Children with limited language expression and comprehension abilities are at risk for academic failure, particularly in literacy acquisition. In addition, these children often have poor social outcomes, including difficulty forming friendships, social exclusion, withdrawal, and victimization. The academic and social difficulties that these…

Vast amounts of daily news content are widely available and easily accessible, and they can be converted into materials for intermediate and advanced ESL classes. This article will describe the why and how for integrating news media sources into a multiskills ESL classroom. Through the news, students are immediately engaged with the material…

Describes a classroom grammatical activity in which the teacher isolates typical sentences from textbooks and writes the individual words on placards. Describes how students are each given a placard and asked to form a sentence. Reports that students enjoyed this activity and began to get the feel of language and sentence structure. (RS)

In this article a method to improve sentence writing ability called sentence combining is explained. The potential effects of sentence combining are related and relevant research summarized. In addition, how to introduce sentence combining practice to a class, key instructional components including oral practice and peer assistance, sources of…

This article explores the attribution of linguistic resources to multilingual students in a primary school in the Netherlands. Drawing on an ethnographic study of a regular, multicultural classroom, it describes patterns of attribution emerging from observations of classroom activities and interviews with the teacher. Its focus is on the…

Describes activities which allow students of English as a second language to practice conditional sentences. The activities are designed to (1) guide the students' use of language so that three types of conditional sentences are elicited and practiced to encourage a high level of student participation and (2) be fun. (SED)

Presents a writing mini-lesson for primary and intermediate elementary school students that encourages them to spend more time on verbs and less time on details in order to improve their overall writing. A sidebar provides a list of useful children's books. (SM)

Argues that the teaching of grammar supplements learners' natural tendency to formulate and test hypotheses about the language. Complicated linguistic analyses can impede this process. Pedagogical grammar can be made less formal by keeping the analysis and metalanguage to the minimum. (36 references) (Author/CK)

Offers a group approach method to learning new structures in German. Students practice one pattern by constructing sentences in a simple, mildly competitive board game that can easily be put together by the teacher. (GLR)

Emphasizes that traditional textbook explanations of the preterite and imperfect tend to focus on their aspectual differences. The article argues that a comprehensive analysis of the interaction of these two tenses in narration must go beyond aspect to include their respective temporal and discourse properties. (30 references) (Author/CK)

Presents tips for teaching English-as-a-Second-Language students. Suggestions, complete with information on materials required, include preparing dialogs, poems on feelings, and sentences that grow. (LB)

Describes a device or "game" using 3x5 cards to divide sentences in such a way as to guide the language learner to anticipate grammatical structures; to make him aware that grammar, as well as vocabulary, conveys meaning. (EJS)

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects on college students of audiotaping classroom assignments. As part of their course requirements, students were asked to submit both a hard copy of their work plus an audiotape containing their assignments. During a 3-year period, 231 undergraduate education majors enrolled in 12 courses at 3…

Three activities used with first-year French students are described: (1) drawing pictures by following directions which demonstrates knowledge of subjects and prepositions, (2) reading a poem in French and rewriting it in French prose, and (3) learning numbers through role-plays involving money. (PMJ)