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

Grammar & Usage

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

Teaching with Ellii

<h1>Language Fossilization and Why It&nbsp;Matters</h1>

<p>The term <em>fossilization</em> in language learning refers to errors that a non-native speaker makes so often in the target language they become ingrained over time. There are many reasons why fossilization occurs, most notably first language interference (which includes the use of false cognates) and the overgeneralization of&nbsp;rules.</p>

<p>Here are some common examples of fossilized&nbsp;speech:</p>

<ul>
	<li>My sister has 15&nbsp;years.</li>
	<li>He study English at&nbsp;school.</li>
	<li>I am work at Walmart.</li>
	<li>The apple are on the table.</li>
	<li>Ben play computer games&nbsp;yesterday.</li>
</ul>

<p>Because the speaker has repeated the same mistakes again and again, the inaccuracies may sound correct to his or her own ears. Furthermore, the speaker often isn&rsquo;t aware that he or she is making the errors since they rarely hinder communication or impede meaning; the speaker&rsquo;s interlocutors aren&rsquo;t inclined to stop a conversation to point out a grammatical blunder or a pronunciation misstep when doing so would risk a break in the flow of the&nbsp;interaction.</p>

<p>Despite the fact that fossilization doesn&rsquo;t prevent learners from being understood, it can have some very real negative consequences. Perhaps most importantly, fossilization can make non-native speakers seem less educated and/or less fluent than they actually are.</p>

<p>Of course, the best way to ensure that fossilization doesn&rsquo;t take hold in your students&rsquo; language use is prevention. If you teach beginners, you can stress accuracy from Day&nbsp;1 and nip any potential problems in the bud. But, as we all know, you aren&rsquo;t always going to be your students&rsquo; first exposure to&nbsp;English.</p>

<p>However, there are strategies that you can use to help your students overcome fossilized speech patterns by raising their awareness of frequent&nbsp;errors.</p>

<h2>Strategy #1</h2>

<p>Record students&rsquo; speech. Have students listen to a short clip of themselves speaking and see if they can detect their errors. If they are unable to hear their errors, ask them to transcribe their speech as they listen and then make corrections. <a href="https://soundcloud.com" target="_blank">SoundCloud</a> and <a href="https://voicethread.com" target="_blank">VoiceThread</a> are excellent online tools for this&nbsp;exercise.</p>

<h2>Strategy #2</h2>

<p>Encourage students to peer edit. Put students into pairs. Give one student in each pair a set of open-ended questions to ask their partner. (Try <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/3089">Conversation Questions</a> in our Resources section.) As the interviewee answers each question, have the interviewer jot down errors. Before the next question is asked, have the interviewer share what he or she&nbsp;noticed.</p>

<h2>Strategy #3</h2>

<p>Write five correct and five incorrect sentences in random order on the board. Have students divide the sentences into two groups (<em>Correct</em> and&nbsp;<em>Incorrect</em>).</p>

<h2>Strategy #4</h2>

<p>Point out errors that you have noticed students make repeatedly. Then ask them to keep a journal of instances when they notice themselves making those errors that you have&nbsp;identified.</p>

<h2>Strategy #5</h2>

<p>Feign incomprehension. When students make a fossilized error, pretend that you don&rsquo;t understand what they are saying. Ask them to rephrase it using the correct word or&nbsp;structure.</p>

<h2>Strategy #6</h2>

<p>Have students analyze why they are making the mistake. (E.g., can they figure out why they use &ldquo;say&rdquo; in a sentence when &ldquo;tell&rdquo; is called&nbsp;for?)</p>


6 Strategies to Help Students Overcome Fossilized Speech Patterns

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<blockquote>
<p>If you can&rsquo;t explain it simply, you don&rsquo;t understand it well&nbsp;enough.</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Albert Einstein</p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Multiple-Choice Digital&nbsp;Tasks</h1>

<p>Throughout their schooling, students of any discipline will come across multiple-choice tasks in practice exercises, quizzes, and tests. Whether you like using multiple-choice tasks or not, it&rsquo;s useful for English learners to practice sharing their knowledge this way. Practice will help them succeed on exams that may be heavily or entirely based on multiple-choice items, which are more and more common with standardized, computer based&nbsp;testing.</p>

<p>Similar to our printable materials, ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s digital platform offers a few different types of multiple-choice&nbsp;tasks:</p>

