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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<p>We&#39;re working hard to bring you even better lessons and resources this year! Be sure to check out the full list of <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/new-2021">What&#39;s New in 2021?</a></p>

<p>In the meantime, here&#39;s a look at what&#39;s coming up in March.</p>

<h1>Lessons</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/3527"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/81_United-Kingdom.jpg" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/3527">The United Kingdom</a></h2>

<p>In this upcoming <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons">Famous Places</a> lesson, students will learn about the United Kingdom and review academic vocabulary and parallel structure.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/3528"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/113_Dinosaurs.jpg" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/3528">Dinosaurs</a></h2>

<p>Introduce beginners to nine&nbsp;dinosaurs in this upcoming <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons">Word Bank</a> lesson. Students will also sort dinosaurs into plant eaters and meat eaters!</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3526"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/93_International-Womens-Day.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3526">International Women&#39;s Day</a></h2>

<p>This upcoming <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons">Holidays &amp; Events</a> lesson teaches beginners about International Women&#39;s Day&nbsp;with a reading comprehension and vocab review.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/95/lessons/3247"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/95_Coronavirus.jpg" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/95/lessons/3247">The Coronavirus (COVID-19)</a></h2>

<p>In this revised <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/95/lessons">Health Matters</a> lesson, intermediate students will learn about the vaccine and COVID-19, and discuss measures to prevent the spread of disease.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1246"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/72_Composting.jpg" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1246">Composting</a></h2>

<p>This revised <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Discussion Starters</a> lesson, featuring new art and a digital task, is a great way to introduce intermediate students to the benefits of composting.</p>
</div>

<h1>Videos</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2241"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/88_Adverbs-and-Adjectives.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2241">Adverbs of Frequency</a></h2>

<p>We will be adding a video to the digital version of our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2241">Adverbs of Frequency</a> lesson in the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> section soon!</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1719"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/76_Making-a-Grocery-List.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1719">Making a Grocery List</a></h2>

<p>We will be adding a video to the digital version of our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1719">Making a Grocery List</a> lesson in the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons">Everyday Dialogues</a> section soon!</p>
</div>


Coming in March 2021

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<p>We are working hard to bring you even better lessons and resources this year! Be sure to check out the full list of <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/new-2021">What&#39;s New in 2021?</a></p>

<p>In the meantime, here&#39;s a look at what&#39;s coming up this February.</p>

<h1>Lessons</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3477"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/93_Lunar-New-Year.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3477">Lunar New Year</a></h2>

<p>Students will learn about the Lunar New Year and be introduced to luck-related idioms in this upcoming low-intermediate lesson from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons">Holidays &amp; Events</a> section. The lesson also includes a short reading and a vocabulary review.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons/3483"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/82_Black-Lives-Matter.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons/3483">Black Lives Matter</a></h2>

<p>Introduce intermediate and advanced students to this important social and political movement with an upcoming lesson from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons">Famous Things</a> section.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/3473"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/80_Frederick-Douglass.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/3473">Frederick Douglas</a></h2>

<p>This upcoming <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons">Famous People</a> lesson teaches intermediate students about the historic American abolitionist who escaped slavery.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/121/lessons/3478"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/121_Weather_Adjectives.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/121/lessons/3478">Weather (Adjectives)</a></h2>

<p>Teach literacy students six essential English adjectives for describing the weather. This upcoming <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/121/lessons">English Basics</a> lesson includes practice tasks for all four language skills.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/3476"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/113_Clothing.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/3476">Clothes</a></h2>

<p>This upcoming <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons">Word Bank</a> lesson is a fantastic way to introduce literacy students, absolute beginners, or young learners to new English vocabulary.</p>
</div>

<h1>Videos</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2093"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/88_Adverbs-and-Adjectives.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2093">Adjectives</a></h2>

<p>We will be adding a video to the digital version of our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2093">Adjectives</a> lesson in the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> section soon!</p>
</div>


