Discover what's new or coming soon, including upcoming lessons and resources and product feature updates. 

Announcements

<h1>Introducing Individual Student Assignments</h1>

Great news, teachers!

As of today, you can now select which individual students receive specific assignments within any class.&nbsp;

<h3>Here&#39;s how it works:</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>

Only the selected students will see the assignment inside their class dashboard.

<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>

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!

All the best, 
Ben :)

Founder, CEO at Ellii

Introducing Individual Student Assignments

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

Grammar & Usage

<h3>How long can one verb&nbsp;be?</h3>

When a verb is comprised of four parts, it starts to get complicated&mdash;and that&rsquo;s exactly what happens with the future perfect progressive (will + have + been + -ing verb). The future perfect and the future perfect progressive are rarely used in English, so should we bother teaching these tenses to our students?

My opinion is that if students will come across it, we need to teach it to them at some point (but you can definitely wait until they&rsquo;re at an advanced level). Just be sure to mention that since it&rsquo;s unusual to know for sure what will happen at two points in the future, these tenses are rarely used. Also, they are quite formal, and we usually substitute the simple future and the future progressive for a more informal style.

For advanced students and those taking a test like the TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS, etc., here&rsquo;s a tried-and-true method for making the future perfect and future perfect progressive as clear as&nbsp;possible.

<h3>Future Perfect: WILL + HAVE +&nbsp;P.P.</h3>

The future perfect is formed with the future modal will, the base verb have, and the past participle of the main verb. It is used when you think the first future action will finish before the second future action. The following diagram will help illustrate this to your&nbsp;students:

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/34/content_Tanya_Future-Perfect-Vs-Future-Perfect-Progressive_Chart-1.png" />

Make sure you point out that a&nbsp;simple present verb is used in the dependent clause, so students need to be careful of the subject (the verb will end in&nbsp;-s for the following subjects:&nbsp;she, he, it, a singular count/countable noun,&nbsp;and a&nbsp;non-count/uncountable&nbsp;noun).

<h3>Future Perfect Progressive: WILL + HAVE + BEEN + ING&nbsp;VERB</h3>

The future perfect progressive is formed with the future modal will, the base verb have, the past participle been, and the -ing form of the main verb. It is used when you think the first future action will continue until the second future action. The following diagram will help illustrate this to your&nbsp;students:

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/35/content_Tanya_Future-Perfect-Vs-Future-Perfect-Progressive_Chart-2.png" />

Again,&nbsp;a&nbsp;simple present verb is used in the dependent clause, so students need to determine if the subject requires an&nbsp;-s&nbsp;ending.

Note: If you want to elaborate for more advanced students, you can explain that the future perfect progressive is formed by combining the future perfect (will + have + p.p.) plus the basic progressive pattern (be + -ing verb). Since the past participle of the Be verb is been, you get will + have + been + -ing verb. Also note that have will never be has (no matter what the subject is) because it is always modal + base&nbsp;verb.

<h3>Comparison Chart</h3>

To compare the two verb tenses and show your students examples, use the following verb&nbsp;chart.

<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2157"><img alt="Future Perfect Vs. Future Perfect Progressive – Resource" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/36/content_103_Future-Perfect-Vs-Future-Perfect-Progressive.png" style="width: 400px; height: 518px;" /></a>

Grammar &amp; Usage &ndash; <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2157">Future Perfect Vs. Future Progressive</a>

<h3>Important Note</h3>

When giving your students examples, it is very important to mix up the order of the independent and dependent clauses. Make sure that you give some examples where the independent clause comes first (with the future perfect or future perfect progressive tense), and others where the dependent clause comes first (with the simple present tense).

Point out that when the dependent clause comes first, students must use a comma between the clauses. Showing both types of examples also means that students won&rsquo;t incorrectly memorize &ldquo;will + have + been + p.p. first, present verb second,&rdquo;&nbsp;which can cause&nbsp;errors.

<h3>Practice with Ellii Lessons</h3>

Try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1614">Grammar Practice Worksheet lesson on the Future Perfect</a>. This lesson has over 16 pages of practice&mdash;try using some in class on different days, assign some for homework, and use one or two as a&nbsp;quiz.

We also have a lesson on the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1972">Future Perfect Progressive</a>, which includes exercises that combine both tenses.&nbsp;

<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1997">Verb Tense Review 2 &ndash; The Perfect Tenses</a> contains even more practice exercises that compare these two tenses.

Future Perfect Vs. Future Perfect Progressive

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

Conferences

The Red River Press team had a fantastic trip to Portland, Oregon, for the annual TESOL convention. In fact, on our flight home, in the middle of a game of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jotto" target="_blank">Jotto</a>, CEO Ben Buckwold revealed that it was our most successful TESOL trip to date! In addition to our two product presentations, we had valuable chats with teachers, subscribers, and other exhibitors. The positive feedback we received from those who toured ESL Library and Sprout English helped confirm that our little team is certainly on the right track. We returned home to Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Toronto inspired to make big things happen. Here are some highlights from our trip! (Scroll down for video.)

