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

Articles

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener&nbsp;receives.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Lilly Walters</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Chances are you might be attending or presenting at a conference this year. Conferences are a great way to make connections and share your experience with other&nbsp;educators.</p>

<p>ESL&nbsp;Library team members often present at and attend TESOL and other ELT conferences. Below are some tips we hope will help you deliver an incredible presentation. Feel free to connect with us at a conference. We would love to see you&nbsp;present!</p>

<h1>Focus on a Few Points</h1>

<p>Top presenters advise that an audience will remember up to three ideas. Choose the main takeaways of your presentation and remind your audience of these points at the end of the presentation. For those who want to know more, provide a handout or a link to your presentation&nbsp;resources.</p>

<h1>Share Your Reflections</h1>

<p>Many presenters make the mistake of sharing too much research or too many quotes or ideas from others. Your audience is interested in <em>your</em> thoughts, reflections, and experiences on the topic. Briefly mention the pedagogy and research, and for those who are interested, offer to provide a list of references or an emailed copy of your research. Keep in mind that the audience came to listen to you; therefore, the majority of the presentation needs to be about your insights, struggles, and&nbsp;solutions.</p>

<h1>Design a Compelling Presentation</h1>

<p>Like our language learners, we learn best with visuals and multimedia. Make sure your presentation is designed well and includes visuals, multimedia, video, or audio. Limit the amount of text you have on your slides. For more tips on designing a compelling presentation, check out this post:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/20-tips-and-resources-to-help-learners-with-their-presentation-skills/" target="_blank">20+ Tips and Resources to Help Learners with Their Presentation&nbsp;Skills</a>.</p>

<h1>Include a Warmer or&nbsp;Icebreaker</h1>

<p>Chances are your audience members have been sitting through several other presentations and their brains are already filled with information. Wake them up with a quick icebreaker, warmer, or filler. Even if you are not giving a workshop, movement stimulates the brain. We share some icebreakers in this post:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/a-beautiful-beginning-10-tips-resources-for-creating-a-safe-classroom-environment/" target="_blank">A Beautiful Beginning: 10+ Tips &amp; Resources for Creating a Safe Classroom&nbsp;Environment</a>.</p>

<h1>Allow Audience Input Toward the&nbsp;End</h1>

<p>Too many times I have seen a member of the audience hijack a presentation when allowed to share. Some audience members speak for too long or begin debates that can last for most of the presentation. You spent a lot of time preparing your presentation, so to maximize this time, invite your audience to share and ask their questions at the end of your presentation&nbsp;only.</p>

<h1>Include a Backchannel</h1>

<p>You can have your audience share throughout the presentation with a backchannel. If your audience is on Twitter, provide them with a hashtag to include their questions and thoughts. Other options are having the audience share online with these suggested web tools:&nbsp;<a href="https://padlet.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Padlet</a>, <a href="http://en.linoit.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Lino</a>, or <a href="https://todaysmeet.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Today&rsquo;s&nbsp;Meet</a>.</p>

<h1>Have a Plan B, C, D&hellip;</h1>

<p>The technology may fail you. Do not waste too much time apologizing or trying to fix the technology. Instead, continue with the learning and have a backup plan. If a video or audio clip doesn&rsquo;t play, move on. Prepare a presentation that does not require an Internet connection along with the one that does. One time, when my projector didn&rsquo;t work and I couldn&rsquo;t show my slides, I had the audience participate in activities with their mobile devices. (Good thing the topic was about language learning with mobile&nbsp;devices!)</p>

<h1>Provide a Copy of Your&nbsp;Presentation</h1>

<p>Make sure to let your audience know how they can get a copy of your presentation slides and resources. There are several web tools and websites where you can publish your presentation online. You can create a <a href="https://docs.google.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Google Doc</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.pbworks.com/wikis.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Wiki</a>, or <a href="https://www.weebly.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Weebly</a> with your resources. If you don&rsquo;t feel comfortable publishing your work online, offer to email your audience a&nbsp;copy.</p>

<h1>Invite the Audience to&nbsp;Connect</h1>

<p>If your audience loved your presentation, they might want to invite you to present at their schools or at another conference. Make sure to let people know how they can connect with you through email or on social media. You can provide a QR code with your contact information. People still exchange business cards at conferences, so have some on hand just in&nbsp;case.</p>

<h1>Connect on Social&nbsp;Media</h1>

<p>You can connect with your audience before and after your presentation through <a href="http://twitter.com/ESLlibrary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ESLlibrary/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Facebook</a>. Most conferences have a hashtag where you can discover other conference attendees, presenters, and bloggers. The conference hashtag is a great place to invite people to attend your presentation and to post your presentation resources for those who could not attend.</p>

<p><a class="button" href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-ultimate-hashtag-guide-for-english-language-teachers/" target="_blank">Shelly&rsquo;s Ultimate Hashtag Guide for ELT</a></p>

<p>Sometimes I schedule tweets with images and ideas <a href="https://twitter.com/shellterrell" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">on my Twitter account</a> to coincide with my presentation. Invite your audience to tweet during your presentation using the conference hashtag. Invite them to post pictures or their feedback. Often this will attract more people to your presentation or future presentations.</p>

<p>What tips do you have for those&nbsp;presenting?</p>


Top Tips for Presenting at ELT Conferences

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<p>Authentic materials are materials that are not created or adapted specifically for language learners. The language is real and raw just as it is in everyday&nbsp;life.</p>

<p>When used cleverly and blended with graded materials (ELT textbooks and mats), authentic materials can keep learners interested and engaged in language&nbsp;learning.</p>

<p>Many teachers think that it&#39;s too difficult to use authentic materials with low-level learners. The truth is, you simply need to choose items that allow you to work on a specific task or target (grade the task). In fact, you can even use materials that have very little text (cartoons, quotes, captions) with your high-level&nbsp;learners.</p>

<h1>An Example</h1>

<p>Let&#39;s have a look at how a charming video of a pre-schooler saying goodbye to random folks on an escalator can be used to practice English with all levels (and arguably all ages) of language learners.</p>

<p>Although there is very little language in this video, it can be used to exploit language in a variety of ways.</p>

<p>Like many videos that go viral on social media sites, this video is also highly engaging and can provide a nice break from textbook lessons (just two of many important reasons for incorporating authentic materials into your&nbsp;lessons).</p>

<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vUJIgkPoiBg?ecver=1" width="560"></iframe></p>

<h1>For the Absolute Beginner</h1>

<p>Play the video. The little girl can act as the model. Your students can practice saying bye and waving and smiling just as the people in this video do. This top-down approach (context before language) can inspire and motivate your learners. You could show this video before you introduce a ready-made lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1736" target="_blank">Saying Goodbye</a> that extends the language (<em>see you, later, bye for&nbsp;now</em>).</p>

