Organizers for Teaching Connectors

I have been meaning for some time to make these graphic organizers available to all here at Many Englishes. I have several versions of these two on connectors, but these are the most recent ones that I have distributed to my classes. One organizer focuses on coordinating conjunctions and transitions or conjunctive adverbs. I usually teach the usage of the FANBOYS and transition words together.  The other organizer focuses on a small array of subordinating conjunctions (which I encourage students to expand upon as they encounter other subordinators). Subordinating conjunctions which require more explanation of meanings, punctuation, and usage (especially the prepositional forms) are taught separately.

Many readers of this blog are familiar with my Intermediate Connectors Game Board which is a fun way (with some dice) for students to practice conjunctions orally. Here is another way using sentence strips that works well for a high intermediate+ level class. You can print the sentence strips on heavy paper or on colored paper. You need to cut between words where there is space (e.g., between conjunction and subject + verb, cut around the commas and periods. Students need to figure out what makes since. The words are all in capital letters so as not to give the students a clue about where to put a connector (at the beginning of a sentence or in the middle).  Please make comments if you have any questions or suggestions about other ways to improve the activity. I usually place a set of the strips inside a large envelope and put students in groups of four or five to sort and work together. You can do the activity more than once and make it a race to see which group remembers the sentences and puts the words together quickly and accurately.

Online Teacher Aides to the Rescue

Are you a creative teacher who wants to customize an integrated language arts or math lesson?  Then, you need to check out Lesson Writer and NiceNet.  These are free websites that allow teachers to create lesson plans using their own materials or using articles they find online.  And for teachers who are assessment conscious - who isn't these days?, there is a truly convenient Easy TestMaker.  All you have to do for any of these sites is sign up with a valid e-mail and create a password.  Voilà!

Here's an example of a page (downloaded first as a pdf) that I transferred to a Word Document, so that I could join it up to other test pages created in Word.  TestMaker is a huge timesaver.  You can do multiple choice, cloze, true-false, and matching tests, format into a single column or multiple colums as you like.  It will create an answer key for you, too.

On the other hand, if you're having one of those days when your mind is on hold and you just want someone to hand you a lesson, check out Teachers First.  These lessons are primarily designed for K-12 students, but there's endless material for ESL instructors here.  Again, this is a free website.

Word Formation Organizer for Vocabulary Students

This is a graphic organizer (Blank Word Formation Sheet) for my intermediate vocabulary students. They can download it as a Word Document (under the File menu) and type in different word forms along with an example sentence for any target vocabulary. Teachers can also fill in the sheet themselves, print it out, and refer students in the future to this page to download additional sheets. (If you're like me, I'm trying to save myself having to print out lots of copies for every student that loses his/her original copy or wants additional copies to add to.) 

I also teach my students how to use index cards for reviewing vocabulary, but the word formation sheets are another way to review language, especially for exams which focus on being able to transform words into their correct parts of speech.  

Useful Planners for Teachers

If you have to do or like to do record-keeping, I'm sure you'll find these free organizers and calendars to be very handy. Even if you're not a teacher, you may find some of the charts and templates useful for studying, for planning a project, and for journaling.

Donna Young's site has a well-organized range of materials for almost every purpose imaginable. Time Savers for Teachers also offers some free downloadable record templates for teachers. I recommend a visit to both sites to see which materials might serve your purposes and also to get ideas of how to use them.