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

EdTech

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;If you can&rsquo;t explain it simply, you don&rsquo;t understand it well enough.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/1328" target="_blank">Albert Einstein</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>This year, get your language learners to present their learning in a multimedia slideshow. If this is one of their first presentations, keep it simple by providing your students with a general topic to explore, such as careers. Then give your learners the freedom to narrow their topic for their presentations (e.g., <em>engineer</em> or&nbsp;<em>teacher</em>).</p>

<p>Make sure students choose two or three areas to explore to ensure no topic is repeated. Provide students with a checklist of information to gather about the topic. For careers, students would need to find out <em>salaries, duties, top hiring companies, needed skills, </em>and required certifications. When your students complete their research, students should deliver an oral presentation alongside their multimedia&nbsp;slideshow.</p>

<p>Try one of ESL Library&#39;s new ready-made project-based learning modules. Your students will do a presentation as part of their group research&nbsp;project.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/group-projects/resources/2198-public-health-project">Public Health Project</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/group-projects/resources/2214-earth-summit-project">Earth Summit Project</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/group-projects/resources/2233-canada-project">Canada Project</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>3 Presentation Forms for Language Learners</h1>

<p>Here are three recommended multimedia slideshows tools and apps that you can introduce to your language learners as they prepare their presentations. For more ideas on how to help students develop public speaking and presentation skills, check out this post, <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>

<p>For language learners, shorter presentations are less intimidating. Have your learners deliver a <a href="http://ed.ted.com/clubs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TED Talk</a>, <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-presentation-skills-with-ignite-andrew-miller" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ignite</a>, or <a href="http://www.pechakucha.org/faq" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Pecha Kucha</a> style&nbsp;presentation.</p>

<p><a href="http://ed.ted.com/clubs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TED Talks</a> are anywhere from 3 to 23 minutes and are about innovation, passions, inventions, or incredible ideas. Get language learners to study TED Talks by presenters their age and analyze the content and delivery. After analyzing a few TED Talks, have students provide you a topic for their own TED Talk they will deliver in front of their peers. The following are links with tips, rubrics, and lesson plans to get your students&nbsp;started:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="external-article"><a href="http://blog.ted.com/10-inspiring-talks-from-tedyouth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">10 Inspiring Talks From TED&nbsp;Youth</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="https://tedxproject.wordpress.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The TEDx Classroom Project</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="http://www.educationworld.com/blog/ted-talk-unit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Engaging Assignment: Have Students Create Their Own TED&nbsp;Talks</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="http://www.englishisapieceofcake.com/presentation-lesson-plan.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">How to Give a Good Presentation Lesson&nbsp;Plan</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="http://www.thetechclassroom.com/home/usingtedtodeveloppresentationskills" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Using TED to Develop Presentation&nbsp;Skills</a></li>
	<li class="external-article"><a href="http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/11/25/what-students-can-learn-from-giving-tedx-talks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">What Students Can Learn from Giving TEDx&nbsp;Talks</a></li>
</ul>

<p>An <a href="http://igniteshow.com/howto" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ignite</a> is a 5 minute presentation style in which students design 20 slides that auto advance every 15 seconds. The idea is for students to create well designed presentations with little text. Find a lesson plan and tips here, <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-presentation-skills-with-ignite-andrew-miller" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Teaching Presentation Skills with&nbsp;Ignite</a>.</p>

<p>A <a href="http://www.pechakucha.org/faq" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Pecha Kucha</a> is a presentation style invented by architects Klein and Dytham in Japan. The presentation lasts 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Students design 20 slides with mostly visuals and very little text. Each slide auto advances every 20 seconds. Find lesson ideas here, <a href="https://remixhumanities.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/pecha-kucha-in-the-classroom-tips-and-strategies-for-better-presentations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Pecha Kucha in the Classroom: Tips and Strategies for Better&nbsp;Presentations</a>.</p>

<h1>Presentation Tools and Apps</h1>

<p>Create multimedia slideshows with templates, transitions, and animations with free web tools, such as <a href="https://flowvella.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Flowvella</a>, <a href="https://www.edu.buncee.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">EduBuncee</a> (iOS app), <a href="https://sway.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Sway</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/slides/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Google Slides</a> (iOS/Android apps), <a href="https://www.emaze.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Emaze</a>, and <a href="https://www.canva.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Canva</a> (iOS app). Recently, Google Slides integrated a <a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2016/05/how-to-use-new-q-and-laser-pointer.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">question and answer feature</a> to engage&nbsp;learners.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Slideshare</a>, <a href="https://www.haikudeck.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Haiku Deck</a> (iOS app), and <a href="http://slide.ly/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Slide.ly</a> are general slide creation tools with templates and resorces to help students create visually stunning&nbsp;presentations.</p>

<p><a href="https://present.me/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Present.me</a>, <a href="http://prezi.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Prezi</a> (iOS app), and <a href="http://voicethread.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Voicethread</a> (iOS app) allow students to add voice and video narration to their&nbsp;slides.</p>

<p><a href="http://photopeach.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Photopeach</a>, students create a slide presentation with quizzes, images and add&nbsp;music.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.livebinders.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Livebinders</a> is an online web tool and free mobile app that looks like a digital school binder. Students can choose presentation mode when delivering their oral presentations. It has various tabs, so students can embed websites, pdfs, images, video, and more. Students can also edit each tab&rsquo;s html to design the look of the tab. Livebinders works on multiple platforms and has an extension for students to easily collect their research from the&nbsp;web.</p>

<p>Who are your favorite presenters to motivate your language&nbsp;learners?</p>

14 Free Web Tools and Apps for Students to Present Their Knowledge

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

Grammar & Usage

<h1>Intro to Adverbs</h1>

<p>Adverbs play a big role in the English language. They can describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or even the whole sentence. (For more general information on adverbs, see <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-adverb-patterns/" target="_blank">7 Adverb Patterns</a>.) There are many types of adverbs, such as <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-of-frequency/" target="_blank">adverbs of frequency</a> and viewpoint adverbs, but let&rsquo;s turn our focus to <strong>adverbs of&nbsp;manner</strong>.</p>

<h1>Adverbs of Manner</h1>

<h2>1. Function</h2>

<p>An adverb of manner is a word that <em>describes</em> (gives extra information about) the verb in a sentence. This type of adverb answers the question of <em>how</em> an action is&nbsp;performed.</p>

<ul>
	<li>She sang.</li>
	<li><em>How</em> did she&nbsp;sing?</li>
	<li>She sang <em>beautifully</em> / <em>softly</em> /&nbsp;<em>loudly</em>.</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Form</h2>

<p>Most adverbs in English are formed by taking an adjective and adding&nbsp;<em class="inlineBlock">-ly</em>.</p>

<h4>Adjective &rarr; Adverb</h4>

<ul>
	<li>beautiful &rarr; beautifully</li>
	<li>careless &rarr; carelessly</li>
	<li>dangerous &rarr; dangerously</li>
	<li>enthusiastic &rarr; enthusiastically</li>
	<li>excited &rarr; excitedly</li>
	<li>independent &rarr; independently</li>
	<li>loud &rarr; loudly</li>
	<li>noisy &rarr; noisily</li>
	<li>soft &rarr; softly</li>
	<li>truthful &rarr; truthfully</li>
</ul>

<h2>3. Sentence Patterns</h2>

<p>Adverbs have <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-adverb-patterns/" target="_blank">many possible sentence patterns</a> in English. Here are some common patterns for adverbs of&nbsp;manner:</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern&nbsp;1</th>
			<td>V + Adv</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Note</th>
			<td>This is the most common pattern for adverbs of manner in&nbsp;English.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Example</th>
			<td>He spoke <strong>quickly</strong>.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern&nbsp;2</th>
			<td>V + O + Adv</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Note</th>
			<td>When a direct or indirect object follows the main verb, it is possible for the adverb to follow the&nbsp;object.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Example</th>
			<td>I drank my tea <strong>slowly</strong>.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern&nbsp;3</th>
			<td>Adv + V</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Note</th>
			<td>Placing the adverb before the verb is very common with adverbs of frequency (e.g., I <em>always</em> eat breakfast), but it is a little less common with adverbs of&nbsp;manner.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Example</th>
			<td>The teacher <strong>quietly</strong> played with the&nbsp;children.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>4. Exceptions</h2>

