How to contribute an article to Hands-on English:

Help! We need you!

Do you have an ESL teaching activity or an idea you'd like to share with our readers? We welcome contributions from teachers and tutors out in the field!

Level
Our readers are working with all levels of adult ESL students, from pre-literacy to beginner through advanced. Many of our readers are teaching multi-level classes, so activities that are designed for multi-level or that can easily be adapted to different levels are greatly appreciated.

Recently, many of our readers have contacted us to say they have more beginning students than they are used to, so there is a need right now especially for ideas/approaches/activities that work well with beginners.

Content
Issues and topics that affect the adult new immigrant (jobs, citizenship, culture, current events, for example) are always of interest as the basis of classroom activities.

For Hands-on English articles, we are primarily interested in ready-to-use language learning activities. Conversation exercises, cultural activities, games, grammar lessons, pronunciation tips, puzzles and vocabulary builders are all useful to our readers. The best kinds of activities seem to be those that require students to use several skills in the same activity; for example listening/speaking/writing. Explanations to the instructor about techniques or rationale are appropriate, but we prefer these to be as non-technical (jargon-free) as possible since our readers include volunteer teachers and many who are new to the field.

Academic work such as college-prep reading and writing exercises are not really appropriate for Hands-on English. Our focus is more towards the survival or everyday use aspect of English.

Format
The best way to present your teaching idea is in a step-by-step format so that teachers will be able to try it out for themselves. Our articles are usually 650 to 700 words, although photos, drawings and worksheets can also be attached. Shorter contributions, such as hints & tips, are also welcome.

We welcome submissions by email or by postal mail (P.O. Box 256, Crete, NE 68333 USA) either in written form or as a computer file (any format).

Selection
Hands-on English is not a refereed journal. All selections are made at the discretion of the editor. We select articles based on their usefulness to our readers, and are happy to work together with authors to edit, clarify and present their material in the best way possible.

Credits
We always credit the author of an article by name and location, and will include your school affiliation if you wish. Hands-on English retains the copyright to the article, in order to make it easier for us to reprint it at some future date, however the article is still yours and your name will always be attached to that work. We do not pay for articles--glory, honor and the satisfaction of helping your fellow teachers are the only rewards.

If you have any further questions, or would like to discuss an idea for an article, please feel free to send the editor (Anna Silliman) an email: Thank you!

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