from short, digestible clips or full-length video lessons with chapter divisions.&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/us-civics-test-prep/colonial-period-independence" target="_blank"><img alt="US Civics Test Prep videos" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5010/content_Civics-Video-Colonial-Period-and-Independence_OG-play.png" /></a></p>

<p>The first 18 <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/us-civics-test-prep" rel="noopener" target="_blank">US Civics &amp; Test Prep videos</a> are available now!&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/us-civics-test-prep/the-1800s" target="_blank"><img alt="https://ellii.com/media/videos/us-civics-test-prep/the-1800s" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5011/content_Civics-Video-1800s_OG-play.png" /></a></p>

<p>Videos include a real teacher from Ellii, real&nbsp;photographs, useful drawings, and real questions and possible answers from the test.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/video/recent-american-history" target="_blank"><img alt="Recent US History video " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5055/content_Screen_Shot_2025-11-19_at_3.11.32_PM.png" /></a></p>

<p>More videos are coming soon.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Ellii&#39;s Study Packs</h2>

<p>Ellii Study Packs allow you to assign your students bundled content easily with one click. Visit our <a href="https://ellii.com/packs/?category=45&amp;page=1" target="_blank">US Civics</a> category in Courses &amp; Packs&nbsp;and watch this content&nbsp;grow.<br />
<br />
If you and your students like Ellii&#39;s test prep videos, you&#39;ll love the NEW study packs. Each video lesson comes with practice tasks, including vocabulary review, comprehension, and speaking practice. In our first release, <strong><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/colonial-period-independence/materials" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Colonial Period &amp; Independence</a></strong>, students practice questions <strong>73&ndash;89 </strong>of the civics test.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/colonial-period-independence/materials" target="_blank"><img alt="Colonial Period &amp; Independence Study Pack on Ellii " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5012/content_US-Civics-Test-Prep-Colonial-Period-and-Independence_OG.png" /></a></p>

<p>This follow-up pack on <a href="https://ellii.com/packs/the-1800s/materials" target="_blank"><b>The 1800s</b></a><b>&nbsp;</b>features video lessons and practice about western expansion and the Civil War. Students practice questions <strong>90&ndash;99 </strong>of the civics test. Expand your students&#39;&nbsp;knowledge with related lessons from our library, such as lessons on historic figures from this period, including <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3185-harriet-tubman" target="_blank">Harriet Tubman</a>, <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3473-frederick-douglass" target="_blank">Frederick Douglass</a>, and <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2881-susan-b-anthony" target="_blank">Susan B. Anthony</a>.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/the-1800s/materials" target="_blank"><img alt="The 1800s US Civics Test Prep Study Pack on Ellii " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5013/content_US-Civics-1800s_OG.png" /></a></p>

<p>The third&nbsp;pack features video lessons and practice about conflict and change in <a href="https://ellii.com/packs/recent-american-history/materials" target="_blank">Recent US History</a> (the 1900s and early 2000s). Students practice questions <strong>100&ndash;118&nbsp;</strong>of the civics test. Expand your students&#39;&nbsp;knowledge with related lessons from our library, such as lessons on historic figures from this period, including <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1535-franklin-d-roosevelt" target="_blank">Franklin Roosevelt</a>, the <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2856-the-vietnam-war" target="_blank">Vietnam War,</a> and <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1466-september-11th" target="_blank">September 11th</a>.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/recent-american-history/materials" target="_blank"><img alt="Recent US History US Civics Test Prep Study Pack: The 1900s and early 2000s" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5054/content_US-Civics-Recent-US-History_OG.png" /></a></p>

<p>You can also send content individually to just the students who are studying for the test&nbsp;(NEW feature).</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-individual-student-assignments" target="_blank"><img alt="individual assignments on Ellii " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5014/content_Screen_Shot_2025-11-14_at_11.12.24_AM.png" /></a></p>

<p>We have six more packs in the works&nbsp;and will be releasing the videos and lessons as they are ready!</p>

<h2>Ellii&#39;s Collections</h2>

<h3><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/us-civics" target="_blank">US Citizenship &amp; Naturalization</a></h3>

<p>This<strong> </strong>collection category<strong> </strong>offers six ready-made collections of EL Civics content focusing on US law, government, history, and culture. This content will help prepare ELLs for life and citizenship in the United States.&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lessons/american-presidents" target="_blank">American Presidents&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/us-civics/american-institutions" target="_blank">American Institutions</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/us-civics/american-trailblazers" target="_blank">American Trailblazers</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/us-civics/american-holidays" target="_blank">American Holidays</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/us-civics/us-history" target="_blank">American History</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/us-civics/us-landmarks" target="_blank">American Landmarks</a></li>
</ul>

<h3><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/el-civics" target="_blank">EL Civics</a></h3>

<p>This collection category features curated content for pre-approved civics objectives <strong>(COAAPs)</strong> selected by California agencies supporting adult ed. Search for content that is specifically related to the needs assessment of your students and use this content toward&nbsp;the 30 hours of instruction your learners need before doing related assessments.</p>

<h3><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/nations-regions/americana" target="_blank">The United States</a></h3>

<p>Our content library is full of lessons about American facts, figures, and firsts. This collection highlights some of our most popular lesson content related to the US, including presidents, famous people, and holidays.</p>

<h2>Popular Ellii Lessons</h2>

<p>Use the <strong>Search</strong> field on Ellii to find lessons on topics you are covering, and reach out to us if you can&#39;t find what you&#39;re looking for. Here are some popular US civics lessons:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/5757-us-immigration-rights" target="_blank">US Immigration Rights</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2277-american-citizenship" target="_blank">American Citizenship</a> (in editing)</li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3836-n-400-vocabulary" target="_blank">N-400 Vocabulary</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2676-the-united-states" target="_blank">The United States </a>(Listening in English)</li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2263-map-of-the-us" target="_blank">Map of the US</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1505-george-washington" target="_blank">George Washington</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2779-trail-of-tears" target="_blank">The Trail of Tears</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3172-the-us-constitution" target="_blank">The US Constitution</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/5636-the-bill-of-rights" target="_blank">The Bill of Rights</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4037-the-declaration-of-independence" target="_blank">The Declaration of Independence</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2764-the-supreme-court-us" target="_blank">The Supreme Court</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3381-election-day-us" target="_blank">Election Day</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/video/republicans-democrats" target="_blank">Republicans Vs. Democrats</a> (explainer video)</li>
</ul>

<h3>Coming Soon on Ellii&nbsp;</h3>

<ul>
	<li>30 + more videos</li>
	<li>Six + US Test Prep Study Packs</li>
	<li>NEW comprehensive civics&nbsp;lessons focused on US History &amp; Government&nbsp;</li>
	<li>US Test Prep Speaking Practice Tests</li>
</ul>

<h3>Useful External Resources for 2025 Updates</h3>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/09/18/2025-18050/notice-of-implementation-of-2025-naturalization-civics-test" target="_blank">Notice of Implementation of 2025 Naturalization Civics Test </a>(09.18.2025)</li>
	<li><a href="https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/brochures/USCIS-2025-Civics-Test-Study-Guide.pdf" target="_blank">One Nation, One People Study Guide (2025)</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025-Civics-Test-128-Questions-and-Answers-09.15.2025.pdf" target="_blank">128 Civics Questions (2025)</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/find-study-materials-and-resources/check-for-test-updates" target="_blank">USCIS Comparison of 2008 / 2025 Test</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/5n2h5rdfojhykxegok15a/Natz_Test_Comparison_A_2008-2025.pdf?rlkey=47rpmtohvcrqazh1uf17h8o7k&amp;e=1&amp;st=r1lxr88r&amp;dl=0" target="_blank">Bill Bliss&#39;s Comparison chart of 2008 / 2025 Test</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship" target="_blank">USCIS Citizenship Resource Center</a></li>
</ul>


2025 US Naturalization Civics Test Prep Now on Ellii

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

Articles

<p>This year at the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/baltimore-charms-the-esl-library-team-for-tesol-16" target="_blank">TESOL convention in Baltimore</a>, the ESL Library team had two booths to manage and three presentations of our own to give. There wasn&#39;t enough time to attend all of the sessions we wanted to, so we had to be very picky with our&nbsp;selections!</p>