<h1>For the Beginner &ndash;&nbsp;Low-Intermediate Learner</h1>

<p>Play the video to review a target vocabulary item you&#39;ve been working on such as <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons/1818" target="_blank">clothing</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1722" target="_blank">hairstyles</a>. Point to the people and pause the video as you go. Alternatively, you could show this video as an introduction to a unit on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1711" target="_blank">Going&nbsp;Shopping</a>.</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>What is the little girl&nbsp;wearing?</li>
	<li>What is he wearing? (point to people going&nbsp;down)</li>
	<li>What color hair does she&nbsp;have?</li>
	<li>What style of hair does she&nbsp;have?</li>
	<li>Whose outfit do you like best, and&nbsp;why?</li>
	<li>Which shoppers look fashionable/outdated?</li>
</ul>

<h1>For the Intermediate Learner</h1>

<p>You could use this lesson to introduce a unit on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2375" target="_blank">emotions and feelings</a>. You could also use it to follow-up on a lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/2257" target="_blank">making&nbsp;predictions</a>.</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>How does the little girl make people&nbsp;feel?</li>
	<li>How might the parent&nbsp;feel?</li>
	<li>How does the little girl make the other people&nbsp;feel?</li>
	<li>What body language do the people use to express their&nbsp;feelings?</li>
	<li>How does the video make you&nbsp;feel?</li>
	<li>Where do you think this scene takes&nbsp;place?</li>
	<li>Why is the girl&#39;s family standing&nbsp;there?</li>
</ul>

<h1>For the High-Intermediate to Advanced&nbsp;Learner</h1>

<p>You could use this video with high-level learners to inspire a critical thinking discussion or group activity. Have a group discussion using the questions below, and ask students to respond to their favorite question in a <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/selfie-videos-ell/">selfie video</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/assessment-tools/resources/2383-personal-opinion-assessment-tools">personal response</a>. You might even get students to create their own social experiment by having one student stand at the exit and say bye to students after school. Have another person record a video of the students&#39;&nbsp;reactions.</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li>Who does the little girl NOT say goodbye to? Why do you think she avoids this&nbsp;person?</li>
	<li>What do you think the people said to each other when they got to the bottom of the&nbsp;escalator?</li>
	<li>What effect do you think the little girl had on the people who waved&nbsp;back?</li>
	<li>How do you think the person who was filming this video was feeling? Would all parents allow or even encourage their kids to do something like&nbsp;this?</li>
	<li>Why do we find pleasure in a simple video like&nbsp;this?</li>
</ul>

<h1>Further Reading</h1>

<p>As is often the case with language learning methodologies, many ELT experts now believe that &quot;grading the task&quot;&nbsp;is not as simple as we were taught in teacher training courses. Here is some further reading to do on this&nbsp;topic:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="external-article"><a href="https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-authentic-materials" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Using Authentic Materials</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="http://www.richmondshare.com.br/revisiting-elt-mantras-5-grade-the-task-not-the-text/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Revisiting ELT Mantras #5: grade the task, not the text</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="https://elt-resourceful.com/2014/02/27/authentic-or-graded-is-there-a-middle-way/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Authentic or Graded? Is there a middle way?</a></li>
</ul>


Authentic Materials: Grading the Task

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

Grammar & Usage

<p>Learning how to express <em>possession</em> in English can be tricky for language learners. From <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/forming-the-possessive-of-words-ending-in-s" target="_blank">confusion over nouns ending in -s</a> to homophones such as <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-its-and-its" target="_blank">its/it&rsquo;s</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-youre-and-your" target="_blank">your/you&rsquo;re</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there" target="_blank">their/they&rsquo;re/their</a>, demonstrating ownership often leads to errors in spelling and usage. One way to clear up some of the confusion is to present possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns in a chart, side by side, and teach the different sentence positions. Your learners should make fewer mistakes with words such as <em>your</em> and <em>yours</em> with the following tips and&nbsp;chart!</p>

<h1>Form &amp; Meaning</h1>

<p>Possessive adjectives and pronouns both show&nbsp;<em>who</em> an object belongs&nbsp;to.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2371" target="_blank"><img alt="Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns chart" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/240/content_Tanya_Possessive-Adjectives-and-Pronouns_Chart.png" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2371" target="_blank">Possessive Adjectives &amp; Prounouns</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;Resources</p>

<h1>Sentence Position</h1>

<h2>Possessive Adjectives</h2>

<p>Possessive adjectives are always&nbsp;<strong>followed by a&nbsp;noun</strong>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Do you want to borrow <strong>my</strong>&nbsp;pen?</li>
	<li>That&rsquo;s <strong>her</strong>&nbsp;jacket.</li>
	<li><strong>His</strong> car is&nbsp;new.</li>
	<li><strong>Their</strong> children are&nbsp;sleeping.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Possessive Pronouns</h2>

<p>Possessive pronouns are <strong>never followed by a noun</strong>. Instead, they take the place of the noun. They function as the subject or object in a sentence, so they come either before or after a&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>That must be your book because this one is&nbsp;<strong>mine</strong>.</li>
	<li>We&rsquo;re happy that this house is finally&nbsp;<strong>ours</strong>.</li>
	<li><strong>Yours</strong> is the one on the&nbsp;left.</li>
	<li>His presentation wasn&rsquo;t that great, but <strong>hers</strong>&nbsp;was.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Commonly Confused Words</h1>

<h2>Your / You&rsquo;re</h2>

<p><em>Your</em> is a possessive adjective that comes before a noun. <em>You&rsquo;re</em> means <em>you are</em>, which functions as the subject and verb/auxiliary verb of a&nbsp;sentence.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Is that <strong>your</strong>&nbsp;dog?</li>
	<li><strong>You&rsquo;re</strong> not listening to&nbsp;me.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Their / They&rsquo;re /&nbsp;There</h2>

<p><em>Their</em> is a possessive adjective that comes before a noun. <em>They&rsquo;re</em> means <em>they are</em> and is the subject and verb/auxiliary verb of a sentence. <em>There</em> has many functions. Two of the most common are an indefinite subject and&nbsp;location.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Their</strong> bikes are locked in the&nbsp;garage.</li>
	<li><strong>They&rsquo;re</strong> playing in the&nbsp;park.</li>
	<li><strong>There</strong> is milk in the fridge. / It&rsquo;s over&nbsp;<strong>there</strong>.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Its / It&rsquo;s</h2>

<p><em>Its</em> is a possessive adjective that comes before a noun. <em>It&rsquo;s</em> means <em>it is</em> and is the subject and verb/auxiliary verb of a&nbsp;sentence.</p>

<ul>
	<li>What&rsquo;s wrong with <strong>its</strong>&nbsp;paw?</li>
	<li><strong>It&rsquo;s </strong>not what it looks&nbsp;like.</li>
</ul>

<p>Note that the possessive adjective <em>its</em> does not have a possessive pronoun&nbsp;counterpart.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">The dog is eating from <strong>its</strong> bowl.&nbsp;<em>(correct)</em></li>
	<li class="incorrect">That bowl is <strong>its</strong>.&nbsp;<em>(incorrect)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>For more practice with possessive adjective and pronouns, as well as subject and object pronouns, try the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1624" target="_blank">Pronouns&nbsp;1</a> lesson in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> section and the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2500" target="_blank">Possessive Adjectives &amp; Pronouns</a> lesson in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons" target="_blank">Fun Grammar Lessons</a>&nbsp;section.</p>


