The benefits of drama in the English classroom are surprising. Students learn and practice a variety of acting skills, using their bodies and voices to make meaning. When they put on a play, what to […]
Copyright Page for Textbooks
If you’re a small publisher or self-publisher, keeping your business afloat is not easy. And one thing that eats into your profits is when teachers photocopy books that aren’t photocopiable. Textbooks and workbooks make money […]
What Are Your Students Worth?
Have you ever thought about what your students are worth? What would you pay them for the work they do on a project? It’s a sort of backwards question, as generally students pay us to […]
Conversational Moves
So many speaking materials focus on micro-language: application of a grammatical form, pronunciation of a syllable, maybe memorization of a useful phrase. But students do not get much scaffolding for a macro-approach that integrates larger elements […]
Using Video to Teach Natural Conversation
Video is a powerful resource to teach natural conversation to students. Students can benefit from listening to conversations between fluent speakers. In particular, natural, fluent speech provides models of pronunciation and intonation, and how we […]
Only the Best Intentions Won an Award
We’re thrilled to announce that Only the Best Intentions won an award from the English-Speaking Union, Runner-Up, Best Resource for Secondary to Adult Learners from the English-Speaking Union. A handful of pictures from the night courtesy […]
Syllabus Scavenger Hunt: An Interactive Way to Review the Syllabus
It’s not always the most fun part of the first day of class, but we often need to review the syllabus. Students need to know the rules, how their grades will be calculated, and the […]
How to Structure Online Chats for Better Participation
Blended learning has gone mainstream. Once upon a time, classes that were conducted both online and face-to-face were taught by professors with IT experience. However, it seems that all teachers are expected to be able […]
Ways to Make Me Laugh
Humor can be a powerful tool in the classroom. As I’ve written elsewhere before, Humor plays a large role in my teaching. I use jokes to lighten the mood and make learning fun. I use […]
Intonation Sensation: An Activity to Teach Sentence Stress
English speakers use intonation to express meaning, which other languages don’t necessarily do. In some languages, intonation is applied at the sentence level. Intonation may be linked to the meaning of the word. But English […]