Learn how to make the most of your Ellii subscription with tips from our publishing team.

Teaching with Ellii

<p>What is your favorite way to begin class? Every teacher has a preferred method to get students focused and to signal that class has begun. Personally, I like to start my classes with a dictation exercise. Though dictation may have fallen out of favor in recent years, I find that it improves students&rsquo; listening skills and really boosts their&nbsp;confidence.</p>

<h1>Choosing a Text</h1>

<p>When choosing a text, I consider two purposes for the dictation to&nbsp;serve:</p>

<ol>
	<li>To introduce target structures or vocabulary. This way, students can see the new material in&nbsp;context.</li>
	<li>To reiterate grammar and vocabulary that I want students to&nbsp;review.</li>
</ol>

<p>With materials from ESL&nbsp;Library, you won&rsquo;t need to spend a lot of time preparing for this&nbsp;activity.</p>

<p>For suitable texts, I recommend the following categories on our site: <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons">Grammar Stories</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons">Famous People</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons">Famous Places</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons">Famous Things</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons">Holidays &amp; Events</a>. Keep in mind that a longer dictation does not always make for a better dictation. I suggest using a couple of sentences from the Reading passages in these lessons for beginners and a paragraph for more advanced&nbsp;learners.</p>

<h1>Basic Technique</h1>

<p>My go-to technique for dictation is simple, but&nbsp;effective:</p>

<p>Read the text three&nbsp;times.</p>

<ul>
	<li>The first time, read it at a natural pace while students listen. (Pencils down!) Afterward, ask a few content questions to make sure that students have the gist of the&nbsp;passage.</li>
	<li>During the second reading, pause after each phrase or clause, giving students time to write. Do not isolate articles or prepositions; link them with other words as native speakers&nbsp;do.</li>
	<li>Read the text a third time, again at a natural pace as students check their&nbsp;work.</li>
</ul>

<p>Finally, hand out copies of the text so that students can compare it with what they have&nbsp;written.</p>

<h1>Variations</h1>

<p>If you would like a livelier approach that integrates all four skills, there are two variations that will get your students talking. In addition, our digital platform provides resources for self-directed dictation as described in my previous post, &ldquo;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/national-online-learning-day">National Online Learning&nbsp;Day</a>.&rdquo;</p>

<h2>Dictogloss</h2>

<p>During this collaborative activity, the teacher reads a short text two times at normal speed while students take notes, only writing down the main ideas and key phrases. In pairs or groups, students compare notes and recreate the text so that it has the same meaning as the original. Make sure students understand that their work does not need to replicate the text word‑for‑word.</p>

<h2>Running Dictation</h2>

<p>Running dictations are fun, dynamic, and competitive. Before class, post copies of the reading around the classroom, as far away from students&rsquo; desk as possible. Have students get into pairs and ask students to decide who is the runner and who is the scribe. The runner will go to a posted copy of the text, read it, and memorize as much as they can. They run back to their scribe and dictate all that they can remember. The runner then goes back to the text and reads and memorizes more of it. The runner is not allowed to write any of the text, but they can spell words for their partner. The pair that finishes writing the text first&nbsp;wins.</p>


Structuring Your Class with Dictation

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<p>In celebration of <a href="http://www.onlinelearningday.com/">National Online Learning Day</a>, which falls on September&nbsp;15, 2019, we&rsquo;d like to share some experiences that students and teachers have had with ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s new digital&nbsp;platform.</p>

<p>Over the summer, I took the opportunity to use ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s new digital platform with my own group of adult learners, and I&rsquo;m pleased to report that it was a success! The summer months meant that attendance was not as regular as it had been during the school year; however, students were able to stay connected with the class and keep up with assignments, even when they were traveling. One student, Victor, visited family in China and was gone for six&nbsp;weeks.</p>

