When you teach a group of beginners, a lesson on numbers usually appears early in the curriculum. Do you have some favorite activities for numbers? It’s common to ask students to exchange phone numbers and postal codes. I’ve seen more than one textbook use that idea for communicative practice. Do you know other contexts in which students can practice using cardinal numbers? Perhaps you can add one or two of these to your next lesson plan for cardinal numbers.

• Common piggy bank

Put students in groups of 4 or 5 and have them sit in a circle. Ask them to take out any change they have. Going through the different types of coins, they each will state how many they have, and then the group will calculate the total. Numbers can be recorded in their notebooks. List prompts on the board.

Example (using U.S. coins to illustrate):

How many pennies?       You ______       Group ______

How many nickels?         You ______       Group ______

How many dimes?           You ______       Group ______

How many quarters?      You ______       Group ______

Complete sentences aren’t required. If preferred, however, you can offer prompts to encourage complete sentences rather than the use of single numbers.

I have ______.

We have _____.

Ask students to write not only the numeral, but the word as well:

How many pennies?

I have 3 (three).

We have 11 (eleven).

 Finally, group totals can be added up to find out the class total.

Suggestion: Bring in some coins that can be loaned to students who don’t have any spare change.

• Taking inventory

In this class survey, each student is assigned an item and must find out how many of those items are present among class belongings. Each student will speak to all his or her classmates. Suggested items:

Backpack/ book bag

Calculator

Cell phone

Comb

Dictionary

Key

Notebook

Pencil

Pen

Watch/ wristwatch

Prompts for survey:

Do you have a _______?

Do you have any _______?

How many ______ do you have?

Students must report their findings to the class.

Example: Our class has 10 (ten) pens. – or – There are 10 (ten) pens.

• Chapter by chapter

Quick and easy exercises can be based on the class textbook. Have everyone take out their copies of the book.

-          Exercise 1. Student A opens the book up to any page at random and announces the page number. The class must turn to that page. Student B, who sits to the right of Student A, will read either the page title or first line from that page to confirm his/ her finding. Then it’s Student B’s turn to announce a new page number.

-          Exercise 2. The teacher can call out a unit or chapter number and ask a volunteer to state the first and last page of that chapter.

Example:

Teacher – Where is Unit 3?

Volunteer – Unit 3 starts on page 20 and ends on page 30.

• Calendar game

This activity nicely combines months and days with counting.

Have students sit in twos or threes. Each small group needs a calendar for the given year. (You can bring some in, print some out, or see if at least one person in each group has a computer or cell phone with a calendar.)

The teacher asks questions that require counting. A group must raise their hands as soon as the answer is arrived at. The first group to correctly state the answer gets a point. The first group to reach 10 wins.

Sample questions:

1. How many days are in August?
2. How many full weeks are in May?
3. How many Fridays are in December?

• M&Ms

This game can be played with the American chocolate candies called M&Ms or any other similar candy with different colors.

 Allow each student to take a small handful of candy, or use a large spoon to serve each student a handful. Then each student can state how many candies s/he has total as well as how many of each color there are.

Example: I have 11 M&Ms. I have 2 red, 3 brown, 1 blue, 4 green, and 1 orange.

Soon Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving. Whether you’re in the U.S. or not, we can all take a moment to express what we as teachers are thankful for. My top 10 are as follows:

1. I’m thankful I found my calling: English language instruction.

2.  I’m thankful I’ve had students who have placed their trust in me as their teacher.

3. I’m thankful to live in this digital age because it has allowed me to grow professionally in ways I never expected.

4. I’m thankful to the technology gurus who provide the tools and the packages for online instruction.

 5. I’m thankful for the books which I’ve been given and which I’ve bought because although a lot of information is online, some authors and editors have compiled useful references that I need as a teacher and materials writer. I’d be lost without my library.

 6. I’m thankful to colleagues I’ve met at schools, through online communities, and at TESOL conventions. They teach me, encourage me, inspire me, and from time to time assist me in preparing materials.

 7. I’m thankful to all my teachers in the past, from elementary school on up to graduate school. Particularly the ones from my youth have become models. Because of them, I’ve aspired to be the kind of teacher who is remembered for not just what she teaches but how she teaches.

 8. I’m thankful to have had the experience of teaching abroad. My experience was limited to one country overseas, but I have more awareness of what is common to and what is different between ESL and EFL.

