The author presents strategies for successful team-bonding games along with descriptions of games and suggestions for building a collaborative atmosphere before, during, and after the games.

This session, "Motivating Your Students with Rules, Routines, and Rewards," defines classroom rules, routines, and rewards in the English language classroom, their role in well-managed classes, and how their creation and effective use leads to learner engagement. The presenters provide participants with ways to achieve buy-in from their students for classroom rules, identify successful opening and closing activities, and point out the pros and cons of tangible and intangible rewards. The session will conclude with activities relevant to the topic that can be implemented in a range of classes taking into account differing ages, language levels, sizes of classes, and technology access.

This session, "Creating Comics to Think Critically," provides strategies global educators can use to help English language learners create comics as a means of developing their language and critical thinking skills. Participants will learn how comics tell stories, ways in which comic book readers process information, and how learners can make their own comics to demonstrate problem solving and communication skills. The session will illustrate how students can create memoirs and non-fiction, and will also address how educators can take advantage of the link between between genre fiction (science fiction, fantasy, super heroics, mystery, etc.) and comics.

This session, "Animating Your Instruction: Using Comics and Graphic Novels in the English Language Classroom," explores the popularity of illustrated stories among teachers and students alike and offers suggestions on how to use them to “animate” your classes. In addition to outlining some of the benefits and challenges of using these graphical texts, this session offers a number of activity ideas to inspire participants to integrate these creative resources into the way they teach reading, writing, critical thinking, visual literacy, and cultural competence. Resources such as comic strip generators and example comics will be shared.