Note: This is part 1 of 2. It introduces a drama project that attempts to engage students more deeply with reading. Here is my big idea question for 2026: Can I use art to level up my students’ engagement with language? My instinct says yes, but my coursebook […]
According to the rules of biology, the brain evolved to be efficient. So why are emotions so powerful in our thinking? What is their role? And importantly, how can we harness them for education? Mary-Helen Immordino-Yang, an affective neuropsychologist at the University of California, has done much research […]
Monday, I asked my evening students, “What do you remember from last week?” They thought for a minute, then Grielda said, “Paco lost his leg!” Ana chimed in. “There was a fire, a . . .an explosion.” It was not the present simple, conjunctions, or paragraph organization. […]
At first glance, Rashid seems like a difficult guest. He’s coming out of war-torn Syria. His father died in the conflict, and Rashid has enemies in Jordan. But when Rashid’s uncle and his wife agree to host the young man in their small, Houston home, no one thinks […]
Two audio articles in one unit explore psychology in different ways.
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 […]
Summaries are difficult to teach. For a summary to be effective, several reading and writing skills must align. On the reading side, students need to identify purpose and audience, understand text organization, and distinguish between main ideas, major supporting points, and minor details. On the writing side, they […]
English Endeavors 