It was a cold day in January, 2017. I was standing in front of a class of about twenty students from Panama who had come to Canada as part of the Panama Bilingue Program. I was trudging my way through my lesson, clicking through slide after slide of my rigorously-prepared Power Point presentation, when suddenly something happened that changed my outlook on teaching ESL forever: it started snowing.
Continue readingIntroduction: Caring is the First Step
For years, I have been fascinated with the work of Nel Noddings and her themes on care. In one of her (2010) articles, she presses educators to become role models who shape healthy and caring students. The students in my class were feeling stressed and overwhelmed by being constantly assessed on their performance, so I decided to create a set of lessons on the theme of stress. These lessons were prepared for a high-intermediate level and each day represents a period of 50 minutes.
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Happy Canada Day! Even though we celebrate Canada on one special day, there are so many lesson ideas you could use to continue to learn about Canada throughout the month of July. Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with.
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Can you name all of the Kardashians? What is Fortnite? Are fidget spinners still a thing? What’s a meme?
Do you use pop culture references in your ESL lessons? I do! Let’s explore some of the disadvantages and advantages of doing so.
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You probably heard by now that there is a new Food Guide. Maybe you took a peek online at its new look (Canada.ca/FoodGuide) and wondered what to say to your students or what those changes really are.
Just looking at the plate, you will see some familiar messages – like filling half of your plate with vegetables. No surprise, eating vegetables is good for you because they have lots of fibre, vitamins, and minerals. Eating a variety of vegetables and fruit everyday can reduce the risk of heart disease. Choosing fresh, frozen, or canned can all be great choices; just choose ones without added salt or sugar.
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Do you use Canadian or American spelling in your classroom? Do you “correct” your students when they write color instead of colour? Have your students ever asked why you write metre when their dictionaries say meter?
A Trivial Matter?
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This year at the TESL ON conference, Asmaa Cober, Sanctuary Refugee Health Centre, will be one of our Keynote Speakers. The following blog post was written by Asmaa. Here she gives you a synopsis of her keynote address:
Learning never happens in a vacuum — people bring all of their experiences with them to the classroom. Newcomers (and refugees in particular) have a life history — experiences that greatly affect their ability to learn. We will explore some of the types of experiences that refugees bring with them to the classroom. Continue reading
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers!
This blog isn’t really about being thankful… unless you are thankful for a few ideas that you can use this week to teach about Thanksgiving. Are you tired of the same old worksheets that you use year after year? Are you looking for something different? Here I want to offer some (hopefully) fresh ideas that you can consider using in your classroom. Also, please share any ideas that you love to use in the comment section below. So, let’s freshen up our Thanksgiving activity repertoire. Continue reading
Well, it is June and there is no better time to introduce the Canada Day holiday to your students. I have searched the web and have asked colleagues about favourites for teaching about Canada and Canada Day. Since150 would put this post way over the maximum word count, I have pulled together 15. I hope this helps you and your students with your holiday preparation. The resources are listed in alphabetical order. If you have any that I have missed please add them through the comments feature below.
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When we’re educating ELLs, how many of us have the opportunity to expose students to Canadian history? I love teaching history and having learners explore how we got to today. At times, I wish I were more like a history version of Ms. Frizzle (I kind of have the hair for it minus the red).
It’s common to talk about the government, Confederation, and the iconic symbols of Canada, but I have found Continue reading