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1. From Passive Participant to Active Thinker

   In: English Teaching Forum 2005, Volume 43, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses how, through materials development, teachers can help students think critically and feel comfortable enough to be active participants in class. The author suggests adapting materials to be more relevant to the interests and needs of students in a particular context. Another suggestion is to create materials that help students connect their thoughts and feelings to the language they are learning. The author includes techniques to promote critical thinking and learner autonomy.

2. Animating Your Instruction: Using Comics and Graphic Novels in the English Language Classroom

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

   "Animating Your Instruction: Using Comics and Graphic Novels in the English Language Classroom" explores the popularity of illustrated stories among teachers and students alike and offers suggestions on how to use them to “animate” your classes.

3. One-Room Schools

   In: English Teaching Forum 2005, Volume 43, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   history, one-room schoolhouse, inclusive, schoolhouse teacher, communities, interview, former students, websites, additional resources

4. Promoting Genre Awareness in the EFL Classroom

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

   The author introduces genre awareness, a concept from ESP (English for Specific Purposes) and EAP (English for Academic Purposes), and relates it to its potential use in the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom. She explains genre awareness as the ability to use the communication tool that is most appropriate for the purpose and audience. She recognizes several challenges to using genre awareness curriculum in the EFL classroom. Finally, she presents several useful genre awareness classroom exercises.

5. Building Fluency through the Repeated Reading Method

   In: English Teaching Forum 2011, Volume 49, Number 3 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses the success of Repeated Reading (RR) within EFL classrooms, illustrating three techniques of RR that can be used to develop students’ fluency, comprehension skills, and reading self-esteem. After providing a background on the RR method, the author explains the techniques step by step and suggests activities. The techniques include classic oral repeated reading (ORR), Paired repeated reading (PRR), and Reader’s Theater (RT).

6. Arts and Culture

   Format(s): Text, Website

   Full lesson plans on a variety of topics related to the arts from the National Endowment of the Humanities.

7. Using Letters to Tell Stories in the EFL Classroom

   In: English Teaching Forum 2011, Volume 49, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses how letter writing can be used as authentic language use. An activity for beginners involves an exchange of letters of introduction between the instructor and students. This serves a socially meaningful interactional purpose. The second activity is the construction of an story, one in which the plot is expressed in a series of letters. The writer suggests using letter exchanges for this creative writing project after using books such as The Color Purple. Letter writing is one way to enable and empower students to tell their own stories.

8. Language & Literature in Tertiary Education: The Case for Stylistics

   In: English Teaching Forum 2002, Volume 40, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This article discusses the lack of quality in students’ literary criticism in degree English courses, suggesting that students have difficulty understanding literary texts in English. It recommends stylistic analysis, the analysis of structures and vocabulary, as a way that learners of English as a second or foreign language can develop a more active and independent approach to understanding and critiquing literary works.

9. 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.

10. NASCAR: An American Sport and Pastime

    In: English Teaching Forum 2005, Volume 43, Number 4 Format(s): Text

    This article, written for students, is about NASCAR, a popular auto racing sport in the United States. It offers the history of the sport, interesting pictures, and a piece on the importance of a pit crew. There is also a profile of Jeff Gordon, a popular and winning driver. Also included are a list of NASCAR vocabulary and websites of interest, an overview of the sport and its rules, and information on three legendary drivers.

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