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

Announcements

<h1>Introducing Individual Student Assignments</h1>

<p>Great news, teachers!</p>

<p>As of today, you can now select which individual students receive specific assignments within any class.&nbsp;</p>

<h3><strong>Here&#39;s how it works:</strong></h3>

<ul>
	<li>Click on a lesson, video, or flashcard set in your Prepping or Teaching lane within any of your classes</li>
	<li>A modal will open with your assignment preferences for that lesson&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Click the &quot;Students&quot; tab in the top navigation of the modal</li>
	<li>Switch the setting from &quot;All students&quot; to &quot;Some students&quot;</li>
	<li>Select the students you want to assign the lesson to&nbsp;and remember to hit &quot;Save&quot; inside the modal before closing it</li>
</ul>

<p>Only the selected students will see the assignment inside their class dashboard.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C5BgjG7wtaI?si=I4waw7z14JkLaeer" width="640"></iframe></div>

<p>We know that a lot of you have been asking for this feature for a while now. So thanks for your patience, and we hope it&#39;s a big help!</p>

<p>All the best,<br />
Ben :)</p>

<p>Founder, CEO at Ellii</p>


Introducing Individual Student Assignments

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

Teaching with Ellii

<p>I teach people from refugee backgrounds in a Further Education college in Scotland. Many of my students&nbsp;have few&nbsp;digital skills.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Over the years, I&rsquo;ve taught my language learners&nbsp;basic <strong>digital literacy skills</strong> such as using a mouse, pressing the return key to send a message, and switching between capital and lowercase letters.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>While we often focus on reading, writing, speaking, and listening in the language classroom, it&rsquo;s also important to consider digital skills.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The best way to do this is to<strong> </strong><strong>incorporate digital tools</strong> into your classroom practices.</p>

<p>I&rsquo;ve found using the Ellii&nbsp;platform is an excellent way to do this as its navigation is intuitive.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here are my eight tips for using Ellii to help develop your students&#39; digital literacy skills.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>1. Keep It Simple</h2>

<p>Learning how to use new software for the first time can be overwhelming. Try to keep the process as simple as you can. If possible, use a platform your students are already familiar with.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For example, most language learners can use email or may be familiar with <a href="https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6020279?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Google Classroom</a>. Ellii PDFs can be emailed to students&nbsp;or embedded directly into Google Classroom.&nbsp;</p>

<p>When I first started using Ellii, I was nervous about my students remembering their login information&nbsp;or spelling their username and password correctly. I didn&rsquo;t need to worry since they can sign in with Google.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This was a game changer! Most of my students are already logged in to Google on their devices, so logging in to Ellii was simply a case of clicking&nbsp;<strong>Log In with Google</strong>.</p>

<h2>2. Send Hyperlinks</h2>

<p>This might sound simplistic, but you&rsquo;ll be surprised how often I receive a link that I need to copy and paste into my browser.&nbsp;This is fine if you know how to copy and paste.&nbsp;For students who don&rsquo;t, <strong>hyperlinks are essential</strong>.</p>

<p>Here&#39;s how you do it: When you copy-paste a link into your learning platform or into an email for homework, press the <strong>Return</strong> key (aka the Enter key) while the cursor is on the last digit of the link. The link will then turn blue and be underlined.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
<img alt="How to copy-paste a link and turn it into a hyperlink" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2316/content_copy-paste-hyperlink.jpg" /></p>

<h2>3. Send Simpler, More&nbsp;Accurate&nbsp;Links</h2>

<p>When I first started using the Ellii platform, I would send emails to students asking them to complete the homework on Ellii.com.&nbsp;I didn&rsquo;t realize I was adding an unnecessary additional step for students.</p>

<p>My students had to find the <strong>Log In</strong>&nbsp;button on the top right, then select <strong>Log In As a Student</strong>.&nbsp;This was too much for some.&nbsp;I soon realized that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ellii.com/students" target="_blank">www.ellii.com/students</a> takes students straight to the student login page.&nbsp;A rookie error, but an easy one to fix.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<h2>4. Try It Together</h2>

<p>When I introduce my English language learners to new technology, I prefer to do this face to face.</p>

<p>First, I demonstrate the steps, and then I&rsquo;ll ask students to do it themselves. If possible, I watch them do this so I know they can do it unsupported.&nbsp;</p>

<p>When they have difficulties, it can be tempting to take their phone and log in for them&nbsp;but this doesn&rsquo;t ensure they can do it alone. Allowing them time and space to figure out how to perform a digital task themselves lets them find their own way and gives them confidence in their own abilities.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>5. Bookmark Pages</h2>

<p>Bookmarking a page on your browser saves the site&nbsp;for later. This means students don&rsquo;t need to remember the name of the site or how to spell it. They can bookmark all the&nbsp;pages they frequently use for study, work, and life.</p>

<p>To do this, Google Chrome has a star icon in the right corner of your browser bar. Selecting the star adds the site to the bookmarks bar at the top of the browser window.</p>

<p><img alt="Bookmark star selected in Google Chrome browser" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2307/content_bookmark-chrome.jpg" /></p>

<p>In Safari, select the <strong>Share&nbsp;</strong>button then click on <strong>Add Bookmark</strong>.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Share button selected and Add Bookmark selected in Safari browser" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2308/content_bookmark-safari.jpg" /></p>

<p>Once you&rsquo;ve helped students bookmark pages on their own device, check that they can easily find and access them again.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>6. Use Instructional Videos</h2>

<p>As with any technology, instructional videos can be invaluable, especially if teaching online.&nbsp;</p>

<p>I used the&nbsp;<a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/218-how-to-sign-in-students" target="_blank">How to Sign In</a>&nbsp;video to help my students log in for the first time.&nbsp;You can also check out Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://help.ellii.com/" target="_blank">Help Docs</a> which include more instructional videos.</p>

<h2>7. Log In As a Student</h2>

<p>I&rsquo;ve added myself as a student to all my classes. This is a great way to show students how to navigate the platform because it allows you to&nbsp;demonstrate&nbsp;to them how to access assignments and flashcards.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<h2>8. Use a&nbsp;Digital Buddy System</h2>

<p>It can be a good idea to follow a digital buddy system where you&nbsp;match students with stronger digital skills with those who need more support. This way, your learners can teach each other how to use the platform.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If your students speak different languages, this offers an additional opportunity to practice their English. For students&nbsp;who speak the same language, this lets them learn new skills in their first language, without additional language stressors.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/3292" target="_blank">Digital Learning with Ellii</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards/electronics-gadgets/computers" target="_blank">Computer Vocabulary&nbsp;</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards/digital-literacy-with-ellii" target="_blank">Digital Literacy&nbsp;Vocabulary</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/3651 " target="_blank">Digital Literacy Needs Assessment</a></li>
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/folders/published/82130" target="_blank">Digital Literacy Ellii Folder (Beg &ndash; Low Int)</a></li>
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/folders/published/82132" target="_blank">Digital Literacy Ellii Folder (Int &ndash; Adv)</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2505 " target="_blank">Using a Computer</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2511" target="_blank">Using the Internet</a>&nbsp;</li>
</ul>


8 Tips for Developing Students' Digital Literacy 

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Posts describing lessons or activities for the ESL classroom.

