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

Young Learners

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

Grammar & Usage

<p>Are you prepared to be inspired? Kids always end up competing more when the <a href="http://ellii.com/blog/olympics-singular-or-plural/" target="_blank">Olympics is</a> on. They want to jump the highest, sing the loudest, skate the fastest, and stay up the latest. Does this happen in your classroom? Don&rsquo;t be surprised if the Olympic Games inspire your students to aim a little&nbsp;higher!</p>

<h1>Who&rsquo;s the Best?</h1>

<p>Practice <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1607" target="_blank">superlatives</a> with your students after you&rsquo;ve tried this lesson plan. Or if you&rsquo;ve recently introduced superlative adjectives with <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2163-superlative-adjectives" target="_blank">Tanya&rsquo;s handy chart</a>, try this fun review activity and consider holding a &ldquo;superlative-inspired&rdquo; Student Olympics at your&nbsp;school.</p>

<p>First, brainstorm all of the Winter Olympic sports. Here is a helpful&nbsp;list:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Skiing (alpine, cross-country, freestyle)</li>
	<li>Biathlon</li>
	<li>Bobsleigh</li>
	<li>Curling</li>
	<li>Figure skating</li>
	<li>Ice Hockey</li>
	<li>Luge</li>
	<li>Nordic combined</li>
	<li>Skeleton</li>
	<li>Ski jumping</li>
	<li>Snowboarding</li>
	<li>Speed skating</li>
</ul>

<p>ESL&nbsp;Library subscribers can use these <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/7/flashcard_categories/114" target="_blank">Winter Olympic&nbsp;Flashcards</a>.</p>

<p>Next, put your students in small groups and tell them to choose a country to represent. Group members will work together to brainstorm Olympic records, achievements, and moments that the Winter Olympic athletes may achieve at this year&rsquo;s Games. Challenge your students to put their thinking caps on. They should be as imaginative as possible! Each item in their list should contain <strong>a superlative adjective</strong> followed by a <strong>noun</strong>. Students can use the list of Olympic events (above) as inspiration. Provide two or three examples to get your students on the right&nbsp;track:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Highest jumper</li>
	<li>Farthest jump</li>
	<li>Fastest skater</li>
	<li>Cleanest skate</li>
	<li>Longest spin</li>
	<li>Most decorated athlete (won the most&nbsp;medals)</li>
	<li>Toughest goalie</li>
	<li>Prettiest skating outfit</li>
	<li>Biggest smile</li>
	<li>Loudest anthem singer</li>
	<li>Worst fall</li>
	<li>Scariest wipeout</li>
</ul>

<h1>The Superlative Games</h1>

<p>Let the Games begin! After each group has come up with a large list of &ldquo;superlative achievements/moments,&rdquo; invite a representative from each country to stand up and read their ideas out to the class. The other groups must listen and place an X beside any examples that are duplicates on their own lists. (Duplicate examples won&rsquo;t count in the scoring.) At the end of &ldquo;the Games,&rdquo; groups count all of their unique (and correct) examples. You can decide if spelling counts! Which group wins gold? Which group wins silver? Which group wins bronze? (Print large-sized flashcards of the medals from our <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/7/flashcard_categories/114" target="_blank">Winter Olympics</a> set. Then play the winning group&rsquo;s anthem to make it really&nbsp;fun!)</p>

<p>After the Superlative Games, create a master list of the achievements/moments etc. that your students came up with and pin the list somewhere in your classroom. During (or after) the Winter Olympics, have your students write the names of the athletes who deserve recognition for each Olympic record, achievement, or moment. <em>Which skier jumped the highest? Which bobsledder went the fastest? Which country had the most&nbsp;spirit?</em></p>

<h1>Student Olympics Day</h1>

<p>Finally, consider holding a Student Olympics Day with other classes in your school at some point while the Winter Olympics is on. Put your students in groups or pairs, and have each group come up with an Olympic event to host. The event can be academic or physical, but must contain a&nbsp;superlative.</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Best speller</li>
	<li>Quickest conjugator</li>
	<li>Tallest teacher</li>
	<li>Prettiest photograph</li>
</ul>

<p>Students will <strong>describe</strong> their event. A description will include the <strong>location</strong> of the event (somewhere on the school property) and any <strong>equipment</strong>&nbsp;that will be needed. Any rules or notes about how the winner will be determined should also be discussed and added. Students will write up their description for those who are interested in competing.</p>

<p><img alt="Student Olympics PDF" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2190/content_Student-Olympics.png" /></p>

<p>Here is a sample <a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/2192/Blog_Student-Olympics.pdf" target="_blank">Olympics Resource</a> template to use. Finally, the group will create a <strong>medal</strong> or certificate for the winner of their&nbsp;event.</p>

<p>Challenge your students to think of a slogan (with superlatives) for their Student Olympic Games. Perhaps they can do better than PyeongChang&rsquo;s motto: &ldquo;Passion.&nbsp;Connected.&rdquo;</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2532" target="_blank">Superlative Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1607" target="_blank">Equative, Comparative &amp; Superlative Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1600" target="_blank">Comparatives &amp; Superlatives &ndash; Adjectives &amp; Adverbs</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons/1631" target="_blank">Comparative &amp; Superlative Adjective Stories</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2612" target="_blank">Winter Olympics</a> (Word Bank)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1890" target="_blank">Winter Olympics</a> (Holidays &amp; Events)</li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/7/flashcard_categories/114" target="_blank">Winter Olympic Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/olympics-singular-or-plural/" target="_blank">Olympics: Singular or Plural?</a></li>
</ul>


Practicing Superlatives During the Olympics

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

Teaching with Ellii

<p>You never know what you&rsquo;ll find when you step out your door! My good friend found a set of fun puns taped to her community mailbox the other day, and we thought it&rsquo;d be great to share this idea on our&nbsp;blog.</p>

<p>We know how hard it is for teachers to keep coming up with interesting and educational warm‑ups and fillers, so we had our designer create a pdf based on these puns that you can download, print, and use in the classroom. This &ldquo;punny&rdquo; activity will be fun and challenging for your intermediate- to advanced‑level&nbsp;learners!</p>

<h1>Punny Stuff</h1>

<p><a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/136/content_Blog_Tearable-Puns.pdf" target="_blank"><img alt="a tearable puns sheet" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/137/content_Blog_Tearable-Puns.png" width="400" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/136/content_Blog_Tearable-Puns.pdf" target="_blank">Download the Tearable Puns sheet</a></p>

<h1>Method</h1>

<p>Ask the class to explain the pun in the activity title (<em>tearable</em> because you can tear off the strips; <em>terrible</em> because some of the puns might make you groan). Then explain what a pun is (<em>a play on words; a joke involving a word or two similar‑sounding words that have two&nbsp;meanings</em>).</p>

