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1. Spot the Problem! (reprinted from Teaching Pragmatics)

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

   This lesson plan considers pragmatic violations of openings, closings, and requests. These humorous role plays involve continuing a conversation when one person is trying to end it, being overly direct, and providing an overly informative answer to the greeting “How are you?” Textbooks may lack complete openings and closings, so it is worthwhile to spend time on post-openings and pre-closings. Politeness in English may be problematic for EFL learners because of the lack of grammatical forms that mark it.

2. Building Fluency through the Repeated Reading Method

   In: English Teaching Forum 2011, Volume 49, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses the success of Repeated Reading (RR) within EFL classrooms, illustrating three techniques of RR that can be used to develop students’ fluency, comprehension skills, and reading self-esteem. After providing a background on the RR method, the author explains the techniques step by step and suggests activities. The techniques include classic oral repeated reading (ORR), Paired repeated reading (PRR), and Reader’s Theater (RT).

3. A Plan for Using - "Save the Lofty Trees" by Leslie Mills

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

   The author describes how to use the play “Save the Lofty Trees” in a classroom. The plan offers six activities that will promote student interaction, involving guided imagination, brainstorming, group-work, creative movement, and an interactive read through. This lesson plan is intended for young learners and addresses all learning styles.

4. Maximizing the Benefits of Project Work in Foreign Language Classrooms

   In: English Teaching Forum 2005, Volume 43, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   There are many benefits to using project work in the classroom, such as student autonomy, increased content knowledge, and motivation. This article gives ten steps for structuring project activities to maximize these benefits, using a case study on project-based learning in an English preparatory program in Turkey. Also included are recommendations for writers on how to include project-based learning in their materials.

5. Teaching the World's Children: ESL for Ages Three to Seven

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

   This article discusses teaching English as a second language to very young learners. The authors talks about how important it is for children to have a wide variety of experiences when building language and literacy. The authors explain how the use of various environments, including learning centers, block centers, art or sand tables, writing areas, science and technology centers, and even libraries, can help shape the way a child learns language as well as improve other skills.

6. The Trans-Cultural Comparative Literature Method: Using Grammar Translation Techniques Effectively

   In: English Teaching Forum 2010, Volume 48, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article explains the trans-cultural comparative literature method, which uses elements of communicative language teaching (CLT) and grammar-translation (GT) while comparing two culturally different texts. This method focuses on grammar and vocabulary, but also gives students a chance to analyze different cultures. An overview of CLT and GT is followed by guidelines for the trans-cultural comparative literature method and sample lesson plans for its use.

7. In the Mood: Introducing Pragmatic Awareness at Low Levels

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

   This lesson in Teaching Pragmatics focuses on raising pragmatic awareness in students using the concept of "mood."

8. Developing Pragmatic Competence in the EFL Classroom

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

   Pragmatic competence is an important part of communicative competence, yet it is often insufficiently addressed. This article outlines a program of four lessons on the speech acts of openings and closings. Lessons examine dialogues for cultural differences regarding forms of address, abruptness, expected responses, and so on. Students also consider pre-closing phrases, ways to express politeness, and formality. Finally, students expand an artificial dialogue to make it more realistic. Activities include translation, pair work, creative writing, class discussion, and role play.

9. The Lighter Side

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

   This activity has students fill in the blanks of a sentence with two words that sound the same but are spelled differently with different meanings (heterographs).

10. The STAIR Framework for Interactive Online Activities

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

    This session, "The STAIR Framework for Interactive Online Activities," defines and explores the STAIR Framework, a four-part instructional design approach that builds dynamic student interaction into online or in-class activities.

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