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Teaching with Ellii

<p>Love stories are a lot of fun when they involve people you know. This month, ask your students to interview a couple that they know. They should interview one person at a time using the same four questions (provided below). After the interview, they can practice using the simple past tense to retell the love story to their classmates. Which couple had the best love&nbsp;story?</p>

<h1>1. Choose a&nbsp;Couple</h1>

<p>Tell your students to choose a couple that they know. Here are some&nbsp;ideas:</p>

<ul>
	<li>mom &amp; dad</li>
	<li>grandma &amp; grandpa</li>
	<li>cousin &amp; boyfriend/girlfriend</li>
	<li>a married couple next door or at church/soccer</li>
	<li>teacher &amp; husband/wife</li>
</ul>

<h1>2. Interview the&nbsp;Couple</h1>

<p>Print two copies of&nbsp;the <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/3471">Love Interview</a> for each student. Each student needs two pages so that students can interview the two people separately. They should ask each person the following four&nbsp;questions.</p>

<ol>
	<li>How did you meet (<em>sweetheart&#39;s name</em>)?</li>
	<li>Why did you like (<em>sweetheart)</em>?</li>
	<li>What&rsquo;s the best gift (<em>sweetheart</em>) ever gave&nbsp;you?</li>
	<li>Describe (<em>sweetheart</em>) in one&nbsp;word.</li>
</ol>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/3471"><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1180/content_Tara_A-Love-Story.jpg" /></a></p>

<h1>3. Share the Love&nbsp;Story</h1>

<p>Have your students report their findings to a classmate or the whole class as a Valentine&rsquo;s Day&nbsp;activity.</p>

<h2>Example</h2>

<ul>
	<li>My grandparents met at a grocery&nbsp;store.</li>
	<li>My grandpa liked my grandma&rsquo;s long&nbsp;hair.</li>
	<li>My grandma liked my grandpa&rsquo;s sense of&nbsp;humor.</li>
	<li>The best gift my grandma received was an engagement&nbsp;ring.</li>
	<li>The best gift my grandpa received was a subscription to a car&nbsp;magazine.</li>
	<li>The word my grandpa used to describe my grandma was&nbsp;<em>genius</em>.</li>
	<li>The word my grandma used to describe my grandpa was&nbsp;<em>joker</em>.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Optional Activity: Fact or&nbsp;Fiction?</h1>

<p>Older or more advanced learners might have fun mixing this activity up a little. During the sharing time, tell your students they can change the answers if they want to. Some of the answers can be true, and some can be made up. My students love fooling their friends&mdash;don&rsquo;t&nbsp;yours?</p>

<table class="has-borders horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Student&nbsp;A:</th>
			<td>My grandparents met at the Olympic&nbsp;Games.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Student&nbsp;B:</th>
			<td>I don&rsquo;t believe you!</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Student&nbsp;A:</th>
			<td>It&rsquo;s true!</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Student&nbsp;B:</th>
			<td>Really? Why did your grandpa like your&nbsp;grandma?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Student&nbsp;A:</th>
			<td>My grandpa liked my grandma because she was a good&nbsp;cook.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Student&nbsp;B:</th>
			<td>I believe that.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Student&nbsp;A:</th>
			<td>You do? I fooled you. My grandma is a terrible cook! My grandpa liked my grandma because she wore a pretty&nbsp;dress.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>The interview couple might also like to see each other&rsquo;s answers. Encourage your students to share the answers out loud with the couple&nbsp;too.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Grandpa said you met at a grocery store. Grandma said she liked your sense of&nbsp;humor.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Happy Valentine&rsquo;s Day!<br />
Tara</p>

<p>PS. I hope you&rsquo;ll come back and share a love story with us in the&nbsp;comments!</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2504">Simple Past Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/4/lessons">Love &amp; Relationships</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/107">Valentine&rsquo;s Day Flashcards</a></li>
</ul>


Valentine's Day Interview: A Love Story

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

Young Learners

Learn tips on how to teach grammar and usage from our editors and grammar experts. 

Grammar & Usage

<p>Are you prepared to be inspired? Kids always end up competing more when the <a href="http://ellii.com/blog/olympics-singular-or-plural/" target="_blank">Olympics is</a> on. They want to jump the highest, sing the loudest, skate the fastest, and stay up the latest. Does this happen in your classroom? Don&rsquo;t be surprised if the Olympic Games inspire your students to aim a little&nbsp;higher!</p>

<h1>Who&rsquo;s the Best?</h1>

<p>Practice <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1607" target="_blank">superlatives</a> with your students after you&rsquo;ve tried this lesson plan. Or if you&rsquo;ve recently introduced superlative adjectives with <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2163-superlative-adjectives" target="_blank">Tanya&rsquo;s handy chart</a>, try this fun review activity and consider holding a &ldquo;superlative-inspired&rdquo; Student Olympics at your&nbsp;school.</p>

<p>First, brainstorm all of the Winter Olympic sports. Here is a helpful&nbsp;list:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Skiing (alpine, cross-country, freestyle)</li>
	<li>Biathlon</li>
	<li>Bobsleigh</li>
	<li>Curling</li>
	<li>Figure skating</li>
	<li>Ice Hockey</li>
	<li>Luge</li>
	<li>Nordic combined</li>
	<li>Skeleton</li>
	<li>Ski jumping</li>
	<li>Snowboarding</li>
	<li>Speed skating</li>
</ul>

<p>ESL&nbsp;Library subscribers can use these <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/7/flashcard_categories/114" target="_blank">Winter Olympic&nbsp;Flashcards</a>.</p>

<p>Next, put your students in small groups and tell them to choose a country to represent. Group members will work together to brainstorm Olympic records, achievements, and moments that the Winter Olympic athletes may achieve at this year&rsquo;s Games. Challenge your students to put their thinking caps on. They should be as imaginative as possible! Each item in their list should contain <strong>a superlative adjective</strong> followed by a <strong>noun</strong>. Students can use the list of Olympic events (above) as inspiration. Provide two or three examples to get your students on the right&nbsp;track:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Highest jumper</li>
	<li>Farthest jump</li>
	<li>Fastest skater</li>
	<li>Cleanest skate</li>
	<li>Longest spin</li>
	<li>Most decorated athlete (won the most&nbsp;medals)</li>
	<li>Toughest goalie</li>
	<li>Prettiest skating outfit</li>
	<li>Biggest smile</li>
	<li>Loudest anthem singer</li>
	<li>Worst fall</li>
	<li>Scariest wipeout</li>
</ul>

