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

Teaching with Ellii

<blockquote>
<p>My spelling is wobbly. It&rsquo;s good spelling but it wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong&nbsp;places.</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Winnie the Pooh</p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Spelling Practice</h1>

<p>Are you working on spelling with your beginners or young learners? Try ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s new digital&nbsp;<strong>See &amp; Spell</strong> task. (Scroll down for video demo.) With your <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Plus</a> subscription, you can now assign this digital task to your students for homework or in-class work. Your students can do the&nbsp;task on any mobile device or&nbsp;computer.</p>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

<p>The See &amp; Spell task type is called Listen &amp; Spell in some&nbsp;sections.</p>
</div>

<h1>Assign Tasks</h1>

<p>Go to a Word Bank or Phonics Stories lesson and toggle to <strong>Digital</strong>. Then choose <strong>Assign Tasks</strong> and assign the See &amp; Spell or Listen &amp; Spell task with the due date of your choice to the class of your&nbsp;choice.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/122-how-to-assign-digital-homework">How to Assign Tasks (Digital Homework)</a></p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Task Features</h1>

<p>The See &amp; Spell task features the key vocabulary from the lesson and is used as a vocabulary review task in many low‑level lessons. Students listen to and/or see an image of the vocabulary they have already been introduced to. They then have to type the word&nbsp;correctly.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/140/content_tuxedo.png" width="320" /></p>

<h1>Review</h1>

<p>After students complete the See &amp; Spell task, they can submit their answers and view their results. If there is an audio hint, the audio player is also available as they check their results. If they are happy with their results, they can move on to a different task that you have assigned. If they want to try the task again to achieve better results, they can do that&nbsp;too.<br />
<br />
Note: Unlike our other Type in the Blanks tasks, the See &amp; Spell task is mainly used in literacy and beginner materials and is not case sensitive.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/141/content_See-Spell-Results.png" width="320" /></p>

<h1>View Results</h1>

<p>As a teacher, you can see your students&rsquo; See &amp; Spell results after they complete the task. Make sure you are logged in. Then go to Class Prep and navigate to&nbsp;Results.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/129-how-to-access-digital-homework-teachers">How to View Digital Homework Results</a></p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Lesson Sections</h2>

<p>The See &amp; Spell Type task is currently available in the following sections for ESL&nbsp;Library members who have a <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Plus</a>&nbsp;account:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons">Word Bank</a> (More coming soon.)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons">Phonics Stories</a> (Scroll to the bottom of the Phonics &amp; Pronunciation section to see these stories. This task type is called Listen &amp; Spell in this section.)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources">Visual Learning </a> (See Idioms. More coming soon.)</li>
</ul>

<p>We will be adding this task type to other beginner and young learner lessons as we add them to our&nbsp;library.</p>

<p>Look for the computer screen icon to check if a lesson has digital&nbsp;tasks.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/142/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-15_at_9.47.26_AM.png" width="400" /></p>

<h1>&nbsp;</h1>

<div class="videoWrapper">&nbsp;</div>


See & Spell: Interactive Spelling and Listening Practice for Beginner English Learners

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

Announcements

<h1>Product Feature Update</h1>

<p>Did you know that you can now broadcast (launch) or preview (view Answer Key)&nbsp;our digital tasks from the Digital tab on our lesson pages?&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/322/content_Screen_Shot_2020-05-19_at_1.36.17_PM.png" /></p>

<h1>Broadcast Demo</h1>

<p>Here is a demo that shows you how to use the broadcast tool in a live class. To use Broadcast in a class, you will need a shared screen with your students, such as an interactive white board or&nbsp;projector (in a traditional classroom)&nbsp;or a video conferencing platform (in a live&nbsp;online class).</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1qa_8DlMMVA" width="560"></iframe></div>

<p>For more information about our digital tools, view these <a href="https://help.ellii.com/category/110-digital-tools">Help&nbsp;Docs</a>!</p>

<h1>1. Broadcast</h1>

<p>If you want to try or use a digital task exactly as your students do when you <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/130-how-to-access-digital-homework-students">assign a digital task</a>, you can now click the rocket and task name on the left side of the task list under the heading Launch. This will automatically launch the digital task so you can try it with your students in class (using a projector or interactive whiteboard). You can also use Broadcast&nbsp;to preview a digital task as a student would see it before you assign it&nbsp;(view the slides on your computer or mobile&nbsp;device). The Broadcast feature is available to use on a shared screen on the&nbsp;Standard or Plus plan.</p>

<h3>Uses of Broadcast</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Teachers can try a digital task exactly as students see an assigned&nbsp;task.</li>
	<li>Teachers can try a digital task together with their students on a whiteboard or&nbsp;projector.</li>
	<li>Teachers can take up digital homework with their students in&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>Teachers can save on paper instead of printing all the pages from the PDF version (e.g., launch a Read &amp; Listen task and read it over together in&nbsp;class).</li>
	<li>Teachers can easily display a Read &amp; Listen&nbsp;or Dialogue task while playing the corresponding&nbsp;audio.</li>
	<li>Teachers can broadcast Warm‑Up tasks to their whole class on a large&nbsp;screen.</li>
	<li>Teachers can broadcast Discussion tasks or group activities to their whole class on a large&nbsp;screen.</li>
	<li>Teachers can model how to do a digital task type before assigning it.</li>
</ul>

<h1>2. Answer Key</h1>

<p>If you want to quickly preview the answers or contents of a scorable digital task on one page before you launch or assign the task, click on the Answers&nbsp;on the right side of the task&nbsp;list.</p>

<h3>Uses of Answer Key</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Teachers can view digital answers and incorrect choices (where&nbsp;applicable).</li>
	<li>Teachers can quickly preview digital task on one page before assigning a task (instead of launching to see slideshow version as students see&nbsp;it).</li>
	<li>Teachers can quickly preview a task to see the key&nbsp;vocabulary.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Note</h1>

<p>Broadcast and Answer Key work on desktop or mobile.&nbsp;If you are viewing a digital task list on a mobile device, it will look like&nbsp;this:</p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/323/content_Image_from_iOS__1_.png" /></p>

<p>If you only have access to the&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Standard plan</a>&nbsp;features, some of the digital task types are not assignable, but you can do them together with your class on a shared screen. If you are not logged in at all or are not a paid user, you will not be able to launch or view answers&nbsp;for any digital tasks, but you will see the task list. Non-scorable (Reference) tasks&nbsp;(e.g., Read &amp; Listen) have no answers and will appear as n/a in the Answer Key column.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="question"><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/122-how-to-assign-digital-homework">How to Assign Tasks (Digital Homework)</a></li>
	<li class="question"><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/69-how-to-sign-up-as-a-new-member">How to Sign Up as a New Member</a></li>
	<li class="question"><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/128-how-to-invite-students-to-esl-library-digital-without-an-email-address">How to Invite Students to ESL Library Digital (without an email address)</a></li>
</ul>


