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

Teaching with Ellii

<h2>Introducing Study Packs!</h2>

<p>Hey there! 👋 We&#39;ve released a new feature at Ellii called <a href="https://ellii.com/packs">Study Packs</a> that<em> </em>we think you&#39;re going to love!&nbsp;Typically, teachers using Ellii look for one lesson at a time to plan out their own customized curriculum. However, sometimes you just need a <strong>bundle of materials</strong> already <strong>curated</strong> for a specific need. So we built <strong>Study Packs</strong> as a way to easily assign a small collection of lessons in one simple click. Our Publishing team (who knows the content inside and out) puts these packs together, and every week they make and release new packs.</p>

<h3>Here&#39;s how it works:</h3>

<ul>
	<li>A Study Pack will typically have between 4 and 6 ready-made lessons that are woven together with a common focus such as a <strong>target</strong> structure, a <strong>situational</strong> <strong>theme</strong>, or a discussion <strong>topic</strong>.</li>
	<li>We post these packs of lessons in a Study Pack index where you can quickly <strong>filter</strong> the packs by <strong>level</strong> or <strong>type</strong>.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>When you see a pack you like, you can instantly move it to your <strong>Lesson Planner</strong> to assign it to a class.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Once the pack is assigned, you can choose whether your students have <strong>immediate access</strong> to all of the lessons, or you can choose to <strong>release</strong> <strong>one lesson at a time</strong>.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<p>That&#39;s it. It&#39;s now super easy and super convenient to find curated collections of content and assign them all at once. Watch the video to see it in action. We hope you love it!</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="564" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/849109840" width="640"></iframe></div>


Introducing Study Packs

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<p>Hey, great teachers!</p>

<p>We&#39;ve made it simpler to share videos and flashcards with your students. You can now assign any video, flashcard category, or flashcard set to your students directly on your Lesson Planner. It&#39;s super easy. Here&#39;s how it works:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Click <strong>Add to class</strong><em>&nbsp;</em>under any video or flashcard category title.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Select a class to put the media in.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Go to that class and drag the item to your <strong>Teaching</strong> <strong>lane</strong><em> </em>when you want your students to have access. They will have instant access to the media.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>When you&#39;re done with that content, move it to the <strong>Taught</strong> lane and it will no longer show up as an assigment.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Any flashcard categories or videos you share with your students will permanently show up in their <strong>Media</strong> tab for future access anytime.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>

<p>Here&#39;s a video to show you in more detail.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="564" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/849221802" width="640"></iframe></div>


Assigning Videos & Flashcards to Students

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<p>Do you use Ellii&#39;s videos in class? Please take this 3-minute survey to help us enhance&nbsp;our video content and better meet your needs!</p>

<div data-tf-iframe-props="title=Video Survey" data-tf-medium="snippet" data-tf-opacity="100" data-tf-transitive-search-params="" data-tf-widget="Mp0b5NAf" style="width:100%;height:500px;">&nbsp;</div>
<script src="//embed.typeform.com/next/embed.js"></script>

Ellii Video Survey

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<h2>CLB, PBLA, LINC &amp;&nbsp;Ellii&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Hi,&nbsp;I&#39;m Jen Artan! Since I came on board the Ellii team more than a year ago, I&rsquo;ve been&nbsp;helping to&nbsp;develop <strong>LINC</strong> materials for our content library. I&#39;ve also been working&nbsp;to ensure that our resources are calibrated to the correct Canadian Language Benchmark&nbsp;<strong>(CLB)</strong> levels&nbsp;and that there is a wide range of competencies and skills represented in our database. &nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Jen Artan from Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3123/content_Headshot_Jen_Ellii.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Jen Artan, Ellii&#39;s CLB Materials Writer &amp; Presenter</p>

<p>As the resident CLB specialist at Ellii, I&rsquo;m working on creating a curated set of materials aligned with the most popular and common LINC modules. For this task, I&rsquo;ve been combing through the massive number of resources that Ellii has in order to identify the most relevant and practical skill-building, skill-using, and real-world resources for our LINC classrooms. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Watch for these special collections to come out this spring. I will be sending out a LINC-themed newsletter as well.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Helpful links</h2>

<p>In the meantime, you can use the following links to help you find content developed with&nbsp;the Canadian classroom in mind:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/linc">LINC Themes Collection</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/clb-competencies" target="_blank">CLB Competencies Collection</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/nations-regions/o-canada" target="_blank">Canada Collection</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/62-how-to-find-clb-content">How to Find &amp; Filter CLB Content</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>Office hours</h2>

<p>Welcome to my &quot;office space.&quot;&nbsp;Feel free to reach out to me via email at jennifer@ellii.com. You can also use&nbsp;the space below if you have any ideas, suggestions, or comments. You can&nbsp;let me know what you&#39;d like me to include in a quarterly CLB newsletter or what you&#39;d like me to cover in&nbsp;a CLB webinar.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>


