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

Teaching with Ellii

Do you use Ellii&#39;s videos in class? Please take this 3-minute survey to help us enhance&nbsp;our video content and better meet your needs!

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Ellii Video Survey

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These posts are written for learners of English themselves. Find learning tips and ideas for learning English.

For Students

Tina Turner was a music legend who touched the hearts of so many, including three young girls who&#39;ve grown into strong women here at&nbsp;Ellii.

<hr />
When I was a little girl, my parents played Tina Turner tapes in the car all the time (yes, cassette tapes, haha!), so, of course, I became a fan of&nbsp;hers too.

When I was about seven or eight&nbsp;years old, she was playing a concert in my city and I really wanted to go, but it sold out fast and I was so disappointed.

One day my mother and I were shopping at The Bay, and I was complaining because we couldn&rsquo;t get tickets to the concert. Luckily for us, the store clerk overheard us and he just happened to be a ticket scalper. He quietly approached us and sold us four tickets to see Tina Turner. And not just tickets, but floor seats in the third or fourth row!

My parents, my friend, and I went, and I was totally mesmerized by her. She was amazing, but I was too young to appreciate what a legend she was. That was the first concert I ever went to, and it&rsquo;s such a special memory that I will never forget!

I was so sad to hear about her passing.

&mdash;Alison from Ellii

<hr />
I loved Tina Turner. One of my high school friends, who just recently died of cancer, used to crank Tina up in the car and sing along at the top of her lungs as she careened around mountain curves.

It&#39;s a great memory because my friend was very quiet, but Tina brought out the animal in her.&nbsp;

&mdash;Ann from Ellii

<hr />
My first concert was the Private Dancer tour when I was 10 years old. My dad took me, and I remember her prancing around the stage in her white tank and jeans. She was incredible! My dad just passed last July, so it warms my heart to know he now has a front row seat.&nbsp;

&mdash;Michelle M. from Ellii

<hr />
<blockquote>Add your own special Tina Turner memory in the comments and help us build a special tribute to the Queen of Rock &amp; Roll.</blockquote>

<h2>Glossary</h2>

<ul>
	<li>sell out: to sell all of the tickets to a show</li>
	<li>overhear: to hear other people talking in a conversation you are not involved in</li>
	<li>mesmerized: to be unable to stop looking at something amazing</li>
	<li>scalper: a person who resells tickets for more than the original cost</li>
	<li>crank up: to turn the sound up high</li>
	<li>at the top of one&#39;s lungs: very loudly</li>
	<li>careen: to move quickly and almost uncontrollably</li>
	<li>tour: a series of performances in different locations</li>
	<li>prance: to walk around with a dance in one&#39;s step</li>
	<li>tank (top): a sleeveless shirt</li>
	<li>passing / pass (away): death, to die</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h2>Related Lesson</h2>

<h2 class="circleThumb"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4571-tina-turner-simply-the-best"><img alt="Tina Turner" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3215/content_133_Tina-Turner-Simply-the-Best.png" /></a></h2>

<h2><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4571-tina-turner-simply-the-best">Tina Turner: Simply the Best</a></h2>
</div>

<h2>Listen to Tina Turner</h2>

This playlist features all of the music mentioned in the <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/4570-tina-turner-simply-the-best">advanced</a> version of Ellii&#39;s Tina Turner lesson. 
<iframe allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="352" loading="lazy" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/1KjnpM0cGZHvQgMM2eNAoe?utm_source=generator" style="border-radius:12px" width="100%"></iframe>

Our Heartfelt Tina Turner Memories

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Note to students: This&nbsp;article uses Canadian spelling.&nbsp;Listen and follow along with the article. Then&nbsp;take the student challenge. A glossary of keywords is available at the end.

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Red Dress Day, observed annually in Canada on May 5, raises&nbsp;awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and&nbsp;two-spirit people.&nbsp;This date serves as a reminder of the ongoing violence and systemic issues faced by Indigenous communities.&nbsp;

<h2>The origin of Red Dress Day</h2>

In 2010, Jaime Black, a M&eacute;tis artist from Canada, created a powerful&nbsp;installation of hanging empty&nbsp;red dresses.&nbsp;She called the installation the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jaimeblackartist.com/exhibitions/">REDress Project</a>. It was first shown at the University of Winnipeg&nbsp;in 2011 and has travelled throughout Canada and to Washington, DC, since then.&nbsp;This exhibition inspired the observance of Red Dress Day.

The US also commemorates this day,&nbsp;sharing the objective of raising awareness about the alarming rates of violence faced by Indigenous women and girls in America.

<h2>Why a red dress?</h2>

The colour red was chosen because it represents the bloodshed and violence endured by Indigenous women throughout history&nbsp;while also drawing attention to the need for justice and action.&nbsp;By wearing red on this day, people across the country show their solidarity and support for the families affected by these tragedies.

<h2>Increasing awareness and advocacy</h2>

The primary goal of Red Dress Day is to raise public awareness about the high rates of violence faced by Indigenous women through organized events, including marches and educational campaigns. The hope is that increased awareness will lead to policy changes, improved support services, and prevention initiatives. 
 
Red Dress Day, like <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/orange-shirt-day">Orange Shirt Day</a>, serves as a platform for healing, remembrance, and support for the families who continue to mourn the loss of their loved ones. Through shared grief and resilience, communities can find solace and strength while also demanding justice.

Glossary

<ul>
	<li>systemic: relating to a system</li>
	<li>alarming: surprising (in a negative way)</li>
	<li>solidarity: support that shows you are in something together</li>
	<li>policy change: a change to a rule or law</li>
	<li>prevention initiative:&nbsp;a new idea with a goal of stopping something from happening again&nbsp;</li>
	<li>mourn: to feel and express sadness over a loss or death</li>
	<li>two-spirit person: an individual who embodies a blend of male and female spirits</li>
	<li>resilience: strength during difficult times</li>
	<li>solace: comfort during times of sadness</li>
</ul>

<h2>Learn more</h2>

Are you a newcomer honouring a commitment to learn more about the treatment of Indigenous people? Ask your teacher to share Ellii&#39;s True Grammar Stories lesson&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3363-indigenous-people-simple-present-past">Indigenous People: Simple Present &amp; Past</a>, which&nbsp;includes the true story of&nbsp;Chantel Moore,&nbsp;an Indigenous woman from the Tla‑o‑qui‑aht First Nation, who&nbsp;died at the hands of police in New Brunswick, Canada. Ellii also has a Holidays &amp; Events lesson where you&nbsp;can learn about <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3783-national-day-for-truth-and-reconciliation">National Day for Truth and Reconciliation</a> (Orange Shirt Day).&nbsp;

<blockquote>
Challenge: Wear red on May 5. Then ask a friend this question: Do you know why I&#39;m wearing red today? How will you answer? Leave a comment summarizing what you will say.
</blockquote>

Red Dress Day: Honouring Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIWG)

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Tour around the ELT conference circuit as our team shares conference highlights and session reviews.

Conferences

The countdown to TESOL 2023 is on, and we&rsquo;re excited to see you in person! Here at Ellii, we&#39;re passionate about providing teachers with ready-made content and courseware&mdash;including high-quality lessons, videos, and flashcards&mdash;on a platform that students and teachers love.

For more than 20 years, we&#39;ve been committed to making teachers&#39; lives easier so they can teach their best class, every class. That&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;re thrilled to be a Diamond Sponsor at TESOL this year, supporting professional development for educators around the world!