<h3>Adverbs with Another Form</h3>

<p>Like most &ldquo;rules&rdquo; for the English language, there are exceptions to the <em>Adj + ‑ly</em> rule. Some adverbs keep the same form for both adverbs and adjectives, while others use a different word form altogether. Here are some common adverbs that don&rsquo;t end in&nbsp;<em class="inlineBlock">-ly</em>:</p>

<h4>Adjective &rarr; Adverb</h4>

<ul>
	<li>good &rarr; well</li>
	<li>fast &rarr; fast</li>
	<li>hard &rarr; hard</li>
	<li>late &rarr; late</li>
</ul>

<p>For adverbs with two forms, such as hard/hardly and slow/slowly, see <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-with-two-forms/" target="_blank">Adverbs with Two&nbsp;Forms</a>.</p>

<h3>-ly Adjectives</h3>

<p>There are also a few adjectives that end in <em class="inlineBlock">-ly</em> in English. Adjectives will follow the pattern <strong>Adj + N </strong> (e.g., <em>weekly class) </em>or <strong>BE + Adj</strong> (e.g., <em>She is friendly</em>). Here are some common <em>‑ly</em> adjectives (note that many have to do with&nbsp;<em>time</em>):</p>

<ul>
	<li>hourly</li>
	<li>daily</li>
	<li>weekly</li>
	<li>monthly</li>
	<li>yearly</li>
	<li>annually</li>
	<li>costly</li>
	<li>friendly</li>
	<li>silly</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1626" target="_blank">Adverbs of Manner</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-with-two-forms/" target="_blank">Adverbs with Two Forms</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2158-adverbs-with-two-forms" target="_blank">Adverbs with Two Forms: Practice</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-of-frequency/" target="_blank">Adverbs of Frequency</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1585" target="_blank">Simple Present: How often do you&hellip;?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-adverb-patterns/" target="_blank">7 Adverb Patterns</a></li>
</ul>


Adverbs of Manner

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Posts describing lessons or activities for the ESL classroom.

Activities

<p>Have you tried our intermediate-level <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2231" target="_blank">Discussion Starters</a> lesson about The American Dream?&nbsp;In this ready-made lesson, students explore different viewpoints about the dream and discuss whether it&rsquo;s dead and gone or alive and well. This lesson also includes punctuation practice (using apostrophes with words ending in -s) and an optional video challenge.</p>

<p>In this lesson, your students will get a chance to complete this sentence:</p>

<h1>My definition of the American dream is&hellip;</h1>

<p>Here is the video shared in&nbsp;our ready-made lesson. This video could also inspire your students to write and record their own <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/selfie-videos-ell" target="_blank">selfie video</a> about what the American dream means to them.</p>

<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C48aGtPIuZo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>

<h3>The American Dream</h3>

<p>In this video, New Yorkers&nbsp;were interviewed about their own definition of the American dream. After you show the video, ask your students to decide which of the following align the closest with their own definition of the American dream.</p>

<ul>
	<li>to live in a nice house with a nice family and to be happy</li>
	<li>to be a millionaire</li>
	<li>to be able to work hard and to be able to really achieve greatness</li>
	<li>to have the chance to make a better life than what I had growing up</li>
	<li>to be able to pursue the job that I want to pursue</li>
	<li>to be able to live where I want to live</li>
	<li>to really prosper the way I want to</li>
	<li>to be able to go to school</li>
	<li>to have freedom to pursue my dreams</li>
</ul>

The American Dream: Video Challenge

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<p>Do you teach sentence patterns to your students outright? Most textbooks don&rsquo;t deal with sentence patterns all at once, but I&rsquo;ve found it really helps my students understand English better when I lay out the patterns for them. When English language learners have a basic understanding of sentence patterns and structures in English, they can recognize parts of speech and correct their mistakes more&nbsp;easily.</p>

<h1>Basic Sentence Patterns</h1>

<p>English uses a <strong>Subject-Verb-Object</strong> (SVO) sentence pattern, but this is only the beginning. Let&rsquo;s take a look at the patterns for the main parts of speech in&nbsp;English.</p>

<h2>1. Nouns (S, O, N):</h2>

<p>Nouns are people, places, or things. Nouns and pronouns can be subjects of a sentence, objects of a sentence, or objects of a preposition. Nouns are often preceded by an article (Art), including <em>a</em>, <em>an</em>, <em>the</em>, a number (<em>one</em>, <em>two</em>), a quantifier (<em>many</em>, <em>a few</em>), or a possessive adjective (<em>my</em>,&nbsp;<em>their</em>).</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>S + V + O</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>People</strong> like&nbsp;<strong>him</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Art + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The <strong>girl</strong> ate an&nbsp;<strong>apple</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>2. Verbs (V):</h2>

<p>Verbs are the action or state of being in a sentence. Verbs usually follow a subject and can be followed by an object. With imperative verbs, the subject is&nbsp;dropped.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>S + V (+ O)</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>My sister&nbsp;<strong>jogs</strong>.</li>
				<li>She <strong>likes</strong>&nbsp;him.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>V (+ O)</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>Begin</strong>.</li>
				<li><strong>Call&nbsp;</strong>me.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>3. Adjectives (Adj):</h2>

<p>Adjectives describe nouns and have two common patterns in&nbsp;English.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Adj + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>beautiful</strong>&nbsp;flower</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>BE + Adj</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The flower is&nbsp;<strong>beautiful</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>4. Adverbs (Adv):</h2>

<p>Adverbs can describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or even the whole sentence. For more details and examples, see <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-adverb-patterns/" target="_blank">7&nbsp;Adverb&nbsp;Patterns</a>.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Adv + V</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>often</strong>&nbsp;go</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>V + Adv</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>speak&nbsp;<strong>fluently</strong></li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>V + Adv + V</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>is <strong>quickly</strong>&nbsp;preparing</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Adv + Adv</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>really</strong>&nbsp;<strong>well</strong></li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Adv + Adj</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>very</strong>&nbsp;shiny</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Adv + S + V + O</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>Actually</strong>, I like rainy&nbsp;days.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>S + V + O + Adv</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>I like rainy days, <strong>actually</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>5. Prepositions (Prep):</h2>

<p>Prepositions are little words that indicate direction, time, place, etc. They are followed by a&nbsp;noun.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Prep + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>at</strong>&nbsp;school</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Expanding on the Basics</h1>

<p>Intermediate‑level students need to see how the patterns work in conjunction with each other. For example, in the Prep + N pattern, the noun can take an article (Art + N) and/or an&nbsp;adjective (Adj&nbsp;+&nbsp;N).</p>

<h2>Example #1</h2>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Prep + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>at school</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Prep + Art +&nbsp;N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>at the school</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Prep + Art + Adj +&nbsp;N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>at the elite school</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Example #2</h2>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Adj + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>fast car</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Art + Adj + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>a fast car</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Art + Adv + Adj + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>a really fast car</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Example #3</h2>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>V + Adv</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>writes&nbsp;often</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>V + Adv +&nbsp;V</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>is often&nbsp;writing</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>V + Adv + Adv +&nbsp;V</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>is so often&nbsp;writing</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Example #4</h2>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>SVO</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Cats chase mice.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>(Art&nbsp;+&nbsp;N) +&nbsp;V +&nbsp;(Art&nbsp;+&nbsp;N)</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The cats chase the&nbsp;mice.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>(Art&nbsp;+&nbsp;Adj&nbsp;+&nbsp;N) +&nbsp;(Adv&nbsp;+&nbsp;V) +&nbsp;(Art&nbsp;+&nbsp;Adj&nbsp;+&nbsp;N)</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The hungry cats always chase the scared&nbsp;mice.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>For higher‑level students, you can now show how complex sentences involve multiple clauses and phrases that are joined by conjunctions, transitional words (adverbs), punctuation,&nbsp;etc.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2229" target="_blank"><img alt="Screenshot of English Sentence Patterns resource" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/221/content_103_English-Sentence-Patterns_US.png" /></a></p>

<p class="caption">Subscribers can access these charts in our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2229" target="_blank">Resources &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage</a>&nbsp;section.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1608" target="_blank">Complete&nbsp;Sentences</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2020" target="_blank">How to Write a Simple&nbsp;Sentence</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2035" target="_blank">How to Write a Compound&nbsp;Sentence</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adjectives" target="_blank">Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-adverb-patterns/" target="_blank">7 Adverb&nbsp;Patterns</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/sentence-stress" target="_blank">Sentence&nbsp;Stress</a></li>
</ul>