Possessive Adjectives & Pronouns

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<blockquote>
<p><strong>Teacher:</strong> Reported speech is easy to&nbsp;learn!</p>

<p><strong>Student A:</strong> What did our teacher say&nbsp;yesterday?</p>

<p><strong>Student B:</strong> She said that reported speech was easy to&nbsp;learn.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Direct speech (<em>teacher</em>, above) is used for dialogues and quoted speech, while reported speech (<em>student&nbsp;B</em>, above) is used at a later time to report what someone said. In English, we use reported speech (also known as <em>indirect speech</em>) often in speaking and writing to be more polite, to add information, or to form embedded questions. This grammar target can be tricky for students to learn because they have to remember to change the verb tense. Never fear! We&rsquo;ve got common tips and tricks to help your English language learners remember how to use reported speech. Providing them with a reference chart like the one below will also&nbsp;help!</p>

<h1>Tips &amp; Tricks</h1>

<h2>#1</h2>

<p>Remember to back it up! Most of the verb tense changes from direct to reported speech involve a move <em>backward</em> into the&nbsp;past.</p>

<ul>
	<li>simple present becomes simple&nbsp;past</li>
	<li>simple past becomes past&nbsp;perfect</li>
	<li>present progressive becomes past progressive,&nbsp;etc.</li>
</ul>

<h2>#2</h2>

<p>The relative pronoun <em>that</em> used after the reporting verb is optional, but commonly used. There is no difference in&nbsp;meaning.</p>

<ul>
	<li>John&nbsp;said <strong>that</strong>&nbsp;he would help me with my&nbsp;homework.</li>
	<li>John said he&nbsp;would help me with my&nbsp;homework.</li>
</ul>

<h2>#3</h2>

<p>Use <em>said</em> without a direct&nbsp;object.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">My sister said that she was&nbsp;tired.</li>
	<li class="incorrect">My sister said <strong>me</strong> that she was&nbsp;tired.</li>
</ul>

<h2>#4</h2>

<p>Use <em>told</em> with a direct&nbsp;object.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">They told <strong>me</strong> to check in at&nbsp;noon.</li>
	<li class="incorrect">They told to check in at&nbsp;noon.</li>
</ul>

<h2>#5</h2>

<p>A simple present verb can be reported in the simple present instead of the past when the action has just occurred or if the statement is a well-known&nbsp;fact.</p>

<ul>
	<li>He&nbsp;said that he&nbsp;<strong>loves</strong>&nbsp;me.</li>
	<li>He&nbsp;always tells me that he&nbsp;<strong>loves</strong>&nbsp;me.</li>
</ul>

<h2>#6</h2>

<p>Sometimes, when making predictions, the reporting verb is in the simple future and the other clause is in the simple&nbsp;present.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Maybe&nbsp;my roommate&nbsp;<strong>will tell&nbsp;</strong>them&nbsp;that she <strong>is</strong> too sick to go to the party.</li>
</ul>

<h2>#7</h2>

<p>In reporting imperatives (commands), remember to use the correct negative infinitive form (not&nbsp;+&nbsp;infinitive).</p>

<ul>
	<li>My parents&nbsp;told me <strong>not to run</strong>&nbsp;by the&nbsp;pool.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Chart</h1>

<p><img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1282/content_Tanya_Reported-Speech_Tense-Changes.png" /></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2367" target="_blank">Grammar &amp; Usage Resources &ndash; Reported&nbsp;Speech</a></p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1618" target="_blank">Direct &amp; Reported Speech</a> &ndash; Grammar&nbsp;Lesson</li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2367-reported-speech" target="_blank">Reported Speech</a> &ndash; Grammar&nbsp;Resource</li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a and="" href="https://ellii.com/blog/say-vs-tell-and-other-speaking-verbs" other="" say="" speaking="" target="_blank" tell="" verbs="" vs.="">Say Vs. Tell</a>&nbsp;&ndash; Blog Post</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2364" target="_blank">Embedded Questions</a> &ndash; Grammar&nbsp;Lesson</li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2345-embedded-questions" target="_blank">Embedded Questions</a> &ndash; Grammar&nbsp;Resource</li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/embedded-questions" target="_blank">Embedded Questions</a> &ndash; Blog&nbsp;Post</li>
</ul>


Reported Speech

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<p>With the US presidential inauguration taking place this week, words such as&nbsp;<em>inauguration</em> and&nbsp;<em>inaugural</em>&nbsp;are no doubt being seen and heard more frequently. When phrases such as&nbsp;<em>inauguration ceremony </em>and&nbsp;<em>inaugural ball</em> appear in articles, our students might start wondering when to use the different forms of this word family. They might also wonder when to use synonyms such as&nbsp;<em>commence</em> or&nbsp;<em>usher in</em>. Let&#39;s take a closer look at this word family and common&nbsp;synonyms.</p>

<h1>Word Family</h1>

<p>According to <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inaugurate" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Merriam-Webster&#39;s Dictionary</a></em>, <em>inaugurate</em> means <em>to induct into an office with suitable ceremonies, to dedicate ceremoniously</em>, or <em>to bring about the beginning of</em>. Its use is common in many countries when referring to a government official taking a new office. Here are the parts of speech for the&nbsp;<em>inaugurate</em> word&nbsp;family:</p>

<div class="table-container">
<table class="horizontal has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Word</th>
			<th>Part of Speech</th>
			<th>Example</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>inaugurate</th>
			<td>verb</td>
			<td>He will be inaugurated into office on January&nbsp;20,&nbsp;2017.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th rowspan="2">inauguration</th>
			<td>noun</td>
			<td>The presidential inauguration will take place in Washington,&nbsp;DC.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>adjective position</td>
			<td>The inauguration chairman spent months planning&nbsp;the&nbsp;event.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th rowspan="2">inaugural</th>
			<td>adjective</td>
			<td>Are any celebrities attending the inaugural&nbsp;ball?</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>noun</td>
			<td>They attended the mayor&#39;s&nbsp;inaugural.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>
</div>

<p>Since&nbsp;<em>inauguration</em> and&nbsp;<em>inaugural</em> can act as both nouns and adjectives, what should we teach our students to use? The good news is that the meaning will be clear no matter what they use, but here are a few&nbsp;guidelines:</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li><em>Inaugural</em> is not common as a noun. Save it for the adjective position. Use&nbsp;<em>inauguration</em> for&nbsp;the&nbsp;noun.</li>
	<li>For the adjective position, there are some collocations that students can&nbsp;memorize including&nbsp;<em>inauguration ceremony</em>,&nbsp;<em>inaugural speech</em>, and <em>inaugural address</em>, but tell&nbsp;them that&nbsp;<em>inaugural</em> is the more common adjective&nbsp;form.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Synonyms</h1>

