Filed under: Reading, Writing | Tags: English With Jennifer, JenniferESL, Jennifer Lebedev, student compositions, lea, story scramble, essay writing, essay types
I hope the title caught your attention, but perhaps it’s also caused some confusion. Let me explain. I’d like to consider the possibility of using student compositions as the basis for other activities. It’s similar to a craftsman building something from recycled materials. Compositions that have been thoroughly revised and already graded could be used among the same group of students or with other groups at similar levels (assuming you have the authors’ permission) in the context of a new lesson. Here are two possible “second-hand” activities:
1. Solo reading and speaking to the class
Student compositions written by one group can be shared with a second. Students receiving the essays can be assigned questions to answer:
- For essays expressing a point of view (problem-solution, cause-effect, etc.): What is the topic? What is the author’s opinion? Do you agree with the author? Why or why not? Be prepared to share your answers with the class.
- For essays presenting information (narrative, definition, etc.): What is the topic? Can you summarize the essay? Did you learn anything new from the author? Can you provide any additional information on the topic? Be prepared to share your answers with the class.
2. Paired reading and problem-solving discussion
Students at one level should be able to comprehend not only the writings of their classmates but also of those one level head. This means a teacher could share the compositions of a high intermediate class with the students at the intermediate or low intermediate level. The number of unfamiliar words or grammatical structures shouldn’t be high enough to hinder comprehension. That said, try the following activity with a narrative essay or short story.
- Story Scramble: You’re likely familiar with this game. I put a spin on it for a LEA-inspired activity (Language Experience Approach) back in March 2009. Now we’re taking a story or a description of events as related on paper by a student and dividing it up into 10-12 segments. This needs to be done by the teacher in advance. I recommend keeping sets of the story in envelopes. You’ll need about 5-6 sets so that the class can work either in pairs or small groups. Each group will assemble the story to the best of their ability. One group can volunteer to read the assembled story to the class. Alternative sequences can be discussed.
VARIATION: You can have each group work with a different story. After an assigned amount of time (e.g., 10 minutes), you can present a copy of the original story to the group so they can check their work. Groups can hand back the original “whole” copies to the teacher and exchange sets so the activity is repeated. Finally, after all the materials have been collected, have volunteers recall and orally summarize the 5-6 stories. The class can listen and assist as necessary.
Filed under: Pronunciation | Tags: English With Jennifer, JenniferESL, Jennifer Lebedev, vowel sounds, pronunciation tips, consonant sounds
I’ve shared tips for teaching vowel and consonant sounds in an earlier posting. One addition to that list is the benefit of using our sense of touch. Some may describe this instruction as tactile or hands-on. Whatever you wish to call it, the idea is to get students to understand sound production by placing their hands in a certain position so that they can feel a change produced by the articulators. Below are some so-called tactile exercises to try your in your classroom.
- To understand aspiration:
Hold your fingers in front of your lips. Say /p, t, k/ and you’ll feel a puff of air. Say /b, d, g/ and you won’t.
- To understand voicing:
(1) Place your hand on your throat. Say voiced consonants such as /v, z, w/ and you’ll feel your vocal chords vibrate. Say voiceless consonants such as /f, s, h/ and you’ll feel no vibration.
(2) Plug your ears with your fingers. Say voiced consonants and you’ll hear your voice inside your head. Say voiceless consonants and your voice will sound much softer.
- To understand open (low) and closed (high) vowels:
(1) Place your hands full on your cheeks face with your fingers pointing upward. Say a sequence of vowels from high to mid to low such as /u, oʊ, ɑ/ and you’ll feel your jaw gradually drop.
(2) Place one thumb lightly under your chin. Say the same sequence of high to low vowels and you’ll feel the pressure of your chin on your thumb as the jaw drops.
- To understand nasal sounds:
Pinch your nose and pronounce the nasal consonants /m, n, ŋ/. The sound will be obstructed. Release your nose and say the sounds again. They should sound natural because the air is properly escaping from your nose and not your mouth.
Perhaps you know of other exercises. If so, please share them!