<h3>What we loved about Portland</h3>

<ul>
	<li>
	The mild weather: Despite the rain, it was much warmer than Winnipeg and Toronto! Everything was green instead of white.
	</li>
	<li>
	The food: We enjoyed Peruvian, Indian, Thai, and Japanese cuisine, as well as a home-cooked meal from one of our TESOL exhibit pals. Thanks, Nancy! If you&#39;re ever in Portland, check out Andina, Pok Pok, and Saucebox. (And no, we never made it to Voodoo Doughnuts. Shame on us!)
	</li>
	<li>
	The weirdness: Statues of gourds on every corner! So many bridges...
	</li>
	<li>
	The vibe: Portland felt a lot like Vancouver. Nobody was rushing around in business suits. The cherry blossoms were out!
	</li>
	<li>
	The hospitality: Servers, cab drivers, and hotel staff were pleasant and helpful. 
	</li>
	<li>
	Powell&#39;s Books: One hour before closing is not the best time for a couple of language nerds to enter a city of books. We&#39;ll be back!
	</li>
</ul>

What we loved about TESOL

<ul>
	<li>
	The teachers: We met so many interesting people from around the world, including people we have known for a long time through <a href="http://twitter.com/ESLlibrary" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, but have never met in person.
	</li>
	<li>
	The complimentary transportation passes: We used the train and the bus, and saved our feet from too much walking after hours at the booth.
	</li>
	<li>
	The Oregon Convention Center: The session rooms were easy to find for once! The food was decent, too.
	</li>
	<li>
	The free wifi: We didn&#39;t have to search around for hot spots! We were connected at all times inside the convention center. Coming from Canada, this was very handy for our team.
	</li>
	<li>
	The sessions: Even though we were at the booth most of the time, we caught a few excellent presentations by brave teachers and authors. More on these soon...
	</li>
	<li>
	Our booth neighbors: Whether we were sharing snacks, or choosing raffle winners for each other, it was great to have Brain Pop nearby!
	</li>
</ul>

What teachers loved about ESL Library

<ul>
	<li>
	The business hours. Our site is available 24/7.
	</li>
	<li>
	The accessibility. You can access our sites worldwide, including in many countries where teaching resources are very limited.
	</li>
	<li>
	The nice price for conference attendees. (They deserve it for taking time out for PD! Many spend their own money to go.) 
	</li>
	<li>
	The convenience. Many teachers came by just to tell us how many hours we save them. 
	</li>
	<li>
	The subject matter. We cover topics that many textbooks don&#39;t.
	</li>
	<li>
	The customer service. Our office replies to every inquiry. We take requests and fill them, too!
	</li>
	<li>
	Our kid sister site for teachers of young learners. It was Sprout English&#39;s big debut!
	</li>
	<li>
	Our free podcasts. Teachers loved that students don&#39;t need a log in code to listen.
	</li>
	<li>
	Our giveaways. This year we gave away four iPod shuffles! 
	</li>
</ul>

What teachers want to see on ESL Library

<ul>
	<li>
	Academic English materials
	</li>
	<li>
	Materials for absolute-beginner adults
	</li>
	<li>
	More digital materials/apps that students can use in a computer lab or on tablets. (This is coming very soon. We showed a sneak preview to a few subscribers, and they told us that this was exactly what they needed!)
	</li>
	<li>
	An easy way to search for materials based on level (A new version of our site should be ready by summer. It has fantastic search functionality. You&#39;re going to love it! We do.)
	</li>
	<li>
	More stories for English learners.
	</li>
	<li>
	The option to sign up for both Sprout English and ESL Library with one log in. (We&#39;re thinking about it.) 
	</li>
</ul>

Next week we&#39;ll be blogging about our trip to New York City for the <a href="https://shortyawards.com/6th/esllibrary" target="_blank">Shorty Awards</a>! Wish us luck. &nbsp;

PS - In case you were wondering, I won that game of Jotto! Bring on the word games. Stay tuned for a review about an awesome session I attended at TESOL 14.

Highlights From TESOL 14 in Portland

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A few weeks ago, I blogged about <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/so-such-too/" target="_blank">So, Such &amp; Too</a>. I mentioned that these commonly confused words often trip students up because they have similar meanings and grammatical functions. Two other words that students have trouble keeping straight are too and enough. While their meanings are basically the opposite of each other, these two terms have similar grammatical functions. However, teaching students the different sentence patterns helps to minimize the&nbsp;confusion!

<h1>Too</h1>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Patterns:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>TOO + ADJ</li>
				<li>TOO + ADV</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>Too has the meaning of very or a lot, and it is usually used for negative cases. Too means that something is incomplete or unable to be completed (it basically means&nbsp;can&rsquo;t).</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Function:</th>
			<td>This adverb comes before the adjective or adverb it&rsquo;s&nbsp;describing.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The test was too difficult to finish on time. (too&nbsp;+&nbsp;Adj)</li>
				<li>It&rsquo;s too cold to go skiing today. (too&nbsp;+&nbsp;Adj)</li>
				<li>She speaks too quickly. I can&rsquo;t understand what she&rsquo;s saying. (too&nbsp;+&nbsp;Adv)</li>
				<li>Don&rsquo;t wait too long before registering for the course. (too&nbsp;+&nbsp;Adv)</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

The pattern too + Adj/Adv is often followed by an infinitive verb (to&nbsp;+&nbsp;base&nbsp;V).
</div>

<h1>Enough</h1>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Patterns:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>ADJ + ENOUGH</li>
				<li>ADV + ENOUGH</li>
				<li>ENOUGH + N</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>Enough has the meaning of completion or satisfaction, and it is usually used for positive cases. Enough refers to the correct amount of&nbsp;something.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Function:</th>
			<td>When functioning as an adverb, enough comes after the adjective or adverb it&rsquo;s describing. When functioning as an adjective, it comes before a&nbsp;noun.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The instructions were clear enough for me to assemble the unit myself. (Adj&nbsp;+&nbsp;enough)</li>
				<li>Was your internet connection fast enough to download that file on time? (Adj&nbsp;+&nbsp;enough)</li>
				<li>He spoke slowly enough for everyone to understand. (Adv&nbsp;+&nbsp;enough)</li>
				<li>I couldn&#39;t run fast enough to win the race. (Adv&nbsp;+&nbsp;enough)</li>
				<li>There was enough pizza for everybody. (enough&nbsp;+&nbsp;N)</li>
				<li>Did you bring enough money on your trip? (enough&nbsp;+&nbsp;N)</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

The patterns Adj/Adv + enough and enough + N are often followed by for + N or an infinitive verb (to +&nbsp;base&nbsp;V).
</div>

<h1>Summary</h1>

Use too for negative situations and enough for positive ones. Too comes before the adjective or adverb it&rsquo;s describing, while enough comes after the adjective or adverb. Enough comes before a noun, whereas too is never used before a&nbsp;noun.