<h2>Where to find us</h2>

We&#39;ll be at&nbsp;Booth 219&nbsp;in the Expo Hall.&nbsp;

Attend our in-person sessions:

<ul>
	<li>Wednesday, 10⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;10⁠:45 am PDT &ndash; OCC, E147/148 
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1701550" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Trending Content to Spark Meaningful Conversations</a></li>
	<li>Wednesday, 11⁠⁠:⁠⁠30&ndash;12⁠⁠:⁠⁠15 pm PDT &ndash; OCC, Portland Ballroom 251 
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1628768" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Ellii Tips and Tricks for Power Users</a></li>
	<li>Wednesday, 1⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;1⁠⁠:⁠⁠45 pm PDT &ndash; OCC, Portland Ballroom 251 
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1701555" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Teach Smarter with Ellii</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Wednesday, 3⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;3⁠⁠:⁠⁠30 pm PDT &ndash; Hyatt, Deschutes Ballroom A 
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1686238" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Coffee Chat with Ellii</a></li>
	<li>Thursday, 12⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;12⁠⁠:⁠⁠45 pm PDT &ndash; OCC, Portland Ballroom 251 
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1628767" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">The Power of Images and Video in Language Classrooms</a></li>
	<li>Thursday, 3⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;3⁠⁠:⁠⁠45 pm PDT &ndash; OCC, Portland Ballroom 251 
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1628766" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Teach Smarter with Ellii&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li>Friday, 12⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;12⁠⁠:⁠⁠45 pm PDT &ndash; OCC, Portland Ballroom 251 
	<a href="https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/1628769" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">Trending Content to Spark Meaningful Conversations</a></li>
</ul>

<h2><img alt="Ellii swag, raffle tickets and an apple watch " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3099/content_Ellii_TESOL-2023_swag.jpg" /></h2>

<h2>Chocolate bars, T-shirts, and more!</h2>

Ellii will be handing out delicious chocolate bars due to popular demand! Meet Lei and Michelle at Booth 219 to check out our other fun Ellii swag. Be sure to enter our raffle to win an Apple Watch too!

<h2>Have questions?</h2>

Feel free to reach out to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:hello@ellii.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">hello@ellii.com</a>. Our team will be happy to help you.

We look forward to seeing you in Portland for TESOL 2023!

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Where to Find Ellii at TESOL 2023

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Discover what's new or coming soon, including upcoming lessons and resources and product feature updates. 

Announcements

<h2>Total lesson score</h2>

December 1, 2022: Teachers can now see the student&#39;s total lesson score for the assignment after a&nbsp;task is completed. If there are tasks with more than one attempt, the total score can be switched from First to Best. Clicking on the&nbsp;&quot;i&quot;&nbsp;icon opens a modal with the full details of the scoring. Learn more about scoring with this <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/263-how-a-total-score-is-calculated" target="_blank">Help Doc</a>.&nbsp;

<hr />
<h2>New lesson page</h2>

October&nbsp;19, 2022:&nbsp;Ellii&#39;s lesson page has a new look! It&#39;s now cleaner and simpler to navigate. This improved design allows you to toggle between the lesson&rsquo;s overview, digital tasks, and PDF&mdash;all in one place. You can seamlessly present content interactively, in class and online. Read more about it in our <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/210-how-to-use-the-lesson-landing-page" target="_blank">Help Docs</a>.

<hr />
<h2>New writing task design</h2>

September 5, 2022:&nbsp;Ellii&#39;s writing task type (Open-Ended Questions) has a new design that matches the updated design of the Speaking task! Students can now read the reference on a split screen while answering comprehension questions. A Hide reference toggle is also available if students want to see the writing box in full.

<hr />
<h2>New Speaking task design</h2>

<h2><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2715/content_Ellii_New-Speaking-Task-Design.jpg" /></h2>

September 1, 2022:&nbsp;Ellii&#39;s Speaking task has a new look and feel! References are no longer in a modal. Students can now see the reference prompt (question, photo, illustration, reading, or audio) on the screen at all times as they create their recording.

After they finish the recording, students simply slide to the next screen to review and submit. (Students can also trash their recording from the first screen and start again.)

You may want to run through the new style with your students so that they understand how to delete, edit, and submit their speaking tasks.

Watch for a similar design improvement coming to our writing and comprehension tasks soon!

<hr />
<h2>Auto-Scoring (AI) open beta</h2>

August 29, 2022:&nbsp;Following a successful closed beta round of testing, we&#39;ve&nbsp;officially launched an open beta test of our Auto-Scoring (AI) feature for open-ended writing questions. Ellii teachers can now opt in to use this feature in their classes to save time on grading digital tasks.

You&#39;ll find the auto-scoring opt-in checkbox when you create your class and edit it. This feature currently only works for comprehension-style writing questions where Ellii&#39;s Publishing team has provided suggested answers. These tasks will be auto-graded if you opt in, however, as a teacher, you can always edit the score if Ellii Bot doesn&#39;t grade something to your liking.

Note that you need to opt in for each class and assign to students within a class in order for the AI to work. <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/research-behind-ellii-auto-scoring-ai-feature" target="_blank">Learn more...</a>

<hr />
<h2>That&#39;s News to Me Flashbacks</h2>

August 24, 2022: The That&rsquo;s News to Me category has a new section called Flashbacks. There, teachers can find all older news articles. <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons#:~:text=HIGH%20INT%20%E2%80%93%20ADV-,Flashbacks,-100th%20Anniversary%20of" target="_blank">Take a look...</a>

<hr />
<h2>Videos and flashcards in Media Gallery</h2>

<img alt="Ellii Media Gallery page" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2716/content_Ellii_Media-Page.jpg" />

August 15, 2022: You can now <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/262-how-to-find-videos" target="_blank">find and play videos</a> without going into lesson tasks. You will find a brand-new <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos" target="_blank">Media Gallery</a> in our Materials drop-down menu. In the Media Gallery, you&#39;ll see tabs for Flashcards and Videos.

Videos are organized by sections and categories within sections,&nbsp;just like flashcards. When you click into a video, you can see which lesson(s) it&#39;s found in as well as a list of similar videos.

Watch for more Media Gallery updates coming soon!

<hr />
<h2>Student Dashboard 6X faster</h2>

August 15, 2022: We&#39;re constantly making improvements on the student side that teachers may not notice! Our developers have been working diligently to improve&nbsp;the performance of the Student Dashboard for the hardest-working students at Ellii. Those who have a lot of assignments on their dashboard should now notice a sharp increase in performance.

<hr />
<h2>Ellii Bot recommendations</h2>

August 2, 2022:&nbsp;Up till now, we&#39;ve&nbsp;recommended content for you based on your preferences and&nbsp;our calendar features. Now we&#39;re also using machine learning to recommend content that you may be interested in based on teacher behavior. You&#39;ll see Recommended by Ellii Bot on your Classroom&nbsp;page for these types of recommendations.

Our developers will continue to improve these recommendations as we learn more about machine learning.

<hr />
<h2>Grade band preferences on or off</h2>

July 18, 2022: If you teach adults, you may not want to see suggested grade bands on Ellii materials. You can now go into your Account settings and turn off Grade Bands in the Grade Band Preference area.

<hr />
<h2>Organization Reports</h2>

July 8, 2022: Ellii Organization account users with admin access can now view the <a href="https://ellii.com/organizations/management/reports" target="_blank">Reports Page</a>! Under Organization on the top menu, there is now an option called Reports. There, admins can see all the data related to their account and connected teachers. The data goes as far&nbsp;back as January 1, 2022 and can be exported as a CSV file.

Please note that the Manage Teachers page has been renamed to Team and has been moved to the Organization dropdown.

<hr />
<h2>Copy Ellii Folders</h2>

July 5, 2022: Teachers can now copy an <a href="https://ellii.com/folders/published" target="_blank">Ellii Folder</a> by selecting &ldquo;Copy to My Folders&rdquo; in the more options menu.

<hr />
<h2>Collections index view</h2>

<img alt="Ellii Collections page with new view selected" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2560/content_Ellii_New-View-for-Collections.jpg" />

June 23, 2022: The Collections page has a <a href="https://ellii.com/collections" target="_blank">new view</a>! Teachers can now see the sub-pages in each category without clicking on the main page, making it easier for you to find the content you want&mdash;fast.

