Learn Anything Online
English learners can take classes or projects online to learn just about any topic or skill. Here, they can grow their English communication skills in a context they care about, and will learn by doing!
Conversation Scripts
Conversation scripts are templates we use in everyday conversations, and there are similar ones in many other languages. Learning scripts can be a great way for students to feel more comfortable about speaking English.
Why Playing Games isn’t just Playing Around
Playing games is fun, and it can also be relaxing! But that doesn’t mean they have no educational value or that students don’t learn anything through games. In fact, games can – and often do – provide environments for learning and growth.
Exam Prep: Writing Essays
English language exams typically have a writing section, and many of those require test-takers to write an essay in a timed environment. If your students are preparing for such an exam, here are some practices they can employ to better prepare themselves for the writing section.
What Exactly are Participles?
In this post, we discuss the definition we at Insights use for ‘Participles’, since it’s argued among grammarians and varies by source material. We also highlight where Gerunds fit in.
Comprehension Checks
It’s important to conduct comprehension checks when teaching new material. If you’re not already familiar with these, here’s what you need to know.
Multiple Nouns in a Phrase
Sometimes “going with whatever sounds right” doesn’t work with multiple nouns in a noun phrase. We might need to think about parallelism or grouping in order to word the sentence correctly.
Editing Techniques
After students have written a piece of work, it’s important for them to self-edit. Here are some practices they should apply.
The Shape of Writing
The shape of paragraphs can be an indicator of the style of a piece of writing. Taking these shapes into consideration when writing or editing can help improve the final draft.
Allow Time for Answers
After asking a question, it’s important for teachers to wait for answers. Sometimes, waiting even a few seconds can seem to drag on, but leaving that time open allows students to better engage with the lesson
How We Use ‘Like’
The word ‘like’ is used frequently in casual speech, especially by younger Americans. Beyond the traditional definitions, there are 4 different ways the modern ‘like’ can be applied.
How Many Tenses?
While English teachers and textbooks consider there to be several different tenses (anywhere from 12 to around 20), many grammarians claim there are only two tenses. Why the discrepancy, and which two are the 2?
Words Associated with Positive vs Negative/Interrogative Expressions
There are some words we use almost exclusively in negative or interrogative clauses, most of which have corresponding words used almost exclusively for positive clauses. There’s just a handful of these, but they’re pretty common.
Ways to Pair Up Students
There are a few ways to put students into pairs. We’ll cover the main ones here and explore the pros and cons of each.
Why ‘Will’ is a Modal
When we think of ‘will’ on its own, we probably only think of its designation of the future. But then why is it considered a modal verb? Maybe there’s more to the word than we realize.
YLE Prep: Listening
Here a four things teachers can practice with their students to prepare them for the Listening sections of the Cambridge English: Young Learners Exams.
Tricky Object Pronouns
Should we always say “you and I” instead of “you and me”? What’s the difference between ‘who’ and ‘whom’? It helps to pay attention to where these pronouns fit into a sentence and their relationship to the main verb.
Resources for Students at Home
This spring, many schools have shut down because of the spread of COVID-19. Whether you’re continuing to teach remotely or are simply giving your students assignments so they can learn on their own, here are a few resources we’d like to recommend.