Coming in February 2021

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

For Students

<p>Listen to this post.</p>

<div class="ckeditor-html5-audio" style="text-align: center;">
<audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/1160/Word-of-the-Year.mp3">&nbsp;</audio>
</div>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;The way you do great things is by setting great&nbsp;goals.&quot;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Bill de Blasio, New York City Mayor (New Year&#39;s Eve, 2020)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Dear students,&nbsp;</p>

<p>Happy New Year! Do you like to make New Year&#39;s resolutions? Instead of deciding what <em>not</em>&nbsp;to do at the beginning of a new year, I always choose a Word of the Year.&nbsp;</p>

<p>My Word of the Year for 2021 is &quot;zeal.&quot; Here is the definition from <a href="https://www.lexico.com/definition/zeal">Lexico</a> dictionary.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>zeal </strong>(noun): <em>great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an&nbsp;objective</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>I chose the&nbsp;word &quot;zeal&quot; because I think it will inspire&nbsp;me to bring enthusiasm to lots of different goals, including work goals, family goals, and personal goals. In 2021, I&#39;ll&nbsp;do my best to bring energy and enthusiasm into every space I&#39;m in.<br />
<br />
My new office wall offers a strong&nbsp;visual for my Word of the Year! It&#39;s a fun backdrop for virtual meetings&nbsp;and&nbsp;a useful conversation starter. The connected names symbolize&nbsp;the importance of teamwork (and my own love of words).&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="Tara Benwell's Office Wall" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1158/content_IMG-3019.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">I have about 15 more ESL Library staff names to add (waiting on&nbsp;more wooden tiles to arrive)! My pup Rootbeer is also full of energy and keeps my family moving, even during lockdown. (He&#39;s hoping I&#39;ll add his name to the wall!)</p>

<p>What&#39;s your Word of the Year for 2021? Ask your teacher to assign the ESL Library lesson <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2563">How to Write a Basic Paragraph</a>. In this lesson, you will practice writing a short paragraph about your Word of the Year. If you want to share your writing, please copy your paragraph in the comments below for all of us to see!<br />
<br />
You don&#39;t have to be an ESL Library student to share your Word of the Year. Anyone (teachers and ESL Library staff) can participate by sharing their word in the comments below.&nbsp;Please tell us why you chose your word.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Best of luck with your language learning throughout 2021!</p>

<p>XOXO</p>

<p>Tara &amp; the ESL Library Team</p>


Word of the Year for 2021

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

Articles

<p>We want to hear your stories about why you love ESL Library and how you use it with your students. Watch the video below and leave us a one-minute video or text response sharing your experience. We can&#39;t wait to collect your responses and share them with our hardworking team and teachers around the world!</p>

<p><iframe allow="camera *; microphone *; autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; display-capture *;" height="600px" src="https://www.videoask.com/fw0f8td5x" style="border: none; border-radius: 24px" width="100%"></iframe></p>

<hr />

Tell the World How Much You Love ESL Library

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<p>It&#39;s been a busy year for the ESL Library publishing team as you can see from our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/new-2020">What&#39;s New This Year?</a>&nbsp;list.&nbsp;We&#39;ll be starting a new list next month for 2021, so be sure to follow us as we turn a fresh page!<br />
<br />
Here&#39;s a look at a few things that are coming up first in the new year.</p>

<h1>Lessons</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/3457"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/113_Healthcare-Workers.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/3457">Healthcare Workers</a></h2>

<p>In this upcoming lesson from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons">Word Bank</a> section, beginners will learn and review important vocabulary for healthcare workers.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/121/lessons/3459"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/121_Weather_Nouns.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/121/lessons/3459">Weather (Nouns)</a></h2>

<p>We&#39;re working on a new set of weather-themed lessons for our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/121/lessons">English Basics</a> section. The first lesson gives literacy students practice with common weather nouns.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1757"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/92_Finding-the-Washroom.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1757">Finding the Washroom</a></h2>

