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<p>Learning regular and irregular plural forms is one thing, but learning the possessive form for each type can cause some pretty big headaches for our students! In one of our Functional English lessons,&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1757" target="_blank">Finding the Restroom</a>, students will see&nbsp;<em>men&#39;s room</em>&nbsp;but they might wonder&nbsp;why it isn&#39;t spelled&nbsp;<em>mens&#39; room.</em></p>

<p>Our publishing team recently&nbsp;discussed how tricky it is for students to learn how to spell <em>men&rsquo;s room</em> and <em>ladies&rsquo; room</em>. Why <em>don&rsquo;t</em> we spell it <em>mens&rsquo; room</em>? And how can we help our English language learners learn possessive&nbsp;plurals?</p>

<p>The answer lies in thinking about the plural form <em>before</em> it becomes possessive. The plural of <em>man</em> is <em>men</em>, so the possessive follows the normal rule of adding an <span class="inlineBlock">apostrophe + s</span> to form <em>men&rsquo;s room</em>. The plural of <em>lady</em> is <em>ladies</em>, so the possessive follows the normal rule of adding only the apostrophe to a plural word ending in ‑s, which gives us <em>ladies&rsquo; room</em> (scroll down for the complete list of rules).</p>

<p>Let&rsquo;s take a look at some other common English plurals and possessive forms in the table&nbsp;below.</p>

<h1>Regular &amp; Irregular Possessive Plural&nbsp;Forms</h1>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="4">Regular Plurals</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Singular</th>
			<th>Possessive Singular</th>
			<th>Plural</th>
			<th>Possessive Plural</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>lady</td>
			<td>lady&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>ladies</td>
			<td>ladies&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>guy</td>
			<td>guy&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>guys</td>
			<td>guys&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>girl</td>
			<td>girl&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>girls</td>
			<td>girls&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>boy</td>
			<td>boy&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>boys</td>
			<td>boys&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>kid</td>
			<td>kid&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>kids</td>
			<td>kids&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>student</td>
			<td>student&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>students</td>
			<td>students&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>teacher</td>
			<td>teacher&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>teachers</td>
			<td>teachers&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>school</td>
			<td>school&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>schools</td>
			<td>schools&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>book</td>
			<td>book&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>books</td>
			<td>books&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="4">Irregular Plurals</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Singular</th>
			<th>Possessive Singular</th>
			<th>Plural</th>
			<th>Possessive Plural</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>man</td>
			<td>man&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>men</td>
			<td>men&rsquo;s</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>woman</td>
			<td>woman&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>women</td>
			<td>women&rsquo;s</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>child</td>
			<td>child&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>children</td>
			<td>children&rsquo;s</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>person</td>
			<td>person&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>people</td>
			<td>people&rsquo;s</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>baby</td>
			<td>baby&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>babies</td>
			<td>babies&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>wife</td>
			<td>wife&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>wives</td>
			<td>wives&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>foot</td>
			<td>foot&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>feet</td>
			<td>feet&rsquo;s</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>tomato</td>
			<td>tomato&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>tomatoes</td>
			<td>tomatoes&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>class*</td>
			<td>class&rsquo;s</td>
			<td>classes</td>
			<td>classes&rsquo;</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>*Note</h5>

<p>A singular word ending in ‑s takes an apostrophe +&nbsp;s, as in <em>class&rsquo;s</em>. Most current style guides follow this&nbsp;rule.</p>
</div>

<h1>Summary of Rules</h1>

<h2>Rule #1</h2>

<p>For singular and plural nouns that don&rsquo;t end in ‑s: <strong>noun +&nbsp;&rsquo;s</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>boy + &rsquo;s = boy&rsquo;s</li>
	<li>men + &rsquo;s = men&rsquo;s</li>
</ul>

<h2>Rule #2</h2>

<p>For singular nouns ending in ‑s: <strong>noun +&nbsp;&rsquo;s</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>class + &rsquo;s = class&rsquo;s</li>
</ul>

<h2>Rule #3</h2>

<p>For plural nouns ending in ‑s: <strong>nouns +&nbsp;&rsquo;</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>ladies + &rsquo; = ladies&rsquo;</li>
</ul>

<h1>Examples</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Excuse me, do you know where the <strong>men&rsquo;s</strong> room&nbsp;is?</li>
	<li>The <strong>ladies&rsquo;</strong> room is down the hall to the&nbsp;right.</li>
	<li>Jimmy, do you need to use the little <strong>boys&rsquo;</strong>&nbsp;room?</li>
	<li>My cousins and I always have to sit at the <strong>kids&rsquo;</strong>&nbsp;table.</li>
	<li>Where are the <strong>children&rsquo;s</strong> books in this&nbsp;store?</li>
	<li>My <strong>class&rsquo;s</strong> poem won first place. It beat the other&nbsp;<strong>classes&rsquo;</strong>&nbsp;submissions.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1757" target="_blank">Finding the Restroom</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/forming-the-possessive-of-words-ending-in-s" target="_blank">Forming the Possessive of Words Ending in&nbsp;‑s</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/olympics-singular-or-plural" target="_blank">Olympics: Singular or Plural?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/there-is-there-are" target="_blank">There Is/There Are + Nouns in a Series</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/count-non-count-nouns/" target="_blank">Count &amp; Non-Count Nouns</a></li>
</ul>


