More TOEFL ideas

1) englishtips.org is a great place to download TOEFL resources

2) Work on specific conversation types & their grammar/language counterparts. (This is actually great for language students of all levels!) For example, one major skill that TOEFLers need to complete the Speaking Section of the TOEFL is to be able to describe a problem, explain the solution given in the conversation they hear, and give their opinion about what the student in the recording should do. So one activity I've used on occasion is problem description using Dear Abby columns. I give the students several, then have them explain the problem, the solution and their opinion about it. It's good practice describing problems. And this activity can be accompanied with language and grammar needed for explaining problems. For example, so and so says/states/describes, etc. So and so talks about/discusses, etc. such and such a problem. Grammar focuses could include using advice language like should/If I were you/etc.

3) Other conversation types are debates: skill to focus on: arguing/defending a point. (This is a pretty common language-learning activity.)

TOEFL speaking preparation resources

I've had a quick look at a few different resources for preparing your students for the TOEFL speaking part:
advice, parameters, and voicemail etiquette
great speaking exercises
tons of conversation questions for practicing
Renshaw's speaking tips

Excellent EFL Lessons

These lessons are as good as gold. I love about.com EFL stuff.

Reviewing the simple past

A great activity for reviewing the simple past is to read a short biography of someone interesting. This site, with bios of Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe and this other site where you can read about Noam Chompsky, Alexander Humbolt and Paul Harvey, seem good. This is a good site for long biographies. You can make up your own comprehension questions for the biography you choose to read and then ask them questions about their past or assign them to write an autobiography. Here are links to hundreds of questions to choose from: here, here and here if you or they want to write a book on the subject.

This lesson gets your student speaking in the simple past and makes for interesting conversation.

Vocabulary/Conversation exercises

I'm loving these EFL Talking Point Lessons! They are great because they help "ensanchar" the vocabulary of your students and provide great conversation questions. I've even followed the format and written my own: I'll just paste it here because my window's installer is keeping me from installing "esnips", a program that would let me upload it here. Anyhoo...

Edit May 14th: I just added "multitask" to this discussion sheet. This is a good activity to pair up with the gerund activity posted earlier.

At Work

Match the vocabulary words with the correct definitions:

to milk it to micromanage to get sacked the glass ceiling to think outside the box to multitask

1) ___________________ this term refers to situations where the advancement of a qualified person within the hierarchy of an organization is stopped at a lower level because of some form of discrimination, most commonly sexism or racism

2) ___________________ the performance of multiple tasks at one tim

3) ___________________ to manage especially with excessive control or attention to details, to meddle or try to control in detail the actions and procedures of the people working below another

4) ___________________ to get fired

5) ___________________ to have original ideas, often unconventional ones with a new perspective

6) ___________________ to take full advantage of something, to make a task last more hours than necessary especially if you are getting paid by the hour (similar to “sacar la vuelta”)

Fill in the blanks with the correct vocabulary term. Be sure to use the correct form of the verbs. (infinitive, gerund) The form of the verb is ALWAYS a gerund when it’s used directly after prepositions.

Brenda is the boss of the graphic designing department at a large advertising company. She’s meticulous, a perfectionist. She complains that her boss hasn’t promoted her because she’s a woman, that she’s hit ___________________. However, his decision has more to do with her love of _____________________ at work, than a desire to keep her at a lower level in the company. She often asks for extensions on projects. Rather than taking one month, she spends six to eight weeks finishing them. In her favor, she’s good at ____________________________, as she often comes up with innovative solutions for problems she encounters. She can do fifteen things at once; she’s a natural at __________________. She’s also responsible for four people in her department. They enjoy her trust in them and her ability to give them full responsibility of their tasks. She doesn’t meddle with their projects or try to _____________________ them, or threatening them with _____________________.

Answer the questions using would or used to.

1. Where did you use to work?

2. Name three tasks you did daily.

3. Where would you have lunch when you worked there?

Conversation questions:

1) Are you a good multitasker? (Are you good at multitasking?)

2) Have you ever felt you were being micromanaged at home or at work?

3) Do you think “the glass ceiling” is a common phenomenon at big corporations?

4) What do you think about workers who “milk it”?

connectors

I got this link from a student of mine. It's a list of Spanish connectores translated to English. Very useful.

Reading activities?

Does anyone have any suggestions for reading materials I can find online? I'm looking for all different types of writing: historical, natural science, economics, on culture, music, sports, etc. I'm specifically looking for articles about a page in length. Of all kinds.

Resources I'm currently using include:
the British Council podcasts suggested by Isabel in an earlier entry
Time: Your Body. A User's Guide. This is a great resource. (It's being sold on amazon for $28.00, but I bought it in an airport for $11.99, the price stated by the UPC symbol.) How each body system (respiratory, digestive, circulatory, nervous, etc.) functions is described in a page. Some are explained in half a page. Most of my students find this book interesting.
Boggle's Worlds two article downloads
The Onion
The New York Times -- these articles are generally a bit too long, often 2-3-4 pages. However there are usually several interesting articles to read.

