Cut a worksheet for a change of pace!

What is my student doing at the window? Admiring the view? Taking a break? Trying to get warm by leaning against the window heated by the sun? Actually he's working on a worksheet!

There are a lot of people who feel that worksheets for the most part are no longer needed in class. It is an interesting and environmental idea, but sometimes I just like having my students use worksheets.

However, I do think worksheets can become a crutch. Like PowerPoint, webquests or any classroom tool, if we use it the same way too much, it doesn't provide the variety our students need.

This blog is not about a brand new technique. I think teachers were doing this back when I was in elementary school! However, it is an easy technique to use a worksheet in class, but vary the format a little. Students tend to like the fact that get to move, and I like the fact that they are getting work done.

Step 1. Select the right type of worksheet. In this case I used a "correcting" worksheet. It had 25 different sentences that were not parallel. The students needed to re-write the sentence to make the sentence parallel. If also you teach parallelism in writing here are 15 sentences your students could fix.

Step 2. Cut the worksheet up into strips (with each question / sentence being a different strip).

Step 3.  Tape the strips everywhere around the classroom.... I mean everywhere! On desks, on windows, on walls. With little ones putting them under tables and chairs is fun, but my high schoolers care too much about their clothes to crawl under a chair. If you write in a really big font you can tape it to the ceiling and have them look up find that sentence.

Step 4. Give the students a set amount of time (I gave 20 minutes for 25 questions) to walk around the class and try to fix as many sentences as they can. Encourage them to work with a partner as long as they keep the communication in English.

Step 5. Give a final 5 minutes to compare their answers with another person / pair.

Step 6. As a class go through the answers. If they can't fix a sentence try to lead them towards the answer, but don't give it to them. If they still can't find it skip it and go to the next sentence. Sometimes they just need time away from the sentence to see the mistake. Normally they figure out all of the sentences, but when they don't I prefer to assign the ones they don't have as homework rather than to give them the answers.

Things to keep in mind
Control: You need to make sure the groups are controlled. If they start aren't actively working give them a warning and then have them sit down on their own with the worksheet.
Type of worksheet: Make the answers easy(ish) to write. You don't want to do this if each answer requires a two paragraph answer. On the other hand, just having them write down A or B doesn't get much writing practice in (nor does it help them study later)! Short answers are your best bet.
Time: Set a time limit and stick to it Some students are faster than others, that's fine. I like to give way too many problems. For example I may give 25, but I think getting 20 done is good. IN the last minute I encourage students to check with other groups and finally go over it as a class. This way even if they didn't get to all of them they have the answers in the end and there (usually) aren't fast finishers.

Like I said, nothing new, but always fun! Enjoy :)

Gradients of meaning

Here's another activity linked to Am I Small?

If you have your own classroom here's a fun bulletin board project! Give each student a a paint strip (you can get them for free from your local hardware store: Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) Paint strips have recently gained popularity in crafting and are no longer used as samples. As a result some stores are charging. Rather than take the samples from the paint display, ask the manager if they have any expiring paints that you could grab the sample sticks for when they expire. Or, if they have any expired paint samples ready to toss. 

Once you found your paint strips, write a "boring" adjective on the bottom (the lightest color) then have them choose their own adjectives that mean the same (or similar) but are more powerful. Have them write these on the darker parts. What do I mean by a boring adjective? This post talks about it in more detail.

You can use the story as an example and make a couple sample paint strips using the words from the story.

When your students finish these make great Spring decorations for a bulletin board, door, or wherever you like! You can put a title on it like: "Keep your language colorful" or "Make the world a more colorful place!" and then fill the board with your students paint strips! 

Here are four different "Rich" cards showing different denotations.

Another option is to explore different meanings of the words. Let's look at the word rich. 

Ask what the word means, then give them different examples.

