Along with our newest feature, downloadable, graded texts, we’ve been doing some research on extensive reading, and it turns out that in many programs, fluency reading is an ESOL underdog. It’s quite valuable, but we do not do enough of it. To start, much research supports the notion […]
If reading exists on a continuum, then intensive reading occupies the end where students work heavily on reading skills. Intensive lessons generally include much frontloading in the form of vocabulary work and schema building. Next, while students read, they work on additional skills such as scanning for the […]
Sounds are social creatures. While there is certainly value in helping students with individual sounds, the fact is that there is a lot more to pronunciation than segmentals. Imagine trying to have a conversation without knowing how we blend sounds together, or how sounds are so often reduced […]
Today we have a special guest blogger, Kate Adams, author of Trio Reading, Oxford University Press. Kate has some great ideas for connecting students with content. Krashen points out that the only way we become good readers is by reading (2004). If we gain reading skill by […]
Most Americans are not comfortable with silence. We tend to dive in and fill awkward pauses with anything that comes to mind. Our intention is usually sincere. We want to avoid the pain of failing to fill conversational space. However, awkward pauses are bound to come up when […]
“Think in English,” we say to our lower level multi-lingual writers. However, to really support them in avoiding translation errors, we need to give them lots of practice. The following prewriting refresher is structured as a game in which teams compete to create target sentence types. The first team to […]
After students have studied a set of vocabulary, they are often left with a long list of words which can appear quite lonely. Many textbooks include these lists as a reference for students at the end of unit, but what if they could be used more actively in […]
What is pragmatics? Like the highways, roads, and trails that guide our travel, language-oriented patterns scaffold our conversations. The existence of patterns does not mean there is not variation. Every time we get on a freeway literally or figuratively, it’s a new experience because we bring a different mood […]
As language teachers, we often have our students write sentences to practice the grammar they are learning. This is a sound approach, as it can help students to both internalize the structure and use it to express their own ideas. Unfortunately, while their sentences are often complete, the […]
When it comes to vocabulary, published materials generally offer plenty of exercises. Traditionally, students match words to definitions or fill in gaps as a way to get a “hit” on meaning and perhaps exposure to form. It is then up to students to move from the contexts on the […]
