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

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2724/Ben_Introducing-Individual-Student-Assignments_Banner.png

<h1>New Year, New Updates</h1>

<p>Here at ESL Library, our product team has had a busy start to the year. We&rsquo;ve been working hard each and every day to improve the ESL Library platform and provide you with new tools that make teaching easier.&nbsp;<br />
Here are three important updates that we just implemented (and that we think you&rsquo;re going to love).</p>

<h2>1. Archive Classes</h2>

<p><img alt="Classroom page on ESL Library with a mouse hovering over the Archive Class option " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2069/content_Melissa_Archive-Class-Update.jpg" /></p>

<p>You know how you can &ldquo;archive&rdquo; a student? Well, now you can archive an entire class! Archiving a class allows you to hide a class without losing all the data associated with that class. In other words, you&rsquo;ll still be able to see previous results and feedback from that class, even after you&rsquo;ve archived it.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that once you archive a class, you will no longer be able to assign new tasks or provide new feedback. You also won&rsquo;t be able to add or remove students from the class.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For students, this means they won&rsquo;t be able to redo previously completed tasks or view tasks.&nbsp;Please note that archiving a class does not automatically archive the students in your class.</p>

<p>Once a class has been archived, you then have the option to either:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Completely delete the class; or</li>
	<li>Restore the class when you have a new group of students ready to learn</li>
</ol>

<h2>2. New Navigation Bar</h2>

<p><img alt="Web navigation showing Materials, Saved, and classroom with a cursor " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2070/content_Melissa_Navigation-Update.jpg" /></p>

<p>Next, we redesigned our navigation bar to make it easier for you to find exactly what you&rsquo;re looking for, fast.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here&rsquo;s a breakdown of what&rsquo;s changing:</p>

<h3>Materials</h3>

<p>The Materials drop-down menu will not be changing.</p>

<h3>Class Prep &rarr; Saved</h3>

<p>The Class Prep drop-down menu is now called &ldquo;Saved.&rdquo; This drop-down menu includes all the content you&rsquo;ve saved in one easy-to-find place. Folders, Flashcard Sets, and Likes are all organized in the Saved drop-down menu.</p>

<h3>Classroom</h3>

<p>We added a new drop-down menu called &ldquo;Classroom.&rdquo; This drop-down menu will reflect what was formerly in the My Classes section. Classes, Students, and Assignments are all effortlessly managed and accessible through the Classroom drop-down menu.</p>

<h2>3. Redesigned Classroom Page</h2>

<p><img alt="Classroom Page on ESL Library displayed on a monitor" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2071/content_Melissa_Classroom-Page-Update.jpg" /></p>

<p>Lastly, the My Classes page is now called &ldquo;Classroom.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<p>This page has received a much-needed makeover. Instead of circles, you&rsquo;ll see a more visually appealing table-like structure instead.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You&rsquo;ll also see three tabs for Classes, Students, and Assignments, allowing you to toggle between them with ease.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Being able to click into separate classes also means that you can now see the Class Code on every one of the individual class pages. The best part? You&rsquo;ll also be able to easily archive your classes from here! Just click &ldquo;More Options.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We can&rsquo;t wait for you to see all the exciting new updates we have planned for you this year. In the meantime, happy archiving and navigating!</p>


New Year, New Updates

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2094/Melissa_Site-Update-Classroom_Banner.png

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

Conferences

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

EdTech

<p>From January 25 to 28, ESL&nbsp;Library attended the 2022 <a href="http://www.fetc.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Future of Education Technology⁠⁠&reg; Conference</a>&nbsp;(FETC) as an exhibitor! FETC takes place in Orlando, Florida, and explores how technology is shaping the future of education. We chatted with Ken Volcjak, our Director of Strategic Partnerships, and asked him a few questions about his time at FETC. Here&rsquo;s what he had to&nbsp;say.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>MELISSA: What&#39;s your history with FETC? Have you been to an FETC conference&nbsp;before?</strong></p>

<p>KEN: Actually, this was the first time I&rsquo;ve attended FETC in person. I&rsquo;ve known about the conference for years and the excellent reputation it carries as a crossroads for (predominantly) US and Canada-focused EdTech knowledge sharing and dealmaking. In years past, I&rsquo;ve unfortunately had timing conflicts with other conferences or other obligations, so I&rsquo;m incredibly happy to have been able to finally attend this&nbsp;year!</p>

<p><strong>MELISSA: Why was it important for the ESL Library team to attend the FETC&nbsp;conference?</strong></p>

<p>KEN: Visibility as an exhibitor at FETC immediately elevates your status in the EdTech industry. It speaks to the dedication and passion your company places on innovative, balanced, and proper application of technology solutions to the betterment of teaching and learning outcomes. So, our booth presence alone, expertly managed by our amazing team, placed us in a very positive, visible&nbsp;light.</p>

<p><strong>MELISSA: Can you set the FETC stage for us? How was the conference set&nbsp;up?</strong></p>

<p>KEN: The stage at FETC was arranged in&nbsp;similar fashion to many&nbsp;conferences:&nbsp;</p>

<ol>
	<li>Hundreds of (typically) one-hour sessions offered up&nbsp;a multitude of EdTech-related topics&nbsp;spread out over the course of four&nbsp;days.</li>
	<li>A large Expo Hall was&nbsp;open for three days where hundreds of companies displayed their various EdTech solutions to an audience of teachers and administrators. Of particular note, the ESL Library booth looked incredible&mdash;very bright, fun, and super inviting. Equally important, it was well placed. Our team secured a primo spot near the hall entrance with close proximity to the main&nbsp;sponsor, <a href="https://www.prometheanworld.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Promethean</a>, so that helped immensely in steering traffic to ESL&nbsp;Library.</li>
</ol>

<p><img alt="ESL Library booth at the FETC 2022 conference" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2066/content_esl-library-booth-fetc-conference.jpg" /></p>

<p><strong>MELISSA: What sessions did you attend? What were some of the key takeaways from those&nbsp;sessions?</strong></p>

<p>KEN: I managed to attend several sessions in between meetings and researching companies in the Expo Hall. Here&rsquo;s a&nbsp;sampling:</p>