Broadcast or Preview Digital Tasks

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<p>Wondering what the ESL&nbsp;Library publishing team has in the works for next month? Here&rsquo;s a taste of some of the materials we&rsquo;re working on! Be sure to watch your inbox for our monthly newsletter to see our full list of new releases each&nbsp;month.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/127/lessons/3181"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/127_Using-a-Dictionary.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/127/lessons/3181">Using a Dictionary</a></h2>

<p>In this new lesson from <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/127/lessons">Reading in English</a>, students will learn and practice how to read and use a dictionary&nbsp;entry.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/3184"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/81_Rio-de-Janeiro.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/3184">Rio de Janeiro</a></h2>

<p>Are your students enjoying learning about some of the world&rsquo;s major cities? Our next <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons">Famous Places</a> lesson will be all about Rio, the home of&nbsp;Carnaval.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1572"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/89_Simple-Present_What-Is-This.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1572">What Is This?</a></h2>

<p>In 2020, we&rsquo;ll be updating our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons">Basic Grammar Sentences</a> section. This section will get new illustrations and formatting as well as a content update. In this first revised lesson, students practice <em>this</em> and&nbsp;<em>that</em>.</p>
</div>

<h1>Resources</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/104_Assessment.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/3182">Pictorial Needs Assessment (Literacy)</a></h2>

<p>In this new resource from our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources">Assessment Tools</a> section, newcomers can choose what real‑world themes they want to study based on pictures. Choose from 1, 2, or 4 pictures per&nbsp;page.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/126/resources/"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/126_Afternoon-Routine.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/126/resources/3183">Afternoon Routine</a></h2>

<p>Did your young learners enjoy putting Benji&rsquo;s morning routine&nbsp;in order? Benji is back in this new resource from <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/126/resources">Young Learner Activities</a>. Coming&nbsp;soon!</p>
</div>

<h1>Flashcards</h1>

<p>Let&rsquo;s celebrate! Next month we&rsquo;ll be adding a new flashcard section featuring all types of&nbsp;parties.</p>


Coming in February 2020

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

Conferences

<p>We&rsquo;ve just returned from our annual trip to Toronto for the TESL Ontario Conference. This year&rsquo;s conference was at the Toronto Marriot in the Eaton Centre, and the theme was <em>Cultivating Innovation and&nbsp;Inclusion</em>.</p>

<p>Approximately 25% of ESL&nbsp;Library subscribers are Canadian, and this annual conference gives us direct access to teachers and administrators in the field. Through the teachers and presenters, we also learn more about the needs of English learners across Canada, especially&nbsp;newcomers.</p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/120/content_Tara_TESL-Ontario-Conference-2019_02.jpg" width="320" /></p>

<p>In addition to having a booth where our subscribers can come and ask questions and leave feedback, we also do a presentation to share what&rsquo;s new and upcoming. This year&rsquo;s session was a packed house with only one attendee who had never used ESL&nbsp;Library!</p>

<p>Our primary goal for attending this conference each year is for research and professional development. This year we attended sessions on LINC, PBLA, literacy, online assessment, and blended learning. We also attended Gavin Dudeney&rsquo;s keynote: <em>Technology in Language Teaching (What works, What&nbsp;doesn&rsquo;t</em>).</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Some people do call it flipped learning. I still call it&nbsp;homework.</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Gavin Dudeney</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Much like the international TESOL conference we attend each spring, the requests and feedback we receive at TESL Ontario help us plan our road map and choose our priorities for the upcoming&nbsp;year.</p>

<h2>Goal-Setting Updates from TESL&nbsp;18</h2>

<p>Before attending a conference like TESL Ontario, we always take some time to reflect on our goal‑setting from the previous year to check on our progress, just as teachers and learners do. Here are six goals we achieved in 2019 based on requests, feedback, and learning at last year&rsquo;s TESL Ontario&nbsp;Conference:</p>

<h4>1. Develop More Holidays &amp; Events Lessons for Low&nbsp;Intermediate</h4>

<p>At last year&rsquo;s conference,&nbsp;we had lots of requests for low‑level holiday lessons, including&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/2948">Mother&rsquo;s Day</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/2738">Father&rsquo;s Day</a>, and International Women&rsquo;s Day (in editing). We&rsquo;ll continue to add lower-level versions to our holiday lessons in&nbsp;2020.</p>

<h4>2. Develop More CLB‑Aligned Materials for CLB‑2&ndash;3</h4>

<p>As requested, we&rsquo;ve&nbsp;just completed an overhaul of our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons">Simple Sentences</a> section, which now matches our revised <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres">flashcard</a> sets (all updated this year). We&rsquo;ve also updated our entire <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons">Functional English</a> section with integrated tasks and tools and added some new lessons. Both of these sections have a heavy focus on benchmarks for CLB‑2&ndash;3.</p>

<h4>3. Add More Materials for Literacy (especially for numeracy)</h4>

<p>We&rsquo;ve been plugging away at our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons">Phonics &amp; Pronunciation</a> section all year, and we received lots of great feedback about it at this year&rsquo;s conference. We also created a number of materials specifically for <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/31/lessons">Numeracy</a>, including <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/23/flashcard_categories/125">Numbers</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/18/flashcard_categories/145">Money</a> flashcards as well as literacy&nbsp;lessons on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/121/lessons">numbers, phone numbers, the date, money, and checks</a>. We also added a Word Bank lesson on&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2545">Banking</a>.</p>

<h4>4. Add Materials for Digital Literacy</h4>

<p>In Canada, many newcomers are unfamiliar with computers, which are needed for work, study, and community services. This year we added <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/11/flashcard_categories/24">computer flashcards</a>&nbsp;as well as lessons for digital literacy:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2489">Computers</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2505">Using a Computer,</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2511">Using the Internet</a>. We also made it easier for students to access ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s digital tasks for homework or classwork. For an example, see <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/140-how-to-invite-students-to-esl-library-digital-without-an-email-address">How to Invite Students to ESL&nbsp;Library (without an email address)</a>. Also see more <a href="https://help.ellii.com/category/110-digital-tools">Help Docs on Digital&nbsp;Tools</a>.</p>

<h4>5. Add Integrated Assessment for&nbsp;PBLA</h4>

<p>Another request from last year was for integrated assessment tools in our lessons. We&rsquo;ve started doing this in many of our lesson sections, including Functional English, Super Simple Questions, English Foundations, and more. We&rsquo;ve also added many self‑assessment and learner reflection tools to our CLB‑aligned lessons based on feedback we received after last year&rsquo;s&nbsp;conference.</p>