<p>Here is a brief overview of a fantastic TESOL session that I attended in Baltimore about using selfie videos in the language classroom. Be sure to view the <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ofXsgJCwOfORvx366YJPayPSLsYdp2cZUit7iiUTl8I/edit#slide=id.p" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slides</a> from this session if you are interested in learning&nbsp;more.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Session Title:</th>
			<td><a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ofXsgJCwOfORvx366YJPayPSLsYdp2cZUit7iiUTl8I/edit#slide=id.p" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Utilizing Selfies (Videos) to Promote Language&nbsp;Learning</a></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Speakers:</th>
			<td>Christine Discoe, Kyla Masciarelli, and Loni Thorson from Colorado State&nbsp;University</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ofXsgJCwOfORvx366YJPayPSLsYdp2cZUit7iiUTl8I/edit#slide=id.p" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img alt="Presentation slideshow title screen" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2152/content_Tara_TESOL-16-Teaching-English-with-Selfie-Videos.jpg" /></a></p>

<h2>Rationale for assigning selfie videos to English learners</h2>

<p>Here are the top three reasons the speakers provided for assigning selfie videos to language&nbsp;learners.</p>

<h3>1. Comfort</h3>

<p>Students feel more comfortable when they have their mobile devices in their hands. Selfie videos allow students to become more comfortable with their teachers and their peers. Young adults rate selfie video assignments as &#39;highly&nbsp;effective.&#39;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Smart phones are leading the mobile&nbsp;charge.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>

<h3>2. Awareness</h3>

<p>With selfie videos, students can see themselves using the language. They want to look and sound better, so they work hard to improve their language and correct their own errors. They learn to self-correct.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;They have an innate desire to self-correct and to make themselves look and sound&nbsp;good.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>

<h3>3. Creativity</h3>

<p>There are many different types of selfie assignments that teachers can give. Students play with the language and try it out in many ways. Students love experimenting with different backgrounds, locations, and video apps. They learn to speak &#39;on the&nbsp;fly.&#39;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Students really have to <em>try on</em> different&nbsp;structures.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Examples of selfie video&nbsp;assignments</h2>

<p>The speakers regularly assign up to three selfie videos per student each week. Here are some of the examples of selfie video assignments that they&nbsp;shared.</p>

<ul>
	<li>tell two truths and a lie and get other students to guess which is a&nbsp;lie</li>
	<li>practice telling jokes or using&nbsp;sarcasm</li>
	<li>summarize what you read, saw, or&nbsp;heard</li>
	<li>paraphrase someone else&#39;s&nbsp;thoughts</li>
	<li>practice minimal pairs</li>
	<li>use target grammar or&nbsp;vocabulary</li>
	<li>share your opinion about a topic discussed in&nbsp;class</li>
	<li>describe one&#39;s surroundings</li>
	<li>walk and talk in&nbsp;English</li>
</ul>

<h2>Ideas for submitting and sharing selfie videos</h2>

<p>Christine and co. offered several suggestions for submitting selfie videos to the teacher and/or class. They recommend setting a two- to three-minute maximum for&nbsp;submissions.</p>

<ul>
	<li>pass mobile devices around the classroom (set to Airplane Mode to avoid any embarrassing&nbsp;notifications)</li>
	<li>upload videos to Google Drive and&nbsp;share</li>
	<li>display videos on a &#39;document camera&#39; for the class to&nbsp;view</li>
	<li>watch in a 1&ndash;1 selfie conference with the&nbsp;teacher</li>
	<li>upload to a Learning Management System (LMS) and share with the class or&nbsp;teacher</li>
</ul>

<h2>Assessment and feedback with selfie videos</h2>

<p>The speakers explained that selfie videos can be used for diagnostic testing as well as formal <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/assessment-tools/resources/2129-speaking-task-assessment-form" target="_blank">assessment</a>. Selfie videos can help teachers identify certain sounds and structures that individual students need to work on. The students should know ahead of time who the audience will be (e.g., just the teacher, classmates,&nbsp;public).</p>

<p>Teachers can respond with a selfie video to provide suggestions and model corrections. Check out TESOL slide #28 from this session for a useful <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ofXsgJCwOfORvx366YJPayPSLsYdp2cZUit7iiUTl8I/edit#slide=id.p" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">selfie video&nbsp;rubric</a>.</p>

<h2>How to integrate selfie video assignments into ESL&nbsp;Library lessons</h2>

<p>We love the idea of using selfie videos in the ELL classroom, and we&#39;ll be adding some video tasks into some of our new and revised lesson plans. You can also add your own selfie video assignments to existing lessons. Here are some ideas you can use now if you are an ESL&nbsp;Library&nbsp;subscriber.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Assign the <strong>Warm-Up</strong> questions from a lesson the night before starting a lesson, and watch a few selfie videos in class before starting the&nbsp;lesson.</li>
	<li>Assign a <strong><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons" target="_blank">Discussion Starters</a></strong> question as a selfie video response after doing a&nbsp;lesson.</li>
	<li>Assign a <strong><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/73/lessons" target="_blank">Mini-Debates</a></strong> question as a selfie video response (could have two students in the selfie debating an issue) before doing the classroom&nbsp;debate.</li>
	<li>Ask students to summarize what they learned in a reading or podcast from an ESL Library lesson (e.g., summarize a biography from the <strong><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons" target="_blank">Famous People</a></strong>&nbsp;section).</li>
	<li>Ask students to make a &#39;two truths and a lie&#39; selfie video after learning about a subject from an ESL Library lesson.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tara&#39;s 30-second post-TESOL selfie video</h2>

<p>If we&#39;re going to assign selfie videos to our students, we&#39;ll have to work on becoming comfortable in front of the camera, too. The speakers challenged us to give it a whirl. This selfie took three takes! It&#39;s harder than it&nbsp;looks.</p>

<div class="video-container"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0sOAQLRjgIs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

<p>Learn all about how <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/baltimore-charms-the-esl-library-team-for-tesol-16/" target="_blank">Baltimore charmed the ESL&nbsp;Library team</a>.</p>


TESOL 16 Session: Teaching English with Selfie Videos

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

Conferences

<h1>Classrooms of the Future</h1>

<p>The ESL&nbsp;Library team has just returned from Baltimore after the annual TESOL convention. 2016 was <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/comma-confusion-greeting-birthday/">TESOL&#39;s 50th anniversary</a>, and ESL Library played an important role as an Event Partner at the <strong>TESOL Classroom of the Future</strong>&nbsp;exhibit. During our Classroom of the Future presentation, CEO Ben Buckwold used our most recent <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2120" target="_blank">Discussion Starters</a> lesson to showcase a paperless feature that is coming soon for ESL Library subscribers and online tutors. It was great to test out our work in progress with a live audience using one of our very own lesson&nbsp;plans.</p>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2193/content_IMG_0006.jpg" /></p>

<p>Though this year&#39;s anniversary theme was <strong>Reflecting Forward</strong>, allow me to reflect back for a moment on our fantastic week at&nbsp;TESOL.</p>

<h1>Our Team</h1>

<p>Our team arrived in Maryland from Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. We were joined by our first official ESL Library Ambassadors &mdash;teachers who subscribe to our site and volunteered to share their enthusiasm about it in Baltimore. Throughout the week, we met attendees from all over the world, including this adorable librarian from Tanzania who won our hearts and our grand prize&mdash;an Apple&nbsp;Watch!</p>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2194/content_IMG_5909.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">From left to right: CEO Ben Buckwold, Apple Watch winner Saida (librarian from Zanzibar Public Library), editor Tanya Trusler, writer Tara&nbsp;Benwell</p>