English Sentence Patterns

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

Conferences

<p>Last week, I met up with <a href="https://ellii.com" target="_blank">ESL&nbsp;Library</a>&#39;s CEO, Ben Buckwold, at the annual <a href="http://www.bcteal.org" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">BC&nbsp;TEAL conference</a>. Because our team is located all across Canada, conferences are the only chance we get&nbsp;to hang out in person. Ben works in our head office in Winnipeg, Manitoba, while I work in Vancouver, BC. Head writer Tara Benwell, who lives in Kitchener, Ontario, was sorely missed, but at least we&#39;d had the chance to catch up in person at the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/baltimore-charms-the-esl-library-team-for-tesol-16" target="_blank">TESOL 2016 conference</a> in Baltimore earlier in April.</p>

<p>BC&nbsp;TEAL&#39;s&nbsp;conference&nbsp;theme was&nbsp;<em>building community</em>, and we certainly felt that to be true for us with all&nbsp;the Canadian connections we made at this&nbsp;conference!</p>

<p><img alt="BC TEAL 2016" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2170/content_ChUzdZwUcAAPod5-1024x768.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Left to right: ESL&nbsp;Library editor Tanya Trusler &amp; CEO Ben&nbsp;Buckwold</p>

<h1>More&nbsp;Canadian Content</h1>

<p>If you subscribe to <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons" target="_blank">ESL&nbsp;Library</a>, you&#39;ll notice we provide <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2120" target="_blank">American, Canadian, and British English versions</a> of most of our lessons. Though we have subscribers in more than 100 countries, we are a Canadian company, so we feel it&#39;s important to keep up with what&#39;s happening in the ELT field in Canada.</p>

<p>The BC&nbsp;TEAL conference provided us with a great opportunity to find out what&#39;s new with the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) and to strengthen our connections with Canadian teachers and&nbsp;administrators. So far this year, we&#39;ve been hard at work adapting our lessons to better meet the needs of Canadian teachers, and this&nbsp;BC&nbsp;TEAL conference was an excellent opportunity to find out from teachers and CLB experts&nbsp;how we&#39;ve been doing and&nbsp;how we can improve even&nbsp;more.</p>

<h1>Keynote Speakers</h1>

<p>We also had a chance to finally meet one of our long-time guest bloggers, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/author/shelly-terrell/" target="_blank">Shelly Sanchez Terrell</a>. Shelly and&nbsp;Lindsay Clandfield&nbsp;were&nbsp;the keynote speakers at this conference, and their presentations were&nbsp;as inspiring as we&nbsp;expected!</p>

<p><img alt="BC TEAL 2016" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2171/content_ChKvt5DXEAAiiH_-1024x768.jpg" /></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p class="caption">Left to right: ESL&nbsp;Library editor Tanya Trusler, keynote speaker Shelly Sanchez Terrell &amp; ESL&nbsp;Library CEO Ben&nbsp;Buckwold</p>

<p>Lindsay Clandfield spoke about&nbsp;<em>Critical Thinking in Critical Times</em>. He offered up many great activities to get English language learners to think outside the typical ELT-activity&nbsp;box.&nbsp;Find more about Lindsay and his amazing work in our&nbsp;field at <a href="http://lindsayclandfield.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">lindsayclandfield.com</a>.</p>

<p>Shelly Sanchez Terrell spoke about&nbsp;<em>The Power of a Goal-Minded Teacher</em>. She shared how her 30 Goals Challenge can motivate teachers to try things they haven&#39;t tried before, especially when it comes to using technology in the classroom. Find more about Shelly&#39;s engaging&nbsp;work at&nbsp;<a href="http://30Goals.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">30Goals.com</a>. Both Lindsay and Shelly are published ELT authors.</p>

<p><img alt="Shelly Terrell BC TEAL 2016" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2172/content_IMG_0642-1024x768.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Shelly Sanchez Terrell explaining her 30 Goal Challenge for teachers</p>

<h1>BC&nbsp;TEAL</h1>

<p>We had the chance to meet many members of the BC&nbsp;TEAL board, including retiring president Shawna Williams, key conference organizers Nathan Hall &nbsp;and Alex Bale (who went out of their way to make us feel welcome), new&nbsp;president Joe Dobson, and board members Sandra Boehm and Scott Roy Douglas. Apologies to&nbsp;those I didn&#39;t get to meet and therefore didn&#39;t mention&mdash;I know it takes many people to run a successful conference such as this one!</p>

<p>The conference this year took place at the Surrey campus of Simon Fraser University (my awesome alma mater), and the location and volunteers (SFU students) were top-notch. Overall, we had a fantastic time at the sessions and events, and we enjoyed meeting teachers from across Canada and finding out how our lessons could be adapted to meet their&nbsp;needs.</p>

<h1>Sessions</h1>

<p>I attended many excellent&nbsp;sessions and I learned so much about CLB and PBLA (portfolio-based language assessment). Here are some key takeaways from the sessions I attended:</p>

<h2>1. Understanding &amp; Creating Assessment Tools&nbsp;(PBLA)</h2>

<p><em>with Lisa Herrera, Caroline Pendleton &amp; Claire&nbsp;Pinkett</em></p>

<ul>
	<li>CLB is about improvement and keys to success, not about pass or fail, so we are moving away from numeric assessment. (E.g., a score of 9/10 isn&#39;t helpful for the student if the mistake was a key element to success&mdash;for instance, if you missed filling out a key part of a bank loan application, you wouldn&#39;t get the loan even if the rest was filled out&nbsp;correctly.)</li>
	<li>Low levels of CLB need learner-friendly language on the&nbsp;assessments.</li>
	<li>Comprehension tasks should not just check for content&mdash;they must be clearly linked to CLB criteria in the&nbsp;assessment&nbsp;tool.</li>
	<li>For split-level classes, put assessment criteria for each level on separate sheets so students only focus on the criteria that&#39;s relevant for their&nbsp;level.</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Community Building and Growing Intercultural Competence in Language&nbsp;Classrooms</h2>

<p><em>with Taslim Damji</em></p>

<ul>
	<li>Community can be defined as a sense of belonging, and it applies to the classroom as well as the outside&nbsp;world.</li>
	<li>Intercultural competence is the ability to move between cultures with sensitivity and&nbsp;respect.</li>
	<li>Say to students, &quot;This is the way it will work for you in this country,&quot;&nbsp;not &quot;This is the right way to do&nbsp;it.&quot;</li>
</ul>

<h2>3. Writing Effective CLB Aligned Comprehension&nbsp;Questions</h2>

<p><em>with Lisa Herrera</em></p>

<ul>
	<li>The goal when writing comprehension questions is to try to measure if students can complete a real-world task goal in the real world at the standard of their CLB&nbsp;level.</li>
	<li>Make the wording of questions simple and clear so students know what&#39;s being&nbsp;asked.</li>
	<li>Matching/sequencing questions are good for skill-building but not great for&nbsp;assessment.</li>
	<li>Use True/False questions sparingly because they&#39;re difficult to write&nbsp;well.</li>
	<li>Fill-in-the-blanks are good for detail&nbsp;questions.</li>
	<li>Short answers are good for single&nbsp;ideas.</li>
	<li>Multiple-choice questions are great for checking&nbsp;students&#39; knowledge&nbsp;(i.e., they might know the answer, but they can&#39;t always produce it, which is problematic in other types of&nbsp;questions).</li>
	<li>There are not a lot of CLB materials out there right now. (This is where <a href="https://ellii.com" target="_blank">ESL&nbsp;Library</a> comes in very&nbsp;handy!)</li>
</ul>

<h2>4. Assessment Tools That Support Student Growth in the&nbsp;Classroom</h2>

<p><em>with Svetlana Lupasco &amp; Shawna&nbsp;Williams</em></p>

<ul>
	<li>Use assessment to&nbsp;<em>develop&nbsp;</em>skills, not to <em>test</em>&nbsp;skills.</li>
	<li>Desconstruct assessment into a series of manageable&nbsp;steps.</li>
	<li>Be sure to engage students in feedback, and follow up on the assessment/feedback.</li>
</ul>