<p>Next, put students into pairs (or small groups) and have each pair tear off a pun. Have them try to work out what makes their pun funny. Then have each pair explain the pun to the class. Discuss which puns they&nbsp;find hilarious and which make them roll their&nbsp;eyes.</p>

<p>Once you&rsquo;ve covered the puns in the first pdf, have your students research or write their own for the second (blank) pdf. You could also write your own with idioms or expressions you&rsquo;ve been studying in&nbsp;class.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/8-ways-to-practice-idioms-in-class" target="_blank">8 Ways to Practice Idioms in&nbsp;Class</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/77/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 1</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/78/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 2</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/102/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 3</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/79/lessons" target="_blank">Detective Series 1</a></li>
	<li class="course"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/101/lessons" target="_blank">Detective Series 2</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources" target="_blank">Warm-Ups &amp; Fillers</a></li>
</ul>


10 Tearable Puns: An English Language Activity

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<p>Nouns and adverbs and verbs, oh&nbsp;my!</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1605">Parts of speech</a> are the building blocks for English sentences, and studying them early on can be beneficial for English language learners. Along with common <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/english-sentence-patterns/">sentence patterns</a>, learning the parts of speech (nouns, verbs, prepositions, etc.) can help students form English sentences more&nbsp;easily.</p>

<p>But how do students know which vocabulary words are nouns, verbs, etc.? This is where <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/english-word-endings-suffixes-that-show-the-part-of-speech/">suffixes</a> (word endings) come into play. Learning common word endings can help students easily guess at the part of speech of a new vocabulary&nbsp;term.</p>

<p>Parts of speech and suffixes aren&rsquo;t just for beginner students. This knowledge can boost students&rsquo; abilities in both grammar and vocabulary at any level, and is quite useful for higher‑level students who need to decipher complex and unfamiliar words. Learning and practicing word families in context can help higher-level students with speaking and writing as well as on tests such as the&nbsp;TOEIC.</p>

<p>Try presenting the word family chart below to your intermediate- to advanced‑ level learners, and then see if they can complete the following practice exercise. Subscribers can access a printable pdf of the chart and exercise here: <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2668-advanced-word-families">Advanced Word Families</a>. See our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1605">Parts of Speech</a> lesson for lower‑level&nbsp;practice.</p>

<h1>Word Families</h1>

<div style="overflow-x: scroll; margin-bottom: 0;">
<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Verb</th>
			<th>Noun</th>
			<th>Adjective</th>
			<th>Adverb</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>act</td>
			<td>action</td>
			<td>active</td>
			<td>actively</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>apologize</td>
			<td>apology</td>
			<td>apologetic</td>
			<td>apologetically</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>beautify</td>
			<td>beauty</td>
			<td>beautiful</td>
			<td>beautifully</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>believe</td>
			<td>belief</td>
			<td>believable</td>
			<td>believably</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>benefit</td>
			<td>benefit</td>
			<td>beneficial</td>
			<td>beneficially</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>care</td>
			<td>care</td>
			<td>careful</td>
			<td>carefully</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>create</td>
			<td>creation</td>
			<td>creative</td>
			<td>creatively</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>decide</td>
			<td>decision</td>
			<td>decisive</td>
			<td>decisively</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>differ</td>
			<td>difference</td>
			<td>different</td>
			<td>differently</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>divide</td>
			<td>division</td>
			<td>divisive</td>
			<td>divisively</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>exclude</td>
			<td>exclusion</td>
			<td>exclusive</td>
			<td>exclusively</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>identify</td>
			<td>identification</td>
			<td>identifiable</td>
			<td>identifiably</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>justify</td>
			<td>justification</td>
			<td>justifiable</td>
			<td>justifiably</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>protect</td>
			<td>protection</td>
			<td>protective</td>
			<td>protectively</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>rely</td>
			<td>reliability</td>
			<td>reliable</td>
			<td>reliably</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>signify</td>
			<td>significance</td>
			<td>significant</td>
			<td>significantly</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>succeed</td>
			<td>success</td>
			<td>successful</td>
			<td>successfully</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>tolerate</td>
			<td>tolerance</td>
			<td>tolerable</td>
			<td>tolerably</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>understand</td>
			<td>understanding</td>
			<td>understandable</td>
			<td>understandably</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>
</div>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>Have students complete the sentences below with a form of the prompt word. Allow them to refer to the chart above. You may also want to have students identify the parts of speech. Note that they may have to change the word form by making a noun plural or conjugating a verb into the correct&nbsp;tense.</p>

<h2>Example</h2>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>#</th>
			<th>Prompt</th>
			<th>Sentence</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Ex</td>
			<td>protect</td>
			<td>Female bears are very <strong>protective (adjective)</strong> of their&nbsp;young.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Questions</h2>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>#</th>
			<th>Prompt</th>
			<th>Sentence</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>1</td>
			<td>succeed</td>
			<td>Practice and patience are the keys to&nbsp;______&nbsp;.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>2</td>
			<td>rely</td>
			<td>My best friend has never let me down. I&nbsp;______&nbsp;on her many times in the&nbsp;past.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>3</td>
			<td>differ</td>
			<td>I can&rsquo;t see what&rsquo;s&nbsp;______&nbsp;in the second version of this&nbsp;document.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>4</td>
			<td>act</td>
			<td>______&nbsp;speak louder than words.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>5</td>
			<td>apologize</td>
			<td>After tripping me on my way to my desk yesterday, my coworker&nbsp;______&nbsp;profusely.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>6</td>
			<td>identify</td>
			<td>Please show me your&nbsp;______&nbsp;and your insurance&nbsp;papers.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>7</td>
			<td>understand</td>
			<td>He was&nbsp;______&nbsp;upset when he heard about the&nbsp;accident.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>8</td>
			<td>divide</td>
			<td>There were so many&nbsp;______&nbsp;issues that they called a mediator&nbsp;in.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>9</td>
			<td>decide</td>
			<td>Because the manager reacted&nbsp;______&nbsp;, the problem didn&rsquo;t spiral out of&nbsp;control.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>10</td>
			<td>benefit</td>
			<td>This document was a&nbsp;______&nbsp;resource for the&nbsp;project.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Answers</h2>

<ol>
	<li>success (noun)</li>
	<li>have relied (verb)</li>
	<li>different (adjective)</li>
	<li>Actions (noun)</li>
	<li>apologized (verb)</li>
	<li>identification (noun)</li>
	<li>understandably (adverb)</li>
	<li>divisive (adjective)</li>
	<li>decisively (adverb)</li>
	<li>beneficial (adjective)</li>
</ol>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2668-advanced-word-families">Advanced Word Families</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1605">Parts of Speech Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2499">Parts of Speech Lesson &ndash; Young Learners</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2479-parts-of-speech-chart">Parts of Speech Chart</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2481-parts-of-speech-cards">Parts of Speech Cards</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2229-english-sentence-patterns">English Sentence Patterns</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2316-suffixes">Suffixes</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2523-suffix-flashcards">Suffix Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2521-prefixes">Prefixes</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2522-prefix-flashcards">Prefix Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/warm-ups-fillers/resources/2201-flying-affixes">Flying Affixes Activity</a></li>
</ul>


