Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff

(TESOL Materials--Story Time)

This is another book by Syd Hoff, who also wrote Sammy the Seal.  Although unlike Sammy the Seal, I don't think I've read this book in my childhood.  At least not that I can remember.

The premise, however, is golden--a young boy gets to spend a day playing with a dinosaur.  How could you not go wrong with a book like that?  And indeed, it went over pretty well with my students.

Unfortunately, there are a couple pages near the beginning of the book which are a bit dated: stereotypical portrayals of Indians and Eskimos, as well as some depictions of guns and swords.  These things made me pause a bit before taking it into the classroom, but I ultimately decided that the positives of this book outweigh the negatives.

Supplementary Materials
Google Drive Folder HERE

Slideshow: slides, pub

Circle the things in the story worksheet: docs, pub

Coloring sheet: docs, pub

It's Not Easy Being a Bunny by Marilyn Sadler

 (TESOL Materials--Story Time)

I've already done this story before as part of my Storybooks ESL Listening, but I was doing it for a Kindergarten class recently, and so I found it useful to convert it into another format.  

Supplementary Materials:

Google Drive Folder HERE

Slideshow: slides, pub

Matching Worksheet: docs, pub

Animal cards: docs, pub

Lesson Plan: docs, pub

Objectives: Understanding the main idea of the story, understanding key details from the story, predicting and checking

Language objectives: animal names

Lead-in/ Building Background: Show picture of rabbits.  Elicit from students what they already know about rabbits.  Elicit from students what problems rabbits could have

Reading: Gist Question: Read story for understanding of main ideas. At each stage, get students to predict what problems living with the animals will have.

Language skill: drill the names of the animals

Reading Skill: Key details--use this sheet to match the animals with their characteristics

Time allowing: more practice on animal names with the cards

Flap Your Wings by P.D. Eastman

(TESOL Materials--Story Time)

I've already done this story before as part of my Storybooks ESL Listening, but I was doing it for a Kindergarten class recently, and so I found it useful to convert it into another format.  

Supplementary Materials:

Google Drive HERE

Lesson plan: docs, pub

Google Slides: slides, pub

Compare and Contrast Worksheet: docs, pub

Coloring Sheet: docs, pub

My Video HERE

Objectives: Understanding the main idea of the story 

Compare and contrast

Lead-in: Show picture of bird sitting on eggs in nest.  Elicit from students what they already know about the picture.  Elicit or teach about how birds sit on nest eggs to build background.

Reading: Gist Question: Read story for understanding of main ideas.  Introduce the question: “Whose egg is it?”  Read story, and then check for understanding.

Reading Skill: Compare and contrast--use this sheet.  Which pictures go with birds?  Which with alligators?  Which with both?

Fast Finishers: Work on coloring sheet

A Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer

(TESOL Materials--Story Time)

I've posted versions of this book twice before (here and here), but I've retooled this for one of my Story Time lessons.  I used the images on this youtube video for creating the slideshow.

My materials for this book are below:

Google Drive HERE

Slideshow: slides, pub

A great sequencing activity can be found here on Teachers Pay Teachers.  (This particular resource is free, although you will need to create an account and log-in.)

Coloring sheet: docs, pub

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4pPoP0O     (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)

Big Dog... Little Dog by P.D. Eastman

(TESOL Materials--Story Time) 

Once again, I've already done this book before as part of my Storybooks ESL Listening, but I was doing it for a Kindergarten class recently, and so I found it useful to convert it into another format.  I found a copy of the book online here.

In my class, we read through the book together as an all class activity.  Then we did a compare and contrast worksheet. [It's actually all contrast.] I also created a coloring sheet (using Google Gemini) for fast finishers.

Supplementary Material:

Google drive HERE: 

Google Slides: slides, pub

Compare and Contrast sheet: docs, pub

Coloring Sheet: docs, pub

I also found this website to have some good ideas for how to teach this book.

My video HERE

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

Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss

(TESOL Materials--Story Time) 

I've already done this book before as part of my Storybooks ESL Listening, but I was doing it for a Kindergarten class recently, and so I found it useful to convert it into another format.  I found a copy of the book online here.  I also used screenshots from a Youtube video that counted all the wacky things.

In my class, I did most of this as an all class activity, but for the final wacky count, I gave students each a copy of the page, and they tried to circle all the wacky things, before I revealed the answers.

Supplementary Material:

Google drive HERE: 

Google Slides: slides, pub

My video HERE

I also found coloring pages can also be found at this link here.

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JSeC4p      (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)

Sight Words

(TESOL Ideas and Worksheets Subdivisions)

* Fry Sight Words video

* Fry Sight Words Flashcards

* Fry Sight Words Memory Game

Gus and Pat: Gemini Storybook

This is a Gemini Storybook, as I described in this post here.  
The prompt was "create a children's book using only cvc words".  

I wasn't sure whether or not Gemini would be able to purely keep to only cvc words, but it almost did.  Or at least, it almost kept to just 3 letter words.  I caught only two words that had more than 3 letters ("fell" and "took").
For the original Gemini conversation, see here.