<ol>
	<li><strong>Multiple-Choice with Audio</strong>: questions or statements are an audio recording; answer choices are text-based responses (for listening&nbsp;comprehension)</li>
	<li><strong>Multiple-Choice with Text</strong>: questions or statements are text-based; answer choices are also text-based (for reading comprehension, vocabulary review, or grammar&nbsp;practice)</li>
	<li><strong>Multiple-Choice with Images</strong>: questions are flashcard images; answer choices are&nbsp;3&ndash;4 word choices (for beginner vocabulary&nbsp;review)</li>
</ol>

<p>With your <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Plus</a> subscription, you can now assign digital multiple-choice tasks to your students for homework or in‑class work. Your students can do these task types on any mobile device or computer. You can also do the tasks together as a class by using the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/launch-or-preview-digital-tasks">Launch</a> feature. The <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/launch-or-preview-digital-tasks">Task Info</a> feature gives you, the teacher, easy access to the answers. (Scroll to bottom for video&nbsp;demo.)</p>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

<p>In a digital lesson on ESL&nbsp;Library, the multiple-choice task may be called <strong>Comprehension</strong>, <strong>Listen &amp; Respond</strong>, or <strong>Vocabulary Review</strong>. As a grammar practice task, it will have another task&nbsp;name.</p>
</div>

<h1>1. Multiple-Choice With&nbsp;Audio</h1>

<p>After beginning this type of multiple-choice task, students will see an audio player with three text‑based responses. Students listen to the question or statement and choose the best&nbsp;response.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/195/content_Screen_Shot_2020-02-18_at_10.55.31_AM.png" width="400" /></p>

<h2>Review</h2>

<p>After students complete the Listen &amp; Respond task, they submit their answers and review their&nbsp;results.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/196/content_Screen_Shot_2020-02-18_at_10.56.02_AM.png" width="400" /></p>

<p>If they are happy with their results, they can move on to a different task that you, the teacher, have assigned by choosing <strong>Back to the Lesson</strong>. If they want to try the task again to achieve better results, they can choose <strong>Try&nbsp;Again</strong>.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/151/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-21_at_8.51.01_AM.png" width="400" /></p>

<h2>Viewing Results as a&nbsp;Teacher</h2>

<p>As a teacher, you can see your students&rsquo; results after they complete the multiple-choice task. Make sure you are logged in. Then go to Class Prep and navigate to&nbsp;Results.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/129-how-to-access-digital-homework-teachers">How to View Digital Homework Results</a></p>
</blockquote>

<h1>2. Multiple-Choice with&nbsp;Text</h1>

<p>The multiple-choice task is often used for reading comprehension. A <strong>View Reference</strong> button that allows students to review the reading in a pop‑up modal is often&nbsp;available.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/198/content_Screen_Shot_2020-02-18_at_11.06.34_AM.png" width="400" /></p>

<p>The text-based task is sometimes used for <strong>Complete the Sentence</strong> (vocabulary review) or <strong>Odd One Out</strong>&nbsp;tasks.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/201/content_Screen_Shot_2020-02-18_at_12.28.30_PM.png" width="400" /></p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/202/content_Screen_Shot_2020-02-18_at_12.32.30_PM.png" width="400" /></p>

<p>This task type is also commonly used to check a student&rsquo;s comprehension of a grammar target as in this resource on <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2158">Adverbs with Two&nbsp;Forms</a>.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/203/content_Screen_Shot_2020-02-19_at_9.24.15_AM.png" width="400" /></p>

<h1>3. Multiple-Choice with&nbsp;Images</h1>

<p>The multiple-choice task is sometimes used for low‑level vocabulary&nbsp;review.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/199/content_Screen_Shot_2020-02-18_at_11.03.48_AM.png" width="400" /></p>

<h1>Lesson Sections</h1>

<p>The multiple-choice tasks are unlocked for ESL&nbsp;Library members who have a <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Plus</a> account. MC with audio is currently being used in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons">Functional English</a> section as a listening comprehension task. The text-based MC tasks are currently used in most of our reading sections. Our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-our-new-grammar-tests">placement tests</a> (Grammar Test 1&ndash;4) and many of our grammar lessons also feature&nbsp;this task type. For lower‑level learners, we have started using the MC task with images to check vocabulary in our beginner <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons">Holidays &amp; Events</a>&nbsp;lessons.</p>

<p>Look for the computer screen icon to check if a lesson has digital&nbsp;tasks.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/197/content_Screen_Shot_2020-02-18_at_11.21.09_AM.png" width="400" /></p>

<h1>Multiple-Choice: Demo</h1>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G5oRQ3RzJ5E?si=U7RLgTRmlxV90D55" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/product-feature-update-matching-vocabulary-preview">Matching: Demo</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/image-match-interactive-vocabulary-building-for-beginner-english-learners">Image Match: Demo</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/see-and-spell">See &amp; Spell: Demo</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/blended-learning-listening">Listen &amp; Type: Demo</a></li>
</ul>


Multiple-Choice: Interactive Tasks for Reading & Listening Comprehension 

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1756/Tara_Multiple-Choice_Banner.png

Find useful resources and tips for teaching English with interactive apps and sites.

