Since we added our user generated lessons feature about a year and a half ago, a lot of great teachers have posted some really cool stuff here on English, baby!. But one teacher stands out above the rest as the most frequent and most popular lesson creator. You may know her as nad1a but her real name is Nadeen. She lives in Bulgaria and recently answered some questions for us via email about making special lessons to match her students’ interests and using ESL resources on the Web.

Jason: How many languages do you speak and where did you learn them?

Nadeen: I speak 5 languages in total, at a different level, of course, but I guess I could get by just fine in any of them. These are English, Bulgarian, French, Greek and some Spanish. I am equally fluent in English and Bulgarian as I was born in Bulgaria but spent the most part of my life in the United States.

Jason: What’s a typical day in your class like?

Nadeen: The truth is that there is no ‘typical’ day in my class. I always try to bring some variety into the classroom so that people won’t get bored.

Most people don’t really study English for fun or because they like it, but they’re pressured by circumstances in one way or another. Children are forced by parents who are trying to equip their kids for their future education and careers. Adults are trying to land a better job, to upgrade their qualifications, or they are businessmen striving for better communication with their international partners etc. The only way to get them involved and grab their attention is to personalize the lesson.

I once had a teenage boy who hated having to learn English. I had to use the recommended grammar and vocabulary from his textbook to edit Internet articles and interviews and prepare exercises and activities centered around his own interests – hip-hop, soccer and graffiti. He was having fun and was learning English almost unaware of it.

Jason: Your English, baby! lessons are on all sorts of topics, from Beyonce to pronunciation. Where do you get the ideas for them? Which one do you think is your best?

Nadeen: Well, I won’t pretend to be some kind of genius here. It’s not like I make everything up by myself. I use various materials on the Internet or textbooks of my own. I get a lot of ideas from my interaction with my offline students. This may be a question I am asked, or an issue they show an interest in during the lesson, or a frequent mistake I notice. Sometimes I just come across something interesting on the Internet and decide to make a lesson out of it. So I elaborate on it, editing this material and adding my own touch to it, and share it on English, baby!

I can’t grade my own lessons and won’t be able to say which one is the best. I would say my favorite is “Learning languages: Myths and Truth”. It’s a fact that English baby members, though, seem to favor “The American Pronunciation of T“. It’s probably because most of them are fans of American English and it may also be something they’re lacking in their ESL classes.

Jason: What do you like about English, baby!? Do you use any other online English resources?

Nadeen: It’s a great place for both students and teachers. Students are exposed to real, natural English (which you are less likely to get from textbooks alone) in a wide range of contexts that they can relate to. Teachers can use lessons from the site pertinent to the material they cover in class to live up their lessons.

What most people seem to appreciate about English, baby!, however, is its being this huge social network, bringing people from all over the world together and giving people like Zeus and Kinski one more reason to be thankful for.

I also use VOA Special English, ESLdiscussions.com, esl-lab.com, UsingEnglish.com. I sometimes Google the topic or grammar point I want to cover and I accumulate material from different sites to use in the classroom or my individual lesson.

Jason: I looked at your photos and it looks like you have a son who plays some sports. How old is he? Do you think he could beat me in a challenge?

Nadeen: Yes, I have a 12-year-old son who is my pride and joy. His name is Roy. He plays for Olympiakos, a Greek soccer team. Right now he’s recovering from an injury on his knee and hasn’t been playing for a while, but when I asked him if he would play against you, he said: “Is he ready for that? Did you tell him this is European and not American football?”

Technology users come in all shapes and sizes. In my last post, I called myself a tech junkie. That makes me sound a little crazy. What techie type are you? The PEW/Internet Project has a thorough set of tech types. (I am an omnivore. I like that language. I consume it all. I love it all.  In typical internet fashion, PEW updated their site and changed the quiz omnivores no loner exist– they are now called “digital collaborators” I think. )

Read about the different types identified by PEW here (And take the PEW Internet quiz here):

You might have an idea about where you fit, but take the PEW Internet Typology quiz for yourself.  Then, tell me what type you are. Knowing a little more about the relationship you have with technology can help you figure out what learning tools are best for you as a teacher or student of English!