 9. I’m thankful I’ve failed and made mistakes both as a language learner and as a teacher. Sounds illogical, I admit. But for example, if I hadn’t done so poorly on my French placement exam back at Bryn Mawr College, I wouldn’t have begun the deep reflection I’ve done on what it means to be a good language learner and an effective language teacher. Also, during my teacher training practicum at a Pittsburgh high school, I had to face the toughest crowd: urban teens. I learned the humbling lesson that despite my determination, I couldn’t teach everyone effectively at each lesson. Through my mistakes, I learned the importance of classroom management and intrinsic motivation.

 10. I’m thankful that you’re reading this posting! I hope you’ll visit again and offer some ideas for further discussion.

Do you believe we should teach using controlled language or authentic language? Should students hear and read language of the so-called real world, or should language be adapted for instructional purposes?

The language in the materials you use.

I’m in favor of using both controlled language and authentic language. Students benefit from exposure to both, in my opinion. If they only hear controlled language in the classroom, they’ll be overwhelmed or frustrated by the contrast when they turn on the TV, listen to the radio, or overhear conversation in public places. Likewise, if they only read adapted texts, they’ll hesitate before reading a newspaper or purchasing a paperback novel. The confidence they feel in the classroom won’t easily transfer to situations outside their language studies. On the other hand, if students are in need of focused study of the language, controlled language allows a teacher to present structures or features of the language in accessible formats and without the distraction of complex language. Particularly in the case of lower level students, it seems unfair to throw so much unfamiliar vocabulary and grammar at them by using a large amount of authentic language.

Does that mean authentic language should be used only in the upper levels? Certainly not. Notice I had said what was unfair was a large amount of authentic language.  I think in the proper doses, authentic language is very beneficial at all levels. Consider the approach used in the videos on the site Real English. The creator, Mike Marzio, takes unrehearsed interviews from people on the street, and the final product is one that is comprehensible to ELLs. Editing of the videos controls not the language itself but the amounts of exposure. You may view Lesson1 in his series, for example, in which over a dozen people answer the question what’s your name? The rate of speech is fast and the greetings are varied, but the video is appropriate for beginners.

The language you speak.

When it comes to the teacher’s language, I’m in favor of controlled language. Jeremy Harmer calls it “rough-tuning”[1]  and he draws the comparison between teacher talk and parent talk. “Neither group sets out to get the level of language exactly correct for their audience. They rely, instead, on a general perception of what is being understood by the people listening to them. Their empathy allows them to almost feel whether the level of language they are using is appropriate for the audience they are addressing” (Harmer 3). When we are giving instructions or explanations, it’s especially important for students to have full comprehension, so we must simplify our grammar and vocabulary and adjust our rate of speech.

How much authentic language do you bring into the classroom? How conscious are you of rough-tuning your language? Harmer states that the more experience a teacher has, the less conscious the process of rough-tuning is. Do you agree?

Not all ESL/ EFL teachers discover their calling before graduating college. In fact, I’ve trained individuals who were either making mid-life career changes or wished to add another dimension to their professional life. One might think that getting a late start puts a teacher at a disadvantage. However, being able to draw from rich life experiences is a wonderful advantage.

I have complete respect for those who’ve gone the whole nine yards in terms of formal training in the field. Those scholars do the research which books and other instructional materials are based on. This entry, however, celebrates the diversity of those teachers who have entered the ESL/ EFL world after journeying through other territories. They may still be in need of professional development (aren’t we all?), yet their individual work histories give them unique perspectives and sets of skills in the classroom.

In my own past, a number of paths were taken before I fully committed to my present profession. What did I gain from my explorations?

• Teaching Russian as a foreign language. The certification process, particularly the teaching practicum, humbled me. I have much appreciation for non-native teachers of any language. Both as a teacher of a foreign language and as a student of several foreign languages, I try to retain sensitivity to learners’ academic, social, and emotional needs.
• Working in the cruise line industry. The ships remained the same physically, but the passengers came and went. I relied on co-workers for a sense of stability, and I learned to warmly welcome and interact with each new group of passengers. I learned adaptability, and the need to make routines seem fresh for the passengers’ sake as well as my own. I learned how to keep a professional face as a purser when dealing with passengers, and I learned to have fun playing different roles as a costume character. As a youth counselor, I learned the importance of maintaining order, momentum, and positive energy.
• Dancing in a Polynesian show.  I learned how to find enough confidence to present myself to a large crowd. Being on stage teaches the lesson that’s commonly summed up as “the show must go on.” Performers must find the strength and creativity to overcome surprises and deliver the show for which the audience has paid to see.
• Running a program for an American college in Russia. There is always an administrative side to teaching and learning, and without a director or a school receptionist many of us would experience great confusion. Treat administrative staff with respect, from the person who supervises you to the one who makes your photocopies. Their job can be quite a challenge, too. Being in an administrative role taught me better organizational skills both in and out of the classroom.

