Worksheet: Reviewing TED Talks to Create Compelling Conversations
“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” —Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), American entrepreneur and publisher How can you encourage your advanced ESL students to develop their speaking skills and tap into their interest in our rapidly changing world? By creating compelling classroom assignments that respect their intelligence, engage their...
Read MoreSharing is Caring: Substituting Connectivity for Communication
“Technology is a word that describes something that doesn’t work yet.” –Douglas Adams (1952-2001), English author and satirist Is the cult of oversharing online preventing us from establishing genuine connections? Do we expect more from our phones than our neighbors? Is this natural or healthy? “I share, therefore I am” Many believe relying on instant...
Read MoreTeaching Matters: Correcting Error in the Classroom
“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” -Socrates (c. 470-399 BCE), Ancient Greek philosopher What are “good mistakes?” How can we – as teachers of English – encourage students to make more of them? When can we use error as an opportunity to increase students’ confidence in their speech? Recently, we’ve stumbled onto an...
Read MoreReview: Balancing Fluency and Accuracy Activities in the Classroom
“Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud.” —Hermann Hesse (1877-1962), German novelist and 1946 Nobel Prize winner What’s the difference between speaking English fluently and speaking accurately? Which one takes priority in the classroom? How can we, as educators, create a balanced curriculum with more targeted in-class fluency...
Read MoreTeaching Matters: How to Add Student Voices to Classroom Discussions
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” -Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), British author and Nobel laureate This Teacher Edition Tuesday post, a weekly series based on ten teaching tips from the recently released Compelling American Conversations – Teacher Edition, addresses classroom participation and bringing more international student voices into...
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