Or, you can get your students to figure out what the different meanings of rich are. It can mean to be well off, to have a lot of something, have a lot of intensity, to be buttery and thick (with foods), to show irony, to be interesting, to be prolific, etc. Once you have the idea see if you can give them some other words.

Divide the class into small groups and give them each the same word. However, tell them to each focus on a different meaning of the word. To get a good idea of words with different meanings you can check out the two part list here. If the groups are bigger then have two students work on the same denotation, but try to come up with different words.

On the bulletin board make brown or yellow circles that contain the "boring" words. Surround these circles with the finished paint strips so the yellow becomes the center of the flower and the paint strips are the petals.

Let your students know that this is their Synonym Garden! Whenever they want inspiration on better words to use, they can look at the different meanings words have and pick a more specific description.


While I think this project words wonderfully with adjectives you can do it with nouns or verbs too! For example, the word run has many different meanings (you can run a computer program, run for office, run a company, etc.) If we were talking about moving quickly: run-speed-hurry-hasten-zoom-bolt.


I don't currently have my own classroom :( So, I am not able to show you how pretty it looks.

If you manage to do this with your class, I would LOVE to see the final product!

Multiple Meanings of a Words

My friend is small.

What do I mean by that?

Is she skinny? Is she a midget? Is she a little short? Does she have childlike features? Is she underdeveloped? Is she unimportant?

The truth is, small has a lot of meanings! It can mean all of the above and MORE. It all depends on the usage.

Check out this infographic from Kaplan that shows the top ten words with the most definitions in the dictionary! These are all "easy" words. They are short words (each of them only a syllable) and words most students would easily define if asked.

However, a key part of a lot of English  exams (and English in general) is knowing what a word means in a specific context, and being able to recognize that one word can mean different things depending on how we say it.

Here's a quick reading (or listening activity) to do with your students.To start: ask them what the word rich means. Then give them this text (or have them watch the video that follows). If this is too lame for you, I am sure you can make your own!

Susan: Hello!
Lucy: Oh my God, hi! I haven't seen you in ages. I love that dress.
Susan: You don't think the color's too rich?
Lucy: No it is just perfect especially with your complexion. How's life?
Susan: Well, I started dating a new guy.
Lucy: Let me guess...he's rich?
Susan: Yes, him. Anyways, we've been going out every night! I swear I gained at least 10 pounds, all their sauces and are so rich.
Lucy: That sounds amazing. You live such a rich life.
Susan: I am sure it isn't nearly as interesting as yours. How's life?
Lucy: I got that new job, at the newspaper, it's great! I just write down funny stories once a week.
Susan: I am sure you're dating life is rich with examples.
Lucy That's rich coming from you!
Susan: I don't know what you mean.
Lucy: You date a different boy every week!
Susan: I think this is why we haven't seen each other in ages! 

The listening is below, be warned the quality is pretty poor I made it quickly for one of my classes. My classes are used to me speaking quickly, but it may be a bit too fast for your students.

Now ask them if their original definition still stands. In one instance it still works! See if they can go through again and identify the different meanings of rich. Then see if they can come up with any additional meanings. This is a great reminder to pay attention carefully and not just assume the word has only one definition. This is also a way to remind your students that if they use more specific words their writing won't sound as redundant.

Here's an alternative activity. Students tend to be intimidated by larger words, but I feel that smaller words are more intimidating! Try out this PowerPoint activity (a really short game) in class and show your students that rather than using smaller words, one larger specific word may be more helpful.

Small words from Carissa Peck if you prefer a video you can view the slideshow on YouTube as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI4FIbzQhqc

Now that you've helped your students realize larger words can often simplify things, keep an eye on this week's blogs (like yesterday's post) for more ideas! If you want them to do more with the different meanings tomorrow's post has a fun craft project!

Get Students Using Different Words

In fifth grade my teacher Ms. Sipe outlawed “four letter words.” She wasn’t referring to swearing; she didn’t want us to use words like: good, nice, or tall. She thought we could use better words:  noble, pleasant, or towering. Why? Because these specific words gave us a better idea of what we were describing.