<p>During his absence, I could see that Victor was using the platform on a regular basis with the View Results feature (see Help Doc: <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/129-how-to-access-digital-homework-teachers" target="_blank">How to Access Digital Homework Results</a>). When Victor returned to the US, I asked him what he liked most about the digital platform. Here are three of his&nbsp;comments:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Listening materials are easy to use. I can listen to them over and over again, and also use them as dictation&nbsp;exercises.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In my classes, we frequently begin the lesson with a dictation as a warm‑up. Since most lessons on the digital platform have an audio component, Victor was able to continue with dictation work with recorded native speakers. First, he was able to complete the Listen &amp; Type tasks, which are built into the platform. In this task type, students type the target words they hear within the context of the reading. Because Victor was already familiar and comfortable with dictation methods, he adapted the platform task to give himself even more practice by turning away from his screen and typing the entire passage! He could pause the audio at his convenience and repeat it when he needed&nbsp;to.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>The exercises are well designed to help practice grammar&nbsp;rules.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The digital versions of our popular Grammar Practice Worksheets include concise grammar reviews that cover the rules and provide examples of the target structure. I was pleased to hear that Victor found the grammar lessons easy to use. He said that he found it useful to go back to the reviews as he worked on the&nbsp;exercises.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Scoring attempts are nice features. They encourage you to try to learn, correct, and&nbsp;improve.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The digital platform allows students to answer questions more than once. Victor liked this feature in particular since it allowed for self‑correction.</p>

<p>In addition to language practice, ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s digital platform has benefits for students who don&rsquo;t consider themselves computer-savvy. Here&rsquo;s what Ava, a recent immigrant from Guatemala, had to&nbsp;say:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>It helped me a lot with computers. Before, I wasn&rsquo;t so comfortable, but now I feel more comfortable. I was nervous at first, but now I feel&nbsp;fine.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Mark W. Sherman (ESL Instructor, Takoma Park, Maryland, USA) is an ESL&nbsp;Library subscriber. He teaches adults at the beginner and intermediate levels. Mark, too, has found success with the new&nbsp;platform:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>When using a textbook, there is a temptation to do the exercises associated with each grammar point and then move on. The problem is the learning doesn&rsquo;t stick because the exercises are too brief. By using the ESL&nbsp;Library digital platform, I am able to give my students a much deeper workout in the same aspect of language. In fact, I find it helpful to use the digital material first and then, once they&rsquo;ve mastered the principles, turn to the textbook. That may seem upside down, but it gives me much greater confidence that they have really absorbed something&mdash;they&rsquo;ve matched wits with their phones before they do anything else, and that process of puzzling it out, preferably with a classmate, creates a solid&nbsp;foundation.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>We hope that all of you are enjoying access to ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s digital platform. We would love to hear&nbsp;about your experience!&nbsp;Happy National Online Learning&nbsp;Day!</p>


National Online Learning Day

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Stay up-to-date with ELT trends and ideas with articles from experts and teachers in the field.

Articles

<h1>What are Koans?</h1>

<p>Earlier this year, I wrote a post called &ldquo;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-students-to-meditation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Introducing Students to Meditation</a>.&rdquo; One reader included a link to a Wikipedia article with her <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zazen" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">comment</a> that describes the Japanese discipline of meditation called&nbsp;Zazen.</p>

<p>One distinguishing feature of Zazen is its use of &quot;koans&quot; (pronounced&nbsp;<em>ko&rsquo; an</em>). Koans are paradoxical statements, dialogues, parables, and questions. Clicking on this term, I learned that koans are used &ldquo;to provoke &lsquo;great doubt&rsquo; and to practice or test a student&rsquo;s progress in Zen.&rdquo; I began to wonder if koans could be used in the ESL&nbsp;classroom.</p>

