Sunday, November 09, 2025



I used this video in my classes to help students learn the -an word family.  

Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry G. Allard Jr. and illustrated by James Marshall


Once again, I selected this book for my reading group primarily just because the school library had multiple copies of it.  
However in this case, this is also a book that I have fond memories of from my own childhood.

It's a book in which the teacher wins against the children, so it's not the type of book that children are children are supposed to like.  And yet it's done with such humor, and such funny illustrations, that it's easy to like.  I liked it as a kid, and my students now really liked it.  (They've even asked to read it multiple times.)

According to Wikipedia, this book is the first book of a series of Miss Nelson books.  I think I may even vaguely remember the other books from childhood, but I'm not 100% sure.

Supplemental Materials:
Kahoots: I found two kahoots suitable for use in the classroom here and here.  I combined them both into this kahoot.

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/49PVrTk      (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
At War With Asia by Noam Chomsky: Book Review


This is part of my so-called "Scripted Review" series, in which I make a Youtube video based on an old blogpost.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE:

The first 10 minutes are just me talking about Noam Chomsky in general.  I don't actually start talking about this book until about 10:00


As I mentioned in the video, the articles which make up this book can be found here: https://chomsky.info/articles/



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Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4oTgby2       (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)

Saturday, November 08, 2025

Starting: Foundation by Isaac Asimov   (This is a reread.  I originally read it in 11th grade, and in fact I posted my high school book report here, and did a video based on that old report here.)


Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3X5aBwN         (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)

Friday, November 07, 2025

Bedroom Vocabulary

(TESOL Materials--Houses)

* Lesson Plan: docs, pub
* Objects in the bedroom slideshow: slides, pub
* Set of Cards: docs, pub
* Bedroom to Color worksheet: docs, pub--worksheet created from this chat here.

[Notes: These are all materials that I used to supplement the lesson The Bedroom (p.20-21) from Oxford Picture Dictionary Content Areas for Kids, and the specific choice of vocabulary in the storybook is influenced by that lesson.  However, I think these materials could be used for any general lesson on describing homes, and so I'm including them here.  If you're using this without the Oxford Picture Dictionary textbook, just omit practice 1 from the lesson plan.  Also, if you'll using this in your own classroom, you'll need to change the lead-in to make it personal for you.]

Lead-in:

Put on slideshow.  Show picture of me in my bedroom.  Get students to identify people and objects in the classroom, and try to elicit where it is.  (bedroom):

Concept Checking questions: Do we eat in the bedroom?  Do we shower in the bedroom?  What do we do in the bedroom?

Have students identify other objects in picture if not already. (bed, closet, book, picture).

Ask students what else is in a bedroom.


Model text:

Use the Google Gemini Storybook to present/elicit the objects in a bedroom.


Clarification:

Use slideshow to clarify vocabulary.  Present pictures, elicit vocabulary words from students.  Confirm the words.  Then do oral drilling of pronunciation.

Try to elicit additional information about the objects (e.g. color), and try to drill some of the vocabulary in sentences.


Practice 1

Display pages 20-21 of Oxford Picture Dictionary on the projector.  Ask students what things they can see.  Elicit from students the objects in the picture.  Ask additional questions to try to enlarge responses where appropriate.

Give to students a copy of p.20-21.  Have students circle objects in the picture.


Practice 2:

Give out cards to students.  Teacher calls out the card name, and the students have to find the appropriate card.  Possibly get students to come to the front and call out the card.


If there is additional time, do one of the following activities:



Thursday, November 06, 2025

Vocabulary for Houses

(Specific Vocabulary Sets)

Describing Houses (Vocabulary)

 (TESOL Materials--Specific Vocabulary Sets)

* Objects in home slideshow: slides, pub
* House to Color worksheet: docs, pub--worksheet created from this chat here.

These are all materials that I used to supplement the lesson Home (p.18-19) from Oxford Picture Dictionary Content Areas for Kids, and the specific choice of vocabulary in the storybook is influenced by that lesson.  However, I think these materials could be used for any general lesson on describing homes, and so I'm including them here. 

The House Tour Storybook--This was made using Google Gemini Storybook feature.  It originally came from this chat here, but at the moment of this posting, the key part of that chat seems to have disappeared.

* Objects in home slideshow: slidespub--slide 11 introduces a Jump the Line game.

Describing People's Heads (Vocabulary)

(TESOL Materials--Specific Vocabulary Sets)

* Draw a Head worksheet: docs, pub

These are all materials that I used to supplement the lesson Friends (p.14-15) from Oxford Picture Dictionary Content Areas for Kids, and the specific choice of vocabulary in the storybook is influenced by that lesson.  However, I think these materials could be used for any general lesson on describing people's heads, and so I'm including them here.


* Draw a Head worksheet: docspub--I found this image on a Google image search.  Unfortunately I no longer remember where I got it from, and so can't give appropriate credit.  I used this for a listen and draw activity.  I described a face and hair, and the students drew what I described.

What does she look like? Song--I found this song on Youtube, and played part of it in the lesson since it fit the theme.

Wednesday, November 05, 2025

There's No Such Thing as a Dragon by Jack Kent

I decided to use this book with some of my students primarily because it was written at an easy reading level, and because my school had multiple copies of it (so in my reading group, every student could get their own copy.)

I'd not heard of this book before, but it looks like a classic.  And according to Wikipedia, it was first published in 1976.  When I started searching around for more information, I quickly discovered many people on the Internet claim to have fond memories of this book.

The other thing that quickly pops up when searching for information about this book is that it turns out that this is one of Jordan Peterson's favorite books.  He's got a whole 40 minute lecture on it.
  

As for me, I don't remember this book from childhood at all.  Somehow I must have missed it.  But it's a short, but charming little story, and it worked fine in my class.

Supplemental Materials:

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3LthmWo      (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)

-at words vs. -et words worksheet

(TESOL Worksheets--CVC words)

Google: docs, pub
[Notes: This is a worksheet I used for practicing the differences between -at words and -et words.  It is based on the words and images from -at cards and -et cards activities.  Before giving the students this worksheet, I take out the relevant cards from those card sets, and practice those first.  Then, they do this worksheet as a follow-up activity.  In my class, it was assigned as homework.]

bat bet mat met pat pet sat set vat vet

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