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1. Building and Sustaining a Culture of Belonging

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

   This session, "Building and Sustaining a Culture of Belonging," explores activities to build student-student and teacher-student relationships within a language class setting that affirm students’ identities and improve students’ sense of belonging.

2. Co-Teaching: Strategies for Sharing and Improving the Teaching Experience

   In: American English Webinars Format(s): Website

   Co-Teaching: Strategies for Sharing and Improving the Teaching Experience will discuss what is needed for a successful educational partnership. Several co-teaching models will be presented along with ideas for practical classroom applications.

3. Foundations of TESOL Methodology

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

   This session, "Foundations of TESOL Methodology," introduces key theories and practices in language teaching, and participants will improve their understanding of language teaching methods and principles. We will begin with an introduction to research-based instructional approaches to language education. We will then discuss different approaches to and purposes for language teaching. As we conclude, participants will have the opportunity to consider how they can apply the language teaching methods and techniques that were presented to their particular teaching context.

4. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: Kids’ Pages

   Format(s): Video, Website

   This website is a resource for teachers who want to teach about environmental health. You can find lesson plans, activities, videos, and more!

5. Four Reading Tasks to Promote Critical Thinking

   Format(s): Text, Video

   This session, "Four Reading Tasks to Promote Critical Thinking," shares classroom-ready activities that can be adapted to encourage critical thinking in reading lessons for students of varying ages and proficiency levels.

6. Using Cooperative Learning to Facilitate Alternative Assessment

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002, Volume 40, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses the use of cooperative learning, an instructional strategy that utilizes group work to structure classroom interaction, to facilitate alternative assessment in the second or foreign language classroom. It highlights the importance of cooperative learning in assessment because assessment includes both linguistic and non-linguistic objectives, and meeting these objectives requires continuous and performance-based assessment. The article offers seven examples of cooperative assessments and shows how they can be used.

7. What Mary Shelley Never Wrote: Using Basic Computer Skills to Enhance Student Writing

   In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This article describes an inspired, well-managed process writing class project for intermediate language learners. The author used Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein as a creative writing tool in class to develop writing and computer skills. Students read and discussed the book. Working in a collaborative format, students wrote a short story sequel to the novel and offered revision advice in a workshop format. The sequels were then compiled and shared with beginner language learners. The author pointed out that the sense of audience was also established with this project.

8. An Integrated Skills Lesson Plan for "Maps and Legends" by Michael Chabon

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 2 Format(s): Text

   This lesson plan is based on the article “Maps and Legends” by novelist Michael Chabon and is for high intermediate to advance students. The lesson includes group and pair work. Students discuss the neighborhood where they grew up. They read the text and identify unfamiliar words, then answer comprehension questions in writing or discussion groups. Post-reading activities include scanning, inferring meaning from context, dictionary practice, and discussion questions. The lesson ends with questions to make connections beyond the text and project ideas.

9. Two Writing Activities for Extensive Reading

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 3 Format(s): Text

   These activities promote writing fluency and self-monitoring as well as skills such as getting started with writing and skimming. Students demonstrate understanding of their extensive reading. Timed repeated thinking and writing is similar to free-writing. It includes brief cycles of writing and reflecting. In each cycle, students start their writing over. A similar activity involves cycles of skimming, writing, and thinking. For variation, students can start from where their last writing left off or choose the most important point as a starting place for the next writing turn.

10. Morning Discussion as a Communicative Activity

    In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 4 Format(s): Text

    This article describes freshman university students in China. They started their day with Morning Discussion, a student-hosted discussion of relevant topics. BBC and VOA reports were useful sources. The discussions offered opportunities for negotiation, clarification, and building communicative competence. As students took responsibility for the topics, classroom set up, and participation, their confidence grew. This was very successful, as shown by comments in students’ weekly diaries. Instructors stayed out of debates and did not interrupt to offer corrections.

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