Stepping into Youa Thao’s English classroom at Blythe Elementary School, you can see clearly that she is an organized and thoughtful educator who makes every effort to create a welcoming environment and build positive relationships with the learners she encounters. The walls are covered in colorful charts detailing conversation starters, story elements, habits of effective learners, shared classroom agreements, and more. Chairs are arranged around a main table to encourage interaction and collaboration amongst students; there are carpeted areas with comfortable seating options as well.

Motivation is an important element in the classroom environment. In an ideal world, teachers and learners would always be motivated. Instructors would be excited to share every lesson, and students would be eager to participate and put forth their best effort. In reality, there are many factors that can positively or negatively affect motivation, such as amount of sleep, knowledge or skill levels, personal preferences and interests, having eaten, and events in one’s personal life.

What comes to mind when you hear the term service learning? Perhaps you think of taking your students to a location outside of your classroom and completing a hands-on project. Maybe you think of having your students volunteer with a local organization. You likely think about how the work that your students do will serve the community. Undoubtedly, you also think about the impact the time spent serving will have on your students.

The term literacy refers generally to a person’s ability to read and write. (Though literacy is also used more broadly for describing critical knowledge and productive ability in other things, such as financial literacy, media literacy, and cultural literacy, in this Teacher’s Corner, we’ll refer to reading and writing skills). When teaching beginner-level students, it is important to provide effective literacy instruction to ensure that students learn to read and write well.

There are many potential benefits to using prescribed curricula or materials to teach. However, these resources are not provided by every institution and even when they are, they often lack an authentic context in which students can practice English. In cases where these resources are not provided for a course, or where instructors wish to expose students to highly engaging opportunities to practice English, using authentic materials is an excellent option.

This activity develops students’ understanding of the concept of grit— specifically, how grit applies to English language learning. Students examine and discuss profiles of two students learning English; they identify personality traits and the actions the two learners take. By doing so, they understand how grit, or a lack of grit, can affect one’s success in learning English. Groups generate a list of behaviors and personality traits that a student with grit, as well as one without grit, would display while studying English. These lists are shared as a way of reminding students how grit can positively affect their success as they study English.

Prepositions can often be confusing for students learning English. Many prepositions cannot be defined in the exact way that other parts of speech or vocabulary in English can, which makes them tricky to teach. Despite this, prepositions are very common in spoken and written English. Therefore, teachers should devote time to practicing these words in the classroom.

For many students, grammar lessons can be boring, repetitive, and not very meaningful. As English teachers, we have to provide grammar instruction, but we often struggle to make it fun and memorable for our learners. How can we make this necessary, but sometimes dull, part of language learning interesting and engaging for students?

This activity introduces students to vocabulary through the jigsaw strategy. “Expert groups” are assigned one vocabulary word; group members work together to define the word, generate example sentences, create illustrations, and make a poster they will use to teach the word to classmates. Multiple interactions with the vocabulary increase students’ understanding of the words.

Young learners present a special set of challenges and opportunities in the English language classroom. Younger students tend to have shorter attention spans and can lose focus more easily than older students. They may require more frequent breaks or opportunities to move around and also benefit from structure and routine. As with students of all ages, young learners need to feel connected to what is being taught and involved in their own learning process.

Using news in the classroom keeps students aware of events happening in local, national, and international communities, and it promotes critical thinking. Being aware of issues and events in the news can motivate students to have further discussions with classmates, family, or members of the community and to become active in their communities. The procedures below describe how to model a way for students to collect information from a current-events article and prepare a presentation.

For most of us, teaching English is an enjoyable experience, and helping our students is rewarding. However, the English language classroom also presents challenges that can test our patience and ability to be effective. English teachers around the globe face many of the same difficulties. Our classes can be large, sometimes with over 100 students! We often have multiple English proficiency levels in the same classroom, which makes planning lessons and meeting all our students’ needs troublesome.

This activity will allow students to practice using greetings by creating a brief skit. Students should be familiar with common greetings and know whether they are considered formal or informal. Students should also understand appropriate register, meaning the use of language that is suitable in particular social situations. Creating a skit can be a useful practice activity for students from varying proficiency levels, especially when addressing pragmatics.

For students learning English, writing can be a great way to express oneself, explore interests, and communicate opinions. However, writing can also cause anxiety about grammar, spelling, or making mistakes. Some students enjoy writing and some find it challenging or have difficulty thinking of topics to write about. This week’s activity, and its variations, can help inspire students who need fresh ideas or have concerns about creating perfect pieces of writing.

Great teachers spend a lot of time preparing for class. We examine our curriculum and plan our lessons, being sure to incorporate activities that will engage our students and motivate them to learn. We spend a lot of time thinking about how a lesson will unfold, how to make the content relatable to our students, and who will be doing what tasks in our classrooms. All of these things help us stay organized and keep learners on task, but they do nothing to answer our most important question as educators: Are my students learning what I am teaching?

This activity can build community and relationships in the classroom, especially at the beginning of a school year or semester. Students will use family photos in writing and speaking exercises to practice using family vocabulary, numbers, basic pronouns, and comparative and superlative adjectives. The activity can be adapted for different proficiency levels, even within the same class.