March is Here!

 

We finally made it to March! All indications are that March will be in like a lion and, hopefully, out like a lamb. With any luck, in a few short weeks, winter will be just a faint memory.

March is full of teaching topics. We start the month off with International Women’s Day on March 8th. How have the roles and rights of women changed since the start of IWD in 1911?  On March 12th, there is Daylight Savings. Always a great topic for debating the pros and cons of daylight savings. Then on March 17th, we have St. Patrick’s Day (the perfect opportunity to teach luck idioms). March 20th is Nowruz and the 21st is the official start of spring. What are your students looking forward to in Spring? And, of course, Ramadan starts on March 22nd.  Lent is also observed during the month of March. With higher level students you could compare and contrast Ramadan with Lent. They are both periods of fasting and self-reflection.  We also have March Break from the 13th-17th. 

Here is a link for March Break activities in Ontario https://www.destinationontario.com/en-ca/articles/fun-march-break-activities-ontario. Feel free to share it with your class.

Check out ELLII.com for prepared lessons on Women’s Day, Nowruz/Nauruz, Ramadan and Spring - all at different levels.

If you haven’t already tried the ready made listening/writing assessment - what are you waiting for? There are several great presentations this month so why not try out the templates.  Haleema and I would love your feedback on them.

As always, a big shout out to Kate for sharing ALL of her resources with us. 💙

If you have any questions or concerns regarding PBLA, please feel free to reach out. We are here to help.

If you have any Avenue related concerns, please contact Danielle - our go to Avenue expert.

Have a great month.

Marina and Haleema

 

February is Here!

With progress reports and conference summaries now out of the way, we hope you are having a great start to your month.

Is it too soon to be excited for spring? Well, Wiarton Willie may have given us hope by not seeing his shadow. Though it may be a tad early to talk about spring, there are plenty of other fun and important topics to teach about with your students. We’ve passed Ground Hog Day, and Lunar New Year, but Valentines Day – February 14 lends itself well to talk about symbols of love, relationships, marriage traditions in different countries, and of course – chocolate! 

Marina shared a lesson from Linguahouse. If you go to their website https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/chocolate they have a great video explaining the history of chocolate.

Also, here are two links to a lower and intermediate-level video you can use for a skill-using activity about Valentine’s Day:

Valentine's Day | English language learners - YouTube

Valentine’s Day in Canada! 🇨🇦 How is Valentine’s Day Celebrated in Canada 💘 - YouTube

Family Day – February 20 is a great way to talk about family relationships, parenting roles and responsibilities etc. You can search for many different activities that are happening around Halton and turn it into a reading/writing assessment or skill-using activity. Check out this link for more Family Day activities and ideas: 

Family Day 2023 - Things To Do With The Kids – Active Parents

All of February is Black History Month. Don’t pass up the chance to talk about the experiences and contributions of those who became an important part of black history. Some things to consider teaching: The Underground Railway, Notable Black Canadians, Racism and Discrimination. It’s a good opportunity to create a speaking or writing assessment by having students read about someone and sharing information about what they learned. Higher levels can present to the class, lower levels could answer 5 W’s. You may find some useful information from the following links:

Canadian Underground Railroad Resources for the Classroom (brightsparktravel.ca)

Noteworthy figures - Canada.ca

Have you been giving your students listening/writing assessments during presentations? Why reinvent the wheel? If you haven’t yet, try one of the ready-made listening/writing templates to use with any of the upcoming presentations in you class, such as Frauds and Scams or Self-care in Winter. 

Finally, it’s impossible to ignore the impact of the recent earthquakes, which have been devastating. It’s an opportunity to discuss how we can help those affected. There are numerous organizations collecting donations and supplies for those affected. Breaking News English has a lesson on this tragic natural disaster - find it here: 

Turkey Earthquakes - ESL Lesson Plan - Breaking News English Lesson

Take care, and have a great month,

Haleema and Marina