Confusing Possessive Plurals

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

Grammar & Usage

<p>Are you looking for grammar lessons for young English learners? ESL&nbsp;Library&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons" target="_blank">Fun Grammar Lessons</a> section&nbsp;offers ready-made lessons on all the main grammar targets that make up the building blocks of English. These kid-friendly lessons are packed with visual support and fun activities to keep young learners&nbsp;engaged.</p>

<h1>Grammar Lesson Categories</h1>

<p>Our Fun Grammar Lessons are divided into the following&nbsp;categories:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Verbs</li>
	<li>Nouns &amp; Pronouns</li>
	<li>Adjectives &amp; Adverbs</li>
	<li>Prepositions</li>
	<li>Modals</li>
	<li>Gerunds &amp; Infinitives</li>
	<li>Sentence Constructions</li>
</ul>

<p>Lessons can be sorted into these categories using the tag filter on the main <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons" target="_blank">Fun Grammar Lessons</a> page. They can also be sorted&nbsp;alphabetically (A&ndash;Z icon) and from easiest to most difficult (1&ndash;9 icon). Note that the difficulty filter is very handy if you&#39;re looking for our suggested teaching order for all of these&nbsp;lessons!</p>

<p><img alt="Screenshot of filters" height="37" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2163/content_Tanya_FGL-Filters.png" width="141" /></p>

<h1>Levels</h1>

<p>These lessons have been categorized into the following&nbsp;levels:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Beg</li>
	<li>Beg &ndash; Low Int</li>
	<li>Low Int &ndash; Int</li>
	<li>Int</li>
	<li>Int &ndash; High Int</li>
</ul>

<p>Please preview the lessons to find out if the levels we&#39;ve chosen are suitable for your learners. To filter by level, use the sort buttons on the left of the main <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons" target="_blank">Fun Grammar Lessons</a> page.</p>

<p><img alt="Screenshot of level filters" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2164/content_Tanya_FGL-Level-Filters.png" width="154" height="37"></p>

<p>For the recommended teaching order of lessons within the same level, use the difficulty filter&nbsp;(1&ndash;9 icon) on the right of the main&nbsp;page.</p>

<h1>Lesson Tasks</h1>

<p>These comprehensive lessons can be stretched out to last several days. You can choose only those tasks (PDF or digital) that you&#39;d like to do, or you can do them all in the order we&#39;ve set. You can also save some tasks to assign for homework.</p>

<p>Here are some of the exercise types you will find in these lessons (note that task types vary slightly from the PDF to the digital version, though most content is the same):</p>

<ul>
	<li>Grammar notes</li>
	<li>Practice exercises</li>
	<li>Pair speaking tasks</li>
	<li>Writing tasks</li>
	<li>Fun activities (cards, games,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
	<li>Quizzes</li>
	<li>Class surveys</li>
</ul>

<h1>Sample Lesson</h1>

<p>If you aren&#39;t an <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing" target="_blank">ESL Library member</a> yet, check out our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2503" target="_blank">Simple Present</a> sample lesson to get a feel for what these lessons look like. (You can view a lesson from each of our lessons sections in our <a href="https://ellii.com/sample/lessons" target="_blank">Sample&nbsp;Lessons</a>&nbsp;area.)</p>

<p>Note: Our Fun Grammar Lessons were designed for teaching young learners. If you teach teen and adult learners, we recommend our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> section. You will find some overlap in these lessons, so please choose the lesson that is more suitable for your age&nbsp;group. Also note that many teachers have told us their teen and adult learners sometimes prefer our <a href="http://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons" target="_blank">Fun Grammar Lessons</a> since they are a easier and illustrated.</p>

<h1>More Fun for Kids</h1>

<p>Here are some other ESL Library sections that you can use with young learners and middle&nbsp;schoolers:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons" target="_blank">Word Bank</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/117/lessons" target="_blank">Discovery</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Stories</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons" target="_blank">Basic Grammar Sentences</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons" target="_blank">Simple Sentences</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/83/lessons" target="_blank">Easy Readers</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Flashcards</h1>

<p>Our Flashcard section can be used with our grammar lessons. You can edit the vocabulary to any word form or tense you need or even print the images without words for quizzes, games, and tests. Be sure to check out all of our new and updated <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/" target="_blank">Flashcards</a>.</p>


Fun Grammar Lessons for Teaching Young Learners

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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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<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>


Teaching English Learners about Money & Banking

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<h1>What are you reading?</h1>

<p>In my TESOL presentation on Blending Authentic Materials with Ready-Made ELT Materials, I talked about how teachers can find creative ways to teach or review bits of English using excerpts from books they are reading. Students love to know personal tidbits about teachers, and what better way to let them in than through what we&#39;re&nbsp;reading?</p>

