Past Issues of English Teaching Forum | American English

Browse online English Teaching Forum issues and articles dating back to 2001. To find a particular article or issue, search the past issues by year or keyword.

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English Teaching Forum 2021, Volume 59, Number 3

Find strategies for implementing humor instruction in English language teaching … using story retelling wheels with young learners … practicing stress and intonation with an “mmm” technique … developing learners’ discussion and tutorial leadership skills … engaging beginning students online … conducting a press conference to deepen understanding of fictional characters … and much more.

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Implementing Humor Instruction in English Language Teaching

John Rucynski, Jr. and Caleb Prichard

The authors demonstrate the importance of understanding kinds of humor that differ across cultures and offer clear suggestions for teaching three kinds—verbal irony, memes, and satirical news—with examples that can help students develop humor competency and enhance their twenty-first-century skills, including digital and media literacy.

Using Story Retelling Wheels with Young Learners

Lottie Baker

The author describes how to use “story retelling wheels” as scaffolding devices to support young learners as they develop the important skill of being able to retell stories that they have heard and comprehended.

Reader’s Guide

This guide is designed to enrich your reading of the articles in this issue. You may choose to read them on your own, taking notes or jotting down answers to the discussion questions below. Or you may use the guide to explore the articles with colleagues.

A Simple “mmm” Technique to Teach Word Stress and Intonation in English

Art Tsang

The author uses specific examples to demonstrate how the “mmm” technique can help students improve stress and intonation of words and sentences.

Developing Discussion and Tutorial Leadership Skills in EFL Learners

Michael Guest

The author explains how to use student-led tutorials to develop learners’ presentation, discussion, and listening skills creatively; among other benefits, the tutorials can increase all students’ social-discourse skills as they manage small-group discussions about topics of their own choosing.

Balancing Online Classes, Fun, and Kinesthetic Intelligence for Beginning Students

Ahmed Mohamed Gendy

Here are a few basic ways to get beginning students talking and learning while using their home surroundings and items they find as resources for their lessons.

My Classroom: Ecuador (Galápagos Islands)

Danielle Sclafani

Learn how Sandra Urgilez meets the challenges of transitioning to online teaching while incorporating content and issues relevant to her students in the unique environment in which they live and learn.

Character Press Conference

Donista Solijonova

This is a step-by-step guide to helping students conduct a “press conference” in which some students play the role of journalists and others play the roles of characters from a work of fiction in order to give all students a deeper understanding of the characters and the text.

The Lighter Side: Joke Matching

The punch lines to these jokes are out of order. Can you match them with the correct questions to form jokes that make sense?

English Teaching Forum 2021, Volume 59, Number 2

Find strategies for combining authentic materials, task-based learning, and reading stations … finding heterogeneity in cultural homogeneity … using peace education as a basis for writing about a peacemaker … using an asynchronous video app to stimulate oral interaction … starting with “place mats” and progressing to writing essays … and much more.

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Task-Based Reading Activities Using Authentic Materials and Skills

Mina Gavell

The author describes in detail a two-stage reading activity that incorporates authentic materials, task-based learning, and stations. The article includes ideas for adaptation and presents a number of further teaching applications.

Finding Heterogeneity in Cultural Homogeneity

Ingrid Brita Mathew

The author points out that “even the most homogenous EFL class will have some cultural variety” and presents a “buffet” of activities designed to help students become curious about the differences they discover, analyze cultural values, and improve skills needed to communicate effectively with people of other cultures.

Reader’s Guide

This guide is designed to enrich your reading of the articles in this issue. You may choose to read them on your own, taking notes or jotting down answers to the discussion questions below. Or you may use the guide to explore the articles with colleagues.

Writing about a Peacemaker

Jimalee Sowell and Bishwa Raj Gautam

The authors use peace education as a framework to present an assignment in which students read and write about a peacemaker “to reflect on the meaning of peace and how it can be achieved.”

Using an Asynchronous Video App to Stimulate Spontaneous Oral Interaction

Anna Ciriani-Dean

The author explains how to use an asynchronous video app, then describes two specific tasks—one collaborative, the other dialogic—that teachers and students can carry out with the app.

