Socrative: A New Student Response System

Posted on 22 July 2014 by Tara Arntsen
Tara Arntsen
Tara Arntsen

Do you like the idea of exit slips, but don’t have time to grade them all outside of class? Do you find yourself wondering whether or not students caught the main point of your lecture? Do you wish you could go paperless for quizzes and other activities or even just reduce the amount of paper you use? Do you want to engage your students more with your lessons?

Well, if your students have smartphones, tablets, or computers in class, then Socrative can help you out. Socrative is free! I registered from my desktop in 30 seconds by entering my e-mail address and a password and then downloaded both the student and teacher versions of the app onto my iPad to test the system out. I was amazed at how easy everything was, and the possibilities really seem endless. Continue reading →

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ESL Games: Word Ditto

Posted on 21 July 2014 by Marc Anderson
Marc Anderson
Marc Anderson

The Game: Word Ditto explores multiple meaning words. Multiple meaning words are just that: They have two or more meanings.

There are two main types of multiple meaning words:

  • Those that sound alike (ex. bark as in the bark of a tree and the bark of a dog)
  • Those that sound differently (ex. windy as in a windy day and a windy road)

Within these two main groups of multiple meaning words, there can be differences in:

  • Capitalization (ex. You may see flowers in May.)
  • Punctuation (ex. He prepared a résumé to find a job to resume working.)
  • Parts of speech (ex. I like to fish (verb). The fish (noun) swam in the sea.)
  • Tenses (ex. My aunt read the books that you like to read.)
  • Degrees – literal or figurative (ex. My apartment is below yours. The corporal ranks below the general.)

Continue reading →

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Student-Generated Grammar Rules

Posted on 18 July 2014 by Alexandra Lowe
Alexandra Lowe
Alexandra Lowe

As ESL instructors, we often learn at least as much from our students as they do from us. But that truism was borne out in an unexpected way recently in my beginners’ evening ESL class as we wrestled, in time-honored fashion, with the simple past.

My students had gamely participated in a number of tried-and-true communicative activities designed to help them practice one of the trickiest skills: forming questions in the simple past. Avid futbol fans, they had interviewed each other about the 2014 World Cup results using prompts that I had helped them generate: Did Brazil lose? Did Germany win? Did Argentina beat the Netherlands? What was the score? Continue reading →

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Is Education for Pre-K–5 ELs Equitable? (Part 2)

Posted on 17 July 2014 by Judie Haynes
Judie Haynes
Judie Haynes

In my last blog, I talked about the inequities of the learning environment for English learners. This discussion included class size, grouping, the number of schools serviced by the ESL teacher, and the size and location of teaching space. In this blog, I would like to talk about the inequitable funding and programs for ELs.

Background on federal policies affecting English learners

An important Supreme Court decision, declaring that ELs have the right to the same education as their English-speaking classmates, is the Lau vs. Nichols decision. Continue reading →

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TESOL Advocates Are on Capitol Hill

Posted on 15 July 2014 by Yilin Sun
Yilin Sun
Yilin Sun

Last month, I had a great opportunity to be part of TESOL’s 2014 Advocacy & Policy Summit, held on 22–24 June. This is the largest such event yet, with nearly 70 TESOL educators representing 25 affiliates from across the United States (and a few from outside the United States) coming together to learn more about national policy issues affecting the field, and to advocate for the needs and interests of English learners and TESOL educators. This was my first time participating in the TESOL Advocacy & Policy Summit, and I was very excited to be part of this important event to learn, share, and shape the future of education together with other advocates.
Continue reading →

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Learning from ESPers Around the World

Posted on 15 July 2014 by Kevin Knight
Kevin Knight
Kevin Knight

Hello, ESPers worldwide!

One of the things that I value most about being involved in TESOL is the opportunity to connect with ESPers around the world. Accordingly, I have been asking myself the following questions:

  1. In what contexts do we meet other ESPers?
  2. What do we learn from each other?

Let’s start with the first question. Where do we meet other ESPers? In my own case, three places come to mind:

  1. Workplaces
  2. Associations
  3. Publications (including websites)

Continue reading →

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Enhancing Language Education: A Conference on Language

Posted on 14 July 2014 by Lillian L. C. Wong
Lillian L. C. Wong
Lillian L. C. Wong

I had the great honour and pleasure to represent TESOL and speak at the “International Conference on Language – Enhancing Language Ability and Education for the 21st Century”* held on 5–6 June 2014 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. The Government of China invited 400 government officials, policy-makers, researchers, educators and development partners, and UN agencies from China and around the world to discuss and reflect on challenges and new approaches for effective language education and planning.

The conference focused on the enhancement of language ability and language education for human civilization and social progress. Three themes were addressed:

  1. language ability and sustainable social development,
  2. innovation in language education, and
  3. international exchange and cooperation.

Continue reading →

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Effective Peer Feedback Through Modeling: Part 2

Posted on 11 July 2014 by Elena Shvidko
Elena Shvidko
Elena Shvidko

In my last blog, I shared a modeling activity that writing teachers can do to help students analyze each other’s writing and make more out of peer review activities.  Today, I would like to describe a modeling activity that uses ineffective comments—ineffective feedback—as a pedagogical tool to teach students how to provide effective comments on their peers’ drafts. Continue reading →

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Teaching Tip: Cloud Storage & Why You Need It

Posted on 8 July 2014 by Tara Arntsen
Tara Arntsen
Tara Arntsen

Cloud storage is something that I use every day, and the only reason I did not write about it sooner is because I thought I already had. How could I have forgotten to share something so basic? I have no idea, but here it is. Your life will never be the same; it will be easier, much easier.

In case you have not heard, cloud storage is big these days. With cloud storage, you can store all sorts of virtual files in a “cloud” and then access everything from other devices. You may do most of your planning on a computer at school, but many of us probably go home and continue to work on our personal computers or devices. Wouldn’t it be nice if all your materials from your school computer were accessible at home or elsewhere?Cloud storage makes this possible. Continue reading →

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TESOL Association: Update on Governance Review

Posted on 7 July 2014 by Yilin Sun
Yilin Sun
Yilin Sun

Thank you to all those who took the time to review the report from the Governance Review Task Force, and share your feedback. As many of you observed, the review was a very thoughtful and deliberative process to analyze the governance system of the association and evaluate its effectiveness in meeting the needs of members and the field. Based on the data collected by the task force—data provided by many of you—the review provided strong indications that the governance system may no longer be as effective in serving members and the field as it was when it was originally developed several decades ago.

The challenge in moving forward is how best to respond to the results of the review. While the report provided a very comprehensive list of options and alternatives for consideration, it’s clear based on the feedback received by the board that: Continue reading →

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