<h1>One Summer&hellip;</h1>

<p>Right now, I&#39;m reading a book of personal essays by Nicholson Baker called <em>The Way the World Works</em>. One of my favorite essays so far is called <em>One Summer</em>. It&#39;s a collection of paragraphs, each beginning with <em>One summer&hellip;</em> and ranging in length from one to ten sentences. Each paragraph is about a summer memory. The paragraphs also range in content from the author&#39;s recent summer memories to his childhood&nbsp;ones.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>One summer my family went on a boat in Georgian Bay with another family. There was a girl who slept on the boat with her eyes&nbsp;open.</p>
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
<p>One summer a guy down the street got mad at the fact that people were allowing their dogs to poop every day in the front yard. He took some white forks and put them in the dog poops. They looked like little&nbsp;sailboats.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Immediately after reading Baker&#39;s essay, I was inspired to write my own collection of <em>One summer&hellip;</em>&nbsp;paragraphs:</p>

<blockquote>One summer my friend and I sold my brother&#39;s BMX bike at a neighbor&#39;s garage sale. We had to find a way to buy it back, so we set up a Kool-Aid&nbsp;stand.</blockquote>

<p>It&#39;s fun to see what kinds of memories come back when you use this&nbsp;prompt.</p>

<h1>Writing Prompts</h1>

<p>A collection of <em>One summer&hellip;</em> memories can quickly become a set of past tense <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons">Grammar Stories</a>. You can pair this exercise with a ready-made lesson on the past tense (see links below). Here are some activities to try with this writing&nbsp;prompt:</p>

<ol class="spaced-list">
	<li><have a="" anonymously="" each="" student="" write="">One summer&hellip; paragraph and put the stories together in a collection. Work together to guess which story belongs to which student. You may also want to guess how old the student was that&nbsp;summer.</have></li>
	<li>Have each student write 3&ndash;5 <em>One summer&hellip;</em> paragraphs and have a read-aloud session. Choose the best ones to go in a <em>One Summer&hellip;</em> anthology. Encourage the other students to say, <em>Tell me&nbsp;more!</em></li>
	<li>Have students write a series of <em>One summer&hellip;</em> paragraphs with 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 or more sentences. Discuss which works best for this type of short&nbsp;story.</li>
	<li>Have students write one factual and one fictional story using the <em>One summer&hellip;</em> prompt. Guess which ones are true and which ones are fiction.</li>
	<li>Have students write one or two sentences using the prompt at the top of a piece of paper, and then have them pass it to another student. The next student will add a related story, starting with &quot;<em>Oh yeah? One summer&nbsp;I&hellip;&quot;</em></li>
</ol>

<p>Repeat any of these activities with other seasons (<em>One winter&hellip;</em>) and create a <em>Year Book</em> using your students&#39; awesome&nbsp;writing.</p>

<h1>Blog Challenge</h1>

<p>Write your own <em>One Summer&hellip;</em> memory in the comments&nbsp;below!</p>

<h1>Pairings</h1>

<p>You can pair this prompt with content from our <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/holidays-events/sensational-summer" target="_blank">Sensational Summer</a> collection or one of the&nbsp;following Ellii lessons:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1594">Grammar Practice Worksheets: Simple Past</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons/1642">Grammar Stories: Simple Past Stories</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1565">Basic Grammar Sentences: Simple Past &ndash; I used&nbsp;to</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1566">Basic Grammar Sentences: Simple Past &ndash; Past&nbsp;Irregular</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1564">Basic Grammar Sentences: Simple Past &ndash; What did you do last&nbsp;night?</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="external-article"><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Way-World-Works-Essays/dp/1416572481/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1500390346&amp;sr=8-1">The Way the World Works</a> By Nicholson&nbsp;Baker</li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="http://Songs for Summertime " target="_blank">Songs for Summertime</a>&nbsp;Spotify playlist by Ellii</li>
</ul>


One Summer – Collaborative Writing Prompt

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<p>Do your students struggle with reported (indirect) speech? One of our subscribers recently said that reported speech is one of the most difficult targets for language students to learn. We&nbsp;agree! Our editor says that <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reported-speech/" target="_blank">reported speech is tricky to learn</a> (and teach) because of the <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2367-reported-speech" target="_blank">verb tense changes</a> that are sometimes&nbsp;required.</p>

<h1>ESL Library&#39;s Dialogue-Based Sections</h1>

<p>ESL Library has many lessons that are based on dialogues. These are ideal for practicing reported speech because they come with ready-made audio that you can download or&nbsp;stream:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Dialogues</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/85/lessons" target="_blank">English at Work</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/79/lessons" target="_blank">Detective Series 1</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/101/lessons" target="_blank">Detective Series 2</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/77/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 1</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/78/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 2</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/102/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 3 </a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice Tasks</h1>

<p>Below are five practice tasks to try with any of the lessons from the sections above. These tasks can also be used with authentic dialogues and&nbsp;transcripts.</p>

<h2>1. Listen &amp; Report</h2>

<p>Have your students listen to the dialogue. Pause the audio after each line (or after a tricky line) and ask this&nbsp;question:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>What did he/she say?</p>
</blockquote>

<p><img alt="reported speech example" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2188/content_reported-1.png" /></p>

<p>At first, you might want your students to have the transcript handy. As your students become more familiar with this target, use the audio on its&nbsp;own.</p>

<h2>2. Ask Ss for Clarification</h2>

<p>This task can be done with the audio or the transcript. Ask your students to paraphrase what was said about a certain subject in the&nbsp;dialogue.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>What did Jim say about <strong>the employment&nbsp;papers</strong>?</p>