<h4>6. Create a New Grammar Section for CLB 1&ndash;2</h4>

<p>To meet this need, we created a new lesson section called <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons">Super Simple Grammar</a>. This section has 9 lessons and we&rsquo;ll be adding a few more in 2020. If there is a beginner grammar target that you would like to see covered in this section, please let us know in the comments&nbsp;below!</p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/119/content_Tara_TESL-Ontario-Conference-2019_01.jpg" /></p>

<h2>Goal‑Setting at TESL&nbsp;19</h2>

<p>While attending this year&rsquo;s TESL Ontario sessions, managing the booth, and doing our own presentation, we received many useful requests, suggestions, and ideas for next&nbsp;year!</p>

<p>Here is our goal‑setting summary that we&rsquo;ll be referring to throughout&nbsp;2020:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Ensure that all new assessment tools have a check box to indicate whether the task is for skill‑using or assessment&nbsp;purposes.</li>
	<li>Focus on reading strategies and practice for all&nbsp;levels.</li>
	<li>Add higher‑level, CLB‑aligned comprehension questions to readings for CLB&nbsp;5+.</li>
	<li>Create pictorial Needs Assessment resources for&nbsp;literacy.</li>
	<li>Add more listening tasks for practice and assessment on LINC&nbsp;themes.</li>
	<li>Continue integrating grammar in our lessons as we have been doing throughout&nbsp;2019.</li>
	<li>Make it easy for a teacher to view a student&rsquo;s individual progress (e‑portfolio style).</li>
	<li>Create more writing lessons with integrated reading&nbsp;passages.</li>
	<li>Increase font size for literacy and use more visuals in our literacy&nbsp;lessons.</li>
	<li>Help ESL&nbsp;Library subscribers discover what&rsquo;s new (product features, lesson sections,&nbsp;etc.).</li>
</ul>

<p>If you were unable&nbsp;to attend this year&rsquo;s TESL Ontario Conference or&nbsp;didn&rsquo;t get a chance to chat with us last week, feel free to add your request or feedback for consideration in the comments below. You can also use our <a href="https://ellii.com/contact">Contact Us</a>&nbsp;form.</p>

<p>A big thank you to TESL Ontario and all of the presenters and&nbsp;exhibitors.</p>

<p>See you next&nbsp;year!</p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/122/content_Tara_TESL-Ontario-Conference-2019_04.jpg" /></p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/123/content_Tara_TESL-Ontario-Conference-2019_03.jpg" /></p>


TESL Ontario Conference 2019

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<p>It&rsquo;s been a busy year at ESL&nbsp;Library, and next year promises to be productive too! Here is a taste of some of the new and revised lessons and resources coming this&nbsp;January.</p>

<h1>Lessons</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons/3171"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/118_g.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons/3171">/g/</a></h2>

<p>In this new lesson from <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons">Phonics &amp; Pronunciation</a>, students will practice words with hard and soft&nbsp;<em>g</em>.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/1818"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/91_Clothing.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/1818">Clothing</a></h2>

<p>We&rsquo;ve&nbsp;just about finished the redesign of&nbsp;our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/">Simple Sentences</a> section. This revised lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/1818">Clothing</a> will help learners describe all sorts of clothing, styles, and&nbsp;patterns.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/1817"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/91_Health.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/1817">Health</a></h2>

<p>The revised version of this popular <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/1817">Health</a> lesson will match our new Body, Health &amp; Medicine flashcards. It will also have assessment tools&nbsp;and a new look and&nbsp;feel.</p>
</div>

<h1>Resources</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/3173"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/103_Grammar-and-Usage.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/3173">Pronunciation Rules: Hard &amp; Soft&nbsp;C</a></h2>

<p>In this upcoming resource from our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/">Grammar &amp; Usage</a>&nbsp;section, students will learn to recognize the pronunciation of <em>c</em> based on spelling differences. We&rsquo;ll also be adding pronunciation cards for these&nbsp;sounds.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/126/resources/3174"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/126_Morning-Routine.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/126/resources/3174">Morning Routine</a></h2>

<p>In this upcoming resource from our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/126/resources/">Young Learner Activities</a> section, kids will learn some basic vocabulary about morning routines. They&rsquo;ll also practice putting a picture story in the correct order.</p>
</div>

<h1>Flashcards</h1>

<p>We&rsquo;ve had many requests for flashcards that feature idioms and phrasal verbs. We&rsquo;re just getting started with this section, and we&rsquo;ll have some new sets available this January. Stay&nbsp;tuned!</p>


Coming in January 2020

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<blockquote>
<p>A naturally curious mind takes interest in a wide range of subjects to find connections to help solve everyday problems&nbsp;better.</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Thomas Oppong</p>
</blockquote>

<p>We often hear the saying that <a href="https://medium.com/swlh/all-knowledge-starts-with-curiosity-422f70170a95">all knowledge starts with curiosity</a>. This week, while listening to a podcast, I heard something that made even more sense than that. Bren&eacute; Brown, a social scientist, suggests that we need to know <strong>at least a little bit</strong> about something in order to become curious about&nbsp;it.</p>

<p>You can use current events and trends to spark your students&rsquo; curiosity. Once they know a little bit (and show interest in learning more), follow up with one or more of our topical lesson&nbsp;plans.</p>

<h1>Trending This Week: The Bay of&nbsp;Fundy</h1>

<p>If your students have never been to the east coast of Canada, they may have no knowledge, and likewise no curiosity, about the Bay of Fundy, one of North America&rsquo;s natural wonders. A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X19308781#t0005">report</a> that came out this week had #BayofFundy trending on Twitter and inspired this&nbsp;post.</p>

<p>Researchers have just finished surveying the seafloor of the Bay of Fundy and reported finding 1.8 million items of trash. Plastic bags made up approximately half of the litter that was&nbsp;found.</p>

<h1>Pairing Trends with Topical Lessons</h1>

<p>Now that you have this little bit of knowledge, are you curious to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/ocean-pollution-seafloor-junk-bay-of-fundy-study-1.5360145">learn more</a>? This is where ESL&nbsp;Library comes&nbsp;in.</p>

<p>After finding an interesting news item that sparks your students&rsquo; interest,&nbsp;visit ESL Library and search for related lessons. For this week&rsquo;s trend, you would find a Famous Places lesson on the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/1433">Bay of Fundy</a>. In our Discussion Starters section, you would also find related lessons on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1285">Ocean Garbage</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1257">Banning Plastic&nbsp;Bags</a>.</p>

<p>If you&rsquo;re interested in the flipped classroom approach, you could assign some digital tasks to your students from The Bay of Fundy lesson.* In addition to learning about the world, your students can increase their vocabulary, improve their reading and listening comprehension, and practice speaking about relevant topics that people in their communities are also discussing. They&rsquo;ll also improve their digital&nbsp;literacy.</p>

