- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- Advanced Composition
- Critical Thinking
- Group Activity
- Reading
- Vocabulary
Close Reading Knowledge Building
All of our students bring with them unique thoughts, ideas, and perspectives. When we give them opportunities to share, together they can grow their understanding of a topic. Check out this idea for a deep reading activity that can be used in both lower and more advanced levels alike. Read More

- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- Classroom Ideas
- Community Building
- Education
- Group Activity
- Icebreaker
- Slides
- Teacher Tips
Building Blocks – A lesson in Active Learning
Start your class off on the right foot with this community building activity that doubles as a lesson in how to be a successful language learner. Read More

- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- Advanced Composition
- California Community Colleges
- Discussion
- Reading
- Talking Chart
- Teacher Tips
Schema Jigsaw Grid
Set students up to be successful with a challenging reading with this pre-reading activity. They’ll get some great speaking practice in the process. Read More

CATESOL Reflections Part 2: Tech
Check out this list of interesting websites/apps I heard about at the CATESOL conference. Read More

- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- California Community Colleges
- Class Routines
- Classroom Ideas
- Conference Highlights
- Critical Thinking
- Vocabulary
CATESOL Conference Reflections: Part I
The annual CATESOL conference is a professional development event for ESL educators in California and Nevada. I attended this weekend and will summarize some tidbits I learned about critical thinking and also vocabulary strategies. Read More

Error Correction Telephone
Here’s another way you can structure error correction to liven up your class and put the fun in grammar.Read More

Quote Search Posters
Use this post-reading poster activity to help students dig into readings and prepare for a synthesis essay. Read More

- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- Advanced Composition
- California Community Colleges
- Conference Highlights
- Reading
Close Reading Folders
Get your students to work together to unpack and better understand key passages from a text you’re working on in class with this close reading group activity. Read More

Participation Stations
This activity structure is a great way to get all students in your class engaged and working, even the shy ones. I piloted it in my class today, and my students enjoyed it. I used it for a post-reading activity, but it could also work well for other topics as well. Read More

Grammar Baseball
Error correction activities are a useful way to help students learn to analyze language and fix common errors. Try grammar baseball to engage your class with this fun game format. Read More

Review Grid
This evening at the beginning of class, I wrote a grid on the whiteboard. I asked students to write two …Read More

A Lesson on Topic Sentences
If you teach a class where writing is a focus, then you’ll most likely be covering topic sentences at some point. This post has a slide presentation that can help you introduce and your students learn all about writing clear topic sentences. Read More

Common Errors: Examples and Handout
Learning to self-correct is an important skill language learners must develop. Check out this list of common errors I’ve been collecting. Share it with your students to help them review the mistakes they make the most.Read More

Book Group Roles
Group work is a wonderful way to get students to collaborate and learn together. The best way to assure that everyone actively participates is to assign everyone in the group a specific task to be responsible for. If you put your students into book groups, check out these roles. Read More

Vocabulary Knowledge Share
Here’s an activity to help you introduce a new topic and get students to grow their vocabulary on it. It will get your students to activate their own schema about the topic and then share what they know with their classmates, helping everyone to expand their knowledge.Read More

- Advanced Composition
- California Community Colleges
- Grammar
- Group Activity
- Reading
- simple past tense
- Verbs
- Writing
Writing, Grammar, and Punctuation Tie the Knot at RACE-2-WRITE
Have you been looking for a great way to help your students practice writing? Learn about the game Race-2-Write that will get your students writing while at the same time helping them become more aware of grammar with its awesome color-coding function.Read More

Save Time with a Master Google Slide Template
Do you use Google Slides to create your lesson plans? If so, you should definitely have a Google Slide document where you keep templates of slides you really like and want to use again. It will cut down on your prep time. Read More

- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- Advanced Composition
- Classroom Ideas
- Graphic Organizers
- Group Activity
- Lessons and Handouts
- Technology
- Video
Collaborative Knowledge Base with Google Sheets
Yesterday at my college’s convocation, we did a group discussion activity that had us using Google Sheets as a place …Read More

- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- Classroom Ideas
- Discussion
- Graphic Organizers
- Group Activity
- Lessons and Handouts
Poster Presentations: A Scaffold to Public Speaking
Speaking is an essential part of learning a language, and public speaking is a needed skill in school and life. Check out this poster presentation format to help scaffold academic presentations skills for your students.Read More

- Acceleration
- Community Building
- Discussion
- Discussion Game
- Graphic Organizers
- Icebreaker
- Lessons and Handouts
The True/False Grid
Check out this True/False grid community building activity. It's a great way to help the class get to know you in a fun and competitive way. It also gets them talking, so that's an added bonus.Read More
