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1. Phonetic Symbols: A Necessary Stepping Stone for ESL Students

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002, Volume 40, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses why English pronunciation and intonation have been ignored in Hong Kong ESL classes. It also discusses why it is essential to teach English phonetic symbols to attain better pronunciation skills. The article describes what actions should be taken to implement an English pronunciation component into teaching ESL.

2. 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.

3. Increasing Student Talk Time in the Online Classroom

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

   This session, "Increasing Student Talk Time in the Online Classroom," discussed benefits of increasing student oral language use in virtual environments, and explored routines, activities, and tools that gave students a voice in their online classrooms.

4. Online Double-Communication Lines to Enhance Student Interaction

   In: English Teaching Forum, Volume 60, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   The author describes ways to bring a popular classroom technique to online environments, showing how to have students form virtual “lines” and then move from partner to partner via a sequence of changing breakout rooms.

5. Using Group Work Effectively to Increase Student Speaking Time in Class

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

   This webinar, “Using Group Work Effectively to Increase Student Speaking Time in Class” explores several new warm-up activities and grouping strategies.

6. Drama-Based Activities to Improve Student Confidence and Motivation

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

   This session, "Drama-Based Activities to Improve Student Confidence and Motivation," shares fun, confidence-building, evidence-based drama techniques that can be applied in any EFL classroom setting!

7. Keep it Moving: Ideas for Fun, Active Classroom Activities

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

   During this session, Regional English Language Officer Kevin McCaughey shares his approach to a dynamic classroom space: The Movable Class. Kevin explains how this approach will help you to use more group work, design student-centered activities, and become a more confident classroom manager, all while you and your students have more fun!

8. 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.

9. Process Writing and the Internet: Blogs and Ning Networks in the Classroom

   In: English Teaching Forum 2011, Volume 49, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This article presents a student-centered technique for teaching writing to ESL and EFL students who are familiar with Internet-based technology. There are two classroom lessons which use blogs (an Internet-based diary tool accessible by many) and Ning networks (an Internet-based network created for small groups for a small fee). A process-writing concept focuses on students’ social relationships and interests. Step-by-step directions are included for teachers and students who may be less familiar with these two technologies.

10. Integrating Language Skills through a Dictogloss Procedure

    In: English Teaching Forum 2014, Volume 52, Number 2 Format(s): Text

    The co-authors of this article present interactive and student-centered dictogloss activities as alternatives to dictation exercises.

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