Contrast Linkers

There seems to be a lot of confusion about when to use what linking word in sentences.  My students ask me constantly when to use 'but' and 'however'.  My simple answer is 'however' is more formal than 'but'.  For a more in detailed explanation of the difference here's where you should look, it's a link to another blog that has a post on linkers, too.  It may help clear the confusion between 'but' and 'however'.  http://madteachergraham2.blogspot.de/2013/02/linkers-for-contrasts.html   There's only one way to be proficient in using these, sometimes, not so little words and that's to practice them.  There are lots of things you can do to practice them. 


Here's a link to a slide show that helps explain how to use contrast linkers in conversations.
http://www.slideshare.net/kesbu/contrast-linkers-17226445  There's also a really good explanation of the contrast linkers here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX8N9RiGCZg


Here's a link to some online quizzes  that can be helpful for practicing.  http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/89.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/worldservice/quiznet/quizengine?ContentType=text/html;quiz=136_contrast 


If your students are having trouble distinguishing the difference between 'because' and 'because of', here's an online practice they could try.  http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/220.html 
One thing that I realize as a teacher and former student is that there sometimes aren't enough hours in the day to do everything you want to do in class and that students need homework assignments that are short and practical.  Here's one that the students can do online http://writeenglish.net/usinglinkers1-1.php  Students can check the answers themselves and see their mistakes so asking questions during the next class is a little easier.  ELTbase also has a good number of worksheets that teachers can print out and use in class, or students can print them out and do them themselves.  http://www.eltbase.com/vtr_refs.php?id=148 






Here are cool vocab games to play. http://teflgeek.net/2014/03/19/six-great-vocab-games/


I really hope some of these links help you prepare for class and you can make it fun for the students, too.  Good Luck!

ESL Easter Lesson Plans

I love spring!  Color comes back into the world, snow melts and the air warms my lungs. I have a collection of fun activities to share with you from the net that will surely cut down on your stress level, warm your heart and make the students happy, too.


One thing I found was a lesson plan for young children.  There are songs and an Easter egg hunt included with a little lesson on prepositions and there's even a pin the tail on the bunny game. Here's the link: http://www.eslkidstuff.com/lesson-plans/easter.html#.UyXjJc9WHs0 


Boggle's World ESL has a lot of fun things to do with students.   My favorite is the Bingo game maker.  You can create as many bingo cards as you need simply by refreshing the bingo game page.  Here's the link: http://bogglesworldesl.com/easter_worksheets.htm  There are also drawing and writing exercises for young children.


If you teach British English and are looking for a gap-fill exercise here's an online one students could do as homework.  http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/festivals/easter/reading/easter-gap-fill.html 


One thing that would be easy to teach or practice with students during Easter is prepositions.  I have acquired quite a bit of material for teaching prepositions over the years and you can find the material here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B91PszKtVKWkTkFPWEpyb2dKYVU&usp=sharing  I hope the explanations and material help in preparing for class. 

Printing on Post Its

This is one very cool idea that I found on Pinterest.  You could use it for so many things, games, vocabulary matching, keeping track of students in the classroom and much, much more.  Go watch the video and spread the word.  http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/clever-classroom-tips-for-elementary-school-teachers 

Earth Day for ESL

When you think about Earth Day, what do you think about?  Planting a tree, recycling, donating time to clean a local highway or along a river?  There are a lot of activities you can join in on in order to celebrate Earth Day.  Getting your students involved is also easy.  There are a lot of learning opportunities on this special spring day.  Here is a link to a website you must be a member of to download the resources, but there are tons of them and it's not expensive.  https://www.esl-library.com/blog/esl-lesson-plans-for-earth-day/  While I'm telling you about websites you have to pay for, here's another http://www.edhelper.com/EarthDay.htm  It costs $19.99 per year and has lots of resources for teachers.
In my last blog post I introduced you to a British website which has resources for homeschoolers.  Here's the link to their Earth Day projects http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/earth-day  You have to join their group, but it's free and loaded with activities for all age groups.


