Most adults have to juggle several responsibilities. I’ve been perfecting my own juggling act for over a decade. If you ever want to know what goes on between filming social media videos, hosting live streams, and giving private lessons, just picture me running up and down the stairs as I keep up with endless loads…
6 Conversation Games for Online Learners
Many language learners right now are in lockdown conditions, just like many of us teachers. The good news is that we can all meet online, and language studies can continue. To date, I’ve had two large public live streams that have focused entirely on conversation games. All 200+ students seem eager to put aside worries…
Painting a New Picture as Online Teachers
Our lives are changing quickly, and at different moments over the past week I’m sure we’ve all been more grateful than ever for the Internet, our computers, and our mobile devices. In trying times, it’s important to stay connected and find sources of support. As many of you move completely online for ESL/EFL instruction, you’re…
Have You Become an Online Teacher Overnight? Get Tips and Tricks!
In the space of a very short time, many of us have seen our daily lives altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Coronavirus” appears in most headlines and conversations these days. For hundreds of teachers, online classes will become the new norm. Some teachers already have experience giving webinars or meeting with students through videoconferencing, so…
3 Fun Ways to Practice Future Time Clauses
A grammar lesson is certainly less scary, less aggravating, more meaningful, and more memorable if you inject some laughter into it. Basic level students often struggle with confidence, so gradually increasing their output rather than putting them on the spot to deliver big contributions at the start of a lesson would also help. That was…
4 Listening Tasks for Accurate Pronunciation
Recognizing sounds is an important step toward achieving more accurate pronunciation. My pronunciation lessons often have a good balance between listening and speaking. If students can’t hear sounds accurately, how can we expect them to produce the sounds successfully? Words are combinations of sounds, and the most logical way to divide those sounds is by…
Top Tips for Accent Reduction
How can you help over two hundred learners with pronunciation in real time? This was the fun challenge I faced at my latest live stream. These public events are very large, and I can only invite a handful of students to join me on camera one at a time. Nevertheless, I get a sense from…
Should We Talk About Romance on Valentine’s Day?
One doesn’t have to talk about romance on Valentine’s Day. I find the topic makes some feel uncomfortable, so you have to consider how best to approach it if you’re going to approach it at all. I just hosted a live stream with a couple hundred learners, and I invited them to build a story…
Can Anyone Hear Me? — Erasing Confusion Over Indefinite Pronouns
I recently shared a handout to help basic English students with indefinite pronouns that refer to people. See my earlier post. It turns out that more practice is needed, or so I discovered after I met with less success than expected during a recent lesson. Some of your students may also have some lingering doubts,…
The Perfect Aspect: Replacing confusion with comfort
Do we need the perfect aspect in communication? It seems like we have quite a number of ways to avoid it. I’ve discussed the challenges in understanding aspect in an earlier post. (Click to view 2017 post.) One thing that confuses students is the frequent use of the simple past instead of the present perfect…
Someone, Anyone, and Other Indefinite Pronouns
My basic English students, Flavia and Andreia, have made good progress over the past several months. The most recent lessons posted on YouTube were recorded back in June 2019, so they are noticeably farther along the path to proficiency now in January 2020. There are still a number of topics I’d like to cover…
College Tuition: A Hot Topic to Debate
Several topics are trending in U.S. news, somewhat due to the recent presidential debate. The views and proposals of different candidates are making people in the U.S. think more about certain issues, such as the cost of college tuition. ELLs should be welcome to weigh in with their own personal opinions without fear of language…
