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While many people think of poetry as something that is difficult and would be hard for non-native speakers, Alan provided some excellent exercises to show how even low-level learners of English can easily get into L2 creativity through simple poetry exercises. In this way, they can express emotions and incidents from their own lives in simple English which helps them to gain a better understanding of the communication resources at their disposal as well as providing strong motivation for further study. Below, I have described his exercises with my own simple poetry examples.

The idiom dictionary is compiled from the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms and the Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. The Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms explains over 7,000 idioms current in British, American and Australian English, helping learners to understand them and use them with confidence. The Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms, based on the 200 million words of American English text in the Cambridge International Corpus, unlocks the meaning of more than 5,000 idiomatic phrases used in contemporary American English. Full-sentence examples show how idioms are really used.

Many language learners have a problem learning the prepositions associated with references to year, month, date and hour. The following activity is based on the explanation of prepositions of place provided in A University Grammar of English, as represented by the diagram.

When it comes to teaching vocabulary, one challenge is knowing which words and phrases to teach. There are several areas that should always be included in vocabulary instruction. In addition to single words, idioms: (time on my hands, getting cold feet) and phrasal verbs (get in, go out).  It's especially important for students to learn idioms, phrasal verbs, because there's no logical way to figure out their meaning from the individual words. Also keep in mind that reading is a channel for new vocabulary growth, so always include vocabulary exercises whenever you assign new reading material. It's also a good idea to have students keep a vocabulary notebook. The notebook could be organized into sections for words from novels, selected readings, or news articles, as well as vocabulary they've encountered at random. However the vocabulary books are organized, make sure everyone has the same plan. In this section there are several good strategies you can use for teaching vocabulary. There are also activities you can try with your students to increase their knowledge of English vocabulary.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE  or THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Audiobook read by Ethan Hawke. --- The work is also known under the lengthy title: Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty Dance with Death, by Kurt Vonnegut, a Fourth-Generation German-American Now Living in Easy Circumstances on Cape Cod [and Smoking Too Much], Who, as an American Infantry Scout Hors de Combat, as a Prisoner of War, Witnessed the Fire Bombing of Dresden, Germany, 'The Florence of the Elbe,' a Long Time Ago, and Survived to Tell the Tale. This Is a Novel Somewhat in the Telegraphic Schizophrenic Manner of Tales of the Planet Tralfamadore, Where the Flying Saucers Come From. Peace.

Learning styles of students and teachers affect both how students learn and teachers teach. I based my research on Kolb's learning styles study, with a learning index evaluation by Solomon and Felder. What was found is how different individuals learn information. Original doc file here: http://www.redrockdata.com/matportfolio/files/Learning%20styles%20reflective%20essay.doc

A powerpoint presentation I did for a university assessment for my education paper.

In high school, I rarely studied. Despite that, I graduated second in my class. In university, I generally studied less than an hour or two before major exams. However, over four years, my GPA always sat between an A and an A+. Recently I had to write a law exam worth 100% of my final grade. Unfortunately, I was out of the country and didn't get back by plane until late Sunday night. I had to write the test at 9 am Monday morning. I got an A after just one hour of review on the plane. The fact is most of my feats are relatively mundane. I've had a chance to meet polyglots who speak 8 languages, people who have mastered triple course loads and students who went from C or B averages to straight A+ grades while studying less than before.

Reading from a textbook isn't the only way to learn a foreign language. The web offers a number of free tools that can be used to enhance the learning experience inside and outside the classroom. Here are 15 language learning tools to try today.

Victor turned on his computer. White letters appeared near the bottom of the black screen: "Resuming Windows." Victor wondered how long it was going to take this time. Five minutes later, the light blue screen appeared: "To begin, click your user name." He clicked on his name. Then he filled a pot with water to make some fresh coffee. He returned to his computer. The desktop icons had still not appeared. Victor went into his bedroom, took the sheet off the bed and the pillowcases off the pillows, and threw them all into the clothes basket on the floor. He vacuumed his bedroom, and then returned to his computer. A few minutes later, the desktop appeared, with about 40 icons on it. He liked how colorful they were. He clicked on his Word icon. Then he went into the bathroom and shaved. He came back out to the dining room, made himself a cup of coffee, and sat down. Word opened, a full half hour after Victor had turned his computer on. Victor typed his first name into the document. For about ten seconds, the screen was totally blank. Then "Victor" slowly appeared, one ... letter ... after ... another.

