Happy Thanksgiving!

Today people are celebrating Thanksgiving all across the U.S. So what is Thanksgiving? The first link below takes you to a reading explores this American tradition. It also includes a glossary with lots of related vocabulary related to the holiday and the music and lyrics for a traditional Thanksgiving song! I've also included a link to "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" (yet another Charlie Brown video that takes a fun look at unique American traditions).  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving Reading

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Three Techniques for Promoting Cohesion in Academic Writing

In this post, I am including the materials I used for a 45 minute workshop on different ways we can help students to write more cohesively. The presentation begins by comparing and contrasting the concepts of coherence and cohesion. Then, it focuses on three different ways to make writing more cohesive: by using a variety of pronouns, through the use of lexical signposts and parallel structure. Also included is a worksheet with a list of activities and comprehension questions designed to help make the workshop as interactive as possible. I hope you find it useful! 

Promoting Cohesion PPT

Cohesion Activities

The Wild West

I am including here a link to the materials from a presentation I gave at the American Center Moscow on the Wild West and its influence on American culture. Included are: 

1. "Wild West" PowerPoint Presentation
2. "Wild West" Activities Handout

Yee-Haw! 

Plenary Presentation on Coherence and Cohesion in Academic Writing

I've included a link to a plenary talk I gave on coherence and cohesion in EAP writing at a conference honoring the 50th anniversary of the Foundational Sciences Department and the 10th Anniversary of the Linguistics Department at Bauman State Technical University. The presentation can be found: here

American English

I've mentioned this resource to many of the participants at my most recent workshops and talks and I wanted to include a link to the site here on my blog. The AE "American English" website is a wonderful online resources for both English language teachers and learners. There are always great activity ideas, thoughtful articles, professional development opportunities and chances to continue your English language learning journey.

The site can be found at: http://americanenglish.state.gov/

Be sure to check out the games featured in the section about International Game Day (here)

Other highlights include:

1. A Cool Color Vowel Chart (here)
2. The Voice of America (here)
3. English Teaching Forum magazine (here)
4. "Trace Effects" computer game (here)

And there's much more to be found, so take some time and enjoy exploring the American English website.

EAP Writing: Introductions & Conclusions

I'm including the materials I created for a workshop I facilitated yesterday at the American Center here in Moscow. The topic was: Introductions and Conclusions (for English for Academic Purposes Essay Writing). That last part is important. This workshop, along with the workshop I did in October on the PIE-C structure for body paragraphs, deal with academic writing. Also, it should be noted that, even within the field of academic writing, there are many different task types (problem/solution essays, persuasive essays, analysis essays, research papers, literature reviews, IMRD-style scientific articles, proposals, abstracts... the list goes one). The approach to writing introductions and conclusions outlined in this presentation is but one of many. 

That being said, feel free to use, adapt and/or ignore any and all of the materials provided. I hope you find something helpful/useful to you! 

1. Introductions & Conclusions (ppt)
2. Introductions & Conclusions (pdf)
3. EAP Introductions (Overview)
4. EAP Conclusions (Overview)
5. Thesis Statements Workshop

English Grammar Terms & Expressions

In order to clearly explain the way English grammar works, we need a clear understanding of the terms and expressions used to talk about grammar. The following websites are online glossaries for expressions used to talked about English grammar. They have easy to understand definitions and even often a few examples. If you (or a student) gets stumped over just how to explain what a dangling modifier or elliptical clause is, try consulting one of these sites.

I've also listed them on the right side of the website, under the 'Grammar' links.

1. UsingEnglish.com Glossary
2. About.com "100 Key Grammatical Terms"
3. EnglishPlus.com Grammar Glossary

Happy Hunting!