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1. 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.

2. From Page to Stage: Lord of the Flies

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002 (Volume 40, Number 1) Format(s): Text

   This article shares the importance of promoting drama activities within classrooms in a way that will develop language. The authors share a project they implemented in a tenth grade English classroom with the novel “Lord of the Flies.” They present the details of their preparation strategies as well as a step-by-step process. The article discusses how successful the project turned out to be as well as how drama can enhance English classrooms.

3. Fast Food World: The Hamburger Comes of Age

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002 (Volume 40, Number 1) Format(s): Text

   This article presents the history of the hamburger and the debate about who invented it as well as how it has become an icon among foods, spreading to a variety of other countries. The author shares the marketing strategies used by multiple businesses in order to attract customers as well as the franchising and growth that has come from such a simple product.

4. History of the Hamburger

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002 (Volume 40, Number 1) Format(s): Text

   “The History of the Hamburger,” an article within “The Hamburger Comes of Age,” discusses the roots of the modern hamburger dating back to the German city of Hamburg. The author relates the hamburger’s move from Germany to Russia to the New World and the debate about the creators and the origins of the modern hamburger, as well as its various styles of preparation.

5. Fast Food and Globalization

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002 (Volume 40, Number 1) Format(s): Text

   “Fast Food and Globalization,” an article within “The Hamburger Comes of Age,” shares the story of a group of French people who demolished a McDonald’s restaurant in protest, which drew international media attention. The short article expresses how fast food is representative of the globalization process. The author provides examples of how a multitude of fast food restaurants have attempted to accommodate local tastes.

6. A Different View of Fast Food

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002 (Volume 40, Number 1) Format(s): Text

   “Another View of Fast Food,” the last article within “The Hamburger Comes of Age,” discusses the ingredients and nutrition facts of the worst diet in the world. The author discusses the calories, fat, additives, and lack of nutrients in fast foods. The author points out that this type of diet will have tremendous consequences on a person’s health as they age, and encourages readers to study the menus in fast food restaurants.

7. Abstracts from Other Journals

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002 (Volume 40, Number 1) Format(s): Text

   Two abstracts are presented from other journals, “Transcending the Nativeness Paradigm” from World Englishes and “Enriching Reality: Language Corpora in Language Pedagogy” from ELT Journal. In the first, the authors argue that the binary classification of native or non-native speakers is based on socially constructed identity. They use four case studies based on four participants to validate their point. The authors of the second abstract argue that using corpora has been overlooked by L2 learners, and provide suggestions on how to incorporate this within a classroom.

8. Using L1 in the English Classroom

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002 (Volume 40, Number 1) Format(s): Text

   The author provides details on a case study she performed to examine the effectiveness of using the native language (L1) in foreign language classrooms. The article describes the details of her research design and her methods and procedures, including classroom observations, interviews, and questionnaires. One hundred first-year English major students in Beijing participated in her study. Included are the results of her study and a comparison of her findings to that of other researchers.

9. Transforming the Whole Class into Gossiping Groups

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002 (Volume 40, Number 1) Format(s): Text

   This article discusses various communicative purposes displayed by speakers of a language, including focusing on the topic of gossiping as a universal language function and exploring ways to exploit our human tendency for gossip to provide language fluency practice. The author provides two different interactive gossip activities that can be used in the classroom to help students speak more fluently. Included are step-by-step details for each lesson plan and each activity.

10. Clause Relationships and Macro Patterns: Coherence, Cohesion, and the Writing of Advanced ESOL Students

    In: English Teaching Forum 2002 (Volume 40, Number 1) Format(s): Text

    This article discusses problems that non-native speakers of English may have in making their written texts cohesive and coherent. The author provides cohesive devices that can aid students in their writing and emphasizes the organization of ideas in order to build coherence. Included are activities designed to raise students' awareness of various patterns, help reformulate sentences, aid students in creating their own texts, and increase their ability to edit their own work.

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