<ul>
	<li>&ldquo;Immersive Reader is Everywhere&rdquo;
	<ul>
		<li><strong>Key Takeaway:</strong> Immersive Reader is an amazing tool for ELLs. It checks several boxes for accessibility and is easy to&nbsp;integrate.</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Interoperability: EdTech Stuff Should Just Work Together&rdquo;
	<ul>
		<li><strong>Key Takeaway:</strong> There are still multiple education data standards floating out there for US K&ndash;12. We need to keep our finger constantly on the pulse of this topic to determine which/when to&nbsp;implement.</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li>&ldquo;A District LOR Solution to Support Flexible Digital Lesson Design&rdquo;
	<ul>
		<li><strong>Key Takeaway:</strong> Some companies, such as <a href="https://www.safarimontage.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">SAFARI Montage</a>, are creating large-scale (i.e.,&nbsp;state-wide) content distribution solutions using a Learning Object Repository (LOR) that&#39;s&nbsp;cloud-hosted by <a href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-ca/free/search/?&amp;ef_id=CjwKCAiAo4OQBhBBEiwA5KWu_99C_XOjUrToxlCPun6kz-2TPUrzKr7-kMdHFPSi9dEyQAjODojvjhoCNpEQAvD_BwE:G:s&amp;OCID=AID2200157_SEM_CjwKCAiAo4OQBhBBEiwA5KWu_99C_XOjUrToxlCPun6kz-2TPUrzKr7-kMdHFPSi9dEyQAjODojvjhoCNpEQAvD_BwE:G:s&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAo4OQBhBBEiwA5KWu_99C_XOjUrToxlCPun6kz-2TPUrzKr7-kMdHFPSi9dEyQAjODojvjhoCNpEQAvD_BwE" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Microsoft Azure</a>.</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li>&ldquo;Leadership + Innovation + ELLs = Vocabulary Achievement&rdquo;
	<ul>
		<li><strong>Key Takeaway:</strong> As we create tools and activities focused specifically on vocabulary acquisition, it&rsquo;s helpful to consider a semantic reasoning approach as evidenced in products such as <a href="https://infercabulary.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">InferCabulary</a>, whereby students acquire an understanding of words in multiple contexts, mimicking to some extent how young children first acquire vocabulary understanding in their native&nbsp;language.</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>MELISSA:</strong> <strong>What session was your favorite and&nbsp;why?</strong></p>

<p>KEN: There were a lot of great sessions, but I think my favorite was coined &ldquo;No Questions Should Go Unanswered.&rdquo; This session was hosted by <a href="https://paper.co/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Paper</a>, a fast-growing startup, that&nbsp;provides 24/7 academic support to help students with what they need, when they need it. Especially recognizing the degree of unfinished learning caused by&nbsp;the pandemic, this represents a solution for many school districts struggling to catch up and level the playing field for their student body, including large ELL&nbsp;populations.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="ESL Library Team selfie photo and booth at the FETC 2022 conference" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2067/content_esl-library-team-booth-fetc-conference.jpg" /></p>

<p><strong>MELISSA:</strong> <strong>What was the best part about the FETC&nbsp;conference?</strong></p>

<p>KEN: There were so many super positive aspects of the conference, but I have to say that the best part of the conference was to finally meet in person and work alongside some of my amazing ESL Library colleagues! Video conferencing technology has come a long way, but there&rsquo;s still a dimension that can&rsquo;t be replaced by in-person exchanges. I hope there will be more opportunities in the future for such interactions within the&nbsp;company!</p>

<p><strong>MELISSA: Is there anything else you&rsquo;d like to share about FETC?</strong></p>

<p>KEN: There is one other item that should be illuminated. ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s attendance at FETC this year was an incredibly smooth, professional, and highly successful endeavor for the company. Rightfully, huge kudos need to be extended to everyone who was on the ground in Orlando, the team orchestrating all of the logistics behind the scenes, everyone involved with the continual betterment of our incredible content and platform, and those providing second to none service to our customers. I know I left the conference with a great sense of pride for what we&rsquo;ve accomplished, but also immense optimism for the plethora of opportunities that lie ahead&mdash;and that&rsquo;s attributable to EVERYONE on the awesome ESL Library team. Thanks, all!</p>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label hangingLabel">Related Lesson</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2120"><img alt="a touchscreen with a map on the screen" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2032/content_72_classrooms-of-the-future.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2120" target="_blank">Classrooms of the Future</a></h2>

<p>In this lesson, students discuss the effects of technology and what school might look like in the future. In addition to discussion questions, this lesson also includes a vocabulary review and a group&nbsp;task.</p>
</div>

<p>Did you attend this year&rsquo;s FETC conference? If you went, share your FETC reflections in the comments&nbsp;below!</p>


Our 2022 FETC Reflections

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2097/Melissa_FETC-Reflections_Banner.png

These posts are written for learners of English themselves. Find learning tips and ideas for learning English.

For Students

<h2>Grade Levels</h2>

<p>Do you know how to express&nbsp;grade levels in English? It depends on where you live! A <strong>grade level</strong> refers to a level of study that has its students grouped or classified into grades by age.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Here are some common ways to describe school grade&nbsp;levels&nbsp;found in English-speaking countries:</p>

<blockquote>
<ul>
	<li>She&#39;s in (the) first grade. (US)&nbsp;</li>
	<li>She&#39;s in (the) 11th grade. (US) <strong>*</strong></li>
	<li>She&#39;s in Grade 4. (Canada)&nbsp;</li>
	<li>She&#39;s in grade 5. (Canada) <strong>**</strong></li>
	<li>She&#39;s in Year 8. (England, Australia, New Zealand)</li>
	<li>She&#39;s in Primary 3. (Northern Ireland, Scotland)</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>

<h3>Note:</h3>

<p>Year 1 and Grade 1 are not equivalent. A <strong>first-grade</strong> student in the US is a Year 2 student in the UK. This student may also be referred to as&nbsp;<strong>a first grader</strong>.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Education Stages</h2>

<p>Some English speakers think it sounds odd or even wrong&nbsp;to hear a grade level expressed in a way that&#39;s not common in their own region. The way we describe different types of education stages (types of schools)&nbsp;also differs from region to region and can sound odd if it&#39;s not customary. For example, <strong>primary school&nbsp;</strong>may be referred to as&nbsp;<strong>grade school,</strong>&nbsp;<strong>elementary&nbsp;school</strong>, or even <strong>public school</strong>.<strong>***&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p>In my region (Windsor, Ontario), elementary&nbsp;school starts in junior kindergarten (age 4&ndash;5). We also have senior kindergarten (age 5&ndash;6). Many other places in North America&nbsp;only have one year of kindergarten.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In many regions, elementary school goes to the eighth grade (Grade 8).&nbsp;Other regions&nbsp;have&nbsp;<strong>middle school </strong>and/or <strong>junior high school</strong>.&nbsp;Middle school usually ranges from the sixth grade to the eighth grade. Junior high school (&quot;junior high&quot;)&nbsp;is often synonymous with middle school, but it can also mean something different. In some regions, junior high&nbsp;includes the ninth&nbsp;grade.</p>

<p><strong>High school</strong> is also known as <strong>secondary school</strong>. In my region, (public) high school goes from Grade 9 to Grade 12. In the US, the words <em>freshman </em>(9), <em>sophomore </em>(10), <em>junior</em> (11), and <em>senior </em>(12) are sometimes used to describe&nbsp;the high school years instead of grade numbers.</p>