Activities

<div class="white-box">
<p>Are you proud of the amazing things your students have been doing in class recently? Well, we&rsquo;re curious and want to hear all about it! In our new monthly <strong>Student Showcase</strong> <strong>series</strong>, we&#39;re asking&nbsp;teachers like you to share the creative&nbsp;approaches you&#39;ve taken to&nbsp;teaching your students in class and to show off the incredible work your&nbsp;students have done.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Your students deserve to have their work front and center&nbsp;in our showcase, so stay tuned each month for a new challenge. Follow the <strong>Video Challenge instructions</strong> below for your chance to have your students&#39; work featured on our blog!</p>
</div>

<h2>April&#39;s Student Showcase:&nbsp;Earth Day</h2>

<p>On April 22, 1970, the very first grassroots demonstration to raise environmental awareness took place in the United States. Approximately 20 million Americans, including thousands of students, took to the streets in peaceful protest. Since this day, April 22 has been known as <strong>Earth Day</strong>.</p>

<p>All around the world, we celebrate and recognize the importance of Earth Day by discussing the many ways in which we can help preserve the environment and make the Earth a cleaner and healthier place for everyone.</p>

<h2>This Month&#39;s Video Challenge</h2>

<p>How do you teach your students about Earth Day? What topics do you focus on? What topics related to the environment are prominent in your community? We&#39;d love for you to show us some of the great activities, projects, games, and artwork your students have created on this topic!</p>

<p>Follow the Video Challenge instructions and submit a short video or text response about your lesson and students&#39; work related to Earth Day.&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Video Challenge Instructions</h3>

<p><iframe allow="camera *; microphone *; autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; display-capture *;" height="600px" src="https://www.videoask.com/fuccs5oss" style="border: none; border-radius: 24px" width="100%"></iframe></p>

<p>You can also send additional pictures or material to us at <a href="mailto:hello@ellii.com">hello@ellii.com</a>. If your submission is chosen, we&#39;ll feature your students&rsquo; work at the end of the month in our follow-up blog post.</p>

<h2>Lessons on Earth Day</h2>

<p>Not sure how to teach about Earth Day? If you&rsquo;re looking for inspiration, here are some&nbsp;lessons and activities for all ages and language levels related to&nbsp;Earth Day and the importance of taking care of our environment.</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2682" target="_blank">Earth Day - Word Bank</a>&nbsp;(Lit &ndash; Pre Beg)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/134/lessons/3662" target="_blank">Earth Day - Word Bank Readers</a>&nbsp;(Beg / CLB 2&ndash;3)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/2199" target="_blank">Earth Day - Holidays &amp; Events</a>&nbsp;(Low Int / CLB 3&ndash;5)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1877" target="_blank">Earth Day - Holidays &amp; Events</a>&nbsp;(High Int &ndash; Adv / CLB 8&ndash;10)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2142" target="_blank">Earth Day - Idioms Poster</a>&nbsp;(Lit &ndash; Adv / CLB 1&ndash;12)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards/holidays-events/earth-day" target="_blank">Earth Day - Flashcard Set</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>Related Lessons</h2>

<p>Looking for a lesson related to some of the world&#39;s biggest environmental concerns? From climate change to vanishing honeybees, we&#39;ve got lessons on many Earth Day-related themes.</p>

<p>Check out our top-rated lesson list below or browse through our <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/global-issues/the-environment" target="_blank">Environment</a>&nbsp;collection for all lessons, digital tasks, flashcards, and activities on this topic.</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/3235" target="_blank">Climate Change</a>&nbsp;(Low Int / CLB 3&ndash;4)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons/3821" target="_blank">Climate Change and Mental Health</a>&nbsp;(Int &ndash; High Int)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/2401" target="_blank">The Great Barrier Reef</a>&nbsp;(Int)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/73/lessons/1297" target="_blank">The Kyoto Protocol</a>&nbsp;(Int &ndash; Adv / CLB 7&ndash;9)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1280" target="_blank">Vanishing Honeybees</a>&nbsp;(High Int / CLB 6&ndash;8)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons/4024" target="_blank">UN Plastics Treaty</a>&nbsp;(High Int &ndash; Adv / CLB 6&ndash;12)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons/3698" target="_blank">Amazon Destroys Unsold Items</a>&nbsp;(Int)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons/2614" target="_blank">Wildfires</a>&nbsp;(Int &ndash; High Int)</li>
</ul>


Student Showcase: Earth Day Challenge

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

Articles

<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>At 35 years old, Kieran O&#39;Driscoll left his 17-year-long career at&nbsp;Tipperary County Council and Listowel Urban District Council in the Republic of Ireland&nbsp;to pursue his twin passions:&nbsp;languages and teaching.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I had always, from earliest childhood, been very interested in becoming a teacher,&quot; said Kieran. &quot;At&nbsp;age 18, I took a job in local government administration in which I stayed for over 17 years,&nbsp;but the love of languages&mdash;English, Irish, and French&mdash;never left me.&quot;</p>

<h2>A Fresh Start</h2>

<p>Kieran went back to school to study languages and translation, got his PhD in French-English literary translation studies and Jules Verne studies, worked as a lecturer and researcher at a few Irish and UK higher education&nbsp;institutions, and got his TESOL qualifications.</p>

<p>Today&nbsp;he teaches intermediate-level Academic English to adult students at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ucd.ie/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">University College Dublin</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ucdela.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">English Language Academy</a> in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.</p>

<p>He&rsquo;s been teaching for almost 19 years now.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Teaching Academic English,&nbsp;as I have done for the past few years on a university campus, is an ideal job for me as I can combine my academic research and writing experience with teaching English for specific&mdash;in my case, academic&mdash;purposes,&quot; said Kieran. &quot;I love the idea of teaching as I always loved learning.&rdquo;</p>

<p><img alt="Photo of Kieran O'Driscoll" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2263/content_content_PHOTOGRAPH_KIERAN_ODRISCOLL.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Kieran O&#39;Driscoll&nbsp;is pictured here.</p>

<p>For Kieran, a typical day of teaching starts at 9:00 am. He teaches Academic English in the morning and <a href="https://www.ielts.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">IELTS (International English Language Testing System)</a> exam preparation in the afternoon. He usually ends his day with an hour or two of lesson planning, marking, and responding to emails from colleagues and students.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Since January 2022, I&#39;ve been fortunate enough to be back full time in the physical classroom, which my students, colleagues, and I all&nbsp;prefer as there is often better teacher-student interaction and higher-quality communicative-based teaching and learning made possible by the traditional physical setting,&quot; said Kieran.</p>

<p>&quot;Having said that, it does have to be acknowledged that it was really helpful to have the opportunity to continue to teach and learn online during the worst of the pandemic. I admire all students and teachers who made the best of things in a difficult situation and carried on doing education remotely.&rdquo;</p>

<h2>How Kieran Uses Ellii in His Classroom</h2>

<p>Kieran is big fan of Ellii and has been for a long time.</p>

<p>Many of his favorite lessons are from the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons" target="_blank">Discussion Starters</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/73/lessons" target="_blank">Mini-Debates</a> sections.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I find the Discussion Starters and Mini-Debates really useful and engaging,&quot; he said. &quot;Always great for getting students talking, thinking critically, and working together whilst improving their reading and speaking skills.<br />
<br />
&quot;I also love the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/111/lessons" target="_blank">Group Projects</a>, which I&#39;ve used for group presentations in both General and Academic English. Students have thus given really interesting, information-rich, and visually appealing presentations on such project topics.&rdquo;</p>

<p>One of his absolute favorite lessons&nbsp;is the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1867" target="_blank">St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day</a> lesson, which he taught&nbsp;this March.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have a soft spot for the lesson on St. Patrick&#39;s Day as it&#39;s very relevant here in Ireland,&quot; Kieran admitted. &quot;I once again taught this lesson and students once more enjoyed it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Above all, Kieran loves seeing his students reach their personal, professional, and linguistic goals.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Seeing them happy at the end of a lesson and at the end of their course and watching them go on to great things&mdash;the quiet satisfaction of a job well done,&rdquo; he said.</p>

<p>When asked if he had any advice for aspiring teachers, Kieran said it&rsquo;s important to be confident.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Believe in yourself, enjoy the teaching, never stop learning, and have lots of fun&nbsp;whilst cultivating a healthy work-life balance.&rdquo;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Want the chance to be featured in our Teacher Feature series? Visit our <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.&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Teacher Feature: Kieran O'Driscoll

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

Conferences

<p>Would you like to be a student in your own class?&nbsp;If Jeyan Babajanova were my teacher, then my answer is a resounding &quot;yes!&quot;.</p>

<p>Babajanova presented at the <a href="https://www.tesol.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TESOL 2022 convention</a>&nbsp;on&nbsp;&ldquo;Project-Based Teaching as a Solution to Low-Resource Contexts.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I attended countless inspirational presentations and keynotes during TESOL 2022, but hers stood out for me.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Project-based learning</strong> works on so many levels with students of all ages, and it&#39;s a teaching/learning method that teachers are passionate about.</p>

<p>This teaching method doesn&rsquo;t come without its challenges, but the benefits of a successful project make the effort worthwhile.</p>

<h2>Challenges of Project-Based Learning</h2>

<p>One of the challenges that Babajanova faced in her teaching context was low motivation<strong> </strong>from the students during the pandemic.</p>

<p>Globally, teachers&nbsp;and students alike faced the same dilemmas: <strong>how to effectively learn and engage in an online environment.</strong></p>