Filed under: Grammar, Writing | Tags: English With Jennifer, JenniferESL, Jennifer Lebedev, phrasal verbs, informal English, two-part verbs, multi-word verbs, formal writing, register, professional English, business English, academic English
The purpose of this exercise is to reinforce students’ understanding of the differences between formal and informal English, highlighting the role phrasal verbs can play in changing the register. Students will begin with informal speech and edit it for a more formal context, using one-word equivalents for the selected phrasal verbs.
Level: High intermediate to advanced
STEP 1 – Ask students to name people in positions of power who can effect change, for example, a president, mayor, or school director. List their ideas on the board.
STEP 2 – Ask the students to choose one person in power and list 2-3 actions they would like that person to take. Each item on the list must use at least one phrasal verb. Be sure students have access to a good phrasal verb reference chart that includes definitions, such as the one in the appendix of Book 4 of the Focus in Grammar series. Model:
I want our governor to:
- come up with a way to help out state college students with tuition
- put together a program to help students find work after college
- make laws that will stop people from using up too much gas, water, and electricity
STEP 3 – Students will use their lists to compose a short letter. Model the business letter format on the board, indicating the correct positions of the addresses, the greeting, the closing, and the signature. In the body of the letter, one-word equivalents must replace the phrasal verbs. (Additional revisions may be necessary to increase the formality, e.g., elimination of contractions and abbreviations, more appropriate greetings and closings, etc.) Model:
Dear Sir:
I would like to make three requests. First, I kindly ask you to find a way to assist students who attend state colleges. Tuition is difficult to pay, and students like me need more help to get a good education. Second, the state government needs to create a program to help students find work after college. You could create free job centers at libraries, for example. Finally, I am worried about the environment. I believe the state government can make new laws that will stop people from wasting gas, water, and electricity. Until there are such laws, people will continue to waste.
Thank you.
Respectfully,
VARIATION: Instead of a business letter, students can write a short article. Tell them to imagine they are writing for a local newspaper. The headline can be Time for Change or Changes We Need.
Filed under: Grammar | Tags: chain story, English With Jennifer, grammar games, Jennifer ESL, Jennifer Lebedev, multi-word verbs, phrasal verbs, two-part verbs, verb transivity
This activity puts a spin on a familiar classroom game: chain stories. It’s best to do it in writing so that the final product(s) can be reviewed. One option is to work as a class, having each student make a one or two-line contribution with the teacher acting as the scribe at the board. A more interesting and perhaps more beneficial approach is to have several stories being formed at once on paper. More stories mean more contexts in which to study the given phrasal verbs. I will use this second option to illustrate the activity.
Objective: To increase awareness of object placement with transitive phrasal verbs
Level: Intermediate to advanced
STEP 1 – Select 6-8 transitive phrasal verbs and list them on the board. Include both separable and inseparable phrasal verbs. Be sure students have access to a phrasal verb reference chart to confirm definitions and whether a given verb is separable or inseparable. You can cue them by listing the phrasal verbs with objects in correct positions. Model:
Ask someone over
Go along with something/ someone
Hang something up
Look forward to something
Point something out
Show something off
Talk someone into something (or doing something)
Think something over
Wake someone up
STEP 2 – Next to the list of phrasal verbs, write 8-10 possible objects. You can ask students to volunteer ideas. Try to include some unusual choices to make the activity interesting. You should also include one or two pronouns and at least one very long object that will force students to make a decision regarding the best position of the object in a separable phrasal verb. Model:
a really cool-looking sports car
a late night party
neighbors
a problem
big scary dogs
it
him
them
an idea which at any other time would sound crazy
the question
STEP 3 – Ask students to work in pairs. Give each pair a blank sheet of paper. They must choose one phrasal verb and one object from the list to begin a short story. Once they write their first line, they pass their paper to the pair on the left. Students will continue the story they’ve just received by using a different phrasal verb and a different object from the lists. Sometimes an additional sentence will be necessary to transition from one idea to the next. This second sentence doesn’t have to contain a phrasal verb. End the activity when each story has five or six phrasal verbs.
STEP 4 – Collect all the stories. Read each one aloud to the class. As you read each line aloud, allow for feedback and corrections.
Possible story:
Jim was taking a nap. His brother, Matt, woke him up.
Jim and Matt had plans. Their friend Pete had asked them over.
Jim and Matt were looking forward to a late night party at Pete’s house.
Pete wanted to show off a really cool-looking sports car which his parents bought for him.
