Are you learning German? Do you want to learn German fast? More importantly, is it possible to do? We take a look.

This blog post features multiple grammar games designed for upper elementary students... and they are all FREE!

In this blog post, we’ll explore some other ways to suggest or offer something to someone Je suis en colère (I’M ANGRY), to help you get by in any situation.

Homophone anchor chart for upper elementary students! Students write the other spelling of the homophone on the FREE handout linked to this blog post!

By Presto Plans There is nothing better than a deep and thoughtful discussion or friendly classroom debate, but as we know things don’t always go as planned. In classroom discussions, I'm sure we have all been faced with both a sea of blank stares with no response as well as out-of-order chaos. Below are some of the activities you can use to strike a good balance, keep control, engage students, and break away from the traditional whole-class discussion. These activities allow for more reflection, interaction, and thoughtful expression. The silent discussion method allows everyone (even your most reluctant students) to share their ideas. It gives time for students to reflect on their own thoughts as well as learn about the perspective of others before sharing out loud. - Develop a variety of discussion questions related to what you are teaching. Write them or project them on the board. If you have 25 students, you’ll probably want at least 12 questions. - Number students off and have them write the discussion question connected to their number on a piece of paper, or you can use this free template: Silent Discussion Template - Students respond to the question they wrote with their own opinion. When they are done, they get up, circulate the room at their own pace, and find an available seat with a new discussion question. - Students read the new question, the responses already made to it, and add their own thoughts to the “discussion” in writing. - This continues for as long as you like. When you are done, you can have a whole-class open discussion on all of the topics, or put students into small groups to discuss. If you want to read about how I use this method in more detail you can read this blog post I wrote: SILENT DISCUSSIONS If you have a class that doesn’t engage well in discussion or debate, ethical dilemmas or what if? prompts are the perfect way to bring out their opinions. - Ethical dilemmas are situations where a person has to make a choice based on a moral situation. What If? prompts are situations where a person has to consider how they would react if something in their life or the word were different in some way. - These prompts can be used in a variety of ways. I use them as a weekly bell-ringer to spark a short discussion in small groups at the start of class. Although discussions are not always used to start a class, I find it a great way to warm up student brains for the lesson ahead. Gallery discussions are an effective way to get students out of their seats and collaborating in small groups. All you need are a few pieces of chart paper, some markers, and 5-6 discussion prompts. - Create 5-6 discussion questions about the content you are studying and write them on a piece of chart paper. Hang them around the classroom in stations. - Put students into small groups and have them elect a scribe. - Students circulate to each of the stations for a specified amount of time. - Have each group elect a speaker. This person will share with the whole class the topic that brought out the most discussion for them and what their thoughts were on it. This method is useful for tackling controversial topics and helping your students prepare for a debate or persuasive writing. - Put up 4 signs around your classroom that read Strongly Agree / Agree / Disagree / Strongly Disagree - Make a controversial statement and have students write down on a small piece of paper whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree (so they make an independent choice instead of following their friends). - Students move to the corner of the choice they made. - Students spend 5-10 minutes discussing the topic and making point form notes on their thoughts. - Afterwards, have a member from each group summarize their discussion for the whole class. - As a final activity, have students write a paragraph on their opinion on the statement now. Have them consider if they feel the same way they did when they started, or if the other groups were able to sway their opinions. If you want signs to print, you can check out these free ones from Stacey Lloyd: Opinion Signs. She uses these signs as a creative and engaging way to poll her whole class during discussions, but they can also work for the 4 corners activity! Short video clips are an excellent way to engage your students in discussion. I use videos as journal writing prompts, but they could also easily be used as small group or pair discussion starters. - Put students into small groups or pairs and show them a short video clip based on the content you are teaching (or I like to just use a general topic of interest to engage students). - Provide the related discussion prompt and give them a certain amount of time to discuss. Everyone should respond to the discussion prompt in the small group. - Have each pair or group share what they discussed with the rest of the class. Pyramid discussions are useful when you want to scaffold to make a whole-class discussion less intimidating for those students who are more reluctant to speak. They are also useful in preparation for debate or persuasive writing. - For this activity, you’ll have to develop topics where students must come to an agreement on a particular topic. For example, you could provide a list of survival items and students must determine which three are the most useful. You could also have a more general prompt like “What are the three greatest inventions of all time?” - Have students start in pairs. The two students discuss this prompt and must work together and compromise in their discussion to come to an agreement. - Once each pair is in agreement, two pairs move together to form groups of four. The new larger group must then share their ideas and again all come to agreement. - The groups of four then move into a larger group of eight and again must share their ideas and come to an agreement. - After groups of eight, have students move back to their seats and have a whole-class discussion on the topic. Discussion Speed Dating is a fun way for students to share their own thoughts on a topic and also hear multiple other perspectives. If your students don’t know what speed dating is, you could start by showing them this short clip from Gilmore Girls to give them a sense of what a speed dating session looks like: The Gilmore Girls Speed Dating Clip . Be sure to first preview the clip to ensure it is appropriate for your particular students. Get this free activity here: Speed Dating Discussion - Arrange the classroom so that two desks are facing each other in a line. Each student gets this free speed dating discussion sheet that they will need during the activity. Have students choose any seat. - Give each of the two rows a letter (A & B). - Give students a persuasive topic or statement to discuss or debate with their partner for 3-5 minutes. Set a timer! - Have students spend 1 minute filling in the first section of the speed dating discussion reflection sheet. This is meant to be quick, point-form thoughts to remind them of their discussion later. - Tell all of row A to move one seat over so they are facing the next person. - The discussion continues and this process is repeated as many times as you would like. - In the end, have students write a paragraph on their own thoughts on the topic using their reflection sheet as a reference. They may refer to the other members of the class that they spoke with in their writing. For example, “I agreed with ____ when they said…” or “While _____ made some strong points, I disagreed with their thought that ….” Looking for other discussion activities? The other Coffee Shop ladies have you covered! Check them out by clicking the links below: The SuperHERO Teacher - Literature Interviews: A Whole-Class Discussion for Any Novel Room 213 - Speaking and Listening as Part of the Pre-Reading Stage The Daring English Teacher - Fishbowl Discussions

