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1. Picture This – Simple Switches

   In: Activate Games for Learning American English: Picture This Format(s): Text

   In Simple Switches, students ask each other questions that they have altered from the original question on a Picture This card.

2. Classroom Techniques: Counseling and Oral Communication

   In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article addresses a social divide that occurs between university students who have attended English secondary schools and those who have not. The lower proficiency students tend to be from lower socio-economic status and hesitate to speak because they fear humiliation. This article reminds instructors that low-proficiency learners need a safe place to make mistakes and build confidence. As an icebreaker, students discuss what hinders them from speaking to an audience. They then give speeches introducing themselves. Finally, they give a formal speech.

3. Center for Disease Control & Prevention

   Format(s): Text, Video, Website

   Provides information on health and safety topics, up-to-date statistics, tools, and resources for students and educators.

4. 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.

5. Picture This – Guess Which Challenge

   In: Activate Games for Learning American English: Picture This Format(s): Text

   In Guess Which Challenge, students create sentences that use one of the words on a Picture This card.

6. Near-Peer Tutoring in an ESOL Music Project

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

   This article describes how near-peer tutoring was used to foster a supportive, learner-centered environment in an adult ESOL setting. Students from beginning and advanced classes worked together to learn a song to perform at a year-end ceremony. The task involved vocabulary, pronunciation, intonation, and comprehension. Benefits of the music project included building relationships, breaking the routine, and lowering students’ affective filters. The project allowed the adults to be self-directed, empowered them to critique themselves, and gave them a sense of accomplishment.

7. Picture This – Same & Different

   In: Activate Games for Learning American English: Picture This Format(s): Text

   Same & Different provides students with the opportunity to use their background knowledge about the items on the 'Picture This' cards to create descriptions that compare and contrast two items on a card.

8. Picture This – Questions Quiz

   In: Activate Games for Learning American English: Picture This Format(s): Text

   Students practice creating questions that contain very specific information about one item from a Picture This card, so that there is only one correct answer to the question.

9. 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.

10. Make it Meaningful: Bringing Learning to Life with Culturally Relevant Teaching

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

    This webinar discusses ways to increase student motivation and achievement through the use of culturally relevant teaching techniques.

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