Blog Archives

Take a Break from ESL with Florida Sinkholes

5/29/2014

I know you’ve got some headaches these days, what with it being so close to summer and the end of your ESL teaching contract.

Oh, you’re going to be working at a training center this summer…sorry – you’re headaches are just beginning!

So why not forget about them for awhile with something I always used – beer and books.

Yep, they make a good combination, especially if the book you’re reading is funny.

That’s what you’ll find with my latest fiction offering, Florida Sinkholes.

This is a dark horror story that’s dry as hell. You can read some excerpts on my site Big Sky Words, and I’m sure you’ll like them.

The book’s just $0.99 and I hope you’ll give it a look and maybe even tell one of your friends. Thanks!

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Using iPads in Your ESL Classroom: 7 Helpful Links

5/20/2014

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A few weeks ago I got an email from someone about using iPads in the ESL classroom. I never replied and lost the email (I get lots because of my other site).

Well, I was thinking about this the other day and decided I should do some research. See, I never used iPads when teaching ESL. In fact, I’ve never used an iPad at all. Why would I?

English language training centers, on the other hand, can’t think of anything better to do. For them it’s all about profits, and if parents see or hear about students using iPads to learn English at one school they’ll put their kids there over a school that doesn’t have them. So in that regards it’s nothing more than a business decision.

Hey, convince me otherwise! Before I left EF in China they were going to roll these out, and I knew it was just a way for them to increase sales. I’d realized long before that having students actually learn English was secondary to boosting the bottom line as much as possible.

That said, iPads can be used effectively. I’ve read several good posts from teachers using them to good effect in classes with 10 students or less. I guess I just don’t know enough about them to tell you anything helpful.

But I’m damn good at content curation and finding what other people have to say. Below you’ll find several links to useful iPad ESL apps, iPad ESL lessons, and just some tips and tricks that will help your ESL class use an iPad better.

7 Helpful iPad ESL Links

16 Incredible Apps for iPad Learners

10 Great iPad Apps for Learning English

The 9 Best Mobile Apps for Your Students

5 Good Apps for ESL/ELL Students

5 Useful Apps for ESL Students

The iPad in the ESL/EFL Classroom

The Best ESL Apps for Kids

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New ESL Free Games and Handouts Page

5/6/2014

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In case you haven’t noticed yet, I’ve put a new page up on the site.

Well, it’s not really new – I’ve always had a free ESL games and handouts page, it’s just that it was hidden, not on the main navigation sidebar.

Now it’s out there in plain view, and it’s also been updated. Here’s what a little of it looks like:

As you can see, each file has a clear title, a picture, and a short explanation. Some have a link to the appropriate blog post explaining the ESL game or handout, while others have links to my ESL books.

Overall it’s a great resource for you to bookmark on your ESL teacher’s computer at work. I’ll be adding to the page several times a month, probably once a week.

That’s about the usual posting schedule on this site.

Which reminds me, if you or anyone you know has a hot ESL teaching idea, feel free to contact me about a guest post.

I’m sure there are many teachers that could use your advice.

Thanks for visiting this ESL games site, and I hope you have some luck teaching this week!

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New ESL PowerPoint Game: Name 10

5/1/2014

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You want to have simple, fast and easy games in your ESL bag of tricks.

One such game is called Name 10. Why is it called that? Because it’s about as simple as you can get.

As you can see, the game just consists of naming ten different things in one minute or less.

It sounds real simple, but trust me, students will get hung up on things and the other team will be jumping out of their seats as the clock ticks down.

Here are a few of the slides the Name 10 PowerPoint game has:

Some of the slides are easy, some are a little more difficult. The basic ideas is that you have two teams and you go back and forth.

What makes it interesting is how you divvy up the points.

Perhaps a team will get 1 point for each correct thing they name.

Maybe they’ll get bonus points for how fast they said all 10 in, or even just 5.

And you could even take away points if they run out of time or can’t name 3 things.

As you can see, the possibilities with simple games like this are really as boundless as your imagination, or penchant for cruelty. Yeah, you could give a team zero points if they don’t name the full ten!

And don’t think they have to name ten things. Many slides, especially the more difficult, look just like this one:

That’s what makes this game so great – you can change the sentences depending on your level.

So talking about global warming might be great for a class of high-level teenagers, but perhaps you want to change that to “Name 5 Effects of Eating 100 Pizzas” for the younger students, or maybe just “Name 5 Foods.”

It’s a fun game, and a great way to kill the last 15 minutes of class. You can get this awesome ESL PowerPoint template, or make your own with the ideas you’ve found here. Good luck!

My Best ESL Game: 5-in-1

ESL Balloon Crash Classroom Debate

Free ESL Battleship Handouts

ESL Flashcard Fights

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Take a Break from ESL with Florida Sinkholes

Using iPads in Your ESL Classroom: 7 Helpful Links

7 Helpful iPad ESL Links

New ESL Free Games and Handouts Page

New ESL PowerPoint Game: Name 10

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Greg Strandberg

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