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1. Using Guided, Corpus-Aided Discovery to Generate Active Learning

   In: English Teaching Forum 2008, Volume 46, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   This article shows how English teachers can provide careful guidance for students to use a corpus to research, discover, and reflect on the grammatical and sociolinguistic aspects of English. The author introduces the idea of using a corpus in teaching English and offers several important online resources for English language corpora. The author provides a rationale for corpus-based teaching and gives two examples of how to guide students in exploring linguistic features of English.

2. A Classroom Response to HIV/AIDS - Project Proposal Writing

   In: English Teaching Forum 2007, Volume 45, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   This article describes a task-based writing project. High-school students in Zambia wrote a proposal to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in their community. By writing on a topic related to their lives, students were motivated and empowered to use their English skills for positive change. The project was an interactive workshop that invited a community leader to help with brainstorming, the setting of ground rules, and understanding of the issue. Students worked together on their responses and drafted and revised a proposal that was based on a model from UNICEF.

3. 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.

4. Written Peer Response in L2 Writing

   In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   This article argues that peer reviews of student writing should be done in writing and orally, as opposed to only in writing or only orally. Peer reviewing usually addresses the organization and style of student writing. The author discusses eight advantages to managing a peer-review process this way.

5. Using Task Journals with Independent Readers

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002, Volume 40, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses using journal tasks to help intermediate students with the challenges they face when they do independent reading in ESL/EFL reading classes. It describes the design, implementation, and integration of task journals designed to encourage students to think about content, reflection on the reading process, and vocabulary learning.

6. Creating Meaningful Web Pages: A Project-Based Course

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002, Volume 40, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article describes a nine-week course in Web design that can guide students in the production of an electronic project. It discusses the importance of project-based courses in language teaching since they offer learners an opportunity to be creative, control their own learning, and produce something tangible. The article addresses the benefits and difficulties of teaching such a course.

7. Helping Students Develop Coherence in Writing

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002, Volume 40, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses the need to bring coherence in writing from an abstract level to a concrete concept that can be described and taught. Teachers need to teach coherence by sharing its metalanguage with students. This can be done for example by using more specific comments such as “unclear reference” or “inappropriate conjunction” instead of vague ones such as “the essay lacks unity.” The article offers a coherence checklist for students to self-edit and to review their peers’ writing.

8. Transients in Arcadia

   In: The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories Format(s): Text

   This story is about a man and a woman who save enough money from their blue-collar jobs to spend a week in luxury at a hotel.

9. The Use of Ethics in the EFL Classroom

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

   If students are not meeting their goals, it may be that the reason is non-linguistic. Motivation is an important factor that teachers need to consider. The writer argues that carefully chosen ethics cases can motivate timid students to speak out by removing their fear of making mistakes and by encouraging them to talk about heart-felt beliefs. Since ethics cases may not have clear right and wrong answers, this sets them apart from other discussion topics. Debate will foster critical thinking skills.

10. 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.

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