ESL Teacher Talk - ESL Podcasts for Teachers » Pod 1l236i

Listen to the show. Using news articles in classes provides interesting and useful content, but how should we go about it? This show Chris Cotter from www.headsupenglish.com visits with us. HeadsUpEnglish.com offers ESL lesson plans based around current news articles with matching activities and worksheets for ESL teachers and audio for students. In our first segment, Resource Talk, Chris explains a little about himself and his website www.headsupenglish.com. The second segment, Pro Talk, Mark, Ron, and Chris discuss how to create your own lesson plan based around news articles and how they execute lessons based around news articles, covering reading strategies, warm-up activities, vocabulary introduction, and follow-up exercises. To get your hands on free ready-to-go news articles lessons and free matching audio s visit www.headsupenglish.com For more discussion on this topic and other ESL Teacher Talk podcast discussions visit the ESL Teacher Talk Forum. One other good site with news articles and accompanying activities is www.breakingnewsenglish.com. Game of the Week: Steal the Conversation This week’s guest Chris Cotter brings the game of the week. It’s a simple fluency activity designed to encourage speaking and taking control of the conversation. Preparation is simple and there’s a bonus activity included called “Anti-Steal the Conversation,” but listen to the show and see if you can come up with a better name.

Listen to the show. Mark and Ron pick up from the show two episodes ago and deal with new classes, new students and new teachers. This show covers adult classes and young adult learners. we go over some ideas for a teacher’s first class, an entirely new class, a single new student and private classes. There are tips, advice and a few things to just to be aware of. Enjoy the show! Visit the ESL Teacher Talk Forums and in on the show! If you aren’t a forum member, use this VIP code: 7575 to . Game of the Week: Tic, Tac, Know A quick game that’s easy to set up. You need 9-16 flashcards and a few students. It’s flexible and gets the students moving. It is designed for young learners but I’m sure adults as well can enjoy the game and learning. Happy teaching!

Listen to the show. A new co-host, Clive, squares off with Mark about which is better teaching children or teaching adults. Mark prefers teaching children and has some suggestions for Clive’s problems in children’s classes. Then Clive, who prefers teaching adults, offers Mark some suggestions for Mark’s problems with adult classes. Clive will be apearing on the show from time to time and we’re very glad to have him. In the first segment of the show we learn about Clive and what he’s doing in Italy. He runs www.eslpodcards.com and if you haven’t been by there yet, stop by and take a look around. Clive explains how to use the articles, listening and worksheets you can find in the Pocard lessons. Game of the Week: True or False This is a game that requires little to no preparation. It practices question formation as well as reasoning and being convincing in English. The game is described as practice for past simple but can be easily adapted to suit the present, present perfect, future and more. It’s up to your imagination. Have fun!

Listen to the show. Part one – Children’s classes: There’s a lot to think about when dealing with a new class. Ron and Mark offer you some advice and give you a few things to think about when the class is new, you the teacher are new or a new student is introduced into the class. Game of the Week: the Yes No race A nice warm-up activity and can be used to practice any yes-no question. game to print www.eslteachertalk.com/games/yesnoraceprint.php game with questions www.eslteachertalk.com/games/yes_no_questions.doc

Listen to the show. This first segment brings you a short interview with the new co-host Ron Molenda. We learn a little bit about Ron and what all this Season 2 nonsense is about. In the Just Talk section of the show, Ron tells us about living and working in Taiwan. You can get a feel for what to expect, good ways to find a job and what to be weary of when looking to work in Taiwan. Game of the Week: Curiosity An almost zero preparation game that practices question formation and continuing a conversation. This game is good for intermediate to advanced intermediate levels. It’s best with small groups but is explained in the show how it could be adapted for larger classes.

Listen to the show. There have been 30 shows over the past year, and this week’s show is the season finale. Mark and Eric go over why they created eslTeacherTalk. What they hope they have done to help other teachers and the future of this show. Sorry, no game of the week this week.

Listen to the show. This is a relatively easy to prepare game that you can use to practice compound words or spelling. It is designed for larger classes, but can be easily adapted to small groups. Have fun!

Listen to the show. They’re everywhere and about everything, why not start your own. You have a lot of experiences and advice to on! Blog today! This week, Mark and Eric discuss the benefits of creating an ESL blog, how to get started and what you need to know. Get a free blog here: www.blogger.com Domain owners, get a template here: wordpress.org Game of the Week: Down This is a relatively easy to prepare game that you can use to practice compound words or spelling. It is designed for larger classes but can be easily adapted to small groups. Have fun!

Listen to the show. In 5 minutes practice any target language with students aged 5-100. All you need are some markers and students. It’s a great warm-up activity or review activity.

Listen to the show. Devon Thagard, co-creator of SuperSimpleSongs, comes to the studio this week. He discusses his ESL experience and how he uses songs in class with young children. There are also some recommendations for music for young learners and a way to get a free set of SuperSimpleSong CDs. Learn more: www.supersimplesongs.com Visit devon’s blog at http://simplesongs.blogs.com listen to some i-mixes of simple songs: U.S. iTunes iTunes Japan Devon’s podcast: www.kodomoeikaiwa.podomatic.com Game of the Week: RPS challenge In 5 minutes practice any target language with students aged 5-100. All you need are some markers and students. It’s a great warm-up activity or review activity.

Listen to the show. This week we have Patrick Jackson, author of the Potato Pals series published through Oxford Press. He talks about his experiences getting the books to print, what potato pals are, why he created them and how he uses them in class. You can read more about Patrick Jackson and the Potato Pals at http://potatopals.blogspot.com.  Visit the site and learn how you could win a free set of Potato Pals books.