<h2>5. Integrating PBLA into Your Everyday Classroom</h2>

<p><em>with Pat Marilley-Bodner &amp;&nbsp;Astrid&nbsp;van&nbsp;der&nbsp;Pol</em></p>

<ul>
	<li>Good guidelines to follow for PBLA: Include 8&ndash;10 artefacts (assessments) per month if you teach full-time (5 days or 15/hrs/wk);&nbsp;include 6&ndash;8 artifacts if you teach part-time.</li>
	<li>Each real-world task can include multiple artefacts, so aim for 2&ndash;4 real-world tasks&nbsp;per&nbsp;month.</li>
	<li>Use the <a href="http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/pub/language-benchmarks.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">CLB book</a> for guidelines for assessment&nbsp;tasks.</li>
</ul>

<h2>6.&nbsp;In general:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>There was a great deal of talk in many of the sessions of moving away from numerical and pass/fail scoring vs. measures such as&nbsp;<em>achieved, achieved with help, needs improvement</em>;&nbsp;<em>just beginning</em>, <em>on my way</em>, and <em>success&nbsp;</em>(Lupasco); or&nbsp;images of a seed, a sprout, and a plant (Williams). The purpose is to get students to think of success in terms of accomplishing a real-world task and not a grade. Because not all teachers have implemented this&nbsp;change, we at ESL&nbsp;Library have tried to create <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/assessment-tools/resources/2129-speaking-task-assessment-form" target="_blank">assessment templates that offer both&nbsp;choices</a>.</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>The focus of all Canadian LINC classes should be on real-world task goals. There is an important shift&nbsp;from typical classroom textbooks/activities to real-world tasks that would&nbsp;happen outside the classroom. Everything, from&nbsp;skill-building tasks to skill-using tasks and assessment tasks, should apply to real-world tasks. (This seems like a lot of work for teachers, so <a href="https://ellii.com" target="_blank">ESL&nbsp;Library</a> will strive&nbsp;to create or&nbsp;adapt more&nbsp;lessons&nbsp;that focus on real-world&nbsp;tasks!)</li>
</ul>

<h1>Pecha Kucha</h1>

<p>My first Pecha Kucha was a lot of fun. Pecha Kucha is a six-and-a-half-minute presentation where the speaker&nbsp;has only 20 seconds to talk about each slide. There is an emphasis on silliness and fun with these kinds of presentations, and the BC&nbsp;TEAL Pecha Kucha presentations were no&nbsp;exception!</p>

<p><img alt="BC TEAL 2016" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2173/content_IMG_0618-1024x768.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Shelly Sanchez Terrell giving her Pecha Kucha on funny would-be&nbsp;apps for teachers (vacation app: yes!)</p>

<p class="caption"><img alt="BC TEAL 2016" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2175/content_IMG_0619-1024x768.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">A funny and touching Pecha Kucha tribute to retiring BC&nbsp;TEAL president Shawna Williams (image of Shawna and current BC&nbsp;TEAL president Joe Dobson)</p>

<h1>BC&nbsp;TEAL 2017</h1>

<p>Next year marks BC&nbsp;TEAL&#39;s 50th anniversary, and the <strong>CarnivEAL</strong>&nbsp;(love this idea!) conference will take place at Vancouver Community College. Our ESL&nbsp;Library team will be on hand to reconnect with Canadian teachers and have some more fun with the BC&nbsp;TEAL board members. Between now and then, please <a href="https://ellii.com/contact" target="_blank">contact us</a> with any other CLB requests or needs. Our goal is to make teachers&#39; lives easier, so we love hearing from our subscribers to find out what they want and&nbsp;need!</p>


Building Community at the BC TEAL 2016 Conference

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<p>The ESL Library team had a great time at the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/baltimore-charms-the-esl-library-team-for-tesol-16/">TESOL 16 convention</a> in Baltimore, Maryland! We were usually manning our booth or leading sessions of our own, but I had the chance to attend a wonderful session about getting learners to recognize patterns in language. These tips are too good not to pass on! Try them with your students and watch their inner linguists&nbsp;emerge.</p>


<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Session Title:</th>
			<td><a href="https://thinklikelinguists.wordpress.com/session-powerpoint/">Teaching Students to Think Like a&nbsp;Linguist</a></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Presenters:</th>
			<td><a href="http://jcurtis@roosevelt.edu">Jane Curtis</a> &amp; <a href="http://smclaugh@roosevelt.edu">Susanne McLaughlin</a>&nbsp;from Roosevelt&nbsp;University</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>Jane Curtis and Susanne McLaughlin started their wonderful session by reminding us what linguists do&mdash;they study language by looking at the structure, meaning, and context. They reminded us that language is systematic. It has rules for form, meaning, and&nbsp;use.</p>

<p>This is great&nbsp;news for English language learners who sometimes think our language is random and chaotic! In my experience, all learners like knowing the rules to minimize their own mistakes and better comprehend the language. But rather than simply teaching a rule to a student, the presenters challenged us to teach students to figure out the rules&nbsp;<em>for themselves</em>. This is far more rewarding and far more likely to be&nbsp;retained.</p>

<p>Jane and Susanne gave the &quot;double consonant rule in past tense endings&quot;&nbsp;as a prime&nbsp;example.</p>

<p>For lower-level learners, give students a list of base verbs and past endings, such&nbsp;as:</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>rip</td>
			<td>ripped</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>wait</td>
			<td>waited</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>stop</td>
			<td>stopped</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>push</td>
			<td>pushed</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>(See Jane and Susanne&#39;s <a href="https://thinklikelinguists.wordpress.com/session-powerpoint/">presentation slides</a> for the complete&nbsp;list)</p>

<p>Now ask students what they notice. When a student comes up with the correct rule (CVC syllable takes a double consonant), make it fun by calling it &quot;(student&#39;s name)&#39;s&nbsp;rule.&quot;</p>

<p>For higher-level students, take this basic rule a step further with a list like&nbsp;this:</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>listen</td>
			<td>listened</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>repair</td>
			<td>repaired</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>edit</td>
			<td>edited</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>commit</td>
			<td>committed</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>What will your students notice? (This might even stump native speakers!) After a while, one of your learners will notice that only stressed CVC syllables take a double&nbsp;consonant.</p>

<p>The presenters discussed how this methodology can be applied to&nbsp;other grammar points, such as gerunds/infinitives, commas with adjective clauses, and modals. (See their <a href="https://thinklikelinguists.wordpress.com/session-powerpoint/">presentation</a> for these other examples and&nbsp;worksheets.)</p>

<p>This way of thinking also goes beyond grammar! Jane and Susanne gave examples for other language targets, such as reading genres and speaking&nbsp;patterns. For example, the presenters suggested having students read through several short stories of a particular genre and getting them to notice the similar elements in that genre (e.g., settings, character types, the plot, the element of surprise.&nbsp;etc.).</p>

<p>The session ended with a summary of their main points and&nbsp;observations:</p>

<ul>
	<li>grammar rules are not&nbsp;random</li>
	<li>students&nbsp;<em>can</em> learn to&nbsp;notice</li>
	<li>students <em>can</em> learn to discover, analyze, and&nbsp;generalize</li>
	<li>meaning matters</li>
</ul>

<p>Jane and Susanne were kind enough to prepare a website with all the info from their presentation, including the slides, worksheets, and contact info: <a href="http://thinklikelinguists.wordpress.com">thinklikelinguists.wordpress.com</a></p>

<p>Will you try teaching your students to think like a&nbsp;linguist?</p>

Teaching Students to Think Like a Linguist

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

Articles

<p>This year at the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/baltimore-charms-the-esl-library-team-for-tesol-16" target="_blank">TESOL convention in Baltimore</a>, the ESL Library team had two booths to manage and three presentations of our own to give. There wasn&#39;t enough time to attend all of the sessions we wanted to, so we had to be very picky with our&nbsp;selections!</p>

