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To wrap up 2022, I’d like to share a few professional development opportunities with upcoming deadlines that may be of interest. Two are for English Language educators and one is for geography teachers. They’re listed in order of application deadline. Also, I hope you all enjoy a relaxing and rejuvenating
The first time I encountered a land acknowledgment was in the closing credits of Mystery Road, an Australian TV show. It said the show was filmed on the lands of three Indigenous Australian communities and the producers thanked the traditional owners. The next time I heard of this practice was
I was at a Halloween party this afternoon and we did a trivia game about the holiday. I decided to adapt it into a fun Halloween activity you can do with your students. This free resource includes 15 questions about Halloween in 2 versions. The first version includes all the
Probably the most common reason students are absent from school is illness. For English Learners, observing religious holidays, going on family vacations, and visiting sick relatives also rank high on the list of why students are absent. There are other reasons students miss school, such as difficult family circumstances, but
There are loads of acronyms about ESL and ELLs and teaching English to students. So as most American students head back to school over the next several weeks, I’d like to offer a list of 40 common acronyms in English language teaching used in the United States. It’ll be particularly
After another year of teaching during the Covid pandemic, it’s understandable that teachers are tired. Combined with the economic downturn, school shootings, and political polarization, it’s no wonder teachers need a break this summer more than ever. This blog post offers recommendations for some TV shows for summer that are
(This post was updated June 9, 2026) Are you looking for ways to support Ukraine and the Ukrainian people? The whole world knows now that Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukrainians are fighting valiantly to resist and preserve their sovereignty. A week after this unprovoked war began, the Ukrainian people’s resolve and
A little more than a year ago, I wrote a blog post about gifts from various charitable organizations that teachers can use when teaching Social Studies. One of the organizations I described was Postcards from Timbuktu and I mentioned that I was going to buy a few items from them.
Making learning fun is more than just playing games in your classroom. Although, playing games has its place and there are many educational games that teach content. At the end of this blog post, I’ll share some of the games I especially like. But what I am primarily focusing on
How can you get your English language Learners to talk more in your classes? While that may seem counterproductive since it’s more common for teachers to want their students to talk less, with ELLs it’s often the opposite. ELLs frequently sit silently in mainstream classes, rarely raising their hands to
Making friends isn’t easy. I know – I attended a different high school every year for 10th, 11th, and 12 grade. Making friends is even harder when you’re trying to communicate in a foreign language. I know – I was an exchange student to Sweden my senior year and went
(This post was updated July 27, 2025) Now that school has been in session for at least a few weeks in the US, or if you are about to go back to school, you or your colleagues may have some questions about working with the English Language Learners in your