<p>One solution is to find something that drives and motivates students. Find something that intrinsically motivates them to take control of their own learning. The tools are secondary.</p>

<h2>Benefits of Project-Based Learning</h2>

<p>Project-based learning helps students to develop a broad range of skills.</p>

<p>Team-based projects require effective <strong>communication</strong>, <strong>collaboration</strong>, <strong>critical thinking</strong>, and <strong>creativity</strong> (a major theme at&nbsp;the TESOL 2022 conference).</p>

<p>Babajanova&nbsp;needed to be flexible as her online toolkit was limited. Many sites such as YouTube are blocked in Turkmenistan where she&#39;s located. The key was to work with the tools&nbsp;students already had (such as their smartphones) and to learn ways to leverage the tools they were familiar with in order to do things in a different way.</p>

<h2>How I Use Project-Based Learning in the Classroom</h2>

<p>Project-based learning has been a part of my teaching toolkit for many years now, especially since I started teaching specialized workplace courses for adult newcomers. The projects provide opportunities to use real-world communicative skills, and in the process, students learn some language skills that they need in order to be successful.</p>

<p>One project I remember fondly was my own version of the &ldquo;30 Day Challenge&rdquo; by Matt Cutts.</p>

<p>His original challenge was simple enough: Do something new for 30 days.</p>

<p>Cutts experimented with <strong>creative projects</strong>, such as taking a photo every day, with <strong>health-based projects </strong>such as&nbsp;cycling to work, cutting out sugar, and other activities.</p>

<p>My version was to create small support groups where students would share their challenges and then act as motivational coaches to their team. They met regularly, discussed the benefits and challenges, and offered advice to each other. It was as simple as that.</p>

<p>Students don&rsquo;t look back fondly on their language classes and wax poetic about grammar practice worksheets. They remember the connections they created and the excitement when they discovered something about themselves.</p>

<p><img alt="image of a poster board project" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2269/content_content_project-1.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Student Vision Board Project</p>

<p>One former student told me recently that this challenge had a deep impact on his life.</p>

<p>He challenged himself to find and join a local volleyball team. It was important to him because this was an activity he had enjoyed before coming to Canada. Volleyball connected him to a community and increased his physical activity. His language skills also picked up a great deal as a result.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>10 Tips for Successful Project-Based Learning</h2>

<p>Project-based learning is easier to implement&nbsp;than you might think. Here are 10 tips I learned from TESOL for successful project-based learning&mdash;online and in class.</p>

<ol>
	<li><strong>Involve the students.</strong>&nbsp;Find out what they are interested in learning.</li>
	<li><strong>Create a framework for learning.</strong> How will students demonstrate their learning? What will they do with it? Why is it important for them? What will they get out of it? What&rsquo;s the real-world goal?</li>
	<li><strong>Create a timeframe for tasks and rubrics.</strong> Students need to see what the expectations are for each step or part of the process.</li>
	<li><strong>Figure out what&#39;s in your students&rsquo; toolkits.</strong>&nbsp;What tech tools do they already have access to? What do they still need to learn in order to collaborate and communicate with their group?</li>
	<li><strong>Reporting methods need to be worked out. </strong>This includes receptive skills (e.g., What listening/reading will students need to do?) and productive skills (e.g., How will students demonstrate their learning?&nbsp;Through blogs? Video diaries? Flipgrid?)</li>
	<li><strong>Assign roles, and be clear! </strong>Especially if it&rsquo;s a group project. Consider accountability&mdash;to whom are the students accountable? To themselves, to each other?</li>
	<li><strong>Do it.</strong></li>
	<li><strong>Present findings.</strong> Do a virtual demonstration with another language class or if face-to-face, bring back the presentations in the hallway.&nbsp;If you can, encourage a&nbsp;Q&amp;A session. If virtual, this can be a podcast or a breakout room session.</li>
	<li><strong>Reflect on it.</strong></li>
	<li><strong>Archive it so you can&nbsp;share with future students.</strong></li>
</ol>

<p><img alt="image of a model built by students" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2268/content_content_Project-2.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Model of our school&#39;s courtyard - Student Renovation Project at TVDSB</p>

<p>This year, TESOL&nbsp;had more than&nbsp;300 presentations. The&nbsp;theme centered around developing student agency and empowering students to interact, engage and communicate.</p>

<p>Project-based learning encourages students to set meaningful goals, collaborate with each other, and then to reflect on their accomplishments.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share Your Thoughts</h5>

<p>What projects have you helped&nbsp;design for your students? Let us know in the comments section below.</p>
</div>


Takeaways from TESOL 2022: Project-Based Learning

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

Young Learners

<p>Have you heard about the <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/esl-talk/id1548652844" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><em>ESL Talk </em>podcast</a>?</p>

<p>As described on their Apple Podcast page, <em>ESL Talk</em> is &ldquo;a podcast for English teachers by English teachers.&rdquo; In each episode, the hosts and their guests discuss various teaching topics, methods, and approaches pertaining to ESL teachers. It&#39;s a fantastic way to&nbsp;hone your English teaching skills&nbsp;and to stay current in your career field.</p>

<p>Here are some key takeaways from <em>ESL Talk</em>&#39;s episode on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/teaching-young-learners/id1548652844?i=1000530253318" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">teaching young learners</a>&nbsp;that you can incorporate in your classes.</p>

<h2>Provide Reading Activities</h2>

<p>Whether you&rsquo;re teaching online or in class, fluency can be built through reading and reading activities.</p>

<p>First, choose a reading that is age-appropriate and appealing to a younger audience.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Next, plan out pre- and post-reading activities. <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/pre-reading-activities-to-boost-comprehension" target="_blank">Pre-reading activities</a> can include a vocabulary review with the new words that students will encounter in the reading and a discussion about the context of the text. If you&rsquo;re reading a story, students can also make predictions about the plot. <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/9-post-reading-activities-to-help-students-reflect-on-a-text" target="_blank">Post-reading activities</a> can include further discussion and writing practice to test their comprehension.</p>

<p>At Ellii, we have plenty of ready-made&nbsp;reading-based lessons designed for young learners. Here are some of our most popular story-based lessons:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/132/lessons" target="_blank">Picture Stories</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/134/lessons" target="_blank">Word Bank Readers</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Stories</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/129/lessons" target="_blank">True Grammar Stories</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/83/lessons" target="_blank">Easy Readers</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>Incorporate Movement</h2>

<p>Young learners are full of energy!&nbsp;To help your young students focus, incorporate movement into your lessons.</p>

<p>You can dance for a few minutes partway through class. You can sing a song that matches the theme of the lesson. It can even be just as helpful to include a minute or two of stretching.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Students love to get up and move around.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Daniel Shaw, founder &amp; host of <em>ESL Talk</em> podcast</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Whatever movement you choose to incorporate, know that it will help your students stay focused, retain information, and remember the material.</p>

<p>Young students also learn by doing. They learn through their senses. Don&rsquo;t just show them a picture of a pencil. Have them actually hold and touch a pencil. Don&rsquo;t just show them a picture of someone waving. Get them to wave too!</p>

<h2>Ask Questions</h2>

<p>It&rsquo;s also important to make time each lesson to talk to your students. Build their conversational skills through simple questions.</p>

<p>You can start off by asking your young learners simple yes/no questions (e.g., <em>Are you excited to learn today?</em>).</p>

<p>When they&rsquo;re comfortable, you can ask questions using the five W&rsquo;s: who, what, when, where, and why (e.g., <em><strong>What </strong>did you do today?</em>).</p>

<h2>Build a Connection</h2>

<p>Find a way to connect with your young students. Ask their parents what their child likes and dislikes so you can teach topics that are meaningful to them.</p>

<p>It&rsquo;s important to relate your lessons to their world. If your students&rsquo; have ideas for a lesson, try to incorporate them.</p>

<p>For example, if your students express that they like superheroes, try to include superheroes in&nbsp;the lesson.</p>

<p>Ellii has plenty of fun ready-to-use lessons designed to appeal to young learners. Here are a few of our most popular:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/134/lessons/3834" target="_blank">Hannah&#39;s Halloween</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/134/lessons/3918" target="_blank">Carly&#39;s Christmas</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/136/lessons/3678" target="_blank">Fairy Tale</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/136/lessons/3828" target="_blank">Superheroes</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/117/lessons/2752" target="_blank">Astronauts</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/117/lessons/2507" target="_blank">Pizza&nbsp;</a></li>
</ul>