Reading Activities
If you need reading activities for the class, here's a site that has a short article on Earth Day and activities that follow it.  Just copy, paste and print.  http://www.eslholidaylessons.com/04/earth_day.html 


Games
Are you looking for printable material?  One place to look is on this blog http://livespeaklove.com/2012/04/10/earth-day-activities/ She's posted a board game you can easily download and print.
Online Games
This website has a lot of online games for both children and 'young at heart'.  Go play and learn some English, too.
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/earth/games.html


Poster
 If you're looking for a cool Earth Day poster to download and print, here's one http://www.henry4school.fr/Environment/earth-day/pict-posters.htm#poster


Crossword Puzzle
Here's a link to a crossword puzzle http://www.myvocabulary.com//index.php?dir=cross_word&file=attempt_crossword&theme_id=61 


Word Search Puzzle
Here's a link to a printable word search puzzle.  http://homeschooling.about.com/od/holidays/ss/earthprint.htm 


Video
If you want to show a short video about Earth Hour, the hour that everyone should turn off their lights, here's the link http://anglais.over-blog.org/article-earth-hour-a-quiz-47479834.html


Memory Game
I also found a really cool link to an interactive memory game.  http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/usa_game/holiday_memory/help_environment_memory.htm


Interactive Puzzle
If your students like puzzles, but you can't print them out and make them sturdy enough to reuse, here's a link to an interactive puzzle.  http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/usa_game/holiday_puzzles/earthday_tree.htm
Recycling Activities
http://innerchildfun.com/2013/04/recycled-crafts-for-kids.html


There are so many different resources on this site http://www.henry4school.fr/Environment/earth-day/earth.htm that you are sure to find something that you can use.  Go look, and I wish you a lot of fun on Earth Day!

Word Games for ESL

I found a couple of weeks ago a website for parents who are homeschooling their children in the U.K.  I really like the site because there are a lot of resources for young children.  Resources that are for young children are easy to use in the ESL classroom because even adults who are learning English learn like a child in some cases.  Visit Activity Village, join their group and discover the wonderful abundance of material there is to be discovered.  My favorite is the Word Wheel Challenge, where there's a letter in the middle of a circle and letters around it that form a wheel and the children have to come up with as many words as they can using the letter in the middle.  It's a lot of fun.  Take a look http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/word-wheel-challenge-9 

Classroom Instructions

Have you ever wondered why some students get much higher grades than others who seem to be on about the same level?  I definitely have.  One of my theories is that some students understand the instructions better than others do.  It's plausible that some students  simply don't understand the instructions, so they can't do the assignment correctly. 
An easy way to avoid having students get grades they don't necessarily deserve is to make sure that they understand the instructions without giving them in the student's native language.  Teach them the phrases and vocabulary they will need to function successfully in the classroom at the very beginning of  classes. 
Teaching them to ask questions in the correct form is important, even at the beginner level.  Here's a link to a page that will help you do just that.  http://www.eslgold.com/speaking/classroom_questions.html  At the bottom of the page is a link to more conversation practice material. 
If your students want or need to learn basic classroom vocabulary, here's a link that can help them.  http://free-english-study.com/vocabulary/academic-vocabulary-list-1.html  Of course, you could always make flashcards and have them play games with them.  One idea I had was to have students choose a card that is face down, so they can't think of a question ahead of time, and ask a question within a given time frame.  Here's a link to some pre-made flashcards.  http://esl-kids.com/flashcards/classroom.html  If you want to  make a bingo game for the students to play using the classroom vocabulary here's the place to go.  http://www.mes-english.com/flashcards/classroom.php There is also a place on the site to get worksheets that match the flashcards. 


I hope it's a fun time for teachers and students alike and no one gets bored or frustrated at the beginning of a school term.  Good luck!