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1. “What would you do if…?” Making Plans to Deal with Difficult Situations

   In: Teacher's Corner: Conditionals Format(s): Text

   In this activity, students will practice or review how to use conditionals to discuss plans to get out of tricky situations. This conditional form used for this language function is called the unreal future conditional or the second conditional.

2. Smithsonian Folkways: Tools for Teaching

   Format(s): Website

   Looking for more ways to use music to teach? Check out the Smithsonian Folkways website that has a section called “Tools for Teaching” with free lessons and activities for the classroom.

3. VOA: English in a Minute

   Format(s): Video, Website

   Looking for ways to improve your listening skills and learn English idioms? Check out Voice of America's English in a Minute and listen to brief video clips that explain American English colloquialisms.

4. Poems About Family and Friends

   In: Poetry Format(s): Text

   Poems about family and friends.

5. An Integrated Skills Lesson Plan for "A Postcard from America" by Robert Olen Butler

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 1 Format(s): Text

   This lesson plan is based on the feature article, “Postcards from America” by Robert Olen Butler. It is appropriate for high intermediate to advanced students. The lesson integrates the four skills and has five parts: Preparing to Read, Reading the Text, Understanding the Text, Making Connections Beyond the Text, and Integrating Language Skills. The lesson includes group discussion of comprehension questions, scanning for vocabulary, and using the dictionary.

6. Just Off Main Street

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

   “Just off Main Street” is for learner use and is an account of the writer’s experience as an Arab American. It opens with a description of the writer’s childhood and the cultural divide between life inside and outside the home. Readers will be drawn into the vivid description of daily life. The article looks at the challenges of being bi-cultural, of keeping home life separate, of being “exoticized,” of becoming comfortable and proud of one’s heritage, and of finding community. The article provides opportunities for discussions of culture, identity, and activism.

7. An Integrated Skills Lesson Plan for "Just Off Main Street" by Elmaz Abinader

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

   This lesson plan is designed for high intermediate to advanced English language learners. Based on an authentic, contemporary essay by an accomplished American writer, the lesson plan includes tasks and activities designed to improve students’ English language skills as well as increase their understanding of American culture. The lesson includes pre-, during, and post reading activities to improve comprehension, learn new vocabulary, and make connections beyond the text. Websites of interest and useful questions for discussion or writing are included.

8. Bright Ideas: A Teacher’s Resource Manual

   Format(s): Text

   Bright Ideas: A Teacher’s Resource Manual offers twenty-six practical teaching strategies and techniques that originally appeared in Ideas Plus, a special series of publications produced by the National Council of Teachers of English.

9. Design for Drama: Short Plays from American Literature

   Format(s): Text

   Design for Drama features a number of plays that are adapted from well-known American short stories and poems. Download the PDF or E-book.

10. FORUM City Poster Show (Set 1, 12 posters - Full Set)

    Format(s): Text

    These poster sets are a great, flexible classroom resource for information and discussion—each set of three posters corresponds to a city spotlighted in Forum vol. 46 and the feature article about that city, available online.

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