Word Families

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

Articles

<p>Australia Day is on January 26. Take a trip down under with our Word Bank lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2430" target="_blank"><strong>Australian Animals</strong></a>!</p>

<p>In this fun&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons" target="_blank">Word Bank</a> lesson, students will learn the spelling and pronunciation of common animals from Australia. This lesson includes plenty of illustrated activities for vocabulary review. Learners can also practice using the vocab in context with our discussion questions exercise.</p>

<p>The Australian animal images are also available as flashcards at the end of the PDF version of the lesson. Check out <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/10-ways-to-use-flashcards-in-class" target="_blank">10 Ways to Use Cards &amp; Flashcards in Class</a>&nbsp;for ideas on using animal flashcards!</p>

<h3>Activities include:</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Picture dictionary</li>
	<li>Matchup</li>
	<li>Word Choice</li>
	<li>Word Search</li>
	<li>Word Scramble</li>
	<li>Spelling Bee</li>
	<li>Discussion Questions</li>
	<li>Listening</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1889" target="_blank">Australia Day</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/117/lessons/2601" target="_blank">Kangaroos</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2429" target="_blank">African Animals</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2427" target="_blank">Zoo Animals</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2411" target="_blank">Animal Families</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/14/flashcard_categories/6" target="_blank">Animal Flashcards</a></li>
</ul>


Australian Animals Vocabulary Lesson

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<p>English language learners are taught early on that English sentences take a <strong>subject</strong> and a <strong>verb.</strong> The common sentence pattern &ldquo;SVO&rdquo; (subject-verb-object) gets drilled into their brains. What happens when those students see sentences with <strong>no subject</strong>, such as &ldquo;Close the door&rdquo; or &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t run in the&nbsp;hallways&rdquo;?</p>

<p>Verbs that don&rsquo;t have an obvious subject are called&nbsp;<strong>imperative verbs</strong>, and they are usually taught early on since they use the simple present tense. Use the teaching tips below to make sure your students understand the form and function of these common&nbsp;verbs.</p>

<h1>Form</h1>

<p>Imperative verbs take the first position in a sentence, so you can teach students to think of the pattern as <strong>V&nbsp;(+&nbsp;O)</strong> instead of the usual S&nbsp;+&nbsp;V&nbsp;(+&nbsp;O).</p>

<p>Imperative verbs actually do have a subject, but it is never stated. That subject is <strong>you</strong> (the second person singular or&nbsp;plural).</p>

<p>Imperative verbs are always stated in the <strong>simple present</strong>. Because the subject is the unstated&nbsp;<em>you</em>, the verb form is the simple present, second person singular form (which looks like a base verb). It never takes an <em class="inlineBlock">-s</em> (third person singular)&nbsp;ending.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Relax</strong>.</li>
	<li><strong>Finish</strong> your&nbsp;homework.</li>
	<li><strong>Take</strong> a deep&nbsp;breath.</li>
</ul>

<p>The negative form of imperative verbs also follows the negative simple present, second person singular form (<strong>do + not + verb</strong>). It is often contracted to <strong>don&rsquo;t&nbsp;+&nbsp;verb</strong>.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Do not speak</strong> French.</li>
	<li><strong>Don&rsquo;t run</strong>.</li>
	<li><strong>Don&rsquo;t work</strong> too&nbsp;late.</li>
</ul>

<p>Imperative verbs don&rsquo;t have a regular question form. Questions in English almost always include a subject. For example, <em>Do you like pizza?</em> is correct, but <em>Do like pizza?</em> is not correct. For higher‑level learners, you may wish to point out that imperative verbs can be used for very informal questions (usually to confirm something). For example, we can say <em>Bring a jacket, right?</em> or <em>Pass you this one or that&nbsp;one?</em></p>

<h1>Function</h1>

<p>We use imperative verbs to give commands or directions, state rules, or give advice. In fact, the word <em>imperative</em> means <em>commanding/important/controlling</em>.</p>

<p>Remind English language learners that imperative verbs can be directed at one person (i.e., the second person singular) or two or more people (i.e., the second person plural). Common uses of imperative verbs&nbsp;include:</p>

<h2>Use #1</h2>

<h4>Parents telling children what to&nbsp;do</h4>

<ul>
	<li>Do your homework!</li>
	<li>Do the dishes.</li>
	<li>Eat your dinner.</li>
	<li>Don&rsquo;t play with your&nbsp;food!</li>
</ul>

<h2>Use #2</h2>

<h4>Teachers giving instructions to&nbsp;students</h4>

<ul>
	<li>Finish the exercise on page&nbsp;8.</li>
	<li>Stop talking!</li>
	<li>Open your books to Chapter&nbsp;2.</li>
	<li>Don&rsquo;t look at your phones in&nbsp;class.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Use #3</h2>

<h4>Employers giving instructions to&nbsp;employees</h4>

<ul>
	<li>Hand in that report by&nbsp;Friday.</li>
	<li>Don&rsquo;t forget about the meeting&nbsp;tomorrow.</li>
	<li>Turn your computer off when you&nbsp;leave.</li>
	<li>Stop by my office.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Use #4</h2>

<h4>People in authority, such as police officers, telling other people what to&nbsp;do</h4>

<ul>
	<li>Don&rsquo;t drink and&nbsp;drive.</li>
	<li>Put all metal objects into this&nbsp;container.</li>
	<li>Fill out this form.</li>
	<li>Show me your ID.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Use #5</h2>

<h4>Rules, guidelines, or&nbsp;laws</h4>

<ul>
	<li>Don&rsquo;t run by the&nbsp;pool.</li>
	<li>Do not trespass.</li>
	<li>Take off your shoes.</li>
	<li>Dress appropriately.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Use #6</h2>

<h4>Friends or family members giving&nbsp;advice</h4>

<ul>
	<li>Don&rsquo;t forget to call him&nbsp;back.</li>
	<li>Follow up with an email.</li>
	<li>Don&rsquo;t borrow money from&nbsp;friends.</li>
	<li>Ask me for help anytime.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2818">Imperative Verbs</a> &ndash; Grammar Practice Worksheets</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2831">Imperative Verbs</a> &ndash; Fun Grammar Lessons</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1755">Following Procedures</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2119">Following Instructions</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/1991">How to Write a Recipe</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2482">Following Instructions at the Pool</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/visual-learning/resources/2215-following-the-teacher-s-instructions">Following the Teacher&rsquo;s Instructions</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/warm-ups-fillers/resources/2205-whose-to-do">Whose To-Do?</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/4/flashcard_categories/27">Daily Routines Flashcards</a></li>
</ul>