This is also very useful when students start paraphrasing something that is useful for many reasons.

Many of our students need help to get out of a vocabulary rut. They tend to use the same words over and over again. In some cases this is fine, whereas in others a larger vocabulary may prove more beneficial.

Here’s an activity that will get your students using different words.  This CAN be adapted to all levels depending on your use of scaffolding and the words you select.

Step 1: Show a picture of something small (an ant for instance). Ask students how they would describe the animal. Once one of them says small, write it on the board and ask what other words they know for small. Here’s a list of the words the book uses: Small, Teeny-weeny, Mini, Tiny, Microscopic. Then show something bigger (an elephant). See what words they use to describe that. Again, the book uses: Big, Large, Huge, Gigantic. If they don’t use a word, you may like to introduce it.   

Step 2: Introduce a cline. The word cline probably looks familiar to you since it is related to incline or decline. A cline is essentially a visual ranking of words. See if your students can rank the words from smallest to biggest.

Step 3: Read, “Am I small?” in the target language. With younger students you may like to read it a few times. Get them to read it. Have them do different listening activities while you read it. Then, see if their cline matches what the author thinks about the words

Step 4a: In small groups give students two opposite adjectives. Depending on the level, these can be easy (tall-short) to more difficult (rich-poor). In groups see if they can create a cline of 5-10 words. NOTE: I would tell them to try this without dictionaries or cell phones, but you may prefer that they use them. *This is an easy task to differentiate. You can give weaker students easier words, require they come up with less words, or you can give the words to them.

Step 4b: Have them identify the differences in the words. For example, the connotations, registers or denotations. For example, childlike and juvenile both mean young. However, childlike is normally more positive whereas juvenile is more negative. Ginormous is normally only used in an informal register. Antique is normally used to describe things, not people.

Step 5: See if they can create a story similar to, "Am I small?" using their own words and a unique character. Depending on the technological capabilities of your class, this can be a book using paper, a video where they act (or use puppets), a book where they cut and paste pictures from magazines, a PowerPoint, or an animated short video. If they make a book see if they can put it in their library so other students may enjoy it as well.

Here are some examples in case you want to give your students words to start.

Rich-Poor: Prosperous, Affluent, Disadvantaged, Wealthy, Well Off, Meager, Flush, Humble, Loaded, Poor, Underprivileged, Comfortable, Needy, Well-to-do, Opulant, Penniless, Destitute

Old-Young: Old, Fledgling, Ancient, Young, Mature, Childlike, Juvenile, Antique, Infantile, Immature, Underdeveloped, Decrepit, Over the Hill

Happy- Sad: Ecstatic, Sullen, Happy, Morose, Cheerful, Content, Comfortable, Unhappy, Miserable, Glum, Jovial, Gloomy

Tall- Short: Tall, Short, Lanky, Elfin, Towering, Petite, Fun sized, Gangly, Diminutive, Small, Big, Puny 

To see another activity that helps students work with different adjectives (and make your classroom pretty), stay tuned for Wednesday's post!

Voting for Dream Flags

Thank you SO much to all who have taken the time to vote for my students flags. Right now the top three flags are:

9 Votes

21 votes

18 votes

The voting will close Tuesday night, so tomorrow is the last day to vote. Go ahead and "like" your favorite dream flags by viewing them all on facebook.

Book Review: Am I small?

Spanish and English

I teach high school and university students know, but a special part of me will always have a special place in my heart for teaching younger learners.

Earlier this month I was picking up some Kindle books and I grabbed "Am I small?" Phillip Winterberg Nadja Wichmann
. I normally don't read the kids books that I buy (other than the alphabet books) but for some reason I did skim through this one.

I LOVED it. Lots of repetition to help 'lil ones get used to structure and words! Many different words being used to help them improve their vocabulary (or pick the best word!).

