Occasionally
we hear from our readers with an interesting story or some good ideas
about how they used these lessons with their students.We pass these
along to you for inspiration!Occasionally
we hear from our readers with an interesting story or some good ideas
about how they used these lessons with their students.We pass these
along to you for inspiration!
March 17, 2001--Tax lesson useful in Family Literacy class
"Thank
you for providing such a simple, useful lesson. My Family Literacy
class, which includes ABE/GED and ESL students, worked through it
yesterday. I'd like to comment that while I've always appreciated
Hands-on English for ESL learners, I never before used it with such a
diverse class. I think the reason it fit so well with this particular
class is that we usually do whole and small group work around current
events issues (usually newspaper), math and graphs, and family
issues. Many learners are currently focused on Social Studies, too.
This lesson covered them all in language simple enough for everyone
to tackle.
"I
think we need more, more, more materials like this for low level ESL
and ABE learners. Having such lessons on the web in this format is an
added bonus."
Thanks
again, --Lora Zangari, Lancaster, PA
March 16, 2001--Tax lesson follow up!
"As
a culminating activity for intermediate to high level students, I ask
the students to form groups, 3 or 4 students per group. Each group
has the task of:
1. deciding which level of government they want to be (federal,
state, or local),
2. creating a new project that is needed on that level,
3. creating a new funding source to pay for it, ie, a new tax,
and
4. explaining its idea to the class and responding to questions
objecting to the proposal.
"One
of my favorite responses was the group that decided that a new jail
was needed and that the prisoners would have to pay room and board
while incarcerated."
--Marilyn
Kwitkin, Plainview, NY
August 22, 2000--Students as
judges!
Here's an idea for a follow-up activity on the
Olympics
theme:
"I
videotape and show the short program for ice skating (winter) and
gymnastics (summer) for 3 or 4 performances. We then have a
discussion using comparisons and superlatives to discuss various
aspects of a performance; i.e., costume, number of tricks, tumbles,
etc. Students rate these and then compare their scores to the actual
judging.
"This
year, ballroom dancing will be an event and this lends itself to this
activity very well."
--Marilyn
Kwitkin, Plainview, NY
August 11, 2000--Amazing coincidence!
"Our
church offers free conversation groups during the summer and I used
your Olympic Torch Relay
activity last night. It was a wonderful
topic - our students are extremely diverse, usually I have no two
from the same country, though several may speak Russian or Spanish,
but it was wonderful because they all could connect with this topic
and everyone could 'take part.' :)
"The
reading material was good - not too difficult and yet interesting. My
students really enjoyed talking about the motto and creed and
expressing different opinions on whether they were true or not.
"Probably
the most interesting part of the evening came when I asked each to
share who their favorite athlete was. My Tajikistan student began to
share that she had a neighbor who became a gymnast and won a gold
medal for their country. Then my Chinese student shared that she,
too, had a neighbor who had won China's very first gold medal for
diving in 1984. There were 8 of us in the class, and though none of
us had ever been to an Olympic game, two of us had neighbors who'd
won a gold medal. We all thought this was remarkable!
"Thanks
so much for the fantastic idea!"
--Tiffany
Mathias in Reston, VA
If
you have stories or experiences to share, please feel free to send
the editor an email: 
Thank you!
Go back to current events page.
Go
back to Hands-on English home page!