Using “Place Mats” as a Prewriting Activity for Opinionated Essays

Michael Horvilleur and Hiram Ruvalcaba

Here’s a way to get students talking while at the same time preparing them to write opinionated essays: using “place mats” as a starting point for expressing, sharing, and supporting opinions.

My Classroom: Serbia

Ivana Banković and Kevin McCaughey

Learn how Bojana Nikić Vujić has made her mark as a teacher trainer, television personality, and textbook author—and as an English teacher at Ivo Andrić Elementary School in suburban Belgrade.

Online Breakout Rooms: Jigsaw Discussions and Presentation Practice

Terence McLean

This is a step-by-step guide to helping students use online breakout rooms to work in groups to become “experts” in a topic, then share their knowledge with other students in a jigsaw format, as a way to interact and prepare to give more formal presentations.

The Lighter Side: Sophie’s Seven Tasks

Last week, “Sophie” completed tasks related to every article in this issue of Forum. Can you find the order in which she completed the tasks?

BONUS ARTICLE: Lyric Videos - Sound, Image, and Meaning for English Language Learners

Kristin Lems, an award-winning teacher, singer, and songwriter, describes the appeal of lyric videos in this article and offers teaching suggestions for using these music-based videos with learners of various ages and skill levels.

English Teaching Forum 2021, Volume 59, Number 1

This issue offers advice for accommodating students with learning disabilities, helping learners visualize texts, and using movie dubbing to aid students’ pronunciation, along with tips for understanding fast speech, creating interesting multiple-choice questions, teaching narrative elements … and much more.

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Accommodating Learning Disabilities in the English Language Classroom

Jimalee Sowell and Larry Sugisaki

The authors discuss the complexity of identifying learning disabilities in the English language classroom, then offer four methods of instruction to support students with learning disabilities, with clear descriptions of effective strategies, and provide an extensive list of useful resources.

Reading Eyes Wide Shut: Visualization, Language Learners, and Texts

Spencer Salas, Brian Keith Williams, Maryann Mraz, and Soufiane Adrane

Using an excerpt from a Jack London story as an anchor text, the authors describe five strategies designed to help students “see” what they are reading; the visualization strategies can “promote active engagement [with the text] both for enjoyment and for learning.”

Using Movie Dubbing to Improve Natural English Pronunciation Skills

Tran Thi Hai Yen

The article describes ways that having students dub their own voices into English language movies can improve their pronunciation and intonation; the author presents a dubbing project that helps students focus on pronunciation in a way that is both challenging and enjoyable.

Reader’s Guide

This guide is designed to enrich your reading of the articles in this issue. You may choose to read them on your own, taking notes or jotting down answers to the discussion questions below. Or you may use the guide to explore the articles with colleagues.

Understanding Fast Speech with Online Videos and Quizzes

Stephanie Hanson

The author notes that “understanding fast speech can be an ongoing challenge for English learners of all levels” and presents online videos and interactive quizzes that help learners deal with blending, flap, H elision, syllable elision, and common phrases; the article includes a description of a lesson for using the suggested resources in class.

One of These Does Not Belong: Creating Interesting Multiple-Choice Questions for Teaching and Testing

Matthew Miklas

The author presents a simple, clever way to make all kinds of multiple-choice questions more interesting and more challenging for learners. Teachers can use the technique with both online and face-to-face instruction.

My Classroom: North Carolina, USA

Amy Hanna

Learn how Youa Thao teaches English and does much, much more at a school in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district. The article explains how the school district’s support system works and describes Ms. Thao’s approach, classroom environment, and teaching life.

Identifying Narrative Elements in Literature: A Poster Project

Nicholas Gordon

The author presents a detailed, step-by-step procedure for helping students become familiar with and identify narrative elements; the article describes a project in which groups of students create posters that use narrative elements to make stories of their own.

The Lighter Side: … 20, 21 …

The clues in this puzzle lead to pairs of consecutive numbers. Can you find them all?

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English Teaching Forum 2020, Volume 58, Number 4

Find tips for creating a bilingual thematic vocabulary workbook … assessing assessments … integrating writing and speaking … releasing the power of the picture book … using identity to introduce intercultural communicative competence skills … and much more.