<p>What&#39;s the difference between <em>begin</em>,&nbsp;<em>start</em>,&nbsp;<em>commence</em>,&nbsp;<em>initiate</em>,&nbsp;<em>inaugurate</em>, and <em>usher in</em>?&nbsp;<em>Merriam-Webster</em> has a great <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inaugurate" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">synonym discussion</a>&nbsp;that is very handy for English language learners. Here is a summary of that&nbsp;discussion:</p>

<ul class="spaced-list">
	<li><em>begin</em> is very common and is the most general&nbsp;word</li>
	<li><em>start</em>&nbsp;is also very common and is often used for first actions, steps, or&nbsp;stages</li>
	<li><em>commence</em> is more formal than&nbsp;<em>start</em> or&nbsp;<em>begin</em></li>
	<li><em>initiate</em>&nbsp;is more formal than <em>start</em> and&nbsp;is used for the first step&nbsp;of a continuing&nbsp;process</li>
	<li><em>inaugurate</em>&nbsp;is very formal and is used for the beginning of something&nbsp;official</li>
	<li><em>usher in</em> is less formal than&nbsp;<em>inaugurate</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/84/lessons/2349" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/84/lessons" target="_blank">American Presidents</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/98/lessons/2262" target="_blank">The 2016 Election</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/when-do-we-capitalize-president/" target="_blank">When Do We Capitalize &#39;President&#39;?</a></li>
</ul>


Inauguration: Word Family & Synonyms

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<p>A dictionary&#39;s Word of the Year reflects&nbsp;the general mood of a nation since it is chosen based on spikes in lookups. After&nbsp;many 2016 events with unexpected outcomes such as <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/98/lessons/2251" target="_blank">Brexit</a> and the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/98/lessons/2262" target="_blank">US election</a>, it&#39;s perhaps not surprising that <em>Merriam-Webster&#39;s </em>Word of the Year was &quot;<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/video/2016-word-of-the-year-behind-the-scenes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">surreal</a>&quot;&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Oxford Dictionaries&#39;</em> was &quot;<a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-year/word-of-the-year-2016" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">post-truth</a>.&quot;&nbsp;<em>Oxford Dictionaries</em> defines <em>post-truth</em> as an adjective that means &quot;relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.&quot; (We recently addressed this phenomenon in our new lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2348" target="_blank">Fake&nbsp;News</a>!)</p>

<p>The word&nbsp;<em>post-truth</em>&nbsp;also got our team here at ESL&nbsp;Library thinking about the hyphenation of words with prefixes. When dictionaries disagree on whether or not to hyphenate such words, what do we use in our materials? What&#39;s best for our&nbsp;students?</p>

<h1>To Hyphenate or&nbsp;Not?</h1>

<p>Since we have subscribers from all over the world, following a certain dictionary has always been problematic. With the majority of our customers being from the United States, our default spelling system is American English and we mostly follow&nbsp;<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><em>Merriam-Webster</em></a>. We have a Canadian version of most of our lessons, and for that we follow&nbsp;<em>Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English</em> (not available online, unfortunately). We also include a spelling note in the answer keys of our US lessons noting the&nbsp;British English differences in each lesson&mdash;for that, we follow <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><em>Oxford&nbsp;Dictionaries</em></a>.</p>

<p>We&#39;ve noticed that&nbsp;<em>Merriam-Webster</em>&nbsp;tends to follow the modern&nbsp;trend of dropping hyphens and closing up words. For example, they have entries&nbsp;such as <em>reelection, prebake,&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>nonnegotiable</em>.&nbsp;They don&#39;t have an entry for&nbsp;<em>posttruth</em>, but they have similar entries for&nbsp;<em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/post-" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">-post</a></em> including&nbsp;<em>postdebate, postseason,</em>&nbsp;and <em>posttreatment</em>.&nbsp;<em>Oxford Dictionaries</em>, while dropping the hyphen in more words nowadays than in previous years, still retain the hyphen in many words. They have entries for&nbsp;<em>re-election, pre-baked, non-negotiable,&nbsp;</em>and, of course,&nbsp;<em>post-truth</em>.</p>

<p>What have we chosen to do here at ESL&nbsp;Library? For words with prefixes, we&#39;ve chosen to keep the hyphen. We feel this helps students see and break down the parts of the word easily, which can lead to a better understanding of a word&#39;s meaning. For instance, students might have learned that&nbsp;<em>re-</em> means&nbsp;<em>again</em>, so if they see the word&nbsp;<em>re-elect</em> they would&nbsp;immediately know&nbsp;that the meaning of&nbsp;<em>again</em> is involved. If they see it as&nbsp;<em>reelect</em>&nbsp;it could&nbsp;be harder to catch. In&nbsp;<em>re-elect</em>, with the hyphen, the root word&nbsp;<em>elect</em> is clearly visible as well. They might already know that word or be able to quickly look up or ask about that&nbsp;portion.</p>

<p>The day when most reputable dictionaries no longer keep a hyphen in a particular word is the day that we will also drop it. We don&#39;t want to do students a disservice by presenting words in a form that&#39;s not common. Words such as&nbsp;<em>coworker</em> and&nbsp;<em>redo</em> are no longer seen with the hyphen in major dictionaries, so we&#39;ve also dropped&nbsp;it.</p>

<p>How do you deal with different spelling or punctuation systems in&nbsp;class?</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2348" target="_blank">Fake News Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/98/lessons/2262" target="_blank">The 2016 Election Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/when-to-use-hyphens-rules-for-multiple-word-adjectives/" target="_blank">When to Use Hyphens: Rules for Multiple-Word&nbsp;Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/creating-our-in-house-style-guide/" target="_blank">Creating Our In-House Style&nbsp;Guide</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i8dtuklg5U" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Importance of a Style Guide (Video with Tanya &amp;&nbsp;Tara)</a></li>
</ul>


"Post-Truth" & Hyphenation with Prefixes

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<p>We have a NEW <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/17/flashcard_categories/99">flashcard set of toys</a> just in time for Christmas! While you might think of toys as a subject only young learners would be interested in, adults enjoy the nostalgia of this theme too. Some of your students may even be parents who have a very practical need for this vocabulary this&nbsp;month.</p>

<h1>Ideas for Using Flashcards: Toys</h1>

<p>ESL Library&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/17/flashcard_categories/99">Toys</a>&nbsp;flashcard set features a wide variety of play things, including traditional toys like tricyles and blocks&nbsp;and more modern toys like handheld video game.&nbsp;Below you will find some ideas for using this updated flashcard set during the holiday season. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page for related lesson&nbsp;content.</p>

<h2>What would you like for Christmas?</h2>

<p>Choose one student to be Santa Claus. Put Santa on a chair at the front of the room beside another chair. Hand out toy flashcards to all of your students. Have each student take a turn talking to Santa. Students must describe what they want (the image on their card) without saying the name of the toy. Santa guesses. (Give more than one student a turn to be&nbsp;Santa.)</p>

