ESL Jigsaws
5 Minutes Prep - 2 Hour Interactive Lesson!
Viewing entries tagged with 'downloadable'
Coins and Bills for Low Beginners
As tax season approaches, we often teach a unit on money. With low beginners, I structure my unit around learning numbers, counting, asking and saying prices, the names of bills and coins, and finally the task of asking for change. I've put together some exercises for Canadian and American teachers on asking for change.
Fieldtrip to the Dentist
In adult immigrant ESL classes, within a health unit, many teachers touch on the subject of dental care. I highly recommend a visit to an actual dentist’s office, if you can arrange it. My dentist Dr. Marcy Schwartzman was kind enough to allow a visit to her dental clinic for my intermediate ESL students, many of whom had never been to a dentist in their lives.
Teaching About Christmas?
Imagine you were teaching abroad for a year's exchange in the country of Slavarnia, spending part of your time in classes learning the language of Slavar. It's not a real country so follow along with this hypothetical example, if you will. The biggest holiday of the year was called Glistin. Stores were closed and there were two stat holidays associated. Hallmark had come in and commercialized Glistin significantly, creating a large gift giving fairy as the main character. But actually, the roots of the holiday were religious. When the subject of the holiday came up in class, you read and played games centred around the Hallmark fairy, but you learned nothing about the historical and religious origins of the holiday. Apparently, the school was concerned about religious proselytizing and so kept the focus on the secular aspects. As a result, you remained in the dark about half of the holiday's significance. You had no interest in converting your religion, but just wanted to understand what was behind the holiday. How would you feel?
Mother's Day
It's Mother's Day as I write this and it occurs to me that many of the teachers who teach English as an additional language are mothers. So, in the spirit of thanks to mothers everywhere, I'm sharing a couple pages from my low beginner holidays book for free, to use in your class. I hope you find them useful.
