Tag Archives: engaging students

• Introducing “Short, High-Interest Articles for Extensive Reading” (#1 “For More Happiness, Keep Your Good News Secret for a While.”)

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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.) *

Beginning with this post, I plan to share short, high-interest articles that you can use with your ESL students for extensive reading. I’ll be adding them to the right-hand column: ESL Reading> Short, High Interest Articles for Extensive Readings

The driving force behind these articles: I wanted to motivate students to want to read. By focusing on high-interest topics no matter what the subject area, I believe that I’ve accomplished that goal.

In addition, these have been successfully used these with students at many different reading-skill levels. There is a research-based reason why this has been possible. A group of researchers investigated the factors that helped students remember what they had been reading. They found that how interested the students were in reading the passage was thirty times more important than how “readable” the passage was.

Options for using these materials with students.

  • You can make these available to students who would just like to read more.
  • You can assign the brief True-False Comprehension Questions that are included at the end of the articles.
  • You can assign the short Paraphrasing Exercise that is also included.
  • You can have students write the brief Reflection Exercise, also at the end.

Here is the first article. You can download the article for your students by clicking on the link at the end. 

For More Happiness Keep Your Good News Secret for a While

1 You just received a letter in the mail from a college that has been your first choice to attend.  The letter will inform you whether or not you have been accepted. Nervously, you open the envelop. The letter begins, “It is our pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted to our college.” You smile hugely with overwhelming happiness. Immediately, you want to share this great news with your family and best friends. But wait. To really experience this feeling of joy, according to research, you should keep this news to yourself for several minutes.

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• Three Ways to Use Authentic Materials In The ESL Classroom Depending On Purpose And Level.

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Cover authentic shot

One day, a former student of mine, Jenny, wanted to ask me about an article that her present ESL teacher had assigned. The article was an opinion piece from a popular American magazine. The first thing that I noticed was that she had covered it with little translations above many of the words, including some whose meaning could clearly be understood from the context.

As with any materials that we bring to our class, a decision needs to be made about how to use authentic ones like that magazine article in a pedagogically sound way.

During a discussion about what authentic reading materials are on a TESOL list serv, some members felt it had to be something that was published in a native-speaker source.  But the consensus was that it could be anything that was written without simplification for non-native speakers.

However we define it, many of us ESL teachers will find reasons for incorporating authentic materials into our lessons. For example,
• The articles are more current than in ESL books.
• The content is of high interest or counter-intuitive.
• The article is especially relevant to the students currently in our class.
• We can help students develop confidence that they can understand things they might want to or need to read outside our ESL classes.

Three techniques for making authentic materials user-friendly for ESL students.

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• Fun Writing-Class Activity: Writing Hints and Solving Mysteries about Classmates

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

This posting is an updated version of a post from April 10, 2018:  • Writing Class Person Description Activity: Fun, Lively and Productive

I knew that this activity worked well with my ESL students. However, I hadn’t realized what they were experiencing internally until I did it myself.

Several of my colleagues and I decided to try out some activities by putting ourselves in the roles of students. And this was one of them.

In brief, we were randomly and secretly assigned one of the colleagues in the room. On a paper with only a number, we described the colleague physically and/or their personality and/or habit etc. Next we put all our papers on a stack, mixed them up and then each of us taped one on the wall. After that, we walked around reading the description and writing on a paper the name of the colleague being described. Finally, we shared our decisions with each other.

My insights into what students experience during this activity

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• ESL Teachers’ Gift to Students: Silence

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Cover Silence man

I’m experiencing life as a L2 learner for four hours. One of our colleagues, Susan, has volunteered to teach eight of us ESL teachers beginning Farsi for professional development. After we have learned some basics, she does an oral “drill”. She calls on me, and I feel some pressure to respond quickly not wanting to make everyone wait. To my relief, though, Susan patiently remains silent while I formulate my answer.

As she calls on others, I become aware of how I am feeling. To my surprise, unlike how I imagined my ESL students feeling in these situations, I , as an L2 learner, am not restlessly yearning for a faster pace. Instead, I appreciate the chance to formulate responses in my own mind, and when I’m called on again, I feel my stress level diminish.

 According to research, many of us ESL teachers find silence to be uncomfortable. And this can result in loss opportunities.

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