The Vietnamese version

English Only

Most importantly, it sends a good message about how being unique and different is good. I STRONGLY suggest you check this book out! Your students don't speak Spanish? No worries. This book is offered bilingually in MANY different languages from Dutch to Vietnamese!

If you are one of those teachers who prefers to have books in just the language you are teaching, the book is also sold in an English only version (or Africaans, Dutch, Spanish, etc.).

To help motivate you to use this book with your students I am creating activities that would go well with the book. This one focuses on expanding your students' vocabulary, this is an awesome spring time craft and this one helps them realize the different meanings a word can have.

If you want to check out other books my Phillip his website http://www.philipp-winterberg.com/ links to three other books he has written you can download for free! Out of all of them, "Am I small?" was my favorite, but you may like the other ones as well.

Super Easy Thank You!

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE a good pun. OK, I'll be honest, I love bad puns too!

Regardless we were having our Tourism Fair today and we had several members of the faculty (and some off campus guests) join the festivities as judges. I always like to say, "thank you," by giving these judges something.

Unfortunately, this time I had no time to go shopping and was left looking through my student's bag of goodies (you know the bag they can pick a prize from when they win a contest). I didn't find much, but I did find these cute bendy straws.
Thus, the awful pun was born!
Recipe: Combine one goofy straw with one puny teacher and you get: "Have an ex-STRAW-dinary time :)"
Admit it you smiled a little :) To see what the other side says (yes there's more!) check out the Facebook album below. That will also show you some of my students' booths!

Post by Melted ELT Activities.

This doesn't need to be for adults, students love puns too! If you want to give your students an end of the semester gift puns can be a fun and inexpensive way to show you'll miss them.

Help my class choose a winner!

My students just finished their dream flags and we are very excited about participating in the dream flag festival April 5th! We will be sending our flags to The Agnes Irwin School to be displayed at the National Constitution Center. In addition, we will be sending a quick video with an introduction to our school AND two students reading their poems!

To select the two poems I am going to Facebook! If you have a moment, and a Facebook account, please check out the dream flags my students have made and vote for your favorite.

The voting process is simple; you just "like" the poems that you enjoy the most. You can vote for as many poems as you want! You can view the album check out the post below (Click on Dream Flags to view the full album) or click here to go to the album in Facebook.

Post by Melted ELT Activities.

Great E-books about teaching with theater

Every wondered how to use acting or drama to teach? Or, why to use theater in your class? This blog seeks to give you three ebook suggestions you may find helpful to find more ways to use theater with your students. After all, who hasn't used a role play to cement vocabulary? I know my Korean students LOVED taking turns reading from a book, while other students acted them out in front of the class. My students now create adaptations of books we read in class. Most English Language teachers love to use acting in the class, and these three books help us with new ideas.
Mary Ann Loesh is an elementary Theater teacher who regularly had, “Fourth Grade Show Off Night” where her students would perform in front of family and friends. She strongly believes that having students move and perform helps them to understand and has so happy with the results she choose to share some plays and monologues to be used with your students.

These plays and monologues are designed to help students understand history, and enjoy acting. As an English Language teacher I also think you can use or adapt these to help your students practice using English. The book specifies grade levels 3 through 5, but I think all teachers can gain inspiration and ideas from reading it regardless of the grade.

This blog only discusses one of her ebooks Out of the Picture!: Using Theatre Arts to Teach Social Studies. In that book there are a lot of starters to get your students using theater. You can use them as plays or readers theaters. If you don't know the difference, check out her other book, The Day Our Teacher Lost Her Mind! which explains it quite well, or check out this Scholastic explanation.
So, why use drama? As she says, “The plays and monologues within this book are designed to help students improve their speech and diction skills, boost their stage presence, and help them understand the basics of putting on a play. However, they are also meant to help students learn about famous historical figured from all walks of life by blending fact and humor together.”