I hope that was clear enough,

Tanya

Too & Enough

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<blockquote>
Wherever you go and whatever you do, may the luck of the Irish be there with you.

&mdash;Irish blessing
</blockquote>

March 17 is St. Patrick&#39;s Day, and for the past few days we&#39;ve been busy getting our St. Patrick&#39;s Day materials ready. As I was editing our older material, I had to decide whether to spell this holiday as Saint or St. Patrick&#39;s Day. Also, I had to find out if this holiday&#39;s nickname should be spelled Paddy or Patty. I found the answers interesting, so I thought I&#39;d share them with my fellow English-language lovers!

<h1>Saint or St.?</h1>

<blockquote>
St. Patrick&#39;s Day = correct (and more popular)

Saint Patrick&#39;s Day = correct
</blockquote>

Both Saint Patrick&rsquo;s Day and St. Patrick&#39;s Day are correct, but which is more common? The Chicago Manual of Style&nbsp;states that both are possible, and to choose one form and be consistent. The next thing I did was to look up both variations in Merriam-Webster&#39;s Dictionary of Current English, since that is the dictionary we follow in our <a href="http://ellii.com/blog/creating-our-in-house-style-guide/" target="_blank">style guide</a>. MW&#39;s had an entry for Saint Patrick&#39;s Day, but not for St. Patrick&#39;s Day, even though they list other saints as St. (St. Denis, for example). But after talking to the rest of the team and realizing we all grew up seeing St. Patrick&#39;s Day, I decided to run a Google Ngram on these two terms to find out which was more common in&nbsp;literature.

<img alt="A screenshot from Google book Ngram Viewer showing more results for St. Patrick's Day than Saint Patrick's Day" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1275/content_Tanya_Saint-or-St-Patricks_Graph.jpg" />

Clearly, St. Patrick&#39;s Day is more common in literature, so that&#39;s what we decided to stick with in our materials! A quick <a href="http://googlebattle.com" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">googlebattle.com</a> check confirmed that St. Patrick&#39;s Day also appears far more often on the web.

<img alt="A chart from GoogleBattle that shows St. Patrick's Day with 329,000,000 results, compared to Saint Patrick's Day with 35,000,000" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1277/content_Tanya_Saint-or-St-Patricks_Chart.png" />

Note: Don&#39;t forget that the word&nbsp;Day is always capitalized in holiday names!

<h1>Paddy or Patty?</h1>

<blockquote>
St. Paddy&#39;s Day = correct

St. Patty&#39;s Day = incorrect
</blockquote>

Before I did some digging for this blog post, I assumed that Patty was the correct spelling of St. Patrick&#39;s nickname, and that people wrote Paddy in error (because /t/ is always pronounced /d/ between two vowels&hellip;think of how you say water). But this is NOT the case! Paddy is correct, because it is based on the Irish boy&#39;s name P&agrave;draig (the English version is Patrick). I learned that the Irish dislike when people write Patty (this is short for Patricia, a girl&#39;s name), so be sure to spell it Paddy and St.&nbsp;Paddy&#39;s Day&nbsp;from now on. Thanks to <a href="http://paddynotpatty.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">paddynotpatty.com</a> for their humorous summary of these rules!

<h1>St. Patrick&#39;s Day Resources</h1>

<a href="https://ellii.com/collections/holidays-events/luck" target="_blank">ESL Lesson Plans and Resources for Teaching about St. Patrick&#39;s Day and Luck</a>: Find a Lucky Idioms poster, beginner &amp; intermediate lesson plans, podcasts, flashcards, and more!

Happy St. Paddy&#39;s Day!

Tanya

Saint Patrick's or St. Patrick's? Paddy or Patty?

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<blockquote>
I hope this won&rsquo;t be too difficult for students to&nbsp;understand&hellip;
</blockquote>

Commonly confused words, whether they look the same, sound the same, or have the same meaning, are the sources of many recurring student errors. I&rsquo;ve found that many students confuse &ldquo;so&rdquo; and &ldquo;such&rdquo; because they have the same meaning but a slightly different grammatical function. My students also have trouble with &ldquo;so&rdquo; and &ldquo;too&rdquo; for the opposite reason&mdash;they have the same grammatical function but the meaning is slightly different. It&rsquo;s a great idea to review these terms with your English learners no matter what level they are&nbsp;at!

<h1>So Vs. Such</h1>

<h2>Meaning</h2>

So and such both have the meaning of very or a&nbsp;lot.

<h2>Grammatical Function</h2>

So comes before an adjective, while such comes before an adjective +&nbsp;noun.

<blockquote>
SO + Adjective

SUCH + (article) + Adjective +&nbsp;Noun
</blockquote>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>That movie was so&nbsp;good.</li>
	<li>The test was so&nbsp;difficult.</li>
	<li>It is so cold in my&nbsp;room.</li>
	<li>My hometown is so&nbsp;beautiful.</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>That was such a good&nbsp;movie.</li>
	<li>It was such a difficult&nbsp;test.</li>
	<li>He is such a good soccer&nbsp;player.</li>
	<li>My new coworkers are such talented&nbsp;people.</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Tip</h5>

Students often incorrectly use so instead of such. Make sure you remind them that so + Adjective + Noun is impossible (e.g., we can&rsquo;t say That was so a good movie or That was so good&nbsp;movie).
</div>

<h1>So Vs. Too</h1>

<h2>Meaning</h2>

So and too both have the meaning of very or a lot, but so is usually used for positive cases, whereas too is used for negative cases. When so and too are both used for negative cases, so usually implies that something was completed or able to be done, while too implies it is incomplete or unable to be done. Too basically means can&rsquo;t!