Update: Here's another great reading resource at Hannah's suggestion: the BBC's Words in the News. Thanks ;)

Here is some great advice on EFL reading activities.

If you have any suggestions, please comments. Perhaps someone knows of other English teaching sites like he British Council.
Thanks. ;)

Boggle's World ESL rocks!

I love Boggle's World ESL. It has several good activities for English learners.

Here are my personal recommendations from this site:

• These activities for false beginners. They were a little confusing to me trying to figure them out at first, but as soon as you start the activity, it all falls into place. They worked very well with a small group of false beginners that I taught a while back.
• My students and I love this activity. It's designed to talk about movies, and everyone has seen lots of movies so there's plenty to talk about. It's great for pretty much all levels.
  

An activity with gerunds and infinitives

I found a great activity on gerunds and infinitives. There is no good, easy rule your students can learn so they know when they must follow a verb by a gerund and when it must be followed by an infinitive.

For example:

I like water skiing.
I like to water ski.
"Like" can be followed directly with either a gerund or an infinitive.

I quit smoking.
I quit to smoke. XX - This is a verb that, if followed directly by a verb, must be followed by a gerund.
"Quit" can only be followed directly by a gerund.

She offered to bake a cake.
She offered baking a cake. XX
If "offer" is followed directly by a verb, it must be an infinitive.


If you want a good list of which verbs are followed by which, check out Profesor Moya's excellent book, units 12 and 13. --He does make an occasional mistake, but for the most part I like his book, it's jam-packed with info, exercises, lists. It's great reference material.

I just caught one of his mistakes. He has "forget" as one of the verbs that can only be followed directly with an infinitive. It can be followed by a gerund. However, this actually changes the meaning of the sentences. Compare:
I forgot to turn off the stove.
I forgot turning off the stove.


Activity

To start with, ask your students to give several examples each of gerunds and infinitives. Be sure your students know the difference between a gerund and a present participle first. Write down all the words on board (probably around 10-15). I have my private students give me 5 gerunds and 5 infinitives.

Next, ask them to make sentences with each word to introduce them to the application. When they are done, initiate open discussion in the class to review and rectify flaws.

When this hurdle is crossed and your students are familiar with the usage of the ten words, involve your students in sorting out the verbs according to their usage. Ask them to divide the words under three heads -

1. Verbs used with gerunds only
2. Verbs used with infinitives only
3. Verbs used with both gerunds and infinitives.

Assist your students' progress by adding new verbs in each category.

Repeat the whole course of action as many times as you like. Your students will benefit from this practical method of teaching Gerunds and Infinitives English.

It's suggested not to use this activity with groups of more than 10 students.

This is where I found the activity.

About.com: 10 Top Lesson Plans

While I'm figuring out how to put downloads on this blog, chew on this site for awhile. It lists some excellent lesson plans, from people who might have a hint more experience than yours truly.

I tried this pronounciation lesson with a student today and it seems to work VERY WELL. I believe just doing this lesson once really helps students afinar sus oidos to English pronounciation. My student seemed to think it worked well too.

Listening Activities

I try to bring a listening activity to 1 out of every 2 or 3 English classes for variation and a more fun way to practice. Songs are a good idea, but I'd suggest making sure you have a song that practices the grammar or conversation skill covered that day. Also, finding a listening activity with a script is really good so that the students can look over what they heard and then go over new vocabulary on their own.

To do these activities, you need some sort of MP3 player and portable speakers. I have speakers that cost $40 in Chile so they're probably much cheaper in the U.S. and they're perfect for classes.

For the songs, put the lyrics in a word document and put blanks in the place of about 7-15 words depending on the length of the song and the student's level. BE SURE that you have the correct lyrics. Speaking from experience, it's very embarrassing and can seem unprofessional to have a wrong word typed there.

I also don't know where I'd be without itunes podcasts because there are so many great ESL tools there that are free. When you have more advanced students, you don't even need to search for ESL materials--just find your favorite podcast and go to the website because most of them have scripts you can download. Some are free and others, like NPR podcasts, charge for scripts.

I continually use the British Council's podcasts because you can download the audio and the script that comes with grammar activities plus supplemental materials. There's a wide range of topics so you can use them for all ages. Go here to check them out.

A couple tips for choosing songs for students:

1. be careful with slang incorrect grammar and make sure you're OK with detailed questions about each word.

2. make sure the singer of the song has a clear voice and that he/she annunciates. also, make sure they pronounce the words similar to how one would speaking. I've had trouble with Fiona Apple because while she has a very clear voice, she tends to drag out some syllables which confuses students.

3. make sure your students are interested in these activities. i have some that beg for songs every class because it's fun, but it can also be very frustrating if the song is too hard and the lyrics don't make sense.

Today, I'm using the Red Hot Chili Peppers' song If to go along with a lesson on the second conditional. While Anthony Kiedis doesn't have the clearest voice, most Chileans love the band and are very familiar with their songs so it's just a plus that this song is not only good, but grammatically correct ;)

There are also plenty of free short (5 minutes or less) video podcasts that are great if you're OK with bringing your laptop to class.