<h2>Under the Tree</h2>

<p>Draw a tree on the board. Give each student a toy flashcard. Put a piece of tape on the back of the flashcards. Have students take turns putting their flashcard under the tree. They have to say who they would give this toy to and why. You can have them choose other students from their class or real people from their&nbsp;lives.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I am giving this tricycle to my nephew. He loves&nbsp;bikes!</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Toy Store Field Trip</h2>

<p>Take your students to the local toy store. Put your students in small groups or pairs. Give each group <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/17/flashcard_categories/99">a set of toy flashcards</a>. Have students search the store to find each toy. Which section or aisle did they find the toy in? They must make a list of where they found the toy and what other types of toys were in the same section. Which toy could they not find? Tell them to find one toy they have never seen before. Back at the school they can describe the toy. You can also ask them to find the most expensive toy,&nbsp;the least expensive toy, the prettiest toy,&nbsp;the funniest toy,&nbsp;etc.</p>

<h2>When I Was Young</h2>

<p>This is a game you can play with adults. Set out all of the flashcards on a table. Have students take turns picking up a flashcard and describing their favorite toy as a&nbsp;child.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>When I was a child, my favorite toy was a&nbsp;doll.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The other students have to ask at least five questions about the&nbsp;toy.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>What was your doll&#39;s name? Who gave you the doll? What did the doll look like? What happened to the&nbsp;doll?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If a student cannot find his favorite toy in the flashcards, he can draw it on the&nbsp;board.</p>

<h2>Reality Flashcards</h2>

<p>You&#39;ve heard about reality TV, but what about reality flashcards? Invite your students to bring the cards to life by telling true stories related to the cards. Hold up a card and ask the class this&nbsp;question:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Who has a real life story about this&nbsp;toy?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>True stories will help your students remember the words. After the story time, ask the students which story was the most memorable and why. Encourage the other students to ask the storyteller at least three&nbsp;questions.</p>

<p><em>The teacher pulls out the &quot;stickers&#39;&nbsp;fashcard.</em></p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Student A:</strong> I have a story! My sister and I collected stickers when we were&nbsp;kids.</p>

<p><strong>Student B:</strong> What kind of stickers?</p>

<p><strong>Student A:</strong> Hello Kitty and fairy stickers.</p>

<p><strong>Student C:</strong> Did you have a sticker book?</p>

<p><strong>Student A:</strong> No, we had a sticker box.</p>

<p><strong>Student D:</strong> What happened to all of your&nbsp;stickers?</p>

<p><strong>Student A:</strong> I put them on letters to my&nbsp;relatives.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If no student volunteers to tell a story, try a different card or tell a real life story of your own and have the students ask you&nbsp;questions.</p>

<h2>Elves&#39; Workshop</h2>

<p>Tell your students to pretend they are elves. They have to make all of the toys (flashcards). What will they need to build each toy? Hold out the flashcards one at a&nbsp;time.</p>

<p><em>The teacher pulls out the &quot;doll house&quot; flashcard.</em></p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Teacher:</strong> Molly wants a doll house. What do we need to make&nbsp;it?</p>

<p><strong>Elf 1:</strong> Wood.</p>

<p><strong>Teacher:</strong> Yes, what else do we&nbsp;need?</p>

<p><strong>Elf 2:</strong> Fabric to make curtains and sheets for the&nbsp;beds.</p>

<p><strong>Elf 3:</strong> And we need a drill to cut out the windows and&nbsp;doors.</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Dear Santa</h2>

<p>Give students a flashcard and tell them to write a letter to Santa asking for this toy for Christmas. Have students peer correct and respond to the&nbsp;letters.</p>

<h2>Kids Christmas Party</h2>

<p>Your classroom is an office and the workers are organizing the work Christmas party. Review all of the flashcards and make notes about each toy. Discuss these things as a class. Allow students to disagree about age, gender,&nbsp;etc.</p>

<blockquote>
<p><strong>Age appropriateness:</strong> preschool, primary school, junior, high school (or by&nbsp;age)</p>

<p><strong>Gender:</strong> Male, Female,&nbsp;Unisex</p>

<p><strong>Interest:</strong> educational, adventure, outdoor, fantasy, building,&nbsp;creative</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Toy Combo</h2>

<p>Put your students in pairs or small groups. Hand out two flashcard to each group. Students have to design a toy that uses parts from both flashcards. Students present the toy combo. They have to answer the&nbsp;following:</p>

<ul>
	<li>What is the name of the&nbsp;toy?</li>
	<li>What does the toy&nbsp;do?</li>
	<li>What age group would have this&nbsp;toy?</li>
	<li>How much would this toy sell&nbsp;for?</li>
</ul>

<h2>Toy of the Year</h2>

<p>This is a fun activity if your students are learning to compare and contrast. Give each student one flashcard from the set. Then, have your students research the <strong>Toy of the Year</strong>. (Your students may come up with different results for &#39;Toy of the&nbsp;Year&#39;.)</p>

<blockquote>
<p>How does the toy of the year compare to the toy on the&nbsp;flashcard?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Have students write a paragraph or prepare a presentation comparing the two&nbsp;toys.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson">Holidays &amp; Events: <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1946">Christmas (Beg)</a></li>
	<li class="lesson">Holidays &amp; Events: <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1854">Christmas (Low Int)</a></li>
	<li class="lesson">Holidays &amp; Events: <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1853">Christmas (High Int)</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards">Flashcards: <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/20">Christmas</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Please share your own ideas, lessons, and activities related to <strong>Toys and Flashcards</strong> in the comments&nbsp;below.</p>


Toys Flashcards: Games & Activities for the ESL Classroom

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<p>I&#39;ve been thinking a lot about one of the sessions that I attended at the TESL Ontario conference a few weeks ago. It was a session about authentic speech by Marijke Wertheim, a TESOL instructor at the University of&nbsp;Toronto. Since many of our subscribers were unable to attend the conference, I thought I&#39;d summarize what I learned and hopefully inspire you to catch this speaker next time she&#39;s presenting at a conference near&nbsp;you. Here are three of the main points Marijke made in her session about authentic&nbsp;speech:</p>

<h1>1. Encourage ELLs to take ownership of the&nbsp;language</h1>

<p>Marijke spoke a lot about getting students to feel like English is theirs to learn and play with rather than feeling like they are borrowers of the language from native speakers and teachers. She suggested that students explore which English voices they like and what they like about them so that they can find a realistic model to study and replicate. In Marijke&#39;s opinion, finding a model whose native language is the same as their own, but who speaks English fluently, would be&nbsp;ideal.</p>

