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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.

English Magazines = Motivation + Improved ESL Writing Skills

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

Creating and editing a magazine in English is a challenging and motivating type of portfolio assessment. It encourages student fluency and freedom by allowing students to choose their own topics for writing. It is real communication for a real audience and requires students to take responsibility for their own writing. It can also make the teacher’s job more enjoyable. The article describes a magazine-editing project for an intermediate university writing class. The students performed well on the national writing examination.

Morning Discussion as a Communicative Activity

In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 4 Format(s): Text

This article describes freshman university students in China. They started their day with Morning Discussion, a student-hosted discussion of relevant topics. BBC and VOA reports were useful sources. The discussions offered opportunities for negotiation, clarification, and building communicative competence. As students took responsibility for the topics, classroom set up, and participation, their confidence grew. This was very successful, as shown by comments in students’ weekly diaries. Instructors stayed out of debates and did not interrupt to offer corrections.

First Road to Learning: Language through Stories

In: English Teaching Forum 2006, Volume 44, Number 2 Format(s): Text

This article discusses the benefits of using stories in language teaching and ideas of how to use stories in the classroom. The authors believe that stories can help solve the problems caused by limited resources and are good ways to teach culture. They describe types of stories and how they can be used in teaching speaking, listening, reading, writing, integrated skills, and critical thinking.

Useful Resources for Editing Academic Writing in English

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

This article describes how the author assisted graduate students with academic writing in English. It also shares useful resources for teachers in non-English speaking countries who are responsible for editing academic theses and dissertations, professional articles, and papers for international conferences. The author's editing process includes corrections written on the paper as well as typed, detailed explanations of grammar points and suggestions for rewording or reorganization. Online and print resources are included.

Language & Literature in Tertiary Education: The Case for Stylistics

In: English Teaching Forum 2002, Volume 40, Number 2 Format(s): Text

This article discusses the lack of quality in students’ literary criticism in degree English courses, suggesting that students have difficulty understanding literary texts in English. It recommends stylistic analysis, the analysis of structures and vocabulary, as a way that learners of English as a second or foreign language can develop a more active and independent approach to understanding and critiquing literary works.

Growing Up With English

Format(s): Text

Growing Up with English is a teacher-training guidebook that focuses on methods, techniques, and materials that are suitable for teaching English to younger learners.

Voices of Youth

Format(s): Website

Voices of Youth is UNICEF’s online place for young people to learn more about issues affecting their world. Discover more about issues such as human rights, Education, health, the environment and learn about what young people are doing to make a difference.

Student-Centered Classroom Management: Addressing Classroom Issues with 5 Adaptable Forms

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

This webinar examines classroom management and student-centered classrooms before discussing five adaptable forms participants can use to manage activities in their own classrooms. The presenter will explain how and why to use each form and additional classroom management resources will be shared.

Proverbs & Quotables: Using Very Short Texts in Language Learning