When the brothers got to Pete’s house, Jim pointed out a problem – big scary dogs.
Pete spoke sweetly and talked them into leaving Pete’s front door. Now they could go in and have fun!
Filed under: Grammar | Tags: English With Jennifer, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL, multi-word verbs, particles, phrasal prepositional words, phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs, three-part verbs, two-part verbs
QUESTION: How can we know if a phrasal verb is separable or inseparable?
ANSWER: There isn’t always an easy way to find this out, but a good appendix like those in the upper level books of the Focus on Grammar series will prove to be a useful reference for students. The authors of books 3, 4, and 5 included lists of intransitive and transitive phrasal verbs, noting in the latter which transitive phrasal verbs can or must be separated.
You can explain that three-word verbs are easier to work with than two-word verbs. Three-word verbs end with a preposition. The preposition must be followed by an object. One general rule is not to separate a three-word phrasal verb:
Come up with something
Follow through with something
Get out of something
Go along with something
Keep up with someone
There are exceptions to the rule but not many. Consider three-word verbs that take two objects. The first object must separate the verb from the adverb particle:
Give it up for John! = Let’s applaud John!
Put it down to inexperience = The cause is/ was inexperience.
Of course, since prepositions are followed by objects, students could be taught to categorize phrasal verbs according to whether the verb is followed by an adverb, a preposition, or both. This practice makes the distinction among phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs, and phrasal prepositional verbs. I’ve come to prefer simplifying my instruction and using the term particle to refer to the short words following the verb. I think it’s less taxing to simply view the phrasal verb as a unit: a verb plus one or two particles. As each two- or three-word unit is studied, the student must learn three things about it: what it means, if it’s transitive or intransitive, and if it’s transitive whether it can be separated or not.
How do you teach phrasal verbs? What terms do you use with your students when talking about structure?
Filed under: Classroom Tips, Vocabulary | Tags: English With Jennifer, first aid kits, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL, medical vocabulary, pratical skills, real life skills
Is there anyone for whom it’s not beneficial to know how to administer first aid? For the following activity, borrow your school’s first aid kit or purchase one yourself (since it’s not a bad idea to keep one on hand). The main goal is to increase students’ practical language skills, not issue them first aid certificates. Clarify this and the fact that you are not a medical authority. (You should also be aware of any school policy restricting the medical assistance you can give to a student.)
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Objective: To learn the names of objects in a first aid kit and explain their uses.
Skills targeted: Practical medical vocabulary, expressing purpose.
STEP 1 – Show the first aid kit to the class and discuss reasons for having such a kit on hand. What is this? Why do people keep first aid kits in their homes or cars? Where else do people have or take first aid kits? As students volunteer reasons, note injuries/ ailments on the board, e.g., cut, burn, headache, etc. This list should form one column on the left.
STEP 2 – Pull out items from the first aid kit, ask students to identify the items by name (assist them as needed), and match the items to the words on the board. If an item has no match, add one to the list of injuries/ ailments. Example: “You can use antibiotic ointment on a cut.” = Write antibiotic ointment on the right-side of the board, draw a line that matches it to cut.
STEP 3 – Put all the items from the first aid kit in a bag or box. Have students take turns pulling out items. As they do, they must state the purpose of the given object, using either [for + gerund] or an infinitive of purpose. Example: These are tweezers. You can use them to pull out splinters.
STEP 4 – Collect the items in the bag once again. This time have students work in pairs or small groups. Have one person from each group pull out an object. The group must write instructions for using the object. Encourage use of sequence markers (first, next…) and appropriate modals for giving advice (should, ought to…). Example: (tweezers) You can use tweezers to pull out a splinter. First, you should make sure the tweezers are clean. You can use an alcohol wipe to clean them. Then you use the tweezers to squeeze the end of the splinter and pull it out of the skin. If there’s bleeding, you should use antibiotic ointment and a band-aid. Groups can write more than one set of instructions if additional objects are left in the bag.
STEP 5 – Students’ instructions can be read aloud to the class. Questions or clarifications can be voiced by those listening.
HELPFUL LINKS:
- The Red Cross lists the contents of a Family First Aid Kit and includes suggested uses.
- If you don’t have a first aid kit, you could fall back on photographs. The Blowing Rock Rescue Squad offers a good image with about a dozen objects, all labeled.