CLB Office Hours

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

Conferences

<p>Seven&nbsp;members of <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-2023-in-portland" target="_blank">the Ellii team attended TESOL 2023</a> last week in Portland, Oregon, and I was lucky enough to be one of them. When I wasn&#39;t chatting at the booth with teachers and administrators from all around the world, I went to some amazing and inspiring sessions.</p>

<p>One session really stuck with me. It was titled &quot;The Error-Friendly Classroom: Learning from Listening and Speaking Mistakes.&quot; In this session, Beth Sheppard from the University of Oregon emphasized that learners have to notice their errors before they can correct them.</p>

<p>To this end, she outlined four classroom activities that can help capture listening and speaking mistakes, allowing for metacognitive reflection on current strengths, weaknesses, and next steps for learning.</p>

<p>During these activities, students are encouraged to analyze their work by asking themselves the following questions:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Which part was easy?</li>
	<li>Which part had an interesting mistake?</li>
	<li>Which part had an important mistake?</li>
	<li>Why did I hear/say it that way?</li>
</ul>

<p>They can answer these questions in a pair&nbsp;or group discussion, on an exit slip, in a brief presentation, or as a homework assignment.</p>

<p>Now for the activities...</p>

<h2>Activity #1: Fast Dictation or Gap Filling</h2>

<p>In this activity, students&nbsp;write down what they hear as you read a text aloud. If you choose to have them just fill in gaps of a given text, use more than&nbsp;one word per gap.&nbsp;(If you want, you can give students a line for each word.)</p>

<ol>
	<li>Read the text at a natural pace&mdash;you can adjust the level via length and complexity.</li>
	<li>Repeat the input, but not so many times that the students will make&nbsp;no errors.</li>
	<li>Hand out the text or project it&nbsp;on the board and allow students to correct their work.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Ask students to reflect on their mistakes and report on the one(s) they would lke to work on most to you (the teacher), a partner, a small group, or the whole class.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Activity #2: Paused Transcription</h2>

<p>In paused transcription, students listen to an extended text into which pauses have been inserted at irregular intervals. During each pause, students write down the last phrase they just heard.</p>

<ol>
	<li>Choose target phrases (4&ndash;5 words) in a graded audio clip.</li>
	<li>Copy the audio file into an audio editor such as <a href="https://www.audacityteam.org/">Audacity</a>. Insert a beep and a 15-second pause&nbsp;after each target phrase.</li>
	<li>Play the audio once in class and have students write down the phrase they&nbsp;heard just before each beep.</li>
	<li>Give students a transcript of the original audio and have them correct their work.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Ask students to reflect on their mistakes and report on the one(s) they would lke to work on most to you (the teacher), a partner, a small group, or the whole class.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Activity #3: Elicited Imitation</h2>

<p>In this activity, the learner is asked to repeat an utterance that is modeled by the teacher or a partner. Unlike typical listen-and-repeat tasks, learners do&nbsp;not see the utterance in written form nor do they repeat chorally.</p>

<p>Depending on the level, the language sampling can be one or two words, one or two phrases, or one or two sentences. Whatever the length or complexity, the delivery should be natural.</p>

<ol>
	<li>The teacher or partner says the sampling.</li>
	<li>The learner repeats what they heard verbatim.</li>
	<li>Students correct each other&nbsp;or the teacher corrects the learner.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Students analyze whether their mistakes are in comprehension or production.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Activity #4: Recorded Speaking</h2>

<p>Students can use their own devices to complete this activity. It works well as a&nbsp;homework task.</p>

<ol>
	<li>Students record themselves giving a brief monologue in response to a prompt. (I suggest using the&nbsp;Personal&nbsp;Response task in&nbsp;the digital version of any of our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/discussion-starters">Discussion Starter</a> lessons. These tasks include both&nbsp;a prompt and a recorder.)</li>
	<li>They then transcribe their speech word for word, using another colored pen or pencil to correct their mistakes.</li>
	<li>Students re-record the monologue and apply corrections.</li>
	<li>Alternatively, this activity can be done in class. In pairs or groups, students record a conversation among themselves. They collaborate to transcribe it&nbsp;and discuss any mistakes they notice.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>

<p>Learner errors are a wonderful resource for both teachers and students, and&nbsp;it never hurts to repeat these mantras:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Have a growth mindset.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;Don&#39;t be afraid to be wrong.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;Mistakes are an important part of learning.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>

<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7ZBufKMlhJg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>


Takeaways from TESOL 2023: The Error-Friendly Classroom

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<h2>Why we built a super simple grading tool we call Grade Feed</h2>

