Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Negative Questions

Negative questions can be confusing, even for native speakers, so how do you teach this difficult grammar point to students?  Here are a few tips that I use in my classes that may also help you. 
1. Tell your students that you think that they all like (for example) to watch horror movies.  At this point, if they understand the statement, there are bound to be a few faces made, or a few NOs!! shouted out.
2.  Tell them again, I think you all like to watch horror movies.  Then say, 'Don't you like to watch horror movies?'  The answer should be the same.  Sometimes, you have to tell them that they like something a few times to get their excitement up, then switch to the question so they automatically answer.
3.  Explain that if you use a negative question, it's because you think you already know the answer, but you're not absolutely positive.  So, you want confirmation. 


Making this a game is pretty easy, just use things that you are sure you know about them and say the opposite.  This tactic works well for question tags as well.


I found a video and some exercises that will help along the way and will post them at the bottom.  I'd love to hear from you about your experiences teaching this topic.


Online quiz: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=Practice-Negative-Questions-1


Short explanation that you can copy and print out for students:  http://www.englishpractice.com/improve/negative-questions/


Videos: http://www.engvid.com/negative-questions-in-english/


http://learn-english.wonderhowto.com/how-to/use-negative-questions-english-language-165549/


A game you can make quickly yourself:  http://www.waygook.org/index.php?topic=31771.0











Saturday, April 19, 2014

ESL Videos for class

I know students can get bored having English class everyday, so one way to mix it up a bit is to show a video in class.  There are a lot of ways you can do it, i.e. take a cartoon or movie from home, download one off of the internet, or ask the students to bring one of their favorites ( in English).  If they do this, then most likely they know the storyline already and that can make it easier for them to follow along.  Ask questions either during or after the movie to check comprehension and you could even make up a board game based on the movie so they can practice speaking afterwards.  There are lots of fun ideas out there, so just decide what would work best for your class and have fun!


http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/ This is a link to some videos with questions which follow.



Sunday, April 13, 2014

Writing for Homeschoolers and ESL

One thing that came easily to me in school was writing.  I didn't really have to try because it's something that I naturally gravitated toward, unlike math and science.  I do know, however, that many students struggle with it and I was reading a homeschooling page tonight that happened to contain some tips for teaching students how to write, that I feel would be useful in both the homeschool and ESL classroom.


Take a look, it might help.  http://pearsonhomeschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PS1r8e&elementType=news&elementId=244163&utm_content=bufferca99f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=plus.google.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Saturday, April 12, 2014

ESL Software for American English

I'm always looking for ways to help my students outside of class because working professionals don't have time to come to class every day.  I'm part of the homeschooling network in the States and there was an article about learning foreign languages online.  The article includes ESL help, so I went to have a look.  The reviews are great and I agree with the lady who says Rosetta Stone is sometimes difficult to understand.  Pictures are often not enough.  Mango Languages teaches with words and has 60 languages to choose from, so even if you teach in China or Russia, your students can use it because they can simply choose their native language to start with.  I'm going to try to improve my German with it and see what happens. 
http://www.mangolanguages.com/available-languages/