Adapted from Patrick Hoggan at American River College, I created a peer review that is completely anonymous and competitive. In this peer review students will write the best essay possible and compete with other students. I usually include prizes for the winners (top 3). This can be done with paragraphs, essays, or any type of writing. Directions: Have students write an essay then type that essay (I usually do an in-class essay that I will […]
Blind Peer Review
This is a peer review I adapted from Megan Riedel (English) at Yuba College. This peer review is completely anonymous and allows the students to receive multiple sources of feedback. It may take an entire class period depending on the amount of students (performed with a class of 20 or more). Directions: Have the students write an essay (I usually do an in-class then examine it return it with a grade. I withhold the feedback). […]
Editing Writing Practice
This writing practice is for high-beginning/low-intermediate (ESL 235- level 3 integrated skills). I used examples from the students own writing (either a recent test or writing homework) that I would type up to use with students’ permission. They were already used to correction symbols (which are introduced at the start of the class with the first homework assignments). I usually go over the first example with the class together, reading sentence by sentence and stopping […]
Vocabulary Practice Bingo
Spelling Word Bingo: This is a way to practice vocabulary (whether from a reading or any other vocabulary source). It can be used at almost any level as you would just use the vocabulary students are currently learning and could adapt box size, etc. to accommodate. I used it in an advanced ESL writing/reading class, after half the semester (they had a few vocab lists and had taken a few spelling quizzes already). The students […]
Reading Fables Predictions/Story Creation to Reading
In my reading courses I always like to use Fables by Arnold Lobel. He always has one piece of art that encapsulate the entire story. When I teach students about predictions I usually use one of his fables. In the fable attached for this lesson I have the students examine a photo. It is a picture of an interesting bear wearing a frying pan on his head and paper bags for shoes. I sometimes have […]
Infinitive of Purpose
>>WCC INFINITIVE OF PURPOSE VISUALS<< (edit as necessary, the pictures moved a little in posting this!) >>WCC INFINITIVE OF PURPOSE<< This is an activity I use to introduce the Infinitive of Purpose, i.e. “I went to the ocean to relax“. The first attachment is visual, with pictures to elicit a story about a WCC student who is taking ESL classes to improve her English. She also wants to take a computer class […]
Money Lesson Beginners “How much / How many “
During my practicum years ago I came up with the idea of printing out “play money” to deal with the grammar points “How much” and “How many.” In the lesson I begin by explaining what each bill is called: 1 dollar bill, 5 dollar bill, etc. Then I go into the different between “money” and “bills.” I hand out the money randomly to students. They count up their money and then I ask them individually […]
Class Observation Assignment, Rubric, and Letter
This assignment is for higher level students about to transition to mainstream courses. I created this assignment to encourage students that they could actually attend classes and be successful. The assignment is assign towards the beginning of the semester (multiple reasons for this: scheduling observations, vocabulary [usually the classes are more advanced as the semester rolls out], and reflection). Before doing this assignment, I present lectures from real classes for them to practice the skills […]
Present Perfect Indefinite Past
Unit 10 in Focus on Grammar 3 deals with “Have you ever_____?” and how to answer those questions. I created a fun activity that forces students to get out of their seats and communicate with each other. With this handout, students run around the room and try to find students who have done one of these activities before. For example, “Have you ever been to the Golden Gate Bridge?” If the student asked responds yes, […]
The Cultural Iceberg
This always seems to make it into my intermediate/advanced classes at some point! It is helpful for students to have a little understanding of cross-cultural communication since they are studying another language/culture. I will add this activity into a unit that covers food, festivals or fashion. It has been most successful with my advanced classes. The idea is that what is visible in a culture (food, fashion, festivals, games, and music) has deeper roots to […]