<p>Spending time reflecting on your students&#39; work is such an important part of being a great teacher,&nbsp;don&#39;t you think? When you take the time to look at the assignments that your students have submitted&nbsp;and give them a grade, a comment, or some other type of feedback, two things happen. One, your students receive the <strong>attention</strong> they deserve and the <strong>insights</strong> they need <strong>to progress</strong>. And two, you&nbsp;as a teacher&nbsp;become more <strong>connected</strong> to the <strong>needs</strong> of your students.</p>

<p>When you are more familiar with how your students are doing and where attention is required, you become&nbsp;better at planning and teaching. You&#39;re able to <strong>pivot</strong> or <strong>adjust</strong> your roadmap in a more <strong>meaningful</strong> way when you&#39;ve taken the&nbsp;time to reflect on each submission from your students.</p>

<p>But grading can be time-consuming and feel tedious if you don&#39;t have the necessary tools to make the process smooth. As a teacher, grading should feel essential, but it shouldn&#39;t feel like a chore. So at Ellii, we&#39;ve built a tool we call <strong>Grade Feed</strong> with the intention of making the process of grading<strong> super simple</strong>, <strong>rewarding</strong>, and <b>enjoyable</b>.</p>

<h2>How does Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;Grade Feed work?</h2>

<p>We&#39;ve designed Grade Feed like an <strong>inbox</strong>&nbsp;where only the assignments that require your attention show up. Student responses appear all on one page&nbsp;with a <strong>slider</strong> tool to let you easily give a grade or a <strong>star rating</strong> instantly. There&#39;s a place to leave a short <strong>written comment</strong>&nbsp;and a tool to<strong> record an audio response</strong> when needed.</p>

<p>In a snap, you can review a submission, reflect on the response, and submit a grade with&nbsp;feedback. One by one, your Grade Feed stack gets smaller, your students hear from you, and&nbsp;you get a better sense of the needs of each learner. It&#39;s a win-win. In our Grade Feed <strong>demo video</strong>&nbsp;below, I will show you exactly&nbsp;how it works. For <strong>step-by-step instructions</strong>,&nbsp;visit our <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/267-how-to-use-the-grade-feed" target="_blank">Help Doc</a>.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="564" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/806835795" width="640"></iframe></div>


Introducing Ellii's New Grade Feed

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Posts describing lessons or activities for the ESL classroom.

Activities

<p>Do you keep a journal? Researchers have found that <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-journaling" rel="noopener nofollow noreferrer" target="_blank">journaling has positive effects on a person&#39;s&nbsp;well-being</a> including drops in blood pressure, improvement in sleep, and decreases in stress markers. They&#39;ve also noticed that people who journal&nbsp;experience less&nbsp;anxiety and an increase in overall mood.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Journaling also serves as a valuable tool for English language learners (ELLs)&nbsp;to improve their overall fluency.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In this post, you&rsquo;ll learn some of the key benefits of introducing journaling in the language classroom. You&rsquo;ll also discover 35 inspiring journal prompts to&nbsp;encourage&nbsp;students to practice their writing and become more proficient.</p>

<h2>Benefits of journaling for English language learners</h2>

<p>In addition to both physical and mental&nbsp;health benefits, ELLs can gain in other ways as they express their thoughts and&nbsp;feelings, write about their hopes and fears,&nbsp;and&nbsp;record memories in a safe space.</p>

<p>Whether you decide to make it a repeating&nbsp;in-class activity or a regular homework assignment,&nbsp;journaling has&nbsp;the power to:</p>

<ul>
	<li>improve&nbsp;fluency</li>
	<li>track&nbsp;progress</li>
	<li>facilitate&nbsp;student-teacher relationship</li>
	<li>increase&nbsp;vocabulary</li>
	<li>encourage&nbsp;students to use grammar structures in context</li>
	<li>allow&nbsp;students to claim ownership of the language</li>
</ul>

<h2>35 journal prompts for writing practice</h2>

<p>Coming up with topics for your students to write about can be time-consuming. This list of 35 inspiring journal prompts is a great way to engage learners at&nbsp;all levels and get their words flowing on the page.</p>