<p>While researching the concept of koans, I came across one particular koan again and&nbsp;again:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>When both hands are clapped, a sound is produced. Now listen to the sound of one hand clapping. What do you&nbsp;hear?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>At first glance, the obvious answer is &ldquo;silence.&rdquo; But is it really so obvious? Upon analysis, the answers turns out not to be so black and white after all. By definition, clapping requires striking two objects together. Can one hand even be said to clap, much less make a noise (or lack thereof) when it does, or rather&nbsp;doesn&rsquo;t?</p>

<p>By exposing students to koans, we encourage them to embrace the &ldquo;grayness&rdquo; of life. Using koans in class may help students realize that most situations can be approached from many perspectives. And perhaps they will dig deep within themselves to come up with the language needed to express their own unique take on a given&nbsp;koan.</p>

<h1>Using Koans</h1>

<p>I suggest using koans in the following&nbsp;way:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Dictate the koan to the&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>Have pairs compare their&nbsp;dictations.</li>
	<li>Put students in small groups and have them discuss the meaning of the&nbsp;koan.</li>
	<li>Have students write a one-paragraph response to the&nbsp;koan.</li>
</ol>

<h1>Sample Koans</h1>

<p>Here are a few koans to get your students thinking:</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Koan #1</h5>

<p>What can you do when you can do&nbsp;nothing?</p>
</div>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Koan #2</h5>

<p>Maybe you are searching among the branches for what only appears in the&nbsp;roots.</p>
</div>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Koan #3</h5>

<p>One day, two monks, Tanzan and Ekido, were walking down a muddy road during a heavy rainfall when they came upon a beautiful young girl. The young girl was in distress because a big mud puddle was preventing her from crossing an&nbsp;intersection.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry, girl!&rdquo; Tanzan called out. Then he lifted her in his arms and carried her across the&nbsp;puddle.</p>

<p>Ekido was troubled by what he saw. He didn&rsquo;t say anything until later that night when the two monks arrived at a lodging temple. Finally, he couldn&rsquo;t be quiet any&nbsp;longer.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You know it is against the rules for us monks to talk to young girls, much less touch them. What were you&nbsp;thinking?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I left the girl there,&rdquo; Tanzan replied. &ldquo;Why are you still carrying&nbsp;her?&rdquo;</p>
</div>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Koan #4</h5>

<p>Two monks were arguing about the temple flag. One monk said, &ldquo;The wind is moving.&rdquo; The other monk said, &ldquo;No, the flag is&nbsp;moving.&rdquo;</p>

<p>A wise man came along and said, &ldquo;Do not argue, my friends. It is not the wind that moves or the flag that moves. It is your mind that&nbsp;moves.&rdquo;</p>
</div>


Paradoxical Thinking in the Classroom

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<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Everybody likes a&nbsp;compliment.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Abraham Lincoln</p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Word Wall + Valentine&rsquo;s Day = Community</h1>

<p>Whether you&rsquo;re freshening up your classroom for the second half of the school year or getting ready to start a brand-new term, January is a great time to focus on building community in the classroom. One way to do this is by creating a word wall and calling it &ldquo;Positive Personality&nbsp;Traits.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Between now and Valentine&rsquo;s Day, have students suggest words&mdash;such as <em>generous</em>, <em>confident</em>, <em>patient</em>, and <em>kind</em>&mdash;for this new wall as they come across them in and outside the classroom. Before you know it, you will have a large collection of feel‑good&nbsp;adjectives!</p>

<p><img alt="Illustration of a word wall poster" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/205/content_Ann_Word-Wall-Poster.png" /></p>

<p>When Valentine&rsquo;s Day is close at hand, get a blank piece of paper for each student and write their name at the top. Distribute the papers to everyone in your class, making sure that no one gets the paper with his/her own name on it. Ask students to write one or two adjectives from the &ldquo;Positive Personality Traits&rdquo; word wall that describe the student whose name appears on the paper they have. When they have finished, have them switch papers with a classmate so that they have a new name on their paper. Do this until students have had a chance to write adjectives for each of their classmates. Collect the papers for the next&nbsp;step.</p>