<h1>2. Reconsider what fluency really&nbsp;is</h1>

<p>Marijke spent a lot of time helping us rethink the definition of fluency. While most English learners insist that they want to become fluent in English, they don&#39;t realize what this really means. Teachers can take some of the blame for this, since many of us have unrealistic expectations of our students when it comes to speaking. As Marijke pointed out, if a student has perfect grammar, but there is no flow to the conversation, this is not fluency. A speaker will sound more fluent if there is flow and meaning even with some inaccuracy in the&nbsp;language. Marijke suggested that as teachers we often use &quot;an ineffective yardstick&quot;&nbsp;to judge our learners&#39; speaking abilities. We want them to use the grammar we&#39;ve taught them in a perfect way (as we&#39;d like it presented in written English), even though native speakers don&#39;t talk this way. As she pointed out, we don&#39;t go around correcting native speakers for accuracy, so we shouldn&#39;t spend so much time pointing out the imperfect English of our students. Rather than focusing on structural errors, we should be emphasizing the importance of &quot;chunks of meaning&quot; as well as &quot;turn-taking&quot;&nbsp;and&nbsp;flow.</p>

<h1>3. Spend time looking at the messiness of spoken&nbsp;language</h1>

<p>As Marijke demonstrated with several real-life scripts, spoken English is messy. We pause and hesitate, we use fillers (<em>uh, um, well, yeah, hmm</em>), and we make up lots of words (<em>kinda, sorta, geesh</em>) or even choose the wrong ones. Without this messiness, we wouldn&#39;t sound like ourselves. In fact, we&#39;d all sound like speech-to-text robots, wouldn&#39;t we? This brings us back to point #1; it&#39;s time to start encouraging students to make this language their&nbsp;own.</p>

<h1>Summary &amp;&nbsp;Tips</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Tell your students to eavesdrop on real conversations and get them to report back what they&nbsp;hear.</li>
	<li>Spend time reading and practicing scripts with real language (with all of its&nbsp;messiness).</li>
	<li>Challenge learners to turn spoken scripts into written work and written pieces into authentic scripts. Review the&nbsp;differences.</li>
	<li>Analyze the length of natural pauses and the speed of real conversations (when they speed up, you speed&nbsp;up).</li>
	<li>Teach them vague language (<em>sort of, kinda, greenish</em>).</li>
	<li>Study collocations and practice using&nbsp;them.</li>
	<li>When teaching manners and etiquette, also talk about the importance of tone. (&quot;How you order a coffee reflects who you&nbsp;are.&quot;)</li>
	<li>Practice small talk&nbsp;scripts.</li>
	<li>Encourage students to find a model English speaker that they can&nbsp;study.</li>
</ul>

<p>While most of the attendees at this session were teachers, there were plenty of takeaways for materials writers too. After all, if the scripts we write don&#39;t sound authentic, what is the point of using them as&nbsp;exemplars? In a recent <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/110/lessons">Super Simple Questions</a> lesson, one of the original dialogues included the expression &quot;too bad&quot;&nbsp;(i.e., <em>too bad for you / take it or leave it</em>). This was a low-level lesson, and we ended up softening the language to make it sound a bit less rude. Did we do a disservice to learners by adjusting the script? Finding new ways to bring authentic speech (small talk, fillers, sarcasm, teasing, etc.) into our materials is something we&#39;ll be exploring in 2017 thanks to this thought-provoking session.<br />
<br />
Thank you,&nbsp;Marijke!</p>


Helping ELLs Find Their Authentic Voice

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

Teaching with Ellii

<p>Back in January 2012, our team had a big discussion about where to place the main vocabulary task in a lesson. Some of our lesson sections had the reading before the vocabulary task, with the idea that vocabulary could be learned/confirmed after seeing it in context. However, our team and many of our subscribers felt that previewing the vocabulary before seeing it in the reading was easier on students.</p>

<p>We then changed most of our sections that include a reading (e.g., <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Discussion Starters</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons">Famous People</a>, etc.) to include a vocabulary preview task. Most of the textbooks I had used during my teaching years also presented the vocabulary first, so I was fully on board with this&nbsp;approach.</p>

<p>At the recent 2016 TESL Ontario conference in Toronto, head writer Tara Benwell had a discussion with a teacher whose students found it difficult to match up vocabulary words and definitions before they had seen them in the reading. The teacher pointed out that words used in the definitions can sometimes present more challenges than the actual key words.</p>

<p>This led to another team discussion about where and when to present a vocabulary task within a lesson. What is best for our students? Let&rsquo;s take&nbsp;a look at the benefits to different&nbsp;approaches.</p>

<h1>Approach #1</h1>

<h4>Vocabulary Before</h4>

<p>ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s preference is to introduce vocabulary before presenting the reading or listening task. Some benefits to a vocabulary preview task&nbsp;are:</p>

<ul>
	<li>students can focus on vocabulary alone and then focus on&nbsp;reading</li>
	<li>the reading is easier to&nbsp;understand</li>
	<li>there is less of a need to stop and look up words (stopping makes it harder to get the gist of a&nbsp;reading)</li>
	<li>students have a handy list for later&nbsp;review</li>
	<li>there is more exposure to new&nbsp;words</li>
</ul>

<p>Having a vocabulary preview task before the reading means that students will get the maximum exposure to the words. If a lesson has a preview task, the words highlighted in context, and a review task, then students are seeing and digesting new words at least three times. Repetition is key where vocabulary retention is&nbsp;concerned.</p>

<h1>Approach #2</h1>

<h4>Vocabulary During</h4>

<p>Benefits to learning vocabulary during a lesson could&nbsp;include:</p>

<ul>
	<li>students may be able to infer the meaning of new words from&nbsp;context</li>
	<li>students learn a keyword as a specific part of speech in a&nbsp;sentence</li>
	<li>students realize they don&rsquo;t need to know every word to understand the gist of a&nbsp;eading</li>
	<li>they can apply this to reading material outside of the classroom (where there won&rsquo;t be a list of vocabulary&nbsp;words)</li>
</ul>

<p>It&rsquo;s up to the teacher to decide whether students can use their dictionaries or ask the teacher vocabulary questions during the reading, or just try to infer meaning from context. In my experience, students often feel pressured or frustrated when they have to rely on inferring meaning from context alone. Letting them use dictionaries in their own languages also discourages an English‑thinking mentality and may not be the best&nbsp;approach.</p>

<p>I&rsquo;ve had some success with answering vocabulary questions during or just after the reading, but if there are too many, then those students that already know most of the words can feel like their time is being wasted. However, context learning is a valuable skill, and it&rsquo;s good to try this approach at least once in a while. Remind students that in the real world, they won&rsquo;t see a vocabulary list along with what they&rsquo;re reading (nor will they always be able to consult their&nbsp;dictionaries).</p>

<h1>Approach #3</h1>

<h4>Vocabulary After</h4>

<p>Reviewing vocabulary after learning it before or during the reading is very beneficial. But what about saving all vocabulary discussion and tasks until after the reading? Some benefits to having the vocabulary task after the reading might&nbsp;include:</p>

<ul>
	<li>the vocabulary task might make more sense because students have seen it in&nbsp;context</li>
	<li>students can see how well they inferred the meaning of new words from context by completing a task and getting a&nbsp;score</li>
	<li>they will see which words they know well and which need more&nbsp;practice</li>
	<li>they can go back and see the word in context to help them if they still can&rsquo;t work out the&nbsp;meaning</li>
</ul>