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>So</th>
			<td>for positive situations, or for negative situations when there is a meaning of completing&nbsp;something</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Too</th>
			<td>for negative situations when there is a meaning of not completing&nbsp;something.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Grammatical Function</h2>

So and too both come before an adjective (or&nbsp;adverb).

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>That book was so interesting.&nbsp;(positive)</li>
	<li>My cat is so cute.&nbsp;(positive)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>The wiring is too complicated for me to fix.&nbsp;(negative)</li>
	<li>It is too tough to guess when this project will be finished.&nbsp;(negative)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>She finished the test so quickly.&nbsp;(positive)</li>
	<li>She finished the test too quickly.&nbsp;(negative)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>That test was so difficult. (negative, meaning is the test was really hard but I finished&nbsp;it)</li>
	<li>That test was too difficult. (negative, meaning is the test was really hard and I couldn&rsquo;t finish&nbsp;it)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>It was so cold. (negative, one possible meaning is I went outside and it was very&nbsp;cold)</li>
	<li>It was too cold. (negative, one possible meaning is I didn&rsquo;t go outside because it was very&nbsp;cold)</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Tip</h5>

Students often use too incorrectly for positive situations. I&rsquo;ve found it helpful to explain what the meaning with too&nbsp;actually is. For&nbsp;example:

<ul>
	<li>The movie was too good means that you were enjoying the movie so much that you couldn&rsquo;t stand it and had to leave before it was over. This doesn&rsquo;t really make&nbsp;sense!</li>
	<li>The pizza was too delicious means that you took a bite of the pizza and decided you couldn&rsquo;t eat it because it tasted so good. Strange,&nbsp;right?</li>
</ul>
</div>

<h1>Note</h1>

So, such, and too also have other purposes and functions in English. Feel free to ask about other cases in the comments section&nbsp;below.

So, Such & Too

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<blockquote>
The students had the grammar explained to them by their&nbsp;teacher&hellip;
</blockquote>

Do your students understand the passive voice? Sure. Have they mastered causative verbs? Yep. But do they realize that causative verbs can be passive too?&nbsp;What?

Don&rsquo;t let the passive causative cause your students any angst. Try presenting it using the method below, and wait for that Aha&nbsp;moment!

<h1>What Is the Passive Causative?</h1>

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/causative-verbs" target="_blank">Causative</a> verbs (have, let, make) are used when one person is causing another to do something. The <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-passive-voice" target="_blank">passive</a> is used when the focus is on the&nbsp;thing&nbsp;instead of the person. When you combine them together, you are essentially saying someone caused something to be done (by&nbsp;someone).

<img alt="Passive Causative Resource" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3193/content_103_Passive-Causative_US.jpg" />

<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2324">The Passive Causative</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;Resources

<h1>Why &ldquo;Get&rdquo;?</h1>

Since the causative verbs are have, let, and make, students might be wondering why the passive causative is formed with have or get. Get is possible for two&nbsp;reasons:

<ol>
	<li>Get is the casual passive form. Instead of the problem was solved, you can say the problem got&nbsp;solved.</li>
	<li>Get also has a causative meaning. You can say I got someone to do something, with the meaning of cause or force. However, because it&rsquo;s not a true causative verb, the base verb is not used, and an infinitive verb is used instead (which is the normal case for a second verb in a sentence after an object). See our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/causative-verbs" target="_blank" title="Causative Verbs">Causative Verbs</a> post for more&nbsp;information.</li>
</ol>

<h1>One More Example&hellip;</h1>

I got my hair cut is probably one of the most commonly used passive causative sentences around. But because cut is an irregular verb that has the same form for the past participle as it does for the base verb, it&rsquo;s a good idea to give students another example with a verb that changes forms. Try showing them these&nbsp;sentences:

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Causative:</th>
			<td>The manager had the assistant write the&nbsp;report.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Passive:</th>
			<td>The report was/got written (by the&nbsp;assistant).</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Passive Causative:</th>
			<td>The manager had/got the report written (by the&nbsp;assistant).</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson">Lesson:&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2834-passive-causative" target="_blank">The Passive Causative</a></li>
	<li class="resource">Chart:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2324-the-passive-causative-have-get" target="_blank">The Passive Causative: Have &amp;&nbsp;Get</a></li>
	<li class="lesson">Lesson:&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2325-causative-verbs" target="_blank">Causative Verbs</a></li>
	<li class="resource">Chart:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2314-causative-verbs-have-let-make" target="_blank">Causative Verbs: Have, Let &amp;&nbsp;Make</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post">Blog Post:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/causative-verbs" target="_blank">Causative Verbs</a></li>
	<li class="lesson">Lesson:&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1601-passive">Passive</a></li>
	<li class="resource">Chart:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2276-the-passive-voice" target="_blank">The Passive Voice</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post">Blog Post:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-passive-voice" target="_blank">The Passive Voice</a></li>
</ul>

The Passive Causative

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

Articles

<blockquote>&ldquo;Hollywood has the Oscars. Broadway has the Tonys. Now Twittter has&hellip;the Shorty Awards.&rdquo;&mdash;The New York Times</blockquote>

Ah, grammar! Even in the midst of our excitement over our <a href="http://shortyawards.com/ESLlibrary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Shorty Award nomination</a>, we had to stop and deal with some grammar and usage questions related to social media. But that&rsquo;s nothing new&mdash;English is a complex language, and we don&rsquo;t always agree on all the rules!