<ol>
	<li>Describe your favorite holiday.</li>
	<li>Write about one of your hobbies and explain why and how you do it.</li>
	<li>Describe your best friend.</li>
	<li>Write about your first memory.</li>
	<li>Describe your home.</li>
	<li>Describe your neighborhood.</li>
	<li>Write about your favorite restaurant.</li>
	<li>Describe what you do when you have guests visit.</li>
	<li>Write about something that you have lost that you still miss.</li>
	<li>Write about a regret you have, either something you did or something you didn&rsquo;t do.</li>
	<li>Write about the best vacation you ever took.</li>
	<li>Write about everything you did last weekend in detail.</li>
	<li>Write about a habit that you would like to stop doing.</li>
	<li>Describe a childhood pet.</li>
	<li>Tell about a time you were embarrassed.</li>
	<li>Describe a perfect day.</li>
	<li>Describe something you couldn&rsquo;t live without.</li>
	<li>What do you do when you&#39;re frustrated at work?</li>
	<li>If you could travel to any time and place in the past, where would you go?</li>
	<li>Write about a difficult decision you&#39;ve made.</li>
	<li>Describe your ideal town or city.</li>
	<li>Describe the best party you&#39;ve ever been to.</li>
	<li>Write about the best gift you&#39;ve ever received.</li>
	<li>Write about a goal you have and how you plan to achieve it.</li>
	<li>Describe a time in your life when someone treated you unfairly.</li>
	<li>Describe your worst teacher.</li>
	<li>What advice would you give to a friend who just broke up with their partner?</li>
	<li>Describe your favorite piece of clothing. When do you wear it? How do you feel when you wear it?</li>
	<li>What 3 things would you take to a deserted island? Why?</li>
	<li>Tell about something you know now but didn&rsquo;t know last year. How did you learn about it? How do you use this information?</li>
	<li>Describe a situation that made you angry.</li>
	<li>Describe the person you admire the most.</li>
	<li>Tell about a time you were scared.</li>
	<li>Explain how to make your favorite dish.</li>
	<li>Describe how you are feeling right now, both physically and emotionally.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Useful writing resources&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Ellii&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/writing-in-english" target="_blank">Writing in English section</a> is ideal for helping students express their ideas on paper. For lower-level learners, check out <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2020-how-to-write-a-simple-sentence" target="_blank">How to Write a Simple Sentence</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2562-how-to-build-a-paragraph" target="_blank">How to Build a Paragraph</a>. For higher levels, try <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2563-how-to-write-a-basic-paragraph" target="_blank">How to Write a Basic Paragraph</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2116-how-to-write-a-descriptive-paragraph" target="_blank">How to Write a Descriptive Paragraph</a>.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your go-to journal prompts with us!</h5>

<p>Do you have any great journal prompts you&#39;d like to share? Please add them in the comments below!</p>
</div>


35 Inspiring Journal Prompts

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

Articles

<p>Have you heard of&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Bridge Education Group</a>?</p>

<p>Bridge provides accessible and affordable English language teacher training, certification, and continuing professional&nbsp;development.</p>

<p>They offer&hellip;</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TEFL certification programs</a>&nbsp;that provide teachers with internationally recognized&nbsp;credentials</li>
	<li>in-depth,&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses/specialized" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">specialized professional development courses</a>&nbsp;to help teachers learn about the latest methodology, best practices, and technologies in&nbsp;English language teaching (ELT)</li>
	<li>short&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/courses/micro" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">micro-credential courses</a>&nbsp;specially designed to help educators gain new skills that will take their teaching to the next&nbsp;level</li>
</ul>

<p>Bridge also publishes relevant and helpful ELT news and resources on&nbsp;<a href="https://bridge.edu/tefl/blog/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">BridgeUniverse</a>.</p>

<p>Here are four&nbsp;tips from&nbsp;BridgeUniverse&rsquo;s panel on the <a href="https://vimeo.com/776708285/42107a24dd" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">best practices for correcting pronunciation errors in the ESL/EFL classroom</a> that you can incorporate into your teaching.</p>

<h2>1. Set realistic pronunciation goals with your students</h2>

<p>At the beginning of a new class, have a conversation with your students to find out what they hope to accomplish by the end of the course. Often, students will say they want to sound like someone whose&nbsp;first language is English. This gives you an opportunity to outline your vision for the class and set a more realistic goal with your students.</p>

<p>Here are some resources you may find helpful for setting realistic goals with your students:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2127-my-language-goals" target="_blank">My Language Goals</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2224-goal-setting-can-do" target="_blank">Goal-Setting &ndash;&nbsp;Can Do</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2671-50-pronunciation-targets" target="_blank">50 Pronunciation Targets</a></li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;You don&rsquo;t need to be a native speaker to be a competent speaker in English.&quot;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;DJ Kaiser, professor and director of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at Webster University</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>2. Show different English speakers to your students</h2>

<p>Your students may find it inspirational to see and hear from people with the same language background as them speaking English.</p>

<p>For example, if your student&rsquo;s first language is Portuguese, have them&nbsp;watch a video of a well-known person or celebrity speaking English whose first language is also Portuguese. This will help your student&nbsp;realize that they don&rsquo;t need to sound like someone whose first language is English in order to be a good English speaker.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>3. Avoid correcting every pronunciation error</h2>

<p>When it comes to correcting pronunciation errors, the panelists agreed that there are a few factors to consider, such as...</p>

<ul>
	<li>the level of your students</li>
	<li>the focus of your class</li>
	<li>what you&rsquo;ve already taught</li>
</ul>

