Teaching the U.S. System of Measurements: How do your students measure up?

Being able to express measurements is a very practical skill that even advanced students of English may need practice doing. Are they comfortable stating fractions? Do they know that a decimal point is read as “point” as in ninety-eight point six (98.6)? How fluent are they in the U.S. system of measurements? Can they more or less understand weather forecasts using Fahrenheit?

Here’s a fun way to give your students some practice with the U.S. system of measurements. Feel free to share your own ways of practicing these skills.

Set up five stations around the room. In pairs or small groups, have the students move from station to station performing each task.  Make sure each student has a notebook and pencil.

• Station 1 – Length.  [Supplies needed = tape measure or yard stick]

Task: Measure your partner(s). How tall are they? Record their heights in feet and inches.

• Station 2- Weight. [Supplies needed = a scale and a medium sized trash bag]

Task: Place all your shoes in the bag. How much do they weight? Record the weight in pounds (and ounces, if the scale is electronic). Alternative: Weigh someone’s backpack or purse.

• Station 3 – Liquid measurements. [Supplies needed = 3-4 empty milk or water bottles of different sizes]

Task: Look at the labels. How much does the largest bottle hold? How much does the next largest bottle hold? How much does the smallest bottle hold? Record your answers using gallons, quarts, and pints. (If possible, also record how many fluid ounces there are in each container.)

• Station 4 – Cooking measurements. [Supplies needed = bag of flour, measuring spoons, measuring cups, coffee mug]

Task: How many cups of flour fit in the coffee mug? How many tablespoons are needed to fill one cup? How many teaspoons are needed to fill a tablespoon?

• Station 5 – Temperature. [ Supplies needed = weather thermometer, calculator (optional)]

Task: What’s the temperature of the classroom in Fahrenheit? How much is that in Celsius?

Note: °F to °C = Subtract 32, then multiply by 5, then divide by 9.

 

Teaching Real Life Skills: Reading Maps and Giving Directions

As follow-up to my previous entry, I’d like to offer one more activity to teach real life skills to ESL students: map reading.

Level: Low Intermediate

STEP 1 – Get copies of real street maps for your city or town. The number of maps will dictate how many small groups there will be. Pass out the maps, one to each group.

STEP 2 – Give them a starting point and name a destination, for example, from the school to city hall. Use exact addresses if possible.  Students must plot a course, writing down the directions as if they were driving.

STEP 3 – Compare their directions to directions provided from an online source such as Google Maps or MapQuest.com.  Ideally, the students should access these sites themselves and make the comparison. Another possibility is for you to print out copies ahead of time and pass them out at this point.

Have them repeat this exercise for a number of destinations as time allows.

Teaching Practical Skills: Using the Phone in English

Phone skills are a necessity. Let’s face it. Even when one makes a phone call in his or her native language, there are plenty of reasons why misunderstandings and awkward moments can occur: a poor connection, a speaker who rambles, lack of etiquette… Dealing with these problems in a foreign language only adds to the stress. As their teachers, we can prepare students for a variety of phone conversations and, in general, build their confidence to communicate over the phone. To this end, here are some suggestions:

• If you’re in an English-speaking country, you can listen to automated phone systems in the classroom. Borrow a phone and use one of the school’s lines or use your own cell phone. Just be sure the speaker is loud and clear. Choose the kinds of places that students may have to call on their own: a doctor’s office, a theater, an airline company, a municipal office, etc. Before the lesson, you’ll have to listen to the recording(s) on your own to become familiar with the organization and content of the menu. Prepare questions in advance such as: “Listen to this recording for a doctor’s office and tell me what extension we need to talk to a nurse.” – or – “Okay. So we’ve just heard all the theater information. Did you hear what time the ticket office is open on the weekend?” Give the students the phone numbers you used during the lesson and encourage them to listen on their own one more time.
• Another way students can gain free, authentic practice on the phone in an English-speaking country is not to hang up on telemarketers. Back in the traditional school setting, I used to encourage my students to stay on the line when they received such calls. I told them to listen to the pitch and ask questions for clarification and details. I gave them useful expressions like: “I’m sorry. I’m still not clear how your service works.” I stressed the importance of not giving out any personal information, and I recommended that when they got tired of the exercise they could end the conversation politely yet firmly: “Well, thank you. I appreciate the information, but right now I’m not interested. Good-bye.”
• Even if you’re not in an English-speaking country, you can still help your students become more comfortable speaking on the phone in English. One assignment we had in my second year of Japanese at Haverford College was to speak to another classmate on a weekly basis over the phone. I think this is effective practice while learning any foreign language. There was a minimum number of minutes we had to chat. We also had to report to the teacher in writing what the topic(s) of conversation were. Partners don’t have to be best friends. The idea is to practice phone etiquette and generate real conversation in the target language. From start to finish the call must be in English. The more frequently this assignment is done, the less awkward students will feel communicating in the target language over the phone.

Teaching Practical Skills: How to Read Handwriting

A real challenge in language learning can be dealing with handwritten text. This is especially true for students whose languages use another alphabet or system of characters. Students may feel confident reading printed text, but their comfort level can significantly drop when the text is written by hand. Despite the fact that we live in the computer age and much of our written correspondence involves a keyboard, there are still times when we must read others’ handwriting. For instance, I still ask my husband (a native Russian) to help me read birthday cards and wishes for the New Year when Russian family and friends write to us. Sometimes I cannot read the most basic words because I can’t figure out the sender’s handwriting!

Here are two fun games that teach a practical skill: how to read handwriting.

GAME No.1 – Finding Common Ground [intermediate – advanced]

Have a few friends or acquaintances who are native English speakers handwrite a short text describing their personalities and/or lifestyles. Limit them to 5-7 lines.* Be sure to get a mix of printing and longhand. Compile and photocopy these texts. Distribute them to your students. Have them read the texts in pairs first. Then read them as a class, clarifying as needed. Students can then work in pairs again and discuss which text most closely describes their own personality or lifestyle.

*Model:                 I’m a very active person. I don’t like to sit at home, and if I am at home I’m probably trying to do at least two things at once. I come from a small family, but I have a large circle of friends. I love city life, and all that goes with it: theater, museums, and restaurants. I enjoy parties, too.

 

GAME No.2 – Proverbs as Discussion Starters [intermediate – advanced]

Ask a few native speakers to handwrite about ten proverbs of your choosing. Many native speakers naturally use a combination of longhand and printing, but you may need to ask your friends to avoid using all printed letters as the cursive letters tend to be the more challenging ones. Compile the proverbs, selecting the writing samples that are most difficult to read. Have students work in small groups. Assign two or three proverbs to each group. The students must read the proverbs and try to interpret them. After about ten minutes, bring the class back together. Each group must read their assigned proverbs and share their interpretations with the class. Allow for discussion and illustration of the proverbs.  As follow-up, you can ask each student to translate a proverb from his or her native language and write it out by hand. Post these handwritten proverbs for everyone to read. (Be sure to include the country of origin.)