<p>Did Jim say to drop off the employment papers&nbsp;<strong>now</strong>?</p>

<p>Jim said to drop off the employment papers <strong>in the staff room,&nbsp;right</strong>?</p>
</blockquote>

<p><img alt="reported speech example" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2183/content_reported-2.png" /></p>

<h2>3. Practice a Specific Tense or&nbsp;Form</h2>

<p>Some tenses are trickier than others when it comes to reported speech. Which ones do your students need to work on? Spot examples of it in the dialogues and ask your students to report on what was&nbsp;said.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>What did the detective say the teacher <strong>was&nbsp;doing</strong>?</p>
</blockquote>

<p><img alt="reported speech example" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2184/content_reported-3.png" /></p>

<p>Your students may also need to practice other types of indirect speech, such as questions and requests. When you see or hear an example in a dialogue, ask your students to&nbsp;practice.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>What did he ask first? Then what request did he&nbsp;make?</p>
</blockquote>

<p><img alt="reported speech example" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2185/content_reported-4.png" /></p>

<h2>4. Spot the Reported Speech</h2>

<p>In some cases, reported speech will be used by the characters in the dialogue. Ask your students to spot instances of reported speech used by the&nbsp;speakers.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Where does one of the characters use reported&nbsp;speech?</p>
</blockquote>

<p><img alt="reported speech example" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2186/content_reported-5.png" /></p>

<h2>5. Summarize the Conversation</h2>

<p>When summarizing a conversation, it is natural to use reported speech. After listening to and reading a dialogue, ask students to practice summarizing it. This type of task can be done orally or in&nbsp;writing.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Summarize how Clarissa broke the ice with the&nbsp;detective.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><img alt="reported speech example" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2187/content_reported-6.png" /></p>

<h1>Teaching Reported Speech</h1>

<p>If your students are unfamiliar with reported (indirect) speech, you will need to teach them the rules and do some practice work before you can try the tasks above. Here are some useful materials to&nbsp;use:</p>

<h2>1. Grammar Practice Worksheets: <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1618" target="_blank">Direct &amp; Reported Speech</a></h2>

<p>In this lesson, students review the verb tense and punctuation rules used in direct and reported speech. They practice changing sentences from direct to reported speech and vice&nbsp;versa.</p>

<p><img alt="Direct and Reported speech lesson" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2189/content_88_Direct-and-Reported-Speech_US-1024x755.png" /></p>

<h2>2. Grammar &amp; Usage: <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2367-reported-speech" target="_blank">Reported&nbsp;Speech</a></h2>

<p>This handy chart and tips will help students remember common verb tense and modal changes in reported speech. We also encourage you to read our editor&#39;s tips for teaching <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reported-speech/" target="_blank">Reported&nbsp;Speech</a>.</p>

<h1>The Most Difficult Target to Learn/Teach</h1>

<p>In your opinion, what is the most difficult language target for English learners? What is the most difficult thing to&nbsp;teach?</p>


5 Tasks for Practicing Reported Speech

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<p>In preparation for a family vacation to Cuba this spring, I began studying a little Spanish. I had heard a lot of good things about <a href="https://www.duolingo.com/">Duolingo</a>, so I decided to give the language learning app a try. Having studied a little Spanish in university, I was pleased that some basic vocabulary came back to me quite quickly while doing my daily language exercise. My kids learned a few useful words too (and they enjoyed watching Mom study).</p>

<p>One lazy evening in our hotel in Cuba, we turned on the TV. The kids wanted to watch something in English, but I reminded them we were in a foreign country and needed to have foreign experiences (including a week with no Wi-Fi). We came across a film in Spanish and I had the kids in stitches as I pretended to translate. The weekend after we returned from our vacation, my son and I stretched out on our couch and searched for a Netflix movie to watch. We stumbled across a film about orcas (my son&#39;s favorite sea creature) but didn&#39;t realize the film was in Spanish until it began. While I was thrilled to continue my language learning, my son was a bit disappointed and thought he wouldn&#39;t be able to follow along. We grabbed his stuffed orca to cuddle with and let the movie play.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Though I don&#39;t know how much Spanish I actually retained by watching <em> El Faro de las Orcas</em>, I felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment. I actually understood a lot of the Spanish words. More importantly, my son, who is a similar age to the boy in the film, spent two hours reading in order to follow along. When the film was over, we had a rich discussion. My son felt he had a better understanding about what life is like for autistic kids and their parents. At school, on the ice, and in our circle of friends and family, he has been exposed to many kids on the spectrum, and this film helped us talk about all of these kids and how they have different coping mechanisms. Having just spent a week by the sea, we also talked about why the ocean might have a calming effect on those that have difficulty in social situations. We also discussed other issues, such as child custody and environmental regulations. And we discussed what might have happened afterward and whether or not the film was too far-fetched to be based on a true story.</p>

<p>The fact that <em>El Faro de las Orcas</em> was in Spanish did not affect my son&#39;s understanding or enjoyment of it. In fact, he has already recommended it to some of his friends. Perhaps I&#39;ve stumbled on a new way to encourage more reading (and foreign language learning) in our house. Which foreign film should we watch next?</p>

<p><strong>idiom</strong> in stitches: <em>laughing uncontrollably</em></p>


Enjoying Foreign Films with English Subtitles

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<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener&nbsp;receives.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Lilly Walters</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Chances are you might be attending or presenting at a conference this year. Conferences are a great way to make connections and share your experience with other&nbsp;educators.</p>