I'll update this page with more listening links once I sort through my saved files.

Happy teaching!

My two new methodology ideas, and they're related.

These are my new methodology ideas that I'm planning on incorporating into my teaching. First of all, I read this article that employs the communicative method. It seems simple, and she says it works well for her group classes. They read two stories and then partner A asks B questions about the story and vice versa and then they go over the stories again. (Of course, I teach private classes so far, although I'm interested in getting into teaching small groups.) But I do plan on incorporating this to the extent that I can.

I have been sort of writing an EFL book. I have some VERY rough drafts of 5-6 chapters, outlines really. But my idea is that each class should have a theme, for example: going out at night, food, family, perhaps cultural differences-I think this one could be really interesting-talking about the "latin lover", "el cariño latino" "the puritanical, paranoid American", "latin time", gringo tourists, etc. With each theme, the student learns vocabulary, and I would incorporate grammar into the class depending on the level of the student and the topic we are discussing. With food, we might learn about stative verbs (it tastes, it smells, it feels, etc.) With family, perhaps "used to" talk about how family members were in the past, ké sé sho?

Thinking of this, I was remembering a Physical anthropology class I had in the University where the instructor would teach us a concept/argument, and then terminology that went along with this argument. His advice for the exams was that when we were studying, we pick a concept and remember the "story" of that concept and so go, linking the vocabulary together, so actually with each concept you may remember five or so new vocabulary words. His advice worked quite well for me. I found it to be a good teaching method. So when I came across this today, I was surprised and said, that's it! This is great for all language students.

A pronunciation activity: the unvoiced "th"

Venting: Why is it "pronounce" and "pronunciation"? Shouldn't it be pronounce/pronounciation or pronunce and pronunciation? Why pronounce/pronunciation? English is the pits! I teach this language and spelling sucks. I used to be such a good speller before learning Spanish and moving to Chile. I now feel for my friends who had a hard time spelling back in the day (and probably still). Vent over with.

This activity takes 45-60 minutes, I find. I generally break it up during 2-3 class periods, but go with what works for you. This lesson plan is for intermediate/advanced students.

Go to this site and download the pdf version of the unvoiced "th" (Unit One: th as in think, bathroom, teeth). Strangely, the answers weren't included, but I've written them up. We'll see if I can upload them to this blog.

At some point in the activity, towards the middle or end, play "A Boy Named Sue", a Shel Silverstein/Johnny Cash song. Give your students these lyrics. All the unvoiced th words are left out. They must listen to the song and fill in the lyrics.

As a follow up the next class, my student and I read "The Father of A Boy Named Sue". It's not as good as the first song, but entertaining, just as well. The only musical version of this song I could find is with Shel Silverstein singing it. Oh my Lord! He has a HORRRRIBLE voice. I don't recommend listening to the song. Just read the lyrics.

Okay, I need to figure out how to upload word documents to my blog. Is this possible?

Edit: So I tried installing a program that would let me do this, and my compu wouldn't let me do it. I do plan on figuring this out.

The three word documents I want to put on here are:
1) the unvoiced th answers
2) lyrics to A Boy Named Sue (with the unvoiced "th" words missing)
3) lyrics to The Father of a Boy Named Sue

a list of ultra-useful EFL resources and whatnot

• Getting started? This Peace Corps Book helped get me oriented. It's a good overview for EFL teaching as it is self-described "EFL teacher boot camp".
  
• Here's a book by a Chilean military guy. (Se nota.) It is super useful for classes, with concise units packed with important grammar, exercises and answer key. I later found this book's "segunda edición" on the internet, where it corrects some errors in it. But now I can't find it. Anyway this is useful because you can print the lessons right off the internet and so can your students.
• Bomb pronounciation resources: pronounciation packets, click on PDF and print. Just that easy. Send link to students so they can use audio and speaking on their own
• Reading materials: TIP OF THE DAY: print a story off The Onion to read with your class. They are freaking hilarious, like this one which we read in a class today!
• Other reading materials: The New York Times articles are a bit long at 2 pages usually, but they are interesting. The Minneapolis Star Tribune seems to have shorter one-page articles.
• American idioms can be found here and here.
• EFL blog entry on best EFL texts for teachers Of these, I bought:

1. Practice English Usage by Swan (a grammar reference book). I have yet to use it, but I'm glad I have it and I'm sure it will come in handy in the future. I have and love these books:
2. Understanding and Using English Grammar by Schrampfer Azar and
3. Grammar in Use - Intermediate by Murphy.
   
4. Also, to add to the list of best texts: Prepositions Explained. This one is a bit theoretical. It's not designed for class use. But it is sooo useful for explaining prepositions to students. Hence the name.
5. Pronounciation Pairs by Ann Baker and Sharon Goldstein. This one is useful because the site listed above only deals with some of the consonants and vowels. This book seems to have them all.
   

• This Purdue sight has some pretty good info. For example here it explains phrasal verbs. Although, I wasn't impressed by it's info on prepositions, for example. But they hit the nail on the head from time to time
• About.com is useful for EFL as well.

more to come...