<hr />
<h2>Class Sharing</h2>

June 22, 2022: Teachers and other educators who are part of an Organization account can now share classes! Co-teachers of a class are able to manage assignments, add feedback, grade work, view student participation, and more. <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/259-how-to-share-classes?utm_campaign=Site+Update%3A+Class+Sharing+%E2%80%93+Teachers+in+an+organization+account&amp;utm_content=Site+Update%3A+Class+Sharing+%E2%80%93+Teachers+in+an+organization+account&amp;utm_medium=email_action&amp;utm_source=customer.io" target="_blank">Learn more&hellip;</a>

<hr />
<h2>Ellii&#39;s on Spotify</h2>

<img alt="Ellii’s Spotify profile and playlists " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2562/content_Ellii-on-Spotify.jpg" />

June 22, 2022: We recently launched a Spotify account! Teachers can pair our playlists with lessons found on the Ellii platform for a more engaging learning experience. <a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/dmq8qckunpt5o3g9ixyupia0a" target="_blank">Get started&hellip;</a>

<hr />
<h2>Equivalency Scale: ELD (1&ndash;6)</h2>

June 13, 2022: We added numeric proficiency levels (ELD 1&ndash;6) to our Equivalency Scale. These proficiency levels align with WIDA&rsquo;s proficiency levels (Level 1&nbsp;Entering, Level 2&nbsp;Emerging, Level 3&nbsp;Developing, Level 4&nbsp;Expanding, Level 5&nbsp;Bridging, Level 6&nbsp;Reaching).&nbsp;K&ndash;12 teachers who want to see these levels on Ellii filters and labels can select ELD &amp; Ellii in their account settings. <a href="https://ellii.com/equivalencies" target="_blank">Take a look&hellip;</a>

<hr />
<h2>Task Score</h2>

April 11, 2022: Open-Ended Questions and Speaking digital tasks now have a Task Score. If at least one question requires teacher scoring, a Partial Score warning is displayed so that the teacher knows that they need to manually import a score.

On the student side of the platform, they will see a warning symbol to indicate that their displayed score isn&rsquo;t final.

<hr />
<h2>Assignment Manager</h2>

April 6, 2022: The new Ellii Assignment Manager will allow teachers to easily assign tasks to their students with a simplified view. Teachers can also now leave their students a note with their homework! <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/122-how-to-assign-digital-homework?utm_campaign=Site+Update+%E2%80%94+Assignment+App&amp;utm_content=Site+Update+%E2%80%94+Assignment+App&amp;utm_medium=email_action&amp;utm_source=customer.io" target="_blank">Learn more&hellip;</a>

<hr />
<h2>Microsoft&#39;s Immersive Reader tool</h2>

April 4, 2022: Microsoft&rsquo;s Immersive Reader tool is officially available on Ellii! This highly requested digital tool helps learners improve their reading, writing, and comprehension skills by reading the text out loud. It can also be customized to offer students a more personalized reading experience. <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-microsoft-immersive-reader-on-ellii" target="_blank">Learn more&hellip;</a>

<hr />
<h2>ESL Library is now Ellii!</h2>

March 14, 2022: ESL Library is now Ellii! We changed our name to better reflect who we are in today&rsquo;s English language landscape, which is one of the most widely used content and courseware platforms for English teachers in the world. <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-our-new-name-ellii" target="_blank">Learn more&hellip;</a>

<hr />
<h2>New Flashcards page</h2>

February 17, 2022:&nbsp;The Flashcards page has a whole new look! This redesign will make it easier for you to search through our flashcard categories and sections, create flashcard sets, and link to individual&nbsp;flashcards. <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-our-flashcards" target="_blank">Learn more...</a>

<hr />
<h2>Archiving Classes</h2>

February 10, 2022:&nbsp;You can now archive classes!&nbsp;Archiving a class allows you to hide a class without losing all the data associated with that class. In other words, you&rsquo;ll still be able to see previous results and feedback from that class, even after you&rsquo;ve archived it.&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/new-year-new-updates" target="_blank">Learn more...</a>

<hr />
<h2>Classroom page&nbsp;</h2>

February 10, 2022:&nbsp;The My Classes page is now called &ldquo;Classroom.&rdquo; It also has&nbsp;a brand new look! You&rsquo;ll notice three tabs for Classes, Students, and Assignments, allowing you to toggle between them with ease. <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/new-year-new-updates" target="_blank">Learn more...</a>

<hr />
<h2>Updated navigation bar</h2>

February 10, 2022:&nbsp;We updated our platform&#39;s navigation bar to make it easy to find what you&#39;re looking for. You&#39;ll now see:

<ul>
	<li>Materials, which remains unchanged</li>
	<li>Class Prep, which has replaced Saved;</li>
	<li>Classroom, which reflects what was formally the My Classes page.</li>
</ul>

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/new-year-new-updates" target="_blank">Learn more...</a>

<hr />
<h2>Collections in Search</h2>

<img alt="One search result for &quot;shapes&quot; on the Ellii website, with the collections tab selected" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2561/content_Ellii_Collections-in-Search.jpg" />

February 10, 2022:&nbsp;Collections now appear in your searches!&nbsp;You can also filter the material type to see only collections using the Collections tab on&nbsp;the search results page.

<hr />

Feature Releases & Platform Updates 2022 

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Did you know that the writers who create Ellii lessons and resources are all English teachers or former teachers?

That&#39;s just one of the reasons we love receiving poetry, stories, and paragraphs&nbsp;that students write while doing Ellii lessons.&nbsp;

In our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1885" target="_blank">Remembrance Day / Veterans Day lesson</a>, we challenge students to write acrostic poetry and share it with our team. Check out this year&#39;s submissions as well as the poems from years past.

<h2>2024 Student Poetry</h2>

Here is a new poem submitted by Bryna Gerakos, an ESL Instructor at Hudson Adult Learning Center

<blockquote>
Veterans, we are 
Eternally grateful 
To you 
Excellent service 
Remembering and honoring you 
And we will 
Never forget you 
So, thank you very much!

By Gabriela Sanchez, Johanna Ortega, Dunia Caal, and Lin Yangzheng.
</blockquote>

&nbsp;

<h2>2023 Student Poetry</h2>

Here is a new poem that was submitted by Ms. Anderson&#39;s 4th Period Intermediate ELD Class:

<blockquote>
Memories of Silence for Their Sacrifice 

Remember the lives of soldiers

Everything stops for

Memories of silence

Enormous Alliance

Moments before disaster

Bullet dodging when Death calls your name

Remember the lives of the soldiers who sacrificed

Anniversary of the soldiers who fought for peace

November 11th is the Day of Remembrance

Color of poppies reminds &quot;we kept this promise&quot;

Everything for peace
</blockquote>

<hr />
And here is a poem that was submitted by Ms. Anderson&#39;s 6th Period Intermediate ELD Class:

<blockquote>
 
Peace for Veterans 

Represents all the soldiers globally

Every soldier that fought in War

Memories of lost ones

Event for remembering the veterans that fought for peace

Memorial is a way to remember someone

Be polite to Veterans

Remembering our loved ones

Allied forces fought for our peace

No veterans should be disrespected

Celebrate memories with loved ones

End war
</blockquote>

<h2>2022 Student Poetry</h2>

We love these moving acrostic poems we received&nbsp;from Betul Ozer Budak&#39;s LBS (Literacy and Basic Skills)&nbsp;class.

<h3>Poem #1</h3>

<blockquote>
Veterans Day...

Every November, we remember.

Trumpets play &quot;Last Post&quot; ...

Eleven o&#39;clock: a moment of silence ...

Red poppies people wear

After the war, people were happy but

Never forget the soldiers who died

Soldiers who fight ...

By Asmae Dadi, Ebtesam Rashed, and&nbsp;Helen Ada
</blockquote>

<h3>Poem #2</h3>

<blockquote>
Poppies everywhere

On our hearts

People&#39;s stories

Poppies everywhere

Yesterday&#39;s memories

By&nbsp;Ebtesam Rashed and&nbsp;Helen Ada
</blockquote>

<h3>Poem #3</h3>

<blockquote>
Remembrance

Every year we remember them.

Many soldiers died in the war.

Every 11 November is Remembrance Day.

Many people have a ceremony.

Birds of peace carrying olive branches

Remind us the young soldiers.

At 11 o&#39;clock the war ended but

Nobody forgot the soldiers.