<p>Now the fun part. Take a minute to write your students a valentine card. At the end of each card, add &ldquo;Your classmates think you are&hellip;&rdquo; In speech bubbles, write the adjectives that show how classmates perceive this student. You will be amazed at how these cards help your students develop rapport with each&nbsp;other!</p>

<p><img alt="Illustration of a valentine card" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/204/content_Ann_Word-Wall-Card.png" /></p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/4/lessons" target="_blank">Love &amp; Relationships Lesson Collection</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2615" target="_blank">Giving &amp; Receiving Compliments</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2093" target="_blank">Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1959" target="_blank">Valentine&rsquo;s Day &ndash; Beg </a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1863" target="_blank">Valentine&rsquo;s Day &ndash; Low Int </a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1862" target="_blank">Valentine&rsquo;s Day &ndash; High Int </a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2145" target="_blank">Love Idioms Poster</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/107" target="_blank">Valentine&rsquo;s Day &ndash; Flashcards </a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-give-a-compliment/" target="_blank">Giving and Accepting Compliments</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/compliment-vs-complement/" target="_blank">Compliment Vs. Complement</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/valentines-day-interview-a-love-story/" target="_blank">Valentine&rsquo;s Day Interview: A Love Story</a></li>
</ul>


Everybody Likes a Compliment

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<p>There are few feelings more uncomfortable than reaching the end of a lesson plan, glancing at the clock, and discovering that the bell won&rsquo;t ring for another 10 or 15&nbsp;minutes.</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s a list of 10 fillers that will make those extra minutes fly by. (And best of all, you won&rsquo;t need to run to the teachers&rsquo; lounge to make&nbsp;photocopies!)</p>

<ol class="spaced-list">
	<li>Have students look around the classroom and write down all the objects that begin with the letter <em>b</em>. Set a timer for two minutes and make it a competition to see who can name the most items. Let the winner choose another letter and play the game&nbsp;again.</li>
	<li>Ask students to describe their country&rsquo;s flag as you draw it on the board. If you have a multicultural class, pair students with someone from a different country. Have them describe their flags to each&nbsp;other.</li>
	<li>Put students in groups of three. Direct students to choose something in their wallet, purse, or backpack and tell their group members about it. They should say where they got the object, how long they&rsquo;ve had it, why it&rsquo;s important to them,&nbsp;etc.</li>
	<li>Erase the board and have students call out any new words and expressions from the day&rsquo;s lesson that they can remember. Then have students rank these vocabulary items based on how useful they think the items&nbsp;are.</li>
	<li>Write a four- or five-letter word, such as <em>tooth</em>, on the board. See if students can change just one letter to make a new word. For example, you can change the first <em>t</em> to <em>b</em> to form the word booth; then change the <em>h</em> to <em>s</em> and you have the word <em>boots</em>. Challenge students to make ten new&nbsp;words.</li>
	<li>Tear a piece of paper into several slips, which you&rsquo;ll distribute as needed during the game. Sit in a circle with your students. Draw a simple object on one of the slips. Show the picture to the student on your left. Have that student whisper the name of the object they think the picture depicts to the person on his/her left. That person should then draw a picture of the word they hear, and so&nbsp;on.</li>
	<li>Have students sit in a circle. Choose a category of nouns, such as animals. Call out a word from this category: <em>bird</em>. The person on your right must say an animal that begins with the last letter of this noun: <em>d</em> (e.g.,&nbsp;<em>dog</em>).</li>
	<li>Tell students that you have a friend named Mrs. McGillicutty and that this friend likes many things, but there are some things she doesn&rsquo;t like at all. It is their job to figure out what makes her fond of certain things&mdash;they all have double letters in their names. Give students a few examples: Mrs. McGillicutty likes cheese, but she doesn&rsquo;t like crackers. She likes soccer and she adores volleyball, but she doesn&rsquo;t like sports. Then have students ask you questions about things Mrs. McGillicutty likes and doesn&rsquo;t like. (E.g., Does she like dessert? Yes, she does. Does she like chocolate? No, she doesn&rsquo;t. Does she like apple pie? Yes, she&nbsp;does.)</li>
	<li>Give students a few minutes to think about a mistake they have made while speaking English this week. Ask them to write down a sentence that contains this error. Have them show the sentence to a partner and see if their partner can correct&nbsp;it.</li>
	<li>Write a fairly long word on the board such as dictionary. Students must make as many words as they can from the letters in the word (e.g., <em>a</em>, <em>dart</em>, <em>any</em>, <em>day</em>, <em>city</em>, <em>yard</em>, <em>tidy</em>,&nbsp;<em>ration</em>).</li>
</ol>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources">Warm-Ups &amp; Fillers</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/opposites-a-fun-way-to-learn-new-vocabulary/">Opposites &ndash;&nbsp;A Fun Way to Learn Vocabulary</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/bell-ringers">Engage Learners with Bell-Ringer Activities</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tearable-puns">10 Tearable Puns: An English Language Activity</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/my-favourite-warm-up-activity">My Favorite Warm-Up Activity</a></li>
</ul>