Silly Strategies for Reading Test

(TESOL Worksheets--Test Familiarization, IELTS Reading)

Google Document: docs, pub

[Notes: This is based on the Silly Tips activity that I had previously posted in this post here.  I recently used this activity to familiarize my students for an upcoming reading exam that included these question types.  But as these question types also occur on the IELTS reading test, this activity can also be used for IELTS preparation.]

Matching Headings to the Text

Please cross out the useless tips and think about which useful tips you would use. When and HOW could you use them?

Don’t look at the headings before you read the text.​

Sit next to someone you can copy.

Read the first one or two sentences and the last sentence of each section to understand the general meaning of the section. Don’t worry about highlighting keywords. ​

Bring some of your grandma’s baked goods to bribe the examiner.

Don’t worry about understanding every word.​

Match any headings that are very obvious and you are sure about.

For headings you are not sure about:​

• Identify the difference between each of the headings. Establish if there are any synonyms in the paragraph of keywords in the headings.​

• If you still can’t pick one, move on. The answer will often reveal itself later.

• Take a dice to the exam.  If you’re still not sure, roll the dice and write the numbers that you roll by each letter.

Remember these questions are about understanding the main idea of each section.

Sentence Gap-Fills

Please cross out the useless tips and think about which useful tips you would use. When and HOW could you use them?

Read the question sentences first. ​

Think about what the word form could be and try to predict the answer. ​

Think about the keywords and their synonyms. 

Locate the information by scanning quickly. If you can’t locate the answer quickly, move on.​

Try to write two answers for each gap-fill.  This will double your chances of getting it right.

If you can’t find the answer in the text, just write “something” in the blank.  Even if it’s not the right answer, the examiner won’t be able to mark it wrong because technically the answer is something.  If it does get marked wrong, you can argue with the examiner after the test.

Read the incomplete sentence again.​

According to the rules, the examiner has to give you hints about what letters to use.  You are allowed one consonant for free, but you have to buy the vowels.

Study the reading text more carefully to establish the answer.​

If you’re not sure about your answer, try to write it in sloppy handwriting so that it will be difficult to read.  If the examiner has trouble reading your answer, they will give up and just give you the point.

Check your spelling.

Multiple Choice

Please cross out the useless tips and think about which useful tips you would use. When and HOW could you use them?

Read the questions first (carefully).​

Skim the text to get the general meaning.​

Underline any keywords in the question and think about any synonyms that might appear in the text.​

Read the choices and underline any keywords. Think about the difference in meaning between the different choices.​

Predict the correct answer.

Remember that statistically, “C” is the most common answer on multiple choice questions. So if in any doubt, choose “C”.

Read the text. Use keywords and synonyms to locate the part containing the answers.​

Read that part of the text very carefully, thinking about the difference in meanings.​

Think about which options are correct and why the other options are wrong.​

Remember these tips.  Choose “A” for any question that asks about alligators.  Choose “B” for any question that has the word “because” in it.  Choose “C” for any question that has a caterpillar in the answer.  And choose “D” everytime you hear someone cough.

Go back, read the question again, and mark your final choice.

Find the Missing Sentence: Reading Activity

(TESOL Ideas--Activities that Can Be Used with Any Reading Text)

Sample: docs, pub

Notes: I had previously posted this activity as an example of Running Dictation for Reading Texts.  But I've been thinking recently that perhaps I had mislabeled the activity.  The activity itself wasn't running dictation.  Running dictation was simply a way of checking the answers.  The activity itself was "Find the Missing Sentence."

This activity is partially inspired by similar activities mentioned in Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language by Christine Nuttall.  The idea is that it practices students ability to recognize coherence in a text by removing a sentence, and seeing if the students can recognize where there is a gap in the text.

The sample activity is from Q: Skills for Success: Reading and Writing 4: Unit 3 Reading 1: The Good Teen p.65-70.  The text has been recopied onto a Google Doc, but one sentence from each paragraph has been deleted.  The students have to read through the paragraph, and identify where the missing sentence is located.

The directions I originally included with this activity are:

Directions: Tell students to close their books.  Put them in pairs.  Give each pair a copy of pages 1-2.  Instruct them that there is one sentence missing from each paragraph.  They have to read the paragraph and use the cohesion clues to tell where sentences are probably missing.  They mark the spot in the paragraph where they think the sentence is missing.

Then, give each pair a copy of sheet 3.  Instruct them that the full text is posted outside the room (p.4-5).  They have to go outside of the room, look at the full paragraphs, and find the missing sentence, and then write it down on their answer sheet.  Standard running dictation rules apply (i.e. one student can run outside to look at the text, but they can't write anything.  They have to memorize the sentence, and run back and dictate it to their partner).  The first pair to write down all 9 missing sentences is the winner.

...but the running dictation part is optional.

In fact, another way to continue the activity would be to provide students a list of the missing sentences, and students have to decide which sentence goes in which paragraph. 

