Author Archives: commonsenseesl

• Inductive Grammar: Why are there commas in these sentences? Here are some clues. What’s the rule?

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Cover comma blog shot

(This posting includes a handout which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

YouTube This posting is discussed on my YouTube video: Why is this comma here?

During a teacher-training course that I was teaching for American college students who wanted to teach ESL, we were discussing where to put commas.  Several of the students said that they decide according to their breath.  As they are re-reading something that they had written, if they stop to take a breath, that’s where they put a comma.  Wow!

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• Fluency Writing: Reading, Speaking In Triads, And Listening Culminating In A Writing Task

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Cover fluency shot

                                          Integrating the four skills

(This posting includes a handout which you are welcome to use with your students.)*

This is the perfect activity for integrating four skills into one activity.  And it culminates in a writing task in which students focus on controlling their grammar and on their sentence style.  It’s also one in which students can practice those two aspects of writing without having to spend time thinking about what to write.

These fluency activities can be used throughout a term when instructors would like to have students work on their grammar in a writing context and/or when they would like to add some group work in their writing classes.  Also, it’s a good lead-in to teaching paraphrasing skills.

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• Pronunciation practice: Easy and Effective One-on-One Technique

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smartphone-recording

Recording on a smartphone

This technique requires minimal preparation, but it will help you zero in on the words/ sounds that a student is struggling with.  And it will enable you to help him/her improve their pronunciation in a non-threatening way.

To watch a more detailed description of this technique, see my YouTube video Most Effective Approach to Helping Students Improve Their Pronunciation (Time Efficient)

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• Purposeful Reading: Read faster and create a tolerance for ambiguity

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Slow reading because of translating

Slow reading because of translating

(This posting includes a handout which you are welcome to use with your students.)

The other day, Mari, an ESL student of mine, asked me if I could help her with an article that she had been assigned for one of her courses.  I could see that the article would be quite challenging for her.  And I couldn’t help but notice that she had covered the article with translations.  It was obvious that she had little confidence that she’d be able to understand any of it unless she translated almost every word, even words she actually knew.

As mentioned in a previous posting • Purposeful reading: Students read faster if they know what they are looking for. , if student know the purpose of a reading assignment, they tend to read faster because they don’t get bogged down in trying to understand unnecessary details and vocabulary.  Also, they are more likely to become tolerant of ambiguity. Included in this posting is a unit (an article and study guide) that begins with a focus on the reason students would read the article.

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