<p>It&#39;s also important to show enthusiasm.&nbsp;Be excited about what you&rsquo;re going to teach! If you&#39;re excited to teach, your students will be excited to learn.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Enthusiasm is contagious.&quot;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Carina, guest speaker &amp;&nbsp;experienced&nbsp;ESL&nbsp;teacher&nbsp;on <em>ESL Talk</em> podcast</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Listen to <em>ESL Talk</em>&#39;s&nbsp;&quot;Teaching Young Learners&quot; episode on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/teaching-young-learners/id1548652844?i=1000530253318" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2MMYO6usuTsJgjT1Sr6fB0?si=7wQraRPTToaKe3sg_SOeWg" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Spotify.</a><br />
&nbsp;</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h4>Share Your Thoughts</h4>

<p>Teachers, do you have any tips for teaching young learners? Let us know in the comments below.</p>
</div>


Key Takeaways from ESL Talk Podcast on Teaching Young Learners 

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<p>TESOL 2022 took place March 23&ndash;25 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Though I attended my ninth TESOL convention virtually this year, I came away with the usual inspired and empowered feeling at the end of the conference.&nbsp;I definitely missed&nbsp;hanging out with the Ellii team&nbsp;and chatting with attendees face-to-face at the booth, but I&#39;m glad I got the chance to attend some amazing&nbsp;prerecorded and livestreamed&nbsp;sessions.</p>

<p>One such session was entitled, &quot;Teaching Listening: New Strategies for Getting Students to Higher Levels,&quot; and the presenters were Jon Philips and Federico Pomarici from the Defence Language Institute Foreign Language Center.</p>

<p>This session presented attendees with <strong>an innovative&nbsp;model of listening instruction</strong> that&#39;s quite different from what most of us (myself included) do to help students improve their listening&nbsp;skills.</p>

<p>But before we dive into the new approach, here&#39;s a quick refresher on the more traditional model most teachers have grown accustomed to using in class.</p>

<h1>Traditional Approach</h1>

<p>Philips and Pomarici began by describing&nbsp;the way most teachers teach listening in class. These tasks, which many of us have employed again and again throughout our teaching careers,&nbsp;include:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Pictures to activate&nbsp;content schemata&nbsp;(pre-listening)</li>
	<li>Vocabulary list to activate linguistic schemata&nbsp;(pre-listening)</li>
	<li>Transcription or&nbsp;fill in missing words/sentences (during&nbsp;listening)</li>
	<li>Info gaps (during&nbsp;listening)</li>
	<li>Content/comprehension&nbsp;questions&nbsp;(post-listening)</li>
</ul>

<p>Philips and Pomarici explained that this traditional approach does not account for the actual challenges learners face when listening, and these types of tasks may not be the best way to help students improve their listening skills.</p>

<p>They&nbsp;argued that teachers are <strong>testing</strong> listening rather than <strong>teaching</strong>&nbsp;it.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;In the traditional approach, comprehension is a&nbsp;<strong>product</strong>&nbsp;of listening, focusing mainly on the final outcome of the listening process in the form of answers to comprehension questions.&quot;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Philips &amp;&nbsp;Pomarici</p>
</blockquote>

<h1>New Approach</h1>

<p>Philips and Pomarici suggested that a new, different methodology would involve focusing on the process of listening instead of the&nbsp;product.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;In this new approach, comprehension&nbsp;is a <strong>process</strong> for listening&nbsp;and refers to the mental processes, skills, and strategies that serve as the foundation of skilled listening.&quot;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Philips &amp;&nbsp;Pomarici</p>
</blockquote>

<p>They divided their new methodology into two phases and gave a brief&nbsp;example of each.</p>

<h2>Phase 1: Structured Preview Phase</h2>

<p>Philips and Pomarici&nbsp;explained how going beyond the usual vocab and/or image preview tasks can really set&nbsp;learners up for listening&nbsp;success.</p>

<p>They suggested&nbsp;four key tasks to use in this phase:</p>

<p><strong>1. Preview content and voice: </strong>Play 1&ndash;3 lines&nbsp;while students read along with the transcript. The goal is to get them used to the speaker&#39;s voice and intonation. Have students employ their own content and linguistic background knowledge by asking them&nbsp;&quot;What is this&nbsp;about?&quot;</p>

<p><strong>2. Predict&nbsp;emotional overtone: </strong>Play part of the excerpt while they read along. Elicit students&#39; thoughts on the speaker&#39;s emotional status (active or passive, positive or negative?) and have students underline any stressed&nbsp;words.</p>

<p><strong>3. Raise&nbsp;awareness of sociocultural context:&nbsp;</strong>Give students a list of places, companies, events, etc. mentioned in the passage. Have groups of students do some research online about one item in the list and share it with the&nbsp;class.</p>

<p><strong>4. Attend&nbsp;to functions of grammatical features:&nbsp;</strong>Choose a grammar target that you&#39;ve previously covered in class that is frequent in the listening passage (e.g., passive voice, imperative verbs, conditional sentences, etc.). Have learners transcribe sentences they hear that include the grammar target. Ask them how the grammar affects the&nbsp;meaning.</p>

<h2>Phase 2: Selective Strategic Listening&nbsp;Phase</h2>

<p>Philips and Pomarici discussed how to truly teach learners how to listen by going beyond the typical fill-in-the-blanks types of tasks.</p>

<p>They set out six tasks to use for this phase:</p>

<p><strong>1. Build a storyline and stage information:&nbsp;</strong>Discourse order and chronological order are often quite different. Have students&nbsp;put the events they hear in chronological&nbsp;order.</p>

<p><strong>2. Paraphrase to understand inferencing:&nbsp;</strong>Choose key sentences from the excerpt and paraphrase them so the meaning is the same for some and different for others. Have students decide which are different and why. This strategy helps&nbsp;them understand nuances and shades of&nbsp;meaning.</p>

<p><strong>3. Use selective decoding strategies:&nbsp;</strong>Change some words in the transcript so there are inaccuracies (use&nbsp;other letters, similar sounds, word derivatives, etc., such as changing &quot;the same&quot; to &quot;the game&quot;). Have students listen and underline the words that have been changed to help them decode at different levels (phoneme, syllable,&nbsp;word).</p>

<p><strong>4. Build relationships among paragraphs:&nbsp;</strong>Play a long text several times and ask students to write the first three words of any line they believe starts a new paragraph. This strategy will help them understand the relationship between paragraphs and the speaker&#39;s development of&nbsp;thoughts.</p>

<p><strong>5. Differentiate between facts and opinions and justify selection:&nbsp;</strong>Make a chart with the headings &quot;Facts&quot; and &quot;Opinions&quot; and have students fill in the chart while you play an excerpt a few times. Ask them to explain why they think something is a fact or an&nbsp;opinion.</p>

<p><strong>6. Build a comprehensive summary:&nbsp;</strong>Play the excerpt in segments, stopping after each to give students a chance to talk with a partner and make notes about what they heard. At the end of the passage, have learners use their notes and work in pairs to build a&nbsp;summary.</p>

<h1>Final Thoughts</h1>

<p>Philips and Pomarici ended their presentation by saying that listening comprehension is both a <strong>process</strong> and a <strong>product</strong>.</p>

<p>They explained that learners would greatly benefit if teachers adopted a <strong>balanced approach</strong> to teaching listening that included both methods in order to teach students how to listen, as well as to&nbsp;assess&nbsp;their listening&nbsp;skills.</p>

<p>My personal conclusion was that if I were still teaching, I would have loved to try incorporating&nbsp;the new process approach into my usual product approach. I think my learners (especially the lower levels)&nbsp;would have greatly benefitted from&nbsp;some or all of the preview phase tasks. My students (especially the higher levels) would also have benefitted from the strategic listening phase activities.</p>

<p>I can see how doing such tasks would greatly improve learners&#39; listening skills both inside and outside of the classroom because we&nbsp;would be training them&nbsp;to listen for factors that go well beyond the answers to comprehension questions.&nbsp;This would aid their overall comprehension and serve them well in their journey to fluency.</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share Your Thoughts</h5>

<p>How do you teach listening in your class? Are you inspired to try teaching listening in a new way? Share your comments below!</p>
</div>