<p>As your students learn a bit about this natural wonder of the world, you may notice their curiosity heading down another path. They might show interest in learning about other <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/1/lessons">environmental issues</a> or other famous Canadian places. They may even show interest in researching other natural wonders of the world, such as <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/1412">Mount Everest</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/2401">The Great Barrier&nbsp;Reef</a>.</p>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>*Note</h5>

<p>As an ESL&nbsp;Library subscriber on&nbsp;a <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Standard</a> plan, the&nbsp;Read &amp; Listen digital task is available for you to assign to your students. As a Plus user, all of the interactive tasks are available to assign for homework or in‑class&nbsp;use.</p>
</div>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/1433">Bay of Fundy</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1285">Ocean Garbage</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1257">Banning Plastic Bags</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/111/lessons/2214">Earth Summit Project</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/111/lessons/2233">Canada Project</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2919">Wonder</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/standing-up-for-climate-change-and-the-present-progressive-tense">Standing Up for Climate Change (and the Present Progressive&nbsp;Tense)</a></li>
</ul>


Sparking Their Curiosity: Pairing Trends with Language Learning

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<p>We&rsquo;re planning ahead and now you can too! Here&rsquo;s a taste of some new materials that are currently in development and will be ready for you to use this December. In addition to adding new materials each month, we always spend some time improving our existing materials. Watch for our month-end newsletter for the full listing of what&rsquo;s <a href="https://ellii.com/calendar">new and featured</a> each month.</p>

<h1>Lessons</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/3133"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/80_Ruth-Bader-Ginsburg.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/3133">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</a></h2>

<p>In this upcoming&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons">Famous People</a> lesson, students will learn about an associate justice of the US Supreme&nbsp;Court.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons/3127"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/118_a.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons/3127">/ɑ/</a></h2>

<p>Our next <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons">Phonics &amp; Pronunciation</a> lesson teaches students to reproduce the <span class="inlineBlock">/ɑ/</span> sound. They will also compare <span class="inlineBlock">/ɑ/</span> <span class="inlineBlock">and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons/3129">/&aelig;/</a></span>.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/127/lessons/3136"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/127_Understanding-Implied-Meaning.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/127/lessons/3136">Understanding Implied Meaning</a></h2>

<p>Our new <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/127/lessons">Reading in English</a> section is getting a lot of attention! In this next lesson, students will learn how to recognize and understand information that is not directly&nbsp;stated.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/3135"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/81_Tokyo.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/3135">Tokyo</a></h2>

<p>We&rsquo;ve recently added a number of reading lessons on world‑famous cities, such as Toronto, New York, and London. In this upcoming&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons">Famous Places</a> lesson, students will learn about the busy capital of&nbsp;Japan.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/1819"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/91_Feelings.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/1819">Feelings</a></h2>

<p>We&rsquo;ve been working hard at updating our grammar‑based lesson sections. Watch for an upcoming revision of our popular <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons">Simple Sentences</a> lesson on Feelings that matches our updated <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/4/flashcard_categories/39">Feelings &amp; Conditions</a> flashcard&nbsp;set.</p>
</div>

<h1>Resources</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/114/resources/3134"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/114_Repairs-and-Maintenance.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/114/resources/3134">Repairs &amp; Maintenance</a></h2>

<p>In this new&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/114/resources">Listening</a> resource, students will practice forming and responding to repair questions related to home, auto, and&nbsp;tech.</p>
</div>

<h1>Flashcards</h1>

<p>Do you teach <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/32/lessons">Science</a> to ELLs? Watch for our upcoming flashcards of things you would use in a science&nbsp;lab!</p>


Coming in December 2019

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<blockquote>
<p>Ecosystems are collapsing.</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Greta Thunberg</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Did any of your students join the recent climate strikes? Are your learners interested in talking about climate change? How do they feel about using the term <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/17/why-the-guardian-is-changing-the-language-it-uses-about-the-environment">&ldquo;climate&nbsp;crisis&rdquo;</a>?</p>

<p>We have a new biography lesson on youth spokesperson <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/3121">Greta Thunberg</a> (Low Int &ndash; Int), who has been getting a lot of media attention lately (both positive and negative). In this lesson, students learn a bit of history about the youth movement and review vocabulary related to protests. This lesson also includes a mini‑lesson and review of the present progressive tense. This tense is useful for talking about climate change, an action that is happening right&nbsp;now.</p>

<h1>The Present Progressive</h1>

<p>After you try the Greta Thunberg lesson, you can show this video. It features students being interviewed about why climate change is so important to today&rsquo;s youth. Ask your students to watch for use of the present progressive tense. Every time they hear someone use this tense in the video, have them stand&nbsp;up!</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1cXgCR_dAzA" width="560"></iframe></div>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1263">Climate Change</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/3121">Greta Thunberg</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2464">Present Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/1/lessons">The Environment</a></li>
</ul>


Standing Up for Climate Change (and the Present Progressive Tense)

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<blockquote>
<p>Blended learning is an approach to learning that combines face-to-face and online learning&nbsp;experiences.</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;<a href="https://www.teachthought.com/learning/the-definition-of-blended-learning/">TeachThoughtStaff</a></p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Blended Learning</h2>

<p>Are you experimenting with blended learning and the flipped classroom approach? Try ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s new interactive <strong>Listen &amp; Type</strong> task. (Scroll down for video demo.) As a <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Plus plan</a> user, you&nbsp;can now assign this task to your students for homework or in-class work (with headphones). Your students can do the interactive task on any mobile device or&nbsp;computer. (As a Standard plan user, you can launch this task in class and work on it together on a shared screen.)</p>

<p>If you&rsquo;re an ESL&nbsp;Library subscriber, your students are likely familiar with this task type because many of our topical paper-based lessons have a similar gap‑fill task. Now, in addition to getting reading, listening, and spelling practice, your students can improve their digital&nbsp;literacy.</p>

<p>Note: The Listen &amp; Type task doesn&rsquo;t have to be used as a final task in a reading lesson. It can be assigned as a preview task, a review task, or an assessment or diagnostic task. It&rsquo;s also useful for students who want extra homework practice. Other parts of our lessons, such as discussion questions, surveys, and role‑plays, are more suitable for face‑to‑face, in‑class&nbsp;work.</p>

<h2>Assign Tasks</h2>

<p>Go to the reading lesson of your choice and toggle to <strong>Digital</strong>. Then choose <strong>Assign Tasks</strong>&nbsp;and assign the Listen &amp; Type task with the due date of your choice to the class of your&nbsp;choice.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/122-how-to-assign-digital-homework">How to Assign Tasks (Digital Homework)</a></p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Task Features</h2>