Imperative Verbs

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

EdTech

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you&nbsp;will.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Vernon Howard</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Mobile learning and advances in artificial intelligence mean most of the world has access to virtual voice assistants. Many of our learners know you can ask Siri, Alexa, and Google questions and receive a verbal response. Some of our learners might also have a device at home that helps them turn these virtual assistants into digital butlers. The devices allow people to command Alexa and Google to complete tasks such as ordering groceries, turning on the lights, and playing their favorite music&nbsp;playlists.</p>

<p>Encourage your students to practice English daily with their voice assistants using the tips and resources listed below. Continuous practice with voice activated technology will help your language learners enhance their speaking and listening skills while they are learning English in an engaging way. Remember that with each command you need to start with &ldquo;Hey Google/Siri/Alexa.&rdquo;</p>

<h1>Writing &amp; Editing&nbsp;Assistant</h1>

<p>Voice assistants make the writing and editing process more engaging. When editing their own writing or the writing of their peers, encourage students to use their voice assistants to check the spelling of words by asking Siri, Alexa, or Google, &ldquo;How do you spell ____?&rdquo; Students can also ask for synonyms or antonyms of words by asking, &ldquo;What are synonyms/antonyms for ____?&rdquo; Students can even ask grammar questions and be led to a website with more information and&nbsp;examples.</p>

<h1>Reading &amp; Research&nbsp;Buddy</h1>

<p>Encourage students to use voice assistants to help provide them with context, research, and help when they read. When students come across words they aren&rsquo;t familiar with, they can ask Siri, Alexa, or Google, &ldquo;What is the definition for ____?&rdquo; They can also translate words with the command, &ldquo;Translate ___ into ____&nbsp;(language).&rdquo;</p>

<p>Students can also ask their voice assistants about the author, the setting, or any other research question. The queries could be phrased as, &ldquo;Who is _____? What is ______? Where is ____?&rdquo; When the assistant doesn&rsquo;t know, then the assistant will lead students to websites with the information. Encourage students to click on the links and see what they&nbsp;discover.</p>

<h1>Interactive Fun</h1>

<p>Students can play interactive speaking games with their virtual assistants by downloading the free <a href="https://assistant.google.com/intl/en_us/platforms/phones/">Google Assistant app</a> on Android or iOS devices. On the app try the following interactive&nbsp;activities:</p>

<ul>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, Mad Libs.&rdquo;</em> Use this command to play the famous Mad Libs game with Google. Add nouns, verbs, and adjectives to help Google complete a&nbsp;story.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, talk to everyday heroes.&rdquo;</em> With this command, students conduct interviews with everyday heroes like police detectives or zookeepers. These are pre-recorded responses from real people who describe their jobs and answer other&nbsp;questions.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, let&rsquo;s play a game.&rdquo;</em> This command will prompt you with audio games, such as Mad Libs or Trivia, or chat games, such as Emoji Riddles and Movies. Guess the movie titles or riddles disguised as&nbsp;emojis.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, talk to Akinator.&rdquo;</em> With this command, Google turns into a genie who asks you a series of yes-or-no questions to guess the character you are thinking&nbsp;of.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, talk to Huffpost Headline Quiz.&rdquo;</em> With this command, Google plays a game answering questions about current&nbsp;events.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, I want to talk to Number Genie.&rdquo;</em> With this command, guess the number Google is thinking of by listening to the&nbsp;hints.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, talk to Space Trivia.&rdquo;</em> With this command, answer trivia about&nbsp;space.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, play Sports Illustrated Kids Trivia.&rdquo;</em> With this command, answer trivia about&nbsp;sports.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, are you feeling lucky?&rdquo;</em> Use this command to play a trivia game alone or with your&nbsp;friends.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, talk to Song Pop.&rdquo;</em> With this command, answer trivia about popular&nbsp;songs.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, crystal ball.&rdquo;</em> With this command, Google transforms into your very own fortune teller answering yes-or-no questions.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, call Dustin from Stranger Things.&rdquo;</em> If your students are fans of the TV series <em>Stranger Things</em>, they can have an interactive conversation with him answering trivia from the&nbsp;show.</li>
	<li><em>&ldquo;Okay Google, call Santa.&rdquo;</em> Use this command to talk to Santa and answer some questions for him as his&nbsp;helper.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Google Voice Experiments</h1>

<p>Google is encouraging coders to test the abilities of voice interaction technology with <a href="https://experiments.withgoogle.com/voice">Voice Experiments</a>. Visit the website to find free learning activities using the microphone on your computer. You can also play these games with a Google Home device. Below are a few of my favorite voice experiments for language learners. Make sure to allow access to your microphone. Some experiments require some setup and permissions before you&nbsp;begin.</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://mysteryanimal.withgoogle.com/">Mystery Animal</a> The computer pretends to be an animal. Students ask 20 yes-or-no questions aloud in order to guess the animal, and the computer&nbsp;responds.</li>
	<li><a href="https://experiments.withgoogle.com/voice/mixlab">MixLab</a> Students will enjoy creating their own music using voice commands like, &ldquo;Play me a funky bass&rdquo; or &ldquo;Add some jazz&nbsp;drums.&rdquo;</li>
	<li><a href="https://experiments.withgoogle.com/voice/story-speaker">Story Speaker</a> Students can create talking, interactive stories by writing their stories in a Google Doc and then adding the Story Speaker add-on for it to be read aloud. This requires some&nbsp;set-up.</li>
</ul>

<h1>More Ideas</h1>

<p>In addition to these engaging activities, you can ask your virtual assistant to give you homework help, sing you songs, read you a story, or read you a poem. Alexa calls the interactive commands &ldquo;Skills.&rdquo; You can do fun things like play a choose-your-own-adventure game by saying, &ldquo;Alexa, open the magic door&rdquo; or investigate a murder by saying, &ldquo;Alexa, open the Wayne Investigation.&rdquo; Check out the following links for more fun with virtual&nbsp;assistants:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="external-article"><a href="https://www.blog.google/products/assistant/family-fun-with-your-assistant-on-google-home-and-phones/">Family Fun with Your Google Assistant on Google Home and&nbsp;Phones</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/feature/digital-home/funny-google-assistant-3659188/">101 Funny Things to Ask Google Home and Google&nbsp;Assistant</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="https://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/1070-alexa-skills-games.html">20 Alexa Game Skills to Keep You&nbsp;Entertained</a></li>
</ul>

<p>How do you use technology to encourage students to practice speaking and listening in English outside the&nbsp;classroom?</p>