<h1>Baltimore</h1>

<p>Attending teaching conferences is a great way to explore the world. Here are some things we loved about&nbsp;Baltimore.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Little Italy</strong>&nbsp;&ndash; Now we know why they call Baltimore &#39;Charm City.&#39; This part of the city had delicious food and charming restaurants with meals that were big enough to bring some home for&nbsp;lunch.</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2195/content_IMG_5920.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">We had numerous Compelling Conversations with TESOL pal Eric Roth&nbsp;(left)</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>The Inner Harbor&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>Though the air was crisp for April, the sun came out a few times, and we enjoyed a walk around the historic seaport. Tanya and I took a tour of the USS Constellation, the last all-sail warship built by the US Navy whose main mission was to disrupt the slave trade. We warmed ourselves up with some traditional crab soup at the T&iacute;r na n&Oacute;g Irish Bar &amp; Grill.&nbsp;Yum!</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="Baltimore tall ship" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2196/content_IMG_5937-1.jpg" /></p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Fells Point&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>After the conference we enjoyed hanging with locals and listening to live music. Bands played everything from La Bamba to&nbsp;Metallica!</li>
	<li><strong>The Gallery Mall&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>It was pretty convenient to have a mall attached to our hotel. Even though we&#39;re TESOL pros by now, we always forget something important, such as a mouse pad or extension cord. (Note to self: Remember packing tape next year. Fed Ex charged us $21 USD for two&nbsp;rolls.)</li>
	<li><strong>Uber&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>This was a convenient, informative, and inexpensive way to get around Baltimore. I can&#39;t wait to give the service a try here in&nbsp;Canada.</li>
</ul>

<h1>What we liked about the TESOL&nbsp;16 Convention</h1>

<ul>
	<li><strong>The location&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>As mentioned above, Baltimore&#39;s Inner Harbor was beautiful and&nbsp;charming.</li>
	<li><strong>The TESOL app&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>Last year we didn&#39;t open the program. This year, we saved the paper and didn&#39;t even grab a&nbsp;program.</li>
	<li><strong>The heat&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>Even though the Expo Hall was in the basement, we didn&#39;t freeze like we normally do at&nbsp;TESOL.</li>
	<li><strong>The sessions&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>With three of our own sessions and two booths to man, we only had time to attend a few sessions, but this year we picked the right ones! All of the teachers we spoke to seemed satisfied with the ones they attended as well. (Check out this review of <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/selfie-videos-ell/" target="_blank">Teaching English with Selfie Videos</a>.)</li>
	<li><strong>The ELT authors&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>We met and chatted with the lovely <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3nEFcTamts" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Sybil Marcus</a>, author of <em>A World of Fiction</em>, and my long-lost friend Jeremy Harmer (who I hadn&#39;t seen since IATEFL in Brighton back in&nbsp;2011).</li>
	<li><strong>The ice cream break&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>Our TESOL friend Sam delivered it to us, so we didn&#39;t even have to leave our&nbsp;booth.</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2197/content_IMG_5863.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Above: Tanya and Tara pose with Twitter pal <a href="http://twitter.com/joemcveigh">@JoeMcVeigh</a> who starred in TESOL&#39;s The Wizard of Oz (a musical romp reflecting on 50 years of&nbsp;TESOL)</p>

<h1>What TESOL attendees loved about ESL&nbsp;Library</h1>

<ul>
	<li>The demo of our digital platform. Teachers can&#39;t wait until they can actually start using it in&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>Our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2053" target="_blank">How to Tweet</a> lesson from our Writing in English&nbsp;section.</li>
	<li>Our small publishing team. &#39;There are only five of&nbsp;you?&#39;</li>
	<li>The NEW <a href="https://ellii.com/resources" target="_blank">Resource&nbsp;Section</a>.</li>
	<li>The Flashcard Library. (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbuvHnzfai8&amp;index=5&amp;list=PL0MvnNQjMzmbCk_AEw6JNaf8EoD5ATs5L" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">NEW demo&nbsp;available.</a>)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/pricing" target="_blank">Our affordable subscription price</a>. (Equal to a cup of coffee per&nbsp;month.)</li>
	<li>Our multi-teacher pricing. Administrators love that they can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zueU6MO_tIU&amp;list=PL0MvnNQjMzmbCk_AEw6JNaf8EoD5ATs5L&amp;index=7" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">manage sub-accounts</a> when teachers come and go from their programs and&nbsp;schools.</li>
	<li>The accessibility. &#39;Yes, teachers use ESL Library in&nbsp;China!&#39;</li>
	<li>The art in our lesson plans. We love it&nbsp;too!</li>
	<li>Sprout English. Teachers love that we have a sister site with materials for young&nbsp;learners. (Now merged with ESL Library.)</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2199/content_IMG_5885.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Above: New subscribers from California Crosspoint High School</p>

<h1>What TESOL attendees want to see on ESL Library</h1>

<p>We love getting feedback from our long-term subscribers. After many years at the TESOL booth, I can even wave at these enthusiastic members from afar. Here are a few of their requests.</p>

<ul>
	<li>more lessons on social justice and civil rights (watch for an upcoming lesson on the Underground&nbsp;Railway)</li>
	<li>beginner-level materials that are graded for low-beginner rather than high-beginner</li>
	<li>digital lessons that can be used in an online tutoring scenario (Coming&nbsp;soon!)</li>
	<li>the option to drag flashcards into digital&nbsp;lessons</li>
	<li>videos</li>
	<li>support for using the flashcard library (check out our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0MvnNQjMzmbCk_AEw6JNaf8EoD5ATs5L" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">how-to&nbsp;demos</a>)</li>
	<li>visuals for practicing&nbsp;sequencing</li>
	<li>more <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons">Grammar Stories</a> (check out our newly designed&nbsp;section)</li>
	<li>the ability to have one subscription to ESL Library and Sprout English (We hear&nbsp;you!)</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2198/content_Screen-Shot-2016-04-13-at-5.13.32-PM.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Above: New Sprout English subscribers, Rosanna and Ana. This program director made customized journals for her&nbsp;teachers! One of my most memorable moments of the week was spotting long-term subscriber Laura Jacob across the Expo Hall. When I caught up with her she had this to say about ESL&nbsp;Library&hellip;</p>

<blockquote>&#39;You are the future.&#39;</blockquote>

<p>Thank you Laura and all of the other great teachers we spent time with in Baltimore, including Eric, Ken, Stephen, and all of the ESL Library Ambassadors! And a big thank you to Ben for inviting us to tag along with him every year at TESOL and for being the best storyteller in ELT. We shared enough laughs to get us through until next&nbsp;year. <strong>See you in Seattle for TESOL&nbsp;17!</strong></p>


Baltimore Charms the ESL Library Team for TESOL 16

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

EdTech

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s an entire universe in every single&nbsp;tweet&hellip;&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Jack Dorsey</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Twitter is a great place to discover articles and resources for teaching English as well as an engaging way to get your students to improve their reading and writing skills. Twitter also chunks language to 140 characters, which makes communicating and reading in English more manageable. Additionally, students learn to scan text for understanding and bookmark resources&nbsp;quickly.</p>

<p>The list of activities below will help you get started integrating Twitter for language learning. Public Twitter streams do not require an account to view them. Your students do not need a Twitter account for many of the activities suggested. However, you may want to create a free Twitter class or teacher&nbsp;account.</p>

<h1>Learn Vocabulary</h1>

<p>Your learners can follow many accounts to learn new vocabulary or phrases each day. Here are some Twitter accounts for learning English vocabulary and phrases:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/rollofftongue" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@RolloffTongue</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/grammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@GrammarGirl</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/wordswithlarry?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@WordsWithLarry</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/OED" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@OED</a>.</p>

<h1>Teach Them How To&nbsp;Tweet</h1>

<p>Try the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2053" target="_blank">How to Tweet</a> lesson from ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s Writing in English&nbsp;section.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2053" target="_blank"><img alt="Screenshot of ESL Library's How to Tweet lesson" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/206/content_74_Tweet_US.png" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2053" target="_blank">How to Tweet</a> &ndash; Writing in&nbsp;English</p>

<h1>Learn Grammar</h1>

<p>Students can follow accounts like <a href="https://twitter.com/grammarly" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@Grammarly</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/EnglishClub" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@EnglishClub</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/grammarmonkeys" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@GrammarMonkeys</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/The_YUNiversity" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@The_YUNiversity</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/english247" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@English247</a> to discover quizzes, exercises, images and tips to improve their grammar. They can click the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/grammar" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#grammar</a> to discover more free grammar&nbsp;resources.</p>

<h1>Correct Grammar</h1>

<p>Get your language learners to correct the grammar in celebrity tweets. Click <a href="http://go.sadlier.com/school/celebrity-tweets-editing-worksheets" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> to find a pdf of tweets to correct by famous people like Kanye&nbsp;West.</p>

<h1>Follow an Important Event</h1>

<p>Have your language learners follow hashtags about an important event, like a natural disaster, civil war, or election. Students scan the hashtag full of accounts from primary sources then write about their impressions or act as journalists and create an article quoting some of the sources. Students can use <a href="http://tweet2cite.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Tweet to Cite</a> to quickly cite the resource in MLA and APA&nbsp;style.</p>