Out of the picture starts with a brief listing of terms that a teacher / director should know. I never acted, but I was familiar most of them. For example, some of the words are: stage left, stage right, center stage, etc. Nonetheless, there may be some terms that are useful for a teacher to appear knowledgeable to her students. If you want to use more terms with your class you can use an online glossary like this one from TheatreCrafts.com

Next she includes several games students can use to practice dictation, emphasis, connotation, and several games to practice the new terms.

Speaking of games, there's another great book about drama for teaching by Julie Meighan: Drama Start Two Drama Activities and Plays for Children.
This has over seventy games! Some of them you probably know ("Two Truths and a Lie" for example) but I am sure there are some that are new to you. For each game Julie explains the difficulty, the directions AND (most importantly) the importance from a theater perspective. It also includes two scripts for plays about animals the students can perform. The title says ages 9-12, but I know teachers who teach below or above this group could still find many of the games useful!

A drawing of The Alamo from the 1600s

Back to Mary Ann's book, the plays and monologues start with monologues from the Alamo. She gives a brief history of the Alamo and introduces a few basic tips for a monologue: speak loudly, speak clearly, and speak slowly. She goes through the differences between a speech and a monologue, and advises students make brief introductions BEFORE their monologues.

Then come the monologues: Jim Bowie, Moses Rose, Santa Ana, Davy Crocket, William B Travis, The Wife, The servant girl, James Bonham, Susanna’s Tale, Travis’ Letter. All minus Travis’ letter are fictional accounts which Mary Ann feels best show the emotions of the time.

Sample Costume!

As the book winds down, she introduces her concept of a living museum. A living museum is essentially when students select a historical figure to research and present a speech about. Sometimes the students even dress up a bit! The short plays she has written take it to another level.

"Night at the Wax Museum" and "I Dream of History" both are plays in which different historical characters come to life. Rather than being complete, these plays allow for the students to insert their own speeches on behalf of the characters. I LOVE this idea It is less work than creating a whole play by themselves, but it makes the play more their own.

The last play is complete without any need of additions from your students. However, I think you could still easily add more paintings to make the play personalized from the students. I would use the play as a model and have students create their own. You could divide the class into small groups and have them each select one painting from a different era. Then put it together and make a unique version of, “Out of the Picture.”

Finally, the last ebook I'll discuss is by Maggie E. Morgan, How To Teach English Culture To Foreigners Through Drama. This is definitely more research based. It goes through the importance of teaching culture, the role of drama in contrasting two cultures, and looks at a specific research study (analyzing the results as well). It includes lesson plans and exercises. This is a very thorough read; however, I found it much less interesting and harder to get through than the other books. Nonetheless, if you are interested in the research this is a much different book than the previous two and gives a very complete look at the why and how of drama in the class (it also includes a comprehensive bibliography for more research).
In summary, if you are looking for a way to use theater in the classroom, any of these books would be a great start. If you do get a chance to read them, let me know what you think! Alternatively, if you have a different suggestion I'd love to hear about it. Just leave it in the comments.

The importance of relaxing with students

A sample dream flag (made today!)

A while ago I posted about a couple moments where I really felt being a teacher was worth all the fuss.

Today, I had another moment like that. Before I talk about the moment I want to talk a bit about what led me to this moment: dream flags.

I love the dream flags because they combine art, poetry, literature, global awareness, school pride,personal pride, and proof that English is a global language. They also help me get to know students better. I am always surprised by the theme of some of my students poems. Knowing what their dreams are really does let me see a part of their life I don't always get to see in class.

Plenty of supplies for three people, not 30!

However, dream flags also help me get to know my students another way. Because of limited space and supplies I don't have my classes create dream flags at one time.

In groups of no more than three students are assigned different meeting times according to their ability and preference. This is instead of a normally scheduled class (though some students will choose to meet during the normal class time).