What jobs have you held in the past? Perhaps you moonlight at a job after teaching during the day. How have those other work experiences helped you be a better teacher? From a photographer to a musician, I’ve met a good number of teachers who were able to not only transition from one work environment to the next, but brought along with them a unique set of work skills into the ESL/ EFL classroom.

I love a successful session of browsing on the Internet. Let me share two discoveries. Both of the following online resources would be useful during lesson preparation.

• My search began at a colleague’s site. Ryan Detwiler’s eslvideo.com  offers authentic videos coupled with ESL quizzes. The sources include commercials, news reports, movie clips, and more.  The level of the quizzes range from beginner to high intermediate. The existing quizzes are ready-made materials to be included or expanded upon within a lesson. You can even design your own quiz based on a source of your choosing, all of which gives you the flexibility to target any number of skills, from listening to grammar. Ryan Detwiler will be presenting and illustrating the uses of his site in during TESOL’s Electronic Village Online 6-week session to be held in January and February 2010. (See the TESOL site for further details. Session title My Video Classroom 2.0.)

• Following a series of links from eslvideo.com, I ended up familiarizing myself with a tool designed by the University of Hong Kong. Vocabulary Profiler  is a simple but useful tool for vocabulary-centered lessons. If you enter a text, the program indicates high frequency words, giving special attention to words appearing on Coxhead’s Academic Word List (AWL). Although it’s possible to work on instinct and highlight vocabulary we think our students should know, it’s also good to have confirmation that our selection will be of value to the students. A set of lyrics, an excerpt from a novel, or a complete online article could be copied and pasted into this program, and we’d be guided in our decision regarding what vocabulary to study.

Practicing punctuation in some people’s view may be as exciting as washing dishes, but by providing an interesting context or creating a game-like atmosphere, study of the topic is more enjoyable. This is key because a memorable exercise facilitates the retention of information. Many months ago, I shared the activities News Writer and Partner Swap to help students learn correct use of punctuation marks. Let me offer one more:

 SENTENCE FIRST AID

LEVEL: High beginner to advanced. You can make the activity level-appropriate by writing sentences with suitable vocabulary and grammar.

STEP 1 – Compose 5 sentences. Include mistakes targeting the punctuation already studied, e.g., final sentence punctuation, quotation marks in direct speech, use of commas in complex and compound sentences, and use of apostrophes in contractions. Each sentence should have at least one punctuation mistake. Prepare individual copies of the sentences for the students. You can indicate the number of mistakes in each sentence.

Model:

1. I wanted to take the dog for a walk but it was raining (2 mistakes)
2. The storm was so bad that the lights went out so we couldnt see in our house. (2 mistakes)
3. My mother found some candles but she didnt know where to find matches. (2 mistakes)
4. My father asked Don’t we have a flashlight. (3 mistakes)
5. By the time we found the matches and the flashlight the power had come back on (2 mistakes)

STEP 2 – Prepare “band-aids” on paper. For every mistake in the five sentences you created, there should be a slip of paper with the punctuation mark named and its use cited. Examples: period = used at the end of a sentence; question mark = used at the end of a question; comma = used before a coordinating conjunction such as and, or, but. Prepare enough sets of band-aids for small groups of 4-5 students. (For instance, if you have a class of 15, you know you’ll have 3 small groups, so you’ll need 3 sets of band-aids.)

STEP 3 – Divide students into small groups of 4-5. Distribute copies of the sentences.  Give students 1-2 minutes to look through them silently. Then place a set of band-aids in the center of each group. Taking turns, each student draws a band-aid from the pile and decides which sentence to apply it to. The other members of the group can agree or disagree. Once a collective decision has been made, all members must make the correction on their individual copies.

STEP 4 – When all the band-aids have been used, the corrections will be shared with the class. Volunteers can write their answers on the board.

STEP 5 – RECOMMEDATION: Repeat the activity with a second and even third set of sentences.

Online resource: The Punctuation Tree

I wrote once before about viewing our colleagues as a resource. As part of our professional development, I suggested tapping into an online teaching community to read about issues common to all classrooms, conducting peer observations to make us reflective teachers, and keeping a communication board in the staff room on which teachers could post tricky language questions for consideration and discussion. What else can our colleagues do for us? What can we do for them? Here are a few ideas.

