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1. Complaining Successfully: Negotiating Redress in Service Encounters

   In: Teaching Pragmatics Format(s): Text, Video, Website

   This lesson in Teaching Pragmatics aims to help students learn how to make complaints during service encounters.

2. U.S. Time Periods

   Format(s): Text, Video, Website

   Teaching and learning resources on U.S. time periods, from the Department of Education.

3. Smithsonian Folkways: Tools for Teaching

   Format(s): Website

   Looking for more ways to use music to teach? Check out the Smithsonian Folkways website that has a section called “Tools for Teaching” with free lessons and activities for the classroom.

4. PBS Kids

   Format(s): Website

   PBS Kids helps to educate young learners in creative and fun ways. The educational content is aimed at children, with many interactive games and activities to aid in learning.

5. The Texas Airport Cookies: Pragmatic Variation from an Urban Legend

   In: Teaching Pragmatics Format(s): Text, Video, Website

   This aims to enhance awareness of pragmatic variation with respect to setting and participant characteristics in an airport scenario.

6. Classroom Activities

   In: English Teaching Forum 2011, Volume 49, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   These classrooms activities, which are designed for beginner, intermediate, and advanced students, focus on the issue’s fishing theme. Classroom activities include written and oral work, vocabulary, team work and individual work. Lessons include creating a vocabulary card game, oral story telling based on the “fish story” concept of telling exaggerated stories, and the creation of a persuasive piece. Variations are included to expand and vary the lessons.

7. Building Vocabulary and Improving Writing while Developing a Tourist Brochure

   In: English Teaching Forum 2008, Volume 46, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This article describes how creating a tourist brochure can help students improve their vocabulary and writing skills. The author describes how to plan writing lessons based on the creation of a brochure: viewing videos, planning the brochure, writing the brochure, getting feedback and rewriting, and displaying the brochure. In the conclusion, the author highlights the benefits of the activity as providing opportunities for contextualized writing and vocabulary learning.

8. Applying Metacognitive Strategies to Skimming Research Articles in an ESP Context

   In: English Teaching Forum 2006, Volume 44, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   The article focuses on explaining to post-secondary teachers how to teach their students to use metacognitive strategies to skim research articles in specialized fields. The author briefly explains metacognitive strategies in reading tasks and discusses the importance of strategy training and having a purpose in reading. The author then describes a lesson plan that includes a presentation and a three-step guided practice. The author concludes by emphasizing reading strategy training in an ESP context.

9. Lesson Plan: Going Green

   In: English Teaching Forum 2007, Volume 45, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   The lesson plan, “Going Green,” allows students to develop research and problem-solving skills on the theme of environmental conservation. The lesson includes a glossary of environmental terms. It uses a learner-centered approach as learners work in groups to determine their topic, the vocabulary they want to learn, how to collect information, how to report it (qualitatively or quantitatively), and what action to take based on the results. Students report their findings and action plan in a poster presentation. Creative writing, a debate, or a "green fair" are optional extensions.

10. Discovering Grammar with Consciousness-Raising Tasks

    In: American English Webinars Format(s): Text, Video

    Introduces consciousness-raising task (CR tasks), which encourage students to notice characteristics and patterns related to form, meaning, and/or use while actively exploring the target grammar feature.

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