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1. Encouraging Student Voices in a Chinese Classroom

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

   The author shares two activities she developed to promote student participation and encourage candid feedback. The first strategy involved having a student "facilitator" play the role of the teacher in small group discussions, providing an alternative to teacher-centered classrooms. To receive candid feedback from students, the author developed a system called no-fuss feedback. Students drew a large circle on a piece of paper and, as they listened to a list of class activities, they wrote the name of the activity in the circle if it helped them, and outside the circle if it did not.

2. Using Progressive I-Can Statements to Promote Learner Confidence in Writing

   In: English Teaching Forum 2010, Volume 48, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   Language learners may sometimes feel shy and unsure of their abilities and may not be able to see what they are able to do. The authors found that writing I-can statements (e.g., I can write the names of foods in English) can be a good way to build confidence. Students use their I-can records to assess their own progress. The authors offer a starting point for teachers by presenting ideas for tasks such as copying words, writing signs, and writing about the weekend.

3. 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.

4. Guess What? - Yes, No, Maybe!

   In: Activate Games for Learning English - Guess What? Format(s): Text

   In Yes, No, Maybe!, the Describer tells the Guessers the topic on the card and the Guessers must ask yes or no questions until they discover what the words on the Guess What? card are.

5. Labor Day

   In: Celebrate! Holidays in the U.S.A. Format(s): Text

   Labor Day was established as a holiday for workers, both as a tribute to their contributions to the nation, and as a means of bringing more public awareness to their struggles.

6. Using VOA Special English to Improve Advanced English Learners' Productive Use of High Frequency Words

   In: English Teaching Forum 2009, Volume 47, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article focuses on advanced ESL learners’ acquisition of the spelling, pronunciation, and comprehension of high-frequency words at the productive skill level rather than at the receptive skill level. It discusses the use of the Voice of America (VOA) Special English program to expose learners to different activities requiring productive skills. The article offers examples of how the VOA program exposes learners to comprehensible input through high-frequency words and helps them produce these words both in writing and speaking.

7. Story 6: Julia

   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.

8. From Passive Learners to Critical Thinkers: Preparing EFL Students for University Success

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

   This article explains how the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC) revised their curriculum to best prepare EFL students for English-speaking universities. After completing a needs analysis on how to best serve their students, the committee decided to make a more interactive classroom environment in which teachers integrated the four skills, used critical thinking activities, taught grammar in context, and used various methods of assessment. Feedback showed that both the students and the teachers responded positively to the changes.

9. An Integrated Skills Lesson Plan for "A Postcard from America" by Robert Olen Butler

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

   This lesson plan is based on the feature article, “Postcards from America” by Robert Olen Butler. It is appropriate for high intermediate to advanced students. The lesson integrates the four skills and has five parts: Preparing to Read, Reading the Text, Understanding the Text, Making Connections Beyond the Text, and Integrating Language Skills. The lesson includes group discussion of comprehension questions, scanning for vocabulary, and using the dictionary.

10. Reading to Speak: Integrating Oral Communication Skills

    In: English Teaching Forum 2009, Volume 47, Number 1 Format(s): Text

    Although students want to practice speaking English, they do not have many opportunities to do so in the Chinese EFL system. This often results in something called 'mute English.' This article suggests a greater integration of skills through reading to speak activities. The author includes activities for reading to act, reading to debate, and reading to interview. These activities move students away from a focus on form, allowing students to be creative and build fluency.

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