<p>If you want to receive more of Shelly&rsquo;s tips for online resources for teaching English, then <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/authors/shelly-terrell">check out her&nbsp;feed</a>!</p>


25 Engaging Ways to Practice English with Voice Assistants

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<blockquote>
<p>What are you gonna do in&nbsp;2018?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Though speaking quickly in another language can seem overwhelming at first, learning common language reductions (such as whacha, wanna, or gonna) can give students confidence in their speaking and listening&nbsp;abilities.</p>

<p>My students always enjoyed practicing reduced pronunciation&mdash;we&rsquo;d have a lot of laughs together even when they&rsquo;d get tongue‑tied. Two things help learners feel more confident when practicing reduced pronunciation: guided practice with lots of modeling and handy tips to help them, and plenty of encouragement along the&nbsp;way.</p>

<p>Remind students that even though reductions may sound like a whole other language at first, practicing reduced pronunciation means they&rsquo;ll be able to better decipher quick, natural speaking when listening to native speakers, and they&rsquo;ll sound more natural when speaking,&nbsp;too.</p>

<p>The beginning of a new year is a great time to focus on be going to. This future phrase is commonly used at this time of year when people are making and discussing New Year&rsquo;s resolutions and goals. Teach your learners how to pronounce <strong>going to</strong> as <strong>gonna</strong>, and encourage them to use it whenever they&rsquo;re discussing future&nbsp;plans.</p>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>In English, it is common to use be going to + verb instead of will + verb for expressing the simple future. (See <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-future-teaching-the-three-forms/" target="_blank">Simple Future: Teaching the Three Forms</a> for more teaching tips and information.) When English speakers are speaking at a normal rate of speech, it is common to reduce&nbsp;going to to gonna. The main reason for this is that be going to isn&rsquo;t conveying much important information&mdash;the main verb that follows is the important information in the&nbsp;sentence.</p>

<p>Model the following sentences for your students (or play the audio clip below) and have students repeat them using the same stress patterns and speed. I often used the expression &ldquo;<strong>Race to the Verb!</strong>&rdquo; with my students to help them remember to say everything before the main verb quite quickly, and then to slow down and stress the main&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>&nbsp;I&rsquo;m gonna <strong>practice</strong> English every day. (Remind students that they will see it written as &ldquo;I&rsquo;m <strong>going to</strong> practice&hellip;&rdquo; because gonna is only used in spoken&nbsp;English.)</li>
	<li>Are you gonna <strong>go out</strong>&nbsp;tonight?</li>
	<li>He&rsquo;s gonna <strong>do</strong> his&nbsp;homework.</li>
	<li>She&rsquo;s gonna <strong>buy</strong> a new&nbsp;dress.</li>
	<li>We&rsquo;re gonna <strong>play&nbsp;</strong>our new video&nbsp;game.</li>
	<li>Are they gonna <strong>go</strong> to Disneyland next&nbsp;year?</li>
</ul>

<p><iframe frameborder="1" height="154" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://audioboom.com/boos/2764121-reduced-pronunciation-gonna/embed/v3?eid=AQAAAOkyo1RZLSoA&amp;player_theme=light&amp;link_color=%2358d1eb&amp;image_option=none&amp;show_title=true" width="480"></iframe></p>

<h1>Notes</h1>

<h2>Note #1</h2>

<p>Remember that&nbsp;gonna is only used in&nbsp;<strong>speaking</strong>. We should <strong>never write gonna</strong> (with the possible exception of texting between&nbsp;friends).</p>

<h2>Note #2</h2>

<p>Point out that not all instances of going to can be reduced to&nbsp;gonna! It is only possible when the future phrase be going to is followed by a verb. The present progressive of go followed by the preposition of direction to can look similar to the future phrase be going to, but it is not the same and can&rsquo;t be reduced. Tell students that <strong>no verb = no gonna</strong> (we can&rsquo;t say&nbsp;gonna if it isn&rsquo;t followed by a verb). Note the following&nbsp;examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I&rsquo;m going to <strong>call</strong> my friend later. (gonna = correct / followed by a verb / we can say I&rsquo;m gonna&nbsp;call)</li>
	<li>I&rsquo;m going to <strong>the store</strong> later. (gonna = incorrect / not followed by a verb / we can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m gonna the&nbsp;store)</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2502" target="_blank">Simple Future</a>&nbsp;(Fun Grammar Lessons &ndash; YL)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1596" target="_blank">Simple Future</a> (Grammar Practice Worksheets)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1568" target="_blank">Future &ndash; What Are You Going to Do Tonight?</a> (Basic Grammar Sentences)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons/1638" target="_blank">Simple Future Stories</a> (Grammar Stories)</li>
</ul>


Reduced Pronunciation – Gonna

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<p>Are your students learning how to alphabetize words or lists? Knowing how to put words and lists in alphabetical order is very useful! Students who know how to alphabetize&nbsp;can:</p>

<ul>
	<li>find words in a print&nbsp;dictionary</li>
	<li>find numbers in a phone&nbsp;book</li>
	<li>find music in a&nbsp;store</li>
	<li>find movies online</li>
	<li>find books in a&nbsp;library</li>
</ul>

<h1>Christmas-Themed Alphabetizing Activities</h1>

<p>Alphabetizing doesn&rsquo;t have to be boring! Why not practice alphabetizing with a theme such as Christmas? (Adjust these activities to whichever theme you are using.) Here are some activities you can try in&nbsp;December:</p>

<h2>Alphabetize the Ornaments</h2>

<p>Does your school have a Christmas tree? Do you have a small fake one you could bring in to class? Gather some ornaments and have your students place them on the tree alphabetically from top to bottom. Alternatively, you could draw a big tree on your board, and have students come to the tree one at a time, drawing ornaments in alphabetical order. You may want to brainstorm a list to work with&nbsp;first:</p>

<ul>
	<li>angel</li>
	<li>ball</li>
	<li>bell</li>
	<li>bow</li>
	<li>candy cane</li>
	<li>garland</li>
	<li>lights</li>
	<li>nutcracker</li>
	<li>reindeer</li>
	<li>snowflake</li>
	<li>star</li>
	<li>wreath</li>
</ul>

<p>You could also use Ellii&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/media/flashcards/holidays-events/christmas" target="_blank">Christmas Flashcards</a> for this&nbsp;activity.</p>

<h2>Alphabetize a Wish&nbsp;List</h2>

<p>Invite students to the board to write one thing they want for Christmas. Then put students in groups of elves to alphabetize the list for Santa. Which elves work the quickest? You could also do this on a large piece of paper and tape it to your classroom&nbsp;door.</p>