At their assigned time the students come and meet with me on a picnic table in the back of the school. I have all the supplies laid out, and I quickly go over rules (e.g. cut the fabric 8.5 by 11), suggestions (tape the fabric to the table so the wind doesn't blow it away), and reminders (English only!). After that I sit down and start grading letting them create as they wish.

I do occasionally look up and comment on their creations, but overall, I leave them to their own means.Then the peaceful power of art works. Before long, I have students telling me about their families, friends, and struggles in school. They tell me what they like about my class and what they don't like. They confess their fears and worries about English.

Today was the first group of students From 10am-2:30 I sat with 15 students. I have been teaching them since January, but for a few of them, now is the first time I feel like I really know them

A sample dream flag (made today!)

If you have the chance to set aside conferences or at least mandatory office hour, I strongly encourage you to have them do something.

Have them play a game of cards, or checkers. Have them paint a picture. Have them mold something from clay. When the brain plays, it becomes less inhibited. Your students will be more willing to open up, and in turn you can become a better teacher.

As for me, I learned a lot today, but my favorite nugget of knowledge is that I am on the right track.

One of my students was talking about an assignment due later today, "Teacher," she stopped working to look me in the eyes, "I hate your assignments." I paused ready to accept criticism hoping it was constructive and not mean, "they make me read...and think...and write!"

Well...now I can't stop smiling =D

Have you ever had a chance to get your students one on one? Did you find it as beneficial as I did?

Paraphrasing with Einstein

Paraphrasing is a key skill for many English language and literature students. It helps them with tests like the IELTS and BULATS, and is an essential skill for writing essays and other reports.

This isn't a full lesson, but it is an idea of how to use Albert Einstein when practicing paraphrasing in class. After all, March 14th is Einstein's birthday!

To start my students and peruse Joseph Ducreux memes (such as the one of the left). This meme is usually a modern phrase translated into archaic English. For example, "YOLO" could "translate" to: One only exists upon a singular occasion.

I show them some examples and we see how the meaning stays the same even though the words change. We usually laugh at the humorous phrasing (if you plan on using these in your class be sure to select appropriately many are NOT appropriate).

Then I show them some I made using Einstein's quotes as a reference. You can go to MemeGenerator.net/Joseph-Ducreux to make your own. For instance, I made the one on the right. I ask them to try and translate them from archaic English to modern English.

Staying with the example on the right, they may come up with something like: Living is like riding a bike. You have to  keep balance by moving.

When they finish we look at how close they got to the original phrase. Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.

Finally, I explain these are usually NOT good paraphrases. As a class we come up with rules for a good paraphrase.

• The words are different (Use synonyms, descriptions, etc.)
• The structure is different (Make long sentences into two shorter sentences, change active to passive, etc.)
• The meaning is the same.

As we can see by looking through the Joseph Ducreux memes,  normally these memes do not change structure. They simply change the words. This is NOT proper paraphrasing.

Then we look at their "translations" of the earlier memes and see if they ended up being good paraphrases (usually they are pretty good). If not, we make them better. If students has written, Living is like riding a bike. You have to  keep balance by moving, they could try and change the structure more to something like, If you keep moving on a bike you are less likely to fall. This is the same way to stay balanced in life!

Finally I give them some of Einstein's quotes and have them paraphrase them. The worksheet includes the source, so students can practice citations (parenthetical, works cited, etc.) as well as remember how to find good sources.

There we go! As stated earlier, this is NOT a complete lesson. However, since Einstein is often quoted, it is a lesson that is relevant to students and helps them practice paraphrasing.

As a homework assignment you can get them to find their favorite quote by Einstein and paraphrase it! My favorite quote is to the right when he says that, "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge." You can read the rest of the quote (and more) at the Science Career Magazine blog.

A copy of the quotation worksheet, quizzes and answer key can be purchased on Teacher's Pay Teachers. You can get there by clicking this link.