• Share lesson plans. As an experienced teacher, your lesson plans may be so abbreviated that they may look something like a cross between a secret code and chicken scratch, but consider the benefits of rewriting a particularly successful lesson plan in a readable format and sharing it with your peers. Aren’t you curious to know what practices others are using in their classrooms? The exercise of reviewing someone else’s lesson plan makes you reflect on choices she or he made. You think about how you might have done things differently, but realize that this particular sequence of steps led to successful learning. If you’re part of a school staff, you can consider different platforms for sharing. For example, this can be done on a rotating basis at your monthly staff meeting. The presenter of the month can distribute hard copies for review. Online options for exchanging lesson plans include file sharing via a Yahoo Group, a wiki, or a virtual office at Tapped In. (Digital documents are great because they save paper and can be archived.)

• Share links. There are so many ESL/EFL-related sites out there. How can we find them? When you discover a good one, do you share it with your colleagues? The folks at TESOL’s Electronic Village taught me about social bookmarking. What a great concept!

• Exchange the favor of reviewing/ editing materials. Despite the fact that there are great printed resources out there, you still might find yourself (or choose to place yourself) in the position of writing original lesson or test material. Rule #1 about materials writing: proofread. Rule #2: Have someone else proofread when possible. It really helps to have a second set of eyes, and if that set of eyes belongs to a fellow teacher, she or he can also provide feedback regarding the overall quality of your work.

• Share your knowledge. There’s so much we can learn from one another. Sometimes it’s a small piece of information, such as some insight into pronouncing foreign names because you know a language that a colleague doesn’t. Other times it could be a set of skills. For example, I mentioned in another posting that colleagues may be able teach you how to use the technology you want to bring into your teaching. Perhaps you want to share links with colleagues and students. You’ve heard of social bookmarking, but never tried it. Try asking another teacher. Maybe she or he has an account on Delicious and can show you how it works.

So much of our time is spent in the company of our students or alone as we prepare our lessons and correct assignments. The time we spend with our peers may not amount to much in comparison, but it’s important. Whether it’s a staff room at a school or a virtual office, we need a place to interact with one another. Through our exchanges we can offer support and even promote one another’s professional development. Of course, realistically, not every shared moment is going to be work-related…and that’s fine. Enjoying one another’s company through a recap of a fun weekend or a discussion of recent news has a purpose, too. It creates comfort and familiarity. Our relationships grow, and we then feel more secure in taking and offering support. Besides, conversation and shared laughter add a warmth that every work environment needs.

Objective: To help students gain familiarity with patterns used in forming compound words (open, closed, and hyphenated forms).

Level:  intermediate to advanced

Materials needed: depending on the compounds you wish to target, magazine photos or household items may be needed (see suggested “stations” below)

STEP 1: Create stations around the room. Each station has a theme with theme-related items. Post the name of the station as well as the instructions for the task(s) to be performed there. By physically circulating from station to station, students will be better able to sort common compounds into groups according to their written forms: closed (one word), open (unhyphenated), or hyphenated.

Suggested stations:

• Colors.  Display 3 photos showing people’s physical appearance. Number them. Task: Describe each person’s appearance using at least one compound word. Example: Photo #1 shows a brown-haired and green-eyed boy.
• Pages. Place 3 books, reports, essays, or pamphlets at the station. Task: Describe the items according to how many pages they have. Example: There is a 3-page essay on crime.
• Ages. Task: Ask your partner’s age. Write a sentence about your partner using a compound word. Example: My partner is a twenty-two-year-old woman.

Alternative or additional task for ages. Display 2 photos showing a young and an old person. Number them. Task 2: Describe each person’s appearance using the compound [age-something]. Example: The person in photo #1 looks thirty-something.

• Jobs.  Display 6 photos showing people in various uniforms and/ or dressed for a specific workplace. Number them. Task: Identify the hospital workers, the factory workers, the restaurant staff, etc. (Depending on the photos you use.) Example: #1 and #3 are hospital workers. #2 is a factory worker. #4 and #5 are restaurant staff. #6 is a TV repairman.
• Family. Use magazine photos to create a family tree having four generations. Name the people. Task: Identify the great-grandchildren. Identify any great-aunts or great-uncles. Example: Kim and Pete are the great-grandchildren of Victor and Ellen. They have one great-uncle, Tom, and one great-aunt, Lucy. Variation: Show second marriages and ask about stepparents and stepchildren.
• Technology. Display 5-6 photos of electronic items. (Suggestions: cell phone, mp3 player, pocket calculator, laptop computer, DVD player.) Task: Find out which items your partner has. Example: My partner has an mp3 player and a cell phone. He shares a DVD player and laptop computer with his brother.

STEP 2: Have students work in pairs moving from station to station. Partners may discuss answers, but each student is responsible for writing his/ her answers on paper.

STEP 3: Gather as a class. For each station, ask a volunteer to write his/ her answers on the board.

