Esl Activities

Author: Les

Movement in a room creates changing social dynamics.  And language is a social activity.  Also, when students move they become more aware of their environment.  This is a sort of heightened sensitivity. It increases their perceptive skills.  The input is channeled straight to the brain.

When we move, we breathe deeper. We get lots more oxygen. This helps us think better.  But really, moving is just plain more fun.  When we get up to do an ESL  activity (as opposed to sitting down), I can see many more smiles.

ESL activities are supposed to help students learn English so they can use it.  Reading and writing can help with this.  But I feel that listening and speaking are the master skills that underlie them.

If we make activities that encourage listening and speaking, our students will learn better.  And deeper.

So I have four ingredients in my ESL activities.

Repeating

You need to memorize a lot to learn a language. And repetition is essential.  Ask yourself: Do you have activities that help the students repeat the target language?  So they can hear it many times, and say it many times?

Listening

Unfortunately, it is easy to start listening and then give up soon because, well, simply, we don\'t understand it.  And often students don\'t have to listen. They can guess very well.  We have to change that by making activities with question and answer.  A bit of randomness is good.  So that students need to listen to the question, or perhaps another student’s prior answer to make a good response.

Listening to English passages that have reductions can be fun.  The students know the words, but can’t understand them due to the reductions.  They really pick up their attention to these listening activities.

Speaking

Let the students interact with each other, and exchange information.  It doesn\'t always have to be deep and meaningful if the target language is challenging.  Flashcards give good ‘seeds’ for the students to start talking about things.

A Sample

In my classes we have a ball learning English.  Literally.  I have a ball.  Everyone stands up (movement).  We throw the ball and catch it (more movement).  We ask questions to each other (speaking, listening).  We keep doing this (repeating).  The set of questions is limited.  For instance, general routine questions.  What time do you..?   Where do you...? And so on. 

There is one important thing to remember.  Throwing balls is fun but not for too long.  It makes repeating more fun but not for too long.  Perhaps 4 to 8 minutes of fun is good. 

Have fun!

(find the original article here along with a sample listening activity, a story with phrasal verbs used in context!)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/languages-articles/esl-activities-1848916.html

About the Author

Les Perras is an English teacher in Ikoma, Japan. He teaches there in his own school, a franchise of Smith\'s School of English. In addition, he is the author of the website English Listening World .

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Author: Preeminence Web Design

Stage 1 - Style over substance

The first stage is to design a site that the chief executive officer, venture capitalists, and ad agencies like to see. There are all types of 'bells and whistles' in this design. An entire site might be a Flash animated site. Or there might be some beautiful JavaScript mouse over effects or drop-down menus in the design. It\'s always a pretty design, but the message is clear - style over substance.

Stage 2 - Designing for online visibility

In Stage 2, the reality of an ineffective web design begins to hit, usually around 3-6 months after the initial launch. A site will typically get rejected by many of the major directories, not be indexed by the major search engines, or not get the traffic or sales that were projected based on the various types of marketing strategies used. Typically, that\'s when companies decide that they will try to hire a professional online marketer to promote the site. Doorway page companies, in some way, shape or form, rear their ugly heads. Unfortunately, many web site owners fall for a doorway page company\'s pitch because the beautifully designed site couldn\'t possibly be the problem with low site traffic. Yahoo might have rejected a site, or the site might have been listed in Yahoo and the company cannot understand why they have no description next to their company name. But in no way would many ad agencies or doorway page companies want to tell potential clients the truth -- they simply did not design and write an effective web site -- because it would mean losing thousands of pounds in business

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Author: Pennsylvania Web Design

Websites provide a virtual image of a business or individual to its prospective clients. So there\'s a need for visually appealing websites with quality content to gain an edge over your competitors. An effective web design implies something unique yet special in its approach. A website provides an interactive gateway for communication between client and company. A website should fit any business like a well-tailored dress. It should reflect your persona in addition to instilling confidence in the potential buyer that yours is a solid, stable and reliable business.

The more visitors that see your website, the better. To get optimum leads for your business, there are some of the important tips that should keep in mind for an efficient web design.

Identify the Goal of Your Website:

Every website is created with a specific purpose. First of all decide the purpose of your website. Then create a strategic web design to achieve desired website goals.

Information organization:

A website should present all the information in an organized and sophisticated way. If your web page is obvious and self-explanatory it will make visitors more comfortable. An effective web design should have clear and understandable navigation. A visitor should feel at ease while using your website.

User friendly Web Design:

A good web design should be graphically appealing to entice prospective clients to stay longer and browse your information. Good navigation should be provided so that customer can access any information on your website without confusion. Important areas should be highlighted to attract visitor\'s attention.