<h2>Alphabetize Christmas Carols</h2>

<p>Give your students a list of Christmas carols and have them put them in order alphabetically. Then listen to a few Christmas songs and sing along with them.&nbsp;Here are some&nbsp;examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Away in a Manger</li>
	<li>Deck the Halls</li>
	<li>Frosty the Snowman</li>
	<li>Happy Christmas</li>
	<li>I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus</li>
	<li>Jingle Bells</li>
	<li>Joy to the World</li>
	<li>Little Drummer Boy</li>
	<li>O Christmas Tree</li>
	<li>Silver Bells</li>
	<li>Sleigh Ride</li>
	<li>White Christmas</li>
</ul>

<h2>Alphabetize Authors of Christmas Books</h2>

<p>Take out some Christmas books from the library and have your students alphabetize them by author. Teach your students that books are alphabetized by the last name of the author. Which group can alphabetize the books the&nbsp;quickest?</p>

<h2>Alphabetize Christmas Movies</h2>

<p>Give your students a list of Christmas movie titles. Have them put the titles in alphabetical order. Whoever finishes first (correctly) gets to choose which one to watch. Remind your learners that articles (a, an, the) are often ignored when putting titles in alphabetical&nbsp;order.</p>

<ul>
	<li><em>A Charlie Brown Christmas</em></li>
	<li><em>A Christmas Carol</em></li>
	<li><em>A Christmas Story</em></li>
	<li><em>Elf</em></li>
	<li><em>Home Alone</em></li>
	<li><em>How the Grinch Stole Christmas</em></li>
	<li><em>Miracle on 34th Street</em></li>
	<li><em>The Polar Express</em></li>
	<li><em>Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer</em></li>
</ul>

<h2>Alphabetize a Christmas To-Do List</h2>

<p>Put your students in groups and have them make a list of things to do before Christmas. Then have groups exchange the lists and put them in alphabetical&nbsp;order.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Bake cookies</li>
	<li>Buy a new dress</li>
	<li>Buy a turkey</li>
	<li>Decorate the tree</li>
	<li>Exchange gifts</li>
	<li>Go to a party</li>
	<li>Mail Christmas cards</li>
	<li>Sing carols</li>
	<li>Wrap presents</li>
	<li>Write to Santa</li>
</ul>

<h1>Tips for Alphabetizing</h1>

<ol>
	<li>First, make sure your students know the alphabet very well. You can use our <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/23/flashcard_categories/124" target="_blank">Letters Flashcards</a> for&nbsp;practice.</li>
	<li>Next, show students how to group a list of words by first letter. (Here is a fun <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCDYoEm5Ls8" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">video on alphabetizing</a> that you can show, or use the video to see a demonstration of how to teach a lesson on&nbsp;alphabetizing.)</li>
	<li>Now show students how to sort words within each alphabetized group by second letter (in alphabetical order) and third letter (and more if necessary). Explain what to do when two or more words have the same first and second&nbsp;letters.</li>
	<li>Teach students to ignore articles (a, an, the) in titles when alphabetizing lists (such as book or movie&nbsp;titles).</li>
	<li>Talk about when it&rsquo;s useful to put things in alphabetical order (e.g., attendance lists). Talk about the difference between alphabetical order and numerical&nbsp;order.</li>
	<li>When you are sure your students know how to alphabetize, show them how to do it quickly on a computer (using &ldquo;sort&rdquo; or an online tool such as&nbsp;<a href="http://alphabetizer.flap.tv/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Alphabetizer</a>).</li>
</ol>

<h1>Related Materials</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/holidays-events/december-holidays" target="_blank">December Holidays Lesson Collection</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/23/flashcard_categories/124" target="_blank">Letters Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/grammar-usage/2152-the-alphabet" target="_blank">The Alphabet</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/20" target="_blank">Christmas Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/visual-learning/2185-holiday-idioms-expressions" target="_blank">Holiday Idioms &amp; Expressions</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resources/warm-ups-fillers/2221-how-to-make-a-paper-snowflake" target="_blank">How to Make a Paper Snowflake</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/english-holiday-idioms-expressions-and-phrases" target="_blank">English Holiday Idioms, Expressions &amp; Other Common Phrases</a></li>
</ul>


Alphabetizing Fun – Christmas Activities

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<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a&nbsp;memory.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash; Dr. Seuss</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Students love capturing moments and sharing them in different ways via videos, photos, or audio. We can encourage students to revisit this treasure trove of content and share the bigger story of the memories through digital&nbsp;scrapbooking.</p>

<p>Several web tools and apps allow students to upload their photos, videos, and other media to a digital book with blank pages. Just like a physical scrapbook, students can organize the content as they wish and make the memories come alive with different fonts, stickers, frames, clipart, and&nbsp;backgrounds.</p>

<p>Digital scrapbooking inspires creativity, enhances storytelling skills, improves writing, and teaches students how to write using digital media. A digital scrapbook is also a heartwarming gift for family members. Below&nbsp;are tips and web tools to get your students started on a digital scrapbooking project. Always make sure to receive parental permission when students share their own personal photos and&nbsp;media.</p>

<h1>Focus on a Theme</h1>

<p>Digital scrapbooking can turn into a lifelong project and your students have plenty of memories to share. For now, start with a theme to focus the writing and storytelling. Themes might include revisiting a birthday, sporting event, age, celebration, holiday, and so forth. You might even have students create a digital scrapbook with memories of the current school&nbsp;year.</p>

<h1>Start with 3 Memories</h1>

<p>Tell students to think of their digital scrapbooks as a collection of memories and stories revolving around the theme. Students should first jot down at least three memories they want to create pages for in their scrapbooks. They should pick memories they have images and video for and can share. They can always add more memories later. They should put these memories in sequential order and jot down dates, places, people, and any other important facts. Then they should describe the event as best as they can remember with a focus on their emotions and&nbsp;experience.</p>

<h1>Verify the Details</h1>

<p>Outside of class, students will need time to verify the details by reviewing any documents associated with the event, such as flyers, tickets, or other keepsakes. They can also interview their family members or others who took part in the memories. Students will also need time to search for images, video, or other media associated with the memories and upload these files to the digital scrapbooking platform. Some suggested free digital scrapbooking web tools are suggested&nbsp;below.</p>

<h1>Layout and Design</h1>

<p>Instruct students to choose one image or video to be the focal point of the memory. Students can set the image apart with frames, stickers, or texts. The image can be placed at the center of the page and made bigger than the rest of the content or can be placed at the top left hand corner, since this is how we tend to read. The rest of the content students choose to include they should think of as highlights illustrating the emotions or activities as they&nbsp;unfolded.</p>

<h1>Integrate Writing</h1>

<p>Students should include details about the event, such as date, time, and a short description on the page. This might be through stickers or cool fonts. Then students can add brief thoughts, commentary, labels, or text speak. For example, students might write &quot;LOL,&quot;&nbsp;&ldquo;Best friends for life!&rdquo; or &ldquo;Poor me!&rdquo; On a following page, students can share the details of the memory through writing, video, or&nbsp;audio.</p>