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Developing a Bilingual Thematic Vocabulary Workbook

Genevieve Balderston and Sahondranirina Rakotoarisoa

The authors describe how to create—together with students—bilingual vocabulary workbooks, ideal in situations where resources are limited and as a supplement to existing materials. The article explains how to apply the process that was used to develop vocabulary workbooks in Madagascar.

Let's Talk about It: Strategies for Integrating Writing and Speaking in the Classroom

Andrew Dupont, Jonathan A. Held, and Ghazi Shahadat Hossain

The authors describe a number of strategies for integrating speaking into writing-focused classes, with the goal of increasing students’ competence in both language skills.

Using Identity to Introduce ICC Skills in the EFL Classroom

Xiuqing Wang and Kelly Donovan

The authors describe a detailed, step-by-step procedure to help students analyze the concept of identity—with the use of “identity wheels” and a knowledge-skills-attitudes framework—and apply their understanding to develop intercultural communicative competence

The Lighter Side: Words without Rhymes

The answers in this puzzle are words that have no rhymes in English. Can you find them all?

A Systematic Process for Assessing Assessment

Eman Elturki

“How to assess assessments is often a dilemma for teachers and English language programs,” the author writes, and then goes on to offer a number of suggestions, charts, and guiding questions designed to help solve that dilemma.

The Power of the Picture Book

Laura Loder Buechel

The author shares techniques for using picture books—starting with the cover and moving on through the illustrations and text—to engage children and get them thinking and talking.

My Classroom: Libya

Tasneem Zeat and Wendy Coulson

Learn how Tamadar Issa, an author and a “creative educator,” uses her unique communication skills and her imagination to inspire the students she teaches in Tripoli.

Reader’s Guide

This guide is designed to enrich your reading of the articles in this issue. You may choose to read them on your own, taking notes or jotting down answers to the discussion questions below. Or you may use the guide to explore the articles with colleagues.

English Teaching Forum 2020, Volume 58, Number 3

cover

Find tips for enhancing your teaching with technology … understanding L1 and L2 writing differences and applying them to your teaching … making productive use of inquiry notebooks … using question grids … playing a paraphrasing game … and much more.

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Digital Age Pedagogy: Easily Enhance Your Teaching Practice with Technology

Valerie Sartor

The author describes a wide range of technology tools that language teachers and learners can use and offers tips on getting started and making the most productive use of the tools. Tech tools are becoming more plentiful and essential, and the article is a useful resource for teachers, whether they teach in person or virtually.

L1 and L2 Writing Differences: From Understanding to Practice

Susan M. Barone and Carrie Cargile

This article presents L1 and L2 writing differences in three categories (word-level, sentence-level, and global-level) and provides tips and activities designed to transfer that information into practice.

Inquiry Notebooks for Twenty-First-Century Skill Development

Kelly Wonder

One way to incorporate inquiry-based learning and develop twenty-first-century skills is through inquiry notebooks. The article gives suggestions for using the notebooks in courses and provides a range of specific prompts designed to help learners think more critically and carefully over time.

Reader’s Guide

This guide is designed to enrich your reading of the articles in this issue. You may choose to read them on your own, taking notes or jotting down answers to the discussion questions below. Or you may use the guide to explore the articles with colleagues.

Using Question Grids to Scaffold, Monitor, and Evaluate Communicative Practice

Ruth Goode

Grids can help learners stay on task during communicative activities. This article explains why, and it gives numerous examples that show how teachers can use grids with different language levels and for practice in almost any area of grammar and vocabulary.

A Paraphrasing Game for Intermediate EFL Learners

Aida Koçi McLeod

This article describes a fun, challenging game that gives learners practice in the challenging skill of paraphrasing; the article includes tips for playing the game virtually.

My Classroom: Paraguay

Abigail Williamson

Learn how Graciela Chera balances academic rigor with fun team spirit as she teaches students of all ages in the capital city, Ascunción.

Word Salad: Vocabulary Reinforcement for Kinesthetic and Visual Learners

Annie Chen

This fast-moving game, played in teams, has three rounds; each round gives learners a different way to review and recall recently learned vocabulary.

The Lighter Side: Sounds Good!

In English, words with similar spellings don’t always rhyme, while words with different spellings might rhyme. Can you find the rhymes in this puzzle?