Takeaways from TESOL 2022: New Strategies for Teaching Listening 

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<p>Humans have always used visuals to communicate.</p>

<p>Cave paintings tell us stories from the distant past. Art, cartoons, illustrations in children&rsquo;s books, infographics, sketch notes, and photos all engage our senses.</p>

<p>Online, images are shared on social media to visually communicate experiences, emotions, and information.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Visual literacy</strong> is the ability to interpret and create visuals to communicate. It&#39;s an excellent way to encourage interaction and critical thinking in a language classroom at all levels.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ellii&rsquo;s new weekly <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources" target="_blank">What&rsquo;s the Story?</a>&nbsp;category from our <strong>Visual Learning</strong>&nbsp;resources section&nbsp;is the perfect way to get your students&#39; creative ideas flowing.&nbsp;It takes one intriguing photo and puts students&rsquo; reasoning, analysis, and evaluation skills to the test.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In this post, I&rsquo;ll show you&nbsp;my six-step process for&nbsp;how I used the picture in <a href="http://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/3971" target="_blank">The Hidden Jar</a>&nbsp;resource to deliver a three-hour class. Let&#39;s get started!&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Woman digging in the sand next to a jar of coins. Taken from Ellii's The Hidden Jar resource." src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2249/content_content_businesswoman-burying-money-SBI.jpg" /></p>

<h2>Step 1: Describe the Photo</h2>

<p>I displayed the image above on a whiteboard for all to see. I then asked students to look at the photo and describe what they could see in pairs, then feedbacked their ideas as a whole class. I wrote any new vocabulary on the whiteboard (e.g., high heels, desert, sand, coins, etc.).&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Step 2: Focus on a Target</h2>

<p>We&rsquo;ve been working on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2093" target="_blank">adjectives</a> in class. To encourage <strong>vocabulary recall,</strong> I asked the students to work in pairs to make a list of adjectives associated with the picture. Then we added that list to the board.</p>

<p>The students said:</p>

<ul>
	<li>&quot;She is <strong>hot</strong><em>.&quot;</em></li>
	<li>&quot;She has<b> </b><strong>dark</strong><em> </em>clothes.&quot;</li>
	<li>&quot;She feels <strong>worried</strong>.&quot;</li>
	<li>&quot;It is <strong>windy</strong>.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<h2>Step 3: Discuss Character Thoughts&nbsp;</h2>

<p>When using photos in class, one of the best ways to <strong>incorporate critical thinking </strong>is to ask students to get inside the character&rsquo;s head.&nbsp;</p>

<p>I drew a thought bubble from the woman and asked students to consider what she might be thinking.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The students said:</p>

<ul>
	<li>&quot;I&rsquo;m hungry.&quot;</li>
	<li>&quot;Where is that other jar?&quot;&nbsp;</li>
	<li>&quot;I hope no one sees me.&quot;</li>
</ul>

<h2>Step 4: Discuss Before &amp;&nbsp;After</h2>

<p>To encourage students to think in more detail about the photo, I asked them to first discuss what happened <i>before</i> the photo, then what happened<i> after</i> the photo.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Some students found this difficult in pairs, but once a few ideas had been shared as a whole class, there was no stopping them!&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Before</h3>

<ul>
	<li>&quot;Maybe she stole the money.&quot;&nbsp;</li>
	<li>&quot;She was at work.&quot;&nbsp;</li>
	<li>&quot;She&rsquo;s on holiday.&quot;&nbsp;</li>
	<li>&quot;She works as a pilot. Her plane crashed.&quot;</li>
</ul>

<h3>After</h3>

<ul>
	<li>&quot;She was hungry so she went to McDonald&rsquo;s.&quot;</li>
	<li>&quot;She ran away.&quot;&nbsp;</li>
	<li>&quot;She went back to work.&quot;</li>
	<li>&quot;She had a shower.&quot;</li>
</ul>

<h2>Step 5: Add Another Character</h2>

<p>I wanted to add another element to the story.&nbsp;Since the image was projected on the whiteboard,&nbsp;I just drew a stick figure at the side.&nbsp;I then asked students to discuss in pairs who this person was and to make a dialogue between them.&nbsp;</p>

<p>By now, my students&rsquo; imaginations were flowing. When they shared ideas, there was lots of laughter.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The students said:</p>

<ul>
	<li>&quot;It&rsquo;s a security guard. They shout at each other.&quot;&nbsp;</li>
	<li>&quot;It&rsquo;s a kind person. They try to help her, but she runs away.&quot;</li>
</ul>

<h2>Step 6: Read Then Write the&nbsp;Story</h2>

<p>I wanted students to do a little reading and to think even deeper about the picture. So&nbsp;at the break, I quickly created a short paragraph about the image.</p>

<p>I asked students to read it and answer the comprehension questions. Then we spent some time noticing and discussing the grammar and vocabulary.</p>

<p>Lastly, I asked students to write a short paragraph about what happens next. Here&#39;s an example I wrote to give you an idea:</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>The Woman with the Jar</h5>

<p>Hannah went to Morocco for a holiday. One day, she woke up early. It was very sunny and very hot. She got up and had a cold shower. She was still hot. She looked out of the window. She saw a woman digging in the sand. The woman had brown hair and dark clothes. She looked hot and tired. Beside her, there was a large jar of coins. Hannah put a bottle of water in her bag and left the house. She walked towards the woman&hellip;</p>

<ol>
	<li>Where was Hannah?</li>
	<li>Why did Hannah wake up early?</li>
	<li>Did Hannah have a hot shower?</li>
	<li>What did she see out the window?</li>
	<li>What did Hannah put in her bag?</li>
	<li>What did she do?</li>
</ol>
</div>

<p>I did this with my beginner class, who are familiar with the simple present, the present progressive, and the simple past, but still need support in selecting the correct tense and collocating the verbs.</p>

<p>Throughout the lesson, I helped students with emergent language and changing tenses where necessary.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Post-Lesson Takeaways</h2>

<p>One of the best things about using an image this way in class is that it can be used for language learners at all levels. I&rsquo;d love to try this visual literacy activity again with a more advanced class.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Overall, I was a little nervous going into class with just one photo, but I was pleasantly surprised by&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>my students&rsquo; creativity</li>
	<li>the usefulness of the language that emerged</li>
	<li>the quantity of speaking and writing produced&nbsp;</li>
	<li>the smiles and laughter throughout the lesson&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
<p>Ellii has an ever-growing bank of <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources" target="_&quot;blank&quot;">What&rsquo;s the Story?</a>&nbsp;resources. Watch for a new prompt each week! Which one will you try first? How would you use these images in class? Let me know know in the comments below!</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-use-pictures-as-grammar-prompts" target="_&quot;blank&quot;">How to Use Pictures as Grammar Prompts</a></li>
</ul>


What's the Story? How One Image Can Develop Visual Literacy & Critical Thinking Skills

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<p>I&#39;ve just returned from <a href="https://www.tesol.org/home" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">TESOL 2022</a><strong> </strong>in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,&nbsp;and it&#39;s time for my annual TESOL conference takeaways.</p>

<p>Though attending the convention&nbsp;in person was an option this year (most attended virtually), I could not bear to miss our 20th anniversary&mdash;the year we rolled out the white carpet as a Platinum Sponsor and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/introducing-our-new-name-ellii" target="_blank">officially became&nbsp;<strong>Ellii</strong></a>!&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Ellii at TESOL 2022" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2271/content_Ellii-team-photo-TESOL-2022-booth.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">The TESOL 2022 Ellii Team (left to right): Ben Buckwold&nbsp;(Founder/CEO), Tammy Wik (Director of Outreach), Lei Kayanuma (Group Accounts Specialist), Mari Lasnetski&nbsp;(Chief Impact Officer), Tara Benwell&nbsp;(VP of Publishing), Ken Volcjak (Director of Partnerships) on the comfy, white carpet that we became famous for at this year&#39;s event.</p>

<p>In the spirit of less is more this year, I&#39;ve lightened the load from my traditional 10 TESOL takeaways to just seven&nbsp;points to unpack!&nbsp;</p>