<blockquote>
<ul>
	<li>The word <strong>high school </strong>is always spelled as two words.</li>
	<li>The word <strong>kindergarten</strong> is spelled with a <em>t</em>&nbsp;(not a <em>d</em>&nbsp;as in <em>garden</em>,&nbsp;though it is often pronounced this way).</li>
	<li>The short form&nbsp;<strong>K&ndash;12 </strong>refers to primary and secondary school together.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>

<p>What about before and after K&ndash;12? <strong>Preschool</strong> is also called <strong>nursery school</strong>,<strong> </strong><strong>playschool</strong>,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>or<strong> pre-K</strong>.&nbsp;Many parents put their young children in preschool for social reasons, though it&#39;s optional.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Post-secondary</strong> school refers to&nbsp;<strong>college </strong>or&nbsp;<strong>university</strong>.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Letter Grades</h2>

<p>The word <strong>grade</strong> doesn&#39;t always refer to a school-age group. It can also mean the <strong>score</strong> you get on an assignment or in a class. These types of grades can be expressed in many ways too, such as&nbsp;letter grades&nbsp;(A+), proficiency levels (Level 4), or percentages (100%).</p>

<p><strong>*</strong>In writing, it is recommended to use the numerical form for numbers over ten (11, 11th).&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>**</strong>When used after the word &quot;Grade&quot;&nbsp;or &quot;Year,&quot; most style guides recommend the numerical form for any number (Grade 5). It depends on the style guide whether you capitalize&nbsp;the word &quot;grade&quot; or not.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>***</strong>Types of schools (high school, elementary school) are not capitalized unless it&#39;s part of a school name (Did you go to <em>high school</em> in Windsor? Yes, I went to&nbsp;<em>Walkerville High School.</em>) or at the beginning of a sentence.</p>

<p>Ask your teacher to assign the Functional English lesson called&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1957">Saying &amp; Writing Numbers</a>&nbsp;if you want to learn more about numbers.</p>

<h2>Question of the Month&nbsp;</h2>

<h3>What was your most memorable (school-age) grade, and why?</h3>

<p>Did you attend any type of preschool or post-secondary school? Try to use some vocabulary from this post in your response!</p>


How to Say & Write Grade Levels & Education Stages

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2095/Tara_How-to-Say-and-Write-Grades_Banner.png

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

Teaching with Ellii

<p>Have you heard about our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/135/lessons" target="_blank">Functional Business</a> section?</p>

<p>Heavily requested by ESL&nbsp;Library users, our Functional Business section focuses on workplace&nbsp;communication.</p>

<p>This <strong>Business English course</strong> is designed for learners who are currently or will be working in an English-speaking country, working for an English-speaking company, or communicating with English-speaking coworkers or business&nbsp;partners.</p>

<p>Completing the entire course will help&nbsp;students make introductions at work, talk on the phone, engage in meetings, give and receive feedback, and resolve work&nbsp;conflicts.</p>

<p><img alt="Woman at a desk talking on the phone" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2059/content_Melissa_Discover-our-Functional-Business-Section.jpg" /></p>

<h2>Functional Language Focus</h2>

<p>As you&nbsp;probably have&nbsp;already guessed from the name of the course, this section concentrates on <strong>functional language</strong>. Functional language is language we use&nbsp;to navigate different day-to-day&nbsp;situations.<br />
<br />
In this section, each lesson centers around listening activities that are authentic to the workplace. Students then have the opportunity to practice using the target language through speaking activities that often include&nbsp;role-plays.</p>

<h2>Interactional Language &amp;&nbsp;Transactional Conversation</h2>

<p>Our Functional Business section also includes skill-building activities for both interactional language and transactional&nbsp;conversation.</p>

<p><strong>Interactional language</strong> helps build relationships. Making small talk with staff or clients before beginning a meeting is an example of interactional&nbsp;language.</p>

<p><strong>Transactional conversation</strong>, on the other hand, involves exchanging&nbsp;information to accomplish a goal. Giving a presentation is an example of a&nbsp;transactional&nbsp;conversation.</p>

<p>Both interactional language and transactional conversation are important in the&nbsp;workplace, whether you&#39;re working in a physical office space or&nbsp;remotely.</p>

<h2>5 Tips for Teachers</h2>

<p>Thinking about teaching this course to your students? Here are five helpful tips to keep in&nbsp;mind.</p>

<h3>1. Try Exploiting the Warm-Up Activities Further</h3>

<p>Check out our blog post on <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/pre-reading-activities-to-boost-comprehension" target="_blank">Pre-Reading Activities to Boost Comprehension</a> for some&nbsp;ideas.</p>

<h3>2. Don&rsquo;t Be Overwhelmed by the Length of the Listening Tasks</h3>

<p>Rather than including the target language in every line of dialogue, we focused on building context. If students find the listening activities challenging, it&rsquo;s okay to play the audio multiple&nbsp;times.</p>

<h3>3. Personalize&nbsp;to Better Meet Your Students&#39; Goals</h3>

<p>This course doesn&rsquo;t have to be completed in full or in the suggested order provided. It can also be taught as individual lessons if students have a specific goal they want to focus&nbsp;on.</p>

<h3>4. Create a Vocabulary Log</h3>

<p>To help students keep track of all the new words, have them&nbsp;keep a <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/2966" target="_blank">vocabulary log</a>. This assessment tool includes space for writing out the word, the definition, an example sentence, and&nbsp;more.</p>

<h3>5. Get Your Students Talking</h3>

<p>For even more speaking practice, have your students repeat tasks with different&nbsp;classmates.</p>

<h2>The End Goal</h2>

<p>By the end of the course,&nbsp;your students will&nbsp;feel better equipped to interact in the workplace. We hope your learners will be more prepared to speak up at work, more confident when listening to coworkers, and less anxious about having to engage in lengthy&nbsp;conversations.</p>

<p>If you&rsquo;ve taught or completed our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/135/lessons" target="_blank">Functional Business</a>&nbsp;course, we&rsquo;d love to hear your feedback!&nbsp;Which&nbsp;lessons were your favorite? What tasks were helpful? Are there any situations we should add to the course? Let us know in the comments&nbsp;below, or take this short <a href="https://esllibrarysurvey.typeform.com/to/QyywY25K" target="_blank">Functional Business survey</a>!</p>


Discover Our Functional Business Section

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2093/Melissa_Discover-our-Functional-Business-Section_Banner.png

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

Articles

<p><em>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!</em></p>

<p>Many years ago, Marilyn was helping a friend with a project for her evening language class. That&rsquo;s when she realized she wanted to become a teacher.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Like many instructors who come to this line of work, I fell in love,&quot; says Marilyn.</p>