<h1>Revision and Feedback</h1>

<p>When students finish their digital scrapbooks, get them to peer edit for grammar errors and some feedback on the design. You might want to try the 2 Stars and 1 Wish method, in which, students share two things they love about their peer&rsquo;s digital scrapbook and one suggestion for improvement. This might be to make the font bigger, space photos more, or spread out photos on a separate page. Students don&rsquo;t need to confine their memories to only one page. They can use multiple pages to share the three&nbsp;memories.</p>

<h1>The Finished Product</h1>

<p>When peer edits are finished, then post the revised scrapbooks for all peers to view. You can do this by curating the digital scrapbooks with a tool like <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/">Pinterest</a>.&nbsp;You can also just share these privately on the class virtual learning environment. Don&rsquo;t forget to share the finished products with parents who will also enjoy the&nbsp;memories.</p>

<p>Give students the opportunity to share their memories aloud and practice their speaking skills. Divide students into small groups to present their digital scrapbooks and share at least one of the&nbsp;memories.</p>

<h1>Suggested Web Tools</h1>

<p>The following free web tools and apps include a library of templates, stickers, fonts, images, banners, and more to inspire student&nbsp;creativity.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.edu.buncee.com/">Buncee</a> is a the perfect web tool and iOS app for a multimedia scrapbook with plenty of layout options, templates, stickers, frames, clip art, and Creative Commons content for students to access safely. Students can upload their own images, video clips, and audio&nbsp;clips.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.canva.com/">Canva</a> is a great web tool and iPad app for a digital scrapbook of student images and also has plenty of templates, stickers, and images students can choose from. Students can&rsquo;t embed video or&nbsp;audio.</p>

<p><a href="https://edu.glogster.com/">EduGlogster</a> is a web tool and app that allows students to combine their own images, graphics, audio, video and text to create a multimedia&nbsp;scrapbook.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.google.com/slides/about/">Google Slides</a> doesn&rsquo;t have a library of stickers, graphics, or templates to choose from, but students can add their own images, videos, and content to create a multimedia scrapbook. Google does have a library of very cool&nbsp;fonts.</p>

<p><a href="https://bookcreator.com/">Book Creator</a> is accessible as an iOS app and on Chromebooks. Students can combine text, images, audio and video to create their digital&nbsp;scrapbooks.</p>

<p><a href="https://spark.adobe.com/">Adobe Spark</a> and <a href="https://sway.com/">Sway</a> are other web tool options for creating multimedia digital scrapbooks. Both allow students to upload images, video, and other content. Adobe Spark is also an iOS&nbsp;app.</p>

<p>How do you encourage students to share their personal stories in your&nbsp;classroom?</p>


Inspire Meaningful Writing Practice through Digital Scrapbooking

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<h3>Christmas is coming!</h3>

<p>Our&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2438" target="_blank">Christmas Word Bank Lesson</a>&nbsp;</strong>is a fun, educational way to learn about this holiday. This nine-page lesson starts off with a fun, colorful picture dictionary and is followed by a variety of activities that will help your young learners stay engaged while they review the new words. This lesson also includes discussion questions so that your students can try using the new vocabulary in&nbsp;context!</p>

<h3>Activities include:</h3>

<ul>
	<li>Picture dictionary</li>
	<li>Matchup</li>
	<li>Word Choice</li>
	<li>Word Search</li>
	<li>Word Scramble</li>
	<li>Spelling Bee</li>
	<li>Discussion Questions</li>
	<li>Listening</li>
</ul>

<p>Find this lesson in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2438" target="_blank">Word Bank</a>&nbsp;section.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="collection"><a href="https://ellii.com/collections/16/lessons" target="_blank">December Holidays Collection</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/20" target="_blank">Christmas Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/visual-learning/resources/2185-holiday-idioms-expressions" target="_blank">Holiday Idioms &amp; Expressions</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/warm-ups-fillers/resources/2221-how-to-make-a-paper-snowflake" target="_blank">How to Make a Paper&nbsp;Snowflake</a></li>
</ul>


Christmas Vocabulary Lesson

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<p>Describing people is something that students learn to do early on. They learn how to use adjectives and nouns to describe people&rsquo;s appearance, personality, and feelings. But I&rsquo;ve often found that, whether it&rsquo;s a beginner‑level or intermediate‑level class, my students usually struggle with the answer to <strong>&ldquo;What is he/she like?&rdquo;</strong> Their automatic answer is to describe someone&rsquo;s&nbsp;appearance.</p>

<p>Students often have trouble grasping the differences between the questions and answers for <strong>&ldquo;What is he/she like?&rdquo;</strong> and <strong>&ldquo;What does he/she look like?&rdquo;</strong> They sometimes get <strong>&ldquo;What does she like?&rdquo;</strong> mixed up as well, since likes and dislikes are also covered in early learning stages. I&rsquo;ve found that pointing out a few key points about these three questions and answers all at once helped students keep them&nbsp;straight.</p>

<h1>1. Verb Used</h1>

<p>The verb is the easiest way to determine which question is being asked. For each of the questions, ask your students what the main verb&nbsp;is.</p>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Verb</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>What <strong>is</strong> he/she&nbsp;like?</td>
			<td><strong>be</strong></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What <strong>does</strong> he/she <strong>look</strong>&nbsp;like?</td>
			<td><strong>look</strong></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What [noun] <strong>does</strong> he/she&nbsp;<strong>like</strong>?</td>
			<td><strong>like</strong></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>2. Part of Speech</h1>

<p>One of the reasons these questions are so confusing is that <em>like</em>&nbsp;can be a <a href="http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/like" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">verb, noun, preposition, adjective, adverb, and conjunction</a> in English! Pointing out the part of speech helps learners realize that <em>like</em> can have different meanings (and therefore different responses to these&nbsp;questions).</p>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Part of Speech</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>What is he/she <strong>like</strong>?</td>
			<td><strong>preposition</strong></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What does he/she look&nbsp;<strong>like</strong>?</td>
			<td><strong>preposition</strong></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What [noun] does he/she&nbsp;<strong>like</strong>?</td>
			<td><strong>verb</strong></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>3. Meaning</h1>

<p>Now that your English language learners are familiar with the different structures of these three questions, let&rsquo;s take a look at the all‑important meaning&nbsp;differences.</p>