<ol>
	<li><a href="#hybrid">Hybrid Hurts</a></li>
	<li><a href="#coffee">Coffee Chats Are Inclusive</a></li>
	<li><a href="#SEL">SEL Is on Overload</a></li>
	<li><a href="#thesimplest">The Simplest Tools Are the Best</a></li>
	<li><a href="#cell">Cell Phones Are <s>Welcome</s> Mandatory</a></li>
	<li><a href="#teachers">Teachers Are Advocates</a></li>
	<li><a href="#theworld">The World Needs More Stories</a></li>
</ol>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h2><a id="hybrid"></a>1. Hybrid Hurts&nbsp;&nbsp;</h2>

<p>If there was one common pain point shared by teachers&nbsp;this year, it was a thumbs down for <strong>hybrid learning.</strong></p>

<p>While the hybrid approach gave students the option of learning at home or in person&nbsp;during the pandemic, teachers at TESOL described&nbsp;the frustration of feeling like&nbsp;they couldn&#39;t service either group effectively, especially at the lowest levels.</p>

<p>In contrast, many teachers described significant gains their students had during periods of fully&nbsp;remote learning.</p>

<p>One teacher suggested that one week of virtual class before moving to in-class should be kept as a permanent solution. This allows everyone to get set up on a learning management system (LMS) with a&nbsp;Zoom link that can be reused during lockdowns or bad weather days.</p>

<p>The TESOL conference itself was hybrid this year, and many speakers and attendees expressed similar&nbsp;concerns about the experience. People at home felt left out of&nbsp;the conversation, while speakers had difficulty engaging with both a live and remote audience.</p>

<p>This year, the Ellii team tried&nbsp;to accommodate both groups by hosting <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/where-to-find-at-ellii-tesol-2022" target="_blank">in-person and virtual sessions</a>. While many of the sessions were successful, we still&nbsp;learned a few tricks that would help improve&nbsp;the experience for&nbsp;virtual attendees next time around.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<h2><a id="coffee"></a>2. Coffee Chats Are Inclusive</h2>

<p>TESOL is well-known now for its informal <strong>Coffee Chats</strong>, and Ellii was&nbsp;pleased to be invited to one&nbsp;this year.</p>

<p>It was refreshing to hear our host, Diego, encourage everyone to use plain language. In an industry full of acronyms and academics with teachers from a wide range of&nbsp;programs and nations, a discussion&nbsp;about teaching can sometimes&nbsp;feel like a&nbsp;foreign language itself.</p>

<p><img alt="TESOL Coffee Chat with Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2270/content_Screen_Shot_2022-03-29_at_9.34.30_AM.png" /></p>

<p class="caption">TESOL Coffee Chat with Ellii session.</p>

<p>During this hybrid session, we talked about 5 must-haves for English language teaching (ELT) materials. The remote audience felt included as they&nbsp;pinned themselves on a map, participated in surveys, and shared ideas in the chat about the importance of <strong>relevancy</strong>, <strong>design</strong>, and <strong>inclusivity</strong> in materials.</p>

<p>A speaker from the live audience came to the podium to ask a question, and&nbsp;a&nbsp;speaker from the chat went on video. We also had follow-up discussions after the chat.</p>

<p>Hybrid isn&#39;t so bad after all (if you have your own host and tech team)!&nbsp;</p>

<h2><a id="SEL"></a>3. SEL Is on Overload</h2>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/academic-subjects/social-emotional-learning" target="_blank">Social-emotional learning (SEL)</a>&nbsp;was another common topic&nbsp;of discussion&nbsp;at TESOL this year.</p>

<p>From <strong>wordless books</strong> to <strong>mindfulness</strong> and <strong>meditation</strong>, ideas for emotional wellness and self-care were shared in almost every session.&nbsp;</p>

<p>However, one couldn&#39;t help but notice the whispers from the audience (or tweets from the virtual attendees).&nbsp;</p>

<p>Many&nbsp;teachers feel that SEL is just one more thing to carry in their overloaded backpacks. Do they care about their students&#39; <strong>well-being</strong> and <strong>emotional health</strong>? Of course! Do they want to record how many affirmations they hand out each week or which SEL standards they meet? Not if it&#39;s for a free doughnut or permission to wear jeans.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Gabriela Kleckova, TESOL President" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2286/content_Gabriela-Kleckova-TESOL-President-screenshot-Ellii.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Gabriela Kleckova, TESOL President.</p>

<h2><a id="thesimplest"></a>4. The Simplest Tools Are the Best</h2>

<p>Teaching conferences and exhibit halls are always full of exciting trends and tech (at the booth, we were excited to show off <strong>Immersive Reader</strong>, which is coming soon to Ellii). But teachers themselves often get the most delight in learning about&nbsp;the simplest tools.</p>

<p>In their session,&nbsp;&quot;Practice More, Prep Less: Quick Ideas that Generate Life-Long Skills,&quot; Cheryl Bucholtz-Magallon and Esther Lee shared&nbsp;<a href="http://Spinnerwheel.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">the&nbsp;spinning wheel</a> they use to&nbsp;randomize&nbsp;topics or student selection. They also shared a simple&nbsp;<a href="http://ccg.buzz/host" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">online buzzer</a> for their most competitive practice activities.</p>

<p>In her teaching tip session, &quot;The Power of Practice: Systematized Fluency Activities Which Build Community,&quot; Elka Kristonagy,&nbsp;English Language Program Lector at Yale University, described some basic, yet powerful ways to&nbsp;use&nbsp;<strong>Google Docs</strong> in hybrid classes for those who don&#39;t have an LMS, including using <strong>Google Forms</strong> for formative assessment and comments for collaborative work.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, keynote speaker Helaine W. Marshall shared how a colleague taught an entire Level 1 class using <strong>WhatsApp</strong>.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2275/content_Ellii-team-art-TESOL-2022.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">The Ellii team taking a break to strike a pose with art by Pittsburgh artist Andy Warhol.</p>

<h2><a id="cell"></a>5. Cell Phones Are <s>Welcome</s>&nbsp;Mandatory</h2>

<p>One big change I noticed at TESOL this year was a shift in cell phone use&nbsp;in the classroom.</p>

<p>Instead of policing their use, teachers are embracing and even relying on cell phones.</p>

<p>During the session &quot;Should it Stay or Should it Go? Post-Pandemic Takeaways,&quot; a&nbsp;group of teachers from New York&#39;s Nassau Community College talked about this cultural shift.</p>

<p>They now rely&nbsp;on students to use their own data when the Wi-Fi goes down.</p>

<p>Students use cell phones for all sorts of resources, from looking up words&nbsp;to taking quizzes&nbsp;and accessing interactive activities with <strong>QR codes</strong> (not to mention confirming they don&#39;t have COVID-19 or requesting a washroom pass).</p>

<p>Personally, I didn&#39;t bother dragging my laptop around at TESOL this year. I took all my session notes&nbsp;on my phone (and brought home an empty paper notebook). Next year, I may lighten my load even more and not bother bringing a computer.</p>

<h2><a id="teachers"></a>6. Teachers Are Advocates</h2>

<p>In that same post-pandemic takeaways session, the speakers described how they advocated for&nbsp;6 out of 20 of their in-class hours to be switched to <strong>asynchronous learning.</strong>&nbsp;</p>

<p>This resulted in students becoming more independent learners (with the help of Ellii, I was happy to hear).</p>

<p>The most popular session I attended at this year&#39;s conference was &quot;6&nbsp;Strategies for Serving SLIFE&quot; (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education).</p>

<p>During this session, Beth Evans (<a href="https://twitter.com/tofubeth/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@TofuBeth</a>) described how a 12-year-old SLIFE student&nbsp;did not qualify for a bus pass because he didn&#39;t live 1.6 miles from school. When she learned that her Level 1 youngster&nbsp;had to cross several busy lanes of traffic and&nbsp;railroad tracks to reach the school, she knew she had to advocate for special arrangements to be made.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;I don&rsquo;t have all the answers but I have a big voice.&quot;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Beth Evans</p>
</blockquote>

<p>To advocate for our students, we need to get to know them on a personal level. And even more importantly, SLIFE especially must know and trust their teachers in order to learn from them.</p>

<p>As one teacher mentioned, bringing Zoom into the room has actually helped humanize the teacher who has real-life interruptions like pets, and children, and mail deliveries.</p>

<h2><a id="theworld"></a>7. The World&nbsp;Needs More Stories&nbsp;</h2>

<p>After sharing a tear about the&nbsp;boy and the bus pass, we shared a giggle about a group of SLIFE students in Ohio who threw their winter coats in the trash after their first winter,&nbsp;thinking &quot;phew, that&#39;s over!&quot;</p>

