Words. Lots of words. Lists of words. Words for the students and words for me: It’s the “Why”, the “Which”, the “How” and the “When” of vocabulary acquisition for EFL students that I need to carefully consider and plan for when I teach. In order to do that effectively, I need all the information, support, … Continue reading Revisiting a “Horizontal” Lexical Activity -“The Egghunt”
This post is a direct continuation of my previous post: BUT SERIOUSLY, EFL STUDENTS, MEETING A COW WILL HELP YOU PREPARE FOR YOUR EXAMS! In that post, I explained how the gaps in struggling students’ general knowledge about the world hinder their performance on reading comprehension tasks regularly. “The gaps in general knowledge are most … Continue reading EFL Students, Your Exams are Coming Up – Time to Head into Outer Space!
Incidental learning. Sigh. “Incidental learning” as in picking up vocabulary that wasn’t taught explicitly in class. Or an expansion of that – vocabulary items that were introduced in class, being reinforced in an unplanned manner outside the classroom walls. “Incidental learning” as in the Deaf student who showed me the word “racist” in a comment … Continue reading Counting Re-Entry of Vocabulary Items – Elementary School vs. High- School
As I have mentioned before, I’m taking a great in-service course on using digital tools in the classroom. “Zeetings” is the latest addition to my virtual “toolbox”. Everyone likes being asked their opinion. Everyone! “Zeetings” lets you create interactive presentations, allowing the viewers to participate and get instant statistics. That’s exactly what you need if … Continue reading A “Zeeting” to Spark an ACTIVE Discussion on TOLERANCE
Really Important Preliminary Note: The following video lesson is meant to be done with soundtrack turned off! Everything relates to the visual input. The video does have a lovely soundtrack but my students are Deaf and hard of hearing, remember? There’s nothing like taking an in service training course to get one moving out of … Continue reading “Missing U” – Word Play in a Video Lesson using iSLCollective
Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season! ICYMI , EDO, IDC – Do you know what these abbreviations stand for? Do you care whether you know them or not? I’m not interested in texting / Internet abrreviations for their own merit. I have no plan to have students memorise them. I’m interested in them as a … Continue reading Utilizing the Gift of Texting
My deaf and hard of hearing EFL students tend to completely ignore prepositions. I don’t take it as personal affront since they demonstrate an equal lack of interest in using them in their mother tongue as well. You don’t need prepositions when you use sign language. It’s all clear without them. When they do use them … Continue reading Highlighting Prepositions with some Romance in Rome
In class my high-school students and I encounter a substantial number of reading comprehension passages that have to do with the environment. I think it is a “safe” subject for book & exam writers and is most certainly an important one. However, this week I became worried that my students now think that every mention … Continue reading Going Green – or NOT
A little introductory exercise that is suitable for struggling middle school learners working independantly for the first time at the the computer – simple but not babyish. This is their first exposure to Edpuzzle and Edmodo (with Quizlet to come, as its flashcards can be easily embedded). I reccomend using in “full screen” mode … Continue reading “Pizza Cat” to the Rescue!
We’ve been studying the story “Thank You M’am” by Langston Hughes for a bit over two months. It’s part of our literature segment in the EFL program. I felt that my deaf and hard of hearing students need to review the story before taking the summative assessment. I found a video which was obviously made by … Continue reading A Video Review of “Thank You M’am” by Hughes