Read VIPKID Blog posts and teacher resources! Everything you need to start teaching English online with VIPKID as soon as possible!

We use tools in our classroom that help encourage our students' thinking -- but are you making their thinking visible? We use anchor charts and other strategies, but are you doing all of these? There's one way to find out!

This month I’m blogging from the Philippines on behalf of Love146. You’ll understand today’s post more if you’ve also read the others: Education that nurtures, education that heals The abolition of child trafficking and exploitation, nothing less. How to talk to your kids about modern-day slavery “There is joy in self-forgetfulness. So I try to …

I am trying to sift information on Illuminati and have been posting on various aspects. This is yet another one. You may read my ost Famous Members of Illuminati Videos and other posts as well

Well, as promised, this is the second part of Anchor Chart Ideas - Adverbs Part 1/2. As an EFL teacher, I've taught one kind of adverb over and over again: adverbs of frequency. I've lost count of how many times I've created something similar to this: I honestly think (please, correct me if I'm wrong) that "often" and "frequently" are pretty much the same and I rarely (ha, adverb!) use "occasionally" myself. There are other adverbs that could be added to the chart and that's why you should create it with your students so it will be a snapshot of what you want to teach and what they want to learn. I also spend a lot of time getting students to practice the transformation of adjectives into "-ly" adverbs: Brazilian people have dropped the "-ly" adverbs. We'll say "eat quick" instead of "eat quickly", so it's extra harder for my students to grasp the need to use that kind of adverb. If you've made it this far, I guess you deserve a reward :D Here's a quick freebie for students to practice transforming adjectives into adverbs (click on the image to grab your freebie): If you've read my "About me", you know that I've taught French before. I want this blog to not only inspire those who teach in English, but also those who teach in French. So, allow me to share the French version of one of my adverbs anchor charts: READ at For French Immersion: 7 Pinterest boards for French teachers Now, what about you? Do you enjoy teaching adverbs? What's the trickiest aspect in your opinion? Use the comments section and let me know! Thank you for reading!

