Teacher Discussion Forums

Thanks...when I have taught high school or university students, I noticed that when a word had an "s" at the end or and "or" or an "er", my students first response is that it was a completely different word. I talked to some of their teachers and they said that they learned Chinese by memorizing the...

I teach primary school in China and have found that, even at the university level, students still seem to take a mental picture of a whole word and memorize it the way it looks, rather than observing the individual letters. I am trying to find a way to help students learn - consume - the idea that t...

I was hired to teach high school but when I got here, found that I had been assigned to a primary school. No big deal really, but I was a little miffed at the lack of professionalism. I have some experience teaching primary school but am trying to improve my ability to motivate and manage my third g...

I am teaching primary school in grade 3 in China and am looking for software that will generate word games. Because their first language is Chinese I am hoping to find games that will allow me to use graphic images or Chinese words for clues. Crossword puzzle generators, for example are useful, but ...

I want to invite my students to have lunch with me in the cafeteria once a semester - in groups of 3 or 4. I want them to build a conversation for the lunch time. I will give them some guidelines but I wish I could find a segment of tv program, movie or even an educational video that shows people ch...

I have been teaching English in China for more than 13 years and am now in Taiwan. I am teaching English in a public primary school and it just dawned on me that I might be in a position to teach children how to speak English properly the first time, rather than have them spend all of jr, sr. and un...

Has anyone seen a very structured method of taking students from the point of introducing a word that they are not familiar with to mastery of the word? I do not care if it is overkill - obsessive compulsive, anal, whatever you want to call it. It would be very helpful for me to have this kind of in...

Thanks! You have given me a lot of good ideas! Do you have any ideas to help them learn the mechanics of writing, i.e. keep the tail of the "p" down and straight, make the neck of the "h" go high, etc They are grade 3 but this is their first year to study English and work with the western alphabet.

I am teaching grades 3-6 in a public school in Taiwan. About half of my students attend a cram school after school and half do not. As a result, the disparity in students levels is quite large. Next week I would like to focus on grades 3 and 4 and help them improve their writing - writing letters of...

In the school I am teaching in, they begin teaching English in the third grade, 8-10 years old, starting from the ABC's. All of the beginning texts I have seen, however, are written for 5 and 6 year olds. Can anyone recommend a beginning textbook that is written for 9 year olds? I really feel that t...

I would like to find a very comprehensive grammar course and am looking for resources. This might take the form of a textbook - I would prefer it to be a workbook or have a workbook that accompanies it - a dvd series, a website, or series of websites or even a college extension course. I hope that t...

I am doing a unit on love and romance. I would like to plan a lesson on using the words suitable, and other words to compare. To that end, I wish I could find a list, table etc. that had general info on famous people, such as their zodiac signs, personalities, hobbies, etc without having to track do...

I am teaching english to uni sophomores in China and would like some help in addressing a teaching method that I find not only ineffective but also counterproductive. That is the habit that many foreign teachers have of giving what I call presentation exercises for the students to do. These exercise...

I teach sophomores in a Chinese uni. I presently introduce vocab by teaching the meaning and the opposite, if appropriate. I also introduce sentences and paragraphs with the words used incorrectly. I teach word/prefix/suffix meanings as well. Are there any other ways to introduce vocab?

My Chinese university sophomores...and about 1/3 of all English speaking Chinese people I have met all use the phrase "relax myself". One of the origins of this phrase is the Chinese language. It is Chinglish, a direct translation from Chinese into English. It is certainly redundant. I am looking fo...