<h1>Conduct a Twitter Interview</h1>

<p>Many experts, celebrities, authors, leaders, athletes, and professionals have Twitter accounts. Invite one to interview on Twitter. Decide on a unique hashtag for the event that isn&rsquo;t already used on Twitter. Get students to craft questions ahead of time and peer review and correct these questions ahead of time. Use one account to tweet the question with the student&rsquo;s handle or initials. Include the hashtag in the tweet. Create an archive of the Twitter conversation for free with&nbsp;<a href="https://storify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Storify</a>.</p>

<h1>Connect with Another School</h1>

<p>Find other schools to connect with on Twitter and host discussions, debates, or share resources. Follow the tips above for conducting a Twitter interview. Find schools to connect with by connecting with other teachers online. Check out our previous article, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-ultimate-hashtag-guide-for-english-language-teachers/" target="_blank">The Ultimate Hashtag Guide for English Language Teachers</a>, for ways to connect with other English language&nbsp;teachers.</p>

<h1>Share a Gif</h1>

<p>Recently, Twitter added the feature to <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/2016/introducing-gif-search-on-twitter" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">share a gif</a> with your status update. Your students can accompany tweets with a gif and students can even search for a gif to share, which is a similar feature in Facebook. Gifs are a great way for students to visualize vocabulary and&nbsp;phrases.</p>

<h1>Backchannel</h1>

<p>If your students have Twitter accounts, create a class hashtag for them to use when you want them to share their thoughts, responses, and resources. When scheduling homework like viewing the Oscars, a presidential debate, a famous speech, or following another event, your students can share their impressions and read the impressions of other peers with the hashtag. Students can also use the hashtag to share their thoughts about a video they are watching in&nbsp;class.</p>

<h1>Share Resources</h1>

<p>Students can use the class hashtag to continually share links, videos, articles, podcasts, experiences, and examples of each unit. Before beginning a new topic, have students conduct research and share two to three resources for you to collect and add to a <a href="https://storify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Storify</a>, <a href="http://www.scoop.it/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Scoop.It</a>, <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Pinterest board</a>, or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.pearltrees.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">PearlTrees</a>.</p>

<h1>Collaborative Debate &amp; Discussion</h1>

<p>Post a discussion or debate question for your students to post responses to with the class&nbsp;hashtag.</p>

<h1>Twitter Polls</h1>

<p>Twitter has a <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/2015/introducing-twitter-polls" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">polling feature</a> to quickly create polls on a class Twitter account. Post a question for your students to vote on with the class hashtag or on a Twitter class account. You can post a new interesting poll for each unit you cover to peak their interests. Poll them about favorites or preferences. Post a poll asking information about the new unit to get an idea on their knowledge of the topic. Discuss the results in&nbsp;class.</p>

<h1>For Self Study</h1>

<p>For self study, your adult language learners will find the following hashtags&nbsp;useful: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/twinglish" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#Twinglish</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/engpls" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#EngPls</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/learnalanguage" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#LearnALanguage</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/studyenglish" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#StudyEnglish</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/learnenglish?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#LearnEnglish</a>.</p>

<p>What Twitter accounts do you feel are useful for language&nbsp;learners?</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-ultimate-hashtag-guide-for-english-language-teachers/" target="_blank">The Ultimate Hashtag Guide for English Language Teachers</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/shorty-awards-singular-or-plural-and-should-twitter-be-capitalized/" target="_blank">Should Twitter Be Capitalized</a></li>
</ul>


12 Ways to Use Twitter with Language Learners

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

Grammar & Usage

<p>After I posted last week&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/aw-vs-awe/" target="_blank">Aw Vs. Awe</a> article, our head writer asked me, &quot;What about <em>ah&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>aah</em>?&quot;&nbsp;Good idea for a blog post, Tara!&nbsp;<em>Ah</em> is used in many situations. There is also a dictionary entry for&nbsp;<em>aah</em>. So what are the usage, meaning, and part of speech differences for&nbsp;<em>ah</em> and&nbsp;<em>aah</em>? Scroll down to find out about&nbsp;<em>aha</em>,&nbsp;too.</p>

<h1>Ah</h1>

<p><em>Ah&nbsp;</em>is used for all types of feelings. <em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ah" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines the interjection&nbsp;<em>ah</em>&nbsp;as &quot;used to express&nbsp;pleasure, delight, relief, regret, or contempt.&quot;&nbsp;We also use it to convey that we understand something and as a &quot;thinking word&quot;&nbsp;(a word with no meaning that shows we&#39;re thinking). Notice the different ways to punctuate&nbsp;<em>ah</em> in the examples&nbsp;below.</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Ah!&nbsp;I could stare at this sunset for hours. <em>(pleasure)</em></li>
	<li>Ah! Look at all the baby bunnies! <em>(delight)</em></li>
	<li>Ah! This hot tub is helping my sore back. <em>(relief)</em></li>
	<li>Ah, I&#39;m so sorry to hear that. <em>(regret)</em></li>
	<li>Ah! Look what you&#39;ve done! You&#39;ve ruined it! <em>(contempt)</em></li>
	<li>Ah. I see what you mean. <em>(understanding)</em></li>
	<li>Ah...that&#39;s not exactly what I meant. <em>(thinking sound&mdash;</em>uh<em> and&nbsp;</em>um<em> are possible&nbsp;alternatives)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>Note that for positive meanings (pleasure, delight, and relief),&nbsp;<em>aah</em>&nbsp;is a variant spelling of <em>ah</em>. If students&nbsp;write &quot;Aah,&nbsp;this hot tub is helping my sore back&quot;&nbsp;they would be correct.&nbsp;However, it&#39;s worth pointing out to higher-level students that&nbsp;<em>ah</em>&nbsp;is the most common spelling of&nbsp;the&nbsp;interjection.</p>

<h1>Aah</h1>

<p>Some people might be surprised to learn that&nbsp;<em>aah</em> is a verb. <em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aah" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines&nbsp;<em>aah</em>&nbsp;as &quot;to exclaim in amazement, joy, or&nbsp;surprise.&quot;</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>The audience oohed and aahed at the&nbsp;acrobats.</li>
	<li>Most parents spent the night oohing and aahing over the children&#39;s&nbsp;artwork.</li>
</ul>

<p>Students might also be relieved to learn that&nbsp;<em>ah</em> is a variant spelling of&nbsp;<em>aah</em>, so if they write&nbsp;<em>ah</em> instead of&nbsp;<em>aah</em>&nbsp;as a verb, it is still correct. However, it&#39;s worth pointing out to higher-level students that&nbsp;<em>aah</em> is the most common spelling for the verb&nbsp;form.</p>

<h1>What about Aha?</h1>

<p>Another interjection with a similar spelling is&nbsp;<em>aha</em>. <em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aha" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines&nbsp;<em>aha</em>&nbsp;as &quot;used when something is suddenly seen, found, or understood; used to express surprise, triumph, or derision.&quot;&nbsp;<em>Aha</em> is almost always found at the beginning of a sentence and is usually followed by an exclamation&nbsp;point.</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Aha! I finally found my&nbsp;keys!</li>
	<li>Aha! I knew he would call&nbsp;you.</li>
</ul>

<p>Are there any other&nbsp;commonly confused words you&#39;d like to know more about?&nbsp;Let me know in the comments section&nbsp;below.</p>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>Find an exercise on Interjections on page 5 in&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/102/lessons/2058" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 3 &ndash; Lesson&nbsp;14</a>.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/aw-vs-awe/" target="_blank">Aw Vs. Awe</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/lay-vs-lie-lets-lay-this-matter-to-rest/" target="_blank">Lay Vs.&nbsp;Lie</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/everyday-vs-every-day/" target="_blank">Everyday Vs. Every&nbsp;Day</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on They&#39;re, Their, and&nbsp;There</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-youre-and-your/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on You&#39;re and&nbsp;Your</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-to-too-and-two/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on To, Too, and&nbsp;Two</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-its-and-its/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on It&#39;s and&nbsp;Its</a></li>
</ul>