10 Zero-Prep Fillers

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<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;I have no special talents. I am only passionately&nbsp;curious.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Albert Einstein</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Einstein credited curiosity as the driving force of his success. By asking questions and indulging his curiosity, he was able to challenge centuries‑old views about the universe and turn them upside&nbsp;down.</p>

<p>And who knows? You could have the next Einstein right in your classroom. By introducing your students to the concept of thin and thick questions, you may be able to pull out the Einstein in all of&nbsp;them.</p>

<p>Reading fiction can serve as a conduit for developing curiosity. To start the process, first make sure that students understand the basic storyline of the passage you are working with. A fail-safe way to know students have gotten the gist is to ask &ldquo;thin&rdquo; questions&mdash;literal questions that ask about the specific details of the text. Questions that can be answered with a few words, yes/no, or a number fall into this category. They often start with <em>who</em>, <em>what</em>, <em>when</em>, or&nbsp;<em>where</em>.</p>

<p>Once students have the confidence that goes hand‑in‑hand with comprehension, the real engagement with curiosity can begin. By learning how to ask &ldquo;thick&rdquo; questions, students can begin to probe beneath the surface of the reading. Unlike thin questions, thick questions require students to activate prior knowledge, and the answers are open-ended and often complex. If you have 20 students in a class, you may get 20 different answers to the same thick question. The answers to these questions don&rsquo;t jump off the page; students have to use their imagination to respond to&nbsp;them.</p>

<p>So how does this actually work in the classroom? Take <em>Jack and the Beanstalk</em>. First, have students read the story. To check comprehension, ask a few thin questions. For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Who are the main characters in the&nbsp;story?</li>
	<li>Where does the story take&nbsp;place?</li>
	<li>What happens to the seeds after Jack&rsquo;s mother throws them out the&nbsp;window?</li>
</ol>

<p>Once you have made sure that students understand the story, pose several thick questions and have students discuss them in groups or pairs. For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ol>
	<li>What character traits describe&nbsp;Jack?</li>
	<li>Why is the ogre&rsquo;s servant willing to help&nbsp;Jack?</li>
	<li>What do you think happens to Jack and his mother after the story&nbsp;ends?</li>
</ol>

<p>Remind students that there are no right or wrong answers. After the discussion, challenge groups or pairs to come up with their own thick questions. Give them a few question starters as a&nbsp;guide:</p>

<ol>
	<li>What if&hellip;?</li>
	<li>How did&hellip;?</li>
	<li>Why is&hellip;?</li>
	<li>What character traits describe&hellip;?</li>
	<li>What would happen&nbsp;if&hellip;?</li>
	<li>How would you feel&nbsp;if&hellip;?</li>
	<li>What caused&hellip;?</li>
	<li>What does the author mean&nbsp;by&hellip;?</li>
</ol>