<p>The thing I love most in life is <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/improve-your-listening-with-true-stories" target="_blank">stories</a>. So,&nbsp;naturally what I love most about TESOL is the stories we hear and tell in a setting that&#39;s new every year. (Not to mention the characters we meet!)&nbsp;</p>

<p>At the beginning of the final keynote this year, Helaine W. Marshall showed a picture of her kitchen. She explained that&nbsp;she didn&#39;t want an island in her kitchen when she renovated it because she loves to dance. An&nbsp;island would have stunted her creativity.</p>

<p>After she told us three stories of teachers who were creating fertile spaces in their work lives, she asked us all to think about what islands might be standing in our way. It&#39;s stories&nbsp;like these that inspire us to create new chapters in our lives and in the lives of our students. Get plotting!</p>

<p><img alt="Ellii at TESOL 2022" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2274/content_Ellii-team-TESOL-2022-booth.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">What&#39;s the story here? See Emly Bryson&#39;s post about&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-one-image-can-develop-visual-literacy-and-critical-thinking" target="_blank">how one image can develop visual literacy and&nbsp;critical thinking skills</a>.</p>

<p>See you next year in Portland, Oregon (home of the&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tesol-portland" target="_blank">best bookstore</a> I&#39;ve ever explored)!&nbsp;</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share Your Thoughts</h5>

<p>What was your top takeaway from TESOL 2022? And if you didn&#39;t attend, what are your thoughts about hybrid teaching and learning? Let me know in the comments below. I&#39;d love to hear your thoughts!</p>
</div>

<h2>Presentation Links</h2>

<p>If you registered for TESOL, you can watch some of the recorded sessions mentioned in this post:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/TESOL22_973%208876%202605_2278.mp4" target="_blank">Embracing the Balancing Act: ELT Professionals Empowering Themselves</a>:&nbsp;Gabriela Kleckova&nbsp;</li>
	<li><a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/TESOL22_96660302009_CC1.mp4" target="_blank">Coffee Chat with Ellii: What Are 5 Must-Haves for ESL Materials?</a>: Diego Boada, Ben Buckwold, Tara Benwell&nbsp;</li>
	<li><a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/ID%202272%20Social-Emotional%20Learning%20with%20ESL%20Library.mp4" target="_blank">SEL with Ellii</a>: Tammy Wik</li>
	<li><a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/TESOL22_97407350634_2314.mp4" target="_blank">Creating Fertile Spaces for Instructional Innovation in a Digital Age</a>:&nbsp;Helaine W. Marshall&nbsp;</li>
	<li><a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/TESOL22_93977902219_2279.mp4" target="_blank">Invisible Immigrant to Advocate</a>:&nbsp;Gisele Barreto Fetterman&nbsp;</li>
	<li><a href="http://drive.google.com/file/d/1IjLcYekXLqpq8XDgSBdc9Uzu31Wg_Rfq/view" target="_blank">6 Strategies for Serving SLIFE</a>&nbsp;(presentation slides)</li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Takeaways from TESOL 2022: 7 Points to Unpack from Pittsburgh 

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<p>Not only does reading provide students with access to&nbsp;information and hours of pleasure, but it also&nbsp;leads to greater language proficiency.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As English language learners develop their&nbsp;<strong>reading&nbsp;comprehension </strong>skills, they usually make strides&nbsp;in other areas, such as <strong>grammar accuracy</strong> and&nbsp;<strong>vocabulary</strong> <strong>building</strong>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Previously, we&nbsp;explored ways to enhance students&#39; reading comprehension through <a href="http://ellii.com/blog/pre-reading-activities-to-boost-comprehension" target="_blank">pre-reading activities</a>. In this post, our focus will be on <strong>post-reading activities, </strong>which&nbsp;are activities that are done after students finish reading a text.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here are nine post-reading activities&nbsp;that will engage your students and help them have a deeper understanding of what they&#39;ve read.</p>

<h2>1. Write a Summary</h2>

<p>If students can summarize a piece of writing, you can be sure they&#39;ve&nbsp;gotten the gist of what they&#39;ve just read. Refer to our lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2718" target="_blank">How to Write a Summary</a>&nbsp;if they need a refresher on giving a condensed overview of a text.</p>

<h2>2. Create a Quiz&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Give students the chance to step into the teacher&#39;s role. Have students come up with comprehension questions&mdash;short-answer or true/false&mdash;to test their classmate&#39;s understanding of the text.</p>

<h2>3. Play a Game</h2>

<p>Put students into groups of three or four. Have them put away the text. Give them five minutes to think of as many facts as they can about the reading. The team that comes up with the most facts wins.</p>

<h2>4. Do Further Research</h2>

<p>Ask students to do online research on the topic and report findings back to class.</p>

<h2>5. Retell the Information&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Have students sit in a circle. As they go around the circle, each student adds a sentence about the text, preferably in the order the information appeared in the&nbsp;reading.</p>

<h2>6. Make an Outline</h2>

<p>As students make an outline of the reading, the main ideas and details will become clear. If students need help writing an outline, try our lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/1827" target="_blank">How to Write an Outline</a>.</p>

<h2>7. Write Questions&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Have students write 3&ndash;5 questions&nbsp;they have about the topic that the reading didn&#39;t answer.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>8. Write a Story</h2>

<p>Encourage students to choose 8&ndash;10 new or interesting words. Challenge them to write a short story using those&nbsp;words.</p>

<h2>9. Identify Target Structures</h2>

<p>Tie in the reading with a grammar lesson. Have students go back through the lesson and&nbsp;identify target structures (e.g., <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1597" target="_blank">present perfect</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/grammar/modals" target="_blank">modal verbs</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2028" target="_blank">articles</a>, etc.).</p>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Share Your Thoughts</h5>

<p>We&#39;d love to hear what post-reading activities you do with your students. Please share your ideas in the comments&nbsp;below!</p>
</div>


9 Post-Reading Activities to Help Students Get the Most Out of a Text

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<p>Last month I shared reading recommendations for <a href="http://ellii.com/blog/reading-recommendations-for-your-low-int-students" target="_blank">Low-Intermediate Students</a>. The list I shared included a variety of children&rsquo;s books.</p>

<p>Now&nbsp;I&rsquo;d like to continue with more recommendations for High-Intermediate levels. For this level, I recommend <strong>Young Adult (YA) books</strong>.</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s a fun fact: According to an <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/12/why-so-many-adults-are-love-young-adult-literature/547334/ " rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">article</a> by <em>The Atlantic</em>, over half of YA readers are actually adults!</p>

<p>The good news for ESL learners is that YA books will likely include more relatable subject matters than children&rsquo;s books, while still remaining level appropriate.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The following list includes a mix of older and newer books in the YA genre, from dystopian classics and&nbsp;page-turning mysteries to historical&nbsp;fiction and coming-of-age stories.</p>

<h2>Reading Recommendations Your High-Intermediate Students Will Love</h2>

<h3>Oldies but Goodies</h3>

<ul>
	<li><em>The House on Mango Street</em> by Sandra Cisneros</li>
	<li><em>The Giver </em>by Lois Lowry</li>
	<li><em>Charlotte&#39;s Web </em>by&nbsp;E. B. White</li>
	<li><em>Holes</em> by Louis Sachar</li>
	<li><em>Of Mice and&nbsp;Men</em> by John Steinbeck</li>
	<li><em>Number the Stars</em> by Lois Lowry</li>
	<li><em>Animal Farm</em> by George Orwell</li>
	<li><em>The Nancy Drew Mysteries</em> by Carolyn Keene</li>
	<li><em>The Outsiders</em> by S. E. Hinton</li>
	<li><em>Life of Pi</em> by Yann Martel</li>
</ul>

<h3>More Recent Titles</h3>

<ul>
	<li><em>The Hate U Give </em>by Angie Thomas</li>
	<li><em>The Light Between Worlds </em>by Laura E. Weymouth</li>
	<li><em>Dry</em> by Neal Shusterman</li>
	<li><em>The Marrow Thieves</em> by Cherie Dimaline</li>
	<li><em>Displacement </em>(graphic novel) by Kiku Hughes</li>
</ul>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Need something a little more advanced?</h5>

