Author Archives: Tanya Trusler

New Town

Posted by on Mar 17, 2014 0 Comments

Students often need plenty of practice giving directions using prepositions of place. Our lesson of the week, New Town, is a great place to start! This four-page lesson includes three maps: one with two dialogues (audio included), one with a short reading and comprehension questions, and one with a crossword puzzle for comprehension. New Town is available in both print and digital versions! This lesson also includes different grammar targets including prepositions of place, the simple present, the present progressive (continuous), and clock time.

You’ll find plenty of related resources on our site to go along with this lesson. On Tuesday, I blogged about the grammar involved with giving directions and prepositions of place. On Thursday, Tara blogged about some fun activities to practice directions: Where Is Sprout? Games for Practicing Preposition of Place.

Other related resources: (more…)

Lucky Idioms – Poster & Activities

Posted by on Mar 11, 2014 0 Comments

For each petal on the shamrock
This brings a wish your way—
Good health, good luck, and happiness
For today and every day.
—Author Unknown

With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner (March 17), it’s a great time to learn these idioms about luck!

Idioms appear in many places in English—in movies, on TV, in books, and in everyday conversation. Students usually enjoy learning idioms because they’re fun, but have trouble remembering them because they’re not literal. Using visuals such as this poster helps students remember idioms, especially when the visuals contain clever “tricks” (our designer has worked some literal clues into this poster). (more…)

St. Patrick’s Day

Posted by on Mar 07, 2014 2 Comments

Many countries will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17. In some schools, teachers encourage students to wear green on this day, and they do some fun activities in class related to St. Patrick’s Day on or before the holiday. With our St. Patrick’s Day vocabulary lesson, students will learn while having fun!

This eight-page Word Bank lesson includes a colorful picture dictionary with St. Patrick’s Day images including leprechaun, shamrock, four-leaf clover, pot of gold, etc. Activities such as a matchup, word choice, word search, word scramble, and spelling bee help make this lesson engaging and fun. Finish up with the discussion questions so that your students can try using the new vocabulary in context! (more…)

How to Write a Paragraph

Posted by on Mar 04, 2014 0 Comments

Whether they love it or hate it, writing is an essential skill for English learners to acquire. Writing also incorporates many other skills: grammar, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, syntax, organization, etc. For teachers, writing can demonstrate whether or not a student has truly understood a grammar target, and a student’s writing can point to specific areas he or she needs to work on (e.g., forgetting to use articles such as a or the, using the simple past when the present perfect is required, etc.).

There are many ways that writing can be incorporated into the classroom. Blogs, journals, essays, and stories are a few common writing exercises to try. At the heart of almost all writing, though, is the need for a good, well-organized paragraph. Learning the structure of a typical paragraph means students will feel like they have a “guide” to follow. Writing can be daunting, so starting with a how-to lesson is an excellent idea!

Paragraph Structure  (more…)

Movies – Writing Lesson

Posted by on Mar 03, 2014 0 Comments

Writing improves many aspects of English such as grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure. Students can practice writing through blogging, journals, or essays. But often students don’t know where to start. An interesting topic and questions to guide their writing will really help students focus!

Our featured writing lesson on Movies does just that. With four questions to get them started, students can compose a well-organized paragraph on their favorite movie. (Don’t forget to point out the spelling difference, favourite, if you teach in a country that uses British English). (more…)

Pronunciation of Plural Endings

Posted by on Feb 25, 2014 7 Comments

Let’s face it—English pronunciation is difficult! Where some languages have only 5 vowel sounds, English has 26. Some languages have a limited set of consonant sounds, but English has tricky combinations like /th/. (Note: When we write sounds, we enclose them in slashes / /). And don’t even get me started on diphthongs (vowel-consonant combos like /ow/). There is a lot for students of English to learn!

On top of all the vowel and consonant sounds, students need to learn the pronunciation of endings that change according to the last sound of the word. For example, the past tense ending -ed can be pronounced as /t/, /d/, or /ɪd/ depending on the last letter of the verb. The case I’ll deal with today involves plural endings. I’ll use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in this post. Listen to the audio examples at the end of this article for pronunciation practice. But if you’re still confused by the IPA symbols, leave me a comment below and I’ll give you some more examples.

Whether you’re a teacher, a parent, or a student, I hope this blog post will help you with the pronunciation of plural endings!

1. Pronounce the plural ending as /s/ following voiceless consonants. (more…)

Plurals – Phonics Lesson

Posted by on Feb 24, 2014 2 Comments

Many students view pronunciation as the biggest obstacle to overcome when learning another language. I often remind my students that the goal is not to get rid of their accent completely, but rather to speak clearly and comprehensibly. Accents are beautiful! But it frustrating when others can’t understand what you’re trying to communicate. Phonics lessons can help language learners improve their pronunciation so that they will be understood by everyone.

One tricky area of pronunciation is plural endings. Our three-page Plurals lesson helps students learn when to pronounce the endings /s/, /z/, and /ez/. This lesson shows which endings follow which consonants, and includes fun drawings that engage students while they practice. It is also great for practicing numbers and counting! (more…)

9 Ways to Use Cards & Flashcards in Class

Posted by on Feb 18, 2014 3 Comments

Teaching from a textbook all day can be tedious for both students and teachers. Breaking up the time with interactive warm-ups, filler, and wrap-ups makes the lesson engaging and fun! One way to do this is with cards—both flashcards and playing cards. Using cards in the classroom also lets you sneak in some learning while your students think you’re just playing a game. Young learners, especially, respond well to games, and if the games are educational, there’s no reason to limit their use! Games can involve speaking, vocabulary, grammar, etc., but today I’ll focus on ways to use vocabulary cards.

Card & Flashcard Games:

Try the following games with Sprout’s cards in the Card Games section of the Games Room. We have image/word card sets on animals, clothes, farm animals, fish and reptiles, fruit, jobs, prepositions, verbs, and adjectives! (more…)

Animal Card Games

Posted by on Feb 17, 2014 1 Comment

Flashcards and card games can be used in a variety of ways in an English classroom. They make vocabulary learning fun, and are great as a warm-up, filler, or wrap-up to a lesson. With over 48 words and pictures, our Animal Cards are sure to engage your young learners!

Sprout English’s 48 animals cards include all the animals you’d expect and then some! Students review common animals such as dog, elephant, and hippo while learning about more exotic animals like armadillo, baboon, and hyena. These Games Room cards make learning new vocabulary fun and easy. Be sure to print them out double-sided so that the pictures are on one side and the words are on the other. (more…)