Ceremonies we have for them;

Each of us is proud of them...

By&nbsp;Aisha Ankaa,&nbsp;Cuc Thi Nguyen, and&nbsp;Ebtesam Rashed
</blockquote>

Here are a few wonderful Remembrance Day poems from Kosta Stojanovic&#39;s LINC 4/5 class at Coll&egrave;ge Bor&eacute;al in Toronto, Canada.

<h3>Poem #4</h3>

<blockquote>
Red poppies bloom on each breast

Earth remembers it&#39;s heroes

Many great-grandparents were there

Every soldier lives to wonder why

Memories of War that never stray

But someone is shooting again and again

Remembrance poppies are red, not signifying blood of soldiers

And their stories never see the light of day

Need of peace is worldwide

Children want to live in love

Every day can be better,&nbsp;if everyone has remembrance

By Elvira Shootca
</blockquote>

<h3>Poem #5</h3>

<blockquote>
Raise your head off the ground

Everyone is proud of you

My heart is like a galaxy

Even though you&#39;re not here I feel you

My heart belongs to you

Breathe in the morning of victory

Raging about war

Army protect the people

Never make me feel sad

Ceremony for your courage

Everyone will always remember

By Mandana Hodhodynejad
</blockquote>

<h3>Poem #6</h3>

<blockquote>
Rmember our soldiers

Enlist the soldiers

Making our world into peace

Everyone who died in the wars

Memorial never forget

Brothers who bled just

Respect our fallen soldiers

Armistice day

November 11th armed weapons fall silent

Celebrate the soldiers

Enjoy freedom in happiness and peace

By Dilek Tas
</blockquote>

<h2>2021 Student Poetry</h2>

<h3>Poem #1</h3>

This beautiful acrostic poem was sent in by Sherry and&nbsp;Kathleen&#39;s class:&nbsp;

<blockquote>
Vests of soldiers carry valued human beings

Emotions of appreciation echo when we commemorate every year on November 11

Treasures you have done for us are countless as we are free

Echos of your contributions are hard to describe out loud.

Remembering you veterans

Appreciating your efforts

Nations will never forget you for

Sacrificing your lives to give us freedom.

By Antonio, Cecilia, Huda, Jingyuan, and Yunyi
</blockquote>

<h3>Poem #2</h3>

Here&#39;s another poem that was submitted by an intermediate LINC class.

<img alt="Remembrance Day Poem by LINC students" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1879/content_Remembrance-Day-Poem.jpg" />

<h2>2020 Student Poetry</h2>

Here are some poetry submissions we received in November 2020 from a low-intermediate&nbsp;LINC class in Toronto, Ontario. Thank you to Kosta and his class for sharing this writing with us!

<h3>Poem #1</h3>

<blockquote>
<h3>Remembrance Day</h3>

Essential day

Many people lost a loved one

Ended of the war must be done

Be peaceful, remember the war

Against the war, no more the war

Celebrate the peace

Everyone will be happy

By Momoko, Anibal and Zhi Sheng
</blockquote>

<h3>Poem #2&nbsp;</h3>

<blockquote>
<h3>Very important</h3>

Eating and drinking

Tomorrow it&#39;ll&nbsp;be coming

Email to me

Remember it

Answer and reply

Notice it on your calendar

Send it to me

By Coco
</blockquote>

<h3>Poem #3</h3>

<blockquote>
<h3>Remembering our veterans</h3>

Enormous respect

Many left behind the family who were

Eager to see them again

More peace, no war

By wearing the poppy we remember,

Each that fell

Rising like the sun every day

Don&#39;t forget them

Anually we honour the past

Yesterday is not forgotten

By Milena Nessi
</blockquote>

<h2>Poem #4</h2>

<blockquote>
Red color

Email me

May I have&nbsp;

Enough for me

Many years

Best of luck

Raise your hand

At a time

Never mind

Call me

Excellent place

By Israt, Alice, and Coco
</blockquote>

<h2>Poem #5</h2>

<blockquote>
Voters are protesting

Eat your food

Trumpet is a bass horn

End your day in a happy way

Remembrance Day is a poppy day

Are you okay

No one here

Can you hear?

By Rania, Gadha, and Milena
</blockquote>

<h2>Pronunciation Work</h2>

Here is some pronunciation work these writers did while working on their poetry from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons">Holidays &amp; Events</a> lesson. We&#39;re so happy to see students working with <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/130/lessons/3352">pronunciation symbols</a>. We&nbsp;hope you&#39;re enjoying our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/130/lessons">Pronunciation</a> lessons, too.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1070/content_Screen_Shot_2020-11-26_at_4.22.13_PM.png" />

Keep up the great work, LINC class! And most importantly, thank you for remembering our veterans.

<h2>&nbsp;</h2>

Student Poetry for Remembrance Day / Veterans Day

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

Articles

At Ellii, our mission is to connect the world through language. We strive to meet our mission through our vision: by building a teaching platform that&rsquo;s used and loved in every language classroom around the world.

That&rsquo;s why we publish content with all types of teachers, students, and classes in mind.

Ellii is a library of resources for everyone. We take pride in creating a wide variety of lessons that are engaging and that boost reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills for learners of all ages, levels, and needs.

Some teachers prefer to keep topics light in the classroom. From <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/discussion-starters/1231-extreme-sports" target="_blank">Extreme Sports</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/discussion-starters/1228-fashion-trends" target="_blank">Fashion Trends</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/discussion-starters/4303-culture-shock" target="_blank">Culture Shock</a>, and more, we have plenty of lessons on fun and practical topics that you can choose from.

Some students, however, are really interested in social and political issues, and their instructors want to teach lessons on those topics to engage them. That&rsquo;s why we also create lessons that textbooks and other publications tend to avoid or may not want to produce educational content about.

For 20 years, Ellii has been a leader in the language teaching industry, publishing timely lessons based on current events that foster discussion and spark meaningful conversations while simultaneously meeting language targets. From lessons on <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/social-justice" target="_blank">Social Justice</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/the-environment" target="_blank">The Environment</a> to <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/politics-government" target="_blank">Politics &amp; Government</a> and more, our thought-provoking teaching materials reflect real-world issues, get your students talking, and most importantly, teach learners how to express their own opinions in English.

As a content and language learning company, we value the power of words and believe it&rsquo;s important to empower our language learners to develop the skills to be able to have discussions and express their opinions. That&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ll continue to create lessons on sensitive topics.

Our library of teaching materials constantly gets updated with brand-new content every day. There are <a href="https://ellii.com/tour/lessons" target="_blank">more than 2,000 ready-made lessons</a> currently available on our platform. We encourage you to choose whatever content is right for your students and your classroom.

Whatever lessons you decide to teach, we thank you for choosing Ellii and are thrilled that you&rsquo;re a part of our global community of educators.

Ellii Lesson Topics: There’s Something for Everyone

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At Ellii, we enjoy&nbsp;using our creative skills to develop materials that teachers and students love! Let&#39;s go behind the scenes to see a fun project the Publishing team worked on this&nbsp;year.

<h2>Genius Hour</h2>

Did you know? Ellii&#39;s popular <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/136/lessons" target="_blank">Story Prompts</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/132/lessons" target="_blank">Picture Stories</a>&nbsp;sections were born out of Google&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://sites.google.com/a/sduhsd.net/genius-hour/what-is-genius-hour" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Genius Hour</a> concept&nbsp;where staff are given free time to&nbsp;create.

<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/136/lessons" target="_blank"><img alt="Story Prompts lesson section on Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2703/content_Ellii_Story-Prompts.jpg" /></a>

Ellii&#39;s illustrators, Saori and Steve, were given creative license to come up with their own ideas for lessons while playing with some new illustration&nbsp;styles.

After spending time experimenting with some visual concepts, they&nbsp;worked with Ellii&#39;s writers and editors to build out templates that eventually became full lesson&nbsp;sections for beginner-level&nbsp;learners.