These questions came about when ESL Library was nominated for a <a href="http://shortyawards.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Shorty Award</a> last week. These awards honor those who produce content in short form for social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. In short (pun intended), they recognize the best of social media. We are so excited that the nominating board has chosen ESL Library as one of seven finalists in the Education category! The voting is happening now, and it&rsquo;s really quick and easy to show your support. We love our fans, and we&rsquo;d appreciate <a href="http://shortyawards.com/ESLlibrary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">your vote</a>!

I have to give a shout-out to our site&rsquo;s media director, Tara Benwell, for all her amazing work with social media for ESL Library! Tara, also our head writer, produces amazing content on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ESLlibrary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/esllibrary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Twitter</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnFRJ3mNt6nL9vMHduwCCyg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">YouTube</a>, <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/tarabenwell/english/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pinterest</a>, and <a href="http://instagram.com/esllibrary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Instagram</a> sites. She provides daily resources and tips on ELT and education, and interacts with teachers and other ELT professionals from around the world. While some of the content is a team effort (president Ben Buckwold, designer Robyn Shesterniak, and editor Tanya Trusler), the majority of the credit definitely goes to her. Great job, Tara! :)

Now onto the grammar questions! Let&rsquo;s tackle these topics:

<h3>Should the Shorty Awards take a singular or plural verb?</h3>

This is a tough question, similar to the one we dealt with in <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/olympics-singular-or-plural/" target="_blank">Olympics: Singular or Plural?</a> Should we look at the Shorty Awards as a singular event (and thus use a singular verb) or a group of awards (and use a plural verb)? I couldn&rsquo;t find any reference to this in my style guides, so I went straight to the source: the <a href="http://shortyawards.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Shorty Awards website</a>. They use a plural verb, like in the following sentence: &ldquo;The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media.&rdquo;

This actually sits well with me because it is similar to the Olympics (singular verb) versus the Olympic Games (plural verb). Since the plural word &ldquo;awards&rdquo; is part of the phrase &quot;the Shorty Awards,&quot; it would sound a little strange to say &ldquo;The Shorty Awards honors&hellip;&rdquo;

However, you can see both singular and plural verbs following various award ceremonies all over the internet. Google &ldquo;awards is&rdquo; and &ldquo;awards are&rdquo; and you&rsquo;ll see what I mean&mdash;plenty of examples for both. Basically, you can&rsquo;t go wrong. Either way is acceptable. The main thing is to choose one way of doing it and try to be consistent.

But remember to consider the sentence each time, too! For example, we have chosen to use a plural verb, so we would say, &ldquo;The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media.&rdquo; On the other hand, when Tara asked me if the sentence &ldquo;The Shorty Awards is Twitter&rsquo;s version of the Oscars!&rdquo; was correct, I said &ldquo;yes.&rdquo;&nbsp;I think it would sound strange to say &ldquo;The Shorty Awards are Twitter&rsquo;s version&hellip;&rdquo; because are and version don&rsquo;t agree. Another example where I would use a singular verb would be, &quot;The Shorty Awards is a ceremony that takes place annually.&quot;

Conclusion: We are going with a plural verb (unless a singular noun such as ceremony&nbsp;is mentioned as the object). What do you think? Join the debate in the comments section below!

<h3>Should we capitalize social media sites like Facebook and Twitter?</h3>

What do we do for names and titles that use an initial lowercase letter in their logo, such as &ldquo;facebook&rdquo; and &ldquo;twitter&rdquo;? If there are no entries in dictionaries or style guides to follow, I usually do two things: first, see how the site itself treats the name, and second, google it to see what the majority of people do. Both Facebook and Twitter, while using a lowercase letter in their logos, use a capital letter everywhere else on their site. So when they&rsquo;re writing out their names, they spell them as Facebook and Twitter. For example, Facebook lists their copyright as &ldquo;Facebook &copy; 2014,&rdquo;&nbsp;and Twitter says this on their site, &ldquo;Promote your account and get discovered by more people on Twitter.&rdquo;

Conclusion: Write out &ldquo;Facebook&rdquo; and &ldquo;Twitter&rdquo; with an initial capital letter.

Voting is on for 5 more days! Check out our video and interview on our <a href="http://shortyawards.com/ESLlibrary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">profile page</a>, and please take a moment to <a href="http://shortyawards.com/ESLlibrary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nominate @ESLlibrary for a Shorty Award in #education</a>&mdash;we could use your support! :)

Shorty Awards: Singular or Plural? And Should "Twitter" Be Capitalized?

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<h1>Let the Grammar Games&nbsp;begin!</h1>

With the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics starting tomorrow, many teachers will be discussing the Olympic Games in class over the next two weeks. (For Olympics lesson and activity ideas, check out <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/holidays-events/the-olympics" target="_blank">this collection</a>.) But what about the grammar? Does the Olympics take a singular or a plural verb? When do we capitalize words associated with the Games? What&rsquo;s the best adjective form? When do we hyphenate words? Think of this article as your one-stop resource to all things grammatical when it comes to the Olympics, and let the Games&nbsp;begin!

<h1>Is the Olympics Singular or&nbsp;Plural?</h1>

<blockquote>the Olympics + singular verb</blockquote>

<blockquote>the Olympic Games + plural verb</blockquote>

I tackled <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/olympics-singular-or-plural/" target="_blank">this thorny topic</a> two years ago during the 2012 Summer Olympics. The short answer is that the slight majority of people and publications refer to the Olympics as singular&nbsp;and the Olympic Games as plural. The idea is that the Olympics is one event or one thing (as another example, think of one huge, week-long concert like Woodstock where multiple bands are playing). However, the Games refer to the many separate sporting&nbsp;events. Point out to your students that they may see the Olympics taking both a singular and a plural verb. Challenge your students to find examples of each, and ask them what they think. Be sure to check out <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/olympics-singular-or-plural/" target="_blank">the complete post</a> and join the&nbsp;debate!

