Article Review: How to Make an Infographic

Posted by on Sep 13, 2013 2 Comments

Infographics are such a fun way to share information. They’re generally easy to read and follow, and convey a message much more quickly than a traditional written paragraph. I think it’d be great to use them from time to time to teach a grammar point. But how do you go about making them?

This week’s article review is on How To Make An Infographic Using Piktochart by Katie Lepi on Edudemic‘s website. Katie gives an example of how Mia MacMeekin created an infographic using Piktochart. The steps, including research, design, and extras, are presented in…you guessed it…an infographic! (more…)

Active Games for Young Language Learners

Posted by on Sep 12, 2013 6 Comments

One of the best things I’ve seen implemented at my children’s elementary school is called DPA. This stands for “daily physical activity”, and it takes place in the classroom or hallway at a set time each day. During the brain break, students and teachers move away from their desks and dance to a song that some of the older kids have choreographed. Not only does DPA amuse the students and give them something to look forward to, it boosts the energy of the teachers and unites the school.

Besides dancing, there are tons of games for keeping young kids active during the school day. Here are some ideas and adaptations to try with your young English learners:

Drip, Drip, Drop – This is a variation of Duck, Duck, Goose, and is played outdoors on a warm day. The teacher brings out a big bucket of water and a sponge. The students sit in a circle. The teacher gets the sponge quite wet, so that it drips a bit. One student is chosen to stand up and walk on the outside of the circle. She says “Drip, Drip, Drip…” as she drips a bit of water on each classmate’s head. Instead of tapping one person’s head and shouting “Goose!” she shouts “Drop!” and squeezes the sponge out on her victim. The victim with the wet hair chases the sponge holder around the circle, trying to reach the empty spot in the circle first. Try some other variations, such as (more…)

Educational Acronyms and Abbreviations

Posted by on Sep 10, 2013 4 Comments

There are so many acronyms and abbreviations related to ELT (which stands for English Language Teaching or English Language Teachers, by the way). Thanks to social media, acronyms are used now more than ever. Twitter, for example, is full of acronyms in individual tweets and in hashtags. Last week I blogged about Education Resources and Networking Opportunities in Social Media, where I listed a lot of acronymic hashtags. But what do they all stand for? Some may be obvious, and some, not so much. I know I had to look up a few. I hope this handy list will save you from having to search for the correct meaning of any educational acronyms or abbreviations you encounter, especially those that have more than one meaning. (For example, when you google ELT, the first thing that comes up is Emergency Locator Transmitter. And PLN has at least 28 possible interpretations!) (more…)

Article Review: Setting Goals

Posted by on Sep 06, 2013 0 Comments

Have you discussed goals with your students yet? The start of a new school year is an excellent time to go over goals, especially their learning goals for the term. It’s a good idea to review their goals once or twice throughout the year, too. The benefits are numerous. (more…)

Teaching Cursive at School

Posted by on Sep 05, 2013 8 Comments


My Official Handwriter
My daughter just started grade four in a Canadian public school, and one of the things she is most excited about is learning how to handwrite capital letters. She spent grade three learning how to handwrite lowercase letters, and was so proud to be one of the first “official handwriters” in her class. (I get it. I still have my grade four pen license.) Despite being an “official handwriter” in grade three, she was told that capitals had to wait until the following year. Of course, we taught her how to handwrite her first and last initials in uppercase at home, and she taught herself all of the other uppercase letters using an iPad app, but she wasn’t supposed to use capital cursives at school until she learned the proper form. This was somewhat understandable since I had to actually look up some of the letters, such as capital Q!

Cursive Vs. Keyboarding
Despite my daughter’s excitement about cursive, she may never formally learn how to handwrite capitals in school. Handwriting is no longer a compulsory part of the elementary school curriculum in our district. Many schools in the US have also downgraded the importance of handwriting in favor of keyboarding. Personally, I agree that typing is a much more important skill for today’s kids to learn. If there’s no room in the curriculum to teach both cursive and keyboarding, then it seems obvious which one should get the boot. (more…)

Educational Resources and Networking Opportunities in Social Media

Posted by on Sep 03, 2013 1 Comment

The wealth of information available via social media continues to amaze me. The vast amount of resources and networking opportunities that have sprouted (no pun intended) up in the last few years is incredible. Educators from around the world can connect and share ideas. But some of us might be wondering where to start! Or, for those of us already immersed in the online culture of the educational realm, how do we add to our networks? We all know time is valuable. How can we make the most of our time online? (more…)

Things to Do with a Map

Posted by on Aug 29, 2013 0 Comments

It’s Map Time: Using a Map with Young Learners

I was excited to see a tweet today from an ESL teacher in Iowa (@sturgeonesl) who is going to try using Sprout English materials with her young ELLs.

I immediately visited Ms. Libby’s blog and read a post about how she’s setting up her very first classroom. In her post, there are pictures of bookshelves, a calendar, and a map. Ms. Libby wrote:

“My roommate let me borrow this large map for my room. While right now I’m not planning on really doing anything with the map, I think it’s a good thing to showcase in an ELL room. And who knows, maybe it will come in handy later this year.” (more…)

We Aren’t a Class, We Are a Community! 8 Ways to Get Children Excited about Learning with You!

Posted by on Aug 28, 2013 1 Comment

“If you think of learning as a path, you can picture yourself walking beside her rather than either pushing or dragging or carrying her along.” ~ Polly Berrien Berends

The first month of school is critical for laying down the foundations for a successful learning journey with children. During the first month of school, we need to make connections with learners and welcome them into our community. We need to show them we look forward to their unique contributions and help those who feel they don’t have anything to offer discover what they can contribute. When we show children we care, they will go to great lengths to learn. They will also leave our class with enriching memories. The following suggestions will help you lay the foundations. Good luck on your learning voyage with your learners this year! (more…)

Welcome to Sprout English!

Posted by on Aug 22, 2013 7 Comments

We’re so excited about the launch of Sprout English, a resource site for teachers and parents of young learners of English. Let us tell you a little bit about who we are and what we do!

Who Are We?

We are a part of Red River Press, a company dedicated to quality educational websites and apps. We used to be called English Avenue, but we’ve undergone a big transformation that includes a beautiful new website, and we are now Sprout English! We feel that there continues to be a lack of resources available for young learners of English, and it’s our mission to change that. We will do for teachers and parents of young English learners what ESL-Library has done for teachers of teens and adults, which is to provide a wealth of valuable resources to make teaching easier and learning fun! (more…)