<p>The Listen &amp; Type task features the main reading and audio recording from a reading‑based ESL&nbsp;Library lesson. As students listen to the recording they can follow along with the text and type in the missing&nbsp;words.</p>

<p><img class="with-border" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/11/IMG_2861.PNG" width="320" /></p>

<h2>Review</h2>

<p>After students complete the Listen &amp; Type task, they can listen again and review any mistakes they&nbsp;made.</p>

<p><img class="with-border" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/12/IMG_2862.PNG" width="320" /></p>

<h2>View Results</h2>

<p>As a teacher, you can see your students&rsquo; Listen &amp; Type results after they complete the&nbsp;task. Make sure you are logged in. Then go to Class Prep and navigate to Results.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/129-how-to-access-digital-homework-teachers">How to View Digital Homework Results</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p><img class="with-border" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/13/IMG_2864.PNG" width="320" /></p>

<h2>Lesson Sections</h2>

<p>The Listen &amp; Type task is currently available in the following sections:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Discussion Starters</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons">Holidays &amp; Events</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons">Famous People</a> (Low Int)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons/">Phonics Stories</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/117/lessons">Discovery</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Look for the computer screen icon to check if a lesson has digital&nbsp;tasks.</p>

<p><img height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/8/Screen_Shot_2019-07-22_at_2.51.22_PM.png" width="400" /></p>

<h2>Listen &amp; Type: Demo</h2>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z2BdzzP-B5Q" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/product-feature-update-matching-vocabulary-preview">Matching: Interactive Vocabulary Preview Task for English&nbsp;Learners</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/see-and-spell">See &amp; Spell: Interactive Spelling &amp; Listening Practice for Beginner English&nbsp;Learners</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/image-match-interactive-vocabulary-building-for-beginner-english-learners">Image Match: Vocabulary Building for Beginner ELLs</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/launch-or-preview-digital-tasks">Launch or Preview Digital&nbsp;Tasks</a></li>
</ul>


Listen & Type: An Interactive Task for Blended Learning

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<p>Have you seen ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s newest flashcard set: <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/20/flashcard_categories/65">Like &amp; Don&rsquo;t Like</a>? This inclusive set features multiple characters representing a variety of ages, genders, and skin tones, so you can easily find images that your students identify with. Each character card is portrayed with the following&nbsp;feelings:</p>

<ul>
	<li>love</li>
	<li>like</li>
	<li>don&rsquo;t mind</li>
	<li>don&rsquo;t like</li>
	<li>hate</li>
</ul>

<p>If you have low-level learners, we recommend printing a personal set of these flashcards for each student to use regularly in class. Your students can choose their preferred character before you print the class&nbsp;sets.</p>

<p><strong>Tip:</strong> Print one <em>love</em> flashcard of each character and tape these to your board. Then have each student write their name on the character they like (or look like). Print all of the sets you need in the sizes you wish. Print a set for yourself as well. (You can decide if you want to print the words on the front or back or not at all. See video demo&nbsp;below.)</p>

<p>Here are some ways to use our <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/20/flashcard_categories/65">Like &amp; Don&rsquo;t Like</a> flashcard&nbsp;set:</p>

<h1>Level Placement</h1>

<p>Are you looking for new activities to help place low-level students into appropriate class levels? Break the ice with a shy or quiet student by handing her a set of the Like &amp; Don&rsquo;t Like flashcards. Start with a simple theme (e.g., food, colors, animals, seasons, sports) and have the student point to or hold up the flashcard that matches her feeling about the word you say (or picture you&nbsp;show).</p>

<p>As your student becomes more comfortable, have her hold up the feeling card and make a sentence: <em>No, I don&rsquo;t like apples.</em> If the student is able to do that, you might extend the question to <em>Why?</em> Is she able to answer in a full sentence? Does she use any adjectives or conjunctions? If this seems too easy, think of some more difficult themes, such as entertainment genres (e.g., music, movies, famous&nbsp;people).</p>

<h1>Getting to Know You</h1>

<p>You can use a similar type of activity to break the ice with low-level learners in a new class. Choose a theme such as <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/13/flashcard_categories">food</a> and write a food word on the board (or show a flashcard). Have students walk around holding the flashcard that best expresses their feeling about this word or action. Students can then try to find like-minded people from their&nbsp;class.</p>

<p>Encourage them to learn each other&rsquo;s names by inviting them to share a sentence that summarizes their group&rsquo;s&nbsp;feeling.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Jos&eacute;:</th>
			<td>Alana, Boris, and I don&rsquo;t like&nbsp;mushrooms.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Class Surveys</h1>

<p>Do you need to find out how your students feel or felt about something related to your class or program? Pose a question and ask your students to hold up a card that best describes their response. This will allow you to easily survey your students&rsquo; feelings. Here are some&nbsp;examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Who liked this month&rsquo;s&nbsp;project?</li>
	<li>Who enjoyed yesterday&rsquo;s guest&nbsp;speaker?</li>
	<li>Who likes the topic of&nbsp;tornadoes?</li>
</ul>

<p>For practice, you can then ask classmates to describe each others&rsquo;&nbsp;feelings:</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Teacher:</th>
			<td>How did Alana feel about yesterday&rsquo;s&nbsp;class?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Boris:</th>
			<td>Alana loved it.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Teacher:</th>
			<td>How about Jos&eacute;?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Boris:</th>
			<td>Jos&eacute; didn&rsquo;t mind&nbsp;it.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Majority Rules</h1>

<p>Choose four of the cards from any character set (<em>love</em>, <em>like</em>, <em>dislike</em>, <em>hate</em>) and place a large-sized version of one feeling at each corner of your classroom. When you want students to show you how they feel about something, they can walk over to the appropriate corner. This will easily allow you to determine a majority and make a class decision. Again, have students practice using the&nbsp;language.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Teacher:</th>
			<td>Who likes playing dodgeball?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<td><em>[Students move to the appropriate corners]</em></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Teacher:</th>
			<td>How do Boris and Alana feel about&nbsp;dodgeball?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Jos&eacute;:</th>
			<td>They hate playing&nbsp;dodgeball.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Teacher:</th>
			<td>Does Jos&eacute; like playing&nbsp;dodgeball?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Alana:</th>
			<td>No, he hates playing&nbsp;dodgeball.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Listening Response</h1>

