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1. Story 4: Love, Music, and Language

   In: Why English? Comics for the Classroom Format(s): Text

   The stories in Why English? Comics for the Classroom – written by teenagers and young adults – will appeal to learners of all ages. These stories provide an enjoyable opportunity to increase vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening, speaking, and writing.

2. Embracing Social Media to Engage Students and Teach Narrative Writing

   In: English Teaching Forum 2019, Volume 57, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   Many students are already involved with social media; this article presents in clear detail a technique for using social media to generate characters and ideas for narrative writing.

3. A Lesson Plan Speaking (and Writing) of Sports

   In: English Teaching Forum 2005, Volume 43, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This lesson plan offers several sports-related photographs and classroom activities that use the pictures for individual, pair, or group work. The activities include a sentence-combination task, structured writing questions, open-ended writing tasks, a charting task, and questions for a whole-class discussion. The author gives suggestions for making the tasks easier or more difficult for multiple levels.

4. Why and How to Teach Collocations

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

   One of the key developments in vocabulary teaching stems from Michael Lewis’s Lexical Approach, which considers language as chunks of words combined for meaning. These frequently occurring word combinations are called collocations. This article points out a number of problems that result from learning words in isolation. Work with meaningful phrases can help improve students’ comprehension and comprehensibility. The article includes reading and listening activities to raise awareness of collocations as well as writing and speaking activities.

5. Poems about Spirituality and Religion

   In: Poetry Format(s): Text

   Read poems about religion and spirituality by students from around the world. Read poems below or download the PDFs.

6. Poems About Love and Relationships

   In: Poetry Format(s): Text

   In the spirit of Valentine’s Day on February 14th, this month’s poems by English language learners are about love and relationships. Download them or read them online.

7. Effective Assessment Practices for Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning in an Online Environment

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

   The American English Webinar and Facebook Live sessions are hosted by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of English Language Programs in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

8. Opening and Closing Routines for Multi-Level Classrooms

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

   This session, "Opening and Closing Routines for Multi-Level Classrooms ," demonstrates how to create strong beginnings and endings during language lessons to help teachers meet mixed-level student needs as well as their curriculum requirements.

9. The Reflective Portfolio: Two Case Studies from the United Arab Emirates

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 1 Format(s): Text

   This article explains the benefits of using portfolios, an alternative assessment tool, to assess writing. The author identifies the characteristics of alternative assessment. Portfolios evaluate student progress over time and can include revisions. They are based on activities that show what students can do with language. Portfolios emphasize strengths and involve reflection by the student. Case studies show how portfolios were used in English courses at two universities. The authors advise allowing time for reflection and training in self-evaluation.

10. To the Moon! — A Launch Pad for Encouraging Students to Express Their Opinions

    In: English Teaching Forum 2011, Volume 49, Number 4 Format(s): Text

    Writing a persuasive essay can be a challenging task. This article outlines an activity that involves developing, communicating, and exploring opinions. Students work individually to select volunteers to go to the moon. Groups then try to agree on the selection, discussing their reasons and assumptions. A number of letter-writing assignments incorporate material from the discussions. This student-centered activity can improve confidence, critical thinking skills, and writing fluency, while students learn from and challenge each other.

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