Consumer Product Reviews: A Popular, Practical ESL Speaking Activity
Let ESL Students Give Product Reviews in the New Year! Do you let your English students write and deliver product reviews? Consumer reviews help ESL students develop research skills, use critical thinking, and share their consumer choices. The giving and receiving of gifts has become a central feature of Christmas, Hanukkah, winter solstice and New Year celebrations. We live – for worse or for...
Read MoreWhat ESL books do you recommend?
This simple question has been posed twice in emails this week. Both ESL students and teachers know that too many textbooks fail to engage readers. Yet rather than focusing on the many sins of the many boring textbooks, let’s focus on those few informative, practical, and interesting ESL books that we like. Here is a quick, superficial, and by no means comprehensive list of English as a...
Read MoreAnother Five Star Amazon Review!
Allow me to brag for a moment. Another five-star review for Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics showed up on Amazon. Consider me pleased! Here’s the entire Amazon review: 5.0 out of 5 stars A wholesome learning resource!, December 4, 2008 By Erika Villafane “Erika” (Miami, Florida USA) – See all my reviews When compelling conversations...
Read MoreExploring Cities in ESL Classrooms
Cities attract the young, the strong, the ambitious, and the hungry. Millions move from countryside and across the globe to live in new cities every year. Cities provide jobs, culture,and education. Cities are exciting. Yet, sometimes danger also lurks in cities. Do you like living in cities? Which cities have you visited? Which cities you found most satisfying? Why? Teaching English in Los...
Read MoreReading Pleasures and Tastes Adapted for Easy English Times Column
Easy English Times, an adult education newspaper for English language learners published in California, adapts a chapter from Compelling Conversations each month. The editors selected “Reading Pleasures”, one of my favorite chapters, to run in their November-December issue. Since Easy English Times focuses on the needs of beginning and intermediate ESL students, the editor selects...
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