Author Archives: commonsenseesl

Short, High-Interest Articles for Extensive Reading: # 7: “The Problem with Chasing Happiness”

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(This posting includes a handout LINK AT THE END OF THIS POST which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

Carmen and Erik had a problem being happy. They thought that the purpose in life was to feel happy, and they thought that they knew what they needed to do in order to be happy. However, when they did it, they still weren’t as happy as they expected to be.

A psychologist explained a big reason why it is not effective for people like Eric and Carmin to chase happiness. If our goal is to feel an emotion (for example, happiness), and if we don’t feel as we had expected to feel, we will think that there is something wrong with us.

However, researchers say that we can prepare ourselves to have positive experiences without the disappointments. (See complete article below.)

For background information about these articles and for suggestions for how to use them with your students, see  • Introducing “Short, High-Interest Readings”  Also, I’ll be adding more of these articles in the right-hand column: ESL Reading> Short, High Interest Articles for Extensive Readings

Here is the seventh article. You can download the article for your students by clicking on the link at the end. Also included are three optional exercises: True-False Questions; Paraphrasing Exercise; Reflection Exercise.

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• Most Important Tool for Managing Classroom Behavior (Case two and Caveat) REVISITED

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Classroom management

“David, Please report to the Director’s office as soon as your class finishes.  He needs to talk to you.”  A program assistant handed me a note with those sentences on it.  Gulp!

In the early 1980s, my wife and I, without much thought, accepted teaching positions on the Greek island of Lesbos.  It was a Greek island, so what could possible go wrong?

It was a prep school that high school students attended in the late afternoons/evenings after high school to study English.  Shortly after arriving, we met one of the teachers whom we were replacing.  He told us that the school had a lot of discipline problems because many of the students didn’t want to be there.  He said that the teacher-turnover was quite high as a result.  In fact, a couple of teacher had just disappeared a few months earlier.

On the first day of class, as we walked down the hallway, we could see students literally chasing each other around the class rooms and jumping on the desks.  My first class was with 16 tenth-grade students.  Although most of the students paid little attention to me but instead continued to chat as I started the lesson, there were three female students sitting in the front row appearing eager to begin.  Those three became the focus of my attention.  Gradually, most of the others started to engage in the lesson, while a couple slept or doodled or looked out the window.

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Short, High-Interest Articles for Extensive Reading: # 6: How Eye Glasses Surprisingly Increased Poor People’s Income.

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(This posting includes a handout LINK AT THE END OF THIS POST which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

This article in not about fashion. It’s not about the impression people get when they see someone wearing glasses. It’s about helping low-income people.

A 42-year-old grandmother in Bangladesh named Jasmin Atker was making the equivalent of $52 a month on her small family farm. Then one day, a nonprofit organization gave her a pair of glasses. After that, her income jumped almost 200% to $150 a month.

Researchers found similar improvements in people’s income in villages in Bangladesh and India after they had received glasses. (See complete article below.)

For background information about these articles and for suggestions for how to use them with your students, see  • Introducing “Short, High-Interest Readings”  Also, I’ll be adding more of these articles in the right-hand column: ESL Reading> Short, High Interest Articles for Extensive Readings

Here is the sixth article. You can download the article for your students by clicking on the link at the end. Also included are three optional exercises: True-False Questions; Paraphrasing Exercise; Reflection Exercise.

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• Semi-Colons Can Actually Be a Useful Tool for ESL Students

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“Hey, David. Did you notice the two semi-colons that I used in my essay?” Alvin asked me as he entered the classroom.

It’s easy to think that ESL students can live without semi-colons. However, after doing a brief lesson with them, I found that they not only can understand what they are, but also, how useful they can be.

As an introduction to semi-colons, I explain just three general points:

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