<h1>Our Conclusion</h1>

<p>Why not have the best of all three worlds? A vocabulary preview task, highlighted vocabulary in context, and a vocabulary review task allow students to reap the benefits of all three approaches. Most of our lessons follow this&nbsp;format.</p>

<p>At this point, we are sticking with our vocabulary preview matchup task, but we have changed the instructions&nbsp;from:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Match the words on the left to the correct meanings on the&nbsp;right.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>to:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Match up as many words and meanings as you can. Check this exercise again after seeing the words in context on page&nbsp;2.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>We hope that this will give students a chance to learn some new words without feeling the pressure to get a perfect score. Students may find the following reading task easier with some background vocabulary knowledge. Teachers can also use this task to assess how many words students already&nbsp;know.</p>

<p>We always encourage teachers to try different approaches to see what works best for their students. For example, try one lesson as is, but try the next doing the reading first and introducing the vocabulary after (i.e., do the warm‑up, but then do the page&nbsp;2 reading before the page&nbsp;1 vocabulary preview task). Or present the vocabulary preview in a more interactive way&mdash;for example, try cutting up the words and definitions and having groups of students match them up. Find more ideas in this post: <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-ways-to-teach-new-vocabulary">4 Ways to Teach New&nbsp;Vocabulary</a>.</p>

<p>We will also continue to have a vocabulary review task or two after the reading part of our lessons. For other ideas on reviewing vocabulary, see <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-activities-for-reviewing-vocabulary">4 Activities for Reviewing&nbsp;Vocabulary</a>.</p>

<p>How and when do you teach vocabulary in class? Do you prefer previewing vocabulary or having students see the words in context for the first time? We&rsquo;d love to hear from you in the comments section&nbsp;below!</p>


When Should You Teach Vocabulary?

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<p>An embedded question is a question that is <em>inside</em> another question or statement. This grammar point is sometimes explained on its own or in a lesson on noun clauses or reported speech (more on this&nbsp;below).</p>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Tip</h5>

<p>To help students remember what an embedded question is, think of &ldquo;embed&rdquo; as &ldquo;in bed.&rdquo; When you&rsquo;re in bed, you&rsquo;re tucked in between the sheets. An embedded question is simply a question tucked inside another&nbsp;one!</p>
</div>

<p>Embedded questions can cause confusion for English language learners because they follow a normal Subject-Verb-Object pattern instead of a typical inverted question pattern. Let&rsquo;s take a closer&nbsp;look!</p>

<h1>Two Types</h1>

<h2>1. Embedded Questions within&nbsp;Questions</h2>

<p>Here are some examples of an embedded question within another question. For patterns and uses, see the notes below the&nbsp;charts.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2345"><img alt="Embedded Questions within Questions chart" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/241/content_Tanya_Embedded-Questions-within-Questions.png" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2345">Embedded Questions</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;Resources</p>

<h2>2. Embedded Questions within&nbsp;Statements</h2>

<p>Here are some examples of an embedded question within an affirmative or negative sentence. Note that we do&nbsp;<em>not</em> use a question mark for these statements even though they contain a&nbsp;question.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2345"><img alt="Embedded Questions within Statements chart" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/242/content_Tanya_Embedded-Questions-within-Statements.png" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2345">Embedded Questions</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;Resources</p>

<h1>Patterns</h1>

<h2>1. Sentence Pattern</h2>

<p>A normal English sentence follows this pattern: Subject + Verb (+ Object) or&nbsp;<strong>SVO</strong>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>She (S) sang&nbsp;(V).</li>
	<li>The girl (S) walked (V) her&nbsp;dog&nbsp;(O).</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Question Pattern</h2>

<p>A normal question has an inversion of the sentence pattern, and looks like this: (Question Word) + Auxiliary Verb + Subject + Main Verb (+ Object) or <strong>VSVO</strong>. For the Be verb, it looks like this:&nbsp;<strong>VSO</strong>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>What (Question Word) did (Aux V) he (S) say&nbsp;(V)?</li>
	<li>Do (Aux V) you (S) like (V) pizza&nbsp;(O)?</li>
	<li>Is&nbsp;(Be) he (S)&nbsp;sleepy?</li>
</ul>

<h2>3. Embedded Question Pattern</h2>

<p>In an embedded question, the question inside the statement or other question follows a <strong>sentence pattern</strong> instead of a question pattern: <strong>SVO</strong>. The introductory phrases follow the normal sentence (SV) or question (VS)&nbsp;patterns.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I (S) don&rsquo;t know (V) [what (question word) I (S) should do&nbsp;(V)].</li>
	<li>Do (Aux V) you (S) think (V) [we (S) need (V) more time&nbsp;(O)]?</li>
</ul>

<h1>Uses</h1>

<p>When and why do we use embedded questions in&nbsp;English?</p>

<h2>1. To be more polite</h2>

<ul>
	<li>What time is it? <em>(normal&nbsp;question)</em></li>
	<li>Could you (please) tell me what time it is? <em>(embedded question = more&nbsp;polite)</em></li>
</ul>

<h2>2. To give more information</h2>

<ul>
	<li>I wonder if she&rsquo;ll call me. <em>(expresses&nbsp;curiosity)</em></li>
	<li>I don&rsquo;t know where my bag is. <em>(expresses lack of&nbsp;knowledge)</em></li>
	<li>I want to know when this meeting will start.<em> (expresses desire for&nbsp;knowledge)</em></li>
</ul>

<h2>3. To change direct speech to reported&nbsp;(indirect)&nbsp;speech</h2>

<ul>
	<li>&ldquo;What do you want to know?&rdquo; <em>(direct&nbsp;speech)</em></li>
	<li>He asked me what I wanted to know. <em>(reported&nbsp;speech)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>Notes</h1>

<h2>Note #1</h2>

<p>Embedded questions are a type of <strong>noun clause</strong>. A noun clause is a complete sentence (SVO) that serves as a subject or object of another&nbsp;sentence.</p>

<ul>
	<li>What do you mean?&nbsp;<em>(SV)</em></li>
	<li>I don&rsquo;t know <em>(SV)</em> [what you mean&nbsp;<em>(SV)</em>]. (<em>What you mean&nbsp;</em>serves as the object of the sentence <em>I don&rsquo;t&nbsp;know</em>.)</li>
</ul>

<h2>Note #2</h2>

<p>Don&rsquo;t use contractions at the end of an embedded clause. (Tell students this follows the same rule as short answers in English&mdash;we can say <em>Yes, he is</em> but we can never say&nbsp;<em>Yes,&nbsp;he&rsquo;s</em>.)</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">Do you know what time it&nbsp;is?</li>
	<li class="incorrect">Do you know what time&nbsp;it&rsquo;s?</li>
</ul>

<h2>Note #3</h2>

<p><em>Who knows</em> is used for questions, but it can also be used for statements. English speakers often use this phrase as a statement when they are surprised or&nbsp;frustrated.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">Who knows the answer to&nbsp;#2?</li>
	<li class="correct">Who knows what she meant by&nbsp;that.</li>
	<li class="correct">Who knows when this week will start getting&nbsp;better!</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2364">Embedded Questions</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2345-embedded-questions">Embedded Questions</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1618">Direct and Reported Speech</a></li>
</ul>


