Creating a Classroom Culture of Laughter

In the age of technology, when students use online databases for home research and when Khan Academy tutorials personalize learning, why does the 21st-century student come to school?

They come to see their friends. They come for the community. They come to be part of a classroom culture that motivates them to stick with the online tutorial and write that last paragraph in an essay.

For my first seven years of teaching, I spent the first week discussing class norms, dutifully posting group expectations on the wall, and asking that students sign an agreement to follow them in an effort to "determine class culture."

Turns out there's a quicker, more fun way to establish a positive atmosphere. With a little reinforcement, this positive culture lasts past the honeymoon of the first two weeks and into the second quarter when the gloves come off.

The secret is improv games. I call them warm-ups and play them once a week at the beginning of class. Many students tell me that warm-ups are the best part of their day. On one feedback form, Lacie wrote:

6 Fabulous Games to Get Your Students Speaking

Many ESL teachers find that their students are timid speakers or reluctant to participate in class discussions.

It’s only natural. After all, they are trying to talk in a language they are still working on learning. Still, silence can be deadly in the ESL classroom for your students and you. When you want to get your students to speak up, try one of these fun and simple games to get them talking in class.

Try These 6 Involving Activities for Students to Speak Up

33 ways to speak better English – without taking classes

Very often we are looking  for advice and activities to help our students  improve pronunciation and speaking skills independently. Check out this article with links to some great free resources to help you practise and improve.

Pass this onto your students!
It’s sound advice on how they can take more responsibility for improving their speaking skills on their own outside class: 33 ways to speak better English – without taking classes

Encouraging Introverts to Speak Up in School

Do you give students marks for participation in class? What do you do about shy students?

John Spencer shares ten strategies to ensure that introverts and extroverts 

alike can thrive in class: http://www.quietrev.com/encouraging-introverts-to-speak-up-in-school/

15 Essential English Idioms for Sounding Like a Native

An idiom is a phrase or a fixed expression that has a figurative, or sometimes literal, meaning. An idiom’s figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning. There are thousands of idioms, and they occur frequently in all languages. It is estimated that there are at least twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions in the English language.

Here’s a run down on some of the most common English Idioms used by native teenagers and young adults. It will help you understand your friends better in daily situations such as hanging out with your friends in a Bar.

25 способів покращити англійську

Дуже мало часу залишилось у одинадцятикласників до вирішального іспиту з англійської мови. Але час, що залишився все ще можна використати з найбільшою ефективністю, якщо прислухатись до вчителя та виконувати хоч половину, ну або третину з наступних корисних порад. (До речі,  учням 8-10-х класів також  можна спокійно спробувати кожну з рекомендацій та обрати ті, що підходять вам якнайкраще.)
Отже :

1. Слухайте mp3 файли. Не всі знають, що крім музики та пісень з інтернету можна завантажити аудіофайли для практики англійської, такі, як аудіокниги, підкасти, та ін. Це не тільки ефективніше, ніж прослуховування пісень англійською, але ще й безкоштовно.

7 Things NOT to Do When Speaking English

People learning English very often do several things  that hurt their progress as a language learner. Here are the top 7: 7 Things NOT to Do When Speaking English