<p>Marilyn has been an ESL teacher for 15 years now. She currently works at <a href="https://www.nych.ca/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">North York Community House</a> (NYCH), an organization in Toronto that provides support for newcomers. There, she teaches English language classes at the introductory level through the <a en="" href="https://settlement.org/ontario/education/english-as-a-second-language-esl/linc-program/what-is-the-language-instruction-for-newcomers-to-canada-linc-program/" https:="" immigration-refugees-citizenship.html="" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow&gt;Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada&lt;/a&gt; (LINC) program. Funded by &lt;a  data-cke-saved-href=" target="_blank" www.canada.ca="">Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada</a> (IRCC).&nbsp;The LINC program provides free English classes for landed immigrants, permanent residents, and convention refugees to Canada.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This government-sponsored initiative is free for students and is designed to familiarize newcomers with life in Canada&nbsp;by teaching the basics of English, as well as some cultural and societal aspects of Canada,&quot; she explains.</p>

<p>Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Marilyn has been teaching her classes online over Zoom. A typical day of online teaching starts with checking her email to make sure&nbsp;her students received the Zoom invitation, haven&rsquo;t forgotten their ESL Library passwords, understand the homework, and know when class starts. Next, Marilyn plans out the day&#39;s lesson using a combination of her own personal&nbsp;materials, lessons from ESL Library, and links from YouTube.</p>

<p>&ldquo;ESL library has been my favourite tool! I find the <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">flashcards</a> exceptionally useful. They save me endless time searching for pictures online to explain things like food, drinks, and clothing. My students enjoy the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">grammar stories</a>, which put&nbsp;the grammar in context for them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Check out Marilyn&#39;s&nbsp;text response below to learn more about why she loves ESL Library and how she uses it with her students.</p>

<p><iframe allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *;" height="400px" src="https://www.videoask.com/axb09pa7dgi9nkfjdi4c5dheaig7c7m1pzvq3pwv" style="border: none; border-radius: 24px" width="100%"></iframe></p>

<p>For Marilyn,&nbsp;teaching online is not always easy.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It has been a challenge to help students &lsquo;enter&rsquo; the Zoom classroom. I&rsquo;ve had to have tremendous patience with my students and myself as I learn to navigate the virtual world with more finesse and confidence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>But despite these challenges, Marilyn truly loves&nbsp;being a teacher.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I love my work because I get to witness the growth of language skills, the emergence of confidence in using English, the new friendships people make in my classroom, and then their movement forward into the world of jobs and college. Some students have remained in touch,&nbsp;and I love seeing their progress.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Want to share why you love ESL Library and how you use it in your classroom? <a href="https://www.videoask.com/fw0f8td5x" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tell us here.</a></p>


Teacher Feature: Marilyn

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2092/Melissa_Teacher-Feature_Marilyn_Banner.png

<p><em>Ello-hay, Eader-ray!</em></p>

<p>Hello, reader! If you were able to understand the phrase above, you must speak <strong>pig latin</strong>.</p>

<p>Pig latin is a made-up language game used by English-speaking children, and the point of it is simply to confuse people who don&#39;t understand it. Words are formed by removing the first <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2152" target="_blank">consonant</a> of a word, adding it to the end, and adding the <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2316" target="_blank">suffix</a> &ldquo;ay.&rdquo;&nbsp;Easy! (Or <em>easy-ay</em>.&nbsp;If the first letter is a vowel, all you need to do is add &ldquo;ay.&quot;)</p>

<h2>But Why Is It Called &quot;Pig Latin&quot;?&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Fun fact: Pig latin&nbsp;has no relation to Latin at all!&nbsp;This&nbsp;made-up language is most likely called pig latin because to anyone who doesn&rsquo;t understand the rules, it sounds as confusing as Latin. And why &ldquo;pig&rdquo;? I&rsquo;m afraid I don&rsquo;t have an answer to that one. <em>Orry-say!</em></p>

<p>So where exactly does this silly language come from?</p>

<p>Although no one really knows who invented pig latin, it&#39;s been a part of popular culture since the late 1800s. Pig latin has been featured in&nbsp;various songs and television shows throughout the years, as well as in movies like <em>The Lion King</em> and <em>Monsters Inc</em>.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Other Languages Like Pig Latin</h2>

<p>While pig latin is&nbsp;the most common invented language related to English&mdash;aside from maybe <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gibberish" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>gibberish</strong></a>, which has more confusing rules&mdash;other languages have their own versions.</p>

<p>French has <strong>verlan</strong>,&nbsp;a type of slang where you swap the&nbsp;first and last parts of a word. Swedish has a similar language game called <strong>fikonspraket</strong>, which literally means &ldquo;fig language.&quot;</p>

<h2>More Than Just Fun &amp; Games</h2>

<p>Of course, not all made-up languages like pig latin are fun code games or slang.</p>

<p><strong>Esperanto</strong> was invented in Poland in 1887 to encourage peace by bringing people of many nations together&nbsp;under the same common language. It&#39;s still used today and is one of the world&#39;s most famous made-up languages.</p>

<p>Made-up languages can also be found in the beautiful fictional worlds we often see in movies, TV shows, and books.</p>

<p>The <strong>Dothraki </strong>language was made popular in <em>Game of Thrones</em>, a fantasy television series based on author George R. R. Martin&#39;s bestselling book series <em>A Song of Ice and Fire</em>. Another famous example of an imaginary language is <strong>Klingon</strong>, from the creators of the science-fiction show <em>Star Trek</em>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Made-up languages are all around us. <em>Ow-hay Any-may Anguages-lay O-day Ou-yay Peak-say?</em></p>


Pig Latin & Other Made-Up Languages

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2091/Lara_Pig-Latin-and-Othe-Made-Up-Languages_Banner.png

<p>From January 25 to 28, ESL Library will be attending the 2022 <a href="http://www.fetc.org/" target="_blank">Future of Education Technology&reg; Conference</a>&nbsp;(FETC) as an exhibitor! FETC takes place in Orlando, Florida, and explores how technology is shaping the future of education. We chatted with Mari Lasnetski, our Chief Impact Officer, and asked her a few questions about FETC. Here&rsquo;s what she had to say.</p>

<p><strong>MELISSA: What&#39;s your history with FETC?</strong></p>

<p>MARI: I&#39;ve been attending FETC for over 20 years. It has truly become a gathering place for the most innovative education leaders from around the world. &nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>MELISSA: Why is it important for the ESL Library team to attend the FETC conference?</strong></p>

<p>MARI: I&#39;ve gone to FETC as both an attendee and a vendor. Whether I attended as an attendee or as a vendor, it has always been a collaborative place; a time for exploring best practices and important topics that are top of mind to education leaders. It&#39;s a fully engaging experience. &nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>MELISSA: What have been some of your biggest takeaways from past FETC conferences?</strong></p>

<p>MARI: I always leave FETC with a more precise notion of what is really important to education leaders. I develop professionally by learning from pioneers in the educational technology space. It&#39;s also an opportunity to reconnect with friends and make new lifelong professional friends that are as passionate as I am about educational technology.</p>