<h1>The Superlative Games</h1>

<p>Let the Games begin! After each group has come up with a large list of &ldquo;superlative achievements/moments,&rdquo; invite a representative from each country to stand up and read their ideas out to the class. The other groups must listen and place an X beside any examples that are duplicates on their own lists. (Duplicate examples won&rsquo;t count in the scoring.) At the end of &ldquo;the Games,&rdquo; groups count all of their unique (and correct) examples. You can decide if spelling counts! Which group wins gold? Which group wins silver? Which group wins bronze? (Print large-sized flashcards of the medals from our <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/7/flashcard_categories/114" target="_blank">Winter Olympics</a> set. Then play the winning group&rsquo;s anthem to make it really&nbsp;fun!)</p>

<p>After the Superlative Games, create a master list of the achievements/moments etc. that your students came up with and pin the list somewhere in your classroom. During (or after) the Winter Olympics, have your students write the names of the athletes who deserve recognition for each Olympic record, achievement, or moment. <em>Which skier jumped the highest? Which bobsledder went the fastest? Which country had the most&nbsp;spirit?</em></p>

<h1>Student Olympics Day</h1>

<p>Finally, consider holding a Student Olympics Day with other classes in your school at some point while the Winter Olympics is on. Put your students in groups or pairs, and have each group come up with an Olympic event to host. The event can be academic or physical, but must contain a&nbsp;superlative.</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Best speller</li>
	<li>Quickest conjugator</li>
	<li>Tallest teacher</li>
	<li>Prettiest photograph</li>
</ul>

<p>Students will <strong>describe</strong> their event. A description will include the <strong>location</strong> of the event (somewhere on the school property) and any <strong>equipment</strong>&nbsp;that will be needed. Any rules or notes about how the winner will be determined should also be discussed and added. Students will write up their description for those who are interested in competing.</p>

<p><img alt="Student Olympics PDF" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2190/content_Student-Olympics.png" /></p>

<p>Here is a sample <a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2192/Blog_Student-Olympics.pdf" target="_blank">Olympics Resource</a> template to use. Finally, the group will create a <strong>medal</strong> or certificate for the winner of their&nbsp;event.</p>

<p>Challenge your students to think of a slogan (with superlatives) for their Student Olympic Games. Perhaps they can do better than PyeongChang&rsquo;s motto: &ldquo;Passion.&nbsp;Connected.&rdquo;</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2532" target="_blank">Superlative Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1607" target="_blank">Equative, Comparative &amp; Superlative Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1600" target="_blank">Comparatives &amp; Superlatives &ndash; Adjectives &amp; Adverbs</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons/1631" target="_blank">Comparative &amp; Superlative Adjective Stories</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2612" target="_blank">Winter Olympics</a> (Word Bank)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1890" target="_blank">Winter Olympics</a> (Holidays &amp; Events)</li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/7/flashcard_categories/114" target="_blank">Winter Olympic Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/olympics-singular-or-plural/" target="_blank">Olympics: Singular or Plural?</a></li>
</ul>


Practicing Superlatives During the Olympics

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<p>Are your students learning how to alphabetize words or lists? Knowing how to put words and lists in alphabetical order is very useful! Students who know how to alphabetize&nbsp;can:</p>

<ul>
	<li>find words in a print&nbsp;dictionary</li>
	<li>find numbers in a phone&nbsp;book</li>
	<li>find music in a&nbsp;store</li>
	<li>find movies online</li>
	<li>find books in a&nbsp;library</li>
</ul>

<h1>Christmas-Themed Alphabetizing Activities</h1>

<p>Alphabetizing doesn&rsquo;t have to be boring! Why not practice alphabetizing with a theme such as Christmas? (Adjust these activities to whichever theme you are using.) Here are some activities you can try in&nbsp;December:</p>

<h2>Alphabetize the Ornaments</h2>

<p>Does your school have a Christmas tree? Do you have a small fake one you could bring in to class? Gather some ornaments and have your students place them on the tree alphabetically from top to bottom. Alternatively, you could draw a big tree on your board, and have students come to the tree one at a time, drawing ornaments in alphabetical order. You may want to brainstorm a list to work with&nbsp;first:</p>

<ul>
	<li>angel</li>
	<li>ball</li>
	<li>bell</li>
	<li>bow</li>
	<li>candy cane</li>
	<li>garland</li>
	<li>lights</li>
	<li>nutcracker</li>
	<li>reindeer</li>
	<li>snowflake</li>
	<li>star</li>
	<li>wreath</li>
</ul>

<p>You could also use Ellii&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards/holidays-events/christmas" target="_blank">Christmas Flashcards</a> for this&nbsp;activity.</p>

<h2>Alphabetize a Wish&nbsp;List</h2>

<p>Invite students to the board to write one thing they want for Christmas. Then put students in groups of elves to alphabetize the list for Santa. Which elves work the quickest? You could also do this on a large piece of paper and tape it to your classroom&nbsp;door.</p>

<h2>Alphabetize Christmas Carols</h2>

<p>Give your students a list of Christmas carols and have them put them in order alphabetically. Then listen to a few Christmas songs and sing along with them.&nbsp;Here are some&nbsp;examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Away in a Manger</li>
	<li>Deck the Halls</li>
	<li>Frosty the Snowman</li>
	<li>Happy Christmas</li>
	<li>I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus</li>
	<li>Jingle Bells</li>
	<li>Joy to the World</li>
	<li>Little Drummer Boy</li>
	<li>O Christmas Tree</li>
	<li>Silver Bells</li>
	<li>Sleigh Ride</li>
	<li>White Christmas</li>
</ul>

<h2>Alphabetize Authors of Christmas Books</h2>

<p>Take out some Christmas books from the library and have your students alphabetize them by author. Teach your students that books are alphabetized by the last name of the author. Which group can alphabetize the books the&nbsp;quickest?</p>

