Teaching Tips and Resources

DISCLAIMER: Resources on this page are as received, and TESOLANZ takes no responsibility for their description or usefulness.

Resources from Workshops

Resources from workshop by Wendy Larsen, English as an International Language Program, Brigham Young University-Hawaii

Tips from the Newsletter

Since 1997, "Teaching Tips" has been a popular section of the TESOLANZ Newsletter. These tips are now being collected and indexed so that members can find a wide range of communicative activities and warmers. You can click on the activity to find the page from the relevant edition.

You can also download the Index here as a Word document so you can sort it yourself to help find specific items.

Name	Focus	Type	Level	Month	Year
A What?	Pronunciation	W		March	1997
Back to the Board	Vocab	C		December	1997
Buttons for Stimulating Speech	Speaking	C		November	2001
Childhood Memories	Vocabulary / Speaking	W		March	1997
Communication Problems	Speaking	W		March	1997
Communicative Grammar Practice	Grammar	C		April	2002
Concordancer	Vocabulary	C		November	2001
Conversation (Towards Conversation)	Discussion	C		July	1997
Co-operative Activities (Vocabulary )	Vocabulary	C		November	2005
Dictations: Correction	Proofreading	C		April	2002
Dictations: Focus on Forms	Grammar	C	Lower	April	2002
Dictations: Pre-Dictation Activities	Listening / Grammar	C	Lower	April	2002
Dictations: Sentences / Whole Sentences (running dictations)	Listening / Writing	C		April	2002
Dictations: Whole Passage Prep	Reading	C	Lower	April	2002
Dictations: Word / Phrase based	Vocabulary /Grammar	C		April	2002
Draw a Word	Vocabulary	W		March	1997
Eliciting Game	Vocabulary	C		December	1997
Gapfill	Vocabulary	C		December	1997
Gift of the Gab	Speaking	W		March	1997
Giving Directions	Discussion	C		November	2005
Graded Readers	Reading			April	2003
How was your Weekend?	Vocabulary / Speaking	W		March	1997
I have ...who has?	Vocabulary	C		November	2005
Index cards	Vocabulary	W		July	1997
Last Letter (cards, ball)	Vocabulary	C		July	1997
Line Up	Sorting / -est	W		March	1997
Logical Puzzles: Family Tree	Discussion	C		November	2005
Logical Puzzles: How old is Each Person?	Discussion	C		November	2005
Lying continuously	Speaking	W		March	1997
Making Sentences	Vocabulary	C		December	1997
Memory Dialogue	Reading / Discussion	C	Lower	July	1997
Modifying a Story	Vocabulary	C		December	1997
Newspaper	Reading / Writing	C		April	2002
Newspaper	Speaking	C	Post Beg	April	2002
Newspaper	Reading	C		November	2001
Passing Go	Vocabulary	C		December	1997
Pictionary	Vocabulary	C		December	1997
Picture Discussion (newspaper)	Discussion	C	Lower	November	2005
Random Observations – Great teaching tips and ones to avoid	Teaching	N/A	All	November	2002
Scattergories	Vocabulary	C		December	1997
Sold!	Speaking	W		March	1997
Sorting into Groups	Grammar	C		April	2002
Spelling Warmer	Spelling	W		March	1997
Split Narrative	Discussion	C		November	2005
Three Level Reading Guide	Reading	C		November	2002
Three, two, one, go! (cards)	Vocabulary (numbers)	C	Beg-low Int	July	1997
Topical Journals	Writing			April	2003
Vanishing Dialogues	Speaking			April	2003
Word Association	Vocabulary	C		December	1997

Type

C = Communicative Activity
W = Warmer or quick activity

Level

Only stated if given by the writer.

Beg(inner)
Elem(entary)
PI (Pre-Intermediate)
Int(ermediate)
Adv(anced)

"Weather or Not"excerpts reproduced by generous permission of the author, Yvonne Hynson

Lesson Material and Teaching Ideas submitted in support of Christchurch teachers after the Earthquake

Just in case you are not familiar with this book it follows high frequency vocabulary for each month in New Zealand and recycles them in discussions, readings and cultural exchange activities. I usually give out the vocab at the beginning of each month. I use Find Someone who.... In three different ways, as you can see at the bottom of the page, and use surveys for Pre Int or Int students who teach all the students in the school the vocab. (When I worked in private schools this was possible more but constraints in syllabus at Unitec prevent this now.) I found the gap between Upper Int/Beginner ss, who wanted to know about the new vocab and have it explained to them, created a true communicative activity. I also made lower levels match the vocab on FSW pp to the words in the questions and drilled questions, short answers and used them to teach/drill the short answers to who. I copy each month of vocabulary, cut up into 4x 5 pictures but cut up all the meanings. Groups compete to match the meaning to the vocab. I keep one set with everything cut up: -Find your partner - give half meanings and half pictures. -Ss categorise the pictures into food, weather etc -Give out only the pictures and each student exchanges 10x repeating the pronunciation correctly for the new partner. They also practise, "Here you are!" "Thanks!" -Play happy families (DUET) as there are only two cards. Have you got the meaning for ......, have you got the word that means...... -Play memory game with cards face down to practise speculation and gambits of bad and good luck. Holidays and special days I have been using with Elementary at Unitec for the last three semesters to revise and extend the present tense. It is probably one of the most successful discussion activities in the book which I have used at all levels. The Weather game I have used with all levels and use coloured paper clips for counters. I'm afraid you are missing all the beautiful photos which could be used for creative writing practice and the units related to them. If you want them I can convert them. I have included Students answers for the teachers who are not from NZ or are not that familiar with NZ culture. Hope this helps. I still use them and they haven't dated that much yet. Cheers Yvonne Hynson	Weather_game_p.1 Weather_game_pg2 January February February Vocab March March Vocab April April Vocab May May Vocab June June Vocab July July Vocab August August Vocab September September Vocab October October Vocab November November Vocab December December Vocab Student B Pages
HATS (Speaking, Pre-Int up)	Running dictation (Any age or level)
Story Telling (any level)	Hols&Photos+FSW
Throw Away your Dictionary is an intensive reading skills book for Post Beginner - High Elementary+. It is New Zealand content teaching reading strategies for guessing unknown words in context. From author Yvonne Hynson. (Warning - 4.5Mb - whole book!)	Throw Away Your Dictionary
Student-generated Taboo (Any age or level)	Dictation Q's level A2 and up