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1. 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.

2. The Children's Response: TPR and Beyond

   In: English Teaching Forum 2005, Volume 43, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   This article describes a technique called The Children’s Response, which can be used to teach young EFL learners. The technique is based on Total Physical Response (TPR), which actively involves children from kindergarten to beyond third grade. The article offers three lessons that provide practice with the form and function of the present and past tense as well as prepositions and imperative commands.

3. Passion for Life!

   In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 3 Format(s): Text, Image / Poster / Maps

   In “Passion for Life,” the author promotes the use of drawing to make the classroom a positive and pleasant place. This technique can help even shy students become active. After reading the poem “Life” by Mother Teresa, students choose their favorite line from the poem and draw a picture to represent it. Secondary students are asked to learn the poem by heart.

4. Assessment of Young Learners

   In: English Teaching Forum 2005, Volume 43, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses how the trend towards low-anxiety, communicative-based language teaching and integrated language and content teaching has created a need to change assessment strategies for young learners. The author describes alternative assessment techniques such as nonverbal responses, oral interview, narratives, group assessment, and dialogue journals, and suggests how they can be carried out through regular classroom work.

5. Vocabulary Strategy Work for Advanced Learners of English

   In: English Teaching Forum 2005, Volume 43, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This article provides several activities designed to teach strategies for learning vocabulary. The author explains why it is important to teach strategies and offers ways for students to work on strategies, from preparation to experimenting with different methods, to evaluation of the instruction. Examples are given of cognitive, memory, and metacognitive strategies that encourage students to be responsible for their own learning of vocabulary.

6. Nurturing Emotional Intelligence through Literature

   In: English Teaching Forum 2001, Volume 39, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses the use of literature in a language class as a way to develop emotional intelligence in children. The author suggests that literature can be motivating and can provide a low-anxiety context for children to learn English. Several response activities are suggested to develop language skills and nurture emotional intelligence. These activities include scripting, detecting feelings in text, a feeling hunt, creating a positive language dictionary, diary entries, and letters to characters.

7. Information Gap in Communicative Classrooms

   In: English Teaching Forum 2001, Volume 39, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   The author argues that exchanges in the classroom must go beyond display questions and should be based on the information gap that occurs when one speaker does not know in advance what the other is going to say. The author provides examples of information gap activities to promote a communicative classroom. Activity types include practical situations, guessing games, role plays, opinion gap activities, and reasoning gap activities. The author argues that these activities have real communicative value.

8. Picture This – Same & Different

   In: Activate Games for Learning American English: Picture This Format(s): Text

   Same & Different provides students with the opportunity to use their background knowledge about the items on the 'Picture This' cards to create descriptions that compare and contrast two items on a card.

9. Picture This – Questions, Questions

   In: Activate Games for Learning American English: Picture This Format(s): Text

   This game gives students practice forming yes/no questions. Download the cards and instructions for the game.

10. Picture This – Mix It, Fix It!

    In: Activate Games for Learning American English: Picture This Format(s): Text

    Mix It, Fix It! allows students to practice creating well-formed questions. This game works best in small groups.

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