<p>Here is a brief overview of a fantastic TESOL session that I attended in Baltimore about using selfie videos in the language classroom. Be sure to view the <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ofXsgJCwOfORvx366YJPayPSLsYdp2cZUit7iiUTl8I/edit#slide=id.p" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slides</a> from this session if you are interested in learning&nbsp;more.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Session Title:</th>
			<td><a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ofXsgJCwOfORvx366YJPayPSLsYdp2cZUit7iiUTl8I/edit#slide=id.p" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Utilizing Selfies (Videos) to Promote Language&nbsp;Learning</a></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Speakers:</th>
			<td>Christine Discoe, Kyla Masciarelli, and Loni Thorson from Colorado State&nbsp;University</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ofXsgJCwOfORvx366YJPayPSLsYdp2cZUit7iiUTl8I/edit#slide=id.p" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img alt="Presentation slideshow title screen" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2152/content_Tara_TESOL-16-Teaching-English-with-Selfie-Videos.jpg" /></a></p>

<h2>Rationale for assigning selfie videos to English learners</h2>

<p>Here are the top three reasons the speakers provided for assigning selfie videos to language&nbsp;learners.</p>

<h3>1. Comfort</h3>

<p>Students feel more comfortable when they have their mobile devices in their hands. Selfie videos allow students to become more comfortable with their teachers and their peers. Young adults rate selfie video assignments as &#39;highly&nbsp;effective.&#39;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Smart phones are leading the mobile&nbsp;charge.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>

<h3>2. Awareness</h3>

<p>With selfie videos, students can see themselves using the language. They want to look and sound better, so they work hard to improve their language and correct their own errors. They learn to self-correct.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;They have an innate desire to self-correct and to make themselves look and sound&nbsp;good.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>

<h3>3. Creativity</h3>

<p>There are many different types of selfie assignments that teachers can give. Students play with the language and try it out in many ways. Students love experimenting with different backgrounds, locations, and video apps. They learn to speak &#39;on the&nbsp;fly.&#39;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Students really have to <em>try on</em> different&nbsp;structures.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Examples of selfie video&nbsp;assignments</h2>

<p>The speakers regularly assign up to three selfie videos per student each week. Here are some of the examples of selfie video assignments that they&nbsp;shared.</p>

<ul>
	<li>tell two truths and a lie and get other students to guess which is a&nbsp;lie</li>
	<li>practice telling jokes or using&nbsp;sarcasm</li>
	<li>summarize what you read, saw, or&nbsp;heard</li>
	<li>paraphrase someone else&#39;s&nbsp;thoughts</li>
	<li>practice minimal pairs</li>
	<li>use target grammar or&nbsp;vocabulary</li>
	<li>share your opinion about a topic discussed in&nbsp;class</li>
	<li>describe one&#39;s surroundings</li>
	<li>walk and talk in&nbsp;English</li>
</ul>

<h2>Ideas for submitting and sharing selfie videos</h2>

<p>Christine and co. offered several suggestions for submitting selfie videos to the teacher and/or class. They recommend setting a two- to three-minute maximum for&nbsp;submissions.</p>

<ul>
	<li>pass mobile devices around the classroom (set to Airplane Mode to avoid any embarrassing&nbsp;notifications)</li>
	<li>upload videos to Google Drive and&nbsp;share</li>
	<li>display videos on a &#39;document camera&#39; for the class to&nbsp;view</li>
	<li>watch in a 1&ndash;1 selfie conference with the&nbsp;teacher</li>
	<li>upload to a Learning Management System (LMS) and share with the class or&nbsp;teacher</li>
</ul>

<h2>Assessment and feedback with selfie videos</h2>

<p>The speakers explained that selfie videos can be used for diagnostic testing as well as formal <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/assessment-tools/resources/2129-speaking-task-assessment-form" target="_blank">assessment</a>. Selfie videos can help teachers identify certain sounds and structures that individual students need to work on. The students should know ahead of time who the audience will be (e.g., just the teacher, classmates,&nbsp;public).</p>

<p>Teachers can respond with a selfie video to provide suggestions and model corrections. Check out TESOL slide #28 from this session for a useful <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ofXsgJCwOfORvx366YJPayPSLsYdp2cZUit7iiUTl8I/edit#slide=id.p" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">selfie video&nbsp;rubric</a>.</p>

<h2>How to integrate selfie video assignments into ESL&nbsp;Library lessons</h2>

<p>We love the idea of using selfie videos in the ELL classroom, and we&#39;ll be adding some video tasks into some of our new and revised lesson plans. You can also add your own selfie video assignments to existing lessons. Here are some ideas you can use now if you are an ESL&nbsp;Library&nbsp;subscriber.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Assign the <strong>Warm-Up</strong> questions from a lesson the night before starting a lesson, and watch a few selfie videos in class before starting the&nbsp;lesson.</li>
	<li>Assign a <strong><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons" target="_blank">Discussion Starters</a></strong> question as a selfie video response after doing a&nbsp;lesson.</li>
	<li>Assign a <strong><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/73/lessons" target="_blank">Mini-Debates</a></strong> question as a selfie video response (could have two students in the selfie debating an issue) before doing the classroom&nbsp;debate.</li>
	<li>Ask students to summarize what they learned in a reading or podcast from an ESL Library lesson (e.g., summarize a biography from the <strong><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons" target="_blank">Famous People</a></strong>&nbsp;section).</li>
	<li>Ask students to make a &#39;two truths and a lie&#39; selfie video after learning about a subject from an ESL Library lesson.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tara&#39;s 30-second post-TESOL selfie video</h2>

<p>If we&#39;re going to assign selfie videos to our students, we&#39;ll have to work on becoming comfortable in front of the camera, too. The speakers challenged us to give it a whirl. This selfie took three takes! It&#39;s harder than it&nbsp;looks.</p>

<div class="video-container"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0sOAQLRjgIs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

<p>Learn all about how <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/baltimore-charms-the-esl-library-team-for-tesol-16/" target="_blank">Baltimore charmed the ESL&nbsp;Library team</a>.</p>


TESOL 16 Session: Teaching English with Selfie Videos

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<h1>Classrooms of the Future</h1>

<p>The ESL&nbsp;Library team has just returned from Baltimore after the annual TESOL convention. 2016 was <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/comma-confusion-greeting-birthday/">TESOL&#39;s 50th anniversary</a>, and ESL Library played an important role as an Event Partner at the <strong>TESOL Classroom of the Future</strong>&nbsp;exhibit. During our Classroom of the Future presentation, CEO Ben Buckwold used our most recent <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2120" target="_blank">Discussion Starters</a> lesson to showcase a paperless feature that is coming soon for ESL Library subscribers and online tutors. It was great to test out our work in progress with a live audience using one of our very own lesson&nbsp;plans.</p>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2193/content_IMG_0006.jpg" /></p>

<p>Though this year&#39;s anniversary theme was <strong>Reflecting Forward</strong>, allow me to reflect back for a moment on our fantastic week at&nbsp;TESOL.</p>

<h1>Our Team</h1>

<p>Our team arrived in Maryland from Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. We were joined by our first official ESL Library Ambassadors &mdash;teachers who subscribe to our site and volunteered to share their enthusiasm about it in Baltimore. Throughout the week, we met attendees from all over the world, including this adorable librarian from Tanzania who won our hearts and our grand prize&mdash;an Apple&nbsp;Watch!</p>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2194/content_IMG_5909.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">From left to right: CEO Ben Buckwold, Apple Watch winner Saida (librarian from Zanzibar Public Library), editor Tanya Trusler, writer Tara&nbsp;Benwell</p>

<h1>Baltimore</h1>

<p>Attending teaching conferences is a great way to explore the world. Here are some things we loved about&nbsp;Baltimore.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Little Italy</strong>&nbsp;&ndash; Now we know why they call Baltimore &#39;Charm City.&#39; This part of the city had delicious food and charming restaurants with meals that were big enough to bring some home for&nbsp;lunch.</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2195/content_IMG_5920.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">We had numerous Compelling Conversations with TESOL pal Eric Roth&nbsp;(left)</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>The Inner Harbor&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>Though the air was crisp for April, the sun came out a few times, and we enjoyed a walk around the historic seaport. Tanya and I took a tour of the USS Constellation, the last all-sail warship built by the US Navy whose main mission was to disrupt the slave trade. We warmed ourselves up with some traditional crab soup at the T&iacute;r na n&Oacute;g Irish Bar &amp; Grill.&nbsp;Yum!</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="Baltimore tall ship" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2196/content_IMG_5937-1.jpg" /></p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Fells Point&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>After the conference we enjoyed hanging with locals and listening to live music. Bands played everything from La Bamba to&nbsp;Metallica!</li>
	<li><strong>The Gallery Mall&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>It was pretty convenient to have a mall attached to our hotel. Even though we&#39;re TESOL pros by now, we always forget something important, such as a mouse pad or extension cord. (Note to self: Remember packing tape next year. Fed Ex charged us $21 USD for two&nbsp;rolls.)</li>
	<li><strong>Uber&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>This was a convenient, informative, and inexpensive way to get around Baltimore. I can&#39;t wait to give the service a try here in&nbsp;Canada.</li>
</ul>