Gordon was hungry. He opened the refrigerator. There must be something in here to eat, he thought. There was-a single hot dog. He took it out of its package and put a small frying pan onto the stove's gas burner. He turned on the heat. Then he poured a little bit of vegetable oil into the pan. He sliced the hot dog in half lengthwise. When the oil got hot, he put the two halves in the pan. About a minute later, he flipped each half over. After another minute, he took the hot dog out of the pan. Gordon put two slices of bread into the toaster. This was tasty and healthy bread. The first ingredient listed was organic sprouted wheat. The first ingredient in ordinary bread is usually unbleached flour. When the toast popped up, he put mustard, mayonnaise, and ketchup on one slice. Then he added two slices of onion. On top of the onions, he placed the hot dog. On top of the hot dog, he put a couple of slices of apple. Then he added some bits of hot green chile, and then put the top piece of toast onto the chile bits. Ahh, what a sandwich, he thought, as he sat down to eat.

It was noon on Friday. Friday was wash day, Kerry's least favorite day. Doing the wash was such a pain. He had to gather together all the dirty clothes. He had to turn the shirts and slacks inside out to save wear and tear on the outside of the shirts and slacks. He had to empty all the junk out of all the pockets of his clothes. Then he had to find quarters for each load of wash-four for the washer and three for the dryer. It'd be so nice to have a weekly maid, like his downstairs neighbor. Kerry piled all his clothes into the laundry basket and went downstairs. He was relieved to hear silence as he approached the laundry room; no one was using the machines. He put laundry soap and quarters into the washer, and set it at Warm Temperature and Regular Wash. A few minutes later, it was full of soapy water. He stuffed in half of the dirty clothes. This was going to be a two-load day. He placed the half-full basket on top of the churning washer. He shut the laundry room door and walked back upstairs. He set his electronic timer to 35 minutes. When the washer was done, he'd reload it and put the first load into the dryer. He sat down and opened the newspaper to the California section: "Truck Runs Over Crossing Guard," said the headline.

It was a strange day-Thursday-for a wedding. Who ever heard of a Thursday wedding? "Well," Harlan explained to everyone, "the Thursday event is going to cost me half of what Friday, Saturday, or Sunday would cost me. And a 50-percent discount is a lot of money, believe me." Everyone believed him. Harlan knew how to count his pennies. The early evening event was at Cowfish, a popular restaurant and meeting place on campus. Nevin and Janelle arrived at 5 p.m. for pictures, but the photographer had been delayed on the freeway because someone had jumped off an overpass. So they decided to take a stroll on campus. Walking westward, they soon found a fish pond. About a dozen small turtles were swimming in the eastern end of the pond. As Janelle kneeled at water's edge, all the turtles swam toward her. A couple of them climbed out of the water and onto the footpath. They wanted food, but a sign advised visitors not to feed the fish or turtles. So she apologized to the turtles-not that she had any turtle food anyway, she added. Nevin and Janelle took pictures of themselves and the turtles. They walked back to Cowfish just before the ceremony was to begin. Some of the preacher's words were unclear because of static on the portable microphone. After the preacher pronounced Harlan and Ellen husband and wife, guests clapped and cheered. The photographer, who had gotten "some great pictures" of the fallen body, busily took pictures of the bride and groom, the preacher, the parents, and the guests. After their meal, Nevin and Janelle said good night to the newly married couple. This was the fourth marriage for Harlan, so everyone was hoping it would be his last. Then Nevin and Janelle walked out to their car, holding hands and talking about what would be the same and what would be different at their own wedding. That is, if they didn't decide to just drive to Las Vegas for a quick marriage, with Elvis performing at their ceremony. "That way, our only