<p>Invite your new students to write and present short oral presentations about their likes and dislikes. They can also say things that they hate or don&rsquo;t mind. After each presentation, ask some follow-up questions to the other students in the&nbsp;class.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Teacher:</th>
			<td>How does Alana feel about&nbsp;cars?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<td><em>[Everyone holds up a &ldquo;love&rdquo;&nbsp;card]</em></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Teacher:</th>
			<td>How does Alana feel about&nbsp;spaghetti?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<td><em>[Everyone holds up a &ldquo;hate&rdquo; card except Jos&eacute;, who holds up&nbsp;&ldquo;like&rdquo;]</em></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Teacher:</th>
			<td>Jos&eacute;, ask Alana if she likes&nbsp;spaghetti.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Jos&eacute;:</th>
			<td>Alana, do you like&nbsp;spaghetti?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Alana:</th>
			<td>No, I hate spaghetti.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Reading Response</h1>

<p>The above activity can also be done to recap a story. This is especially useful for checking your students&rsquo; understanding about character development. To avoid calling on the same person all of the time, call on a person who has a reaction that is surprising or different from the rest of the&nbsp;class.</p>

<ul>
	<li>How does Charlotte feel about Wilbur at the end of the&nbsp;book?</li>
	<li>How did you feel about the&nbsp;ending?</li>
</ul>

<h1>Gerunds &amp; Infinitives</h1>

<p><em>Love</em>, <em>like</em>, <em>don&rsquo;t like</em>, and <em>hate</em> can be used with gerunds or infinitives with no major change in meaning. Print some flashcard action sets, such as <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/4/flashcard_categories/27">daily routines</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/8/flashcard_categories/63">job actions</a>. Then have students practice making sentences with <em>love</em>, <em>like</em>, <em>don&rsquo;t like</em>, and <em>hate</em> + gerunds and&nbsp;infinitives.</p>

<h1>Question Formation</h1>

<p>These flashcards can also be used for practicing question formation. Invite two students (Students&bsp;A and&nbsp;B) to the front of the class. Hold up a <em>like</em> or <em>love</em> flashcard with an action or noun flashcard (e.g., <em>chocolate</em> or <em>skiing</em>). Have Student&nbsp;A use the cards to make a question. <em>Do you like/love chocolate?</em> The other students will then hold up a feeling card that expresses their own personal answer. Student&nbsp;B will then choose some of the students from the classroom and express their responses: <em>Boris doesn&rsquo;t like chocolate. Alana loves chocolate.</em> Invite two more students to the front and change the question prompts to a new action or noun. <em>Do you like skiing/like to&nbsp;ski?</em></p>

<h1>Find Someone Who&hellip;</h1>

<p>These cards can be easily used to create a quick <em>Find Someone Who&hellip;</em> activity based on a theme you are teaching. If the theme is sports, you can shout out a sport (e.g., skiing). Students then choose a card that expresses their feeling about this sport. After students have chosen their feeling, you can tell them who to find. Here are some&nbsp;ideas:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Find someone who likes/loves/hates/doesn&rsquo;t&nbsp;like&hellip;</li>
	<li>Find someone who feels the same way as you&nbsp;about&hellip;</li>
	<li>Find someone who feels differently/the opposite&nbsp;about&hellip;</li>
</ul>

<table class="horizontal dialogue">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Jos&eacute;:</th>
			<td>Do you like&nbsp;skiing?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Alana:</th>
			<td>No, I don&rsquo;t. You love&nbsp;skiing?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Jos&eacute;:</th>
			<td>Yes!</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Alana:</th>
			<td>Why do you love&nbsp;skiing?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Jos&eacute;:</th>
			<td>I love all winter&nbsp;sports.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Alana:</th>
			<td>I don&rsquo;t like any winter&nbsp;sports!</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Predictions</h1>

<p>Place students in pairs or small groups and see how well they know each other. Ask a question and have students place their flashcard response behind their backs (or flipped over so their classmates can&rsquo;t&nbsp;see).</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Teacher:</th>
			<td>Do you like&nbsp;pizza?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<td><em>[Students choose and hide their response. Then they turn to each other and try to&nbsp;guess.]</em></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Boris:</th>
			<td><em>[To Alana]</em> You love pizza.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<td><em>[Alana shows Boris her response:&nbsp;&ldquo;hate&rdquo;]</em></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Boris:</th>
			<td>Really? You hate pizza. I&rsquo;m&nbsp;surprised!</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Alana:</th>
			<td><em>[To Boris]</em> You don&rsquo;t like&nbsp;pizza.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<td><em>[Boris shows Alana &ldquo;don&rsquo;t&nbsp;like&rdquo;]</em></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Boris:</th>
			<td>You know me too&nbsp;well.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>You might want to put these reactions on the&nbsp;board:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I&rsquo;m surprised.</li>
	<li>I&rsquo;m shocked.</li>
	<li>I thought I knew you&nbsp;better.</li>
	<li>I knew it.</li>
	<li>I know you well/too well.</li>
	<li>I&rsquo;m not surprised.</li>
	<li>I expected that.</li>
	<li>I was close.</li>
</ul>

<p>We hope you like these flashcards and ideas! Please share your own ideas for using this set (or practicing likes &amp; dislikes) in the comments&nbsp;below.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/20/flashcard_categories/65">Like &amp; Don&rsquo;t Like </a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/110/lessons/2778">Do You Like It?</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1555">Infinitives: I Like To&hellip;</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2256/">Gerunds &amp; Infinitive</a></li>
</ul>

<div class="video-container"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_JxoKsi-n6w" width="560"></iframe></div>


10 Ways to Use Flashcards: Likes & Dislikes

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<p>I&rsquo;ve just returned from the <a href="https://wida.wisc.edu/grow/conferences/annual" rel="noopener" target="_blank">2018 WIDA conference</a> in Detroit, Michigan. Despite being one of the few attendees from a non-WIDA state, I had a quick commute across the Detroit River from Windsor, Ontario. In fact, the trusty tunnel bus, which runs under the river, had me at the Cobo Center in less than 30 minutes. Throughout the week, I noticed several attendees looking across at the Canadian flag, wishing they had packed a&nbsp;passport.</p>

<p><img alt="Windsor terminal and tunnel bus" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/207/content_Tara_WIDA-2018_Windsor-Terminal-and-Tunnel-Bus.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">By jodelli - <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Windsor_International_Transit_Terminal_2626311587.jpg" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="File:Windsor International Transit Terminal 2626311587.jpg">File:Windsor International Transit Terminal 2626311587.jpg</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="Creative Commons Attribution 2.0">CC BY 2.0</a>, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28943103" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Link</a></p>

<p>As head of publishing at <a href="https://ellii.com/">ESL&nbsp;Library</a>, I attended WIDA to immerse myself in academic language for ELLs, our publishing priority for 2019. Many of our new and longterm ESL&nbsp;Library subscribers teach in WIDA states, and we are often asked how our materials align with WIDA&rsquo;s philosophy, standards, and proficiencies. In addition to learning all about WIDA in order to address these concerns and requests, I attended fantastic keynotes and sessions and gained valuable information for our materials&nbsp;writers.</p>

