Tag Archives: handouts

• Engaging Grammar Group Activities (Even For Hesitant Students)

group-work

Engaging group work

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

Group work in a grammar class can be a powerful learning tool if it is carefully structured.  The format for the activities that I’ll present here has been effectively used with students from lower level to advanced levels. And the structure of these activities makes it easy for even the most passive students to be active; in fact, many times, the normally quiet students seem to shine while doing these.  Another positive aspect of these is that they are non-threatening for students to engage in.

Continue reading

• Grammar class: Confusion about when to use “where” vs “which”

Questions

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

A tutor recently told me about her student who was confused by “where” and “which.”  She was wondering how I would approach this student’s question.   He had two sentences:

Shanghai is a city which has a population of eight million people.
Shanghai is a city where eight million people live.

Continue reading

• Purposeful reading: Students read faster if they know what they are looking for.

Having a purpose.

Having a purpose.

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

One reason that ESL students often take so much time reading a passage is because they think that they need to understand all the information.  As a result, many of them tend to cover a text in translation of every word that they are not familiar with.  We have often heard of international students staying up until 2 a.m. trying to complete reading assignments in their academic courses.

This can change if they know in advance the purpose of the reading assignment.

Continue reading