I called this post “the confessions of a tech junkie.” But I still have a hard time imagining myself like that because I used to be a real technophobe.  Actually, I was a technophobe when I started using technology in my ESL class. The students got me so excited and now look at me. I am a tech junkie. Look at what I do (outside of teaching):

At home and at work, my computer is always on. Almost all day, I listen to music online or on iTunes. At work, the internet and basic office programs are necessary. They make me more efficient, for one, and I am also an avid learner of new technology. Technology helps me learn. At home, I use the computer to learn and to socialize. I do research online. I am part of several professional social networks through ning, like Classroom 2.0. I monitor other teachers’ delicious accounts (a place to list your favorite sites) to see what sites they like. I join online classes through thinkfinity and other sites. I watch television online.
So maybe I am a tech junkie. But I didn’t always used to be like this. Over the last three years, work has pushed me to be more technological. Now, I find it so exciting.  Maybe the same thing will happen to you. If being an ESL teacher makes you embrace technology, I bet just about every other job will soon too.

Last week, I wrote my New Years Teaching Resolutions. One of them was to “share my lesson plans with other teachers in a consistent and organized way.”  There are so many ways to share links and drinks, but what about our favorite worksheets? Mine usually stay hidden away somewhere on my computer or worse yet in a file cabinet in my office. I hate the idea that I spend hours creating handouts for my class and they rarely get used again. Sometimes, I give them to other teachers. Most of the time, we share hard copies, which is such a pain if you want to edit something.

So this year, my goal is to share more and share better. I want to share the electronic copies of all of my lessons. I have a few ideas of how to go about it. I could start putting them all on my personal website. I could use another website. Something with a community feature would be great so that I can easily get lessons too.

So far, I have two ideas: connexions, or a wiki. The first is something I stumbled upon today, but it might be worth looking into. Wikis, on the other hand, I am familiar with. I have used a wiki to share lessons before. Last time, I used a wiki to share pronunciation lessons with other interested parties. People shared things, but they rarely posted lessons. So I am going to have to give the first one a try and maybe look for something better. Do you have any ideas?

I have had my fair share of teaching revelations over the last year and hopefully I have really learned from each of them. They have made me realize how I can improve. Next year, I have six teaching resolutions:

1.  Integrate students’ personal and work lives into the curriculum.
2.  Increase students’ computer literacy through active use of technology.
3.  Present grammar rules and information deductively. (Let them figure it out.)
4.  Tap into students’ motivation to learn English.
5.  Share my lesson plans with other teachers in a consistent and organized way.
6.  Continue to love what I am doing.

Some of these resolutions aren’t exactly new. I talk about using technology all the time and I have mentioned integrating students’ careers into the classroom. Still, this is my list. My list of resolutions. Keep checking back as I work on each of these resolutions. If anyone has any advice, please tell me. Especially with sharing lesson plans and connecting with other teachers!

Videos can be really fun in the classroom. In older posts, I have explained a few ways to use YouTube videos in the classroom. They can be used in esl lessons about food. Students can also learn to use YouTube videos in their presentations or you can integrate them into lectures. Well, now, I have a slightly new challenge for you. Make your own educational video!

TeacherTube is full of videos teachers and/or students have made. You can use YouTube and TeacherTube to find videos for your esl classes, but when you just can’t find what you are looking for it might be time to make your own video. The next few posts will explain how to make a YouTube video.

First, you have to start with some video clips. Use your cellphone, a video camera, a web cam, whatever to capture some video and audio. I used the built in video camera and microphone on my Macbook to make this video. It will be used in an international studies class. The final project in the class is to make an annotated bibliography and this explains how to do it.

Once you have the video, you have to find video editing software. You probably have one on your computer. On Macs, there is iMovie. On PCs, there is Movie Maker.

So from here out, the directions are for macs on iMovie. But I have used Movie Maker and it is pretty simple too.

Once you have the video recordings, you need to import them into iMovie (File > Import Movie). A simpler option is to record video in the iMovie program using a webcam. Then, go through the recordings and drag the parts you want to use into the video screen. The process is a simple drag and drop. (There is a link at the bottom of this to a more detailed video tutorial.)

The next step is to add titles. There is a little “T” for text or maybe for title. Click on the “T” and the different formats of titles come up. Drag and drop the title that you want to the place where you want it.

Once you’re finished adding video clips and titles, press Share in the toolbar and then select YouTube. Follow the steps (including creating a YouTube account) and before you know it you will have a video on YouTube.

Here is an iMovie tutorial. It may seem a little complicated. But I opened the iMovie program for the first time last week and was able to completely finish a YouTube video in less than one hour!

