ESL Jigsaws
5 Minutes Prep - 2 Hour Interactive Lesson!
CLB Levels
Many teachers have suggested having CLB (Canadian Language Benchmarks) levels on the covers of my books. I've been reluctant for a few reasons.
Low Beginner Personal Info Game
Anyone who teaches very low beginner ESL knows that you spend a lot of time going over basic personal information questions and answers, often trying to come up with yet another new way to approach the same old material.
Something Different for Valentine's Day (or after)
Callan's Holiday Jigsaws 1 (for beginners) and 2 (for intermediate) both have a Valentine's Day jigsaw. The jigsaw includes a board game on love and romance that students have a lot of fun with.
Teaching Family to Level One
Were you aware that not all languages use the same one word for father's sister and mother's sister the way English uses aunt? Likewise, many languages have different words for the grandmother from your father's side and the grandmother from your mother's side. Learning about these differences in nomenclature makes teaching a family unit in an ESL classroom an interesting experience.
Literacy & Level One Field Testers Sought
Callan's ABCs is finally in field testing, soon to be published.
Should Death Be a Topic in Your ESL Class?
As Veterans Day and Remembrance Day approach, it’s the time of year when we often think about those who have passed away. Should death be a topic in the ESL classroom? There is no question that the topic has to be approached with sensitivity in the classroom. We don’t know when a loss in the family may still be fresh for some students. While talking about death can trigger sad feelings, the topics of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, something we all agree belong in an ESL program, are often as loaded for some and must be approached with equal sensitivity.
ESL Book Pricing
Sometimes teachers wonder why photocopiable books are so expensive. Surely, the author or publisher must be making a lot of money at these prices?
Conversation Surveys Book for Low Beginners!
For years, literacy and low level one teachers have approached me at conferences desperate for low level materials. I’m so happy now to be able to offer another book, in addition to Callan’s Canadian Holidays for Low Beginner ESL, that is specifically targeted to their level.
Spreading the Word
Cooperative learning is such a successful approach for the ESL/ESOL classroom. Remember when we studied languages back in high school? How many of us actually spoke much of the target language during those 60 minute periods? How many of us actually had fun? I'd wager that your experience was not that much different from mine in that you spent less than 5 minutes actually speaking and classes were not much fun.
Father's Day
I have been lucky to have two fathers: an adoptive father, who raised me until he died when I was ten, and a birth father, whom I met as a young adult. You may have seen my birth father, David, assisting me at my booth at a conference some time. What a great guy!