<h1>Capitalization of Olympic Words</h1>

<blockquote>Always capitalize: Winter Olympics, Olympics, Olympic, Olympic Games, Games</blockquote>

<h2>1. The Olympics</h2>

The Olympics, being an event name, is always capitalized. Words associated with the actual name of the Olympics are also capitalized (Winter, Sochi, Games), but other related words are not (medal, podium,&nbsp;torch).

<ul>
	<li>Winter Olympics</li>
	<li>Sochi&nbsp;2014 Winter Olympic Games</li>
	<li>Summer Olympics</li>
	<li>the 2014 Winter Games</li>
	<li>the Olympics</li>
	<li>Olympic podium</li>
	<li>Olympic torch</li>
	<li>Olympic flag</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Country Names, Nationalities &amp;&nbsp;Languages</h2>

Country names, nationalities, and languages are always&nbsp;capitalized.

<ul>
	<li>Canada, the USA, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Sweden, Kenya,&nbsp;etc.</li>
	<li>Russian, Norwegian, Chinese, Jamaican, South African, British, Venezuelan,&nbsp;etc.</li>
	<li>English, French, Hindi, Farsi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, German,&nbsp;etc.</li>
</ul>

<h2>3. Sports &amp; Sporting Event&nbsp;Names</h2>

Sports/sporting event names are not usually capitalized. One exception is&nbsp;Nordic combined (because Nordic refers to the country/area).

<ul>
	<li>hockey</li>
	<li>biathlon</li>
	<li>cross-country skiing (American spelling&mdash;other countries use cross country&nbsp;skiing)</li>
	<li>bobsleigh</li>
	<li>luge</li>
	<li>figure skating</li>
	<li>short track speed skating</li>
	<li>Nordic combined</li>
</ul>

<h2>4. The</h2>

Note that &ldquo;the&rdquo; is never capitalized in running text, according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed. Only capitalize &ldquo;the&rdquo; when it is the first word in a&nbsp;sentence.

<ul>
	<li>I&rsquo;m going to watch the Olympics every&nbsp;day.</li>
	<li>He knows someone who will be competing in the 2014 Winter&nbsp;Games.</li>
	<li>The Winter Olympics takes place in Sochi this&nbsp;year.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Adjective Forms: Capitalization and&nbsp;Hyphenation</h1>

<blockquote>1. Adjective form = Olympic 2. Use a hyphen for multiple-word adjectives (e.g., a gold-medal&nbsp;winner)</blockquote>

The adjective form of the Olympics is Olympic. It is always capitalized. Adjective forms almost never take an -s ending in English. Also, when a multiple-word adjective precedes a noun, it usually takes a&nbsp;hyphen.

<ul>
	<li>the Olympic Games</li>
	<li>Olympic events</li>
	<li>a gold-medal winner</li>
	<li>an expert-level slope</li>
</ul>

Note: You may notice that we use Olympics before a noun in some places on our site. Why? When referring to a lesson, it is common to use the noun form instead of the adjective form. So we use Winter Olympics lesson and Olympics lesson plan. Another example is sports. You would naturally say our Sports lesson plan, not our Sport or Sporting lesson plan. Note that we would normally capitalize any word in this position, since it is the title of the lesson. If this is confusing, you could always reword it like this: a lesson plan on the Olympics or a lesson plan on sports, where you would clearly need the noun form and wouldn&rsquo;t need to capitalize the topic for a regular word since it&rsquo;s not the&nbsp;title. Be sure to visit <a href="https://ellii.com/collections/holidays-events/the-olympics" target="_blank">our Olympics collection</a>. Go team!

Grammar Rules for the Olympics

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The Winter Olympics is coming up and ESL Library has a ready-made flashcard set to help you teach and review related vocabulary with your language learners. Our <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/7/flashcard_categories/114" target="_blank">Winter Olympics Flashcard</a> set features all of the sports from this year&#39;s Olympic Games. You will also find flashcards for medal ceremonies. Check out our entire <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/7/flashcard_categories" target="_blank">Sports &amp; Athletes</a> section, where you will find vocabulary images for equipment, clothing, athletes, actions, and the Summer Olympics!

<h1>Vocabulary Review Ideas</h1>

Here are some ideas for using our Winter Olympics flashcards in the classroom. Add your own ideas in the comments below!

<h2>Drawing</h2>

Print out a few sets of the Winter Olympics flashcards. Put students in groups or pairs and have them take turns drawing and guessing the images on the cards. Make this activity more fun and competitive by having students draw with their eyes closed! Or make it active by having students race to the board to draw. There is also a fun guessing activity (&quot;Go for Gold&quot;) in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1890" target="_blank">Winter Olympics</a> lesson.

<h2>Cold Seat - Brrr</h2>

Put your class in two groups. Place two captains in chairs facing away from the board. Paste a large-sized flashcard (Did you know you could choose the size when you print the cards out?) on the board. The rest of the class has to get their team captain to guess the word by talking about it. You can decide whether or not gestures are allowed. The first captain to guess correctly gets out of &quot;the cold seat&quot;&nbsp;and gets a point. A new captain is chosen. For fun, play this game outside with students all bundled up!

<h2>Spelling Bee</h2>

Pull out a card and have students try to spell the word. Each time students spell the word correctly, they get a point. Make it active by requiring students to stand up and do jumping jacks while they spell!

<h2>Pronunciation Bee</h2>

Just like a spelling bee, but students have to pronounce the words properly as you hold up a card.

<h2>Experts</h2>

Gather all of the sports cards from the Winter Olympics set. Have students choose a card out of a box. During the Olympics, ask your students to become experts or reporters on the sport they chose. They can share news related to their sport&nbsp;and tell the class who wins gold, silver, and bronze. The expert can also share any rules related to this sport. This activity can also be done in pairs. Choose a time each day during the Winter Olympics to have students report on their sport.