<p>Ricardo Cezar, an English teacher and a teacher trainer based in Brazil, also considers his students&rsquo; language backgrounds.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I teach monolingual students most of the time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So I have to know what problems Portuguese speakers will normally have when trying to speak English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Karen Taylor de Caballero, an educational consultant and trainer, believes rhythm and stress are important errors to focus on.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What I find is, when learners want to feel confident, the lack of confidence shows up in the rhythm, first and foremost, and the lack of comprehensibility shows up in misplaced or unperformed stress,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;So I really promote starting with stress and rhythm at the heart of that.&rdquo;</p>

<p>DJ Kaiser, professor and director of TESOL at Webster University, on the other hand, weighs comprehensibility with pronunciation.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I know a lot of people, they want to master that &lsquo;th&rsquo; sound,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And while I&rsquo;ve got great approaches for teaching that, I also have to consider is that time worth spending to correct the pronunciation of &lsquo;th.&rsquo; The &lsquo;th&rsquo; sound typically does not lead to miscommunication. If you&rsquo;re being understood and if certain sounds really don&rsquo;t make a difference in people being able to understand you, I wouldn&rsquo;t spend time focused on it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>At the end of the day, remember that students can&rsquo;t implement every pronunciation correction all at once. They can only comprehend so much at one time. With that in mind, it&rsquo;s important to be thoughtful about the feedback you give your students. Try not to overwhelm them with so much information that they get discouraged. Consider the items that are most important and focus on those errors first.</p>

<h2>4. Make a list of pronunciation errors</h2>

<p>When your students are working on a speaking exercise in groups, walk around the classroom and&nbsp;listen to them talk. Instead of interrupting them every time a pronunciation error is made, write down all the errors on the board as you hear them.</p>

<p>At the end of class, you can discuss the list of pronunciation errors that were made with the whole class without interrupting the flow of the exercise or singling out individual students.</p>

<h2>New! Use Ellii to teach pronunciation</h2>

<p>Did you hear? We recently launched our new <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/pronunciation" target="_blank">Pronunciation videos</a>! In each how-to video, Lise, our social engagement manager, provides a step-by-step tutorial for how to make the sound at hand (e.g., /th/, /r/, /s/). Students are encouraged to repeat after Lise and practice pronouncing the sound out loud for themselves.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/766180715" width="640"></iframe></div>

<p>Additional practice videos are also available, and each video links to its associated lesson.</p>

<p>We hope you enjoy these new videos&nbsp;and stay tuned as we&rsquo;ll be adding more in the near future!</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts</h5>

<p>Teachers, how do you teach pronunciation? What errors do you focus on? Let us know in the comments below.</p>
</div>


4 Tips from BridgeUniverse on How to Correct Pronunciation Errors in the Classroom

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<p>As environmental topics continue to trend in ELT, I&rsquo;m noticing that the <strong>UN&rsquo;s Sustainable Development Goals</strong> are appearing more and more in blogs, articles, videos, social posts, webinars, talks, and resources.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>This post explores what they are, why they are important,&nbsp;and how to incorporate them in your classes.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>What are the&nbsp;Sustainable Development Goals?&nbsp;</h2>

<p>The UN&#39;s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)&nbsp;have been around since 2015, when the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was published. This blueprint&nbsp;aims to tackle <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/3235-climate-change" target="_blank">climate change</a>, preserve natural habitats, and make the planet more equitable, affluent, educated, and healthier now and in the future.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The agenda focuses on 17 goals&mdash;targets&nbsp;for every country to work toward&nbsp;through global partnership. Supporters of these goals&nbsp;recognize that promoting economic growth, providing educational opportunities, and reducing hunger and poverty are crucial for creating a sustainable world.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="17 Sustainable Development Goals" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2966/content_E_SDG_Poster_2019_without_UN_emblem_WEB.png" /></p>

<p class="caption">Ellii supports the Sustainable Development Goals</p>

<h2>Why are the SDGs&nbsp;so important?</h2>

<p>Put simply, we only have one planet. Looking after it takes collaboration and care.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As language teachers, we support learners from all over the world, each of whom is directly affected by the issues these goals address. Every student (indeed, every human) needs access to clean water, affordable renewable energy, healthy food, quality education, and a safe, peaceful place to live.&nbsp;</p>

<p>By incorporating the SDGs into our lessons, we can enhance our students&rsquo; knowledge of the world they live in&nbsp;and equip them with skills to make their own positive changes to it.</p>

<p>Introducing&nbsp;topics of global importance&mdash;such as <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/sustainable-development-goals/1-no-poverty" target="_blank">poverty</a>, hunger, pollution, transportation, <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/sustainable-development-goals/3-good-health-well-being" target="_blank">health</a>, food production, and <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/sustainable-development-goals/5-gender-equality" target="_blank">gender equality</a>&mdash;is a great way to get students talking. It also helps them see the world from other perspectives and can make them more empathetic toward&nbsp;people from different backgrounds.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The goals may also inspire learners to take action in whatever way they can. Encouraging learners to get involved in their local&nbsp;and global&nbsp;communities is an excellent opportunity to develop their linguistic and intercultural skills. It also helps them to gain confidence in their abilities to be change leaders.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>How can I include the SDGs in my lessons?&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Incorporating the SDGs into the English language classroom is much simpler than it seems. The 17 goals are well aligned to&nbsp;many aspects of life, as are language lessons. In other words, there are ways to sneak sustainability into every lesson!&nbsp;</p>