Ah Vs. Aah

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<p>When you want to comment on your friend&#39;s baby or pet pictures on Facebook, what do you write? Misspelling the interjection&nbsp;<em>aw</em>&nbsp;as <em>awe&nbsp;</em>on social media and in text messages is something that&nbsp;both English language learners and native English speakers do. Since this is such a common term&nbsp;nowadays, let&#39;s review the differences in spelling and&nbsp;meaning.</p>


<h1>Aw</h1>

<p>When your friend posts an adorable puppy picture on Instagram and you want to gush over how cute it is, the correct thing to write is&nbsp;<em>aw</em>, not&nbsp;<em>awe</em>.</p>

<p><em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines&nbsp;<em>aw</em> as &quot;used to express&nbsp;mild disappointment, gentle entreaty, or real or mock sympathy or&nbsp;sentiment.&quot;</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Aw, your baby is so cute!</li>
	<li>A: Here&#39;s a picture of my new&nbsp;kitten!<br />
	B: Aw!</li>
	<li>A: You&#39;re the best!<br />
	B: Aw, thanks!</li>
	<li>A: I had a terrible day.<br />
	B: Aw, I&#39;m sorry to hear&nbsp;that.</li>
</ul>

<p>Note that it is possible to&nbsp;use more <em>w</em>s to show more emphasis and emotion (<em>awww</em>), but this is very informal and should be limited to comments among friends in social media/texting situations. How many <em>w</em>s are too many? Generally speaking, the more <em>w</em>s used, the more emotion conveyed. It&#39;s a similar situation to using more exclamation points to express emotion (!!!). Just remind students that more than one&nbsp;<em>w</em>&nbsp;or exclamation point is not &quot;correct&quot;&nbsp;grammar, so they should never use more than one in any type of formal&nbsp;writing.</p>

<h1>Awe</h1>

<p><em>Awe</em> has a fairly strong meaning and is more on the formal side. It&#39;s not a word that we use too&nbsp;often.</p>

<p><em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/awe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines <em>awe</em> as &quot;a strong feeling of fear or respect and also&nbsp;wonder.&quot;</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>I&#39;m in awe of her&nbsp;generosity.</li>
	<li>She gazed at the Picasso in&nbsp;awe.</li>
	<li>The amount of international aid following the terrorist attack filled us with&nbsp;awe.</li>
	<li>They were awestruck at the size of the new&nbsp;statue.</li>
</ul>

<p>In short, because&nbsp;<em>aw</em> is very common nowadays, we would do well to teach our students that when in doubt, use&nbsp;<em>aw</em>, not&nbsp;<em>awe</em>.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/lay-vs-lie-lets-lay-this-matter-to-rest/" target="_blank">Lay Vs. Lie</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/everyday-vs-every-day/" target="_blank">Everyday Vs. Every Day</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on They&#39;re, Their, and&nbsp;There</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-youre-and-your/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on You&#39;re and&nbsp;Your</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-to-too-and-two/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on To, Too, and&nbsp;Two</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-its-and-its/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on It&#39;s and&nbsp;Its</a></li>
</ul>

Aw Vs. Awe

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<h1>Happy 50th Anniversary, TESOL!</h1>

<p>Language keeps changing and evolving, especially nowadays with so much of our communication being carried out by text messaging and social media. One of the biggest changes I&#39;ve noticed as an editor is comma usage becoming&nbsp;less&nbsp;frequent, especially in social media and other forms of online&nbsp;communication.</p>

<p>So what do we teach our students about comma use nowadays, knowing they&#39;ll see English online most of the time? For guidance, let&#39;s take a look&nbsp;behind the scenes&nbsp;at ESL Library&#39;s style choices for greetings, introductions, and&nbsp;birthdays.</p>

<h1>Greetings</h1>

<p>Traditionally, a comma comes after a greeting word in&nbsp;English.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Hi, John.</li>
</ul>

<p>But what happens at the beginning of an email, newsletter, text, letter, etc. when the name should be followed by a&nbsp;comma?</p>

<ul>
	<li>Hi, John,</li>
</ul>

<p>Most people would agree that this double comma looks strange. Also, dropping the comma after the greeting term is very common in informal and web writing nowadays. For our newsletters, we use one of two&nbsp;ways:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Hi John,</li>
	<li>Hi, John!</li>
</ul>

<p>I would suggest teaching students to drop a comma after the greeting word if a comma follows the name, but keep it otherwise (as above). My feeling is it will eventually be dropped after the greeting term in all situations, but we&#39;re not there&nbsp;yet!</p>

<h1>Introductions</h1>

<p>Introducing someone&nbsp;in writing can be tricky.&nbsp;This situation came up recently when we were creating a newsletter about the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tesol.org/convention2016" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TESOL convention</a>. We were introducing our team members and their job titles, and we were debating which commas were necessary. This case can be very difficult for students to sort out as&nbsp;well.</p>

<p>For example, why do we need commas in the following&nbsp;sentences?</p>

<ul>
	<li>Our head writer, Tara Benwell, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Tara Benwell, our head writer, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Stop by&nbsp;and say hello to our CEO, Ben&nbsp;Buckwold.</li>
	<li>Stop by and say hello to Ben Buckwold, CEO of ESL Library and Sprout&nbsp;English.</li>
</ul>

<p>But why don&#39;t we use commas in the sentences&nbsp;below?</p>

<ul>
	<li>Head writer Tara Benwell will be&nbsp;at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Stop by and say hello to CEO Ben&nbsp;Buckwold.</li>
</ul>

<p>An easy way for students to remember comma usage in these cases is this: If you can drop the second phrase (name or title, depending on the sentence), you must use commas. If you can&#39;t drop it, you can&#39;t use commas. No dropping = no&nbsp;commas.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Our head writer, Tara Benwell, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Our&nbsp;head writer will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL convention. <em>(correct)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>In the example above, we can drop &#39;Tara Benwell&#39; and the sentence still makes sense and is correct, so we must use&nbsp;commas.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Tara Benwell, our head writer, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Tara Benwell&nbsp;will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL convention. <em>(correct)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>In the&nbsp;next&nbsp;example above, we can drop &#39;our head writer&#39; and the sentence still makes sense and is correct, so we must use&nbsp;commas.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Head writer Tara Benwell will be&nbsp;at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Head writer&nbsp;will be&nbsp;at Booth 313 during the TESOL convention. <em>(incorrect)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>In the&nbsp;last example above, we can&#39;t say &#39;Head writer will be&hellip;&#39; so we don&#39;t need commas with the&nbsp;name.</p>

<p>Note that this rule works for all kinds of titles. It also affects the capitalization for certain civil titles such as &#39;president&#39; and &#39;prime minister,&#39; so it is a good rule for students to&nbsp;learn.</p>

<ul>
	<li>President Barack Obama gave a speech today. <em>(correct)</em></li>
	<li>The president, Barack Obama, gave a speech today. <em>(correct)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>For more information, see our posts on <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/when-do-we-capitalize-president/" target="_blank">When Do We Capitalize &ldquo;President&rdquo;?</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/restrictive-non-restrictive-adjective-clauses" target="_blank">Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Adjective&nbsp;Clauses</a>.</p>

<h1>Birthdays</h1>

<p>We also dealt with another&nbsp;comma issue in our&nbsp;newsletter about the <a href="http://www.tesol.org/convention2016" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TESOL convention</a>. In honor of TESOL&#39;s 50th anniversary, we had the following&nbsp;heading.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy anniversary, TESOL!</li>
</ul>

<p>Again, traditionally, a comma is needed between the phrase and the&nbsp;name.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy birthday, John!</li>
	<li>Good luck, Lisa!</li>
	<li>Congratulations, team!</li>
</ul>

<p>However, it is worth pointing out (to higher-level students) that people often drop the comma&nbsp;in these phrases on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Some people also&nbsp;capitalize &#39;birthday&#39; for emphasis, and others use an acronym. Tell students that they may see and can write any of the following expressions with their own friends on social media (or in a card), but that the first version is the most &#39;correct&#39; (though not necessarily the most common these&nbsp;days).</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy birthday, John!&nbsp;<em>(correct)</em></li>
	<li>Happy birthday John!&nbsp;<em>(informal)</em></li>
	<li>Happy Birthday John!&nbsp;<em>(informal,&nbsp;common)</em></li>
	<li>HBD John!&nbsp;<em>(very&nbsp;informal)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>Note that a period/full stop instead of an exclamation mark is also acceptable:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy birthday,&nbsp;John.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>For more practice with comma usage in general, try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons" target="_blank">Writing in English</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2035" target="_blank">How to Write a Compound&nbsp;Sentence</a>.</p>