Embedded Questions

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<h1>Meanwhile in Canada&hellip;</h1>

<p><em>Canadian Geographic</em> announced this week that after a year of polling and consulting and debating, the &#39;gray jay&#39; is their top choice for <a href="https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/meet-our-national-bird-gray-jay" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">National Bird of&nbsp;Canada</a>. News got around quickly on Twitter as #CanadaBird began to trend.</p>

<p>While many Canadians wondered why a more well-known bird such as the loon or Canada goose weren&#39;t chosen, other language geeks (including our very own illustrator Robyn), wondered why Canadian journalists were calling it a &quot;gray jay&quot;&nbsp;instead of a &quot;grey jay.&quot;&nbsp;In fact, some Canadians were so angry with the choice (and spelling) that they began using the hashtag&nbsp;#NotMyNationalBird.</p>

<p>When we asked <em>Canadian Geographic</em> to comment on the spelling, they responded that &quot;gray jay&quot;&nbsp;was the &quot;scientific&quot;&nbsp;name. (And here we thought that was <em>Perisoreus canadensis</em>.) From what our editor Tanya gathered from <em>Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English</em>, this bird is also known as the &quot;grey jay&quot;&nbsp;or more commonly the &quot;whisky jack&quot;&nbsp;(though many spell it &quot;whiskey jack&quot;&nbsp;due to its origins in&nbsp;the <a href="http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/gray-jay-canadians-ruffled-over-national-bird-they-ve-never-heard-of-1.3164852" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cree &amp; Algonquin</a> languages) or &quot;Canada&nbsp;jay.&quot;</p>

<p>Some eagle-eyed subscribers may have already noticed that we quickly added the &quot;gray jay&quot;&nbsp;to our recently completed <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/14/flashcard_categories/16" target="_blank">Birds flashcard set</a>. Unlike our ready-made lessons, which are offered in Canadian and/or US spelling, our flashcards default to US usage, which is why we&#39;ve used the American spelling &quot;gray jay&quot; for our latest&nbsp;addition.</p>

<p>If you teach in Canada and are using this flashcard to share this fascinating Canadian news with your students, we welcome you to adjust the spelling by editing the image before you hit print (as you can do with any of the 2,000+ vocabulary images in our&nbsp;library).</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/14/flashcard_categories/16" target="_blank"><img alt="Our gray jay flashcard with an editable text field" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2155/content_Tara_Gray-Jay-Edit-Flashcard-Title.png" width="186" height="293" /></a></p>

<p>So what&#39;s the word, Canada? Tweet <a href="http://twitter.com/ESLlibrary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@ESLlibrary</a> and share your own thoughts about the new #CanadaBird and its American&nbsp;name.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2226-american-vs-canadian-spelling" target="_blank">American Vs. Canadian Spelling</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/110/lessons/2337" target="_blank">What Color/Colour Is It?</a></li>
</ul>


Canada's NEW National Bird – Gray Jay or Grey Jay?

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<h1>How long have you been studying English&nbsp;grammar?</h1>

<p>Last week on the blog, we highlighted the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/present-perfect-two-uses/">two uses of the present perfect</a> tense. This week we&rsquo;ll continue focusing on this common verb tense by comparing it with the present perfect&nbsp;progressive.</p>

<p>It&rsquo;s important that English language learners realize that there are two distinct uses of the present perfect (finished past action vs. continuing action). For continuing actions, both the present perfect and present perfect progressive are common, and this can be confusing for students. To clear up this confusion, try presenting these two tenses using the method below, which focuses on shorter time frames (within one day) and longer time frames (days, weeks, months, or&nbsp;years).</p>

<h1>Use #1</h1>

<h4>Finished Vs. Continuing Actions &ndash; Shorter Time&nbsp;Frames</h4>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2332"><img alt="Present Perfect Vs. Present Perfect Progressive Use #1" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/243/content_Tanya_PP-Vs-PPP_1.png" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2332">Present Perfect Vs. Present Perfect Progressive</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;Resources</p>

<h1>Use #2</h1>

<h4>Continuing Actions &ndash; Longer Time&nbsp;Frames</h4>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2332"><img alt="Present Perfect Vs. Present Perfect Progressive Use #2" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/244/content_Tanya_PP-Vs-PPP_2.png" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2332">Present Perfect Vs. Present Perfect Progressive</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;Resources</p>

<p>For a comparison of the present perfect and the simple past, see our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/present-perfect-two-uses/">Present Perfect: Two Uses</a>&nbsp;post.</p>

<h1>Conclusion &amp; Exceptions</h1>

<p>For short-term continuing actions (in the first chart), the <em class="inlineBlock">‑ing</em> form is a lot more common. For example, it sounds much better to say <em>He has been waiting for them for two hours</em> than <em>He has waited for them&nbsp;for two&nbsp;hours.</em></p>

<p>For longer time frames, the present perfect and present perfect progressive can be confusing because they are so similar. But in most cases, there is <em>no difference</em> in meaning between a long, continuing action using the present perfect and one using the present perfect progressive, so students can use whichever tense they want&mdash;both are likely&nbsp;correct.</p>

<p>Students will undoubtedly ask you which tense is the better one to use for longer time frames. Point out that native speakers usually prefer the present perfect because it is shorter, but they will use the present perfect progressive when they really want to emphasize that an action will continue into the&nbsp;future.</p>

<p>For instance, native speakers would more likely say <em>I have lived in Vancouver for five years</em> than <em>I have been living in Vancouver for five years</em>, though both are correct. In a job interview, though, when discussing their work experience, native speakers would likely say <em>I have been working with children for eight years</em> to emphasize that they will continue to do so (though, again, <em>I have worked with children for eight years</em> is also&nbsp;correct).</p>

<p>Most importantly, make sure you reinforce that the present perfect (have + p.p.) can be used for a continuing action, not just a completed past action. Students often have trouble remembering this since all other continuous tenses in English use an <em class="inlineBlock">‑ing</em> verb. Also, some textbooks only focus on the finished action use and don&rsquo;t mention the continuing action use of the present perfect, but it is very common and should be&nbsp;taught.</p>

<p>Like almost all grammar rules in English, there are other cases and exceptions to the basic rules mentioned in this post. For example, <em>It has been raining</em> can indicate that the rain recently stopped, which is technically a finished past action. Going over every exception would likely overwhelm your students, though, so I suggest dealing with exceptions on a case‑by‑case basis if they come up in a&nbsp;lesson.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1598">Present Perfect Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1597">Present Perfect</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/present-perfect-two-uses/">Present Perfect: Two Uses</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2331-present-perfect-two-uses">Present Perfect: Two Uses</a>&nbsp;</li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2332-present-perfect-vs-present-perfect-progressive">Present Perfect Vs. Present Perfect Progressive</a></li>
</ul>


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