Why I Don’t Give Study Guides (and What I Do Instead)

Back in the day, I vaguely remember the night before a test (or the thirty minutes prior somewhere near the classroom), eyes furiously scanning over a single note card or a well-handled stack of papers, trying to cram every detail I could into my mind just to regurgitate it on the test and never have…

Jenga | Review Activity

An example of review activity I like to play is Jenga. Students focus on the game primarily while also engaging in being asked and answering questions of their own design covering past units.  Materials:   List of questions Jenga set Procedures: Before playing, have students write as many questions related to a unit from the…

How I Design My Assessments

Maybe some of this is pretty obvious, especially to more seasoned teachers, but a recent request from a colleague sparked a personal reflection into how I approach my test design. This is the first semester with a new book for the academic English class at my university. As a result, this semester all the professors…

Teaching Practical Skills | Bonus: Context Clues Activity

It's been quite a few months since I have updated this thing! Life gets busy and sometimes we get into reflection slumps (or is this just me?)- which are just as frustrating as reading slumps are to readers. I feel I am slowly coming out of this slump and ready to start exploring my teaching (and sharing…

Reading Quiz Challenge! Activity | Four Skills

Normally, reading is a somewhat solitary activity. Students may answer comprehension questions from a book or teacher about the contents of the reading. They may also encounter it again on the test, but this is usually about it. I love reading and as a teacher, I want to make it more fun and interactive for…

How Much of the Class is My Fault?

I walk into the classroom, bag over my shoulder with my papers,  book, and pen. A genuine smile adorns my face. I love doing what I do. After summoning the energy like a Japanese animation character powering up his energy attack (yes, I'm that kind of girl), I am ready to greet my students. "Hello!"…

Less Talk, More Action.

I have been listening to this podcast called Masters of TESOL since it was introduced to me last week. It has great quality, thought-provoking guest interviews on real topics that would interest any EFL teacher or linguist. In episode six, Stephen van Vlack speaks on teaching language through brain-based approaches that take into consideration how the human brain learns…

I Asked My South Korean Students How To Study, And…

...their answers were not at all what I expected. South Korean students are some of the hardest working, if not the hardest working, group of students in the world. They are known for their hours of dedication to their studies, often spending more time with teachers and books than with their family on any given…

LMS: Schoology

Learning Management Systems, or LMS, have really come a long way and the developers behind them are always listening and improving them. A lot of them are free for both teachers and students, have accompanying apps to complement the web-based site, and help extend the classroom into a virtual space. Last year, I experimenting by…

Basic English Writing Structure | Lesson Tip

Writing is an expression of our thoughts, and our thoughts are highly influenced by our culture. Naturally, my Korean university students have been deeply entrenched in Korean culture and think in a very different way than I have been accustomed to. This makes teaching writing a little more difficult. All kids growing up in America…