Interactive Language

A TPT site-wide sale is starting today (February 4) and ending tomorrow (February 5)! Click this banner to go to my store: Or click on this link: My TPT store . During this TPT site-wide sale, ALL of my products will be 25% off. Yes, you read that right: ALL of the products in my store (and many other TPT stores) will be 25% off!   This is a great time for you to pick up those expensive bundles you've been eyeing, or the lessons you've been saving in your shopping cart, or some seasonal Valentine's Day lessons. (Just remember to use the FEBSALE25 code when checking out.) Happy shopping!

With February just around the corner, I've already started posting up some Valentine's Day lessons. The latest addition to my TPT store is this Interactive Valentine's Day Escape Room called Be My Valentine . The storyline is quite simple. We have Tommy, who really likes a girl in his class called Emma, and wants to ask her if she'll be his Valentine on Valentine's Day: But of course he can't just ask Emma if she'll be his Valentine. That would be too easy. He needs to do a lot of things, like make her a Valentine's Day card, write a poem, buy flowers, and pick out a present for Emma, and to do all those things, he'll need some help from your students. For example, to make a Valentine's Day card, he'll need to collect some stationery: (While only four items need to be collected here, I usually spend some time going through the English names of the other items with my students too, as they may not know the names of all the things. We also usu...

Chinese New Year comes early this year, falling on January 29 instead of February. My "Let's Talk About Chinese New Year" lesson, which is part of my Seasonal Conversations in English lesson bundle, can help students better understand the traditions of Chinese New Year and learn how to talk about them and introduce them to others. The cover looks super festive: As always, the lesson starts with a brief one-page introduction to the holiday: This is followed by a short conversation between two people who discuss foods eaten at Chinese New Year dinner, Chinese New Year traditions, and Chinese New Year activities. The conversation slides all have embedded audio files which can be played by clicking on the blue icon in the top left corner: There is also a slide with an audio file for the entire conversation: For beginner-level students, I tend to play the conversation line by line first so they can read along with the attached transcript before listening to the whole conversa...

This interactive mystery game was the first digital resource I made from scratch for my ESL students. C1/C2 students have fairly good English skills, so most of their classes involve a lot of free discussion on the given topic or reading assignment of the week. However, despite their advanced abilities, I find many of my C1/C2 students are reluctant to speak English in public because they're scared of making a mistake or embarrassing themselves, so it requires a very interesting topic to get them to talk spontaneously. I like using mystery resources with these students because they find it easier to speak up once they get into the story, but most ESL mystery resources out there are either short reading comprehensions or group role-playing activities where students play one or more characters within the mystery. These are fun, but I wanted my students to question suspects and work through a mystery as though they were detectives, so I made this resource. The storyline isn't too...

Happy New Year 2025! I know some teachers in the US are just getting back after the winter break, but Christmas isn't celebrated where I am, so except for getting New Year's Day off, everything is pretty much business as usual. A couple of my ESL students asked if I could teach a lesson on how to talk about New Year and New Year's activities for our last class of 2024, as many previous New Year's conversations with their English-speaking colleagues in the office usually go something like this: English-speaking colleague: Happy New Year! ESL student: Happy New Year! *Silence* -Conversation ends- So I made an addition to my Seasonal Conversations in English lesson bundle titled, "Let's Talk About New Year." Like my other Seasonal Conversations in English lessons, this lesson starts with a brief one-page introduction to the holiday: This is followed by a short conversation between two people who discuss New Year's activities, New Year's resolutions,...

My Interactive Mystery Game resources are suited to advanced (C1/C2) ESL learners as well as native English speakers over the age of 12. They are primarily designed to encourage group discussions and critical/logical thinking, and can be used to teach students how to make inferences and lay out a logical argument. The thing students enjoy most about these interactive mystery games is the ability to interact with the characters by asking them questions through these clickable options: These resources contain: A Teacher's Guide (PDF) A gameplay slideset (PowerPoint Slide Show) A discussion slideset (PowerPoint) Two Detective’s Notebook files (basic version and making inferences version, both PDF The activity starts with a simple crime and four suspects. Each suspect has a profile page with an alibi and a page where they can air the opinions about the crime (and accuse someone else if they feel like it): Students can take notes in their Detective Notebooks and discuss the suspect'...

Seasonal Conversations in English  are a set of lessons for beginner to intermediate (A1/A2) ESL learners looking to improve their listening and speaking skills while also learning specific vocabulary associated with different holidays.  I created this lesson bundle to help beginner to intermediate students practice talking about seasonal topics. As such, these lessons are primarily designed to provide speaking practice, so the listening portion of the lessons aren't very long. Each lesson begins with a brief overview of the holiday: This is followed by a short conversation between two people discussing three topics associated with the holiday. For example, in "Let's Talk About New Year" (the lesson pictured above), the conversation covers New Year's activities, New Year's resolutions, and new beginnings for the new year. Students can start by listening to the whole conversation in its entirety. (Conversation transcripts are included in the lesson.) Each conve...