Group items tagged

These topics encourage students to finish the story, think creatively, and have fun!

Writing Prompts/Journal Topics

Approved Regents' Test Essay Topics

"Politeness in the classroom is one of the topics that seem almost too obvious to mention; of course, people will be polite in a classroom, just as they're polite in a place of worship or at a job interview. But, the classroom is a bit different; it has its own rules of politeness. And, to complicate matters just a bit, these rules are modified in various ways by different institutions and by different instructors."

"As the cyclical and seemingly never ending debate about education rages on, the topic - somewhat ironically, often poses more questions than it provides answers. But what is the value of mainstream schooling? Why is it that some of the most high profile and successful figures within the Western world openly admit to never having completed any form of higher learning? Paying homage to Jefferson Bethke's "Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus", a piece that received 22 million views in the space of a week, I address a number of these issues in my offering "Why I Hate School, but Love Education". With scores of school leavers wanting to further their education with no guarantee of their dream job at the end of it, we should ask ourselves whether qualifications still hold the same value now as they did in previous years? Does success in the school system correlate to success in life? Or is the school system simply geared towards fact retention and regurgitation? What is true education? @sulibreaks universityofsulibreaks.tumblr.com Director: @KevinNgongo www.youtube.com/kevinngongo Graphics: www.mikegallardodesigns.com Music: Sunshine: Surface Of The Sun - John Murphy - Adagio in D Minor"

"We could all use a crash course in personal finance. Two-thirds of people around the world failed a short test of basic financial concepts. The five-question test-created by Standard & Poor's, Gallup, the World Bank, and George Washington University-was posed to 150,000 people in more than 140 countries last year. It tests understanding of risk, inflation, interest, and compound interest. To pass, people had to demonstrate competency in three out of four topics. Yet just 33% of people were able to do that. See how you fare on this slightly modified version of the quiz. After each question, we'll tell you how various countries did on it, too."

Since my self improvement articles are normally pretty long, I thought I'd create a section for shorter articles on various topics. These articles may or may not be directed related to motivation but hopefully you will find some use out of them. Enjoy.

Studyhub is our online resource library. It lists a range of SLSS web pages that offer tips on topics relating to academic writing, study skills, grammar, maths and others. Visit the different sites for further details. Alternatively, download the relevant SLSS handouts directly from SLSS Study Resources.

Google Forms is a great tool and I hope to use it more throughout this year. Take a look here for a more detailed introduction and guide to using and creating a Google Form - this was written prior to Google bringing forms into the NEW menu. I have created example forms for each of the different topics, follow the links in each of the ten sections. With help from a Googler I have included a link so that you can get your own copy of the form - click on the appropriate link and it should open in your docs home.

Topic: Group Work Level: Intermediate, Advanced, Age: Adults Skill: Speaking, Description: Small group discussions based on difficult situations.

The increasing popularity of social networking sites and mobile phone texting have presented society with problems in how to protect children online. More and more youngsters are becoming victims of Internet predators and bullies. Parents are finding it more difficult to ensure their kids are safe online. Gone are the days when Mum and Dad could keep an eye on their child's surfing with parental controls on the family computer. Today's new mobile and networked world poses new and dangerous threats to online kids. Two recent initiatives aim to teach children about cyber-safety. Internet safety will soon be taught in UAE schools, while in Indiana, USA, parents will attend an Internet Social Networking conference. The UAE has launched a nationwide programme aimed at educating students on how to use the Internet safely and avoid suspicious websites. Spokesman Jay Bavisi said: "Advances in instant communication media, including the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and other instant messaging services, drive the very fabric of our modern society. Parents, siblings, teachers and children alike will need to understand the dangers the connected world presents." The Indiana conference will explore topics like cyber-bullying, sexting and online child exploitation. Local attorney Steven DeBrota said: "The number one way to keep a kid safe is for them to be skeptical. If they do not believe automatically what people tell them, they will be safer."