<h2>Alphabetize Christmas Movies</h2>

<p>Give your students a list of Christmas movie titles. Have them put the titles in alphabetical order. Whoever finishes first (correctly) gets to choose which one to watch. Remind your learners that articles (a, an, the) are often ignored when putting titles in alphabetical&nbsp;order.</p>

<ul>
	<li><em>A Charlie Brown Christmas</em></li>
	<li><em>A Christmas Carol</em></li>
	<li><em>A Christmas Story</em></li>
	<li><em>Elf</em></li>
	<li><em>Home Alone</em></li>
	<li><em>How the Grinch Stole Christmas</em></li>
	<li><em>Miracle on 34th Street</em></li>
	<li><em>The Polar Express</em></li>
	<li><em>Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer</em></li>
</ul>

<h2>Alphabetize a Christmas To-Do List</h2>

<p>Put your students in groups and have them make a list of things to do before Christmas. Then have groups exchange the lists and put them in alphabetical&nbsp;order.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Bake cookies</li>
	<li>Buy a new dress</li>
	<li>Buy a turkey</li>
	<li>Decorate the tree</li>
	<li>Exchange gifts</li>
	<li>Go to a party</li>
	<li>Mail Christmas cards</li>
	<li>Sing carols</li>
	<li>Wrap presents</li>
	<li>Write to Santa</li>
</ul>

<h1>Tips for Alphabetizing</h1>

<ol>
	<li>First, make sure your students know the alphabet very well. You can use our <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/23/flashcard_categories/124" target="_blank">Letters Flashcards</a> for&nbsp;practice.</li>
	<li>Next, show students how to group a list of words by first letter. (Here is a fun <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCDYoEm5Ls8" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">video on alphabetizing</a> that you can show, or use the video to see a demonstration of how to teach a lesson on&nbsp;alphabetizing.)</li>
	<li>Now show students how to sort words within each alphabetized group by second letter (in alphabetical order) and third letter (and more if necessary). Explain what to do when two or more words have the same first and second&nbsp;letters.</li>
	<li>Teach students to ignore articles (a, an, the) in titles when alphabetizing lists (such as book or movie&nbsp;titles).</li>
	<li>Talk about when it&rsquo;s useful to put things in alphabetical order (e.g., attendance lists). Talk about the difference between alphabetical order and numerical&nbsp;order.</li>
	<li>When you are sure your students know how to alphabetize, show them how to do it quickly on a computer (using &ldquo;sort&rdquo; or an online tool such as&nbsp;<a href="http://alphabetizer.flap.tv/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Alphabetizer</a>).</li>
</ol>

<h1>Related Materials</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/holidays-events/december-holidays" target="_blank">December Holidays Lesson Collection</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/23/flashcard_categories/124" target="_blank">Letters Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/grammar-usage/2152-the-alphabet" target="_blank">The Alphabet</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/20" target="_blank">Christmas Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/visual-learning/2185-holiday-idioms-expressions" target="_blank">Holiday Idioms &amp; Expressions</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/warm-ups-fillers/2221-how-to-make-a-paper-snowflake" target="_blank">How to Make a Paper Snowflake</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/english-holiday-idioms-expressions-and-phrases" target="_blank">English Holiday Idioms, Expressions &amp; Other Common Phrases</a></li>
</ul>


Alphabetizing Fun – Christmas Activities

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Posts describing lessons or activities for the ESL classroom.

Activities

<p>American Thanksgiving is this Thursday! Have you tried Ellii&#39;s Thanksgiving-themed (US) <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2445"><strong>Word Bank</strong></a> lesson? We also have a new Fun Grammar Lesson on the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2502"><strong>Simple Future</strong></a>. Try both of these lessons before you try this follow-up Thanksgiving listening&nbsp;activity.</p>

<h1>Listening Activity</h1>

<p>Play the recording of the story <em>Grateful Girl</em> in class or have your students listen to it for homework. Ask your students to listen for the informal pronunciation&nbsp;(<em>gonna</em>).</p>

<p><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/233659999&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe></p>

<h2>Transcript</h2>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Grateful Girl</strong></p>

<p>Thanksgiving is coming up next week. I am going to go to my grandma&rsquo;s house with my family. For Thanksgiving dinner, my dad and grandma are going to make turkey with cranberry sauce, yams, and pumpkin pie. Before dinner, my brother and I will set the&nbsp;table.</p>

<p>Before we eat, we&rsquo;ll all say what we are thankful for. I&rsquo;ll go first. I am going to say that I am thankful for my family, my friends, my house, my school, my health, my city, my country, and our universe. My grandma is going to call me &quot;Grateful Girl&quot; like she always does. My brother will say that he is thankful for his cat and our&nbsp;TV.</p>

<p>After dinner, my brother and I will wash the dishes. We will not fight as we do the dishes! At least, I won&rsquo;t fight. The day after Thanksgiving, we are going to take Grandma to the mall. On Black Friday, Grandma will buy candy, desserts, and fashion magazines. I&rsquo;ll buy a gift for my best friend. It&rsquo;s going to be a great&nbsp;weekend.</p>

<p>What are you going to do for Thanksgiving? Where are you going to go and what are you going to eat? Will you go shopping? What will you buy? Most importantly, what will you be thankful&nbsp;for?</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Vocabulary</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Thanksgiving</li>
	<li>mall</li>
	<li>grateful/thankful</li>
	<li>turkey</li>
	<li>cranberry sauce</li>
	<li>yams</li>
	<li>pumpkin pie</li>
	<li>set the table</li>
	<li>wash/do the dishes</li>
</ul>

<h2>Questions</h2>

<p>Here are some questions you can ask your students after they listen to the&nbsp;story.</p>

<ol class="spaced-list">
	<li>Where is Grateful Girl going to go for&nbsp;Thanksgiving?</li>
	<li>What will Grateful Girl have for dinner on&nbsp;Thanksgiving?</li>
	<li>Why will the grandmother call her granddaughter <em>Grateful Girl</em> at the dinner&nbsp;table?</li>
	<li>What will Grateful Girl and her brother do before and after dinner?</li>
	<li>What is Grateful Girl NOT going to do after Thanksgiving&nbsp;dinner?</li>
	<li>What is Grateful Girl&#39;s family going to do on Black&nbsp;Friday?</li>
	<li>What will Grateful Girl&#39;s grandma&nbsp;buy?</li>
</ol>