EdTech

<blockquote>
<p>ESL&nbsp;Library has a growing bank of well-researched, well-prepared teaching and learning materials covering all four skills as well as grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. I can always find resources on any theme that I&rsquo;m teaching. Some of my favourites are the lessons for holidays and special&nbsp;days.</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Bonnie Nicholas, NorQuest College&nbsp;(Edmonton)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>We hope you&rsquo;re loving ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s new digital platform! As of this February, we&rsquo;ve added 850+ digital lessons to our library. Each digital lesson has a variety of task types that you can either assign to your English learners for homework or <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/launch-or-preview-digital-tasks">do together in&nbsp;class</a>.</p>

<p>A <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Standard</a> subscription gives you and 30 students access to 3 digital task types (Read &amp; Listen, Dialogue, and Listen &amp; Type) as well as unlimited access to all of our printable lessons, resources, and flashcards. A <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Plus</a> subscription gives you and 100 students access to all of our digital task types (Vocabulary Preview &amp; Review, Comprehension, Grammar Notes, Grammar Practice, and more) in addition to unlimited access to all of our&nbsp;printables.</p>

<h1>Valentine&rsquo;s Day Lessons with Digital&nbsp;Tasks</h1>

<p>If you teach multilevel classes, you&rsquo;re going to love our Valentine&rsquo;s Day selection. We have ready‑made digital tasks from four different Valentine&rsquo;s Day lessons that you can assign or work on together in class. Simply set up your classes by level, e.g., Class A (Beg) and Class&nbsp;A (Low&nbsp;Int), and assign the tasks you want to each&nbsp;group.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2616" target="_blank">Valentine&rsquo;s Day</a>: Word Bank (Pre‑Beginner)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1959" target="_blank">Valentine&rsquo;s Day</a>: Holidays &amp; Events (Beginner)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1863" target="_blank">Valentine&rsquo;s Day</a>: Holidays &amp; Events (Low&nbsp;Int)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1862" target="_blank">Valentine&rsquo;s Day</a>: Holidays &amp; Events (High&nbsp;Int)</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

<p>Our LMS team will be working on a new feature in 2020 so that you can assign different tasks to individual students, which will be ideal for your multilevel&nbsp;classes.</p>
</div>

<h1>Demo</h1>

<p>Here is a video demo that highlights 8 of the different tasks you&rsquo;ll find in our Valentine&rsquo;s Day lessons, including <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/image-match-interactive-vocabulary-building-for-beginner-english-learners">Image Match</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/product-feature-update-matching-vocabulary-preview">Matching</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/see-and-spell">See &amp; Spell</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/blended-learning-listening">Listen &amp; Type</a>, and many more! (See below for video time markers if you are only interested in one level or digital task type. Note that most of our task types are used in lessons of many&nbsp;different levels. This demo is meant to show you the variety we&nbsp;offer.)</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/409rY0zhHdE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

<h2>Video Time Markers</h2>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Pre-Beginner</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Task</th>
			<th>Time Markers</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Image Match</th>
			<td>00:00&ndash;2:00</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>See &amp; Spell</th>
			<td>2:00&ndash;3:00</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Beginner</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Task</th>
			<th>Time Markers</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Read &amp; Listen</th>
			<td>3:09&ndash;4:23</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>True &amp; False</th>
			<td>4:24&ndash;5:25</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Low Intermediate</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Task</th>
			<th>Time Markers</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Vocabulary Preview</th>
			<td>5:26&ndash;6:40</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Comprehension</th>
			<td>6:44&ndash;8:06</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">High Intermediate</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Task</th>
			<th>Time Markers</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Discussion</th>
			<td>8:09&ndash;9:07</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Listen &amp; Type</th>
			<td>9:08&ndash;10:16</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Other Topics</h5>