<p>When we ask about someone&rsquo;s <strong>personality</strong>, we want to know about that person&rsquo;s traits (e.g., funny, serious, shy, outgoing, intelligent, helpful, etc.). <strong>Appearance</strong> is a physical description (e.g., tall, short, blonde, brunette, light-skinned, dark-skinned, etc.). If the question includes another noun, we are asking about someone&rsquo;s personal <strong>preference</strong> (e.g., movie, food, season, school subject,&nbsp;etc.).</p>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Question</th>
			<th>Use</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>What is he/she&nbsp;like?</td>
			<td>to ask about someone&rsquo;s&nbsp;<strong>personality</strong></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What does he/she look&nbsp;like?</td>
			<td>to ask about someone&rsquo;s&nbsp;<strong>appearance</strong></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What [noun] does he/she&nbsp;like?</td>
			<td>to ask about someone&rsquo;s&nbsp;<strong>preference</strong></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>4. Examples</h1>

<p>The more examples your students see, the more confident they will feel in giving the right response to these questions. Show students the examples below, and then take it further by having students practice asking and answering in pairs, groups, or as a class. You may wish to point out that some answers about appearance may be considered <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/inclusive-language-in-elt" target="_blank">offensive or hurtful</a>&mdash;remind students not to describe someone&rsquo;s weight, age, or physical&nbsp;disability.</p>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Example Question</th>
			<th>Example Answer</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>What is your teacher&nbsp;like?</td>
			<td>She is kind, intelligent, and&nbsp;helpful.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What is your brother&nbsp;like?</td>
			<td>He is funny and&nbsp;talented.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What does your roommate look&nbsp;like?</td>
			<td>She is a beautiful, tall, Black girl.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What do you look&nbsp;like?</td>
			<td>I am short and have curly, red hair and&nbsp;freckles.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What kind of music do you&nbsp;like?</td>
			<td>I love hip-hop. I also like country&nbsp;music.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What school subjects does he&nbsp;like?</td>
			<td>He likes math and&nbsp;French.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Related</h1>

<p>Need more practice describing people? Try some of our lessons and&nbsp;flashcards!</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1751" target="_blank">Describing People</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/20/flashcard_categories/29" target="_blank">Flashcards &ndash; Descriptive Adjectives</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2093" target="_blank">Adjectives &ndash; Grammar Practice Worksheets</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2496" target="_blank">Adjectives &ndash; Fun Grammar&nbsp;Lessons</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adjective-order-and-punctuation" target="_blank">Adjective Order &amp;&nbsp;Punctuation</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2499" target="_blank">Parts of Speech</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/group-projects/3768-zodiac-project">Zodiac Project</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/lessons/word-bank/4231-hair">Hair</a></li>
	<li class="video"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3486" target="_blank">What&#39;s She Like? A Valentine&#39;s Story</a></li>
</ul>


Look Like Vs. Like

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Posts describing lessons or activities for the ESL classroom.

Activities

<p>American Thanksgiving is this Thursday! Have you tried Ellii&#39;s Thanksgiving-themed (US) <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2445"><strong>Word Bank</strong></a> lesson? We also have a new Fun Grammar Lesson on the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2502"><strong>Simple Future</strong></a>. Try both of these lessons before you try this follow-up Thanksgiving listening&nbsp;activity.</p>

<h1>Listening Activity</h1>

<p>Play the recording of the story <em>Grateful Girl</em> in class or have your students listen to it for homework. Ask your students to listen for the informal pronunciation&nbsp;(<em>gonna</em>).</p>

<p><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/233659999&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe></p>

<h2>Transcript</h2>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Grateful Girl</strong></p>

<p>Thanksgiving is coming up next week. I am going to go to my grandma&rsquo;s house with my family. For Thanksgiving dinner, my dad and grandma are going to make turkey with cranberry sauce, yams, and pumpkin pie. Before dinner, my brother and I will set the&nbsp;table.</p>

<p>Before we eat, we&rsquo;ll all say what we are thankful for. I&rsquo;ll go first. I am going to say that I am thankful for my family, my friends, my house, my school, my health, my city, my country, and our universe. My grandma is going to call me &quot;Grateful Girl&quot; like she always does. My brother will say that he is thankful for his cat and our&nbsp;TV.</p>

<p>After dinner, my brother and I will wash the dishes. We will not fight as we do the dishes! At least, I won&rsquo;t fight. The day after Thanksgiving, we are going to take Grandma to the mall. On Black Friday, Grandma will buy candy, desserts, and fashion magazines. I&rsquo;ll buy a gift for my best friend. It&rsquo;s going to be a great&nbsp;weekend.</p>

<p>What are you going to do for Thanksgiving? Where are you going to go and what are you going to eat? Will you go shopping? What will you buy? Most importantly, what will you be thankful&nbsp;for?</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Vocabulary</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Thanksgiving</li>
	<li>mall</li>
	<li>grateful/thankful</li>
	<li>turkey</li>
	<li>cranberry sauce</li>
	<li>yams</li>
	<li>pumpkin pie</li>
	<li>set the table</li>
	<li>wash/do the dishes</li>
</ul>

<h2>Questions</h2>

<p>Here are some questions you can ask your students after they listen to the&nbsp;story.</p>

<ol class="spaced-list">
	<li>Where is Grateful Girl going to go for&nbsp;Thanksgiving?</li>
	<li>What will Grateful Girl have for dinner on&nbsp;Thanksgiving?</li>
	<li>Why will the grandmother call her granddaughter <em>Grateful Girl</em> at the dinner&nbsp;table?</li>
	<li>What will Grateful Girl and her brother do before and after dinner?</li>
	<li>What is Grateful Girl NOT going to do after Thanksgiving&nbsp;dinner?</li>
	<li>What is Grateful Girl&#39;s family going to do on Black&nbsp;Friday?</li>
	<li>What will Grateful Girl&#39;s grandma&nbsp;buy?</li>
</ol>

<h2>Answers</h2>

<ol class="spaced-list">
	<li>Grateful Girl is going to go to her grandma&#39;s house for&nbsp;Thanksgiving.</li>
	<li>Grateful Girl will have turkey with cranberry sauce, yams, and pumpkin pie for&nbsp;Thanksgiving.</li>
	<li>The grandmother will call her granddaughter &quot;Grateful Girl&quot; because the girl will say that she is thankful for many&nbsp;things.</li>
	<li>Grateful Girl and her brother will set the table before dinner. After dinner, they will wash the&nbsp;dishes.</li>
	<li>Grateful Girl won&#39;t fight with her brother as they do&nbsp;dishes.</li>
	<li>Grateful Girl&#39;s family will go shopping at the mall on Black&nbsp;Friday.</li>
	<li>Grateful Girl&#39;s grandma will buy candy, desserts, and fashion&nbsp;magazines.</li>
</ol>

<h1>Writing Challenge</h1>

<p>Invite your students to write a similar story about their plans for Thanksgiving using the simple future. If your students don&#39;t celebrate Thanksgiving, they can make up some characters who do. Record your students reading their stories out&nbsp;loud.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/92">Thanksgiving Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2445">Thanksgiving Word Bank Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2502">Simple Future Lesson</a></li>
</ul>

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