1. Kids get into groups and are given a stack of pictures into which I have put pictures from each of the above category. I usually put around 15-20 in each stack. When we do nouns.... I will place big signs on the board with "common" "proper" "abstract" "concrete" "plural" and any others we are studying. Their group has to go through their stack and find one to correspond with each topic AND they have to have a justification for each. 2. When I do prepositions, I give each student a situation picture and have them list as many preps. as they can find in each picture. I give a prize for the most found. 3. When we study characterization, I give each student one picture from the "people" envelope and have them write a brief character sketch based on what they perceive. 4. When I do verbs, I will give each row ONE picture. I tell the students in the first seat of each row to take out one piece of paper. When I say "GO", the first person looks at his picture and comes up with one action verb. Then very quickly writes it down and passes it back. The next person has to write down another action verb and pass it back to the next. It just keeps going. The person in the back runs the picture up to the front person. I usually start another picture back as soon as the first person passes it to the next. In about 4-5 minutes, I stop and the row with the most and the most accurate verb list gets a prize or pig points. 5. When we do short stories, I give each person an envelope in which I have put 2-3 people (characters), 1 place picture (setting) and 1 picture from the situational. After we have discussed the "elements",they begin to write their own short story based on what they have in front of them. 6. When I teach a vocabulary word that is a little more difficult, I always go to my stack to find one that illustrates it. For example, I found a perfect picture of a clear blue lake with not one ripple to show them "placid". They never forgot that word. 7.

Focus on Speaking/Writing:          This is for students at beginning and intermediate levels. The objective is to practice asking and answering questions. Each student needs one picture. (Pictures of people from various ethnic, economic, age, and gender groups are particular]y useful. Fashion catalogs are good sources of such pictures.) The procedure is as follows: First, as a class, have the students generate a list of interview questions. Write them on the board. Then distribute the pictures to the students. Tell them they will become the person in their picture. The students must create a biography for that person. Give the students time to think. Next, divide the students into pairs. Tell them to take turns interviewing each other, using the questions generated earlier. Students should give answers based on the identities they created for the person in their picture. As a follow-up, students can write a one-paragraph biography of their person. Focus on Grammar: This works well with intermediate-level students. The objective is to practice using comparatives and superlatives. The materials needed are sets of pictures--one set per student--which show similar objects; e.g.,a set that shows different kinds of shoes, a set that shows different kinds of hats, or watches, or cars, etc. The directions for the activity are: Give one set of pictures to each student. Tell students they should use comparatives and superlatives (which have been taught prior to doing this activity) to describe the objects in their pictures. They should write as many sentences as possible. When students have finished writing, they should form small groups and read their sentences to each other. 'They should check for errors, both spoken and written, and discuss whether they agree or disagree with the statements made about the objects in the pictures. This activity also lends itself to a discussion of culture--for example, if the pictures present items of clothing, teachers can

For five weeks in January-February, participants and ESOL experts can engage in collaborative, online discussion or hands-on virtual workshops of professional and scholarly benefit. These sessions will bring together participants for a longer period of time than is permitted by the four-day convention and will allow a fuller development of ideas than is otherwise possible in convention sessions.   Sessions may be on any topic in ESL/EFL and are free and open to all interested parties.   Session leaders (moderators), who must be TESOL members, will receive hands-on training in online discussion management and the use of virtual rooms, and they may be asked to help train future session leaders.   Moderators need not have previous experience in online teaching. Co-moderation with several people is strongly recommended.   Sessions of EVO must be sponsored by an Interest Section, Forum, or other member group of TESOL.

Practical literacy skills for adults. Choose a topic area.

Overview of Course Themes and Topics Introduction: The Origins and early development of Comparative education 1. The Historical Approach 2. The Positivist Approach 3. Phenomenological, Ethnographic & Narrative Approaches 4. The Problem Approach 5. The Developmental Approach: Neo-Marxism, Dependency Theory and World Order thinking 6. Ideal Types in Comparative Education 7. Comparative Education and the Postmodern Challenge 8. Comparative Education and Globalization 9. International Organizations and Comparative Education 10. A Dialectical Paradigmatic Stance and Mixed Methods in Comparative Education 11. Data Collection and Classification in Comparative Education

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