Creating Simple ESL Lesson Plans Around Top Ten Lists for Advanced English Classes
Advanced ESL/EFL classes benefit from making top ten lists “Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.” ―Tenzin Gyatso (1950-) 14th Dalai Lama Americans love to create, read, and discuss top ten lists. Newspapers and magazines use the simple format to summarize large chunks of information in a friendly, easily digestible manner. Year-end issues often expand the technique to create...
Read MoreLearning by Doing and Making “Good Mistakes” in English classes
Why English learners must practice and make “good mistakes” in order to grow “A man’s mistakes are his portals of discovery.” ―James Joyce (1882-1941), Irish novelist and poet How can English language teachers create a rigorous, tolerant and focused classroom atmosphere? One effective technique is encouraging English students, especially ESL students, to “learn by doing” and to “make...
Read MoreHomophones Can Confuse: A Minor Mistake in Miner Valley
Why it is so important for English learners to tackle homophones in the classroom “For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.” ―Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), German writer English remains an often confusing and difficult language to learn (and teach!) for many reasons. For instance, the gap between a word’s spelling and its pronunciation often presents a...
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