<p>Do you teach your students&nbsp;<em>washroom</em>, <em>restroom</em>, or <em>bathroom, </em>and in what context? Our American editor is currently working on some important updates to the US version of this <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons">Functional English</a> lesson.</p>
</div>

<h1>Resources</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/125/resources/3458"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/125_At-the-Hospital.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/125/resources/3458">At the Hospital</a></h2>

<p>In this upcoming resource from <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/125/resources">Language Scenes</a>, students will review vocabulary they might need in an emergency room.</p>
</div>

<h1>Videos</h1>

<p>Our video department has big plans for 2021. The first few videos of the year will be a video for practicing the ABCs&nbsp;and a new grammar video on adjectives. Stay tuned!</p>


Coming in January 2021

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Feature Releases & Platform Updates 2020

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What Was New in 2020?

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<p>We&#39;re taking stock of our busy year and making lots of plans for next year!&nbsp;If there&#39;s a lesson or section&nbsp;you&#39;d like us to consider for 2021, be sure to get in touch with our customer service team.</p>

<p>Here are some&nbsp;materials we have in progress for the last month of this year. For a full list of new content from 2020, visit <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/new-2020">What&#39;s New This Year?</a>&nbsp;Keep an eye on our new&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons">English with The Washington Post</a> section for weekly additions as well.</p>

<h1>Lessons</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/80_Tchaikovsky.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons">Tchaikovsky</a></h2>

<p>In this new lesson from our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons">Famous People</a>&nbsp;section, students will read about a&nbsp;composer whose music we often listen to during the Christmas season. Watch for an additional jigsaw lesson&nbsp;on the four composers we&#39;ve recently covered as well as a video listening&nbsp;task to go with each one.&nbsp;</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/86/lessons/3406"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/86_Leadership-Styles.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/86/lessons/3406">Leadership Qualities</a></h2>

<p>In this new lesson from <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/86/lessons">Business Matters</a>, students will read about different leadership qualities. They will discuss what makes a good leader and talk about real-life experiences that have required them&nbsp;to develop their own leadership skills.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/84/lessons/2349"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/84_Donald-Trump.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/84/lessons/2349">Donald Trump</a></h2>

<p>A lot has happened since 2016, and we&#39;re currently working on updating&nbsp;our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/84/lessons">American Presidents</a> lesson on this historic world leader. We&#39;ll also be adding a digital version and audio to this lesson.</p>
</div>

<h1>Resources</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/128/resources/3398"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/128_Health-Labels-and-Warnings.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/128/resources/3398">Health Warnings and Labels</a></h2>

<p>In this new resource from <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/128/resources">Real-World Reading</a>, students will learn and review vocabulary and graphics found on&nbsp;very basic labels and warnings, including food and prescription labels.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/3407/"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/103_Grammar-and-Usage.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/3407">Punctuation Chart</a></h2>

<p>Do your student confuse the&nbsp;different types of punctuation? This <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources">Grammar &amp; Usage</a> chart will help your students review the&nbsp;functions of the most common types of punctuation used in written English.&nbsp;</p>
</div>

<h1>Videos</h1>

<p>If your students liked <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3396">The Scaredy Cat</a>, watch for our upcoming Christmas video, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3408">The Sparkly Star</a>.</p>


Coming in December 2020

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

Teaching with Ellii

<p>On November 8, 2020, Canadian game show host Alex Trebek died at home at the age of 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Amazingly, Trebek kept filming his popular trivia game show, <em>Jeopardy!</em>, right until the end of his life (the final episode will air December 25, 2020). Trebek set a Guinness World Record for the most game show episodes ever hosted&mdash;more than 8,000 in all!&nbsp;In the words of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, &quot;the world lost an icon.&quot;</p>

<p><em>Jeopardy!</em> had a great impact on both my personal and professional life. I grew up watching <em>Jeopardy!</em> every night after dinner&mdash;it was one of my dad&#39;s favorite shows. The show&#39;s concept, along with Alex Trebek&#39;s friendly, encouraging manner, instilled a love of learning in me from a young age.</p>