<h2>Answers</h2>

<ol class="spaced-list">
	<li>Grateful Girl is going to go to her grandma&#39;s house for&nbsp;Thanksgiving.</li>
	<li>Grateful Girl will have turkey with cranberry sauce, yams, and pumpkin pie for&nbsp;Thanksgiving.</li>
	<li>The grandmother will call her granddaughter &quot;Grateful Girl&quot; because the girl will say that she is thankful for many&nbsp;things.</li>
	<li>Grateful Girl and her brother will set the table before dinner. After dinner, they will wash the&nbsp;dishes.</li>
	<li>Grateful Girl won&#39;t fight with her brother as they do&nbsp;dishes.</li>
	<li>Grateful Girl&#39;s family will go shopping at the mall on Black&nbsp;Friday.</li>
	<li>Grateful Girl&#39;s grandma will buy candy, desserts, and fashion&nbsp;magazines.</li>
</ol>

<h1>Writing Challenge</h1>

<p>Invite your students to write a similar story about their plans for Thanksgiving using the simple future. If your students don&#39;t celebrate Thanksgiving, they can make up some characters who do. Record your students reading their stories out&nbsp;loud.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/92">Thanksgiving Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2445">Thanksgiving Word Bank Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2502">Simple Future Lesson</a></li>
</ul>

Grateful Girl – A Thanksgiving Listening Activity

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

Articles

<p>Frankenstein Day takes place on the last Friday of October. Do your students know the story of Frankenstein? Do they know the story behind the story?</p>

<h2>Listen or Read: The Story Behind Frankenstein&nbsp;</h2>

<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/1518/mary-shelley-contest.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

<blockquote>
<p>The Story Behind Frankenstein</p>

<p>Mary Shelley was in a writing group. The writers challenged each other to think of a ghost story. They talked about scary things that were happening in the world to help inspire each other.</p>

<p>Mary Shelley tried to think of an idea, but she couldn&#39;t come up with anything. The other writers were busy at work!</p>

<p>Finally, Mary Shelley had a bad dream about a scientist who created a monster that ended up coming to life. According to legend, Mary Shelley had the dream while she was awake!</p>

<p>She was afraid of her own dream, and she decided to write it down. Her idea turned into a novel and a film.</p>

<p>Many people think the monster&#39;s name in the story is Frankenstein. It&#39;s not! In Mary Shelley&#39;s novel, Frankenstein is actually the last name of the scientist who created the monster. Over the years, it&#39;s almost like the monster claimed the name for itself. Creepy!</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Activity Idea</h2>

<p>Here is a fun activity that you can do with your students this month.</p>

<ol>
	<li>Share&nbsp;the background about Mary Shelley and Frankenstein with your students. You can play the listening above, read it out loud yourself, or paraphrase it.&nbsp;You can also try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/83/lessons/1495" target="_blank">Frankenstein</a> lesson from our Easy Readers section.</li>
	<li>Put your students into small groups just like Mary Shelley and her writing friends. Ask the students to tell each other about some dreams that they have had recently. They can share funny, scary, or strange dreams. They can also talk about things that scare them.</li>
	<li>Have students brainstorm a list of at least five scary words. Allow them to use a dictionary or thesaurus. Encourage them to use at least three nouns and at least two adjectives. If they can come up with ten words, that&#39;s even better! Check out Tanya&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/morbid-words-to-learn-for-halloween/" target="_blank">Morbid Words to Learn for Halloween</a>.</li>
	<li>Challenge each student to go home (or back to their desks) and write a spooky ghost story for Frankenstein Day or Halloween. They should try to use all of the scary words their group thought of.</li>
	<li>On Frankenstein Day or Halloween, ask your students to hand in their stories. Give them the option of being part of the contest. Read the stories first, to make sure that they are appropriate for class.&nbsp;Ask students to hold a secret vote for the scariest story! Give the winning writer this&nbsp;<strong>Mary Shelley Award for Spooky Fiction</strong>. Ask for permission from your student, then copy and paste the winning story in the comments below.</li>
</ol>

<p><a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2157/content_ESL-Library_Mary-Shelley-Certificate.pdf" target="_blank"><img alt="Mary Shelley Certificate preview" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2158/content_Tara_Writing-Contest-Frankenstein-Day_Certificate_Preview.png" /></a></p>


A Writing Contest for Frankenstein Day

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<p>Have you tried ESL Library&#39;s Halloween-themed <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3396"><strong>The Scaredy-Cat</strong></a> lesson with your young learners? In this lesson, your young learners will learn some Halloween vocabulary in a fun way. We also have a <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2439"><strong>Word Bank</strong></a> lesson&nbsp;and a&nbsp;fun lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2515"><strong>Prepositions of Place</strong></a> in our Fun Grammar Lessons section. Try both of these lessons before you try this follow-up Halloween listening&nbsp;activity.</p>

<h1>Listening Activity</h1>

<p>This activity works best if you have already introduced your students to Halloween vocabulary (see this&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/46">Halloween Flashcards</a></strong> set) and prepositions of place. Play the recording and have your students listen to find out where the witch&#39;s black cat is hiding. Listen a few more times and ask your students to listen for the prepositions of place. They can also draw a scene from the&nbsp;story. Why not share this story on <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/pets/national-black-cat-day/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><strong>National Black Cat Day</strong></a> (Oct 27)? You can talk about why black cats are often left in animal shelters with no&nbsp;homes.</p>

<h1>The Scaredy-Cat</h1>

<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/HhtOelNRyRc" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>

<p><em>(Transcript)</em></p>

<blockquote>
<p>One Halloween night, a young witch lost her black cat. &quot;Here, kitty kitty,&quot; the witch called, but the cat did not come&nbsp;out. The witch walked down her street and called again. &quot;Here, kitty kitty,&quot;&nbsp;the witch called, but again the cat did not come&nbsp;out.</p>