<p>There is a note about English serials from 10:17 to&nbsp;10:44.</p>
</div>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/4/lessons">Love &amp; Relationships Lesson&nbsp;Collection</a></li>
	<li class="question"><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/122-how-to-assign-digital-homework">How to Assign Tasks (Digital&nbsp;Homework)</a></li>
	<li class="question"><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/128-how-to-invite-students-to-esl-library-digital-without-an-email-address">How to Invite Students to ESL&nbsp;Library Digital (without an email&nbsp;address)</a></li>
	<li class="question"><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/69-how-to-sign-up-as-a-new-member">How to Sign Up as a New&nbsp;Member</a></li>
</ul>


Multilevel Digital Tasks for Valentine's Day

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1752/Tara_Multilevel-Digital-Tasks-for-Valentines-Day_Banner.png

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

Announcements

<blockquote>
<p>Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about&nbsp;things.</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Flora Lewis</p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Vocabulary Preview &amp; Review</h1>

<p>Have your students tried ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s <strong>Image Match</strong> tasks on our digital platform? These visual matching tasks are similar to ones you would find on paper, where students need to draw a line between a word and a picture to demonstrate their knowledge. On our updated digital tasks, students will now tap on a picture and then tap on a matching&nbsp;word.</p>

<p>While our printable beginner lessons feature this preview task with <span class="inlineBlock">8&ndash;10 images</span> and definitions to match, our digital matching tasks typically split the word list into two tasks (e.g., Image Match A&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;B).</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/156/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-28_at_10.43.27_AM.png" /></p>

<h1>Updated Functionality</h1>

<p>Have you already been assigning this task type to your students? The updated version of this matching task has a new functionality that your students will need to learn if they are already familiar with this digital&nbsp;task.</p>

<p>Instead of <em>dragging and dropping</em> (which was glitchy on some devices), your students will now <em>tap</em> (or <em>click</em> if using a laptop or desktop computer) on an image and then <em>tap</em> (or <em>click</em>) on the word. The word and image will then&nbsp;connect.</p>

<p>Your students can change their answers by tapping again to pop the image back out to the top and then tapping a&nbsp;new word. When they are finished, they will click the <strong>I&rsquo;m Finished</strong> button as they did in the previous version. (Scroll down for video&nbsp;demo.)</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/157/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-28_at_10.37.25_AM.png" /></p>

<p>With your <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Plus</a> subscription, you can now assign this digital task to your students for homework or in‑class work. Your students can do the task on any mobile device or computer. You can also do this task together as a class by using the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/launch-or-preview-digital-tasks">Launch</a> feature. The <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/launch-or-preview-digital-tasks">Task Info</a> feature gives you, the teacher, easy access to the&nbsp;answers.</p>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

<p>This digital task type is usually called <strong>Image Match</strong> in the digital task list. It is sometimes used in other task types such as grammar&nbsp;preview.</p>
</div>

<h1>Assign Tasks</h1>

<p>Go to a Word Bank or beginner Holidays &amp; Events lesson and toggle to <strong>Digital</strong>. Then choose <strong>Assign Tasks</strong> and assign the Image Match task(s) with the due date of your choice to the class of your&nbsp;choice.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/122-how-to-assign-digital-homework">How to Assign Tasks (Digital Homework)</a></p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Task Features</h1>

<p>After launching the task, students will see a row of images at the top with question boxes and words below. Students try to match the images to the words by tapping on the image (which will then become highlighted) and then tapping on the word in the box below (which will turn yellow and then fill with the&nbsp;image).</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/158/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-28_at_10.37.46_AM.png" /></p>

<p>To change an answer, students tap on the word to pop the picture back out to the top of the list. They then choose a different match in the same way. Students can keep rearranging the images and words until they think everything is&nbsp;correct.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/159/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-28_at_10.37.57_AM.png" /></p>

<h1>Review</h1>

<p>After students complete the Image Match task, they click on <strong>I&rsquo;m Finished</strong> to submit their answers and review their&nbsp;results.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/160/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-28_at_10.38.12_AM.png" width="400" /></p>

<p>If they are happy with their results, they can move on to a different task that you, the teacher, have assigned (e.g., Image Match&nbsp;B) by choosing&nbsp;<strong>Back to the Lesson</strong>. If they want to try the task again to achieve better results, they can choose <strong>Try&nbsp;Again</strong>.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/162/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-29_at_9.04.37_AM.png" /></p>