English Teaching Forum 2020, Volume 58, Number 2

Find strategies for using outlining to develop students' rhetorical prosody … incorporating Simple English Wikipedia content productively … teaching register … using media circles … playing mingle bingo … and much more.

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The Art of Imitation: How to Use Outlines to Teach Rhetorical Prosody and Structure

Vance Schaefer and Linda Abe

The authors provide detailed guidance, with examples, for using outlining strategies to develop learners’ rhetorical prosody and ability to structure talks.

Reader’s Guide

This guide is designed to enrich your reading of the articles in this issue. You may choose to read them on your own, taking notes or jotting down answers to the discussion questions below. Or you may use the guide to explore the articles with colleagues.

Simple English Wikipedia: Free Resources for Beginner to Intermediate Levels

Katrina J. Schmidt and Emma Rye

The authors demonstrate how teachers can use free, level-appropriate content found on Simple English Wikipedia to develop skills in reading, contextualized grammar, and writing.

Media Circles: Lively, Learner-Led Lessons

Adam Brazenas

This article gives suggestions for applying the concept of literature circles to audiovisual media rather than to literary works as a way to support learner autonomy and interaction with the target language.

Teaching Register to EFL Writers: Formality and Deference in Written Communication

Richard Schlight

The author discusses challenges related to teaching register in EFL contexts and uses specific examples to suggest strategies to overcome those challenges.

Mingle Bingo

Suzan Arrer and Aliya Saduovna Zholdabayeva

Most English teachers are familiar with mingles; Mingle Bingo adds a layer of fun in an activity that can be used as an icebreaker or as a way to reinforce language skills.

My Classroom: Cote D’Ivoire

Elaine Kerry

Learn how Mohamed Lekrama uses various teaching strategies, including reflection, with his students at the International University of Grand-Bassam.

Story Retelling with a Twist

Wendy Coulson

This is a step-by-step guide to carrying out a versatile, well-scaffolded activity that can improve learners’ speaking skills and keep them engaged through the use of stories and jokes with surprising and unexpected endings.

The Lighter Side: Q & A Search

This puzzle is similar to a word search, but instead of looking for individual words, you look for complete questions and answers. Can you find them all?

English Teaching Forum 2020, Volume 58, Number 1

Find strategies for developing Medical English and other ESP courses … ideas for maintaining a communicative classroom … tips for getting young learners to stick to English … and much more.

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Case Studies in ESP Course Development: Medical English for Turkmen and Mexican Medical Specialists

Kendra Staley, Carolyn Allen, and Anna Hamp

This article recaps the authors’ experience developing Medical English courses and materials while also offering suggestions for adapting the ideas to other ESP courses.

Activities to Activate and Maintain a Communicative Classroom

David Courtney

The author presents detailed descriptions of four highly communicative activities and offers options for each and criteria for evaluating these and other activities.

Reader’s Guide

This guide is designed to enrich your reading of the articles in this issue. You may choose to read them on your own, taking notes or jotting down answers to the discussion questions below. Or you may use the guide to explore the articles with colleagues.

Getting Young Learners to Stick to English

Laura Loder Buechel

The author provides a number of creative ideas that can help learners “stick to English” as they communicate, build confidence, and have fun.

Developing Fluency through Oral Reading

Ethan M. Lynn

The author presents sets of easy-to-incorporate activities designed to improve reading fluency at the word-, sentence-, and passage-level.

Embracing the Growth Mindset in the Classroom

Nguyen Doan Hanh Nguyen

The author explains the growth mindset and provides a detailed explanation of how English instructors in almost any context can introduce and incorporate the mindset in their teaching.

My Classroom: Madagascar

Kevin McCaughey

Learn how teachers Niry Razafimamonjy and Josiana Andriantsalama, at the Lycee Jacques Rabemananjara beside the Indian Ocean in Taomasina, support their students’ learning and contribute to the field of English language teaching in Madagascar.

“What Should I Do?”: Three-Part Role Plays

Tabitha Kidwell

This is a step-by-step guide to offering role plays that give learners practice in describing a problem, asking for advice, giving advice—and giving and receiving feedback from peers. The article includes numerous sample prompts.

The Lighter Side: Medical Mix-Ups

Oops! In each of these sentences, related to medicine and health, one word is misused and needs to be replaced with a word it rhymes with. Can you solve this fun puzzle?