<p>The young witch walked across the street and up the hill. At the top of the hill, there was a big house with Halloween decorations. It looked like a haunted house. There was a zombie in front of the fence. Behind the fence, there was a tree. A ghost hung on a tree branch. Below the tree, there was a&nbsp;graveyard. The little witch stood in the graveyard and called her cat, but it did not come out. It was time to ask for&nbsp;help. The witch walked up the steps and knocked on the door of the house. A young boy in a pirate costume opened the door.</p>

<p>&quot;You didn&#39;t say trick or treat,&quot; he&nbsp;said.</p>

<p>The witch laughed. &quot;I am not looking for candy. I am looking for my black cat. Can you help me find her? She is afraid of&nbsp;Halloween.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;That&#39;s funny,&quot; the boy said. &quot;You have a black cat that is afraid of&nbsp;Halloween!&quot;</p>

<p>He stepped out of his house and helped the witch. They looked behind the pumpkins and under the welcome mat. They looked in the garden and in between the&nbsp;cars. Just then, they heard a lady scream across the street. The boy and the witch ran to help the lady. She had a candle in her hands.</p>

<p>&quot;I took the lid off my jack-o&#39;-lantern and a black cat jumped out,&quot;&nbsp;the lady said. &quot;It scared&nbsp;me!&quot;&nbsp;This time the witch laughed.</p>

<p>&quot;Don&#39;t be scared. That was my cat. She&#39;s afraid of&nbsp;Halloween.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;Here, kitty kitty,&quot;&nbsp;the witch called, and the black cat ran out of the bushes and into her&nbsp;arms.</p>

<p>&quot;That&#39;s one scaredy-cat,&quot;&nbsp;the boy said, and they all&nbsp;laughed.</p>

<p>The lady put the candle inside the jack-o&#39;-lantern. &quot;I like your costumes,&quot; she said, and she gave the boy and the witch some candy. &quot;Happy&nbsp;Halloween!&quot;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h1>Vocabulary</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Halloween</li>
	<li>skeleton</li>
	<li>pirate</li>
	<li>witch</li>
	<li>black cat</li>
	<li>pumpkin</li>
	<li>zombie</li>
	<li>jack-o&#39;-lantern</li>
	<li>ghost</li>
	<li>haunted house</li>
	<li>graveyard</li>
	<li>costume</li>
	<li>candle</li>
	<li>candy</li>
	<li>scaredy-cat</li>
</ul>

<h1>Questions</h1>

<ol>
	<li>Why is the cat&nbsp;hiding?</li>
	<li>What decorations does the big house&nbsp;have?</li>
	<li>Who helps the witch find the&nbsp;cat?</li>
	<li>Why does the lady across the street&nbsp;scream?</li>
	<li>What does the pirate call the cat at the end of the&nbsp;story?</li>
</ol>

<p><strong>Answers</strong></p>

<ol>
	<li>The cat is hiding because it is afraid of&nbsp;Halloween.</li>
	<li>The house has a graveyard beside it with a zombie and a ghost. It also has&nbsp;pumpkins.</li>
	<li>A boy in a pirate costume helps the witch look for the&nbsp;cat.</li>
	<li>The lady across the street screams because the witch&#39;s cat jumped out of the jack-o&#39;-lantern.</li>
	<li>The pirate calls the cat a &quot;scaredy-cat.&quot;</li>
</ol>

<h1>Draw a Scene from the Story</h1>

<p>Invite your students to draw a scene from the story. They can write a sentence underneath their picture. You can put these examples on the board to review some prepositions of&nbsp;place.</p>

<ul>
	<li>The witch is on the&nbsp;street.</li>
	<li>The zombie is in front of the&nbsp;fence.</li>
	<li>The ghost is on the&nbsp;branch.</li>
	<li>The pirate is behind the&nbsp;door.</li>
	<li>The cat is in the jack-o&#39;-lantern.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related Materials</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3396">The Scaredy-Cat</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2439">Halloween: Word Bank Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2515">Prepositions of Place: Fun Grammar Lessons</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/46">Halloween: Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/24/lessons">Halloween: Lesson Collection</a></li>
</ul>


The Scaredy-Cat: A Halloween Listening Activity (YL)

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<p>Have you tried our Word Bank lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2399"> <strong>Fruit</strong></a>? In this lesson, your new or young learners will review and practice the English words for some of the most common types of fruit. Our flashcard set of <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/13/flashcard_categories/42">Fruit</a>&nbsp;features many more words and&nbsp;pictures. Do you teach young learners who love and need to run around? Try reviewing these words with an active vocabulary game that is often played in preschool classrooms. This game works best outside or in a&nbsp;gymnasium.</p>

<h1>How to Play &quot;Fruit Salad&quot;</h1>

<ol class="spaced-list">
	<li>Tell students to sit in a circle. This is the fruit&nbsp;bowl.</li>
	<li>Choose one person to sit in the middle and close their eyes. This is the&nbsp;spoon!</li>
	<li>Ask students to call out three fruits that they know. Choose the first three you hear (e.g., apples, bananas,&nbsp;strawberries).</li>
	<li>Walk around the circle and assign each student one of these three fruits. Tap your students&#39; shoulders as you assign each one a&nbsp;fruit.</li>
	<li>Now, tell the person in the middle (the spoon) to open their eyes. The spoon will shout one of the fruits (apple, banana, or strawberry) and stand&nbsp;up.<strong>*</strong></li>
	<li>Anyone who was assigned the fruit that was called out must also stand up. Now all of the standing students must run <strong>clockwise</strong> around the circle and try to find an empty spot in the fruit bowl. (The spoon will run to the outside of the circle and also try to find a vacant spot.) The last person standing goes in the middle and becomes the&nbsp;spoon.</li>
	<li>Begin again with three different fruits (or repeat the same ones if your students need more&nbsp;practice).</li>
</ol>

<p><strong>*</strong>When your students are ready, add a spin-off rule. The teacher (or spoon) can sometimes shout out &quot;Fruit Salad!&quot; Then everyone in the bowl has to get up and switch places, and the spoon has to find a spot too. Remind students that everyone must move clockwise in order to avoid collisions! If you&#39;re worried about kids running into each other, make a different action, such as everyone stands up and does three jumping jacks when &quot;fruit salad&quot;&nbsp;is&nbsp;called.</p>