Comma Confusion: Greetings, Introductions & Birthdays

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<p>Early on, English students learn that plural nouns end in <span class="inlineBlock">-s</span> and singular nouns need an article such as <em>a</em>, <em>an</em>, or <em>the</em>. When students realize that some nouns (e.g., collective, mass, abstract, etc.) don&rsquo;t end in <span class="inlineBlock">-s</span> or don&rsquo;t need an article, they are understandably worried about how to recognize these types of nouns. Giving students a list of categories of uncountable nouns can ease their minds and help them remember when to use articles or add <span class="inlineBlock">-s</span>. Scroll down for a handy list and teaching&nbsp;tips!</p>

<h1>Count Nouns</h1>

<p>Count (or countable) nouns are people, places, or things that you can easily number (e.g., one apple, two apples). Singular and plural count nouns follow common rules. Singular count nouns are preceded by an <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-articles-a-an-and-the/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;(<em>a/an/the)</em>, a <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tricky-quantifiers-some-any-every-each-no/" target="_blank">quantifier</a>, a <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1624" target="_blank">possessive adjective</a>, or a number and are followed by a singular verb, while plural count nouns take <em>the</em> (never <em>a</em> or <em>an</em>), a quantifier, a possessive pronoun, a number, or no article and a plural&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>A</strong> friend <strong>is</strong> a&nbsp;gift.</li>
	<li><strong>Two</strong> friends <strong>are</strong> better than&nbsp;one.</li>
	<li><strong>The</strong> car&nbsp;in the driveway&nbsp;<strong>has</strong>&nbsp;pink&nbsp;tires.</li>
	<li>Dogs <b>enjoy</b>&nbsp;going for&nbsp;walks.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Non-Count Nouns</h1>

<p>Non-count (or uncountable) nouns are things you can&rsquo;t count because they&rsquo;re abstract (i.e., you can&rsquo;t see them), part of a group, or too small to count. Non-count nouns follow specific rules. They never use a number or a general article such as <em>a</em> or <em>an</em> (though they can be preceded by a specific determiner such as&nbsp;<em>the</em>, a quantifier, or a possessive adjective), never end in <span class="inlineBlock">-s</span>, and must be followed by a singular&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Rice <strong>is</strong> part of most Japanese&nbsp;meals.</li>
	<li>Faith <strong>gives</strong> people&nbsp;hope.</li>
	<li><strong>The</strong> snow <strong>was</strong> <strong>piled</strong> high this&nbsp;morning.</li>
	<li><strong>My</strong> furniture <strong>looks</strong>&nbsp;dusty.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Categories of Non-Count Nouns</h2>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2184" target="_blank"><img alt="Screenshot of Non-Count Nouns resource" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/220/content_103_Non-Count-Nouns_US.png" width="400" /></a></p>

<p class="caption">Grammar &amp; Usage Resources &ndash; <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2184" target="_blank">Non‑Count Nouns</a></p>

<h2>Exceptions</h2>

<p>Certain non‑count nouns end in <span class="inlineBlock">-s</span>, such as <em>news</em> or school subjects (<em>physics</em>, <em>mathematics</em>), but they still follow most of the rules for non‑count nouns. They are never preceded by a number or <em>a/an</em>, and they must be followed by a singular verb. Remind students that we can&rsquo;t count these words (we can&rsquo;t say <em>one new, two news</em> or <em>one physic, two&nbsp;physics</em>).</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>The</strong> news <strong>brings</strong> information to people all over the&nbsp;world.</li>
	<li>Physics <strong>is</strong> a difficult&nbsp;subject.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>Put these tips and chart to the test in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1613" target="_blank">Count &amp; Non‑Count&nbsp;Nouns</a>.</p>


Count & Non-Count Nouns

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<p>March fourth is National Grammar Day, one of our favorite days here at ESL&nbsp;Library! This year&nbsp;we&#39;ve decided to feature some of our most popular blog posts of all time. Teachers and students find our&nbsp;<strong>verb</strong>&nbsp;posts useful for teaching tips, charts, explanations, and practice activities. We&#39;re always looking to add to our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog" target="_blank">blog</a> and our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses#grammar" target="_blank">grammar lesson library</a>, so please <a href="https://ellii.com/contact" target="_blank">let us know</a> if you&#39;d like to see something that we haven&#39;t covered yet (a post on <a href="http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/f/verbingfaq.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">verbing</a>, perhaps?). March forth, fellow grammar&nbsp;lovers!</p>

<h1>The Simple Tenses</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-present-vs-present-progressive/">Simple Present Vs. Present&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-past-vs-past-progressive/" target="_blank">Simple Past Vs. Past&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/5-fun-activities-for-irregular-verbs/" target="_blank">5 Fun Activities for Irregular&nbsp;Verbs</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/can-we-ever-use-ever-with-the-simple-past/" target="_blank">Can We Ever Use &ldquo;Ever&rdquo; with the Simple&nbsp;Past?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-future-teaching-the-three-forms/" target="_blank">Simple Future: Teaching the Three&nbsp;Forms</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-future-vs-future-progressive/" target="_blank">Simple Future Vs. Future&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>The Perfect&nbsp;Tenses</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/5-easy-steps-for-teaching-the-present-perfect-and-the-present-perfect-progressive/" target="_blank">5 Easy Steps for Teaching the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/past-perfect-vs-past-perfect-progressive/" target="_blank">Past Perfect Vs. Past Perfect&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/future-perfect-vs-future-perfect-progressive/" target="_blank">Future Perfect Vs. Future Perfect&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Conditionals, Causative &amp; Subjunctive</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/an-easy-way-to-teach-conditionals/">An Easy Way to Teach&nbsp;Conditionals</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/causative-verbs/">Causative Verbs</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-passive-causative/">The Passive Causative</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tips-for-teaching-the-subjunctive/">Tips for Teaching the&nbsp;Subjunctive</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Gerunds &amp; Infinitives</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/gerunds-and-infinitives-helpful-teaching-tips/" target="_blank">Gerunds and Infinitives: Helpful Teaching&nbsp;Tips</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/exceptions-to-the-noun-infinitive-rule/" target="_blank">Exceptions to the Noun + Infinitive&nbsp;Rule</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/5-verbs-with-meaning-changes-gerunds-and-infinitives-advanced/" target="_blank">5 Verbs with Meaning Changes: Gerunds and Infinitives&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Advanced</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/answering-students-grammar-questions-why-do-we-use-looking-forward-to-with-a-second-ing-verb/" target="_blank">Why Do We Use &ldquo;Looking Forward To&rdquo; with a Second -ING&nbsp;Verb?</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Phrasal Verbs &amp;&nbsp;Idioms</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-do-you-teach-phrasal-verbs/" target="_blank">How Do You Teach Phrasal&nbsp;Verbs?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/8-ways-to-practice-idioms-in-class/" target="_blank">8 Ways to Practice Idioms in&nbsp;Class</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Everything Else</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-mixed-tenses/" target="_blank">Teaching Mixed Tenses</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/progressive-vs-continuous-and-other-synonymous-grammatical-terms/" target="_blank">Progressive Vs. Continuous and Other Synonymous Grammatical&nbsp;Terms</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-teach-used-to-in-6-easy-steps/" target="_blank">How to Teach &ldquo;Used To&rdquo; in 6 Easy&nbsp;Steps</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/used-to-get-used-to-and-be-used-to/" target="_blank">Used To, Get Used To, and Be&nbsp;Used&nbsp;To</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/subject-verb-agreement-non-count-nouns-that-end-in-s/" target="_blank">Subject-Verb Agreement: Non-Count Nouns That End in&nbsp;&ldquo;S&rdquo;</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/recommend/" target="_blank">Recommend, Suggest, Advise: Verbs That Have Multiple Sentence&nbsp;Patterns</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/look-appear-feel-adjective-or-adverb/" target="_blank">Look, Appear, Feel + Adjective or&nbsp;Adverb?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/learned-vs-learnt/" target="_blank">Learned Vs. Learnt</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/say-vs-tell-and-other-speaking-verbs/" target="_blank">Say Vs. Tell and Other Speaking&nbsp;Verbs</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="course">We have more than 200 grammar lessons in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Stories</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons" target="_blank">Basic Grammar Sentences</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons" target="_blank">Simple Sentences</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/129/lessons" target="_blank">True Grammar Stories</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons" target="_blank">Fun Grammar Lessons</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons" target="_blank">Super Simple Grammar</a>&nbsp;sections.</li>
</ul>