<h1>Viewing Results as a&nbsp;Teacher</h1>

<p>As a teacher, you can see your students&rsquo; Image Match results after they complete the task. Make sure you are logged in. Then go to Class Prep and navigate to&nbsp;Results.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/129-how-to-access-digital-homework-teachers">How to View Digital Homework Results</a></p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Lesson Sections</h1>

<p>The image matching task is currently available in our low-level sections for ESL&nbsp;Library members who have a <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Plus</a> account, such as Word Bank, Holidays &amp; Events (Beg), Simple Sentences, Super Simple Grammar, and Phonics &amp; Pronunciation. For intermediate learners, we have a similar task type called <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/product-feature-update-matching-vocabulary-preview">Matching</a> where students match words with definitions.</p>

<p>Look for the computer screen icon to check if a lesson has digital&nbsp;tasks.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/161/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-29_at_8.52.57_AM.png" /></p>

<h1>Image Match: Demo</h1>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9r6uE9Bhk0I" width="560"></iframe></div>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/product-feature-update-matching-vocabulary-preview">Matching: Interactive Vocabulary Preview Task for English&nbsp;Learners</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/see-and-spell">See &amp; Spell: Interactive Spelling &amp; Listening Practice for Beginner English&nbsp;Learners</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/blended-learning-listening">Listen &amp;&nbsp;Type: Blended Learning</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/launch-or-preview-digital-tasks">Launch or Preview Digital&nbsp;Tasks</a></li>
</ul>


Image Match: Interactive Vocabulary Building for Beginner English Learners

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<blockquote>
<p>You can&rsquo;t build up a new vocabulary if you never meet any words. And to meet them you must&nbsp;read.</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Rudolf Flesch</p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Vocabulary Preview</h1>

<p>Have you tried ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s <strong>Vocabulary Preview</strong> tasks on digital? These digital matching tasks are similar to the Vocabulary Preview tasks in most of our printable lessons that contain a&nbsp;reading.</p>

<p>Before reading and listening to an article or dialogue, students try to match the keywords to the correct definitions. Just like in the printable version, students can try the vocabulary task again after they&rsquo;ve read the article in the digital&nbsp;version.</p>

<p>While our printable lessons feature this preview task with <span class="inlineBlock">8&ndash;12 words</span> and definitions to match, our digital matching tasks typically splita longer word list into two tasks (e.g., Vocabulary Preview A&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;B).</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/149/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-20_at_4.21.09_PM.png" width="400" /></p>

<h1>Updated Functionality</h1>

<p>The updated version of this matching task has a new functionality that you can tell your students about if they are already familiar with this digital&nbsp;task.</p>

<p>Instead of <em>dragging and dropping</em> (which was glitchy on some devices), your students will now <em>tap</em> (or <em>click</em> if using a laptop or desktop computer) on a word and then <em>tap</em> (or <em>click</em>) on the definition. The word and definition will then&nbsp;connect.</p>

<p>Your students can change their answers by tapping again to pop the word back out to the top and then tap to a new definition. When they are finished, they click the <strong>I&rsquo;m Finished</strong> button. (Scroll down for video&nbsp;demo.)</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/150/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-20_at_4.24.40_PM.png" width="400" /></p>

<p>With your <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Plus</a> subscription, you can now assign this digital task to your students for homework or in‑class work. Your students can do the task on any mobile device or computer. You can also do this task together as a class by using the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/launch-or-preview-digital-tasks">Launch</a> feature. The <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/launch-or-preview-digital-tasks">Task Info</a> feature gives you, the teacher, easy access to the&nbsp;answers.</p>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

<p>This matching task is usually called <strong>Vocabulary Preview</strong> or <strong>Vocabulary Preview&nbsp;A</strong> and <strong>Vocabulary Preview&nbsp;B</strong>. It is sometimes called <strong>Phrase&nbsp;Match</strong>.</p>
</div>

<h1>Assign Tasks</h1>

<p>Go to a reading lesson (e.g., Famous People, Places, or Things) and toggle to <strong>Digital</strong>. Then choose <strong>Assign Tasks</strong> and assign the Vocabulary Preview task(s) with the due date of your choice to the class of your&nbsp;choice.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/122-how-to-assign-digital-homework">How to Assign Tasks (Digital Homework)</a></p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Task Features</h1>

<p>After beginning the task, students will see words or phrases at the top with definitions below. Students try to match the words to the definitions by tapping on the word (which will then become highlighted) and then tapping on the question mark in front of the definition (which will turn yellow and fill with the&nbsp;word).</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/143/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-20_at_3.53.16_PM.png" width="400" /></p>

