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TEACHING TIPS - Activities

It's no Mystery!

Hello and welcome to our inaugural issue!

 The goal of this newsletter is threefold:

** to present different approaches to teaching ESL, including new or interesting websites
** to encourage a dialog with ESL teachers around the world.
** to inform you of developments on the Learning English with Laughter website.

Our Newsletter is posted online if you prefer to read it on our site -- browse http://www.efl-esl.com/esl-newsletter/

This Newsletter is for you and so don't hesitate to let us know what you think. Email brian@efl-esl.com anytime with comments, suggestions, articles, sites or just say hi!

I hope that you enjoy our coming issues and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

My Best,

Brian Stocker
brian@efl-esl.com
NEWSPAPER HEADLINES


1.Find 10 Newspapers where the headline contains an obvious word.

2. Cross out the obvious word with a large felt pen.

3. Divide the class into teams and have them write down their guesses.

Give each team a point for the exact word half a point for reasonable alternatives. The team with the most points wins!
For the next 10 days, all mysteries are 25% off!

Includes:

Caribbean Mystery Cruise -- A who done it on the high seas gets students talking!
More >>>

Idioms and the Mystery of the Stolen Funds -- A super way to practice Idioms while learning Idioms. Now only $9.71!


Idioms -- What's Going on? A Mystery.
What's going on in the neighborhood? Students work in pairs or groups to find out! Now only 5.25!
ESL in the NEWS
Quick Tips
Some baffling aspects of inverted sentences.

How can 'particularly unfortunate' and 'equally important' be the subject of a sentence? Jose Carillo's column English Plain and Simple explains.


China's schools give Canadian English top marks

Fear of US cultural invasion leads to texts from Canada in second-language classes MORE >>>


 Teachers of English as a second language, a few simple methods to overcome the language barrier with their students. Here is a short article with some quick tips for ESL teachers.
Full Story >>>
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Got something to say? Let us know -- send your article or idea to brian@efl-esl.com
How much is too much?  Teaching a Second Language and Correction. 
Correction is essential to any learning process whether it be learning to play basketball or learning English.  However, correction can sometimes overshadow the primary purpose of the class, which is to give students the opportunity to use the language. So what are the options and how can instructors draw a happy medium between encouraging students to use the language, and correcting errors?   

The ideal solution, which is not always possible, is to make corrections an activity or a lesson.  This can be done several ways. 

1. Use any role play or discussion activity.
2. Divide students into groups of 3 instead of 2.
3. Have 2 students participate in the activity and the 3rd student monitors the English, making corrections where necessary. 
4. Every 15 minutes or so, rotate students, so that each students has a chance to participate in the discussion activity or role play and also make corrections.

Another option for involving the class in the correction process is to make notes of errors and then ask the class of the correction and the rule.  Correction style also depends on the focus of the class. If the objective of the lesson is fluency, then correcting less often is appropriate.  If the objective of the class is accuracy, then correcting often is appropriate.  Other considerations for what correction style you should use are the amount of time available and how successful you think students will be in finding the mistake.

Here are a few things to watch out for: 

  • Don't get mad or intimidate.
  • Don't embarrass students in front of the class.
  • Don't jump in.  Students may realize their error and correct themselves if given a few minutes. 

If you find yourself correcting the same mistake more than a few times then either stop, and go over the correct way, or make a note and discuss the error at the end of the activity. 

Another option, particularly when teaching grammar, is to only correct the specific grammar point being taught, and ignore the others.  I hear that many teachers use this approach, however I feel there is a very real danger of reinforcing errors by allowing students go repeat errors. 

Talking to teachers, I found quite a variety of opinion, and no real hard and fast rules, although a few things did emerge.  Most teachers agree students should always be corrected in the following circumstances: 

  1. When the sentence cannot be understood because of the (pronunciation or grammar) error.
  2. When a number of students are making the same error, it should be corrected and/or discussed in detail.
  3. 'Global' errors are more important than 'local' errors. 
  4. Errors should be distinguished from mistakes.  Mistakes are a momentary lapses.

Resources

ESL TUTORING HANDBOOK

Elizabeth Pandolfo
Written for The Virginia Tech Writing Center
Catherine Dennison, director

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