<h2>Yes, Coach!</h2>

Use the Olympics and Sports Actions cards to play charades. Have students take turns coming to the front or center of the space to choose cards and model the action (be the &quot;coach&quot;). The other students have to copy the movement of the coach with the card AND try to guess the action word. Whoever guesses first gets to be the next &quot;coach.&quot;

<h2>Olympic Memories</h2>

Use all of the flashcards from both the Summer and Winter Olympic sets. Hold up one card. Invite students to share any memory they have about the sport or a related athlete. Encourage them to start with the phrase: &quot;I remember when...&quot;&nbsp;or &quot;That reminds me of ...&quot;

<h2>Shout the Verb</h2>

Use the <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/7/flashcard_categories/88" target="_blank">Sports Equipment</a> set. The student who picks the card must complete the question: What can you do with a&hellip;? The other students shout actions. (See <a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/7/flashcard_categories/87" target="_blank">Sports Actions</a> set here.)

<ul>
	<li>hockey puck (shoot it)</li>
	<li>helmet (wear it)</li>
	<li>target (hit it)</li>
</ul>

<h2>Predictions</h2>

Use the cards to practice making predictions about the Olympics. Which country will get the most gold, silver, and bronze medals? Which country will win the relay? Who will carry the Olympic flag? Simply pull out a random card from the set and ask your students to make a prediction about it. Or get your students to practice asking the questions.

<h2>Preferences</h2>

Use the cards to practice stating preferences. Which sports do your students prefer playing? Which sports do they prefer watching? Why do they prefer one sport over another? Pull out two flashcards at a time and have students practice stating which one they prefer and why. You could add the Summer Olympics flashcards in for this game.

<h2>Olympic Village</h2>

Tape a sport/athlete card to the forehead or back of each student. Have students walk around the Olympic Village trying to guess who they are. They have to ask each other questions, such as &quot;Do I compete on a hill?&quot;&nbsp;or &quot;Do I race indoors?&quot;&nbsp;The first to guess correctly gets gold, the second gets silver, the third gets bronze. Use boxes or baskets to make podiums for the winners to stand on as they watch the rest of the class play.

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2532" target="_blank">Superlative Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2612" target="_blank">Winter Olympics</a> (Word Bank)</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1890" target="_blank">Winter Olympics</a> (Holidays &amp; Events)</li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/7/flashcard_categories/114" target="_blank">Winter Olympic Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/olympics-singular-or-plural/" target="_blank">Olympics: Singular or Plural?</a></li>
</ul>

Ideas for Using Winter Olympics Flashcards

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<blockquote>&quot;I don&rsquo;t have any time today. We can meet anytime next week.&quot;</blockquote>

When a two-word phrase has a one-word variant, it can cause confusion for both English speakers and&nbsp;ELLs. One such example is <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/everyday-vs-every-day/" target="_blank">every day vs. everyday</a>: every day is a time expression that usually appears at the beginning of end of a sentence, while everyday is an adjective that appears before a noun. Another slightly more complicated example is any time vs. anytime. Is there a meaning difference? What are the usage rules for these two expressions?

<h3>Quick Tricks</h3>

If you use British English, the answer is easy! Always use any time (because&nbsp;anytime is not widely accepted).

If you use American English, it&rsquo;s a bit more complicated. Basically, if preceded by a preposition, a negative word, or a question word, use any time. In all other cases, use anytime.

<h3>Any Time</h3>

Think of any time as a quantity of time. This determiner + noun can follow a preposition (usually at) or be used in a question or negative sentence (any almost always takes the place of some in these cases).

<ul>
	<li>Go ahead and start the project at any time.</li>
	<li>Do you have any time to meet with me today?</li>
	<li>She won&rsquo;t have any time to prepare for the presentation.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Anytime</h3>

Think of&nbsp;anytime as whenever. Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Collegiate Dictionary defines the adverb anytime as &ldquo;at any time whatever.&rdquo;&nbsp;Anytime is most often used at the beginning or end of a sentence, but it can also follow a verb. Anytime is sometimes described as a simply a &ldquo;casualism&rdquo; of any time, but note that in American English, anytime is the more common form.

<ul>
	<li>Go ahead and start the project anytime.</li>
	<li>She will arrive anytime between 7:00 and 8:00&nbsp;pm.</li>
	<li>Anytime you need a friend, I&rsquo;ll be there.</li>
</ul>

*Note that the first example of both sets have the same meaning&mdash;you can almost always use at any time or anytime with no difference in meaning.

If you have any other questions, ask me anytime!

Tanya

Any Time Vs. Anytime

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<blockquote>&ldquo;A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. Sail out to sea and do new things.&rdquo;&mdash;Grace Hopper</blockquote>

January is when we are most motivated to accomplish goals, and motivation is the key to accomplishing any goal and improving ourselves. Unfortunately, staying motivated throughout the year is tough. Four years ago, I found my answer by developing a Personal/Passionate Learning Network (PLN). What&rsquo;s a PLN? A PLN consists of the people we choose to interact with and derive knowledge from in our various social networks and online learning spaces. Every day, millions share the narratives of their lives through written words, images, music, audio, and video they post on various social networks. These exchanges make us reflect on our beliefs, philosophies, and self-image and often influence our behavior and decisions. Below are events, courses, webinars, conferences, and online projects where you can learn with other language teachers and learners online. Try at least one and see how the experience helps you grow as a teacher. Then revisit us in a few months and let us know how it helped enhance your teaching year.

<h3>Free Online Learning! Courses, Webinars, Sessions, and Conferences</h3>

<a href="http://eltchat.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">#ELTchat</a>&mdash;Join several language teachers worldwide on Twitter to discuss various topics you get to vote for and suggest. You can also just lurk or look at past archives for great lesson ideas and resources. This ELTON-nominated chat takes place every Wednesday. The times alternate each week at 12:00 p.m. GMT and the following week at 21:00 GMT.