<p>ESL&nbsp;Library team members often present at and attend TESOL and other ELT conferences. Below are some tips we hope will help you deliver an incredible presentation. Feel free to connect with us at a conference. We would love to see you&nbsp;present!</p>

<h1>Focus on a Few Points</h1>

<p>Top presenters advise that an audience will remember up to three ideas. Choose the main takeaways of your presentation and remind your audience of these points at the end of the presentation. For those who want to know more, provide a handout or a link to your presentation&nbsp;resources.</p>

<h1>Share Your Reflections</h1>

<p>Many presenters make the mistake of sharing too much research or too many quotes or ideas from others. Your audience is interested in <em>your</em> thoughts, reflections, and experiences on the topic. Briefly mention the pedagogy and research, and for those who are interested, offer to provide a list of references or an emailed copy of your research. Keep in mind that the audience came to listen to you; therefore, the majority of the presentation needs to be about your insights, struggles, and&nbsp;solutions.</p>

<h1>Design a Compelling Presentation</h1>

<p>Like our language learners, we learn best with visuals and multimedia. Make sure your presentation is designed well and includes visuals, multimedia, video, or audio. Limit the amount of text you have on your slides. For more tips on designing a compelling presentation, check out this post:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/20-tips-and-resources-to-help-learners-with-their-presentation-skills/" target="_blank">20+ Tips and Resources to Help Learners with Their Presentation&nbsp;Skills</a>.</p>

<h1>Include a Warmer or&nbsp;Icebreaker</h1>

<p>Chances are your audience members have been sitting through several other presentations and their brains are already filled with information. Wake them up with a quick icebreaker, warmer, or filler. Even if you are not giving a workshop, movement stimulates the brain. We share some icebreakers in this post:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/a-beautiful-beginning-10-tips-resources-for-creating-a-safe-classroom-environment/" target="_blank">A Beautiful Beginning: 10+ Tips &amp; Resources for Creating a Safe Classroom&nbsp;Environment</a>.</p>

<h1>Allow Audience Input Toward the&nbsp;End</h1>

<p>Too many times I have seen a member of the audience hijack a presentation when allowed to share. Some audience members speak for too long or begin debates that can last for most of the presentation. You spent a lot of time preparing your presentation, so to maximize this time, invite your audience to share and ask their questions at the end of your presentation&nbsp;only.</p>

<h1>Include a Backchannel</h1>

<p>You can have your audience share throughout the presentation with a backchannel. If your audience is on Twitter, provide them with a hashtag to include their questions and thoughts. Other options are having the audience share online with these suggested web tools:&nbsp;<a href="https://padlet.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Padlet</a>, <a href="http://en.linoit.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Lino</a>, or <a href="https://todaysmeet.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Today&rsquo;s&nbsp;Meet</a>.</p>

<h1>Have a Plan B, C, D&hellip;</h1>

<p>The technology may fail you. Do not waste too much time apologizing or trying to fix the technology. Instead, continue with the learning and have a backup plan. If a video or audio clip doesn&rsquo;t play, move on. Prepare a presentation that does not require an Internet connection along with the one that does. One time, when my projector didn&rsquo;t work and I couldn&rsquo;t show my slides, I had the audience participate in activities with their mobile devices. (Good thing the topic was about language learning with mobile&nbsp;devices!)</p>

<h1>Provide a Copy of Your&nbsp;Presentation</h1>

<p>Make sure to let your audience know how they can get a copy of your presentation slides and resources. There are several web tools and websites where you can publish your presentation online. You can create a <a href="https://docs.google.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Google Doc</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.pbworks.com/wikis.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Wiki</a>, or <a href="https://www.weebly.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Weebly</a> with your resources. If you don&rsquo;t feel comfortable publishing your work online, offer to email your audience a&nbsp;copy.</p>

<h1>Invite the Audience to&nbsp;Connect</h1>

<p>If your audience loved your presentation, they might want to invite you to present at their schools or at another conference. Make sure to let people know how they can connect with you through email or on social media. You can provide a QR code with your contact information. People still exchange business cards at conferences, so have some on hand just in&nbsp;case.</p>

<h1>Connect on Social&nbsp;Media</h1>

<p>You can connect with your audience before and after your presentation through <a href="http://twitter.com/ESLlibrary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ESLlibrary/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Facebook</a>. Most conferences have a hashtag where you can discover other conference attendees, presenters, and bloggers. The conference hashtag is a great place to invite people to attend your presentation and to post your presentation resources for those who could not attend.</p>

<p><a class="button" href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-ultimate-hashtag-guide-for-english-language-teachers/" target="_blank">Shelly&rsquo;s Ultimate Hashtag Guide for ELT</a></p>

<p>Sometimes I schedule tweets with images and ideas <a href="https://twitter.com/shellterrell" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">on my Twitter account</a> to coincide with my presentation. Invite your audience to tweet during your presentation using the conference hashtag. Invite them to post pictures or their feedback. Often this will attract more people to your presentation or future presentations.</p>

<p>What tips do you have for those&nbsp;presenting?</p>


Top Tips for Presenting at ELT Conferences

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<p>Authentic materials are materials that are not created or adapted specifically for language learners. The language is real and raw just as it is in everyday&nbsp;life.</p>

