Advanced Search: Resources

1. Effective Questions

   In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   Teachers ask many questions in the classroom, but not all are useful. Questions that the teacher already knows the answer to are known as display questions. These are often asked for the student to display knowledge. Questions where the teacher does not already know the answer are meaning based and known as referential questions. This article explains the problems with relying on display questions in the L2 classroom. This distinction applies to reading comprehension questions as well as oral questions.

2. Keeping Discipline in the Classroom

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 3 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses the challenges of keeping order in the classroom and provides suggestions for fostering an environment of mutual respect. The article looks at what students expect of teachers as well as temporary games and long-term strategies that students use to take control from the teacher. Some practical solutions to discipline problems include keeping students’ attention, establishing clear rules together, and addressing discipline problems by using nonverbal and verbal cues before reacting to the problem.

3. #MyClassroom

   Format(s): Video

   We asked teachers from around the world to describe their classrooms. Here are some of their stories. #MyClassroom #AEforEducators #ELFellowProgram

4. Using Games in the Classroom to Build Vocabulary and Grammar Skills

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

   This session, "Using Games in the Classroom to Build Vocabulary and Grammar Skills," focuses on movement in the classroom.

5. Superpowering Your Lecture: Activities to Engage Learners and Gather Feedback

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

   This session, “Superpowering Your Lecture: Activities to Engage Learners and Gather Feedback,” explores several interactive, ready-to-use activities designed to motivate learners enrolled in lecture-style classes; these approaches also enable the instructor to gather crucial information about their students’ progress and understanding of the material.

6. Enliven Your Class and Engage Your Students with Fun Facts

   In: English Teaching Forum 2023, Volume 61, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   Stephen Mark Silvers enlivens this article with dozens of “fun facts” while also explaining how teachers can use such facts to motivate students and develop students’ English skills in creative ways. The author, who notes that students’ responses to the facts will be “authentic and meaningful,” provides a number of sources where teachers can find fun facts to use with their classes.

7. Make a Vertical, Whole-Class Board Game

   In: English Teaching Forum 2024, Volume 62, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   Author Kevin McCaughey takes game-boarding to another dimension by showing how teachers and students can turn part of a classroom into a board game that the entire class can play. Step-by-step instructions ensure that teachers will know exactly how to apply the idea of vertical games in their own classrooms—and will be able to let students not only play the games, but help create them, too.

8. Going Beyond “The Lighter Side” Puzzles for English Language Practice

   In: English Teaching Forum 2024, Volume 62, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   Author Tom Glass describes multiple ways that teachers can use and adapt “The Lighter Side” puzzles, found in all issues of English Teaching Forum, to give students extended language practice by solving puzzles and creating new puzzles of their own. The article includes examples from puzzles that teachers can find and download (for free) on the American English website.

9. The Line Between Questions, Responses, and Readers

   In: English Teaching Forum 2024, Volume 62, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   This article uses the Stephen Crane story “The Open Boat” (freely available on the American English website) as an anchor text to demonstrate how teachers can apply Raphael’s Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) technique to a text that students might be assigned to read. The article includes numerous examples and tips that teachers can use to adapt the technique to other texts as a way to enhance student engagement and interest in reading.

10. Evaluating a Lesson Using Principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

    In: Teacher's Corner: Strategies for Teaching Students with Disabilities Format(s): Text

    This week, learn how to modify an existing activity using the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Pages