<h1>How to Adapt This Game</h1>

<p>You can adapt this game for many different word sets. If you&#39;re reviewing types of <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2389">birds</a>, play &quot;Treetops.&quot; If you&#39;re reviewing types of <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2427">zoo animals</a>, play &quot;Zoo.&quot;&nbsp;If you&#39;re reviewing types of <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2432">toys</a>, play &quot;Toy&nbsp;Box.&quot;</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2399">Word Bank &ndash; Fruit</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/13/flashcard_categories/42">Flashcards &ndash; Fruit </a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/110/lessons/2337">Super Simple Questions &ndash; What Color Is It?</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2389">Word Bank &ndash; Birds</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2427">Word Bank &ndash; Zoo Animals</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2432">Word Bank &ndash; Toys</a></li>
</ul>


Fruit Salad – Vocabulary Game for YL

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<p><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3783"><strong>Orange Shirt Day</strong></a> takes place in Canada on September&nbsp;30. This annual event honours survivors of Canada&#39;s residential schools. The orange shirt represents the Indigenous child whose everyday life was stripped&nbsp;away.</p>

<p>Phyllis Webstad was six years old in 1973 when she chose a bright, new orange shirt to wear for her first day of school. When she arrived at the residential school in Williams Lake, BC, her orange shirt (a gift from her granny) was stripped off and she never saw it again. Phyllis was devastated and she felt worthless. Those feelings remained with her into adulthood, and the colour orange has always reminded her of that&nbsp;pain.</p>

<p>When Phyllis began sharing the story of her first day of school as part of her healing process, the idea for Orange Shirt Day caught on. Since 2013, many schools and businesses across Canada have taken part in this day to acknowledge the pain and harm caused to First Nations children through the residential school&nbsp;system.</p>

<p>We hope you&#39;ll share Phyllis&#39;s story with your students and encourage them to wear orange on the last day of school in September. If you teach intermediate to advanced students, you may want to try our Historic Events lesson about <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/98/lessons/2092" target="_blank">Residential Schools</a> to learn more about what children like Phyllis went&nbsp;through. We also have a lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3783">National Day for Truth and Reconciliation</a>.&nbsp;</p>


Orange Shirt Day: Phyllis's Residential School Story

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<p>Recently a subscriber asked us to share some ideas on reviewing vocabulary in a one-to-one teaching setting. Getting vocabulary to stick is often a matter of choosing vocabulary that is necessary or relevant for your student. After you pick the right vocabulary sets, find different ways to play with the words to ensure they become part of your student&rsquo;s active&nbsp;vocabulary.</p>

<p>Here are some ideas to try in your one-to-one&nbsp;lessons:</p>

<h1>Wh- Questions</h1>

<p>After your student learns a new word, work together to come up with 5 Wh- questions that relate to it. <strong>Example:</strong> &ldquo;interrupt&rdquo;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Who <strong>interrupts</strong> you a lot?</li>
	<li>What do people <strong>interrupt</strong> teachers for?</li>
	<li>Where do people often <strong>interrupt</strong>?</li>
	<li>When is <strong>interrupting</strong> essential?</li>
	<li>When is <strong>interrupting</strong> rude?</li>
	<li>How do you <strong>interrupt</strong> politely?</li>
</ul>

<h1>Speed Sort</h1>

<p>Choose a set of words or flashcards that you&rsquo;ve been working on and place them on individual slips of paper facedown in front of your&nbsp;student.</p>

<p>Now, have your student flip over the cards quickly, sorting them into two piles, <em>Words I Know</em> and <em>Words I Don&rsquo;t Know</em>. Any time you see your student hesitate when placing a word into the <em>Words I Know</em> pile, shout &ldquo;Challenge&rdquo; and ask your student to place the card in front of the two&nbsp;piles.</p>

<p>Now your student has to be able to define the word <em>and</em> use it in a sentence. You may want to test your student&rsquo;s spelling and pronunciation,&nbsp;too.</p>

<p>If your student gets a word wrong, move it to the <em>Words I Don&rsquo;t Know</em> pile. After the sorting and challenging is over, go through the <em>Words I Don&rsquo;t Know</em> pile and help your student learn these words by going over definitions, examples, pronunciation,&nbsp;etc.</p>

<p>Play again at the beginning of your next session. You may want to pull a few random cards from the <em>Words I Know</em> pile to make sure your student really knows the&nbsp;word.</p>

<p><em>Tip: Be sure to search our <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres">Flashcard</a> section to see if we have the words you need. Keep in mind that you can edit the text of an image to any word or word form you&nbsp;need!</em></p>

<h1>Reduce, Reuse, Recycle</h1>

<p>Choose 10 words from a reading that you are working on. Work together to write a story, poem, or letter that features all of the new or tricky words. You could write it like a chain, where your student writes one sentence (and crosses off a word) and you write the&nbsp;next.</p>

<h1>Vocab Collage</h1>

<p>Bring in some old magazines and have your student cut out objects and large words that he or she is familiar with in&nbsp;English.</p>

<p>While your student is making a collage of familiar words, point to useful words and objects in a magazine that your student may not know (but should). If your student does not know the word, cut the picture or word out and make your own collage with the unfamiliar&nbsp;words.</p>

<p>Go over the word collage regularly until your student knows all of the vocabulary. Try to use a balance of words and pictures to make the collage visually appealing. Vocab collages can be done in themes or just as a random vocabulary building activity that will also get your student&nbsp;talking.</p>

<h1>Role Reversal</h1>

<p>Teaching is the best way to learn. Tell your student to pretend that you are the learner. Your student will have to use examples, definitions, and drawings to get you to guess words from a list of new&nbsp;words.</p>

<h1>Word Soup</h1>

<p>Build Word Soup by focusing on themes or word forms. Draw a pot on a piece of paper or on a board. Slowly call out related words and have your student write them in the pot (e.g.,&nbsp;<em>school</em>, <em>teacher</em>, <em>pencil</em>, <em>pen</em>, <em>desk</em>). Then call out a word that doesn&rsquo;t belong (e.g., <em>vacuum cleaner</em>). If your student detects the odd word, have him start a new Word Soup beginning with this word. If your student doesn&rsquo;t spot the word, keep going for a while and then ask your student to spot the odd&nbsp;ingredient.</p>

