Students often have difficulty 'reading between the lines.' This article suggests the use of mind mirror activities as a tool to improve students' critical thinking and learning skills (e.g., analysis, categorization, clarification, inferencing). The author describes a successful five-day group project from his own classroom that ended in students sharing their work through poster presentations.

This Module of the Shaping the Way we Teach English Series contains a lesson plan and accompanying video that is focused on the details of the language within the context of language input. The focus is more on function, or the use of language in given situations, than it is on form, the linguistic details of language. Research has shown that selectively focusing on aspects of language use within a given context can be an effective teaching and learning practice. Language awareness, then, is more than a focus on form. It also includes the use of that form in context, which is called the pragmatic use of language.

People who are very familiar with American football and those completely unfamiliar with it can benefit from the interactive, communicative activities presented in this lesson plan. Students can analyze examples from the NFL and create their own team names, team logos, and player descriptions. Ideas for teaching adjectives and body parts are also provided. In the spirit of the game, the plan features quick, lively group activities, all under 50 minutes each.

Teachers are asked to do a lot with few resources. Some teachers must move quickly from school to school throughout the day. This article describes the teaching bag, which is made to help teachers be effective and save money. The author's teaching tools are lightweight, affordable, and multi-purposed. They include the expected (e.g., scissors and scratch paper, colored markers) as well as the more unique (e.g., sticky putty, pizza box lids).