<p>This was my first WIDA conference, and one of the best language teaching conferences I&rsquo;ve ever attended. The conference included delicious meals and well-timed breaks with access to coffee, water, and snacks throughout the day. The app was very handy, and the session rooms were well marked and easy to find. Most importantly, the speakers were excellent, and I was able to get into all of the sessions I had scheduled. Here are some of the highlights and takeaways from this great week of&nbsp;PD:</p>

<h1>WIDA 2018 Keynotes</h1>

<p>In the opening keynote, Ofelia Garcia, an expert in bilingual education, talked about translanguaging: <em>going beyond two or more languages</em>. Garcia reminded us that language is much more than a code. Language is also culture. Garcia spoke passionately about the unfairness of America&rsquo;s current assessment practices of bilingual students, pointing out that many US students learn two language simultaneously. They do not have an L1 or L2. Yet, we evaluate them with only half of their language repertoire. As well as questioning our assessment practices, we should be mindful of how we label our&nbsp;learners.</p>

<p>On day two, Gloria Ladson-Billings [<em>below</em>] spoke about keeping our materials current, saying that culturally relevant teachers search high and low for resources (and often create their own) to ensure that students are engaged with the topics of&nbsp;today.</p>

<p><img alt="Gloria Ladson-Billings at WIDA 2018" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/208/content_Tara_WIDA-2018_Gloria-Ladson-Billings.jpg" /></p>

<p>On the final day, we heard from <a href="http://senate.utah.gov/senators/district11.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Utah Senator Howard Stephenson</a> who asked teachers to embrace digital technology and machine learning. Stephenson believes that teachers should allow digital technology to do the &ldquo;heavy lifting,&rdquo; so that teachers can concentrate on working creatively and collaboratively with their students. Senator Stephenson also shared the success of the dual-language programs in Utah and the importance of bilingual education. I have no doubt that many monolingual teachers in the audience were inspired to go home and sign up for a language learning&nbsp;class.</p>

<p>To close out the conference, WIDA family engagement specialist Lorena Mancilla shared a personal story about growing up in Chicago as an American with Mexican roots. After moving away from the comforts of her community of relatives in a Latino neighborhood and enrolling at a predominantly white school at the age of 8, Mancilla internalized the idea that she was &ldquo;different&rdquo; and that her family&rsquo;s culture was &ldquo;not appropriate.&rdquo; Through story, Mancilla challenged teachers to find new ways to enhance home, school, and community engagement in order to empower our future&nbsp;leaders.</p>

<h1>WIDA 2018 Sessions</h1>

<p>In my favorite WIDA session of the 2018 conference, <a href="https://twitter.com/RhondaBondie1">Rhonda Bondie</a> shared the value of noting two takeaways every time you learn something new. Here are just a few things I learned at three of the most useful WIDA sessions I&nbsp;attended.</p>

<h2 class="mb2">1. Student Discussions: Increasing Equity, Engagement, Access and&nbsp;Rigor</h2>

<h4>Rhonda Bondie</h4>

<p>Rhonda Bondie taught workshop participants several classroom <a href="http://www.alled.org/"> learning routines</a> (e.g., Domino, Rumors, QAPS, <span class="inlineBlock">2 X 2 X 2</span>) that can add rigor and engagement to a lesson. One common theme in the routines was allowing for increased thinking time for both students and&nbsp;teachers.</p>

<p>Bondie recommended looking at every classroom task as one of the following four&nbsp;structures:</p>

<ol>
	<li><strong>Explicit Instruction:</strong> pencils down, listen, teachers only say what students can remember without taking&nbsp;notes</li>
	<li><strong>Free Discussion:</strong> students turn and talk informally, teachers can move around and&nbsp;participate</li>
	<li><strong>Individual Task:</strong> students spend time thinking and testing themselves before they have to talk, help resources are available, all students should be able to start on their&nbsp;own</li>
	<li><strong>Group Task:</strong> structured task, has rules (e.g., only one has a pencil), has roles (e.g., reporter, recorder), teacher observes, uses appropriate seating (e.g., one strong reader per&nbsp;grouping)</li>
</ol>

<p>Note: After returning from WIDA, I tried one of the routines to get my son tying his own hockey skates, and it&nbsp;worked!</p>

<h2>2. Newcomer ELs: How Experiences Shape Self‑Identity</h2>

<h4>Jennifer Santiago</h4>

<p>In this session, graduate student <a href="https://twitter.com/DR_ESOL/status/1055575497915199488" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Jennifer Santiago</a> shared her findings on the subject of student identity. Santiago compiled research on self-identity from a group of Central American newcomers at her school. Santiago learned that many teachers made assumptions about newcomers that were not true, especially regarding newcomers&rsquo; educational background. She also discovered that many high school newcomers were not getting the career and academic counseling that they needed and&nbsp;deserved.</p>

<p>Negative experiences with teachers had a strong impact on newcomers&rsquo; self-identity. Many believed that they were &ldquo;bad&rdquo; because they struggled with English. In contrast, positive experiences with helpers around the school (e.g., a police officer) had a positive impact on their self-identity. Santiago concluded that teacher-ed programs were not focusing enough on the importance of teachers&rsquo; interpersonal skills (e.g., disposition) when working with&nbsp;newcomers.</p>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Today was an amazing day @WIDA2018! I met the iconic Gloria Ladson-Billings, presented two presentations with great colleagues, and one presentation by myself where I shared my dissertation findings. I&rsquo;m proud of all the work! Plus so much networking! ❤️<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WIDA2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WIDA2018</a> <a href="https://t.co/4NRQlcg1el">pic.twitter.com/4NRQlcg1el</a></p>
&mdash; Jennifer Santiago, PhD (@DR_ESOL) <a href="https://twitter.com/DR_ESOL/status/1055575497915199488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src='https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js' charset='utf-8'></script>

<h2>3. Building the Academic Identity of SIFE Through Oral Language&nbsp;Activities</h2>

<h4>Syndey Snyder</h4>

<p>By the final day, many of the attendees had tired of being active participants but Sydney Snyder&rsquo;s SIFE (Students with Interrupted Formal Education) <a href="https://getsupported.net/wp-content/uploads/SLIFE-Oral-Language-Activities-Handouts-PDF.pdf">activities</a> were engaging and useful, and we all found the energy to turn and talk one more time. In addition to going over the typical weaknesses SIFEs have (not always understanding the point of tasks, at risk of dropping out, struggling to work independently), Snyder pointed out some of their common strengths (resilience, problem solving, comfortable working in&nbsp;groups).</p>