<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/132/lessons" target="_blank"><img alt="Picture Stories" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2623/content_Ellii_Picture-Stories.jpg" /></a>

<h2>A hackathon for Ellii&#39;s Publishing&nbsp;team</h2>

A few months ago, Ellii&rsquo;s Publishing team heard that our Product team of developers was going to try a hackathon, which is a time set aside for them to play with code and aim to build something fun or solve a problem.

The Publishing team decided they wanted to do something&nbsp;similar.

At the TESOL conference earlier this year, Tara, our VP of Publishing, was&nbsp;inspired by the theme of wordless stories, which came up in some&nbsp;sessions.

<blockquote>
Wordless story: a book&nbsp;without text where the story is told solely through the&nbsp;art
</blockquote>

She divided the Publishing team into two groups (Wordless Video team&nbsp;and Wordless Picture Story team) to explore this idea.

In addition to giving creatives a chance to do something new and fun, this&nbsp;project gave team members an opportunity&nbsp;to collaborate with people they may not work with every&nbsp;day.&nbsp;

Here are the finished products:

<h3><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/4187" target="_blank">Wedding Receptions</a>&nbsp;</h3>

<h3><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/4187" target="_blank"><img alt="Wedding receptions video lesson description" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2620/content_Ellii_Wedding-Receptions.jpg" /></a></h3>

<h3><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/4193" target="_blank">Think inside the Box&nbsp;</a></h3>

<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/4193" target="_blank"><img alt="Think inside the box (print version)" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2621/content_Ellii_Think-inside-the-Box.jpg" /></a>

<h2>Wordless picture stories and their&nbsp;benefits</h2>

When each team had finished their product, they presented it to the entire&nbsp;Publishing&nbsp;team.&nbsp;

Here is some useful background about the <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/4193" target="_blank">Think inside the Box</a> wordless picture story lesson, which was inspired by an article about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/28/schools-killing-curiosity-learn" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">schools&nbsp;and&nbsp;curiosity</a>.

Lesson objective:&nbsp;To promote creativity, develop new&nbsp;vocabulary, practice basic tenses, check understanding of Wh-questions, and assess speaking skills. This story can also be used to promote social-emotional&nbsp;learning&nbsp;(SEL).

<h3>How wordless lessons develop creativity and&nbsp;SEL</h3>

Creativity needs to be an active part of learning&mdash;not something that&rsquo;s nice to have if time&nbsp;allows.

<a href="https://www.iste.org/explore/5_Reasons_Why_It_Is_More_Important_Than_Ever%20_Teach_Creativity" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">ISTE&rsquo;s research</a> shows how integral creativity is in healthy socio-emotional growth.&nbsp;This applies to learners of all ages. Emotional development and self-esteem are promoted through creative learning.

<blockquote>
&ldquo;Teachers who frequently assign classwork involving creativity are&nbsp;[more likely to observe] higher-order cognitive&nbsp;skills.&rdquo;

&mdash;<a href="https://www.gallup.com/people/item.aspx?a=100174" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Lydia Saad</a>
</blockquote>

Wordless stories encourage students to be the&nbsp;storyteller.

This kind of activity builds on&nbsp;students&#39;&nbsp;prior knowledge, activating schemata and developing language/communication&nbsp;skills.

For WIDA teachers, this kind of activity takes student assets into account&nbsp;as the story can be told from&nbsp;students&#39; perspective. Furthermore, the same story can also be told in many different ways&nbsp;with the target language scaffolded by the teacher (can focus on simple adjectives, tenses, questions and answers, adverbs, sequence markers,&nbsp;etc.).

<h3>Wordless stories and Bloom&rsquo;s Taxonomy</h3>

Ellii&#39;s wordless stories will allow&nbsp;students to develop <a href="https://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/blooms-taxonomy-verbs-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">higher-order thinking skills</a>&nbsp;as well as to review and strengthen the lower-order&nbsp;skills.

Providing a cognitive challenge will help&nbsp;students develop their language and communication in addition to their socio-emotional&nbsp;skills.&nbsp;

<blockquote>
Remember:&nbsp;What happened before? Who are the characters? What did they&nbsp;do?

Understand:&nbsp;Predict what will happen next. Describe what&rsquo;s happening&nbsp;now.

Apply:&nbsp;Organize the story and&nbsp;arrange the sequence. Write a brief&nbsp;description.

Analyze:&nbsp;Compare your story with a classmate&rsquo;s.&nbsp;How are they&nbsp;similar/different?

Evaluate: Reflect on your story.&nbsp;Go back and apply feedback from classmates and&nbsp;teacher.

Create: Propose the next part of the story. What happens&nbsp;next?&nbsp;
</blockquote>

<h3>Task types in Ellii&#39;s Think inside the Box&nbsp;wordless lesson</h3>

Every task type plays a specific role&nbsp;in developing your students&#39; literacy skills and supporting their language-learning journey.&nbsp;

<h4>Warm-Up Questions</h4>

<ul>
	<li>serve&nbsp;to activate prior knowledge</li>
	<li>take&nbsp;into account student assets and backgrounds</li>
	<li>provide&nbsp;a hint as to what the content is going to be&nbsp;about</li>
</ul>

<h4>Image Match</h4>

<ul>
	<li>provides some of the language students will encounter and&nbsp;use</li>
	<li>allows for&nbsp;students to interact with the&nbsp;vocabulary</li>
	<li>encourages students to&nbsp;ask&nbsp;questions</li>
</ul>

<h4>Picture Story</h4>

<ul>
	<li>enables&nbsp;students to use the language and respond to the prompts</li>
	<li>encourages creativity and collaboration&mdash;students can work together or individually to think of the story</li>
	<li>encourages the target language&nbsp;(the teacher can direct this however they see fit&mdash;e.g., parts of speech, colors, sequence markers, Wh-questions,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
</ul>

<h4>Speaking Task</h4>

<ul>
	<li>encourages&nbsp;students&nbsp;to remember what was discussed in&nbsp;class</li>
	<li>allows students to reproduce the story with their own ideas</li>
	<li>gives students a chance to use their own&nbsp;creativity</li>
</ul>

<h2>Virtual classroom and&nbsp;in-person classroom ideas for wordless&nbsp;lessons</h2>

These activities can be modified for either context. Students in an online&nbsp;classroom can work together in breakout rooms in&nbsp;synchronous class sessions. The teacher can share their screen and then assign the tasks to students individually or in pairs/small&nbsp;groups.

In-person or face-to-face (F2F) classes can use the digital activities easily by projecting the images onto a screen and encouraging students to collaborate. Live F2F classes can also take advantage of the in-person element by encouraging role-plays&nbsp;and then acting out&nbsp;the&nbsp;storyline.

Regardless of whether students are in virtual or live classes, creativity can be encouraged in many&nbsp;ways.

Ask students to find a real box (tissue box, TV box, etc.) to use as a prop for their story. Adding a tactile or kinesthetic approach&nbsp;can help facilitate learning by engaging other&nbsp;senses.

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts!</h5>

Wordless stories and videos are a tool that you can adapt and use to fit your students&#39; learning goals and objectives.

By taking student assets into account and engaging creativity, the teacher encourages students to take part&nbsp;in their own &quot;Genius Hour.&quot;&nbsp;Teachers, give it a try! Let us know what your students&nbsp;created.
</div>

Wordless Lessons: An Innovation Project

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We take pride in empowering English language teachers. That&rsquo;s why we love collaborating with organizations and businesses that provide professional development opportunities, teaching resources, industry events, and close-knit communities for educators around the&nbsp;world.

Visit our <a href="https://ellii.com/partnerships" target="_blank">Partnerships &amp; Collaborations</a> page to learn more about the brands we work&nbsp;with.

<h1>Meet Bridge Education Group</h1>

One of the organizations we love collaborating with is <a href="https://bridge.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Bridge</a>.

Bridge provides accessible and affordable English language teacher training, certification, and continuing professional&nbsp;development.