- You can work in listening practice by watching videos on how to administer first aid. WonderHowTo.com offers some first aid tutorials, and so does the British Red Cross on YouTube.
Filed under: Classroom Tips, Grammar | Tags: EFL textbooks, English With Jennifer, ESL textbooks, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL
A controlled exercise in a textbook might target what you want but not exactly in the way your students need. Sometimes an exercise seems too short or too long. Here are some quick fixes which beginning teachers might have yet to learn and which more experienced teachers have yet to try out.
- Too few items in the exercise.
It’s a great exercise, but there are only half a dozen items in it. You know it won’t offer more than 5 minutes of practice, and you predict that won’t be enough.
Do students need more practice?
1. Lengthen the exercise by creating new items yourself.
2. Lengthen the exercise by having students create new items for their classmates. Completing the ready-made items prepare them for the challenge of composing their own. This three-step process translates into controlled practice (students do the items in the textbook exercise) > free practice (students create their own items) > controlled practice (students do the items created by their classmates).
Do you need more opportunity to observe students’ performance?
3. Mix up the format. Don’t do the entire exercise as a whole class. If an exercise has only 5 items and there are 12 students in your class, having volunteers complete the 5 items won’t help you evaluate the other 7 students’ understanding. You can create additional items so everyone has a turn giving an answer, or you can make this short exercise a solo or paired activity. As students work independently, you’ll have enough time to make your rounds and judge who may be having difficulty. You can mix it up even more by having students first work solo, then compare work with a partner, and then correct all items as a class.
- Too many items in the exercise.
It’s a well-constructed exercise, but 25 items seems too much.
Is half enough?
4. If students demonstrate accuracy and confidence halfway through the controlled exercise, it’s not necessary to finish it in class. Assign the remaining items for homework. Move on to the challenge of free practice.
Is it too monotonous?
5. Students may benefit from doing all the items in a lengthy exercise, but you may need to break it up to help them stay on task until the last item is completed. What can you do?
(a) Vary the format, as in #3 above. If an exercise has 25 items, do the first few as a class on the board. Do a second, longer set in pairs. Correct their work as a class. Finally, ask them to work solo and tackle the remaining items. If some students finish that last set more quickly than others, have them start putting their answers on the board as preparation for the final correction.
(b) Get creative. Intersperse the controlled items with free practice. For example, in Azar’s Understanding and Using English Grammar (3rd edition), there’s useful exercise on gerunds vs. infinitives. (Ch. 14, Exercise 19, pp.316-7) 22 items might test students’ concentration if the exercise is done straight through as a whole class. You can pause after every 7-8 items and pose questions for students to answer (call on students who didn’t just provide answers to the exercise or write the questions on the board for students to discuss with a partner). Your questions need to focus on the language targeted by the set of items you just covered.
Model (as written in the book):
- Keep (talk) ____. I’m listening to you.
- The children promised (play) ____ more quietly. They promised (make, not) ___ so much noise.
- Linda offered (look after) ___ my cat while I was out of town.
- You shouldn’t put off (pay) ___ your bills.
- Alex’s dog love (chase) ___ sticks.
- Mark mentioned (go) to the market later today. I wonder if he’s still planning (go) ___.
- Igor suggested (go) ___ (ski) ___ in the mountains this weekend. How does that sound to you?
PAUSE. POSE QUESTIONS (created by you):
- What do you do when someone interrupts you? Do you keep talking?
- Do you always do what you promise to do?
- Do you ever offer to help your neighbors?
- Do you put off doing things you don’t like, such as housework?
- What do you love to do in your free time?
CONTINUE WITH NEXT 7-8 items.
Filed under: Reading | Tags: English With Jennifer, JenniferESL, Jennifer Lebedev, text organization, writer's tone, skimming
It’s helpful for language learners to understand the tone and the organization of any given text. These two factors are related to the writer’s purpose. Furthermore, recognizing a writer’s tone and means of organizing information is a skill that can aid students in composing their own texts since one must comprehend a model before trying to replicate it.
