Hello! Welcome to my first ever ESL Blog Roundup! I’ve seen it done before on other sites, and have decided to start my own ESL Blog Roundup. I’ll look over different ESL Blogs, and choose five posts I’d like to share. So, without further ado, here it goes!
1. Bringing the Outside In: Student Contributions
First on my list is from RealESL. This blog has many informative posts about engaging students and applying their skills to real-life situation (authentic learning). It briefly talks about using extracurricular activities such as bringing in a guest speaker, utilizing small talk, and even allowing students to decide what they want to talk about, can really help students express themselves and become more comfortable speaking English both in and out of the classroom.
2. How to Use Blogs in Your ESL Class
This second entry comes from a very experienced ESL teacher named Kris. This post focus on integrating technology, and specifically blogs, into your ESL lesson. I think it’s a great idea to incorporate tech into the classroom since it’s such a part of everyday life. This post discusses how using blogs is part of interactive learning, and can also help students develop typing and basic computer skills. You could set up a class blog, where each student has a chance to write a post. The cool thing is that it lasts forever and anybody can read it! It’s a great way to showcase student work!
3. Conversation Lesson: Books and Movies
This next entry comes to us from Kim’s Easy ESL blog. Who doesn’t like books and movies? I could talk about those all day! Many conversation books have a section about hobbies and interests. Books and movies are pretty common and fun to discuss! With intermediate to advanced ELLs, you can get a little more in-depth discussions about characters, plot development, and even dialogue. With younger learners, you can read aloud an exciting book, or watch a movie, and ask basic questions. Books and movies are excellent ways to get students talking, and learn some pop culture while they’re at it!
4. “Advertising” – Conversational Questions
The TEFL Blog has lots of excellent posts on teaching grammar and pronunciation. This post is definitely geared towards older, more advanced learners to adults. It has lots of excellent discussion-based questions focused on the role of advertising in society and the effects it has on viewers. You can use them to discuss the pros and cons of advertising as well as product placement in movies and television.
5. Students Teaching Teachers
This fifth and final entry is from Teaching the Teacher. This blog is more of a reflection blog. It contains stories and reflections from teachers on their experiences in the classroom, with lessons, and other things relevant to teachers. The post above discusses the idea of a flipped classroom, where students take over and teach the lesson. This method allows students to truly display their understanding of the content, and their ability to convey that understanding with others. It’s a fun and rewarding experience for kids and can help build confidence, too!
Well that brings us to an end for this first ESL Blog Roundup!
Stay tuned for more roundups in the future!
So, You Think You Can Teach ESL? 