Things Are Getting Tense! 25+ Resources on Verbs

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<p>March 1 is <strong>World Compliment Day</strong>! Here&rsquo;s an activity to&nbsp;try!</p>

<h1>Warm-Up</h1>

<ol>
	<li>Introduce your students to the word &ldquo;compliment&rdquo; (<em>a positive remark about someone or something</em>), and explain that it can be used as a noun and a verb. While you are looking at the word itself, explain the difference between <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/compliment-vs-complement" target="_blank">compliment and complement</a>. (I always tell my students that the one that means &ldquo;extra&rdquo; has an extra&nbsp;&ldquo;e&rdquo;.)</li>
	<li>Ask your students to identify different things that they praise people for (clothing, hair, job performance, talent, design, hard work). Can they remember the most recent compliment they&nbsp;received?</li>
	<li>Explain that giving a compliment is a form of small talk. It&rsquo;s a great way to <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1749" target="_blank">start a conversation</a>. Students can give compliments to people they know or don&rsquo;t know. When we visit a friend or family member, it&rsquo;s nice to give a compliment as part of a greeting. My sister-in-law finds a way to compliment me every time I see her. She&rsquo;s so&nbsp;sweet!</li>
	<li>Explain that we often use the verbs &ldquo;give,&rdquo; &ldquo;accept,&rdquo; and &ldquo;take/can&rsquo;t take&rdquo; with the word&nbsp;<em>compliment</em>.</li>
</ol>

<h1>Teach Useful Expressions for Giving&nbsp;Compliments</h1>

<p>Teach your students some common expressions for giving a&nbsp;compliment.</p>

<h2>Appearance</h2>

<ul>
	<li>You look nice today.</li>
	<li>I love your new hairstyle.</li>
	<li>That color looks good on you. / You look good in&nbsp;blue.</li>
	<li>Your dining room looks&nbsp;beautiful.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Work</h2>

<ul>
	<li>You worked very hard on&nbsp;this.</li>
	<li>Nice work!</li>
	<li>Good job!</li>
	<li>This is excellent.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Talent</h2>

<ul>
	<li>You&#39;re a great artist.</li>
	<li>You&#39;re so good with&nbsp;kids.</li>
	<li>You have a lovely&nbsp;voice.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Food</h2>

<ul>
	<li>You make great cookies!</li>
	<li>You&#39;re such a good&nbsp;chef.</li>
	<li>This pasta is delicious.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Indirect</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Your son is a great actor.</li>
	<li>Your mom has the nicest&nbsp;garden.</li>
	<li>I loved your sister&#39;s book.</li>
</ul>

<h1><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2615-giving-receiving-compliments"><img alt="Giving and receiving compliments ESL lesson from Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3071/content_Screen_Shot_2023-02-27_at_9.03.46_AM.png" /></a></h1>

<p class="caption">Are you an Ellli member? Try this ready-made lesson on <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2615-giving-receiving-compliments" target="_blank">Giving &amp; Receiving Compliments</a> from our Functional English section.</p>

<h1>Teach How to Accept a&nbsp;Compliment</h1>

<p>Your students will also need to practice accepting a compliment. The best way to respond is with a simple thank you and a big&nbsp;smile!</p>

<ul>
	<li>Thank you.</li>
	<li><a href="http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1798/what-is-the-purpose-of-using-the-word-why-in-why-thank-you" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Why, thank you!</a> <em>(with slight&nbsp;surprise)</em></li>
	<li>Thank you for saying&nbsp;that.</li>
	<li>I appreciate that.</li>
	<li>I needed to hear that. <em>(after having a bad day or feeling&nbsp;inadequate)</em></li>
	<li>You&rsquo;re so sweet.</li>
	<li>I&rsquo;ll tell her you said that. / She&rsquo;ll be happy to hear that. <em>(accepting&nbsp;indirectly)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>Explain that many people have difficulty accepting a compliment. They may respond in a <strong>humble</strong> way. They may also <strong>fish for</strong> more&nbsp;compliments.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Do you really think&nbsp;so?</li>
	<li>I don&rsquo;t think so, but thanks for saying&nbsp;so.</li>
</ul>

<p>Some people really can&rsquo;t take a compliment. They almost always respond to a compliment in a <strong>self-deprecating</strong>&nbsp;way.</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<h3>Example #1</h3>

<table class="dialogue">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>Your cookies are delicious.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>B:</th>
			<td>They could use a little more&nbsp;sugar.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>Example #2</h3>

<table class="dialogue">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>Your presentation was great.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>B:</th>
			<td>Are you kidding? I was so&nbsp;nervous.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>Example #3</h3>

<table class="dialogue">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>I like your glasses.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>B:</th>
			<td>These old things? I&rsquo;ve had them&nbsp;forever.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Practice Giving Compliments</h1>

<p>Now have your students practice. Write a setting on the board (e.g., birthday party, school reunion, wedding, funeral, hockey game, staff meeting). Tell your students to imagine themselves <strong>mingling</strong> with friends, colleagues, relatives, and strangers at this event. They should walk around and give each other compliments about appearance, job performance, talent, clothing, food, etc. They should also practice accepting&nbsp;compliments.</p>

<h1>For Fun!</h1>

<p>After practicing giving and accepting compliments, visit the <a href="http://www.worldcomplimentday.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">World Compliment Day website</a>, and have your students fill out a World Compliment Day award for a classmate or&nbsp;friend.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/14/flashcard_categories/16" target="_blank"><img alt="A certificate with a compliment written on it" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/250/content_Tara_Giving-and-Accepting-Compliments-in-English_Certificate1.png" width="320" /></a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.worldcomplimentday.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img alt="A certificate with a compliment written on it" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/251/content_Tara_Giving-and-Accepting-Compliments-in-English_Certificate2.png" width="320" /></a></p>


Giving & Accepting Compliments in English

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<p>Some English prepositions have such similar meanings. Are words like <em>above</em> and <em>over</em> always interchangeable, or are there usage differences? Our new <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2112">Prepositions of Place</a> got us thinking about commonly confused prepositions such as <em>above/over</em> and <em>below/under</em>. Try presenting these prepositions together and explaining the most common usage to your English language&nbsp;learners.</p>

<h1>Above &amp;&nbsp;Over</h1>

<p>These prepositions can be interchangeable, but the most common usage is&nbsp;this:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Use <strong>above</strong> when there is no&nbsp;movement.</p>

<p>Use <strong>over</strong> when there is&nbsp;movement.</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>There is a painting <strong>above</strong> the sofa. <em>(no&nbsp;movement)</em></li>
	<li>The chandelier hangs <strong>above</strong> the dining room table. <em>(no&nbsp;movement)</em></li>
	<li>The plane flew <strong>over</strong> the building. <em>(movement)</em></li>
	<li>The dog jumped <strong>over</strong> the log. <em>(movement)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>On</h1>

<p>What about <em>on</em>? Use <em>on</em> when two nouns are touching (when a noun is directly on top of another noun). Use <em>above</em> when there is no&nbsp;touching.</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>There is a book <strong>on</strong> the desk.&nbsp;<em>(touching)</em></li>
	<li>The cat is sleeping <strong>on</strong> the bed.&nbsp;<em>(touching)</em></li>
	<li>The sun is directly <strong>above</strong> our heads. <em>(no&nbsp;touching)</em></li>
	<li>I see blue sky through the skylight <strong>above</strong> me. <em>(no&nbsp;touching)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>Below &amp;&nbsp;Under</h1>