<p>For example, if your class is learning <a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards/transportation-travel" target="_blank">transportation vocabulary</a>, you could ask learners to rank each mode in order of environmental friendliness.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Likewise, if you&rsquo;re teaching structures on <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1629-modals-of-advice" target="_blank">giving advice</a> (e.g., <em>You should&hellip;</em>, <em>Have you thought about</em>&hellip;, <em>You might want to</em>&hellip;), you could ask them to think of tips for budgeting, making a home more heat efficient, or <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1281-food-waste" target="_blank">reducing food waste</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/grammar/conditionals" target="_blank">conditionals</a>, you may wish to give them sustainability-themed sentence starters:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>If there were a lot of litter in my area, I&rsquo;d&hellip;</li>
	<li>Unless governments around the world work together, &hellip;</li>
	<li>As long as everyone is treated fairly, &hellip;</li>
</ul>

<p>You can also explore the goals individually with your learners. Ellii has&nbsp;created a <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/sustainable-development-goals" target="blank">collection of resources</a> matched to each goal.</p>

<p><img alt="Sustainable Development Goals Collection" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2967/content_Sustainable-Development-Goals_Thumb.png" /></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/sustainable-development-goals" target="_blank">Ellii&#39;s Sustainable Development Goals Lesson Collection</a></p>

<p>Learn more about the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals" nofollow="" noreferrer="" rel="noopener" target="_blank">UN Sustainable Development Goals</a>.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Sharing is caring!</h5>

<p>Do you cover topics on sustainability in your English language classes? You can <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/sustainable-development-goals/17-partnerships-for-the-goals" target="_blank">help promote the 17th goal&nbsp;</a>by sharing a related topic or activity you&#39;ve tried with your ELLs.&nbsp;</p>
</div>


The What, Why & How of Sustainable Development Goals 

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<div class="white-box">
<p>This article is part of a series of posts highlighting our community of teachers around the world. We hope you find their stories interesting and inspiring!</p>
</div>

<p>Nancy Lorenz-Vega was volunteering as an academic coach when she discovered how much she enjoyed teaching. This led her to leave her career in the corporate world and go back to school.</p>

<p>She&rsquo;s been a teacher for 14 years now.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I always thought I&rsquo;d be a good teacher but didn&rsquo;t decide to pursue it until I went back to school as an adult,&rdquo; Nancy said.</p>

<p>Today, she teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) both online and in person at <a href="https://pasadena.edu/" ref="noopener noreferrer nofollow" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Pasadena City College</a> in Pasadena, California. Her students are mainly at the intermediate level, but she also teaches&nbsp;students in the <a href="https://curriculum.pasadena.edu/noncredit-division/vocational-english-second-language/vesl-health-care-cert-competency/" ref="noopener noreferrer nofollow" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">VESL Health Care certificate program</a> who are hoping to work in medicine.</p>

<p>&quot;I try to bring my background into the lessons, utilizing my experience in the business world&nbsp;where we learn language for the workplace, as well as my early training in the arts where I teach students to speak well with good pronunciation, expression, intonation, and a wealth of vocabulary for different situations,&rdquo; Nancy explained.</p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2932/content_Ellii_Teacher-Feature-Nancy.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Nancy Lorenz-Vega is pictured here.</p>

<h2>How Nancy uses Ellii to overcome the challenges of teaching</h2>

<p>For Nancy, the most challenging part about being a teacher is tending to the needs of students at different levels within the same class.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ellii helps me to do this, as I can adjust the level of some activities,&quot; she said. &quot;For instance, I can choose a topic and there may be a high-intermediate level as well as a low-intermediate or beginner version of the same article.&rdquo;</p>

<p>One of her favorite Ellii lessons is our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/grammar-practice-worksheets/1610-subject-verb-agreement" target="_blank">Subject&ndash;Verb Agreement</a> lesson from our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/grammar-practice-worksheets" target="_blank">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> section.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There are about 17 pages of worksheets, vocabulary, rules, etc. All of the grammar lessons are wonderful and full of content,&rdquo; she said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Nancy also likes our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/mini-debates/1308-english-globalization" target="_blank">English Globalization</a> lesson from our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/mini-debates" target="_blank">Mini-Debates</a> section, calling it &quot;a great discussion starter&quot; for her ESL students.</p>

<p>Despite the challenges that come with the job, Nancy loves being an educator and making a difference.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I&#39;m so lucky to teach my ESL students,&rdquo; she&nbsp;said. &ldquo;They want to learn! The students are adults who want to get ahead or learn English better to bring their skills to the workplace. It&#39;s so rewarding to be able to teach and have students so interested in the material!&rdquo;</p>