<p>Next month I&rsquo;ll be adding a list of books for advanced students. Once again, feel free to share any high-intermediate recommendations you may have in the comments below!</p>
</div>


Reading Recommendations for Your High-Intermediate Students

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<p>Are you attending TESOL this year? The&nbsp;convention welcomes thousands of educators from across the globe annually and this year Ellii (formerly ESL Library) is participating&nbsp;as a Platinum Sponsor.&nbsp;</p>

<p>TESOL is a&nbsp;hybrid event, which means you can join us online or in person!&nbsp;<br />
<br />
If you&#39;re in Pittsburgh,&nbsp;Pennsylvania, come see&nbsp;us in person at <strong>Booth 227</strong> in the exhibitors&#39; hall.&nbsp;If you&#39;re attending virtually from home, you can find us at our <a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/viewdetails/exhibitors/ellii?utm_campaign=Pre-TESOL+2022+Virtual&amp;utm_content=Pre%3DTESOL+2022&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=customer.io" rel="noopener noreferrer 
nofollow" target="_blank">virtual booth</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Looking forward to seeing you there!</p>

<h1>Presentation Times</h1>

<p>We&#39;ll be presenting throughout the event, and you can join in regardless of where you are. <a href="https://www.tesol.org/convention-2022/registration">Make sure to register first</a>.</p>

<p>To find each session online,&nbsp;<a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/view-schedule" rel="noopener noreferrer 
nofollow" target="_blank">head to the schedule</a> and click through the time slots.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
This page will be updated with recorded versions of the sessions as they are made available.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Wednesday</h2>

<h3>Creating Quick and Engaging Flashcard&nbsp;Activities</h3>

<p>8⁠⁠:⁠⁠30&ndash;9⁠⁠:⁠⁠15&nbsp;am&nbsp;EDT &mdash; <a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/ID%202270%20Creating%20Quick%20and%20Engaging%20Flashcard%20Activities.mp4" rel="noopener noreferrer 
nofollow" target="_blank">View Recording</a>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Digital Speaking Tasks for Assessment and Engagement</h3>

<p>1⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;1⁠⁠:⁠⁠45&nbsp;pm&nbsp;EDT &mdash;&nbsp;<a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/ID%202271%20Digital%20Speaking%20Tasks%20for%20Assessment%20and%20Engagement.mp4" rel="noopener noreferrer 
nofollow" target="_blank">View Recording</a>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>TESOL Coffee Chat with&nbsp;Ellii&nbsp;</h3>

<p>5⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;6⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&nbsp;pm&nbsp;EDT&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;<a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/TESOL22_96660302009_CC1.mp4">View Recording</a>&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Thursday</h2>

<h3>Teaching Social Justice Topics Online</h3>

<p>10⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;10⁠⁠:⁠⁠45&nbsp;am&nbsp;EDT&nbsp;&mdash; <a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/ID%202247%20Teaching%20Social%20Justice%20Topics%20Online%20with%20ESL%20Library.mp4">View Recording</a></p>

<h3>Social-Emotional Learning</h3>

<p>11⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;11⁠⁠:⁠⁠45&nbsp;am&nbsp;EDT&nbsp;&mdash; <a href="https://tesolconvention.evareg.com/full-schedule/recording/ID%202272%20Social-Emotional%20Learning%20with%20ESL%20Library.mp4">View Recording</a></p>

<h3>Using Images to Elicit, Teach, and Reinforce Target&nbsp;Structures</h3>

<p>3⁠⁠:⁠⁠30&ndash;4⁠⁠:⁠⁠15&nbsp;pm&nbsp;EDT &mdash; Room 325 (livestreamed to virtual attendees)</p>

<h2>Friday</h2>

<h3>Maximizing Student Success Using Ellii (⁠⁠formerly ELS&nbsp;Library⁠⁠) Content and Courseware</h3>

<p>11⁠⁠:⁠⁠00&ndash;11⁠⁠:⁠⁠45&nbsp;am&nbsp;EDT &mdash; Room 325 (livestreamed to virtual attendees)</p>

<div class="white-box">
<p>Which presentation are you most looking forward to attending?</p>
</div>


Where to Find Ellii at TESOL 2022

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

Grammar & Usage

<p><strong>Pictures</strong> are exceptionally supportive when it comes to language teaching and learning. A simple picture&nbsp;can instantly demonstrate the meaning of a word, removing any need for wordy or complicated definitions.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Pictures are also a brilliant way to <strong>prompt grammar</strong>. Many of our Ellii materials&nbsp;have visuals&nbsp;to support understanding and make grammar practice fun and engaging.&nbsp;</p>

<p>English language teachers can use materials like&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/flashcards" target="_blank">Flashcards</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/132/lessons" target="_blank">Picture Stories</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/134/lessons" target="_blank">Word Bank Readers</a>,&nbsp;and other Ellii&nbsp;visuals as versatile&nbsp;prompts for just about any grammar point.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Take, for example, the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/2006" target="_blank">Daily Routines</a>&nbsp;lesson from the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons" target="_blank">Simple Sentences</a> section. The lesson is aimed at teaching the simple present, but the images alone could just as easily be used to teach the present progressive&nbsp;or the&nbsp;simple past.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here&#39;s how you can use the pictures&nbsp;from the lesson above&nbsp;as grammar prompts.</p>

<p><b>Note:</b>&nbsp;These ideas are best to review familiar grammar. If students are new to the grammar target, introduce it in context first using one of Ellii&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/collections/videos" target="_blank">videos</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons" target="_blank">stories</a>, or dedicated <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/grammar" target="_blank">grammar lessons</a>.</p>

<h2><b>1. Provide Prompts</b></h2>

<p>First, show students the images. Demonstrate the target language then ask students to make their own <strong>questions</strong>, <strong>answers</strong>, or <strong>statements</strong>. Give them word prompts depending on the grammar they&#39;re using.</p>

<p>For example:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Show the &quot;brush teeth&quot; image. Then ask your&nbsp;students to make a question with the words &quot;does&quot;&nbsp;and &quot;in the morning.&quot; &rarr; <em>Does she brush her teeth in the morning?</em></li>
	<li>Show the &quot;do homework&quot; image. Then ask your students to make a sentence with the words &quot;did&quot;&nbsp;and &quot;last night.&quot; &rarr; <em>I&nbsp;did my&nbsp;homework last night.</em></li>
	<li>Show the&nbsp;&quot;cook&quot;&nbsp;image. Then ask your students,&nbsp;&quot;What is he doing?&quot;&nbsp;&rarr; <em>He is cooking.</em>&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<h2><b>2. Switch Tenses</b></h2>

<p>If students are reviewing multiple tenses, use the pictures to prompt students to change one tense to another.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For example:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Say or write: &quot;Change &lsquo;Does she brush her teeth in the morning?&rsquo; to the past tense.&quot; &rarr; <em>Did she brush her teeth in the morning?&nbsp;</em></li>
	<li>Say or write: &quot;Change &lsquo;I did my homework last night&rsquo; to &lsquo;every day.&rsquo;&quot;&nbsp;&rarr; <em>I do my homework every day.&nbsp;</em></li>
	<li>Say or write: &quot;Change &lsquo;He is cooking&rsquo; to &lsquo;last week.&rsquo;&quot; &rarr; <em>He cooked last week.</em></li>
</ul>

<h2><b>3. Draw or Create Stories</b></h2>

<p>Ask students to use simple drawings to express their daily routine or what they did yesterday. Remind students that their drawings don&rsquo;t need to be artistic, but simply communicative.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s an example:&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="daily routine drawings" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2237/content_picture-prompt.jpg" /></p>

<p>Alternatively, you can <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/50-how-to-print-flashcards" target="_blank">print</a>&nbsp;the images&nbsp;and ask students to put them in order.</p>

<p>Get your students to talk in pairs to explain their story. Then ask them to write sentences or a short text using the target grammar.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For example:&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>Yesterday I got up at 8:00 am. I brushed my teeth and had a shower. Then I had cereal and coffee&nbsp;for breakfast.</em>&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>How do you use pictures to prompt grammar in the classroom? Which of these tips are you most likely to use? Share your ideas with us in the comments below.&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Related</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-grammar-online-with-esl-library" target="_blank">How to Teach Grammar Online</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2564" target="_blank">50 Grammar Targets</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2565" target="_blank">Teaching Order for Grammar Practice Worksheets</a></li>
</ul>


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