<p>The presenter also showed an excellent video of an experienced SIFE teacher modeling good classroom practices, such as handing out <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/assessment-tools/resources/2228-exit-slips">exit tickets</a> with sentence stems for written and oral practice. Students were encouraged to write and then vocalize their challenges and achievements to help them gain confidence and identify as academic&nbsp;learners.</p>

<h1>A Conference Near You</h1>

<p>On my way back to Windsor, I was pleased to meet up with two brave teachers from Alabama taking the tunnel bus to Canada! I offered them a few tips, and we made plans to meet up at a conference in their neck of the woods: TESOL 2019 in&nbsp;Atlanta.</p>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">When you&rsquo;re this close, you visit Canada! <a href="https://t.co/xKJwOEn81m">pic.twitter.com/xKJwOEn81m</a></p>
&mdash; Anna Suthoff (@TeachEB_Suthoff) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeachEB_Suthoff/status/1055913769128415234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src='https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js' charset='utf-8'></script>

<p>Before TESOL in March, members of our team will be attending other smaller conferences, including TESL Ontario (Toronto) and CoTESOL (Colorado) this week. We hope to see some of you this conference season or in Rhode Island for WIDA&nbsp;2019!</p>

<p><img height="100" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/209/content_Tara_WIDA-2018_Tara.jpg" width="100" /></p>

<p>&mdash;Tara</p>


WIDA Conference 2018: Highlights & Takeaways

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Find fun games and activities for teaching English to young learners and middle schoolers. 

Young Learners

<p>Are you ready to introduce modals of ability to your young learners? We hope you&rsquo;ll try our ready-made lesson on <em>can</em> and <em>could</em> from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2535" target="_blank">Fun Grammar Lessons</a> section. After you use the lesson, try this fun and easy game to review <em>can</em> as a modal of&nbsp;ability.</p>

<h1>Prove It!</h1>

<h2>Questions</h2>

<p>Write the following 10 questions (or similar ones) on the&nbsp;board:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Can you stand on one leg for 60&nbsp;seconds?</li>
	<li>Can you touch your tongue to your&nbsp;nose?</li>
	<li>Can you whistle?</li>
	<li>Can you stare without blinking for 60&nbsp;seconds?</li>
	<li>Can you say the English alphabet without making a&nbsp;mistake?</li>
	<li>Can you stand on one leg with your eyes closed for five&nbsp;seconds?</li>
	<li>Can you make someone yawn in 10&nbsp;seconds?</li>
	<li>Can you make someone laugh in 10&nbsp;seconds?</li>
	<li>Can you count to 25 in&nbsp;English?</li>
	<li>Can you draw a/an&hellip;(animal or&nbsp;insect)?</li>
</ol>

<h2>Points</h2>

<p>Give each student 3&ndash;5 points to start with. Use coins or slips of paper (or any objects) to represent the points. Send students around the room to ask each other questions, just as they would in a traditional <em>Find Someone Who</em> activity. In this game, students have to do more than say <em>yes</em> or <em>no</em>. They have to prove their abilities to collect points. If they can&rsquo;t prove their abilities, they lose a&nbsp;point.</p>

<p>When a student loses all of her points, she is out of the game and becomes an observer/judge. The last student standing (or the one with the most points when you end the game) is the&nbsp;winner.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h3>Note:</h3>

<p>Remind students that they must not ask the same question twice during the&nbsp;game.</p>
</div>

<h3>Example:</h3>

<table class="horizontal dialogue">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>Can you stand on one leg for 60&nbsp;seconds?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>B:</th>
			<td>Yes, I can.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>Prove it!</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<td><em>[B stands on one leg, but loses balance after 30 seconds. B gives one point to A.]</em></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>OR</p>

<table class="horizontal dialogue">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>Can you stand on one leg for 60&nbsp;seconds?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>B:</th>
			<td>Yes, I can.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>Prove it!</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<td><em>[B stands on one leg for 60 seconds without losing balance. A gives one point to B.]</em></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>OR</p>

<table class="horizontal dialogue">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>Can you stand on one leg for 60&nbsp;seconds?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>B:</th>
			<td>No, I can&rsquo;t.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<td><em>[No points are exchanged. Students find other classmates to&nbsp;challenge.]</em></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>OR</p>

<table class="horizontal dialogue">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>Can you stand on one leg for 60&nbsp;seconds?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>B:</th>
			<td>Yes, I can.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>I believe you.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<td><em>[No points are exchanged. Students find other classmates to challenge.]</em></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Note:</h5>

<p>If too many students use this &ldquo;safe&rdquo; option, you can disallow&nbsp;it.</p>
</div>

<h2>Increase the Difficulty</h2>

<p>To make the game a bit more difficult, don&rsquo;t put the whole question on the board. If you or another observer hears students asking the question incorrectly, you can take a point away from&nbsp;them.</p>

<ul>
	<li>stand one leg / 60&nbsp;seconds</li>
	<li>touch tongue to nose</li>
	<li>whistle</li>
	<li>stare without blinking / 60&nbsp;seconds</li>
	<li>say English alphabet</li>
	<li>stand one leg / eyes closed / 5&nbsp;seconds</li>
	<li>make someone yawn</li>
	<li>make someone laugh</li>
	<li>count to 25 / English</li>
	<li>draw a&hellip;</li>
</ul>

<h2>Other Abilities</h2>

<p>You can use our ideas, or you can make up any abilities you want. You could include some abilities based on lessons you have taught in class. Ask your students to help you think of some, too. Here are a few more&nbsp;abilities:</p>

<ul>
	<li>pat head and rub belly at same&nbsp;time</li>
	<li>name every person in the class</li>
	<li>name 10 countries</li>
	<li>hop on one leg for 10 seconds</li>
	<li>spell my name backwards</li>
	<li>name all of the months in&nbsp;English</li>
	<li>sing a verse from&hellip;</li>
	<li>roll your r&rsquo;s</li>
	<li>say three /th/ words</li>
	<li>breakdance</li>
</ul>

<h2>Review with a Video</h2>

<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_facQiZDrU4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br />
An ad-free version of the video is available for <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing" target="_blank">Ellii subscribers</a> in our <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2610-modals-of-ability-present" target="_blank">Modals of Ability</a> lessons and on our <a href="https://ellii.com/video/modals-of-ability" target="_blank">Media Gallery</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2535">Modals of Ability</a>: Fun Grammar Lessons (YL)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2610">Modals of Ability &ndash;&nbsp;Present</a>: Grammar Practice Worksheets</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1588">Simple Present &ndash;&nbsp;Can you?</a>: Basic Grammar Sentences</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2426">Hobbies</a>: Word Bank</li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/assessment-tools/resources/2224-goal-setting-can-do">Goal-Setting &ndash; Can Do</a>: Resources</li>
</ul>


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Tara Benwell