<h1>What we liked about the TESOL&nbsp;16 Convention</h1>

<ul>
	<li><strong>The location&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>As mentioned above, Baltimore&#39;s Inner Harbor was beautiful and&nbsp;charming.</li>
	<li><strong>The TESOL app&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>Last year we didn&#39;t open the program. This year, we saved the paper and didn&#39;t even grab a&nbsp;program.</li>
	<li><strong>The heat&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>Even though the Expo Hall was in the basement, we didn&#39;t freeze like we normally do at&nbsp;TESOL.</li>
	<li><strong>The sessions&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>With three of our own sessions and two booths to man, we only had time to attend a few sessions, but this year we picked the right ones! All of the teachers we spoke to seemed satisfied with the ones they attended as well. (Check out this review of <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/selfie-videos-ell/" target="_blank">Teaching English with Selfie Videos</a>.)</li>
	<li><strong>The ELT authors&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>We met and chatted with the lovely <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3nEFcTamts" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Sybil Marcus</a>, author of <em>A World of Fiction</em>, and my long-lost friend Jeremy Harmer (who I hadn&#39;t seen since IATEFL in Brighton back in&nbsp;2011).</li>
	<li><strong>The ice cream break&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;</strong>Our TESOL friend Sam delivered it to us, so we didn&#39;t even have to leave our&nbsp;booth.</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2197/content_IMG_5863.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Above: Tanya and Tara pose with Twitter pal <a href="http://twitter.com/joemcveigh">@JoeMcVeigh</a> who starred in TESOL&#39;s The Wizard of Oz (a musical romp reflecting on 50 years of&nbsp;TESOL)</p>

<h1>What TESOL attendees loved about ESL&nbsp;Library</h1>

<ul>
	<li>The demo of our digital platform. Teachers can&#39;t wait until they can actually start using it in&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>Our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2053" target="_blank">How to Tweet</a> lesson from our Writing in English&nbsp;section.</li>
	<li>Our small publishing team. &#39;There are only five of&nbsp;you?&#39;</li>
	<li>The NEW <a href="https://ellii.com/resources" target="_blank">Resource&nbsp;Section</a>.</li>
	<li>The Flashcard Library. (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbuvHnzfai8&amp;index=5&amp;list=PL0MvnNQjMzmbCk_AEw6JNaf8EoD5ATs5L" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">NEW demo&nbsp;available.</a>)</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/pricing" target="_blank">Our affordable subscription price</a>. (Equal to a cup of coffee per&nbsp;month.)</li>
	<li>Our multi-teacher pricing. Administrators love that they can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zueU6MO_tIU&amp;list=PL0MvnNQjMzmbCk_AEw6JNaf8EoD5ATs5L&amp;index=7" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">manage sub-accounts</a> when teachers come and go from their programs and&nbsp;schools.</li>
	<li>The accessibility. &#39;Yes, teachers use ESL Library in&nbsp;China!&#39;</li>
	<li>The art in our lesson plans. We love it&nbsp;too!</li>
	<li>Sprout English. Teachers love that we have a sister site with materials for young&nbsp;learners. (Now merged with ESL Library.)</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2199/content_IMG_5885.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Above: New subscribers from California Crosspoint High School</p>

<h1>What TESOL attendees want to see on ESL Library</h1>

<p>We love getting feedback from our long-term subscribers. After many years at the TESOL booth, I can even wave at these enthusiastic members from afar. Here are a few of their requests.</p>

<ul>
	<li>more lessons on social justice and civil rights (watch for an upcoming lesson on the Underground&nbsp;Railway)</li>
	<li>beginner-level materials that are graded for low-beginner rather than high-beginner</li>
	<li>digital lessons that can be used in an online tutoring scenario (Coming&nbsp;soon!)</li>
	<li>the option to drag flashcards into digital&nbsp;lessons</li>
	<li>videos</li>
	<li>support for using the flashcard library (check out our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0MvnNQjMzmbCk_AEw6JNaf8EoD5ATs5L" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">how-to&nbsp;demos</a>)</li>
	<li>visuals for practicing&nbsp;sequencing</li>
	<li>more <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons">Grammar Stories</a> (check out our newly designed&nbsp;section)</li>
	<li>the ability to have one subscription to ESL Library and Sprout English (We hear&nbsp;you!)</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="TESOL 16" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2198/content_Screen-Shot-2016-04-13-at-5.13.32-PM.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Above: New Sprout English subscribers, Rosanna and Ana. This program director made customized journals for her&nbsp;teachers! One of my most memorable moments of the week was spotting long-term subscriber Laura Jacob across the Expo Hall. When I caught up with her she had this to say about ESL&nbsp;Library&hellip;</p>

<blockquote>&#39;You are the future.&#39;</blockquote>

<p>Thank you Laura and all of the other great teachers we spent time with in Baltimore, including Eric, Ken, Stephen, and all of the ESL Library Ambassadors! And a big thank you to Ben for inviting us to tag along with him every year at TESOL and for being the best storyteller in ELT. We shared enough laughs to get us through until next&nbsp;year. <strong>See you in Seattle for TESOL&nbsp;17!</strong></p>


Baltimore Charms the ESL Library Team for TESOL 16

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<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s an entire universe in every single&nbsp;tweet&hellip;&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Jack Dorsey</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Twitter is a great place to discover articles and resources for teaching English as well as an engaging way to get your students to improve their reading and writing skills. Twitter also chunks language to 140 characters, which makes communicating and reading in English more manageable. Additionally, students learn to scan text for understanding and bookmark resources&nbsp;quickly.</p>

<p>The list of activities below will help you get started integrating Twitter for language learning. Public Twitter streams do not require an account to view them. Your students do not need a Twitter account for many of the activities suggested. However, you may want to create a free Twitter class or teacher&nbsp;account.</p>

<h1>Learn Vocabulary</h1>

<p>Your learners can follow many accounts to learn new vocabulary or phrases each day. Here are some Twitter accounts for learning English vocabulary and phrases:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/rollofftongue" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@RolloffTongue</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/grammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@GrammarGirl</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/wordswithlarry?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@WordsWithLarry</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/OED" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@OED</a>.</p>

<h1>Teach Them How To&nbsp;Tweet</h1>

<p>Try the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2053" target="_blank">How to Tweet</a> lesson from ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s Writing in English&nbsp;section.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2053" target="_blank"><img alt="Screenshot of ESL Library's How to Tweet lesson" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/206/content_74_Tweet_US.png" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2053" target="_blank">How to Tweet</a> &ndash; Writing in&nbsp;English</p>

<h1>Learn Grammar</h1>

<p>Students can follow accounts like <a href="https://twitter.com/grammarly" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@Grammarly</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/EnglishClub" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@EnglishClub</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/grammarmonkeys" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@GrammarMonkeys</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/The_YUNiversity" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@The_YUNiversity</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/english247" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@English247</a> to discover quizzes, exercises, images and tips to improve their grammar. They can click the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/grammar" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#grammar</a> to discover more free grammar&nbsp;resources.</p>

<h1>Correct Grammar</h1>

<p>Get your language learners to correct the grammar in celebrity tweets. Click <a href="http://go.sadlier.com/school/celebrity-tweets-editing-worksheets" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> to find a pdf of tweets to correct by famous people like Kanye&nbsp;West.</p>

<h1>Follow an Important Event</h1>

<p>Have your language learners follow hashtags about an important event, like a natural disaster, civil war, or election. Students scan the hashtag full of accounts from primary sources then write about their impressions or act as journalists and create an article quoting some of the sources. Students can use <a href="http://tweet2cite.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Tweet to Cite</a> to quickly cite the resource in MLA and APA&nbsp;style.</p>