<p><strong>MELISSA:</strong> <strong>What are you most looking forward to about the 2022 FETC conference?</strong></p>

<p>MARI: I&rsquo;m looking forward to heading down those escalators and feeling the energy and anticipation that starts&nbsp;to creep up as soon as the venue opens its doors. Then the fun, reconnecting, and learning begin!</p>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label hangingLabel">Related Lesson</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2120"><img alt="a touchscreen with a map on the screen" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2032/content_72_classrooms-of-the-future.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2120">Classrooms of the Future</a></h2>

<p>In this lesson, students discuss the effects of technology and what school might look like in the future. In addition to discussion questions, this lesson also includes a vocabulary review and a group task.</p>
</div>

<p>Are you attending this year&rsquo;s FETC conference? If you&rsquo;re going, let us know what you&rsquo;re most excited about in the comments below!</p>


ESL Library at the 2022 FETC Conference

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2090/Melissa_ESL-Library-at-the-2022-FETC-Conference_Banner.png

Posts describing lessons or activities for the ESL classroom.

Activities

<p>Reading is an essential skill in second-language acquisition. As learners&nbsp;develop their <strong>reading</strong> skills, they not only build their <strong>vocabulary</strong>, but they also&nbsp;become familiar with&nbsp;common <strong>grammatical&nbsp;structures</strong> and phrasing in the target language. Learners can transfer this knowledge to the other three&nbsp;basic&nbsp;skills&mdash;listening, speaking, and writing&mdash;and see their overall fluency improve.</p>

<p>By providing <strong>pre-reading activities</strong>, teachers can help learners become successful readers. Pre-reading activities increase comprehension by activating students&#39; prior knowledge and generating interest in the topic.&nbsp;In our <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons">Reading &amp; Discovery</a> category, most lessons begin with a set of <strong>Warm-Up Questions</strong> and a&nbsp;<strong>Vocabulary Preview</strong> task.</p>

<h1>I. Warm-Up Questions</h1>

<p>Warm-Up Questions&nbsp;allow&nbsp;students to connect&nbsp;their own life experiences to the reading before they even see the text. Students who stare at you blankly when you announce the day&#39;s lesson topic will soon realize&nbsp;that they do, in fact, know something about the subject matter and, more than likely, have opinions about it as well.</p>

<p>For example, if you tell a group of students who did not grow up in North America that you&#39;ll be reading about <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/2853">Fred Rogers</a>, they may wonder what he has to do with their lives. However,&nbsp;once you begin asking&nbsp;the Warm-Up Questions, students will begin focusing on the broader topic&mdash;children&#39;s television&mdash;as they develop a schemata with which to approach the reading.</p>

<p>But what are the best ways to present Warm-Up Questions? We all know that students respond well to variety and that every student&nbsp;learns differently.</p>

<p>Presenting the questions in the same way each class won&#39;t work for every group of students. They&#39;ll get bored with the predictability of&nbsp;the process when we really want to pique their curiosity.</p>

<p>Here are some suggestions for using Warm-Up Questions with your students.</p>

<h2>Have a Whole-Class Discussion</h2>

<p>The easiest way to present Warm-Up Questions is to have a whole-class discussion. This works best when the students are at the same level.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Ask the whole class the first question and elicit responses before moving on to the second question.</li>
	<li>As students call out their answers,&nbsp;it&#39;s always a good idea to write notes on the board&nbsp;because it promotes further responses from other students and shows you&#39;re listening and engaged.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Have Group Discussions</h2>

<p>For variety&mdash;or If you have shyer students who are hesitant to speak in front of the entire class&mdash;divide the class into groups of three&nbsp;or four.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Have more advanced students take notes for the group.</li>
	<li>Circulate among the groups and make sure all students are participating.</li>
	<li>To extend the activity, come together as a whole class and have the groups share their ideas.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Have Pair Discussions</h2>

<p>Any time is a good time for pairwork, especially if you add a little fun. This activity, called <strong>Speed Chatting</strong>, will get your students talking!</p>

<ul>
	<li>Have students pair up and ask each other the Warm-Up Questions.</li>
	<li>Give them only 60 seconds to ask and answer the questions.</li>
	<li>When the time is up, have them work with a new partner.</li>
	<li>Repeat the process&nbsp;for three&nbsp;or four&nbsp;rotations.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<h2>Assign Questions the Day Before</h2>

<p>Introduce the Warm-Up Questions at the end of the class on the day before you do the reading. Ask students to answer the questions for homework.</p>

<h2>Use Illustrations</h2>

<p>If you&#39;re using the PDF version of a lesson, draw students&#39; attention to&nbsp;the illustration that goes with the lesson. In pairs, have them come up with their own set of Warm-Up Questions based on this illustration.</p>

<h1>II. Vocabulary Preview</h1>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/lessons">Reading &amp; Discovery</a> lessons all include&nbsp;a Vocabulary Preview task. Usually, this is in the form of a matching activity.The purpose of this task&nbsp;is to introduce students to unfamiliar words before they encounter them in context.</p>

<p>Give the following ideas a try the next time you want to&nbsp;use&nbsp;the Vocabulary Preview task before assigning the reading.</p>

<h2>Model the Pronunciation</h2>

<p>It&#39;s always a good idea to model the pronunciation of new vocabulary&nbsp;words. You can do this as a separate activity in which you say the words and have the class repeat, or you can do this as part of another activity as you introduce each word.</p>

<h2>Try a Matching Exercise</h2>

<p>To get a sense of whether or not the vocabulary is familiar to students, have them try matching the words to the correct definitions on their own and then check answers as a whole class.&nbsp;This can help you determine how much time you need to spend on this task. Remember to have students try to match the words and definitions again after you&#39;ve done additional work.</p>

<h2>Explore the Vocabulary Further</h2>

<p>If other activities are needed to reinforce unfamaliar words, extend the activity by doing the following:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Give students a sentence that contains each word.</li>
	<li>Have students classify the words according to their part of speech.</li>
	<li>Point out any prefixes or suffixes.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Create a Word Wall</h2>

<p>Encourage students to be active vocabulary learners. You can do this&nbsp;by creating&nbsp;a word wall in the classroom. Have students vote on the three&nbsp;words from the task they would most like to remember and add them to the word wall.&nbsp;You can also have students keep an individual vocabulary journal.</p>

<h2>Work in Pairs</h2>

<p>Put students in pairs and assign one&nbsp;or two&nbsp;words to each pair.&nbsp;(You can allow them to use a dictionary for this activity.)</p>

<ul>
	<li>Have them come up with a definition (in their own words).</li>
	<li>Next, have them write&nbsp;an example sentence that contains each word.</li>
	<li>Then have them teach their word(s) to the class.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Ask Concept Questions</h2>