I was searching the Internet for short plays or dramas suitable for the ESL classroom, and I found this website:

https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/reading/index.shtml

The index of plays isn't actually located until halfway down the site, so scroll all the way down until you see:

Reader's Theater Scripts and Teacher's Guides

Now, to be honest, I haven't actually used any of these plays in my classroom yet.  But I may use them in the future, and so I wanted to make this blogpost to remind myself.

I'm also adding this website to my Interesting Input plus Production Prompts index.  (The input is reading the plays.  The production would be acting out the play--or at least reading it aloud in groups.)

The Gingerbread Man and The Stinky Cheese Man: Write Your Own Twisted Fairy Tale

(TESOL Materials--Time Fillers, Writing, Storytime, Interesting Input plus Production Prompts)

Google Drive Folder HERE

Slideshow: slides, pub

Worksheet: docs, pub

This is the latest entry in my Interesting Input plus Production Prompts collection.

The input is a reading of The Gingerbread Man (link to PDF HERE).  Then, I ask my students how the story might be different if the Gingerbread Man was made out of stinky cheese instead.  Then we go to the Stinky Cheese Man (link to picture book HERE--skip to p.36.)

Then the production prompt is for students to write their own twisted version of a famous fairy tale: docs, pub.

In my class, they were having trouble thinking of ideas, so I gave them a few more examples from the Stinky Cheese Man book.  First, I asked them if they knew the story of the Frog Prince.  They said they did, and I asked the class to tell it to me.  Then, I showed them the version on pages 18-19.  I did the same thing with the Ugly Duckling (p.14-17) and The Princess and the Pea (p.12-13), etc.

In fact, once I got thinking about it, there's no shortage of examples of subverted fairy tales out there:

This Playlist of Fractured Fairy Tale Cartoons, for example, could also be used as input.

Or this copy of The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig.  

In fact, as I thought about it, I remembered I had even written a subverted fairy tale back in 6th grade: The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood--which I then went on to film and add to my Storytime collection.

Think of a well-known fairy tale or folk tale.  Retell the fairy tale, but give it a twist to make it different than the original

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The Monkey's Paw: Reading and Writing Prompt

(TESOL Materials--Time Fillers, Writing, Interesting Input plus Production Prompts)

I'm continuing to look for new materials to add to my "Interesting Input plus Production Prompts" project.  I was searching around on esl-bits and found the original version of The Monkey's Paw.  

It seemed like a good story to use: nice and short, and also suitably creepy.  (As I've mentioned before, my teenage students love horror stories.)

The original ungraded version could almost be used in the ESL classroom (with a high level class, of course.)  The sentences are pretty short and simple and easy to understand.  An advanced level class could almost understand it without help.

There's just some vocabulary that would need to be adjusted to make it more comprehensible for an ESL class.

I was in the process of trying to re-write the story myself, when I thought to myself, "You know what?  I bet somebody's done this already."

So, I searched for "The Monkey's Paw ESL" and sure enough, found a pretty good version here.  For the most part, it manages to preserve the vibrancy of the original text, while also simplifying the vocabulary where necessary.

For the purposes of sharing this version with my students, I took the liberty of copying and pasting it over to Google docs, so I could print it out and distribute in in my classroom (docs, pub).  While I was at it, I also edited it slightly--e.g. cleaned up a few typos and grammar mistakes that had been in the original.

I distributed the google document to my students, and we read it together in class.

The production prompt, then, is to write about what happens to the Monkey's Paw next.  The Monkey's Paw finds a new owner, who will make new wishes.  How will these new wishes go wrong?

For the purposes of giving my students maximum freedom, I left the prompt as wide open as possible--i.e. I didn't specify who the new owner would be.  But for students who were having trouble getting started, I gave them some helpful ideas.

"Imagine there's a Vietnamese boy who wishes to be a gamer.  But then" (spooky voice) "the wish goes horribly wrong."

or "Imagine there's a Vietnamese boy who wants to be a famous tiktoker.  So he makes the wish but then" (spooky voice) "the wish goes horribly wrong."

Etc.  Other ideas I gave were students who wished to get a band 9 on the IELTS, or become a successful businessman, or get into a top university, etc.

[Sidenote: The original story of The Monkey's Paw states that the paw was only cursed for 3 owners, and that this old couple is now the 3rd owner, so presumably in the original story the curse of the Monkey's Paw is now finished.  But I just ignored this little detail when designing the production prompt, and so far my students haven't noticed the contradiction.]

Production worksheet is here: docs, pub

Now, imagine that someone else finds the Monkey’s paw, and tries to make three wishes.  Write about what will happen next.

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That's Good! That's Bad! by Margery Cuyler and David Catrow: Storytime and Writing Prompt

(TESOL Materials--Time Fillers, Writing, Storytime, Interesting Input plus Production Prompts)

Google Folder HERE

The Storytime slides are here: slides, pub.  (The images come from this Youtube video here.)

I came across this story, and I thought it would be a great little addition to my Interesting Input plus Production Prompts collection

Ms Sandy presents: That's Good! That's Bad! by Margery Cuyler

The follow-up writing prompt is here: docs, pub

That’s Good! That’s Bad! Write your own story

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