Teacher Discussion Forums

To me (as a teacher), 1 hour classes pose a challenge because they are too short!! Just when you get warmed up and really going, it's time for class to end! I'd much rather have three 1.5 or 2 hour classes per week than five 1 hour classes; if an activity goes on longer than you expect, the time fra...

I don't think you should have an apostrophe for I have 10 years' experience. I don't think the plural form of years in this case is an example of the genitive or possessive. I suspect it's really I have ten years experience , and that it's really just an informal, unwritten, shortened form of I have...

Me too: Same sound but schwa for unstressed vowels and turned v (or caret) for stressed vowels. So: The vowel in but is ^ and the "a" in majority is schwa. The two symbols are often used interchangeably, though. But I think I see schwa more often in print. I tend to use schwa only with my students, ...

Sorry, if I missed something about this in Larry's reply, but I'd just like to point out that you absolutely can say, "They will pass their exam if they studied hard." Both will and would are equally correct (and common), depending on the meaning of the sentence. I'll just deal with will below: They...

(continued) 4. Bring some role-play into the activity. Instead of giving talks on issues or topics, students would be taking on the role of a character and speaking from their perspective. Possibilities: a. Give students a scenario and identify different characters in the scenario. The scenario coul...

Sounds like the previous suggestion would be fun. Here are some ways that you could vary that activity to suit your class' particular needs. I love this topic so I’m anticipating that my answer will be long. I’ll split it into two posts: 1. If the students are shy or not as advanced (or for some oth...

I know that we use to be when it is the subject of the sentence, It has to do with what the main verb in the sentence is. If the main verb is some form of be, you don't use the auxiliary do. If the main verb is anything else, you need a form of do. The form of do will depend on the subject and the ...

The best thing I did for myself when I first started teaching was to pick up a good ESL grammar book (for students) and just start reading. I basically learned alongside my students (but I didn't let them know that...). I would always read the grammar explanations in their assigned textbook and some...

First off, I just want to say that I don't personally know if there are such books or other materials. You're probably disappointed. You could do a search on the Web, ask around like you're doing here, but I'm guessing there isn't much, and if there is something that's been done, you may not come ac...

"Let's go play." is good. So is "Let's play." "Let's go playing" is not. However, I'm not sure if "Let's go play swing." is acceptable anywhere. Interesting! I think I've heard let's go play swing or similar things. I think it's just like naming the game you're going to play. The name of the game i...

I'll take a stab at it: Let's go shopping, let's go swimming, let's go bowling are all specific types of physical recreation. The "go" is part of the verb phrase go shopping and doesn't really mean "go" in the sense of movement or in the sense of "leave right now". There are lots of activity/hobby v...

I just want to expand on the idea I mentioned above about helping TOEFL tutees with developing and managing a plan for improving their English. This is one area where you can really make a difference, not only in their scores on the test, but in their approach to learning, so that they can continue ...

Sounds like you have a great, if not ideal, TOEFL tutoring situation going on: a motivated student, a long time to prepare, weekly lessons. I 'm jealous! :) I don't want to completely avoid your question, but if I were tutoring this young woman, I would think my primary objectives would be the follo...

If you're interested in training the students to plan, organize, and deliver their demonstrations before the presentation day, I might suggest unit 3, "Providing Information: Instructions and Demonstrations" from the book Communicating Effectively in English by Patricia Porter. It's an ESL book for ...

Hi. I'm teaching VESL to a beginning-high beginning-low intermediate mix of Spanish-speaking maintenance workers. I create my own workplace- related materials, which we use as the basis of class activities, but, since the employer is willing to spend a little, I'd like to recommend that they buy som...