Teacher Tips

Building Blocks – A lesson in Active Learning

January 21, 2019

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. ...

Acceleration / Activity Ideas / Advanced Composition / California Community Colleges / Discussion / Reading / Talking Chart / Teacher Tips

Schema Jigsaw Grid

January 18, 2019

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. ...

Acceleration / Activity Ideas / Advanced Composition / Grammar / Group Activity / Teacher Tips

Error Correction Telephone

November 30, 2018

Image of someone holding a can with a string for the telephone game.

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

Activity Ideas / Classroom Ideas / Education / Lessons and Handouts / Slides / Teacher Tips / Technology

Save Time with a Master Google Slide Template

August 12, 2018

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...

Teacher Tips / Technology / Video

LMS Homepage Buttons

July 31, 2018

Are you getting read for the start of the fall semester? Use these navigation buttons to help make the homepage on your course's LMS engaging and easy to navigate. ...

Acceleration / Activity Ideas / Advanced Composition / Classroom Ideas / Group Activity / Reading / Teacher Tips

Annotating Together: An Activity for Building Reading Strategies

July 13, 2018

Do you have students who are hesitant to write on a text? Use this classroom activity to help emphasize the importance of annotating while reading and help students build a repertoire of annotation strategies....

Class Routines / Classroom Ideas / Conference Highlights / Education / Teacher Tips

The Parking Lot: A Place for Untimely Questions

July 11, 2018

As teachers, we need to stay on task for the sake of the whole class while still making sure all of our students feel that they’re heard and their questions, unrelated as they may be, are important....

Activity Ideas / Class Routines / Classroom Ideas / Community Building / Education / Syllabus / Teacher Tips / Technology

Student Feedback Form: Class Norm

July 5, 2018

Getting feedback from our students during the semester is very helpful. It also gives students a chance to express their feelings or possible concerns about a class. Check out this idea for an open form...

Acceleration / California Community Colleges / Classroom Ideas / Conference Highlights / Education / Teacher Tips

Learning is Confusion Figured Out

June 14, 2018

How can we design ESL curriculum that is relevant and engaging to students? Check out this post for some ideas. ...

Activity Ideas / Classroom Ideas / Conference Highlights / Teacher Tips / Writing

Writing Partners: Contextualizing Written Communication

May 13, 2018

Add this collaborative activity to your class to give your students engaging and authentic writing practice. ...

Acceleration / Advanced Composition / Grammar / Lessons and Handouts / Teacher Tips

Just-In-Time Syntax Booster

May 5, 2018

Add this just-in-time syntax routine to your class to help improve your students' English sentence structure. ...

Classroom Ideas / Teacher Tips / Vocabulary

5 Awesome Vocabulary Websites

March 12, 2018

The more I teach and study language, the more I believe in the power of words. There are many great websites that can help you when creating vocabulary activities for your class. Here are some of my favorites....

Conversation Class / Discussion / Discussion Game / Group Activity / Lessons and Handouts / Slides / Teacher Tips

Conversation Class: Travel and Survival Slides

February 22, 2018

These ESL conversation class lesson plans (including beautifully designed slides and handouts) on travel and survival are sure to get your adult ESL learners engaged and learning. ...

Lessons and Handouts / Slides / Teacher Tips / Writing

Five Ways to put Writing into your Beginning-Level ESL Classroom

October 21, 2017

Do you teach a beginning-level ESL class? Check out these tips for getting your students to write more even at the beginning level. ...

Classroom Ideas / Teacher Tips

2 Great Ways to Let Google Lighten Your Load

September 26, 2017

There’s no doubt that technology has changed education. One of my favorite technology providers for education is Google. They’re an innovative and user-friendly company that has a lot of great services...