<p>When used cleverly and blended with graded materials (ELT textbooks and mats), authentic materials can keep learners interested and engaged in language&nbsp;learning.</p>

<p>Many teachers think that it&#39;s too difficult to use authentic materials with low-level learners. The truth is, you simply need to choose items that allow you to work on a specific task or target (grade the task). In fact, you can even use materials that have very little text (cartoons, quotes, captions) with your high-level&nbsp;learners.</p>

<h1>An Example</h1>

<p>Let&#39;s have a look at how a charming video of a pre-schooler saying goodbye to random folks on an escalator can be used to practice English with all levels (and arguably all ages) of language learners.</p>

<p>Although there is very little language in this video, it can be used to exploit language in a variety of ways.</p>

<p>Like many videos that go viral on social media sites, this video is also highly engaging and can provide a nice break from textbook lessons (just two of many important reasons for incorporating authentic materials into your&nbsp;lessons).</p>

<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vUJIgkPoiBg?ecver=1" width="560"></iframe></p>

<h1>For the Absolute Beginner</h1>

<p>Play the video. The little girl can act as the model. Your students can practice saying bye and waving and smiling just as the people in this video do. This top-down approach (context before language) can inspire and motivate your learners. You could show this video before you introduce a ready-made lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1736" target="_blank">Saying Goodbye</a> that extends the language (<em>see you, later, bye for&nbsp;now</em>).</p>

<h1>For the Beginner &ndash;&nbsp;Low-Intermediate Learner</h1>

<p>Play the video to review a target vocabulary item you&#39;ve been working on such as <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/1818" target="_blank">clothing</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1722" target="_blank">hairstyles</a>. Point to the people and pause the video as you go. Alternatively, you could show this video as an introduction to a unit on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1711" target="_blank">Going&nbsp;Shopping</a>.</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>What is the little girl&nbsp;wearing?</li>
	<li>What is he wearing? (point to people going&nbsp;down)</li>
	<li>What color hair does she&nbsp;have?</li>
	<li>What style of hair does she&nbsp;have?</li>
	<li>Whose outfit do you like best, and&nbsp;why?</li>
	<li>Which shoppers look fashionable/outdated?</li>
</ul>

<h1>For the Intermediate Learner</h1>

<p>You could use this lesson to introduce a unit on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2375" target="_blank">emotions and feelings</a>. You could also use it to follow-up on a lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2257" target="_blank">making&nbsp;predictions</a>.</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>How does the little girl make people&nbsp;feel?</li>
	<li>How might the parent&nbsp;feel?</li>
	<li>How does the little girl make the other people&nbsp;feel?</li>
	<li>What body language do the people use to express their&nbsp;feelings?</li>
	<li>How does the video make you&nbsp;feel?</li>
	<li>Where do you think this scene takes&nbsp;place?</li>
	<li>Why is the girl&#39;s family standing&nbsp;there?</li>
</ul>

<h1>For the High-Intermediate to Advanced&nbsp;Learner</h1>

<p>You could use this video with high-level learners to inspire a critical thinking discussion or group activity. Have a group discussion using the questions below, and ask students to respond to their favorite question in a <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/selfie-videos-ell/">selfie video</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/assessment-tools/resources/2383-personal-opinion-assessment-tools">personal response</a>. You might even get students to create their own social experiment by having one student stand at the exit and say bye to students after school. Have another person record a video of the students&#39;&nbsp;reactions.</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>Who does the little girl NOT say goodbye to? Why do you think she avoids this&nbsp;person?</li>
	<li>What do you think the people said to each other when they got to the bottom of the&nbsp;escalator?</li>
	<li>What effect do you think the little girl had on the people who waved&nbsp;back?</li>
	<li>How do you think the person who was filming this video was feeling? Would all parents allow or even encourage their kids to do something like&nbsp;this?</li>
	<li>Why do we find pleasure in a simple video like&nbsp;this?</li>
</ul>

<h1>Further Reading</h1>

<p>As is often the case with language learning methodologies, many ELT experts now believe that &quot;grading the task&quot;&nbsp;is not as simple as we were taught in teacher training courses. Here is some further reading to do on this&nbsp;topic:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="external-article"><a href="https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-authentic-materials" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Using Authentic Materials</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="http://www.richmondshare.com.br/revisiting-elt-mantras-5-grade-the-task-not-the-text/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Revisiting ELT Mantras #5: grade the task, not the text</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="https://elt-resourceful.com/2014/02/27/authentic-or-graded-is-there-a-middle-way/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Authentic or Graded? Is there a middle way?</a></li>
</ul>


Authentic Materials: Grading the Task

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<p>We have a NEW <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/17/flashcard_categories/99">flashcard set of toys</a> just in time for Christmas! While you might think of toys as a subject only young learners would be interested in, adults enjoy the nostalgia of this theme too. Some of your students may even be parents who have a very practical need for this vocabulary this&nbsp;month.</p>

<h1>Ideas for Using Flashcards: Toys</h1>

<p>ESL Library&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/17/flashcard_categories/99">Toys</a>&nbsp;flashcard set features a wide variety of play things, including traditional toys like tricyles and blocks&nbsp;and more modern toys like handheld video game.&nbsp;Below you will find some ideas for using this updated flashcard set during the holiday season. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page for related lesson&nbsp;content.</p>

