ESL Book Club book choices update

These are a few of the most well-received titles that we have done in ESL Book Club recently. All of these spurred on great discussions, and were universally agreed upon to be page-turners. Fannie Flagg's book was the most popular.
A Redbird Christmas--Fannie Flagg
Hush--Jacqueline Woodson
Tuesdays with Morrie--Mitch Albom

If you think you would like to test out some of your conversation club participants to see if they might enjoy reading for pleasure in English, here is a very short ghost story by Jean Rhys called I Used to Live Here Once http://personal.bgsu.edu/~rshultz/Rhys.htm. The writing is very rich, and the meaning quite subtle, so explanation by the club facilitator will likely be required. Let them read it through once, go over vocabulary with them (there is a lot in this story), and then read it for them with feeling. Afterwards, let them try it again, and have fun getting everyone to guess at the meaning. This was very successful discussion, and the whole thing didn't take more than 20 minutes at the most.

Apples to Apples

If you have a relatively advanced group, Apples to Apples is a good game to play. The basic idea is that you have an adjective, and all players have nouns. You try to match up the "best" noun to the adjective, which of course, comes with a lot of humor and liberal licensing of choices. The dealer (who rotates) gets to vote on the best answer. This is only recommended for more advanced ESL learners, and to make sure that the competition doesn't get too fierce, and move the purpose from Conversation Club, you should make each person offer their choice up in a sentence.

Fun new states/capitals game.

This game was a hit with students this past week. You'll need a set of "Rand McNally Schoolhouse U.S. States & Capitals Flashcards And Games (Cards)", easily found at most educational resources shops, or on Amazon. Students had to choose a region and collect state cards for that region. You can also ask about each state, and learn capitals and nicknames as you go along. Or, you can have each student introduce a state. Fun!

A bingo story and lesson plan for the song, "Imagine".

Here's the original story: http://breakingnewsenglish.com/0905/090510-john_lennon.html

Here's my version: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dct34n59_29d3nvzc6z

Document links fixed!

Sorry about the lack of access for the various documents I've been posting. Everything should be working now but please let me know if there are still broken links by emailing me at eslconversationclubs@gmail.com.

New bingo stories...

Both stories are adapted from http://breakingnewsenglish.com/

About the connection between fast food and strokes: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dct34n59_257nth5sdj
About the recent birth of octuplets: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dct34n59_26cxh4fpgh
About the recent spike in bedbugs: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dct34n59_27f7dbgdrc

Asking open-ended questions.

Deploy open-ended questions when your class is reading a story to encourage and extend conversations. Here are a few ideas:

• What would happen if ... ?
• Tell me about your ...
• Where could we do that?
• What do you think will happen next?
• How do you know?
• How are you going to do that?

This week's story for ESL Bingo.

All about the perils of noise pollution. Here's a link for the original article:
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0812/081205-noise_pollution.html
And here's my version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dct34n59_13f3fd22dd

Break in December for the Holidays?

So, the ESLCC at MPOW was very slow in December. Particularly when we took a break from story time during the last two weeks, the parents stopped coming entirely. I think next year, we might take a break for the holidays. Otherwise, I think I should plan a large event like a party so that students stay engaged. What did you do for the holidays?

This week's story for ESL Bingo.

I adapated this story: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0812/081208-oprah_winfrey.html - made the vocabulary a tad simpler, and added defintions. Here's a link to my version: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dct34n59_13f3fd22dd

Alta now a publisher only....

Alta Book Center used to sell a great collection of ESL materials, but starting Dec. 1, they'll resell their own publications only. Their own publications are great, though - check them out at http://www.altaesl.com. I highly suggest purchasing "Cathy's Cards" for a no-prep conversation club.

I took this chance to add a few new ESL pubishers on the right...

This week's story for ESL Bingo.

I adapted this story: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0811/081117-hair_colour.html
It's a fun story that talks about the potential development of a shampoo that gets rid of greys! Anyway I adapted it with simpler vocabulary, and added definitons. Here's my version: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dct34n59_14hpndg6f7

Thank you for coming to our presenation!

Thank you again for coming at such an early hour to our program. We had a great time meeting and talking to all of you and hope you'll be able to start a ESLCC at your own libraries.

Here's our presentation:
http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dct34n59_5gjfv8qss

Here are the handouts:
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.f197553e-5481-4a7d-8334-3b375587ff98&hl=en

How to play Alphabet Go-Fish!

Shuffle a deck of alphabet cards. Deal each player a set number of cards (5, 7, 10) The first player asks any other player if they have one of the letters that they have in their hand If the person has the card they hand it over, if not they say " go fish" and the person who requested the card picks one of the remaining cards from the deck. Play then moves to the next person in the circle.
When a player makes a pair, they put the cards on the table and say a complete sentence that uses the word on the card The game ends when one player runs out of cards (or you can give that player more cards to make the game last longer) The person with the most pairs at the end of the game wins. I reward each pair with a candy.

Play some RPGs!

Role playing is an excellent way to get students talking about real-life scenarios. You'll need to prepare cards with scenarios written on them - for example, buying a car at a Toyota dealer, looking for an apt, shopping at Valley fair, ordering food, ordering coffee at Starbucks. Then, the group can act out the situation together.

If you have a mixed level group, you can have the advanced students do more of the talking - for example, they can be a store clerk and the others can be customers.

How to play the "Statements of Opinion" game.

1. Write various statements of opinion on small strips of paper. For example: Dogs are better than cats. The rich should pay more taxes.
2. Have one participant read the statement and respond to it.
3. Have a discussion with pros/cons - or even a debate.

For more statements of opinion, check out this list at our Google Docs account.

How to play the "What If??" game.

This game requires some work and preparation but it can be a lot of fun and generate some heated discussions.

1. Participants pick out “what if” questions from a question jar. I print my questions and cut them into strips and curl them up in the jar. For example:
What would you do if you won the lottery? What would you do if you found a $100 bill in a library book you borrowed?
2. Each participant can also add their thoughts.
3. After answering the questions, participants can come up with their own “what if” questions and ask other participants.

For more "what if" questions check out this list; you'll need to edit out questions that won't work for your group.

How to play Liar! Liar!

This is a simple game but is best with participants that know each other fairly well; it's not as successful as as an ice-breaker.

1. Participants say three things about themselves; one of these statements should be a lie.
2. The others guess which one the lie is.
3. The participant that guesses correctly wins the game.

Site to get information and resources on fiction

Choosing books for your ESL Book Club can be challenging. Using high school level reading materials is a good choice for intermediate ESL learners, because the content is more mature, but the vocabulary will be more accessible. Web English Teacher (http://www.webenglishteacher.com/ya.html) has supporting material for a wide variety of young adult level books.

A neat game using a deck of cards.

Here's a neat conversation starter using a deck of cards; basically people pick cards and get assigned questions based on what they picked. Here's the link: http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Brown-TalkingCards.html