<p>Concept questions are questions that contain a target word. They are also usually Yes/No questions. Asking them allows students to&nbsp;hear the word in context and process the meaning. For example, <em>rodent</em>&nbsp;is a target word in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1911">Groundhog Day</a> lesson. You can pose the following question: &quot;Is a rat a rodent?&quot;</p>

<h1>III. Other Pre-Reading Activities</h1>

<p>In&nbsp;addition to the Warm-Up Questions and Vocabulary Preview tasks, there many&nbsp;other activities that work well to prepare students to tackle a reading. Here are a few:</p>

<h2>Make a KWL Chart</h2>

<p>Instruct students to create a three-column&nbsp;KWL chart.</p>

<ul>
	<li>They should label the first column &quot;K&quot; and list all the things they already <strong>know</strong> about the topic.</li>
	<li>The second column, labeled W, should include things that students <strong>want</strong> to know about the topic.</li>
	<li>The third column, labeled L, will be filled out by students as a post-reading activity to jot down what they <strong>learned</strong> from the reading.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Guess the Topic</h2>

<p>Choose four&nbsp;or five&nbsp;familiar words that are related to the topic and see if students can guess what the reading is going to be about. For example, if you&#39;ll be&nbsp;doing a lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons/3169">Coffee</a>, you can use the words <em>drink, beans, brown,</em> and <em>caffeine</em>.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Brainstorm</h2>

<p>As a class, brainstorm all the vocabulary that comes to mind about the topic.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Use Audiovisual Tools</h2>

<p>Expose students to audiovisual supplements.&nbsp;This is a good way to introduce harder or lesser-known topics when Warm-Up Questions may themselves need a warm-up.</p>

<p>For example, in the Fred Rogers lesson, you might show a clip from his children&#39;s show that you find on YouTube. Or, for the lesson <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons/1962">J-Pop Vs. K-Pop</a>, you could bring in audio samples of both types of music.</p>

<h1>Share Your Thoughts</h1>

<p>What kind of pre-reading activities&nbsp;do you use with your learners? Do you have any tips to share with the teaching community?</p>

<p>If you teach 1:1, is there an activity that works particularly well with individuals? Please share your ideas in the Comments section below.</p>


Pre-Reading Activities to Boost Comprehension

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2088/Ann_Pre-Reading-Strategies_Banner.png

<p>Have you heard about the <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/esl-talk/id1548652844" target="_blank"><em>ESL Talk</em> podcast</a>? 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 specifically pertaining to ESL teachers. Here are some key takeaways from their episode on teaching adult learners.</p>

<h3>Define rules, expectations, and objectives</h3>

<p>Whether you&rsquo;re teaching online or in a physical classroom, it&rsquo;s important to establish the rules, expectations, and objectives.</p>

<p>To ensure everyone is on the same page, be honest with your students and involve them in the process of setting rules, expectations, and goals for the class. You may wish to use our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/2127" target="_blank">My Language Goals</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/2224" target="_blank">Goal-Setting &ndash; Can Do</a> Assessment Tools to not only learn about your students&rsquo; goals but to also help your students set realistic and achievable goals.</p>

<h3>Tailor lessons to adult learners&rsquo; needs and interests</h3>

<p>When compared to young learners, adult learners typically have different goals and motivations. Whether their goal is travel-related, work-related, school-related, or something entirely different, it&rsquo;s important to have a flexible approach when teaching adult learners.</p>

<p>Find out why they are interested in learning English and tailor your lessons to fit their needs and interests.</p>

<p>Lessons should be meaningful and relevant for your students. They should relate back to their goals. For example, if your students are learning English for a travel-related reason, you may want to use lessons from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/122/lessons" target="_blank">Travel English</a> section. Likewise, if your students are learning English for a work-related reason, you may want to use lessons from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/135/lessons" target="_blank">Functional Business</a> section.</p>

<p>Ultimately, it&rsquo;s important to provide your adult learners with lessons that they will connect with and find value in.</p>

<h3>Empower adult learners to use English</h3>

<p>Empower your adult learners by encouraging them to speak in English as much as possible in the classroom. Make sure they know that their English doesn&rsquo;t have to be perfect and that it&rsquo;s okay if they make mistakes. It&rsquo;s just important to try and start getting familiar with the language.&nbsp;Check out this <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/key-takeaways-from-esl-talk-podcast-on-speaking-strategies" target="_blank">blog post</a> to learn more about effective speaking strategies.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Teachers, do you have any tips for teaching adult learners? Let us know in the comments below!</p>
</blockquote>



Key Takeaways from ESL Talk Podcast on Teaching Adult Learners 

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2087/Melissa_Key-Takeaways-from-ESL-Talk-Podcast-on-Teaching-Adult-Learners_Banner.png

<p><em>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!</em></p>

<p>In 1999, Poonam, a teacher of 15 years, immigrated to Canada from India. She worked at a bank in Toronto for over eight years, often helping immigrants with their banking. As she realized how challenging the language barriers were, she decided to go back to teaching. She joined <a href="https://www.tesl.ca/" target="_blank">TESL</a> in 2009 and has been an adult ESL instructor at the <a href="https://www.ycdsb.ca/" target="_blank">York Catholic District School Board</a> since 2010.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Every day in the class feels like a beautiful day of learning. It&rsquo;s a treat to be in class with these learners who come from different walks of life and cultures, and the feeling of being a part of their family just makes me a better teacher and person.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Although it was a bit overwhelming in the beginning, having to teach online during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a positive learning experience for Poonam.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Learning new techniques of teaching, use of varied platforms, and educating my students on how to learn online has been a tremendous development. The support from my manager has always been continuous and forthcoming, and she has helped me overcome any hurdles and challenges in doing my job, in the past and now.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Poonam has been a long-time member of ESL Library and is grateful for the support the platform provides.</p>

<p>&ldquo;My heartfelt thanks to all the staff members and teachers of ESL Library for the wealth of resources and lessons that supplement my teaching. Thank you for working so hard to make teaching fun for me. My students love the exercises and lessons.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Check out her text response below to learn more about why she loves ESL Library and how she uses it with her students.</p>

<p><iframe allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *;" height="600px" src="https://www.videoask.com/a0big6i6d5v2vd4avhfud5prss4aryqa709c0qhm" style="border: none; border-radius: 24px" width="100%"></iframe></p>

<p>As a dedicated teacher, Poonam strives to create a welcoming and relaxed space to learn.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I try to create a positive and comfortable learning environment using real world tasks, peer teaching, and most of all, encouraging and applauding them every step of their progress. Also, I always tell them that it&rsquo;s okay to make mistakes. Making them feel that we are a family has strengthened my rapport with them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>For Poonam, the most rewarding part about being a teacher is seeing her students confidently use their English language skills.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Being a part of their educational journey and to celebrate their success is an amazing feeling. When my students successfully use the language in real-life situations and I see the impact my teaching has had on them, it encourages me to perform better.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Poonam also believes that ESL teachers play a bigger part in their students&rsquo; lives than they may realize.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe teaching ESL is not just teaching English. It&rsquo;s about educating the learners how to live and enjoy their life in this beautiful country. I always follow the rule of putting yourself in the other person&rsquo;s shoes. It creates respect, rapport, and makes teaching and learning a lot of fun. A passionate educator can leave an everlasting and positive impact on a learner&rsquo;s life. Just teach with your heart!&rdquo;</p>