So, my dearest, my worst fear came true (as predicted), and I am a widow with two children. Hortense is twelve and Eugène already a young man of fourteen...

Schema therapy, which incorporates concepts from CBT and attachment theory, focuses on weakening early maladaptive schemas.

Do you love Star Wars? I have to admit that I did not love the series growing up, but as an adult I have a whole new appreciation for Star Wars, Star Trek, and other space actions films! If you, or your students, love space adventures, then these social skills lessons will be perfect! Purchase

Are your students writing in fragments? Often times students will write an incomplete sentence and it will cause confusion to the reader and disrupt the flow of the paragraph. These ideas are ideal for any writing curriculum and are a part of a series of mini lessons for writer's workshop

Over the past few years, we've had great pleasure in making many of our books available to view in their entirety on our Digitised Manuscripts site. Periodic announcements have been made on this blog, relating notably to the digitisation of our Greek and Royal manuscripts and to our Harley Science...

Filler Activities for ELA (blog post) What can you do with five extra minutes in secondary ELA? Here are a few ideas to engage students until the bell.

This blog post will share strategies to avoid plagiarism, along with advice on how to approach plagiarization in your students' writing.

Despite the joys of our profession (and there are so many!), there are also so many things which can drain our energies and motivations in the classroom. One

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. It has never been more important to build empathy for all of humanity, and we know that characters are some of the best teachers we can give our students. The following novels help a secondary classroom include more voices from around the world that are historically underrepresented in literature, AND they can help broaden the perspectives of students who are trying to understand the world in a very confusing time. These titles vary in length, difficulty, genre (including dystopia!), and level of maturity. Some books are appropriate for middle school, and others have more mature content and would be better in a high school setting. NOTE: To read the book talk for each novel, click on the Instagram handle of the person who recommended it. 1. All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg Recommended by @secondarysara. Link to Amazon. 2. Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse Recommended by @nouvelle_ela. Link to Amazon. 3. Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan Recommended by @elaclassroom. Link to Amazon. 4. I am Malala (Young Reader's Edition) by Malala Yousafzai Recommended by @erinbeers. Link to Amazon 5. Refugee by Alan Gratz Recommended by @elaeveryday. Link to Amazon 6. My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero Recommended by @readingandwritinghaven. Link to Amazon 7. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson Recommended by @ebcamps. Link to Amazon 8. Front Desk by Kelly Yang Recommended by @hansonhallway. Link to Amazon 9. Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff Recommended by @mrsspanglerinthemiddle. Link to Amazon 10. Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai Recommended by @theliterarymaven. Link to Amazon 11. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi Recommended by @mrsorman. Link to Amazon 12. The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline Recommended by @2peasandadog. Link to Amazon 13. A Long Way Gone by Ismael Beah Recommended by @theclassroomsparrow. Link to Amazon 14. My Name is Not Easy by Debby Dahl Edwardson Recommended by @studyallknight. Link to Amazon 15. A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park Recommended by @prestoplans. Link to Amazon 16. The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah Recommended by @literarysherri. Link to Amazon What other books would you recommend? Tell us in the comments!

In this blog post, we explore what to say instead of no problem with 100 other alternative phrases.

Many high-achieving, successful people eat emotionally. The W.I.S.E.R. model can be a tool to manage emotional eating for high-achievers.

When you don't understand what someone is doing and you want to express your confusion, you can say more than just "Miksi?" in Finnish.

10 activities to help middle and high school social studies teachers teach historical perspective plus a free download from History Gal.

Access 3,000 blogs that accept guest blogging that will help you get exposure. Plus my first guest posting experience that went wrong...

Listening is one of the most important skills we can have because it’s at the heart of so many things we do, from connecting with others to learning something new. And yet, when you think about it, most of us aren’t taught how to be good listeners. So it’s not surprising that we’re often struggling

Here Follows A List Of Several Demons And Their Sigils Of Summoning

Beat passing games for the music room: Great singing games for the upper elementary music classroom!