<p>Professionally, I often used the game show&#39;s format to create review activities&nbsp;in my ESL classrooms. My students loved the challenge of the progressively more difficult questions and looked forward to competing for imaginary money. I used <em>Jeopardy!</em> for vocabulary review most often, but I also adapted it for grammar review and used it as a general trivia game that my students enjoyed. I even had my students create their own Jeopardy! boards.</p>

<p>Many North American immigrants claim to have&nbsp;learned English by watching <em>Jeopardy!</em>, including <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/09/us/alex-trebek-jeopardy-taught-english-trnd/index.html">Kristyna Ng and Burt Thakur</a>&nbsp;who both made it onto the quiz show&nbsp;to tell their language-learning stories.</p>

<p>If you are interested in trying <em>Jeopardy!</em> with your students, follow the steps below.</p>

<h1>How to Play&nbsp;<em>Jeopardy!</em></h1>

<h3>1. Choose the categories and words you wish to review.</h3>

<ul>
	<li>For a vocabulary review activity, you can choose the titles of six lessons you&#39;ve done during the past month for your categories&nbsp;and five words you wish to review from each lesson for the dollar amounts.</li>
	<li>Another idea&nbsp;is to choose common categories such as People, Places, Food, Weather, Animals, and Sports to create a general knowledge review.</li>
</ul>

<h3>2. Copy the following table onto the board, or share it in&nbsp;an online teaching platform.</h3>

<ul>
	<li>If you want to review fewer words, choose fewer categories (e.g., for a total of 15 words to review, have&nbsp;three&nbsp;categories with five words in each).</li>
	<li>You can also google&nbsp;&quot;Jeopardy board&quot; to find various other boards to share in class or online.</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1061/content_Jeopardy-Example_Chart.png" /></p>

<h3>3. Prepare the vocabulary words and definitions in a master list ahead of time that you can refer to.</h3>

<ul>
	<li>To mimic the real <i>Jeopardy!</i>&nbsp;game, the words/definitions should progress in order of difficulty, with $100 being the easiest and $500 being the most difficult.</li>
	<li>If you&#39;re reviewing ESL Library lessons you&#39;ve done in class, simply open the PDF or Task Player of a lesson and make a list. For example, if Category 1 is a review of <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1263">Climate Change</a> vocabulary, your list might look like this:
	<ul>
		<li>$100 undeniable = unable to be denied</li>
		<li>$200 greenhouse gas = a type of gas that contributes to the trapping of heat in the earth&#39;s atmosphere</li>
		<li>$300 carbon footprint = the amount of greenhouse gases contributed by a single person or group</li>
		<li>etc.</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li>If you&#39;re playing a general knowledge game, you can find plenty of vocabulary words and definitions within our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons">Famous People</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons">Famous Places,</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons">Famous Things</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/97/lessons">Sports &amp; Leisure</a>&nbsp;lessons.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Alternatively, have students create their own list of words and definitions based on past lessons or categories, words, and definitions that they write themselves.</li>
</ul>

<h3>4. Start the game!</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Divide the class into two (or more) teams.</li>
	<li>One student from Team A starts the play by choosing a category and an amount.</li>
	<li>Read the definition from your master list associated with that category and dollar amount.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>If that&nbsp;student responds with the correct vocabulary word for that definition, they collect the dollar value of that square.
	<ul>
		<li>To make it more authentic, have your students answer <em>Jeopardy!</em>-style,&nbsp;where each answer begins with &quot;What is...&quot;</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li>If that student from Team A answers incorrectly, someone from Team B can steal the money by answering correctly. If neither team can answer correctly, you can reveal the correct answer and&nbsp;no one gets the money from that square.</li>
	<li>Continue the game with a student from Team B. Continue gameplay with the teams taking turns until they&#39;ve gone through every square.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>The team with the most money at the end of the game wins!</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons/3414">Alex Trebek Remembered</a>: English with the Washington Post (Adv)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons/3448">Alex Trebek Remembered</a> (Int &ndash; High Int)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/133/lessons/3449">Alex Trebek Remembered</a> (Low Int &ndash; Int)</li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-ways-to-teach-new-vocabulary">4 Ways to Teach New Vocabulary</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-activities-for-reviewing-vocabulary">4 Activities for Reviewing Vocabulary</a>.</li>
</ul>