NOTE: The preparation time will pay off especially if you recycle this activity. Try it with different groups.

QUESTION: How do we know if a compound word is written as a single word, as separate words, or with a hyphen?

ANSWER: Look it up in the dictionary.

I love a question that allows me to give a clear and satisfying answer to a student. Unfortunately, not all questions are like this. The question above about compound words is one that doesn’t lead to immense gratitude from the questioner when I tell the answer. There isn’t one simple rule that makes it easy to know if a compound word is closed (one word), open (two or more words), or hyphenated. This question can cause as much frustration for language learners as questions about gerunds v. infinitives or separable v. inseparable phrasal verbs.

However, compound rules do follow some patterns. Awareness of them will lead to greater accuracy when writing compound words. Most sources I’ve checked agree on the following:

• Compound modifiers with numbers: Hyphenate these modifiers before nouns. Example: a thirty-year-old man. Note the use of the singular unit year. Contrast it with the plural form in this word order: The man is thirty years old.
• Compound modifiers with past participles: These modifiers are hyphenated. Examples: age-related, web-based, drug-induced.
• Color combinations: These modifiers are hyphenated. Example: a blue-green scarf.
• Well-known compounds: Some compounds involving three or more words are so common that there’s little if any chance of confusion, so open forms are used. Examples: a ham and cheese sandwich, high school students, parking lot attendant.

I’d like to add these patterns and see if others agree or wish to challenge them:

• Compound words with numbers: If the numbers are not being joined with common nouns used for weights and measures (such as year, pound, page), a hyphenated form is used as a modifier, an adverb, and a complement. Example: A two-handed throw. / He threw the ball two-handed. / The throw was two-handed. Similar compounds: two-headed, one-armed, three-legged, one-eyed.
• Compound modifiers with present participles: They are hyphenated just as the [noun + past participle] combination is. Examples: ever-changing, all-knowing, fast-growing.
• Compounds with of and only: These multi-word compounds are hyphenated. Examples: state-of-the-art, man-of-war, read-only, text-only.
• Compound words with in-law: These compound nouns are hyphenated. Examples: mother-in-law, brother-in-law, daughter-in-law. 
• Compound words with great: These compound nouns are hyphenated. Examples: great-aunt, great-grandfather, great-grandchildren.
• Compounds with single letters: These compounds are hyphenated. Examples:  a U-turn, an A-frame, L-shaped, x-ray, t-shirt.
• Directional compounds: These are closed forms. Examples: northeast, northeastern. Exception: if a range is implied a hyphen is used between the two possible directions. Example: travel south-southwest.

Do you need to present the concept of compound words to your students? These short clips may be of help. They’re based on the work done by elementary school children:

• WeberClass
• New Grange School

Do you need ideas to help students practice using compound words? Check back soon. I’ll offer an activity in my next posting.

Sources:

Mauer, Jay. Focus on Grammar: An advanced course for reference and practice. Longman: 2000.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphen#Compound_modifiers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_compound

http://www.ehow.com/how_2335339_use-hyphen.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

As a continuation of my previous posting, here are two more whole language activities centered around online news photos:

2. Photoblogging. Some of the same sites that post weekly albums offer community interaction through photoblogging. Share one of the editor’s picks of the week with the class. Read the caption aloud and explain the meaning of any unfamiliar vocabulary or grammar. In pairs students can discuss their reactions to the photo. Prompts can be given, for example:

• Have you seen anything similar to this before?
• Does this photo help you learn anything new?
• What do you feel when you look at this photo?
• If you had to title this photo yourself, what title would you choose?

This brief oral exchange should serve as preparation for a writing activity. Have students write a personal reaction to the photo in 4-5 sentences.  Once they submit it to you and receive feedback, they can be encouraged to post their comments online.

TIP 1:  A selected photo can be the springboard for classroom discussion. On the MSNBC site, the editor includes a thought-provoking question that nicely suits this purpose.

TIP 2: Choose a photo with a caption that contextualizes vocabulary or grammar recently learned.

3. Audio commentaries. This is a variation of the previous activity and would have to be done in a language lab. Have students view 6-8 of the editor’s picks.  Allow them time to select one photo and write 4-5 sentences about their personal reaction to it. Have them submit their writings to you for review. While you are providing corrections and feedback, students can work in pairs to come up with original titles for all the photos. Come back together as a class, view the photos again, and have volunteers call out suggested titles. Next, using their corrected writings, students must record their comments and send the audio files to you. As a class, you can playback these short recordings. The author will remain silent while the others guess which photo he or she is talking about.

TIP: Listen to the audio recordings once more after class and provide one-on-one feedback regarding each student’s pronunciation.