<p><strong>Her advice for aspiring teachers?</strong></p>

<p>&ldquo;Every class is different. Get to know your students individually&nbsp;but also as a class. What is the chemistry of the class? What do they want to learn?&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Want the chance to be featured in our Teacher Feature series? Visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/20th-anniversary-giveaway" target="_blank">20th Anniversary Giveaway</a>&nbsp;blog post&nbsp;to tell us why you love Ellii and how you use the platform&nbsp;in your classroom.</p>
</blockquote>


Teacher Feature: Nancy Lorenz-Vega

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<div class="white-box">
<p>This article is part of a series of posts highlighting our community of teachers around the world. We hope you find their stories interesting and inspiring!</p>
</div>

<p>Fernando Varaschin has been teaching English on and off since 2012.</p>

<p>Currently, he&rsquo;s a full-time educator at <a href="https://www.philyoung.com/en/" tagret="_blank" target="_blank">Phil Young&rsquo;s English School</a> in Curitiba, Brazil, where he teaches pre-teens at the&nbsp;intermediate level as well as high school students and adults at the&nbsp;advanced level.</p>

<p>Fernando mostly teaches classes in person, but he also has two online classes as well as a private student.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I was never a great student,&rdquo; admitted Fernando. &ldquo;I had learning difficulties, and&nbsp;I had always thought that most of my teachers were not patient enough and that they assumed everyone learned the same way. I wanted to change that.&quot;<br />
<br />
Fernando explained that he&nbsp;wanted to be a teacher who respected students&rsquo; limitations and who taught&nbsp;different subjects using a step-by-step process&mdash;beginning&nbsp;with the simplest concepts before slowly building&nbsp;up to larger ones.</p>

<p>For Fernando, a typical day of teaching can start anywhere from 5:00 am to 7:00 am and can end as late as 10:00 pm.</p>

<p>He begins each day by checking his schedule to make sure he&rsquo;s prepared for each class, and he always arrives 15&ndash;30 minutes early to set up his classroom. In between class time, he plans upcoming lessons, marks tests and assignments, talks to parents, and attends meetings.</p>

<p>His day also involves driving between the four Curitiba branches of Phil Young&rsquo;s English School&nbsp;since he teaches at all of them.</p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2828/content_Fernando-Varaschin.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Fernando Varaschin is pictured here at the front desk of one of the school branches where he teaches.</p>

<h2>How Fernando uses Ellii with his English learners</h2>

<p>Fernando uses Ellii to complement the school&rsquo;s required material.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ellii fits in like a glove,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have the lessons printed out for my in-person students. Sometimes, I blow [the lesson] up on the digital board so that we can work hands-free. I try to vary as much as I can so that I have a more dynamic class. But [Ellii]&rsquo;s always there and it works perfectly . . . &nbsp;we need reliable material so that we can provide our students with nothing but the best.&rdquo;</p>

<p>With Fernando&rsquo;s private students, he has them pick the Ellii lessons they&rsquo;re interested in.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I browse through the site mirroring it on Google Meet so that they can choose the topics they&#39;re interested in,&quot; he said.&nbsp;&quot;The only thing I do is&nbsp;pick the grammar topics.&rdquo;</p>

<h2>Overcoming the challenges of teaching</h2>

<p>For Fernando, the most challenging part about teaching a big class&nbsp;is giving each student&nbsp;enough attention.</p>

<p>&ldquo;As a teacher, I try my best to encompass everyone and make sure that everybody gets the same amount of attention,&quot; he said.&nbsp;&quot;Although, that&#39;s a hard thing to do given that sometimes students are not exactly at the level that they&#39;re supposed to be. . . . as a teacher trainer at our school once said, &#39;How can I bring that one student out from the shadows?&#39;&nbsp;In other words, how can I get him or her to participate more?&rdquo;</p>

<p>Despite the challenges, Fernando loves being a teacher.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I love what I do and I intend to continue to do it for as long as I can. I&rsquo;m always looking to get better and better at it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>His advice for aspiring teachers?</p>

<p>&quot;Be patient with your students and keep in mind that different people learn in different ways.&rdquo;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Want the chance to be featured in our Teacher Feature series? Visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/20th-anniversary-giveaway" target="_blank">20th Anniversary Giveaway</a>&nbsp;blog post&nbsp;to tell us why you love Ellii and how you use it in your classroom.</p>
</blockquote>


Teacher Feature: Fernando Varaschin

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<p>Watching movies or TV is one of the most popular hobbies in the world. It&rsquo;s no surprise that students love to learn this way too.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Video is&nbsp;an excellent teaching tool and benefits English learners in many ways.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For starters, <strong>video is instantly engaging</strong>.</p>