<p>These prepositions are even more interchangeable than <em>above</em> and <em>over</em>. The important thing to remember is&nbsp;this:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Use <strong>under</strong> in most cases as it is much more common than &ldquo;below.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Use <strong>below</strong> when the meaning is &ldquo;less&nbsp;than.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>My shoes are <strong>under</strong> the bed. <em>(no movement, no&nbsp;touching)</em></li>
	<li>The saucer is <strong>under</strong> the cup.&nbsp;<em>(touching)</em></li>
	<li>The boat passed&nbsp;<strong>under</strong> the bridge.&nbsp;<em>(movement)</em></li>
	<li>It is 18 degrees <strong>below</strong> zero. <em>(less&nbsp;than)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>What about&nbsp;<em>beneath</em> and <em>underneath</em>? These prepositions are also interchangeable with <em>under</em> and <em>below</em>, though I tell my students that they are a little more formal and that <em>under</em> is the best&nbsp;choice.</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>We sat <strong>under</strong> the tree. <em>(most common/best&nbsp;choice)</em></li>
	<li>We sat <strong>below</strong> the tree. <em>(less&nbsp;common)</em></li>
	<li>We sat <strong>underneath</strong> the tree. <em>(a little more&nbsp;formal)</em></li>
	<li>We sat <strong>beneath</strong> the tree. <em>(more&nbsp;formal)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>Related Resources</h1>

<p>Try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2112">Prepositions of Place</a> lesson in the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a>&nbsp;section!</p>

<p>For more examples and exceptions, there is a great article on&nbsp;<em>under&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>below</em> in&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.learnersdictionary.com/qa/what-is-the-difference-between-under-and-below">Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Learner&rsquo;s&nbsp;Dictionary</a>.</em></p>


Commonly Confused Prepositions: Above, Over, Below & Under

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<h1>Have your students already studied these time markers?</h1>

<p>When we use the present perfect tense to describe a finished action at an unspecified time in the past, there are three common adverbs that serve as time markers. These adverbs can be tough for students to remember because they follow&nbsp;different sentence patterns. Presenting them all at once allows&nbsp;students to see and understand the&nbsp;differences.</p>

<h2>Already</h2>

<p><em>Already</em> is the easiest of the three time markers because this adverb follows a normal adverb sentence&nbsp;pattern.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td><em>Already</em> emphasizes that an action has been accomplished in the&nbsp;past.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>have/has + already + past&nbsp;participle</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>We <strong>have already decided</strong> to reschedule the&nbsp;meeting.</li>
				<li>She <strong>has already read</strong> the <em>Harry Potter</em>&nbsp;books.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Yet</h2>

<p><em>Yet</em> has an unusual&nbsp;sentence pattern and always includes&nbsp;a&nbsp;negative&nbsp;verb.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td><em>Yet</em>&nbsp;signifies the intention to do&nbsp;something.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>have/has + not + past participle + (object)&nbsp;+&nbsp;yet</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>He&nbsp;<strong>has not called</strong> me back&nbsp;<strong>yet</strong>.</li>
				<li>They<strong> haven&#39;t finished&nbsp;yet</strong>.</li>
				<li>A: Have you completed your project?<br />
				B: Not yet.*</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>*Note:</th>
			<td><em>Not yet</em> is pretty common as a short&nbsp;answer.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Still</h2>

<p><em>Still</em> can be tricky for students because there are two separate&nbsp;uses of this term. It is helpful to point out that with the present perfect tense, the verb must be negative, and with the present progressive, the verb is usually&nbsp;positive.</p>

<h3>1. Present Perfect</h3>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>Like&nbsp;<em>yet</em>,&nbsp;<em>still</em> signifies the intention to do&nbsp;something.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>still + have/has + not + past&nbsp;participle</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>I <strong>still haven&#39;t completed</strong> my&nbsp;assignment.</li>
				<li>My tropical plant&nbsp;<strong>still has&nbsp;not&nbsp;bloomed</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>2. Present Progressive</h3>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td><em>Still</em> emphasizes an ongoing&nbsp;action.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>be + still + -ing&nbsp;verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The students&nbsp;<strong>are still studying&nbsp;</strong>for the&nbsp;test.</li>
				<li>He <strong>is still trying</strong> to find his&nbsp;keys.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Related</h1>

<p>Are your students still having trouble with these time markers? Try our related&nbsp;materials:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1597" target="_blank">Present Perfect Grammar&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1598" target="_blank">Present Perfect Progressive Grammar&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/5-easy-steps-for-teaching-the-present-perfect-and-the-present-perfect-progressive/" target="_blank">5 Easy Steps for Teaching the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/still-no-longer-not-anymore/" target="_blank">Still, No Longer &amp; Not&nbsp;Anymore</a></li>
</ul>


Already, Yet & Still

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<p>Articles in English are tiny words that can cause big problems for learners. Many beginner students who don&rsquo;t use articles in their native tongue can have trouble learning when to use&nbsp;<em>a</em> or <em>the</em>. Higher-lever students can also struggle with the many exceptions and quirks of article usage. Before getting into a beginner or intermediate lesson (see &ldquo;Practice&rdquo; below), try presenting the basic English articles <em>a</em>, <em>an</em>, and <em>the</em> in chart form to&nbsp;help learners compare and understand the&nbsp;differences.</p>

<h1>Chart</h1>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2165" target="_blank"><img alt="Articles chart" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/214/content_Tanya_Teaching-Articles-A-An-and-The_Chart.png" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2165" target="_blank">Articles Chart</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;Resources</p>

<h1>Tips</h1>

<h2>Tip #1</h2>

<p>Use a/an/&oslash; with <strong>general</strong>&nbsp;nouns.</p>

<p>What is a general (indefinite) noun? For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I&rsquo;m hungry. I want a sandwich. Can you see a sandwich right now? No, you can&#39;t.&nbsp;That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s <strong>a</strong> sandwich. I don&rsquo;t have a specific sandwich in mind. I can&rsquo;t see it, and you can&rsquo;t see it. We don&rsquo;t know which sandwich I&rsquo;m talking about. It could be any&nbsp;sandwich.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tip #2</h2>

<p>Use <em>the</em> with <strong>specific</strong>&nbsp;nouns.</p>

<p>What is a specific (definite) noun? For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li><em>[The teacher gives a blue pen to a student]</em> Kim, can you pass me the blue pen? Can everyone see the blue pen? Yes, we can.&nbsp;That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s <strong>the</strong> blue pen. I know which pen it is. I can see it, and you can see it. I&rsquo;m talking about only this one specific pen, and we all know which pen I&rsquo;m talking&nbsp;about.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tip #3</h2>

<p>Use <em>an</em>&nbsp;before words that begin with a <strong>vowel</strong> (a, e, i, o, u) and <em>a</em> before words that begin with a&nbsp;<strong>consonant</strong>.</p>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

<p>Words that begin with a &ldquo;u&rdquo; or &ldquo;h&rdquo; take <em>an</em> if the noun begins with a vowel sound (e.g.,&nbsp;<em>an umbrella</em>, <em>an heir</em>) and <em>a</em> if the noun begins with a consonant sound (e.g.,&nbsp;<em>a university, a&nbsp;house</em>).</p>
</div>

<h2>Tip #4</h2>

<p>Use <em>the</em> when there is <strong>only one</strong> of&nbsp;something.</p>

<p>Examples include:</p>

<ul>
	<li><em>the sun</em>, <em>the moon</em>, <em>the&nbsp;earth</em></li>
	<li><em>the library</em>, <em>the bank</em>, <em>the laundromat</em> (in a&nbsp;town)</li>
	<li><em>the door</em>, <em>the whiteboard</em>, <em>the teacher&rsquo;s desk</em> (in your&nbsp;classroom).</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tip #5</h2>

<p>Use <em>the</em> when it&rsquo;s the <strong>second mention</strong> of the&nbsp;noun.</p>

<p>Even though we still can&rsquo;t see it, we know which one the speaker is talking about because it has been introduced. For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I saw <strong>a</strong> movie last night. <strong>The</strong> movie was so boring that I fell&nbsp;asleep.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tip #6</h2>

<p>Use <em>the</em> when the noun has an <strong>adjective clause or phrase</strong> that modifies&nbsp;it.</p>

<p>The extra information that describes the noun makes it clear which noun we&rsquo;re referring to. For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>The</strong> dog that follows me home every day is really&nbsp;friendly.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>ESL&nbsp;Library has two great lessons on Articles. Our new <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2028">Articles &ndash; Beginner</a> lesson covers <em>a</em>, <em>an</em>, and <eme>the, and provides many mixed exercises for practice. Our reformatted <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1606">Articles &ndash; Intermediate</a> lesson goes into great detail about the many uses and exceptions of English&nbsp;articles.</eme></p>


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