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1. 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.

2. U.S. Time Periods

   Format(s): Text, Video, Website

   Teaching and learning resources on U.S. time periods, from the Department of Education.

3. Notes for Teachers

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

   This section includes a table of contents, information about the project, and how teachers can use these comics in their classrooms.

4. An American Poetry Project for Low Intermediate ESL Adults

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

   This article discusses the author’s poetry unit, developed to expose her ESL students to American literature. Students wrote journals about poems they read and were assigned a poem about which to write a composition. The author required her students to memorize and perform one poem. While teaching the unit, the author and a colleague kept a dialog journal of their experience and insights. Both the student reactions and their dialog journals yielded positive results, allowing the author to make several recommendations for using poetry in the ESL classroom.

5. Health and Fitness

   In: English Teaching Forum 2007, Volume 45, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   The theme of health offers a variety of language-learning possibilities. This three-part lesson plan for young learners can be adapted to other audiences. It includes a reading, a dialogue, and a listening script. The first lesson asks learners to analyze lifestyle choices and give advice. The second lesson takes students to a sporting goods store, where they consider the language they need to talk with a sales clerk. The third lesson is about food choices, including ways to prepare foods. A follow-up activity researches how a famous athlete stays healthy.

6. Animating Your Instruction: Using Comics and Graphic Novels in the English Language Classroom

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

   "Animating Your Instruction: Using Comics and Graphic Novels in the English Language Classroom" explores the popularity of illustrated stories among teachers and students alike and offers suggestions on how to use them to “animate” your classes.

7. Poetry Foundation

   Format(s): Website

   Visit the learning lab and learn about historic or contemporary poets or find a poem for almost any special occasion. Discover and celebrate the best poetry at the Poetry Foundation.

8. "What was it about?" Supporting Text Retelling and Response

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

   This session, ""What was it about?" Supporting Text Retelling and Response," discusses the importance of scaffolding techniques in post-reading tasks and showcases a tool, the story retelling wheel, which provides support for learners while giving them opportunities to be creative and take ownership of their reading.

9. Classroom Techniques: - What a Feeling!

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

   This article argues for the use of collaborative writing through poems in the ESL classroom. This activity gives students the motivation to express their creativity while improving teamwork skills that are important outside of the classroom. The author describes how collaborative poetry is introduced and carried out, gives examples of student poems, and suggests how the activity can be used with other genres as well.

10. Adapting Authentic Materials for Language Teaching

    In: English Teaching Forum 2001, Volume 39, Number 2 Format(s): Text

    This article looks at how to adapt original materials for language teaching, using an intermediate-level text for business as an example. The discussion is organized into four sections: semantic, lexical, syntactic, and discourse elements. The author argues that the process is the same for teaching each of these four elements. Teachers can adapt authentic materials for different classroom uses, depending on their students’ ages and proficiency levels.

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