This file contains a detailed description of every article from nearly 12 years of Hands-on English back issues! The index is long -- it's 240 pages (the file is 492K). Over 700 articles and activities are described from the past 69 issues (through Vol.12, No. 3). We plan to update this index at least annually at the completion of each volume.

What you can do with this:
Find teaching activities and articles from our back issues on specific topics you are looking for.You can search the file (using Acrobat's "Find..." feature) for items, topics, or keywords. We give you some search tips at the end of this page.

To use this file:
You will need a copy of the free Adobe Acrobat Reader already installed on your computer. (The newest version is 4.05.) This software is FREE. If you don't already have a copy, you can get one at Adobe's download site:

Online or offline
Depending on how your web browser is set up, you can either click on the file below to download it to your computer, or click on it to open now and browse online (you can then save it to your computer if you wish).

If you have Acrobat Reader installed, go ahead and click on the PDF file below to get the index. Have fun browsing!

HOE's long index

(This 492K file may take some time to open or download, depending on your connection speed.
The result is a 240-page document.)
Last update: September 13, 2002.
Includes issues through Vol. 12, No. 3.

If there's a certain article you are looking for in Hands-on English (you remember seeing it but can't remember what issue it's in), you can use Acrobat's "Find..." feature to search for a key word or phrase. For example, we once published an article of language teaching sequences about how to carve a jack o'lantern for Halloween. Where was this article? You could try searching for "pumpkin," or "Halloween," or "holiday" or even "sequences." Type in your word and keep searching through the document until you find that article.

Each record in the file looks like this:

Here are all of the possibilities you can search for:

• Heading -- These are our category headings. They include Citizenship, Conversation, Cartoon, Cultural activity, Editorial, ESL games, From the field, Grammar grab-bag, Group work, Hints & tips, Holiday activity, Idea file, Minigrants, Multi-level dictation, On the market, Online opportunities, Poetry, Pronunciation, Puzzle, Reading, Tools & techniques, Tutors, Video, Vocabulary and Writing. If you know you want a certain type of activity, such as puzzles, you could try a "find" with the heading name.
• Title -- The title of the article could include almost any terms.
• Description -- A sentence or two that tells you what the activity involves. Many key words like "pair" or "conversation" may turn up here.
• Key words -- We tried to include here any words an instructor might think of relating to this activity, like "ice-breaker" or "student-centered".
• Level -- These include: literacy, beginners, intermediate, advanced, multilevel or adapts to any level. If you are specifically looking for literacy activities, for example, you could try a search with this word. Multilevel activities might be found under "multilevel" or under "adapts to any level." (A spelling note: in some titles we spell multilevel as 'multi-level,' so you may want to try searching for both. Or look for 'multi' which covers both cases!)
• Best group size -- This includes one student, pairs, small groups, whole class or any.
• Time needed -- Class time for an activity could be 5-10 minutes, half hour, one session, multi-session or homework. So for example if you know you need a really short activity try searching for "5-10 minutes" and see what you find.
• Preparation -- This might say: little, average or extensive, if it applies.
• Includes -- If there was a worksheet with this activity, this field will say "Copyable handout". If not, it will be labelled n/a.
• Language purpose -- The main purpose for the activity could be: listening/speaking, reading/writing, grammar, pronunciation/fluency, vocabulary or all skills. If you do a search for "speaking" you may come up with a very large number of records. If you search for "listening/speaking" though, you may find those activities which are primarily focussed on oral skills.
• Other purpose -- This might include culture/history/current events, lifeskills, student confidence building, fun or academic skills.

Note that when you search, you are looking through all of these fields at the same time. This raises the possibility that you may find what you are looking for! For example, if you know you want to find more grammar activities for your students, try a search for the word "grammar." In some cases, this word will come up in the Heading of the article, or in the Description, if it is primarily a grammar exercise. But a good grammar lesson might be found in some other context (such as a game). In that case you may find the word "grammar" in the Key words section or perhaps as the Language purpose of the activity. You will probably find almost anything in our back issues that can be related to grammar instruction in this way. The same is true for content you might be looking for, such as "summer" or "citizenship."

We hope this sparks some ideas for you and will help get you started. Happy hunting! --the Editor.

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