Wednesday, October 15, 2025


Here are 3 storybooks make by Google Gemini Storybook (of varying quality) with the intent of studying -an words, -at words, and -ap words all together.  The prompts for these books come from this chat, this chat and this chat.
* Ben and Ken: Storybook for -en and -an word families

This is a text I created using Google Gemini Storybook for reviewing both the -en word family and the -an word family.  The prompt was "create a storybook for brand new readers. Use these words: ben, den, hen, ken, men, pen, ten, zen, ran, van, fan, man, ban, tan, pan, can"
The chat which created this book can be found here.  

Matching Cards for CVC words with -in

 (TESOL Worksheets--CVC Word Patterns)

Google: docspub

I use these cards in several stages.
I start out with some of the alphabet cards from this previous activity.  I take the "I" card, and ask students what sound it makes.  Then I take the "N" sound, and ask what sound it makes, and then put the two cards together, and try to get students to tell me the sound.
I then take out several consonants, and get the students to tell me the sound, and then put these consonants together with the -IN to make different words, helping students to sound them out.  
At this point I put out the picture cards, and as we do different CVC -at words, I get students to identify the pictures.  
Once all the words and pictures have been identified, then we play a memory card game to match the words and pictures.  
Lastly, I put away the word cards, and just show students the pictures.  The students have to write down the word on their mini-white boards.

bin

fin

pin

sin

tin

win




As someone who is currently working in a public school, I can attest to the fact that the kids are indeed saying "6-7" all the time now.  We adults find the constant repetition of "6-7" to be annoying, but the kids don't seem to be tired of it yet.
The strange thing about "6-7" is (according to the kids themselves) it doesn't mean anything, it's just something that's cool to yell out.
Every time I hear a kid yell out "6-7", I'm reminded of what I wrote last February:
In the course of researching all of this, however, the thought occurred to me: the kids are always yelling out something.
Now, granted I've been outside of the United States for most of the past 24 years, but I've been teaching kids in JapanCambodia and Vietnam, and in all these countries, I've noticed that there's always some slogan or catchphrase that the kids are constantly yelling out.

Verily, I have never spoken truer words. 

Monday, October 13, 2025

Subject Pronouns: Model Text and Worksheet

(TESOL Materials--Subject Pronouns)

* Worksheet: docs, pub

[Notes: This model text was created using AI, specifically Gemini Storybook.  The prompt was: "Create a storybook to introduce subject pronouns to ESL students. Remember to use simple English, and be sure to include all the subject pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they"  The chat can be viewed here.   In my classes, I read the story with my students once for general understanding, then I handed them the worksheet, and asked them to identify the referent for each underlined word.  Then we went through it together in feedback.]

“Hello! My name is Leo. I am going on a picnic.”

Leo sees his friend Mia. “Hello, Mia! Are you ready?” he asks.

Mia sees her dog, Pip. “He is ready, too!” she says. Pip wags his tail.


Leo sees his friend, Mia. “She is bringing the blanket,” he says.

The picnic basket is full of food. “It is heavy!” says Leo.

Leo and Mia walk together. “We are going to the park,” says Leo.


They see more friends at the park. “Hello, everyone! Are you ready for fun?” asks Mia.


The friends are playing a game. “They are playing with a ball,” says Leo.


Everyone sits down to eat. “We are so happy to be here!” says Mia.


The picnic is a lot of fun. They eat, they play, and they laugh. It is a perfect day.


Subject Pronouns Index

(TESOL Ideas and Worksheets Subdivisions)

Subject Pronouns: Model Text and Worksheet
Started: Read Real Japanese: Fiction edited by Michael Emmerich [I started this book years ago but never finished it.  There are actually two books in this series--the fiction one and the essays one.  The essays one I kept with me for several years--I mentioned it on this blog before here, here--before finally getting rid of it in this post here.  I've decided to give studying Japanese another try, but I'm going to start out with the fiction one.)

Quizlet:

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/42CUsle        (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)