They offer&hellip;

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TEFL certification programs</a> that provide teachers with internationally recognized&nbsp;credentials</li>
	<li>in-depth, <a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses/specialized" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">specialized professional development courses</a> to help teachers learn about the latest methodology, best practices, and technologies in&nbsp;ELT</li>
	<li>short <a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses/micro" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">micro-credential courses</a> specially designed to help educators gain new skills that will take their teaching to the next&nbsp;level</li>
</ul>

Bridge also publishes relevant and helpful English language teaching news and resources at <a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/blog/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">BridgeUniverse</a>.

<h1>Why is professional development important?</h1>

Why invest time, effort, and money in your professional development (PD)? Here are three compelling&nbsp;reasons:

<h2>1. PD can help you land your dream teaching&nbsp;job</h2>

Professional development can help you get the teaching job you&rsquo;ve always dreamed&nbsp;of.

Having additional professional development courses on your resume gives you added credentials that may qualify you for more jobs or promotions. It also shows potential and current employers that you value continuous learning and that you strive to be a better&nbsp;teacher.

<blockquote>
91% of hiring managers report certification is a criteria for&nbsp;hiring.

&mdash;<a href="https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/About/The-value-of-certification.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Certiport</a>
</blockquote>

Ultimately, it opens the door to more teaching opportunities and helps you stand out against the&nbsp;competition.

<h2>2. PD can help you get a higher salary</h2>

Professional development can also help you get a higher starting salary or a raise. According to <a href="https://mms.businesswire.com/media/20160330005307/en/516651/5/2517910_Comparison_infographic.jpg?download=1" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Business Wire</a>, 79% of certified professionals see a tangible impact on their career, including pay raise, promotions, and resume&nbsp;shortlists.

In interviews with potential employers, having training and development courses on your resume may help you negotiate a higher&nbsp;salary.

With current employers, completing certain types of professional development courses may help you qualify for a raise or&nbsp;promotion.

<blockquote>
Certified professionals are 2.55 times more likely to get a promotion than non-certified&nbsp;professionals.

&mdash;Business Wire
</blockquote>

<h2>3. PD can help you be a better teacher</h2>

Finally, professional development can help you be a better&nbsp;teacher.

Thanks to professional development courses, new teachers are equipped with the necessary skills for success and experienced teachers are able to stay current and gain skills in new teaching approaches, technologies, and&nbsp;ideas.

Essentially, professional development gives teachers more tools to create better learning experiences for their&nbsp;students.

Interested in taking a professional development course? <a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/online-tefl-certification" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Explore Bridge&#39;s online TEFL courses</a>&nbsp;today.

<h1>How our collaboration benefits you</h1>

There&rsquo;s never been a better time to invest in your professional&nbsp;development.

As part of our collaboration with Bridge, Ellii subscribers will receive a 10% discount on Bridge&nbsp;courses!

If you&rsquo;re an Ellii subscriber interested in taking a Bridge course, watch your inbox&mdash;we&rsquo;ll be sending you an exclusive promo code you can redeem at&nbsp;Bridge.

New to Ellii? <a href="https://ellii.com/sign_up" target="_blank">Sign up to our newsletter</a> by creating a free account so you don&rsquo;t miss out on future&nbsp;discounts.

Happy upskilling!

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Webinar: Tips for Finding Engaging Materials from Ellii (formerly ESL Library) &amp;&nbsp;Beyond!</h5>

Did you hear we recently collaborated on a webinar with Bridge? Last April, Bridge and Ellii discussed how to foster interesting discussions with intermediate and advanced-level learners. Our expert panelists shared their best tips and tricks for sparking meaningful and engaging conversations in the classroom. <a href="https://vimeo.com/699573636/fda4be7992" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">View the full&nbsp;recording</a>.
</div>

Invest in Your Professional Development with Bridge Education Group

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<h2><a id="scope-and-sequence"></a>What is a scope &amp; sequence?&nbsp;</h2>

A scope and sequence is a planned curriculum for a book,&nbsp;course, or&nbsp;program. The scope refers to the range or breadth of material. The sequence refers to the&nbsp;order in which the content is meant to be used.

A curriculum or program may be&nbsp;organized by grade or proficiency level. In some cases, it&#39;s organized by subject matter&nbsp;(e.g., science)&nbsp;or theme (e.g., community).&nbsp;Ellii, on the other hand, is more of a content library than either a ready-made program or curriculum. However, we do have ready-made pathways to help if you are looking for more structure. Keep reading!

In this post, you&#39;ll find answers to the following frequently asked questions about Ellii:

<ul>
	<li><a href="#ellii-s-s">Does Ellii have a scope and sequence?</a></li>
	<li><a href="#courses">Does Ellii have ready-made courses?</a></li>
	<li><a href="#teaching-order">Does Ellii have a&nbsp;suggested&nbsp;teaching order?</a></li>
	<li><a href="#curriculum">Can I create my own curriculum with Ellii?</a></li>
	<li><a href="#targets">What targets and themes should I focus on for each Ellii level?&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li><a href="#levels">What if I don&#39;t know what Ellii level my students are?&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li><a href="#assessment">Can I assess my students&nbsp;with Ellii?&nbsp;</a></li>
</ul>

<h2><a id="ellii-s-s"></a>Does Ellii have a scope &amp; sequence?</h2>

If you&#39;re used to using a textbook series, you may be wondering where to find Ellii&#39;s scope and sequence information.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Ellii (formerly ESL Library) has 2,500+ ready-made lessons and resources as well as&nbsp;4,000+&nbsp;flashcards. We also have videos, prompts, and other activities for teaching English&nbsp;for every age, level, and need. Our in-house publishing team adds new content daily based on teachers&#39; requests and needs.

Teachers from all over the world use Ellii in a variety of ways. Ellii materials can be used...

<ul>
	<li>in traditional classrooms</li>
	<li>in online and hybrid&nbsp;classes</li>
	<li>to complement an existing&nbsp;curriculum (e.g., further practice with a&nbsp;target or theme)</li>
	<li>to build a&nbsp;curriculum</li>
	<li>to&nbsp;supplement&nbsp;a curriculum (e.g., lessons on holidays, current events, etc.)</li>
	<li>to focus on a certain macro&nbsp;(e.g., reading) or micro&nbsp;(e.g.,&nbsp;grammar) skill</li>
</ul>

Teachers also use Elli with a variety of types of English learners. Teachers use Ellii with...

<ul>
	<li>adult newcomers who require&nbsp;life skills&nbsp;and foundational English content</li>
	<li>&nbsp;K&ndash;12&nbsp;or higher-ed students who need English for academic purposes</li>
	<li>1:1 learners&nbsp;who need to learn English for specific purposes, such as&nbsp;workplace English or conversation English,&nbsp;or for improving a particular skill</li>
	<li>multilevel classes</li>
</ul>

At Ellii, we believe teachers know their students best! Rather than developing a single program that may or may not work for all students in a class, we focus on creating&nbsp;high-quality materials&nbsp;for every age, level, and need.

However, if you aren&#39;t sure what you need, we do offer mini-courses, collections, and a suggested teaching order for some sections.

Read on for Ellii tools and features that make planning easier.

<h2><a id="courses"></a>Does Ellii have ready-made courses?</h2>

Yes, and this area of Ellii is growing quickly. Visit our <a href="https://ellii.com/packs?page=1" target="_blank">Courses &amp; Study Packs</a> area and watch this library&nbsp;grow.&nbsp;

Example Courses &amp; Packs 
 
Here are just a few of our ready-made Courses &amp; Packs:

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/ell-grammar-curriculum" target="_blank">Grammar Courses 1&ndash;9</a>&nbsp;(Grammar)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/?category=43&amp;page=1">Ellii Up A &ndash; E</a> (General English) - More coming soon.</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/simple-present/materials" target="_blank">Simple Present Power Pack</a> (Grammar)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/112/lessons" target="_blank">Pre-Employment</a>&nbsp;(Workplace)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/135/lessons" target="_blank">Functional Business</a>&nbsp;(Workplace)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/english-at-work/materials" target="_blank">English at Work</a>&nbsp;(Workplace)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/122/lessons" target="_blank">Travel in English</a>&nbsp;(Dialogues)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/essay-essentials/materials" target="_blank">Essay Essentials</a>&nbsp;(Academic)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/77/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 1</a>&nbsp;(Vocabulary)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/79/lessons" target="_blank">Detective Series 1</a>&nbsp;(Vocabulary)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/medical-matters/materials" target="_blank">Medical Matters</a> (Life Skills)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/banking-basics/materials" target="_blank">Banking Basics</a>&nbsp;(Life Skills)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/pioneers-of-progress/materials" target="_blank">Partners in Progress</a>&nbsp;(Academic)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/packs/moon-time/materials" target="_blank">Moon Time</a>&nbsp;(YL)</li>
</ul>

Here is a scope &amp; sequence for Ellii Up A&ndash;E (low beginner). More courses in this General English (4 skills) category are coming soon.