Playing Jeopardy! in Class: A Tribute to Alex Trebek

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<p>This past Tuesday night, people in the United States and around the world were sitting on the edge of their seats as they waited for the results of the US presidential election. Predictions about the outcome were flying around social media, and emotions were running high. As the night dragged on into Wednesday morning and it became clear that neither candidate would be able to claim victory anytime soon, President Trump tweeted:<br />
<br />
&quot;We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed!&quot;</p>

<p>Mr. Trump&#39;s critics were quick to spot a spelling mistake in his tweet. Can you?</p>

<p>Of course, the problem lies with the word &quot;Poles.&quot; When capitalized and pluralized, it refers to people from Poland or to the North and South Poles. If you ignored Mr. Trump&#39;s use of capitalization, you could have mistaken it to mean long, thin, round pieces of wood or metal. Or perhaps you wondered why he was talking about fishing rods, though undoubtedly you used the context to figure out that he was referring to places where people vote, that is, &quot;polls.&quot;</p>

<p>Words like &quot;poll&quot; and &quot;pole&quot; are called homophones. Homophones are words that are&nbsp;pronounced the same but have different spellings and meanings. Some common homophones include <em>one/won</em>, <em>eye/I</em>, <em>their/there/they&#39;re</em>, <em>flour/flower</em>, and <em>hour/our</em>. These words are tricky, and it&#39;s not unusual to find usage errors in text messages, internet articles, and even presidential tweets. They are a source of confusion for native speakers, so it&#39;s no wonder that our students mix them up a lot.</p>

<p>Here are 3 methods that I have found particularly helpful when teaching homophones:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Dictating sentences that include homophones</li>
	<li>Providing sentences with blanks where students must choose the correct homophone</li>
	<li>Having students keep a list of homophones as they come across them in a vocabulary notebook</li>
</ol>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Those Pesky Homophones

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Starter courses for each level with a suggested teaching order from the ESL Library publishing team.

Courses

<h1>Learning Objectives</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Learn and/or review the English <strong>alphabet </strong>(lowercase and uppercase) and the&nbsp;<strong>numbers</strong>&nbsp;1&ndash;10.</li>
	<li>Learn and/or review introductory English <strong>vocabulary</strong>. Themes include <em>colors, shapes, food, animals, birthdays, school,&nbsp;</em>and<em> family.</em></li>
	<li>Learn and practice&nbsp;the&nbsp;<strong>Be</strong> verb&nbsp;and the <strong>simple present</strong> tense.</li>
	<li>Listen to <strong>easy stories</strong> and follow along.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Teachers&#39;&nbsp;Notes</h1>

<p>Log in to Ellii and go to Folders (in the Class Prep drop-down&nbsp;menu). Toggle to Ellii Folders. You will find a&nbsp;starter course&nbsp;of lessons and resources suitable for pre-beginner to beginner&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/folders/published/67881">Preschool&ndash;Grade 2</a>&nbsp;ELs.</p>

<h2>Introductory Resources</h2>

<p>At the beginning of the course, you will find a few introductory resources:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/esl-library-mini-course-for-k-2">Teachers&#39; Notes</a>&nbsp;(this post)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/106/resources/2209">Class List</a> (printable)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/106/resources/2208">Attendance Sheet</a>&nbsp;(printable)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/106/resources/2317">Our Birthdays</a>&nbsp;(Record your students&#39; birthdays at the beginning of the course, and have a little celebration each time one comes up!)</li>
</ul>

