Provides fun ideas for filling in time gaps in the English-as-a-foreign language classroom. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the use of humor in the English-as-a-Foreign-Language classroom. Suggests that when student laugh they learn better. Highlights ways to make learning activities fun and provides a humor questionnaire. (Author/VWL)

Provides ways teachers can help English-as-a-Second-Language students connect the acquisition of English to tasks or activities related to their daily lives. Specific activities are described. (Author/VWL)

Discusses classroom activities that increase reading speed. The activities are designed to increase second language learners' reading rates to a satisfactory level, so students are successful in academic reading tasks. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the observation web, a technique used to reflect on activities that are used in the English-as-foreign-language classroom. The observation web is divided into 8 sections, each of which corresponds to a certain feature of an activity used in the lesson: linguistic, cognitive, progressive, informative, teacher-centered, student-centered,…

Explores a way to use gossip in the language classroom to provide language fluency practice. Shows how certain interpersonal exchanges can be encouraged by exploiting the natural proclivity for talking about people. Activities stress social aspects of learning and are intended to provide learners with opportunities to talk and listen. (Author/VWL)

Discusses why giving a course depth through storytelling is important. Describes ways to help teachers deepen the impact of storytelling through language and thinking activities that include shadowing, summarizing, student retelling, action logging, and newslettering. Shares one "split" story and student reactions to it as a way of exemplifying…

Presents a rationale for utilizing trivia to teach conversation. Shows how trivia-based materials fit into communicative language teaching approaches and provides examples of trivia-based activities and explains how to use them in the classroom. (Author/VWL)

This is the last article in a four-part series on issues that help define or promote a civil society. This article looks specifically at the issue of consensus and seeks to answer the following question: How can a diverse group act constructively to make unified decisions? Describes activities that teach the basic concepts and skills of consensus…

Discusses alternative assessment in the language classroom, provides examples of seven cooperative assessment activities: correcting individual quizzes and homework, observing students at work, interviews, peer composition, oral presentations, group projects, and group processing. (Author/VWL)

Discusses reasons for teaching international business ethics and suggests several classroom applications. (Author/VWL)

Describes how the mini-saga, which has exactly 50 words, can be used effectively in the English-as-a-Foreign-Language class in a variety of ways. The mini-sage can be used with children, as well as with adult beginners. (Author/VWL)

Discusses how warm-up activities can help to make the English-as-a-foreign-language classroom a lively and interesting place. Warm-up activities are games carried out at the beginning of each class to motivate students to make good use of class time. (Author/VWL)

Suggests that classroom activities that emphasize interaction help students to use language. Interaction allows students to practice being effective speakers by developing two needed sets of skills: managing an interaction and negotiating meaning. Provides examples of problem solving activities for use in the language classroom. (Author/VWL)

Describes a film poster-based activity that is designed to help students in the English-as-a-foreign-language classroom understand new vocabulary and raise their awareness of both the position of words in the structure of a sentence and their grammatical patterns and combinations. (Author/VWL)