<a href="https://ellii.com/packs/?category=43&amp;page=1" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/4951/content_Ellii-Up-A-F-Curriculum_chart_D.jpg" style="width: 1200px; height: 1062px;" /></a> 
 
Please <a href="mailto:hello@ellii.com">get in touch</a> if there&#39;s a specific course or pack that would be helpful for your students. Be sure to mention their age, level, and specific needs.&nbsp;

<h2><a id="teaching-order"></a>Does Ellii have a&nbsp;suggested&nbsp;teaching order?</h2>

Ellii&#39;s materials are divided into lesson and resource sections.

Within one section, you will find content that&#39;s formatted in a similar way.

Some of Ellii&#39;s lesson sections have a built-in teaching order. We don&#39;t recommend only using content from within one section (unless it&#39;s a serial). However, we do recommend that you teach&nbsp;targets&nbsp;at the recommended proficiency level.

Here are some sections that have a&nbsp;Teaching Order. (This may not be the default sort filter, so you will need to change the category sort&nbsp;filter&nbsp;to Teaching Order.)&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons" target="_blank">Super Simple Grammar</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/110/lessons" target="_blank">Super Simple Questions</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons" target="_blank">Functional English</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Practive Worksheets </a>(Teens &amp; Adults) or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons" target="_blank">Fun Grammar Lessons</a> (YL)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons" target="_blank">Basic Grammar Sentences</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Stories</a></li>
</ul>

Note that if you choose the&nbsp;Teaching Order sort filter in our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons" target="_blank">Holidays &amp; Events</a> section, you will see the content sorted by calendar order.

<h2><a id="curriculum"></a>Can I create my own curriculum with Ellii?&nbsp;</h2>

Yes! You can save and create your own materials to build a curriculum&nbsp;that meets the needs of your class or even one student. 
 
Learn all about how to use the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-elliis-lesson-planner" target="_blank">Lesson Planner</a> here.

More:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/217-how-to-use-folders" target="_blank">How to Use Folders</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/63-how-to-create-flashcard-sets" target="_blank">How to Create &amp; Save Flashcard Sets</a></li>
</ul>

We recommend using our <a href="https://ellii.com/collections" target="_blank">Collections</a> to find content from all different sections based on the theme, target,&nbsp;subject, or competency.&nbsp;You can then filter by level or age. When you click into the content, you can save it to your folder of choice.

Here are some popular ways to use some of our Collections:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Find content by <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/new-content" target="_blank">What&#39;s New</a></li>
	<li>Find content by <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/grammar" target="_blank">Grammar Target and Level/Age</a></li>
	<li>Find content by <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/academic-subjects" target="_blank">Academic Subject&nbsp;and Level/Age</a></li>
	<li>Find content by <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/clb-competencies" target="_blank">CLB</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/casas-competencies" target="_blank">CASAS</a>&nbsp;competency</li>
</ul>

<h2><a id="targets"></a>What targets and themes should I focus on for each level?&nbsp;</h2>

Here are some suggested targets, themes, and learning objectives for each proficiency level. Visit our<a href="https://ellii.com/equivalencies" target="_blank"> Equivalency Scale</a> for more information about levels.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Ellii level</th>
			<th>Suggested grammar targets</th>
			<th>Suggested themes</th>
			<th>Learning objectives</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pre&nbsp;Beg</td>
			<td>be, have, simple present, nouns, adjectives, yes/no questions, can</td>
			<td>colors, shapes, letters, numbers, signs</td>
			<td>identify letters and some numbers, count, read signs, understand very familiar everyday words or expressions (survival English)&nbsp;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Low Beg</td>
			<td>be,simple present, singluar &amp; plural nouns, articles, pronnouns, imperative verbs</td>
			<td>familiar objects, food, daily routines, animals, family, body, familiar verbs, people, community</td>
			<td>say and read high-frequency words with visual support, describe everyday actions, describe familiar people and things, read and say short sentences, give date and time, give commands or warnings, describe daily routines</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>High Beg</td>
			<td>modals of ability - present, present progressive, simple present vs. present progressive, adverbs of frequency, prepositions of time, prepositions of place, parts of speech, simple past, there is there are, yes/no questions, wh- questions, adjectives</td>
			<td>stories, surveys, fables, shopping, restaurants,&nbsp;directions, travel, short narratives (fiction and non-fiction), health</td>
			<td>listen and read along to short stories, ask and answer simple questions, give personal information, write simple sentences,&nbsp;listen and comprehend more familiar information, understand and give directions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Low Int</td>
			<td>modals of ability - past, count vs. non-count nouns, quantifiers, possessive nouns, articles, adverbs of manner, prepositions, simple future, subject-verb agreement, pronouns, gerunds and infinitives, modals of advice, modals of possiblity, present perfect, present perfect progressive, comparatives</td>
			<td>workplace, sports, holidays and culture, fashion, biographies, education, school</td>
			<td>describe future plans, describe likes and preferences, follow and describe procedures, compare and contrast, make suggestions, discuss unreal situations and possibilities, understand information on less familiar topics, recognize informal English</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>High Int</td>
			<td>present perfect, present perfect progressive, modals verb collocations, first conditional, equative, second conditional, comparative and superlative adjectives, comparatives, present perfect, present perfect progressive, modas of necessity and obligation, conjunctions</td>
			<td>current events, workplace, relationships, environment, historic events, soft skills</td>
			<td>discuss complex issues, offer a personal response, use academic and business vocabulary,&nbsp;work independently in groups, understand more natural everyday English, critical thinking</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Adv</td>
			<td>tag questions, past progressive, future progressive, phrasal verbs, passive, causative verbs, third conditional, past modals, adjective clauses, adjective phrases, adverb clauses, passive causative, direct and reported speech, embedded questions, past perfect, past perfect progressive, subjunctive, noun clauses, future perfect, future perfect progressive</td>
			<td>psychology, technology, politics, business, media, human rights, social justice, crime and punishment, law</td>
			<td>debate and discuss controversial topics, work on projects, read some authentic materials, argue, understand and use collocations and phrasal verbs, comprehend information at natural speeds, understand more idiomatic language and slang</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2><a id="levels"></a>What if I don&#39;t know what level my students are?&nbsp;</h2>

Try&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/4226" target="_blank">Ellii&#39;s Placement Test</a>&nbsp;(60-minute, 4-skills) or <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/4164">Ellii&#39;s Placement Quiz</a> (30-minute, M/C). You can also use&nbsp;our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-our-new-grammar-tests" target="_blank">Grammar Tests</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/125/resources/2872" target="_blank">Language Scenes</a> for placement.&nbsp;

<h2><a id="assessment"></a>Can I assess my students&#39; progress with Ellii?</h2>

Ellii offers formative assessment opportunities in every lesson. In the digital versions, you can view your students&#39; results. (Some tasks require manual scoring by the teacher.)&nbsp; 
 
Each lesson section offers a different approach to assessment. Some lessons include a formal assessment task at the end.

For example, all of our Grammar Practice Worksheets lessons have a quiz to check the understanding of the target. Other lesson sections, such as&nbsp;Functional English, have assessments at the end of the lessons with ready-made rubrics.

