Ideas and classroom techniques

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ideas and classroom techniques

Teachers' classroom ideas
A selection of individual activities contributed by teachers around the world

Is Grammar Really Important for a Second Language Learner?
Julio Foppoli shares his views on why the approach to teaching grammar is more important than the question of whether or not it should be taught.

Remembering new vocabulary when you learn a second language
Do you get frustrated when your students don't grasp a new grammar point or vocabulary straight away? Julio Foppoli suggests a solution.

Teaching Mixed Ability Classes
One of the most difficult situations for the language teacher is a group which includes students of different levels. Sue Swift shows us how to design a lesson to meet all their varying needs.

Warmers
An effective warmer could make the difference between an alert class, and a group of zombies catching up on the sleep they missed out on the night before. Nadia Zehni shares her favourites.

Interactive Story Telling
Short stories and folktales can be used in the EFL classroom to practise both listening and speaking. Sue Swift shows us how.

Giving and Checking Instructions
Some classroom activities are fairly complex in terms of the way they're organised. Sue Swift shows us how to make sure that our instructions are as clear and comprehensible as possible.

Controlling large classes
If you have a large class you need a few things up your sleeve to bring the class into line when things get a little over-heated. Shelley Vernon has some tips and ideas to help you manage your large class.

Class Projects
Class projects are a great way to put into practice skills that have been learnt during an English course. Nadia Zehni shares her project ideas.

Activities with little preparation
How often do you find yourself preparing a class, racking your brain for something different, a new activity to liven up a group of tired students? Keith Taylor has 10 ideas to get you started.

Using Songs
Songs have long been a favourite resource among EFL teachers. Larry Lynch shares his ideas for getting the most out of music in the classroom.

Fun Ideas for Teaching Grammar
Grammar. The very mention of the word strikes fear into the heart of the staunchest language learner. What are we to do? Larry Lynch has a few ideas.

Using drama
The use of drama is often overlooked by teachers searching for new ideas. In this article, Larry Lynch highlights a few ways of using drama as a resource in the language classroom.

Using drama - part two
In his first article in this series, Larry Lynch looked at some ways of using drama in an EFL classroom. Here, he suggests some more, including "Improvised dialogues" and "Double Talk dialogues".

How to Use Mind-Maps in Language Learning
The basic principle of mind-maps is that the mind dislikes traditional, linear note taking and thus anything we write should start in the centre of the page with related ideas branching out in all directions. Jon Lewis explores how mind-maps can be an asset to language learners.

Blindfold activities
One method of creating a genuine information gap is through the use of blindfold activities. Blindfolds can be employed in a variety of ways in the TEFL classroom to foster a truly communicative and student-centered approach to learning. William Sullivan has a few ideas to get you started.

Teaching ESL with Playing Cards
Cards are a wonderful way to motivate students and teach English. They don't even think it as class work. Robin Day shows us how to use them.

Using DVD and video
Have you ever wondered how to use movies in your ESL classes, without just sitting your students down in front of the screen, hitting 'Play' and sitting back to watch. Keith Taylor has a few ideas to get you started.

Using DVD and video - part 2
Here are a few more ideas for using video in ESL classes, using very short extracts from movies to present and practise new language, and develop communicative skills.

Cartoons and comics
Larry Lynch has a look at some of the ways you can use your favourite cartoons and comics in the language classroom.

Songs
Larry Lynch tells us why songs should be an integral part of any EFL teacher's repertoire of resources.

Getting students to speak
How can we get our students to speak? Larry Lynch suggests that a little controversy should be on the menu in an EFL conversation class.

Using games to appeal to all ESL learning styles
Do you include activities in your classroom to appeal to students with different learning styles? Shelley Vernon suggests adding some games to your lessons to appeal to visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners.


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