<p>Want to share why you love ESL Library and how you use it in your classroom? <a href="https://www.videoask.com/fw0f8td5x" target="_blank">Tell us here.</a></p>


Teacher Feature: Poonam

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2082/Melissa_Teacher-Feature_Poonam_Banner.png

<p>January 6 is National Technology Day. National Technology Day celebrates the world&rsquo;s technological achievements and explores how technology positively impacts our daily lives. In honor of this day, we&rsquo;re celebrating the ESL Library platform and recognizing the hard work that goes into it. We chatted with Eduardo, our CTO, and asked him a few questions about the technology behind our platform. Here&rsquo;s what he had to say:</p>

<p>MELISSA: <strong>How has the ESL Library platform changed over the years?</strong></p>

<p>EDUARDO: Over our 20 years in the industry, the technology behind ESL Library has changed a lot. Our engineering team grew exponentially, ensuring we can build a better, more complete, and more reliable system. We are running on more powerful servers&nbsp;so every class can be taught without delay. Our software is built using the latest development frameworks, giving our team the ability to incorporate the best techniques and newest technologies to our platform in order to deliver the best experience to teachers and students.</p>

<p>MELISSA: <strong>What have been some of the biggest challenges?</strong></p>

<p>EDUARDO: The increased demand caused by the pandemic was both a blessing and a curse. Scaling up our servers to support 10x its usual traffic was not an easy task, and the team had to work around the clock to make sure the system was working properly. We are all humans, and even with the uncertainty of those moments&mdash;with our personal and professional lives being affected&mdash;the team had&nbsp;the massive change that was happening for educators and learners around the world in mind. We knew every second was important and wanted to help our users making this transition easier, as much as we could.</p>

<p>MELISSA: <strong>What are you most proud of?</strong></p>

<p>EDUARDO: I am proud to be creating technology that aims to empower teachers, not replace them. Education is what drives the world towards a better future, and it should never lose its human touch, its collaborative aspect. A computer will never be able to understand and enlighten a student mind as well as a teacher can. A computer can, however, assist a human teacher to accomplish their mission in the best possible way.</p>

<p>MELISSA: <strong>What will the ESL Library platform look like in the future?</strong></p>

<p>EDUARDO: We are working towards making ESL Library easier to use, more accessible, more personalized, and more insightful. We are looking forward to making ESL Library even better with the numerous features, integrations, games, and real-time activities we have planned.</p>

<p>Teachers, how does technology positively impact your life? What are some of your favorite technologies? How do you use the ESL Library platform and what is your favorite part about it? We&rsquo;d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.</p>


Celebrating the ESL Library Platform for National Technology Day

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/2086/Melissa_Celebrating-ESL-Library-Platform-National-Technology-Day_Banner.png

<h1>Teachers&#39; Notes</h1>

<p>Our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons" target="_blank">Discussion Starters</a> section has 100+ readings based on interesting topics that are relevant today. Some of these topics have been suggested by our members, and we welcome your ideas&nbsp;too! Our goal is to include topics that teens and adults have strong opinions or feelings about. We hope that even your shy students will&nbsp;feel inclined to join in. We add new lessons regularly, so please keep a close eye on this section.</p>

<h2>About This Section</h2>

<p>Some teachers prefer to teach a materials-light class. Rather than using a textbook, they search for short or authentic materials that are related to the interests of their students. The Discussion Starters section may be useful for this type of teacher. These lessons are recommended for tutoring and online teaching as well as general conversation classes. Many of these topics will interest teens and young adults, though a mixed-age class will undoubtedly have very interesting discussions based on topics such as climate change, digital learning, or distracted driving!</p>

<p>You don&rsquo;t have to cover all of the suggested activities in a lesson. Some teachers just play the audio file. Others just use the reading and discussion questions.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Discussion Grouping Options</h2>

<p>Discussions based on these lessons don&rsquo;t have to be limited to pairs or small groups. Encourage your learners to share their opinions in a variety of ways.</p>

<ul>
	<li>in a large group discussion with the whole class</li>
	<li>in small groups of their choice and in groups&nbsp;of your choice</li>
	<li>in pairs of their choice and in pairs of your choice</li>
	<li>in chat room conversations</li>
	<li>with fellow students or friends</li>
	<li>with video chat partners</li>
	<li>on a Facebook group page</li>
	<li>in a Twitter chat with a set #tag</li>
	<li>on the phone with fellow students</li>
	<li>via texting on mobile devices</li>
	<li>with parents and other family members at the dinner table</li>
	<li>in role-play situations</li>
	<li>in blog posts and comment sections</li>
</ul>

<h2>Pre-Reading</h2>

<h3>A. Warm-Up Questions</h3>

<p>Before you listen to the audio file or read the article, find out if your class is interested in this topic. How much do they already know? Talk about the 4&ndash;5 questions (provided) together as a class, or put students in small groups to discuss. Note that the digital version has a warm-up video with the same questions.</p>

<h3>B. Vocabulary Preview</h3>

<p>Each Discussion Starter lesson includes a pre-reading vocabulary task. The lesson also reviews these 8&ndash;12 words in a few different ways after the reading. Some teachers prefer to assign this task as a pair activity. You can decide whether or not to allow your students to use their dictionaries for this activity (if you allow this, you may want to encourage English&ndash;English dictionary use). Be sure to practice the pronunciation and spelling of the&nbsp;key vocabulary throughout the week. We hope you&#39;ll encourage your learners to use&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/2966" target="_blank">Vocabulary Cards</a> to really get to know each word!</p>

<h2>Reading</h2>

<p>The readings are about 200&ndash;300 words in length and most are written at an intermediate&nbsp;level. Other lessons are low-intermediate and some are high-intermediate to advanced. We encourage you to explore many options for reading in class, including silent reading, reading aloud, shared reading, and reading with audio support. You can also assign the reading for homework, or have students record&nbsp;the&nbsp;reading&nbsp;and&nbsp;send it to you!</p>

<h3><b>Note</b></h3>

<p>Even though most of the readings are aimed at a&nbsp;lower- to upper-intermediate level, the&nbsp;lessons can certainly be used for higher levels as well. Advanced students usually don&rsquo;t mind reading a lower-level lesson if it&nbsp;leads to a great discussion or debate.</p>