We also have ready-made generic&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources" target="_blank">assessment tools</a> that you can use or adapt to your own needs. You&#39;ll also find summative assessments in our&nbsp;mini-courses and some&nbsp;serials.&nbsp;

<h2>What leveling and standards does Ellii align with?</h2>

Teachers all over the world use Ellii for a variety of ages and levels, so we do not stick with one specific system. We have an <a href="https://ellii.com/equivalencies" target="_blank">Equivalency Scale</a> to help you out and we try to tag our content with every search term imaginable. Some teachers use CEFR levels and others use CLBs or&nbsp;ELDs. Others use something more aligned with specific assessments, such as CASAS&nbsp;competencies or&nbsp;NRS levels.&nbsp;In your Account settings, you can choose to view Ellii&#39;s levels and correlations in a few different ways. We are&nbsp;always adding new tags and filters, so let us know what you or your program needs! The Focus area of our lessons also includes modalities that may be useful for you to see.&nbsp; 
 
We hope you find everything you need!&nbsp;

Scope & Sequence FAQs

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Every day, we get a ton of requests from teachers around the world. One tool that&rsquo;s been requested over and over again is Microsoft&rsquo;s Immersive&nbsp;Reader. Many of you will be happy to know that this valuable digital learning tool is now available to use within our platform!

New to Immersive Reader? This interactive learning tool helps improve reading and writing for language learners at all levels by reading text out loud and highlighting&nbsp;each word as it&rsquo;s being read.

Students can customize their reading experience by choosing&nbsp;to listen to a female or male voice and by&nbsp;adjusting the voice speed to their liking. They can also click on any word to hear it spoken out loud and to see a picture of the term for&nbsp;an added visual aid. 
 
<a href="#demo">Watch this video</a> to see it in action.&nbsp;

<img alt="Ellii lesson with Immersive Reader open" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2312/content_Microsoft-Immersive-Reader-On-Ellii_01.jpg" />

<h2>Benefits of Immersive Reader for Students</h2>

This powerful tool is helpful for all students, regardless of age, level, or ability.&nbsp;Not only can it help students with their comprehension and understanding of a text, but it can also help learners improve their reading skills, widen their vocabulary, and enhance their grammar.

<h2>How to Use Immersive Reader on Ellii in 3 Simple Steps</h2>

Here&#39;s how to quickly&nbsp;launch&nbsp;Immersive Reader on the Ellii platform:

<ol>
	<li>Click on any of our lessons with a reading, and open the Task Player.</li>
	<li>Go to any reading task and look for a blue button on the right-hand side of your screen that resembles&nbsp;an open book with a volume symbol on it. When you&nbsp;hover over the button it should say &quot;Immersive Reader.&quot;</li>
	<li>Click on that button to launch&nbsp;Immersive Reader inside our platform.</li>
</ol>

<img alt="Immersive Reader button" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2313/content_Microsoft-Immersive-Reader-On-Ellii_02.jpg" />

<h2>Enhance Their Reading Experience with More Customization Features</h2>

In addition to adjusting the sound and speed of the voice, students can customize their reading experience even further.

Under Text Preferences, students can choose the text size, increase the spacing, adjust the font, and select a background color theme to help improve&nbsp;readability.

Under Grammar Options, language learners can choose to show the syllables or highlight different parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Both of these options can&nbsp;help&nbsp;increase reading comprehension. (Note that this is an automated feature and may have some limitations. If you or your students spot any errors, try using this as a learning opportunity.) 
 
Finally, under Reading Preferences, students can choose to focus on&nbsp;either one line, three lines, or five lines of text. This way, students can concentrate&nbsp;on a few lines at a time without getting distracted or feeling overwhelmed by the rest of the text. They can&nbsp;also turn the picture dictionary on or off and adjust the translation to their preferred language.

<img alt="Immersive Reader settings open" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2314/content_Microsoft-Immersive-Reader-On-Ellii_03.jpg" />

Please note that the translation feature may not always be useful since AI doesn&rsquo;t always translate in context.

For more information, please read our <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/258-how-to-use-the-immersive-reader">help doc</a>.&nbsp;

<h2><a id="demo"></a>Watch: Immersive Reader Demo</h2>

Ready to see the Immersive Reader tool in action? Watch Rachel show you how to use Immersive Reader in your class&nbsp;via Ellii.

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sJk1rcJv6QY?si=0fEQeERXIPyzWRZ-" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>

How to Use Microsoft’s Immersive Reader on Ellii

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Are you attending TESOL this year? The&nbsp;convention welcomes thousands of educators from across the globe annually and this year Ellii (formerly ESL Library) is participating&nbsp;as a Platinum Sponsor.&nbsp;

TESOL is a&nbsp;hybrid event, which means you can join us online or in person!&nbsp; 
 
If you&#39;re in Pittsburgh,&nbsp;Pennsylvania, come see&nbsp;us in person at Booth 227 in the exhibitors&#39; hall.&nbsp;If you&#39;re attending virtually from home, you can find us at our <a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/viewdetails/exhibitors/ellii?utm_campaign=Pre-TESOL+2022+Virtual&amp;utm_content=Pre%3DTESOL+2022&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=customer.io" rel="noopener noreferrer 
nofollow" target="_blank">virtual booth</a>.&nbsp;

Looking forward to seeing you there!

<h1>Presentation Times</h1>

We&#39;ll be presenting throughout the event, and you can join in regardless of where you are. <a href="https://www.tesol.org/convention-2022/registration">Make sure to register first</a>.

To find each session online,&nbsp;<a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/view-schedule" rel="noopener noreferrer 
nofollow" target="_blank">head to the schedule</a> and click through the time slots.&nbsp; 
 
This page will be updated with recorded versions of the sessions as they are made available.&nbsp;

<h2>Wednesday</h2>

<h3>Creating Quick and Engaging Flashcard&nbsp;Activities</h3>

8⁠⁠:⁠⁠30&ndash;9⁠⁠:⁠⁠15&nbsp;am&nbsp;EDT &mdash; <a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/ID%202270%20Creating%20Quick%20and%20Engaging%20Flashcard%20Activities.mp4" rel="noopener noreferrer 
nofollow" target="_blank">View Recording</a>&nbsp;

<h3>Digital Speaking Tasks for Assessment and Engagement</h3>

1⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;1⁠⁠:⁠⁠45&nbsp;pm&nbsp;EDT &mdash;&nbsp;<a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/ID%202271%20Digital%20Speaking%20Tasks%20for%20Assessment%20and%20Engagement.mp4" rel="noopener noreferrer 
nofollow" target="_blank">View Recording</a>&nbsp;

<h3>TESOL Coffee Chat with&nbsp;Ellii&nbsp;</h3>

5⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;6⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&nbsp;pm&nbsp;EDT&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;<a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/TESOL22_96660302009_CC1.mp4">View Recording</a>&nbsp;

<h2>Thursday</h2>

<h3>Teaching Social Justice Topics Online</h3>

10⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;10⁠⁠:⁠⁠45&nbsp;am&nbsp;EDT&nbsp;&mdash; <a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/ID%202247%20Teaching%20Social%20Justice%20Topics%20Online%20with%20ESL%20Library.mp4">View Recording</a>

<h3>Social-Emotional Learning</h3>

11⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;11⁠⁠:⁠⁠45&nbsp;am&nbsp;EDT&nbsp;&mdash; <a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/ID%202272%20Social-Emotional%20Learning%20with%20ESL%20Library.mp4">View Recording</a>

<h3>Using Images to Elicit, Teach, and Reinforce Target&nbsp;Structures</h3>

3⁠⁠:⁠⁠30&ndash;4⁠⁠:⁠⁠15&nbsp;pm&nbsp;EDT &mdash; Room 325 (livestreamed to virtual attendees)

<h2>Friday</h2>

<h3>Maximizing Student Success Using Ellii (⁠⁠formerly ELS&nbsp;Library⁠⁠) Content and Courseware</h3>

11⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;11⁠⁠:⁠⁠45&nbsp;am&nbsp;EDT &mdash; Room 325 (livestreamed to virtual attendees)

<div class="white-box">
Which presentation are you most looking forward to attending?
</div>

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Ellii Team