I stumbled upon a New York times article today about several language learning software programs. It was an old article (from  2005). So what was so interesting about a NY Times article from 2005? The article discussed the different programs’ underlying assumptions about language learning. The Rosette Stone, for example, is based on the assumption that people learn their second language in the same way they learn their first. Basically, they believe second language acquisition is the same as first language acquisition. Personally, the idea that adults learn language in the same manner as children seems slightly absurd.

As teachers, we have all sorts of beliefs about how people learn language.  But I don’t think we give the idea much focused attention. While we might have a teaching philosophy that clearly states how we can help students learn, I think we all need to have a clear idea about how people learn language. A colleague of mine thinks that extensive reading is essential to language learning. I don’t know if that is at the center of her teaching philosophy but it certainly affects what she does in the classroom to some extent.

So like all of the software programs from the NY Times article, our ESL classes are each based on our assumptions about language learning.  If you aren’t sure how people learn language, it might be time for you to start researching second language acquisition. And make more informed decisions in the classroom.

The internet has made finding realia so much easier. It’s pretty easy to pluck an authentic news story or find a relevant video clip from YouTube. But with the holidays around the corner and all of the traditional food that Americans eat on Thanksgiving and Christmas, it might be time to bring in some more interesting realia: food!

If you have pumpkin in your area, you can make pumpkin pie.  Or pumpkin cookies like in the picture above, since, in case you didn’t know, no one eats pumpkin outside the US. Students will love to try it! And many will think it is disgusting, so it can be pretty funny. You can integrate these food items into your curriculum in many ways. You could bring it in and have it be the start of a conversation or a discussion. If you’re in another country, you could have a debate about if local stores should sell American food.

You could also have your students make the food in class. This could be good practice for following directions if you have one student dictate the recipe to another who isn’t allowed to read it. It could even be a listening activity if you have a high tech classroom and access to videos from foodnetwork.com or marthastewart.com

Other classic American foods include: scrambled eggs, pancakes, cookies, fruit salad with marshmallows (ambrosia),  meatloaf and more. This activity is totally optional and might just be something you add to a end of class party. But food can be a fun realia in the classroom. So give it a try and don’t be afraid to bring in things that you think taste bad. Some people might like them.

At my house, we begin every Thanksgiving meal the same way. Everyone at the table has to say one thing that they are thankful for. It usually goes something like this:

“I am thankful for the food.”

“I am thankful for being alive.”

“I am thankful for having wonderful family.”

“I am thankful for work.”

And on it goes. It takes a while to go around the Thanksgiving table. We usually have fifteen people for dinner and each person must say something unique.

But I realized I could do something like this in my ESL class to teach Gerund as well as the real meaning of Thanksgiving. (Believe it or not Thanksgiving isn’t all about food.) Gerunds look like verbs, for example being, but they act like nouns. So in our “I am thankful for…” examples we have two gerunds. We can see from the examples that gerunds are in the same place as nouns and that they really do act like nouns.

So you might want to use the “I am thankful for…” as an introduction or as practice in your next gerund lesson.  Students could even use this as a writing prompt. It will bring in a little bit of culture and a little bit of fun to a traditionally boring grammar topic.

More on gerunds here: Gerund Summary with lots of quizzes, Printable Gerund Board Game, and more Gerund Quizzes

Do you teach your students language learning strategies? Well, I do. I have started integrating a few strategies into each lesson. I feel like I am empowering students by teaching them how to learn. If you don’t know much about language learning strategies a good place to start would be with Oxford’s (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning. It is a simple questionnaire that assesses how many and which strategies you use.

Even as a teacher, I found my results on the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) to be very helpful. I discovered that I use surprisingly few strategies for managing my emotions. Looking back on my language learning experiences, my emotions were often debilitating in the classroom because I wasn’t using strategies to manage them. So on a person level, I wish someone would have taught me about language learning strategies.

After teaching some strategies,  I can tell you that students really like it. They love to know the different ways they can learn. The SILL offers a bunch of different ways to remember things. You can demonstrate these in the classroom and have students use them.

The most important thing with strategy instruction is reflection. Because some strategies don’t work for everyone, have your students reflect on what they do now and on what new strategies work well for them. Read more ideas about teaching language learning strategies here. I think, it can be very powerful instruction. So give it a try and leave me a comment about how it went.