<h3><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/144/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-20_at_3.53.29_PM.png" width="400" /></h3>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/146/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-20_at_3.54.08_PM.png" width="400" /></p>

<p>To change an answer, students tap on the word to pop it back out to the top of the list. They then choose a different definition in the same way. They can keep rearranging the words and definitions until they think everything is&nbsp;correct.</p>

<h1>Review</h1>

<p>After students complete the Vocabulary Preview task, they click on <strong>I&rsquo;m Finished</strong> to submit their answers and review their&nbsp;results.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/147/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-20_at_3.54.27_PM.png" width="400" /></p>

<p>If they are happy with their results, they can move on to a different task that you, the teacher, have assigned (e.g., Vocabulary Preview&nbsp;B) by choosing&nbsp;<strong>Back to the Lesson</strong>. If they want to try the task again to achieve better results, they can choose <strong>Try&nbsp;Again</strong>.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/151/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-21_at_8.51.01_AM.png" width="400" /></p>

<h1>Viewing Results as a&nbsp;Teacher</h1>

<p>As a teacher, you can see your students&rsquo; Vocabulary Preview results after they complete the task. Make sure you are logged in. Then go to Class Prep and navigate to&nbsp;Results.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/129-how-to-access-digital-homework-teachers">How to View Digital Homework Results</a></p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Lesson Sections</h1>

<p>The matching task is currently available in our reading sections for ESL&nbsp;Library members who have a <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Plus</a> account. You&rsquo;ll find it in other sections too, such as <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Discussion Starters</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/73/lessons">Mini-Debates</a>. For lower‑level learners, we have a similar task type called <strong>Image&nbsp;Match</strong>.</p>

<p>Look for the computer screen icon <span class="inlineBlock">()</span> to check if a lesson has digital&nbsp;tasks.</p>

<p><img class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/148/content_Screen_Shot_2020-01-20_at_4.10.20_PM.png" width="400" /></p>

<h1>Matching: Demo</h1>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/odET9OqL6KI" width="560"></iframe></div>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/when-should-you-teach-vocabulary">When Should You Teach Vocabulary?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/see-and-spell">See &amp; Spell: Interactive Spelling &amp; Listening Practice for Beginner ELLs</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/blended-learning-listening">Blended Learning: Listen &amp; Type</a></li>
</ul>


Matching: Interactive Vocabulary Preview Task for English Learners

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


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

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<blockquote>
<p>Update: Oct 22, 2021</p>

<p>We now have <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/casas-competencies">CASAS Competencies Collections</a>!</p>
</blockquote>

<h1>Locating CASAS Materials</h1>

<p>Does your program use CASAS (Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System) to measure student achievement? Do your students&rsquo; pretest scores drive your curriculum? Is your class struggling with a particular CASAS competency? If so, Ellii (formerly ESL Library) is here to&nbsp;help!</p>

<p>We have recently introduced tagging for materials that match up to CASAS competencies so that you can easily find them. Using our new filter, simply type in the specific competency that your students need work on in the Search bar and a list of related lessons and resources will pop up. For example, if the&nbsp;majority of your students missed test items pertaining to CASAS Competency&nbsp;0.1.4 (greetings, introductions, thanking, and apologizing), you can type in that tag number and your search will currently produce 12 results. (We are always adding new material, so continue checking back.) It&rsquo;s that&nbsp;easy!</p>

<p><img alt="Screenshot of search results on ESL Library for CASAS Competency 0.1.4" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/139/content_Screenshot_CASAS.png" /></p>

<h1>Background on CASAS</h1>

<p>For teachers unfamiliar with <a href="https://www.casas.org/" target="_blank">CASAS</a>, this assessment system is widely used in adult ESL programs in the United States. Schools can choose to administer a reading test, a listening test, or both for placement purposes and for measuring student progress. Because post‑test results are often a factor in determining program funding, the stakes can be quite high for all involved&mdash;administrators, instructors, and test‑takers. Fortunately, Ellii&nbsp;can help prepare students for the post‑test and alleviate some of the stress related to the&nbsp;process.</p>


How to Find Content Aligned with CASAS Competencies on Ellii

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


Sparking Their Curiosity: Pairing Trends with Language Learning

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


Structuring Your Class with Dictation

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


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

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


National Online Learning Day

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1630/Ann_National-Online-Learning-Day_Banner.png

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