<p>Get your student to create a big Word Soup before writing a word that doesn&rsquo;t go into it. You could do this with themes or with word forms (e.g., Verbs, Adjectives). For odd words, choose words that go with other word sets you have studied in the past. Make notes of the spelling mistakes and review them with your&nbsp;student.</p>

<h1>RSP Detective</h1>

<p>Have your student do regular detective work by trying to find a <em>root</em> and a <em>suffix</em> or <em>prefix</em> for a new word. Then open a dictionary together and try to find at least one related&nbsp;word.</p>

<p><strong>Example:</strong> &ldquo;interrupt&rdquo;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>prefix &ndash; inter</p>

<p>root &ndash; rupt</p>

<p>related words &ndash; <em>interrogate</em>, <em>interaction</em>, <em>rupture</em>, <em>erupt</em></p>
</blockquote>

<h1>What Would an Elephant Do with This&nbsp;Word?</h1>

<p>When you get to know your one-to-one students well, you&rsquo;ll learn what topics they are interested in (or even obsessed about). Find one animal, character, sport, or other subject that your student is passionate about (e.g., <em>elephant</em>, <em>soccer</em>, <em>baking</em>). Whenever you come across a new word, ask your student to come up with a sentence that combines this passion and the new&nbsp;word.</p>

<p>For example, imagine the new word is <strong>interrupt</strong> and your private lesson students have the following&nbsp;interests:</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Elephant</th>
			<td>An elephant would <strong>interrupt</strong> a sleeping family as it walked&nbsp;by.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Soccer</th>
			<td>Don&rsquo;t <strong>interrupt</strong> me when I&rsquo;m watching&nbsp;soccer.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Baking</th>
			<td>Someone always <strong>interrupts</strong> me while I&rsquo;m measuring&nbsp;sugar.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>Now imagine the new phrase these three students learned was <strong>special occasion</strong>. They might come up with these&nbsp;sentences:</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Elephant</th>
			<td>I rode an elephant once. It was a <strong>special&nbsp;occasion</strong>.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Soccer</th>
			<td>At <strong>special occasions</strong>, the men in my family sit in the living room and watch&nbsp;soccer.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Baking</th>
			<td>I bake cakes for <strong>special occasions</strong>&nbsp;such as&nbsp;birthdays.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Top 10 Booklet</h1>

<p>Who doesn&rsquo;t love a good Top 10 list? Whenever you cover a theme or grammar target, have your student make a Top Ten list. Keep all of the Top 10 lists together and quiz your student on these words&nbsp;regularly.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Top Ten Simple Past Verbs</li>
	<li>Top Ten Entertainment Genres</li>
	<li>Top Ten Kitchen Nouns</li>
	<li>Top Ten Adverbs</li>
	<li>Top Ten Small Talk Subjects</li>
</ul>

<p>See our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons">Word Bank</a> lessons for other ways to review 10&ndash;12 words in a&nbsp;set.</p>

<h1>Word Fit</h1>

<p>One-to-one lessons often take place in libraries or study halls where you feel like you have to keep your voice down and sit in one place. Why not get out and about once in a while? Grab two pens and two notebooks and go out for a walk. Set a time limit. Set a vocabulary goal too. Here are some possible vocabulary goals for a walk with your English&nbsp;student:</p>

<ul>
	<li>spot 10 words you learned this&nbsp;week</li>
	<li>write down all of the action verbs you&nbsp;see</li>
	<li>write down ten things you see that you don&rsquo;t know the word for (in one&rsquo;s own language, try to describe in English back in the&nbsp;class)</li>
	<li>write down 20 natural things that you&nbsp;see</li>
	<li>spot 20 manmade objects</li>
	<li>write 20 adjectives that come to mind as you walk (in class have the other person guess what noun went with&nbsp;them)</li>
	<li>write 10 things that you don&rsquo;t know how to pronounce properly</li>
	<li>write 10 business names that you see (in class discuss any play on words and talk about why these names are appropriate or&nbsp;not)</li>
	<li>make a list of opposites (e.g., one of you writes beautiful things and the other writes ugly things, or one writes white things and one writes black&nbsp;things)</li>
</ul>

<p>When you get back to your lesson area, have a discussion about what you saw. Go over your&nbsp;lists.</p>

<h1>Record and Compare</h1>

<p>Record a word list, and have your student record it too. Compare the recordings. Does your student&rsquo;s version need some pronunciation tweaks? Practice any difficult sounds or words. Then have your student try recording it&nbsp;again.</p>

<h1>Yes/No Questions</h1>

<p>Have a word list in mind or create one together based on your last few sessions. Then play a game where you think of one of the words, and your student has to ask Yes/No questions to find out which word you are thinking&nbsp;of.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>A: Is it a noun?<br />
B: No.</p>

<p>A: Is it a verb?<br />
B: Yes.</p>

<p>A: Is it something you do at work?<br />
B: Yes.</p>

<p>A: Is it a nice verb?<br />
B: Umm. No.</p>

<p>A: Is it a rude verb?<br />
B: Yes. Sometimes.</p>

<p>A: Does it start with an &ldquo;i&rdquo;?<br />
B: Yes!</p>

<p>A: Is it &ldquo;interrupt&rdquo;?<br />
B: Yes!</p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Vocabulary Box</h1>

<p>As you introduce new vocabulary, try collecting items that represent or relate to the new words. These can be actual items or pictures or objects that relate to the words. Place the items in a box or bag and look through it at the beginning or end of a lesson. Can your student remember why each item or picture is in the Vocabulary&nbsp;Box?</p>

<p>You can also use the Vocabulary Box for other activities such as writing prompts or spelling quizzes. It may even come in handy when you need game pieces for a <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/visual-learning/resources/2487-board-games">board game</a>. Clear out the collection once in a while and start a fresh&nbsp;collection!</p>

<h1>Share your ideas&hellip;</h1>

<p>Do you teach one-to-one? Leave a comment with your tips and ideas for reviewing vocabulary and using ESL&nbsp;Library materials! Which sections and tasks from our lessons work well in your private lessons? What adaptations have you&nbsp;made?</p>


