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…

Over the past several years, there has been a resurgence in efforts to develop curriculum and teaching skills in the area of media literacy for language educators and language learners. The increased focus on teaching media literacy in the language classroom may be motivated by the perceived increase in the intentional production of false…

This article describes a simple method to teach pitch, a feature common to both word stress and intonation. The technique can be used by native and nonnative English-speaking teachers and is applicable to students of different levels and language backgrounds. Pronounced as /m/, "mmm" is a sound that should be easy for speakers of any…

When it comes to learning an additional language, it is important that teachers prepare students to communicate with different speakers, respecting and understanding the different English-accented speeches around the world. This article helps English teachers from different parts of the world embrace language variation in their lessons,…

The method of learner-created knowledge--where students engage with others in order to connect what they know with new knowledge to construct new meaning--ties into a broader support for learner autonomy in English language teaching (ELT) and learning. In countries like Cameroon, the social power orientation is mirrored in classroom practices, and…

The purpose of this article is to present the main principles of accessibility for online learning. The first part of the article defines disability. The next section focuses on how to apply the framework of universal design for learning (UDL) to the online teaching context. The final section explains how to create or modify learning materials so…

With the Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive (ICAP) framework as a foundation, author Robby Robinette presents two activities that teachers can use to incorporate collaboration into their online (and in-person) classes. The activities make use of students' prior knowledge. The author suggests sources where teachers can find reading texts that…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the world of education has found a new normal, with new online courses, tools, educational apps, and artificial intelligence gaining in advancement and popularity. Interactive video is a multimedia tool that allows the viewer to actively engage with the content in the video by making choices and inputting data. In this…

The author, Elizabeth Hanks, is the creator and host of her own English-learning podcast, and in this article she shares ideas for using pre-made EFL podcasts, creating your own podcasts, and using general audience podcasts to give students of various levels opportunities to practice all skills and "advance on their English-learning…

This article uses the Stephen Crane story "The Open Boat" (freely available on the American English website) as an anchor text to demonstrate how teachers can apply Raphael's Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) technique to a text that students might be assigned to read. The article includes numerous examples and tips that teachers can…

One of the biggest challenges seasoned English language teacher Mina Gavell has faced in the classroom is how to liven up reading classes. Not only is reading inherently a quiet and solo task, but the standard skills teachers are trying to build in their students--skimming, scanning, making predictions and inferences, guessing vocabulary meaning…

The author describes a challenge that is familiar to many language teachers: trying to get students to speak up independently, share thoughts, and participate authentically in the target language. The article includes general and specific tips for creating a comfortable, communicative classroom environment.

Advocates of using songs and music in English as a second language (EL2) teaching and learning contexts emphasize the educational benefits of song lyrics. To make the full potential of using songs more visible and accessible to EL2 teachers, this article presents a methodological framework that can be used when planning a song unit for learners.…

Nonprofit commercials are an inspiring but often overlooked resource in language teaching. Teachers can use these short and thought-provoking films in different scenarios with communicative language activities and strategies and to help students practice skills that form part of Bloom's so-called higher-thinking skills, such as creating (using…

This is a step-by-step guide for having students create a basic idea for their own movie and then write and perform a "movie trailer" to promote their movie.