<h2>Listening</h2>

<p>All of our Discussion Starters lessons have mp3 files (North American&nbsp;or UK) that you can download or stream.&nbsp;In addition to being available with the PDF, the audio is available in the digital version (Listen &amp; Read and Listen&nbsp;&amp; Type tasks). Note that only the US audio is available in the digital version.</p>

<p>A gap-fill activity is included at the end of each lesson. If you want your students to listen to different voices and accents, try sharing the UK audio (note this matches the text in the British English printable version). If you want your students to really focus on listening, you can play the recording for your learners without handing out the reading and have them work through the comprehension questions.</p>

<h2>Comprehension</h2>

<p>Each reading includes a set of comprehension questions. You can use these questions or have your students write their own questions. You can also ask the questions orally and have students take turns offering the answers. Make sure that your students give more than just one-word answers if they are writing them out. (Encourage them to use the digital version to save paper! Suggested answers are provided after they submit their answers. Teachers can see these suggested answers in the digital answer key and when checking answers.)</p>

<h2>Vocabulary Review</h2>

<p>Each Discussion Starter lesson includes one or more vocabulary review tasks. If you don&rsquo;t want to use class time for this, you can assign individual tasks for homework and take the answers up the following class to check if your students have remembered the new words. Example vocabulary review activities include fill-in-the-blanks, matching, true/false, and synonym/antonym.</p>

<h2>Grammar Practice &amp; Review</h2>

<p>Some of the Discussion Starters lessons include a mini-grammar review and practice task. The grammar target is typically used in context in the reading. Note that not all Discussion Starters lessons have grammar tasks. There may be another type of task, such as a Class Survey (print only). We encourage you to explore our related grammar lessons (and videos) from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> section if your students need more practice.</p>

<h2>Discussion</h2>

<p>We hope the discussion questions in these lessons will give your students plenty to talk about. You can set students up in small groups or have rotating pairs, or even schedule a chat about this topic with students from another class or country! These questions also make great writing prompts.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Research or Critical Thinking</h2>

<p>Some Discussion Starters lessons feature a research option. Others include a critical thinking task or group activity. You can decide whether these optional tasks are appropriate for your students and if you have enough time to include them.</p>

<h2>Speaking Task</h2>

<p>The digital version of our Discussion Starters lessons includes a speaking task called <strong>Personal Response</strong>. Students have up to two minutes to comment on a quote or question related to the topic. The lesson image is also usually provided for inspiration. For a lite version of this lesson, you can easily just do the warm-up questions with a follow-up speaking task as a homework activity. If you want to create a rubric for the speaking task, you can personalize this <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/2129" target="_blank">Speaking Task Assessment Form</a>.</p>

<h2>Answer Key</h2>

<p>The teacher version of the printable lesson has an answer key, which may also include some extra usage notes or teaching ideas. We recommend that you print the teacher version with the answer key. You may not need to photocopy the answer key for all of your students unless they request it. Alternatively, you can print out a few answer keys and have students share them around. Looking for the answer key in the digital version? Find answers to applicable task types by clicking the apple icon next to the digital task title in the Task List menu. Note that the printable answer key is not meant to be used with this digital version.</p>

<p><img alt="digital answer key" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2015/content_Discussion-Starters-Teachers-Notes_Answer-Key.jpg" /></p>

<h2>Printable Vs. Digital&nbsp;</h2>

<p>The printable and digital version of our Discussion Starters lessons have most of the same content, though the task names and order may be slightly different. The digital versions currently go with the US printable versions (with American spelling and usage).</p>

<p>While it is possible to use a hybrid approach for this section, it&#39;s important to preview both versions (print and digital) since they do not match exactly. You will encounter a few small differences and therefore it is not advised to have some students using the printable while the teacher or other students use the digital version. Also, some digital activities are not available in our printable versions. Similarly some group tasks (e.g., Class Survey) from our printable lessons are not currently offered in the digital versions.</p>

<p>Look at the following information to see a few key differences between the printable and digital versions. Why do they differ? Unfortunately, our digital task suite does not allow for an exact transferral to and from our paper-based materials. However, as new digital tasks types are built by our developers, we&#39;re able to mirror the printable and digital lessons more closely!</p>

<h3>1. Warm-Up</h3>

<p>In most digital versions, you will find a warm-up video in addition to warm-up questions. The video is a small teaser of the content and contains a few interesting facts. The warm-up questions from the printable lesson are also provided in this digital task. Some teachers like to assign this digital task for homework before doing the lesson in class to get their students thinking about the topic.</p>

<p><img alt="warm-up video" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2016/content_Discussion-Starters-Teachers-Notes_Warm-Up.jpg" /></p>

<h3>2. Vocabulary Preview&nbsp;</h3>

<p>The pre-reading vocabulary task is generally identical in the printable and digital version;&nbsp;however, matching tasks are split into two tasks (A and B) in the digital version to reduce scrolling. If a pre-reading vocabulary task is not a matching task in the printable lesson, the task may vary in the digital version.</p>

<h3>3. Discussion Questions</h3>

<p>The final question set is usually identical, but sometimes one of the questions has been removed from the digital version and used in the speaking task instead. Encourage your class to come up with a few more related questions of their own.</p>

<h3>4. Listening Vs. Listen &amp; Type (Gap-Fill)</h3>

<p>Though this is the same task type in both the printable and digital versions, the blanked-out words may differ slightly. Since the digital task type only accepts exact answers, we sometimes use different blanks in the digital version. For example, if a word has spelling variations, hyphens, or capitalization that could affect scoring when typed incorrectly, we try to avoid using it in the digital version.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Teaching 1:1</h2>

<p>Do you teach one student at a time? The Discussion Starters section is one of our most popular lesson sections for private teachers! English teachers who teach private or semi-private classes&nbsp;love this section because of the relevant, topical content and ready-made question sets that help students gain confidence in speaking.</p>

<p>If your teen to adult learners want to practice talking about real-world issues, this section will give you exactly what you need. You can assign plenty of tasks digitally (or even email the PDF and MP3 if you prefer) for pre-class and post-class homework, including reading and vocabulary review tasks. During your time together, you can focus more on speaking and pronunciation using the prompts provided. If you assign the reading (or listening) before class, ask your student to jot down any vocabulary or sentence structures they want to go over in class.</p>

<p>Encourage (or even challenge) your students to use the key vocabulary during your discussion time. Ask students to tell you a word from the reading that means <em>X&nbsp;</em>(definition from vocabulary preview task). Can they spell it? Do they know what part of speech this word is in the reading? You can also go over any errors from the digital homework together.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Leave a Comment</h2>

<p>Do you use the Discussion Starters section? Please leave a comment below and share your teaching methods with our teaching community. How do you expand on the lesson tasks? What task order do you use? Do you prefer the printable or digital version? What is your favorite topic or category? How do you use this section in your 1:1 classes? Let&#39;s discuss!</p>


Recent Posts