<h2>What would you like for Christmas?</h2>

<p>Choose one student to be Santa Claus. Put Santa on a chair at the front of the room beside another chair. Hand out toy flashcards to all of your students. Have each student take a turn talking to Santa. Students must describe what they want (the image on their card) without saying the name of the toy. Santa guesses. (Give more than one student a turn to be&nbsp;Santa.)</p>

<h2>Under the Tree</h2>

<p>Draw a tree on the board. Give each student a toy flashcard. Put a piece of tape on the back of the flashcards. Have students take turns putting their flashcard under the tree. They have to say who they would give this toy to and why. You can have them choose other students from their class or real people from their&nbsp;lives.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I am giving this tricycle to my nephew. He loves&nbsp;bikes!</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Toy Store Field Trip</h2>

<p>Take your students to the local toy store. Put your students in small groups or pairs. Give each group <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/17/flashcard_categories/99">a set of toy flashcards</a>. Have students search the store to find each toy. Which section or aisle did they find the toy in? They must make a list of where they found the toy and what other types of toys were in the same section. Which toy could they not find? Tell them to find one toy they have never seen before. Back at the school they can describe the toy. You can also ask them to find the most expensive toy,&nbsp;the least expensive toy, the prettiest toy,&nbsp;the funniest toy,&nbsp;etc.</p>

<h2>When I Was Young</h2>

<p>This is a game you can play with adults. Set out all of the flashcards on a table. Have students take turns picking up a flashcard and describing their favorite toy as a&nbsp;child.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>When I was a child, my favorite toy was a&nbsp;doll.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The other students have to ask at least five questions about the&nbsp;toy.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>What was your doll&#39;s name? Who gave you the doll? What did the doll look like? What happened to the&nbsp;doll?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If a student cannot find his favorite toy in the flashcards, he can draw it on the&nbsp;board.</p>

<h2>Reality Flashcards</h2>

<p>You&#39;ve heard about reality TV, but what about reality flashcards? Invite your students to bring the cards to life by telling true stories related to the cards. Hold up a card and ask the class this&nbsp;question:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Who has a real life story about this&nbsp;toy?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>True stories will help your students remember the words. After the story time, ask the students which story was the most memorable and why. Encourage the other students to ask the storyteller at least three&nbsp;questions.</p>

<p><em>The teacher pulls out the &quot;stickers&#39;&nbsp;fashcard.</em></p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Student A:</strong> I have a story! My sister and I collected stickers when we were&nbsp;kids.</p>

<p><strong>Student B:</strong> What kind of stickers?</p>

<p><strong>Student A:</strong> Hello Kitty and fairy stickers.</p>

<p><strong>Student C:</strong> Did you have a sticker book?</p>

<p><strong>Student A:</strong> No, we had a sticker box.</p>

<p><strong>Student D:</strong> What happened to all of your&nbsp;stickers?</p>

<p><strong>Student A:</strong> I put them on letters to my&nbsp;relatives.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If no student volunteers to tell a story, try a different card or tell a real life story of your own and have the students ask you&nbsp;questions.</p>

<h2>Elves&#39; Workshop</h2>

<p>Tell your students to pretend they are elves. They have to make all of the toys (flashcards). What will they need to build each toy? Hold out the flashcards one at a&nbsp;time.</p>

<p><em>The teacher pulls out the &quot;doll house&quot; flashcard.</em></p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Teacher:</strong> Molly wants a doll house. What do we need to make&nbsp;it?</p>

<p><strong>Elf 1:</strong> Wood.</p>

<p><strong>Teacher:</strong> Yes, what else do we&nbsp;need?</p>

<p><strong>Elf 2:</strong> Fabric to make curtains and sheets for the&nbsp;beds.</p>

<p><strong>Elf 3:</strong> And we need a drill to cut out the windows and&nbsp;doors.</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Dear Santa</h2>

<p>Give students a flashcard and tell them to write a letter to Santa asking for this toy for Christmas. Have students peer correct and respond to the&nbsp;letters.</p>

<h2>Kids Christmas Party</h2>

<p>Your classroom is an office and the workers are organizing the work Christmas party. Review all of the flashcards and make notes about each toy. Discuss these things as a class. Allow students to disagree about age, gender,&nbsp;etc.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Age appropriateness:</strong> preschool, primary school, junior, high school (or by&nbsp;age)</p>

<p><strong>Gender:</strong> Male, Female,&nbsp;Unisex</p>

<p><strong>Interest:</strong> educational, adventure, outdoor, fantasy, building,&nbsp;creative</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Toy Combo</h2>

<p>Put your students in pairs or small groups. Hand out two flashcard to each group. Students have to design a toy that uses parts from both flashcards. Students present the toy combo. They have to answer the&nbsp;following:</p>

<ul>
	<li>What is the name of the&nbsp;toy?</li>
	<li>What does the toy&nbsp;do?</li>
	<li>What age group would have this&nbsp;toy?</li>
	<li>How much would this toy sell&nbsp;for?</li>
</ul>