<p>No matter your learners&rsquo; age or ability, using videos in class is a great way to <strong>keep their attention</strong> and <strong>make them more receptive to upcoming lesson activities</strong>.</p>

<p>Another big advantage of using videos in class&nbsp;is that they <strong>provide additional visual context </strong>your students wouldn&#39;t otherwise get through reading or listening.</p>

<p>Ready to start incorporating videos into your lessons? Here are four simple ways you can use videos to teach English more effectively in class.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>1. Play the video silently</h2>

<p>Playing the video silently is&nbsp;a fun way to introduce students to the topic, activate schemata, and get them thinking critically about the content.</p>

<p>As they watch, ask them to consider a question.</p>

<h3>For example:</h3>

<ul>
	<li>What happens?</li>
	<li>Who is in the video?</li>
	<li>Where is it?</li>
	<li>What are the people saying?</li>
	<li>What are they wearing?</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Read aloud</h2>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/dialogues" target="_blank">Ellii dialogue videos</a> are a great way to support learners with all four skills. The visuals support their understanding, while the audio and closed captions provide listening and reading practice. Students can listen and repeat after a paused video or read the text aloud as they watch.</p>

<p class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/551974787" width="640"></iframe></p>

<p class="caption">Video not playing? Your school might be blocking Vimeo, our video hosting platform. Please ask your administrator to whitelist <a href="https://vimeo.com/" nofollow="" noreferrer="" rel="&quot;noopener" target="&quot;_blank&quot;">vimeo.com</a>.</p>

<p>Once students have gained confidence, they can role-play the dialogues in pairs or small groups.</p>

<p>Additional practice and support can be found in the lesson PDF&nbsp;and interactive digital tasks.</p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3124/content_Screen_Shot_2023-04-06_at_3.19.24_PM.png" /></p>

<h2>3. Pause the video</h2>

<p>Pausing the video is a&nbsp;technique that can be used in a number of ways:</p>

<h3>Before watching</h3>

<p>Watch the video silently and pause it at key scenes or show the same sections as screenshots. Ask students to describe what they see.</p>

<p>This is a good way to <strong>pre-teach vocabulary</strong> or <strong>generate discussion</strong> on predicted content.</p>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label hangingLabel">Related video</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/video/going-shopping-beg"><img alt="a person shopping" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2769/content_76_Going-Shopping.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/video/going-shopping-beg" target="_blank">Going Shopping</a></h2>

<p>In this video, students learn how to ask to try on clothing in a store. They also learn to describe how something fits and how to ask for a different size.</p>
</div>

<h3>During watching</h3>

<p>Pause the video at selected points and ask questions. This ensures that students have <strong>understood</strong> the video so far. It also offers additional<strong> speaking practice</strong>.</p>

<p>You could also ask students what they think might happen next&nbsp;before they resume watching.</p>

<p><b id="docs-internal-guid-3611de2c-7fff-827c-9027-87fcb0e24f9a"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2772/content_video.jpg" /></b></p>

<h3>After watching</h3>

<p>Pause the video at key scenes and ask students to <strong>summarize</strong> what the voiceover said. They could do this orally or by taking notes.</p>

<p>This gives students an opportunity to <strong>share their understanding</strong>.</p>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label hangingLabel">Related video</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/video/climate-change-int-high-int"><img alt="a polar bear" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2770/content_72_Climate-Change.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/video/climate-change-int-high-int" target="_blank">Climate Change</a></h2>

<p>Students watch a video&nbsp;about how global warming is affecting the world.&nbsp;</p>
</div>

<h2>4. Rewrite the video</h2>

<p>Rewriting the video can generate a lot of laughter!&nbsp;Students watch the video with the sound off and create their own voiceovers or dialogues.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You could give each student, pair, or group a different video to watch and ask them to present the new version of the video live. This is an engaging&nbsp;way for students to <strong>practice their English writing and speaking skills</strong>.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>You can now find all our videos (130+) in our new <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos" target="_blank">Media Gallery</a>.</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Related materials</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/selfie-videos-ell" target="_blank">Teaching English with Selfie Videos</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-american-dream" target="_blank">The American Dream: Video Challenge</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>Ellii&#39;s YouTube Channels</h2>

<p>You may want to tell your students about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii">Ellii&#39;s YouTube channel for students</a>&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii">youtube.com/@ellii</a>) and encourage them to subscribe if they want self-study videos on grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, reading, dialogues, etc. (that you could also share in class).</p>

<p>Ellii also has a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@elliiteachers">YouTube channel just for teachers</a> (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@elliiteachers">youtube.com/@elliiteachers</a>) with demo videos of <a href="https://ellii.com/discover">ellii.com</a>&#39;s features.</p>

<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4I3tmCtS4qA" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share your thoughts!</h5>

<p>Have you tried any of these ideas? How do you use videos in class? We&rsquo;d love to hear from you!</p>
</div>