<p>Once students have created their own thick questions, put them in small groups to discuss the new questions. (Hopefully they will enjoy piquing their classmates&rsquo;&nbsp;curiosity!)</p>

<p>As students become comfortable with this new skill, encourage them to ask thick questions before, during, and after a reading. And always keep in mind what Einstein said, &ldquo;The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for&nbsp;existing.&rdquo;</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/1328">Albert Einstein</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2919">Wonder</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1627">Wh- Questions</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2462">Question Formation</a></li>
</ul>


Thin & Thick Questions

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<p>When asked what they get out of the classroom in addition to language skills, ESL students will often tout the friendships they&rsquo;ve made with their classmates, their increased confidence when interacting with native speakers, and a better understanding of English-speaking cultures. Wouldn&rsquo;t it be great if they could add a coping strategy to deal with stress to their&nbsp;list?</p>

<p>Introducing students to meditation teaches them a way to find calm in their hectic lives. It&rsquo;s a strategy that&rsquo;s easy to incorporate into ESL lessons and complements a number of language topics including the present tense, sensory verbs, the imperative, and prepositions. It also lends itself to general themes such as health, modern life, and daily routines. Below you will find a guided meditation used to reinforce vocabulary related to body&nbsp;parts.</p>

<p>Before you begin the mediation session with your students, pre-teach any unfamiliar words or phrases (e.g., breathe, breath, rise, fall, tighten, loosen, inhale, exhale, etc.). Share some of the benefits of meditation (e.g., reduces stress, controls anxiety, lengthens attention span, etc.).</p>

<p>Briefly explain the activity. Tell students you are going to guide them through a number of steps that will help them focus on different parts of their&nbsp;body.If possible, turn off or dim the lights before you lead the meditation. Then read out the following steps to your&nbsp;students:</p>

<ol class="spaced-list">
	<li>Close your eyes. Make sure both feet are on the floor and your back is touching your&nbsp;chair.</li>
	<li>Take a few deep breaths. Breathe in through your nose. Breathe out through your mouth. Put your hand on your chest. Notice how it rises when you breathe in and falls when you breathe&nbsp;out.</li>
	<li>Now bring your attention to your feet. Move your toes around a little. Feel them as they touch your socks and&nbsp;shoes.</li>
	<li>Slowly move your attention up to your legs. Notice how the chair feels against your&nbsp;thighs.</li>
	<li>Think about your back and where the chair touches it. Allow yourself to relax into the chair. Notice where you feel the chair on your back&nbsp;now.</li>
	<li>Move your attention back to your chest. Focus again on the rise and fall of your chest as you&nbsp;breathe.</li>
	<li>Now tighten your jaw. Hold it there. And relax. Feel the muscles as they&nbsp;loosen.</li>
	<li>Direct your attention to your nose. Feel your nostrils as you inhale and&nbsp;exhale.</li>
	<li>Take one more deep breath. As you breathe out, slowly open your&nbsp;eyes.</li>
</ol>

<p>Make sure to ask follow-up questions after the session (e.g., How did you feel before the session? How did you feel during it? How do you feel&nbsp;now?).</p>

<p>If this practice is something your students enjoy, consider letting a student volunteer lead subsequent meditations. You can also write the meditations with the class on the board or assign them as group work. The important thing is to keep the stress level as low as possible. And&nbsp;breathe!</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/27/lessons" target="_blank">Health &amp; Safety Lesson Collection</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/95/lessons/1836" target="_blank">Stress</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/97/lessons/1990" target="_blank">Yoga</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/4/flashcard_categories/27" target="_blank">Daily Routines &ndash; Flashcards </a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-stress-busters-for-teachers/" target="_blank">7 Stress Busters for Teachers</a></li>
</ul>


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Ann Dickson