Fun facts--facts that are interesting, unusual, and often little-known--are a popular form of entertainment throughout the world. There are countless books, TV quiz shows (Jeopardy!), board games (Trivial Pursuit), and museums (Ripley's Believe It or Not!) dedicated to trivia and the unusual that fascinate people of all ages. Short oral…

With rapid globalization, it is an urgent task for universities in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context to provide practical English education. Particularly, one that enables students to participate in the global society as well as the global business market. The challenge for these universities is to achieve this goal with limited class…

Passive learners usually do not have the kind of instrumental motivation and determination for learning English. A sample dictionary definition of passive is "accepting or allowing what happens or what others do, without active response or resistance". Passive learners take in new information and knowledge quietly, but they typically do…

Second language (L2) motivation research has been thriving for the past decades by emphasizing L2 motivation theories and describing the motivated learner, while relatively few studies have dealt with how to motivate students in a systematic way. Approaches in these studies either included investigations into the role of different motivational…

This paper describes the use of screencast feedback to enhance teaching presence and weekly self-reflection surveys to enhance social presence among students and build a community of learners. These approaches were found to diminish the feeling of isolation in online learning environments. Further findings indicated that this multimodal approach…

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the challenges and opportunities for incorporating social and emotional learning (SEL) into physical education, especially in settings disrupted by remote learning. This article provides practical strategies for PE teachers to apply the cooperative learning (CL) model to help Hispanic English language learners…

A case study is a teaching method based on the description of a real or hypothetical situation that requires a solution or action. No analysis is provided, so learners analyze the case themselves to make a decision or produce possible solutions. Case studies have been in use for several decades to train students in business, law, medicine, and…

In past years, translation education has shifted from a "transmissionist approach" to the unchallenged use of collaborative learning, with extensive recourse to teamwork and Project-based Learning. Students are encouraged to develop their translation and interpersonal skills in collaborative environments, focusing on translation as a…

This Teaching Technique introduces a fun, versatile game that gets students thinking, talking, and working together in the English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. It is easy to prepare, and it is a fun and efficient way to enhance learning. The game can be adapted to almost any grade level or ESL/EFL…

Ethan Lynn, the author of the article, describes three sets of oral reading activities he developed for his English as a Second Language students. Each set focuses on one of the three types of fluency: word-, sentence-, and passage-level. The word-level fluency activities are best employed as part of the pre-reading phase of a reading activity.…

Literature has long been used as a tool for language teaching and learning. In the New Academic Structure in Hong Kong, it has become an important element in the senior secondary English language curriculum to promote communicative language teaching (CLT) with a process-oriented approach. However, as in many other English as a second or foreign…

Games offer more than just fun and play, and the analyses suggest that varying vocabulary activities is important if learners are to practice all the aspects of word knowledge. However, despite all the evidence, just claiming that playing games is a good way to practice the language is often not enough to win the argument. Because author Nico…

A very important element of formative assessment is giving and receiving feedback. However, most teachers face difficulty in giving students feedback due to various reasons, such as the large number of students in class that makes it time consuming for them to do so. Fortunately, students themselves can be excellent sources of feedback through…

School districts that have adopted the 3Ls™ approach to provide rigorous instruction for English learners (ELs) have, invariably, had to make a case for what this approach offers, how it reflects best practices in English language development (ELD) instruction, and how it meets the needs of English learners. They have also had to make explicit…

Being a teacher is much more that delivering contents in the classroom. It implies setting standard behaviors as well as showing ways to work. In one word, teachers are an example in the classroom. The implementation of their way to teach will be considered as good or bad teaching by their own students for many years. Likewise, the way they use…