Try the following activity with upper level students. Use of authentic, unadapted materials will also develop their ability to skim. Some learners feel the need to understand every word during a first encounter with a reading passage. The following activity doesn’t allow this kind of slower, detail-oriented reading. Learners must skim to understand the general tone and approach to text organization and realize that comprehension of every new vocabulary word or complex grammatical structure isn’t necessary for this purpose. Skimming itself is a useful skill, as anyone faced with large quantities of reading at school or work will tell you.
STEP 1 – Prepare four excerpts from different sources. Target a range of types: novel, news article/ report, textbook passage/ academic essay, business memo/ letter. Make copies without revealing titles or sources. On a separate sheet of paper, provide the titles/ headlines.
STEP 2 – Hand out the copies of the titles first. Ask students to guess the source and make predictions about the content. This can be done as a class.
STEP 3 – Hand out the copies of the excerpts. Have students work in pairs to match each passage to its title. Tell them to note their reasons for making each match. Place a time limit that challenges students to complete this task quickly and without consulting a dictionary or reading for details (5-7 minutes).
STEP 4 – Correct the matches as a class. Have pairs share their reasoning behind each match. Discuss the tone of each excerpt. Highlight different tones a writer can have (persuasive, informative, etc.) and Ask students to identify the organization used by each writer. Highlight different approaches to text organization (problem-solution, chronological, etc.)
STEP 5 – OPTIONAL. You can extend this activity with additional excerpts prepared before class. Select articles, essays, or letters that expose students to other tones and other means of organizing a text. Simply make one copy of each excerpt and number them. This time you may include the title and source for each passage. In pairs, students can have 1-2 minutes to skim a passage and make conclusions about its tone and organization. Then they switch copies with another pair. This continues until each pair has skimmed all reading passages. Again, their conclusions are shared with the class.
Filed under: Classroom Tips | Tags: English With Jennifer, Halloween, Halloween activities, holidays, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL, using fims, using poetry, using rhymes
As follow-up to my previous posting on reasons to bring this holiday into your ESL or EFL classroom, I’d like to offer a selection of ideas for you to consider. Feel free to suggest others.
- Informational texts to develop reading skills. Compose questions to check students’ general comprehension, detailed comprehension, and their ability to make inferences. Time magazine has a special site for children. The reading level of the text The Haunted History of Halloween would be appropriate for high intermediate and advanced ESL students. It’s nicely broken into six short sections, each headed by a key question.
- Informational videos to develop listening skills. Compose questions to check students’ general comprehension, detailed comprehension, and their ability to make inferences. The History Channel site dedicates a whole section to Halloween. The History of Halloween is a free video with a convenient length of 3:20.
- Works of fiction to stimulate oral expression. Short stories can be summarized and/ or retold. Themes can be discussed. If stopped at key points in the plot, predictions can be made by the class. ManyThings.org offers a good amount of material for ESL students, including Washington Irvin’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. (You can choose to use the text and/ or the audio recording.)
- Poetry to develop writing skills. Students can discuss the themes of a poem and then in writing (a short paragraph) share their personal interpretation of the work. Advanced students could tackle Edgar Allan Poe (his short stories, too, for that matter). One site, PoeStories.com, bears in mind the challenges of the vocabulary Poe used, and offers glossed words. The definitions are a real aid. They’re to the point and accessible (just right-click on a highlighted word). The Haunted Palace is short enough to read and discuss in one class period.
- Halloween vocabulary and rhymes to develop pronunciation skills. A collection of holiday words can target various skills. For example, you can devote a class to consonant blends and clusters with goblins, spooky, monster, witch, and the like. Practice single words, phrases, and sentences. If you want to focus on suprasegmentals, try rhymes, which are available online. Most are merely cute and shouldn’t be upsetting or spooky. I like Five Little Pumpkins. Challenge the students to compose their own sentences, their own rhymes, or even a short story. Their compositions can be read aloud.
- Films to develop listening, speaking, and writing skills. Authentic material from the mystery-horror genre might take you and some of your students outside your personal comfort zones. You’d have to be careful not to choose scenes that are violent or otherwise upsetting. Horror-suspense films would be better than the very gory ones. A film like Hitchcock’s The Birds could work. (A very in-depth analysis of the film’s themes and symbols is offered by the AMC filmsite.) One or two scenes of a film should be enough to build a lesson on. Focus on listening comprehension and discussion in class. A writing task could be assigned as homework. Try to make it possible for students to view the film in its entirety on a voluntary basis.