<h2>Course Content</h2>

<p>Following the introductory resources, you will find a list of lessons, flashcards, and other worksheets. This&nbsp;is a guideline for teachers who need help getting started for the first time with students in this age group. You can adapt the order and content based on your students&rsquo; needs and the length of your&nbsp;course. These materials are in a suggested order, but you do not need to follow this order exactly or use all of these lessons.</p>

<p>Be sure to adapt ready-made courses to meet the level and needs of your students. Choose additional or alternative lessons from the suggested sections below (under the More Content heading). When looking for additional materials to teach for this age group, you will likely only use the level filters marked Lit,&nbsp;Pre Beg, and Beg. Here is an <a href="https://ellii.com/equivalencies">Equivalency Scale</a> that may be useful.</p>

<p>For this age group and level, you will&nbsp;rely&nbsp;heavily on flashcards from the <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres" target="_blank">Flashcard Library</a>. We&#39;ve included some ready-made sets for you in the folder. You can also create and broadcast your own digital flashcard sets using our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/flashcard-player">Flashcard Player</a>.</p>

<p>Some of the suggested lessons have digital tasks so that you can teach your students online or assign digital homework. If you need help using the digital platform, visit our <a href="https://help.ellii.com/category/110-digital-tools" target="_blank">Help&nbsp;Docs</a>.</p>

<p>If you are only able to teach online at this time and you want to use a lesson that is currently only available as a PDF, you can download the Student PDF and email it to your student(s) or you can open it on a shared screen while you teach an online&nbsp;lesson.</p>

<h1>Course Assessment</h1>

<p>There are three assessment sections in this course:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/3488">Assessment A</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/3489">Assessment B</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/3490">Assessment C</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>More Content for Preschool&ndash;Grade 2</h1>

<p>You can build additional courses for this age and level using the following suggestions:</p>

<p><strong>Language Targets:</strong>&nbsp;simple present / past / future tenses, personal / possessive / indefinite pronouns, conjunctions, determiners, capitalizing proper nouns, frequently used irregular plurals, basic punctuation (period /&nbsp;comma / apostrophe)</p>

<p><strong>Functions: </strong>identify illustrations, describe familiar people /&nbsp;places /&nbsp;things, ask and answer questions about key details, describe characters / settings / main events, compare and contrast experiences, tell a story, recount a story,&nbsp;read and write simple sentences</p>

<p><strong>Themes:</strong> holidays, transportation, weather, food, animals, community, time, body</p>

<h2>Sections</h2>

<p>Here are some suggested&nbsp;Ellii sections for teaching very young learners. We ask that you always preview the content for age appropriateness.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons" target="_blank">Word Bank</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/132/lessons">Picture Stories</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons" target="_blank">Super Simple Grammar</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/126/resources">Young Learner Activities</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/125/resources">Language Scenes</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/121/lessons" target="_blank">English Basics</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/110/lessons" target="_blank">Super Simple Questions</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons">Phonics </a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/130/lessons">Pronunciation</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres" target="_blank">Flashcards</a></li>
</ul>


Teachers' Notes for Academic 4-Skills Course 1: Pre Beg (Preschool–Grade 2)

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<h1>Learning Objectives</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Learn and/or review introductory English <strong>vocabulary</strong>. Themes include<em>&nbsp;food, feelings,</em><em>&nbsp;transportation, </em>and<em> jobs.</em></li>
	<li>Review the&nbsp;<strong>Be</strong> verb&nbsp;and the <strong>simple present</strong> tense.</li>
	<li>Learn and start using&nbsp;<strong>adjectives</strong>.</li>
	<li>Express likes and dislikes.</li>
	<li>Ask for and give basic information (introductions).</li>
	<li>Learn how and when to use imperative verbs.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Teachers&rsquo; Notes</h1>