Cohesive Research:

A detailed report should be prepared on daily/weekly basis about the number of visitors, their time duration on your web pages and number of clicks made to important links. By analyzing these reports, you can determine if changes to your site need to be implemented.

A qualitative Analysis:

A good web design should undergo a cross browser compatibility check to ensure that it supports all types of browsers by displaying information in a user friendly way.

A good web design company can create the entire website for you, starting with an effective web design. You just need to provide them with details about your business specifications and expectations, then they will do the rest for you in an efficient manner which is both time as well as cost effective. A good web Design Company should possess state of the art technology with a proven track record in this field.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-articles/important-tips-for-an-effective-web-design-5459569.html

About the Author

Looking for a good Pennsylvania Web Design Company to get your website done? Visit PA web design, a web design Pennsylvania company now!

The Importance of Quality Web Design

Author: Pennsylvania Web Design

Let\'s take a look at a few different areas where a PA Web Design team can focus their efforts on increasing the bottom line for business and getting a large presence online.

Web Design That Works

Did you know that you only have a few seconds to engage a user who is browsing through the internet? With billions of web sites out there, how are you going to stop someone when they are at your web site, get them engage and interested? The majority of people will visit a web site and if they don\'t see something they like, they are gone within a few seconds.

Through the use of a PA Web Design team, the need for creating web site designs that grab the attention of the user, by focusing on call to action wording, colors and placement on your web sites is key. If you simply threw together a web site for your business, without having an end goal or the average user in mind, you may be doing more harm than good with your web site.

Creative Magma Tips for Web Design

Author: dallas web design

Web Page
Any text file with the extension \'.html\' is termed as a web page. It may contain information in the form of text and/or graphics. A web page may contain hyperlinks, commonly known as \'links\'.

Basic Steps

The first step in learning to design a web page is to know the basics of HTML. HTML is the abbreviated form of \'HyperText Markup Language\'. It is quite a simple language to learn and once you get used to formatting in HTML, designing a web page becomes child\'s play. It is possible to insert text as well as graphics into a web page with the help of HTML. The \'notepad\' available on your personal computer comes in handy for learning HTML. After you finish designing a web page, it can be viewed with the help of a software known as the web browser. Along with HTML, newer tools like the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), are used to add value to the content presented on the web page. The layout of the web page is designed by using CSS. Making use of appropriate colors enhances the overall look of the web page. The HTML color codes can also be used in designing.

Domain Name Registration

Registering the domain name gives a singular identity to the website.

The Web Design Process Easy To Understand

Author: Preeminence Web Design

The best thing that can be done for web design is to leave it to the designers! That is what a lot of folks particularly internet marketers like me believe about the web design process.

When you visit a large web design company the chances are they outsource the work to a freelance website designer just like I do in the majority of cases. You may have a current web site design project, you may be updating an existing site, or just interested in learning new skills. If so then this article will help you with your web design process decision making.

When your field of expertise includes nothing related to computers or the Internet, defining what you need in a web design can feel burdensome. However, I was tired of running behind companies, waiting for their updates on my website design. You must first develop a strategic plan and design your web site accordingly. Prior to designing your web site, you must have a clear understanding as to exactly what it takes to succeed. But these goals are nearly impossible to achieve without learning the rules that govern Web site design. Look for books on web page and web design. Use the web - there are thousands of sites that have tutorials and explanations of every aspect of web site design and implementation.

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Author: Tomer Harel

English grammar is a subject that truly frustrates many people. Regardless of educational level, nationality or age, grammar and spelling seem to baffle many people. And if someone has a learning disability like dyslexia, using correct grammar seems like an almost impossible feat. Using correct grammar can be difficult for those who have English as their mother tongue, but for those who speak other languages, English and it\'s complexities can be especially confusing. While a dictionary can be helpful, it will not give answers to grammar questions. Even word processing programs can fail to give the much-needed help in correcting grammar errors that are blatantly wrong.

What can a person do, therefore, to improve their English grammar? There are several things that might help someone struggling in this area. First of all, it might help to be with people who use correct grammar when they talk and read material that uses good grammar structure within the English language. Since everyone learns his or her native language by listening, even from back to the time of infancy, it reasons that if he or she listens to and reads material with good grammatical structure, they will slowly learn the correct way to write and say things.

A grammar book with practical examples and explanations for the rules of English grammar may be most helpful also. It may not be necessary to understand every detail and concept, but with good examples and practice exercises, one can learn much about correctly forming sentences that are grammatically precise. Learning rules and doing exercises can be monotonous at times, so it will take much patience to continue to learn. One can usually overcome most important grammatical problems through trial and error and consistent practice time.