<a href="http://evosessions.pbworks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">EVO Sessions</a>&mdash;For five weeks in January and February, English language teaching experts and teachers in over 100 countries engage in collaborative online discussions or hands-on virtual workshops. Find this year&rsquo;s list of over 15 to choose from with topics such as teaching young learners, with drama, with mobile devices and creating your own digital textbook.

<a href="http://30goals.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The 30 Goals Challenge</a>&mdash;We are a community of teachers who suggest 1 to 30 goals related to education to accomplish in a year. You choose to accomplish 1 to 30 of your choice and post a reflection on your blog or at our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/30Goals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook community</a>. These are short-term goals that can be accomplished in one day, such as thank a student, share a lesson idea, or dare your students. Our theme this year is, Make a Difference. Over 10,000 teachers have joined the challenge since 2010.

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncil" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Teach English Facebook Community</a> hosts regular Facebook discussions with some incredible language teachers, bloggers, and speakers worldwide.

<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Eltmooc&amp;src=typd" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">#ELTMOOC</a>&mdash;Throughout the year, the incredible <a href="http://twitter.com/fluencymc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jason Levine (Fluency MC)</a>, organizes free online courses for teachers. Over 24 instructors provide instruction on listening and pronunciation. Follow the hashtag to see when the next event takes place.

<a href="http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/292127?present=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Free Friday Webinars</a>&mdash;Every Friday attend a free 30 minute online webinar with Shelly Sanchez Terrell about an ELT topic at 3:00 p.m. CT, 4:00 p.m. ET, 9:00 p.m. GMT, 10:00 p.m. CET, Sat. 8:00 a.m. Sydney, and Sat. 6 a.m. Tokyo. Check your <a href="http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=1&amp;iso=20140221T16&amp;p1=179&amp;am=30" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">time zone here</a>!&nbsp;

Receive a certificate, find resources, and watch recordings to over 150+ sessions here: <a href="http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/292127?present=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://bit.ly/ELTLINKs</a>.

<a href="http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/webinars" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Teach English Webinars</a>&mdash;Each month the British Council offers free webinars from various ELT authors, teachers, and trainers. Topics have included online teaching, designing a lesson, and emotional approaches to teaching with technology.

<a href="http://www.beltabelgium.com/p/webinars.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BELTA Sunday Webinars</a>&mdash;Each month attend a free webinar on Sundays, which is sponsored by the Belgium English Language Teachers Association. You can attend free. Topics have included games to mobile learning.

<a href="http://www.virtual-round-table.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Virtual Round Table Language and Technology Free E-Conference</a>&mdash;Each year Heike Philp and others host this ELTON-nominated conference during March, April, or May. In the past keynotes included ELT allstars like Jeremy Harmer, Lindsay Clandfield, Chuck Sandy, Luke Meddings, Gavin Dudeney, Nik Peachey and Nicky Hockly.

<a href="http://theedublogger.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Edublogs Live Events</a>&mdash;Every week, attend a free webinar on various topics. Usually, Jo and Phil Hart host these free webinars that cover effective use of web 2.0 tools or instructional methodologies.

<a href="http://live.classroom20.com/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Classroom 2.0 Live Events</a>&mdash;Every week, attend a free webinar with an expert in a field or listen to some great authors speak live and ask them questions.

What are your favorite ways to learn online? Did I miss any other great professional development opportunities?

Your Best Year Yet as an ELT Teacher! 20+ Free PD Events & Resources

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<h3>&quot;All you need is love.&quot;&nbsp;&mdash;the Beatles</h3>

One of the most popular bands of all time undoubtedly deserves its own holiday. In 2001, UNESCO declared January 16th to be &quot;Beatles Day.&quot; And as with most holidays in English, it&#39;s tough to figure out the&nbsp;correct capitalization and punctuation of the holiday name!

<h3>Capitalization</h3>

For all major holidays in English, we capitalize the word &quot;Day.&quot;&nbsp;Examples include Valentine&#39;s Day, Christmas Day, Canada Day, and Independence Day. It follows that the word &quot;day&quot; in Beatles Day should also be capitalized. What about the word &quot;month&quot;? I was just discussing this with our head writer, Tara Benwell, as we were preparing our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2148" title="eye idioms">Eye Idioms</a> poster for Eye Care Awareness Month. I believe that &quot;month&quot; should follow the same rules as &quot;day&quot; for holidays, and therefore be capitalized.

<h3>Punctuation</h3>

Should it be Beatles Day or Beatles&#39; Day? Is it possessive (the day that belongs to the Beatles, so Beatles&#39; Day) or not (a day about the Beatles, so Beatles Day)? Technically, both are correct. And unfortunately, if we look at other common holidays, we get a mix of possessive and non-possessive (think of Valentine&#39;s Day and St. Patrick&#39;s Day, but Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Day). First, I check the dictionary (I use <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com">http://www.merriam-webster.com</a>&nbsp;for American English and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com">http://www.oxforddictionaries.com</a>&nbsp;for British English). If the holiday isn&#39;t listed, as in this case, then I&nbsp;go by what the organization or government body that formed the holiday has chosen (a Google search should show you that, or at least show you which way is more common).&nbsp;Beatles Day it is!

<h3>Activity</h3>

This holiday is a great chance for teachers to incorporate some music into the classroom! Turning a song into a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloze_test" title="cloze">cloze exercise</a> is an activity that always goes over well. Google the lyrics to your favorite Beatles&nbsp;song, white out some of the lyrics, and voil&agrave;! You have a listening activity that your students will love.

<h3>Lessons</h3>

Now is a great time to check out our Famous People lessons on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/1388">the Beatles</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/1336">John Lennon</a>! These lessons each include a reading, vocabulary exercises, and discussion questions about &quot;the Fab Four.&quot;

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