<h1>Conduct a Twitter Interview</h1>

<p>Many experts, celebrities, authors, leaders, athletes, and professionals have Twitter accounts. Invite one to interview on Twitter. Decide on a unique hashtag for the event that isn&rsquo;t already used on Twitter. Get students to craft questions ahead of time and peer review and correct these questions ahead of time. Use one account to tweet the question with the student&rsquo;s handle or initials. Include the hashtag in the tweet. Create an archive of the Twitter conversation for free with&nbsp;<a href="https://storify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Storify</a>.</p>

<h1>Connect with Another School</h1>

<p>Find other schools to connect with on Twitter and host discussions, debates, or share resources. Follow the tips above for conducting a Twitter interview. Find schools to connect with by connecting with other teachers online. Check out our previous article, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-ultimate-hashtag-guide-for-english-language-teachers/" target="_blank">The Ultimate Hashtag Guide for English Language Teachers</a>, for ways to connect with other English language&nbsp;teachers.</p>

<h1>Share a Gif</h1>

<p>Recently, Twitter added the feature to <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/2016/introducing-gif-search-on-twitter" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">share a gif</a> with your status update. Your students can accompany tweets with a gif and students can even search for a gif to share, which is a similar feature in Facebook. Gifs are a great way for students to visualize vocabulary and&nbsp;phrases.</p>

<h1>Backchannel</h1>

<p>If your students have Twitter accounts, create a class hashtag for them to use when you want them to share their thoughts, responses, and resources. When scheduling homework like viewing the Oscars, a presidential debate, a famous speech, or following another event, your students can share their impressions and read the impressions of other peers with the hashtag. Students can also use the hashtag to share their thoughts about a video they are watching in&nbsp;class.</p>

<h1>Share Resources</h1>

<p>Students can use the class hashtag to continually share links, videos, articles, podcasts, experiences, and examples of each unit. Before beginning a new topic, have students conduct research and share two to three resources for you to collect and add to a <a href="https://storify.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Storify</a>, <a href="http://www.scoop.it/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Scoop.It</a>, <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Pinterest board</a>, or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.pearltrees.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">PearlTrees</a>.</p>

<h1>Collaborative Debate &amp; Discussion</h1>

<p>Post a discussion or debate question for your students to post responses to with the class&nbsp;hashtag.</p>

<h1>Twitter Polls</h1>

<p>Twitter has a <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/2015/introducing-twitter-polls" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">polling feature</a> to quickly create polls on a class Twitter account. Post a question for your students to vote on with the class hashtag or on a Twitter class account. You can post a new interesting poll for each unit you cover to peak their interests. Poll them about favorites or preferences. Post a poll asking information about the new unit to get an idea on their knowledge of the topic. Discuss the results in&nbsp;class.</p>

<h1>For Self Study</h1>

<p>For self study, your adult language learners will find the following hashtags&nbsp;useful: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/twinglish" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#Twinglish</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/engpls" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#EngPls</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/learnalanguage" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#LearnALanguage</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/studyenglish" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#StudyEnglish</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/learnenglish?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">#LearnEnglish</a>.</p>

<p>What Twitter accounts do you feel are useful for language&nbsp;learners?</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-ultimate-hashtag-guide-for-english-language-teachers/" target="_blank">The Ultimate Hashtag Guide for English Language Teachers</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/shorty-awards-singular-or-plural-and-should-twitter-be-capitalized/" target="_blank">Should Twitter Be Capitalized</a></li>
</ul>


12 Ways to Use Twitter with Language Learners

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<p>After I posted last week&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/aw-vs-awe/" target="_blank">Aw Vs. Awe</a> article, our head writer asked me, &quot;What about <em>ah&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>aah</em>?&quot;&nbsp;Good idea for a blog post, Tara!&nbsp;<em>Ah</em> is used in many situations. There is also a dictionary entry for&nbsp;<em>aah</em>. So what are the usage, meaning, and part of speech differences for&nbsp;<em>ah</em> and&nbsp;<em>aah</em>? Scroll down to find out about&nbsp;<em>aha</em>,&nbsp;too.</p>

<h1>Ah</h1>

<p><em>Ah&nbsp;</em>is used for all types of feelings. <em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ah" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines the interjection&nbsp;<em>ah</em>&nbsp;as &quot;used to express&nbsp;pleasure, delight, relief, regret, or contempt.&quot;&nbsp;We also use it to convey that we understand something and as a &quot;thinking word&quot;&nbsp;(a word with no meaning that shows we&#39;re thinking). Notice the different ways to punctuate&nbsp;<em>ah</em> in the examples&nbsp;below.</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Ah!&nbsp;I could stare at this sunset for hours. <em>(pleasure)</em></li>
	<li>Ah! Look at all the baby bunnies! <em>(delight)</em></li>
	<li>Ah! This hot tub is helping my sore back. <em>(relief)</em></li>
	<li>Ah, I&#39;m so sorry to hear that. <em>(regret)</em></li>
	<li>Ah! Look what you&#39;ve done! You&#39;ve ruined it! <em>(contempt)</em></li>
	<li>Ah. I see what you mean. <em>(understanding)</em></li>
	<li>Ah...that&#39;s not exactly what I meant. <em>(thinking sound&mdash;</em>uh<em> and&nbsp;</em>um<em> are possible&nbsp;alternatives)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>Note that for positive meanings (pleasure, delight, and relief),&nbsp;<em>aah</em>&nbsp;is a variant spelling of <em>ah</em>. If students&nbsp;write &quot;Aah,&nbsp;this hot tub is helping my sore back&quot;&nbsp;they would be correct.&nbsp;However, it&#39;s worth pointing out to higher-level students that&nbsp;<em>ah</em>&nbsp;is the most common spelling of&nbsp;the&nbsp;interjection.</p>

<h1>Aah</h1>

<p>Some people might be surprised to learn that&nbsp;<em>aah</em> is a verb. <em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aah" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines&nbsp;<em>aah</em>&nbsp;as &quot;to exclaim in amazement, joy, or&nbsp;surprise.&quot;</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>The audience oohed and aahed at the&nbsp;acrobats.</li>
	<li>Most parents spent the night oohing and aahing over the children&#39;s&nbsp;artwork.</li>
</ul>

<p>Students might also be relieved to learn that&nbsp;<em>ah</em> is a variant spelling of&nbsp;<em>aah</em>, so if they write&nbsp;<em>ah</em> instead of&nbsp;<em>aah</em>&nbsp;as a verb, it is still correct. However, it&#39;s worth pointing out to higher-level students that&nbsp;<em>aah</em> is the most common spelling for the verb&nbsp;form.</p>

<h1>What about Aha?</h1>

<p>Another interjection with a similar spelling is&nbsp;<em>aha</em>. <em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aha" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines&nbsp;<em>aha</em>&nbsp;as &quot;used when something is suddenly seen, found, or understood; used to express surprise, triumph, or derision.&quot;&nbsp;<em>Aha</em> is almost always found at the beginning of a sentence and is usually followed by an exclamation&nbsp;point.</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Aha! I finally found my&nbsp;keys!</li>
	<li>Aha! I knew he would call&nbsp;you.</li>
</ul>

<p>Are there any other&nbsp;commonly confused words you&#39;d like to know more about?&nbsp;Let me know in the comments section&nbsp;below.</p>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>Find an exercise on Interjections on page 5 in&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/102/lessons/2058" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 3 &ndash; Lesson&nbsp;14</a>.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/aw-vs-awe/" target="_blank">Aw Vs. Awe</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/lay-vs-lie-lets-lay-this-matter-to-rest/" target="_blank">Lay Vs.&nbsp;Lie</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/everyday-vs-every-day/" target="_blank">Everyday Vs. Every&nbsp;Day</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on They&#39;re, Their, and&nbsp;There</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-youre-and-your/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on You&#39;re and&nbsp;Your</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-to-too-and-two/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on To, Too, and&nbsp;Two</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-its-and-its/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on It&#39;s and&nbsp;Its</a></li>
</ul>


Ah Vs. Aah

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<p>When you want to comment on your friend&#39;s baby or pet pictures on Facebook, what do you write? Misspelling the interjection&nbsp;<em>aw</em>&nbsp;as <em>awe&nbsp;</em>on social media and in text messages is something that&nbsp;both English language learners and native English speakers do. Since this is such a common term&nbsp;nowadays, let&#39;s review the differences in spelling and&nbsp;meaning.</p>