One-to-One Vocabulary Review Activities

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<p>Manitoba, Canada, where ESL Library&#39;s head office is located, has over 100,000 lakes and waterways. In recent years, Manitoba has welcomed many newcomers and refugees who do not know how to swim. A recent <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-immigrant-swimming-classes-1.4182318">article in a local newspaper</a> noted that &quot;new Canadians from 11 to 14 years old are five times less likely to know how to swim than their Canadian-born counterparts.&quot; At ESL Library, we strongly believe that swimming is an essential skill for all ages. This month, we&#39;ve created a set of learning materials that language and/or swimming teachers can use to help encourage and inspire newcomers to take swimming lessons and learn about water safety.</p>

<h1>Flashcards</h1>

<p>Our new flashcard sets offer every word and image you need, including swimming strokes, parts of the pool, and swimwear. (There&#39;s even a &quot;burkini.&quot;)</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/9/flashcard_categories/10">At the Beach</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/9/flashcard_categories/133">At the Pool</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Word Bank</h1>

<p>We have two Word Bank lessons for absolute beginners or young learners. One lesson focuses on swimming strokes, actions, and the other focuses on things at the pool.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2484">Swimming</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2486">Swimming Pool</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Visual Learning</h1>

<p>We also have a new Visual Learning resource that can be used as an introductory lesson before students get in the pool. Non-members (lifeguards, swim teachers, parents, etc.) can access and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/following-instructions-at-the-pool">print this resource for free</a>, so feel free to share this resource!</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/visual-learning/resources/2482-following-instructions-at-the-pool">Following Instructions at the Pool</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Functional English</h1>

<p>Would your English learners know how to call 911 in the case of a drowning? Help prepare your students before an emergency arises by using one of these ready-made lessons:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2374">Handing a Medical Emergency</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1731">Calling 911 </a></li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Teaching English Learners About Swimming & Water Safety

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<h1>Free Teaching Resource</h1>

<p>Do you teach swimming to English learners or newcomers or know someone who does? <a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2156/content_107_Following-Instructions-at-the-Pool_Free.pdf" target="_blank">Following Instructions at the Pool</a> is a useful introduction to swimming words and instructions that newcomers may not be familiar with. We&#39;ve made this resource available for non-members so that lifeguards and swimming instructors who may not be English language teachers can access it freely.</p>

<p>Here is the audio that goes with the listening activity on page 4. You can stream or download the audio. ESL Library members will also find this resource (and many related materials) in our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources" target="_blank">Visual Learning</a> section.</p>

<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/1551/following-swimming-instructions.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

<h3>Copyright</h3>

<p>Here&rsquo;s what you can / cannot do with this PDF: You can use this resource for free with your students or swimmers for educational purposes. You may make photocopies for your students and your classroom walls. You may email your students a link to this page, so that they can access the file on their own. You may not alter or republish the resource. You may not upload the poster to any server. Thanks for respecting our work!</p>

<p>We hope you&#39;ll find time to talk about water safety in your classes this year and possibly inspire your students to register for swimming lessons!</p>

<h3>Related on ESL Library</h3>

<p>Here are some related materials for members of ESL Library.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/visual-learning/resources/2482-following-instructions-at-the-pool" target="_blank">Following Instructions at the Pool</a> (identical to FREE resource)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2484" target="_blank">Swimming</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2486" target="_blank">Swimming Pool</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2374" target="_blank">Handling a Medical Emergency</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/9/flashcard_categories/10" target="_blank">At the Beach</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/9/flashcard_categories/133" target="_blank">At the Pool</a></li>
</ul>


Following Instructions at the Pool

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<p>On a recent trip to Cuba, our family was surprised how difficult it was to spend money! We couldn&#39;t buy the foreign currency before we left, and we had to exchange our money at the airport. We thought we would mainly use our credit cards, but soon found out that many establishments near our hotel only accepted the tourist cash (CUC). Even though we were Canadian, my husband&#39;s credit card was not accepted because it was associated with a US bank. Using a debit card at a store or bank was not possible either. In a foreign country, there is a lot to learn about money and banking, including the&nbsp;language. At ESL&nbsp;Library, we have plenty of useful money &amp; banking materials for teaching newcomers and travelers to English-speaking&nbsp;countries.</p>

<h1>Flashcards</h1>

<p>You&#39;ll find every word you need in our <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/9/flashcard_categories/9">At the Bank</a> flashcard set, including nouns like <em>chip, client</em>, and <em>ATM</em> and verbs like <em>swipe, insert,</em> and <em>withdraw</em>. If you want to change a word before you print the cards, simply edit the text (e.g., change &quot;ATM&quot;&nbsp;to &quot;bank machine&quot;).&nbsp;</p>

<h1>Word Bank</h1>

<p>Try this ready-made lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2545">Banking</a> with your absolute beginners or literacy students. (Check out our NEW <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2550">Assessment Tasks &amp; Tools</a>.)</p>

<h1>Everyday English</h1>

<p>This intermediate <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1710">Going to the Bank</a> lesson is useful for newcomers who want to open a bank&nbsp;account.</p>

<h1>Listening Resource</h1>

<p>This <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/listening/resources/2467-banking">Banking</a> resource includes three listening exercises and reviews common questions and responses that your students will hear and use at a bank in an English-speaking country.</p>

<h1>Super Simple Questions</h1>

<p>Money and banking leads to shopping! <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/110/lessons/2336">How Much Is It?</a> is a beginner-level lesson that introduces English learners to dollars and cents (includes&nbsp;audio).</p>

<h1>Discussion &amp; Reading Lessons</h1>

<p>If you&#39;re doing a unit on money &amp; banking with higher-level learners, you might also want to cover some of these reading and discussion&nbsp;topics.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1270">Minimum Wage</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1267">Debt</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/86/lessons/1678">Currencies</a></li>
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1677-credit-cards-loans-debt">Credit Cards, Loans &amp; Debts</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Lesson Collection</h1>

<p>We&#39;ve made it easy for you to find all of the materials and resources related to this teaching theme. Check out our <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/everyday-topics/shopping-money">Shopping &amp; Money Lesson Collection</a>. Spend, spend,&nbsp;spend! <strong>Not an Ellii member?&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Subscribe&nbsp;today!</a></strong></p>


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Tara Benwell