<h2>Toy of the Year</h2>

<p>This is a fun activity if your students are learning to compare and contrast. Give each student one flashcard from the set. Then, have your students research the <strong>Toy of the Year</strong>. (Your students may come up with different results for &#39;Toy of the&nbsp;Year&#39;.)</p>

<blockquote>
<p>How does the toy of the year compare to the toy on the&nbsp;flashcard?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Have students write a paragraph or prepare a presentation comparing the two&nbsp;toys.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson">Holidays &amp; Events: <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1946">Christmas (Beg)</a></li>
	<li class="lesson">Holidays &amp; Events: <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1854">Christmas (Low Int)</a></li>
	<li class="lesson">Holidays &amp; Events: <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1853">Christmas (High Int)</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards">Flashcards: <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/20">Christmas</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Please share your own ideas, lessons, and activities related to <strong>Toys and Flashcards</strong> in the comments&nbsp;below.</p>


Toys Flashcards: Games & Activities for the ESL Classroom

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<p>I&#39;ve been thinking a lot about one of the sessions that I attended at the TESL Ontario conference a few weeks ago. It was a session about authentic speech by Marijke Wertheim, a TESOL instructor at the University of&nbsp;Toronto. Since many of our subscribers were unable to attend the conference, I thought I&#39;d summarize what I learned and hopefully inspire you to catch this speaker next time she&#39;s presenting at a conference near&nbsp;you. Here are three of the main points Marijke made in her session about authentic&nbsp;speech:</p>

<h1>1. Encourage ELLs to take ownership of the&nbsp;language</h1>

<p>Marijke spoke a lot about getting students to feel like English is theirs to learn and play with rather than feeling like they are borrowers of the language from native speakers and teachers. She suggested that students explore which English voices they like and what they like about them so that they can find a realistic model to study and replicate. In Marijke&#39;s opinion, finding a model whose native language is the same as their own, but who speaks English fluently, would be&nbsp;ideal.</p>

<h1>2. Reconsider what fluency really&nbsp;is</h1>

<p>Marijke spent a lot of time helping us rethink the definition of fluency. While most English learners insist that they want to become fluent in English, they don&#39;t realize what this really means. Teachers can take some of the blame for this, since many of us have unrealistic expectations of our students when it comes to speaking. As Marijke pointed out, if a student has perfect grammar, but there is no flow to the conversation, this is not fluency. A speaker will sound more fluent if there is flow and meaning even with some inaccuracy in the&nbsp;language. Marijke suggested that as teachers we often use &quot;an ineffective yardstick&quot;&nbsp;to judge our learners&#39; speaking abilities. We want them to use the grammar we&#39;ve taught them in a perfect way (as we&#39;d like it presented in written English), even though native speakers don&#39;t talk this way. As she pointed out, we don&#39;t go around correcting native speakers for accuracy, so we shouldn&#39;t spend so much time pointing out the imperfect English of our students. Rather than focusing on structural errors, we should be emphasizing the importance of &quot;chunks of meaning&quot; as well as &quot;turn-taking&quot;&nbsp;and&nbsp;flow.</p>

<h1>3. Spend time looking at the messiness of spoken&nbsp;language</h1>

<p>As Marijke demonstrated with several real-life scripts, spoken English is messy. We pause and hesitate, we use fillers (<em>uh, um, well, yeah, hmm</em>), and we make up lots of words (<em>kinda, sorta, geesh</em>) or even choose the wrong ones. Without this messiness, we wouldn&#39;t sound like ourselves. In fact, we&#39;d all sound like speech-to-text robots, wouldn&#39;t we? This brings us back to point #1; it&#39;s time to start encouraging students to make this language their&nbsp;own.</p>

<h1>Summary &amp;&nbsp;Tips</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Tell your students to eavesdrop on real conversations and get them to report back what they&nbsp;hear.</li>
	<li>Spend time reading and practicing scripts with real language (with all of its&nbsp;messiness).</li>
	<li>Challenge learners to turn spoken scripts into written work and written pieces into authentic scripts. Review the&nbsp;differences.</li>
	<li>Analyze the length of natural pauses and the speed of real conversations (when they speed up, you speed&nbsp;up).</li>
	<li>Teach them vague language (<em>sort of, kinda, greenish</em>).</li>
	<li>Study collocations and practice using&nbsp;them.</li>
	<li>When teaching manners and etiquette, also talk about the importance of tone. (&quot;How you order a coffee reflects who you&nbsp;are.&quot;)</li>
	<li>Practice small talk&nbsp;scripts.</li>
	<li>Encourage students to find a model English speaker that they can&nbsp;study.</li>
</ul>

<p>While most of the attendees at this session were teachers, there were plenty of takeaways for materials writers too. After all, if the scripts we write don&#39;t sound authentic, what is the point of using them as&nbsp;exemplars? In a recent <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/110/lessons">Super Simple Questions</a> lesson, one of the original dialogues included the expression &quot;too bad&quot;&nbsp;(i.e., <em>too bad for you / take it or leave it</em>). This was a low-level lesson, and we ended up softening the language to make it sound a bit less rude. Did we do a disservice to learners by adjusting the script? Finding new ways to bring authentic speech (small talk, fillers, sarcasm, teasing, etc.) into our materials is something we&#39;ll be exploring in 2017 thanks to this thought-provoking session.<br />
<br />
Thank you,&nbsp;Marijke!</p>