<h1>Aw</h1>

<p>When your friend posts an adorable puppy picture on Instagram and you want to gush over how cute it is, the correct thing to write is&nbsp;<em>aw</em>, not&nbsp;<em>awe</em>.</p>

<p><em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines&nbsp;<em>aw</em> as &quot;used to express&nbsp;mild disappointment, gentle entreaty, or real or mock sympathy or&nbsp;sentiment.&quot;</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Aw, your baby is so cute!</li>
	<li>A: Here&#39;s a picture of my new&nbsp;kitten!<br />
	B: Aw!</li>
	<li>A: You&#39;re the best!<br />
	B: Aw, thanks!</li>
	<li>A: I had a terrible day.<br />
	B: Aw, I&#39;m sorry to hear&nbsp;that.</li>
</ul>

<p>Note that it is possible to&nbsp;use more <em>w</em>s to show more emphasis and emotion (<em>awww</em>), but this is very informal and should be limited to comments among friends in social media/texting situations. How many <em>w</em>s are too many? Generally speaking, the more <em>w</em>s used, the more emotion conveyed. It&#39;s a similar situation to using more exclamation points to express emotion (!!!). Just remind students that more than one&nbsp;<em>w</em>&nbsp;or exclamation point is not &quot;correct&quot;&nbsp;grammar, so they should never use more than one in any type of formal&nbsp;writing.</p>

<h1>Awe</h1>

<p><em>Awe</em> has a fairly strong meaning and is more on the formal side. It&#39;s not a word that we use too&nbsp;often.</p>

<p><em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/awe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines <em>awe</em> as &quot;a strong feeling of fear or respect and also&nbsp;wonder.&quot;</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>I&#39;m in awe of her&nbsp;generosity.</li>
	<li>She gazed at the Picasso in&nbsp;awe.</li>
	<li>The amount of international aid following the terrorist attack filled us with&nbsp;awe.</li>
	<li>They were awestruck at the size of the new&nbsp;statue.</li>
</ul>

<p>In short, because&nbsp;<em>aw</em> is very common nowadays, we would do well to teach our students that when in doubt, use&nbsp;<em>aw</em>, not&nbsp;<em>awe</em>.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/lay-vs-lie-lets-lay-this-matter-to-rest/" target="_blank">Lay Vs. Lie</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/everyday-vs-every-day/" target="_blank">Everyday Vs. Every Day</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on They&#39;re, Their, and&nbsp;There</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-youre-and-your/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on You&#39;re and&nbsp;Your</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-to-too-and-two/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on To, Too, and&nbsp;Two</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-its-and-its/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on It&#39;s and&nbsp;Its</a></li>
</ul>

Aw Vs. Awe

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<h1>Happy 50th Anniversary, TESOL!</h1>

<p>Language keeps changing and evolving, especially nowadays with so much of our communication being carried out by text messaging and social media. One of the biggest changes I&#39;ve noticed as an editor is comma usage becoming&nbsp;less&nbsp;frequent, especially in social media and other forms of online&nbsp;communication.</p>

<p>So what do we teach our students about comma use nowadays, knowing they&#39;ll see English online most of the time? For guidance, let&#39;s take a look&nbsp;behind the scenes&nbsp;at ESL Library&#39;s style choices for greetings, introductions, and&nbsp;birthdays.</p>

<h1>Greetings</h1>

<p>Traditionally, a comma comes after a greeting word in&nbsp;English.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Hi, John.</li>
</ul>

<p>But what happens at the beginning of an email, newsletter, text, letter, etc. when the name should be followed by a&nbsp;comma?</p>

<ul>
	<li>Hi, John,</li>
</ul>

<p>Most people would agree that this double comma looks strange. Also, dropping the comma after the greeting term is very common in informal and web writing nowadays. For our newsletters, we use one of two&nbsp;ways:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Hi John,</li>
	<li>Hi, John!</li>
</ul>

<p>I would suggest teaching students to drop a comma after the greeting word if a comma follows the name, but keep it otherwise (as above). My feeling is it will eventually be dropped after the greeting term in all situations, but we&#39;re not there&nbsp;yet!</p>

<h1>Introductions</h1>

<p>Introducing someone&nbsp;in writing can be tricky.&nbsp;This situation came up recently when we were creating a newsletter about the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tesol.org/convention2016" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TESOL convention</a>. We were introducing our team members and their job titles, and we were debating which commas were necessary. This case can be very difficult for students to sort out as&nbsp;well.</p>

<p>For example, why do we need commas in the following&nbsp;sentences?</p>

<ul>
	<li>Our head writer, Tara Benwell, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Tara Benwell, our head writer, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Stop by&nbsp;and say hello to our CEO, Ben&nbsp;Buckwold.</li>
	<li>Stop by and say hello to Ben Buckwold, CEO of ESL Library and Sprout&nbsp;English.</li>
</ul>

<p>But why don&#39;t we use commas in the sentences&nbsp;below?</p>

<ul>
	<li>Head writer Tara Benwell will be&nbsp;at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Stop by and say hello to CEO Ben&nbsp;Buckwold.</li>
</ul>

<p>An easy way for students to remember comma usage in these cases is this: If you can drop the second phrase (name or title, depending on the sentence), you must use commas. If you can&#39;t drop it, you can&#39;t use commas. No dropping = no&nbsp;commas.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Our head writer, Tara Benwell, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Our&nbsp;head writer will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL convention. <em>(correct)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>In the example above, we can drop &#39;Tara Benwell&#39; and the sentence still makes sense and is correct, so we must use&nbsp;commas.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Tara Benwell, our head writer, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Tara Benwell&nbsp;will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL convention. <em>(correct)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>In the&nbsp;next&nbsp;example above, we can drop &#39;our head writer&#39; and the sentence still makes sense and is correct, so we must use&nbsp;commas.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Head writer Tara Benwell will be&nbsp;at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Head writer&nbsp;will be&nbsp;at Booth 313 during the TESOL convention. <em>(incorrect)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>In the&nbsp;last example above, we can&#39;t say &#39;Head writer will be&hellip;&#39; so we don&#39;t need commas with the&nbsp;name.</p>

<p>Note that this rule works for all kinds of titles. It also affects the capitalization for certain civil titles such as &#39;president&#39; and &#39;prime minister,&#39; so it is a good rule for students to&nbsp;learn.</p>

<ul>
	<li>President Barack Obama gave a speech today. <em>(correct)</em></li>
	<li>The president, Barack Obama, gave a speech today. <em>(correct)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>For more information, see our posts on <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/when-do-we-capitalize-president/" target="_blank">When Do We Capitalize &ldquo;President&rdquo;?</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/restrictive-non-restrictive-adjective-clauses" target="_blank">Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Adjective&nbsp;Clauses</a>.</p>

<h1>Birthdays</h1>

<p>We also dealt with another&nbsp;comma issue in our&nbsp;newsletter about the <a href="http://www.tesol.org/convention2016" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TESOL convention</a>. In honor of TESOL&#39;s 50th anniversary, we had the following&nbsp;heading.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy anniversary, TESOL!</li>
</ul>

<p>Again, traditionally, a comma is needed between the phrase and the&nbsp;name.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy birthday, John!</li>
	<li>Good luck, Lisa!</li>
	<li>Congratulations, team!</li>
</ul>

<p>However, it is worth pointing out (to higher-level students) that people often drop the comma&nbsp;in these phrases on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Some people also&nbsp;capitalize &#39;birthday&#39; for emphasis, and others use an acronym. Tell students that they may see and can write any of the following expressions with their own friends on social media (or in a card), but that the first version is the most &#39;correct&#39; (though not necessarily the most common these&nbsp;days).</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy birthday, John!&nbsp;<em>(correct)</em></li>
	<li>Happy birthday John!&nbsp;<em>(informal)</em></li>
	<li>Happy Birthday John!&nbsp;<em>(informal,&nbsp;common)</em></li>
	<li>HBD John!&nbsp;<em>(very&nbsp;informal)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>Note that a period/full stop instead of an exclamation mark is also acceptable:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy birthday,&nbsp;John.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>For more practice with comma usage in general, try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons" target="_blank">Writing in English</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2035" target="_blank">How to Write a Compound&nbsp;Sentence</a>.</p>


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