<p>Log in to Ellii and go to Folders (in the Class Prep drop-down&nbsp;menu). Toggle to Ellii Folders. Near the top of the&nbsp;Ellii Folders section, you will find a&nbsp;starter course&nbsp;of lessons and resources suitable for beginner-level&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/folders/published/67976">Grades 3&ndash;5</a>&nbsp;ELs.</p>

<h2>Introductory Resources</h2>

<p>At the beginning of the course, you will find a few introductory resources:&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teachers-notes-for-mini-course-1-grade-3-5">Teachers&#39; Notes</a> (this post)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/106/resources/2209">Class List</a> (printable)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/106/resources/2208">Attendance Sheet</a> (printable)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/2173">Vocabulary Word Bank</a> (for students to track new vocabulary)</li>
</ul>

<h2>Course Content</h2>

<p>Following the introductory resources, you will find a list of lessons, flashcards, and other worksheets. This&nbsp;a guideline for teachers who need help getting started for the first time with students in this age group. You can adapt the order and content based on your students&rsquo; needs and the length of your&nbsp;course. These materials are in a suggested order, but you do not need to follow this order exactly or use all of these lessons.</p>

<p>Be sure to adapt ready-made courses to meet the level and needs of your students. Choose additional or alternative lessons from the suggested sections below (under the More Content heading). When looking for additional materials to teach for this age group, you will likely only use the level filters marked Beg and Low Int.&nbsp;Here is an <a href="https://ellii.com/equivalencies">Equivalency Scale</a> that may be useful.</p>

<p>For this age group and level, you will&nbsp;rely&nbsp;heavily on flashcards from the <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres" target="_blank">Flashcard Library</a>. We&#39;ve included some ready-made sets for you in the folder. You can also create and broadcast your own digital flashcard sets using our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/flashcard-player">Flashcard Player</a>.</p>

<p>Some of the suggested lessons have digital tasks so that you can teach your students online or assign digital homework. If you need help using the digital platform, visit our <a href="https://help.ellii.com/category/110-digital-tools" target="_blank">Help&nbsp;Docs</a>.</p>

<p>If you are only able to teach online at this time and you want to use a lesson that is currently only available as a PDF, you can download the Student PDF and email it to your student(s) or you can open it on a shared screen while you teach an online&nbsp;lesson.</p>

<h2>Assessment</h2>

<p>You will find three digital assessments in this course. These assessments will help you understand which targets and themes your students are grasping and which ones they may need more work on.&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/3534">Assessment A</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/3537">Assessment B</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/3539">Assessment C</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>More Content for Grades 3&ndash;5</h1>

<p>You can build additional courses using the following suggestions:</p>

<p><strong>Language Targets:</strong>&nbsp;simple present / Be, imperative verbs, simple past, singular and plural nouns, basic pronouns (subject pronouns, object pronouns, possessive adjectives, and possessive pronouns), basic adjectives, basic prepositions,&nbsp;articles (a, an, the), basic parts of speech, yes/no questions, Wh- questions</p>

<p><strong>Functions:&nbsp;</strong>asking for and giving personal information, getting to know each other, describing familiar people and things, expressing feelings, reading and listening to short paragraphs, building small paragraphs</p>

<p><strong>Themes:</strong> science, geography, health, hobbies, interesting people and places</p>

<h2>Sections</h2>

<p>Here are some suggested&nbsp;Ellii sections for teaching elementary school. We ask that you always preview the content for age appropriateness.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons" target="_blank">Word Bank</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons" target="_blank">Super Simple Grammar</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons" target="_blank">Simple Sentences</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons" target="_blank">Basic Grammar Sentences</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/129/lessons" target="_blank">True Grammar Stories</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/117/lessons" target="_blank">Discovery</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/126/resources">Young Learner Activities</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/125/resources">Language Scenes</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/110/lessons" target="_blank">Super Simple Questions</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons">Phonics </a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/130/lessons">Pronunciation</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres" target="_blank">Flashcards</a></li>
</ul>


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