A number of my students have the desire to study syntax in order to increase their confidence and accuracy when they write. I continue to believe that reading regularly indirectly helps by exposing students to standard patterns and word order. I’ve also seen how exercises like sentence unscrambles and error correction can give students practice…
Teaching Students How to Argue a Point
In an earlier post, I shared my ideas for building a framework that students could use to explain a wide range of topics, including simple and complex processes. Over the past month, I’ve heard my own students explain how to give a neck massage and how to expand your professional network. I’ve also heard ideas…
How to Create an Online Presence as a Teacher
Eight tips for creating an online presence as a teacher
Back Soon in Tip-Top Shape!
Announcement: Back to blog soon! Got my vaccine today.
Gaining Accuracy with Verb Tenses
PDF error correction slides with answers and explanations. For classroom use.
Building a Framework for Explaining Things
Recommended steps and materials to help students deliver an oral explanation on topics of their choice. PDFs included.
Language Instruction: Like Candy or Like Medicine?
Back in 1964, Mary Poppins sang on screen, “Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down in the most delightful way.” I’ve sometimes thought about this balance between the sweet and the bitter in language learning. Not every step in the process is a snap, nor do birds chirp merrily on the windowsill…
Building Confidence and Accuracy with Irregular Verbs
Recommended listening tasks to build confidence and accuracy with the simple past forms of irregular verbs. (PDF inlcuded)
Plucking the Blooms of Poetry
Suggested activities based on Emily Dickinson’s poem “A Light exists in Spring” (PDFs and JPEGs included)
Snacking on Syntax
Practice fixing common errors at the sentence level. Classroom slides included.
The Acoustics Is or Are? Practice with Aggregate and Collective Nouns
PDF and JPEG classroom slides to practice collective and aggregate nouns.
Gaining Comfort and Confidence with Collocations
Classroom slides to practice collocations with prepositions
