Ideas to provide students with the language to move from the news article into conversation.
EXPONENTS TO MOVE FROM ARTICLE TO CONVERSATION: Providing suitable exponents can enable learners to more confidently talk about a text they have in front of them. It is quite natural for anyone armed with a newspaper, magazine or book to want [...]

Activities to aid students’ reading or listening comprehension and to reduce the cognitive burden and pressure of “cold” reading / listening.
GAP FILL: A traditional exercise in which students reinsert words that have been taken out of a text:
Put the words on the bottom into the correct gaps.
Landmine elephant gets new foot

EXAMPLE: New developments in ________ [...]

Game Categories:
Opener
Energizer
Communication
Team-building
Review
Topical
Purpose: To get small groups thinking together and creatively solving tough problems.
Time Required: 20 minutes.
Size of Group: Unlimited, but participants should work in small groups of five to seven.
Materials Required: A flipchart with the alphabet displayed vertically, prepared in advance by the trainer.

Game Categories:
Opener
Energizer
Communication
Team-building
Review
Topical
Purpose: To introduce participants to one another by uncovering their individual tastes.
Time Required: 10 to 25 minutes.
Size of Group: Unlimited.
Materials Required: None.

Game Categories:
Opener
Energizer
Communication
Team-building
Review
Topical: Sales
Purpose: To help sales trainees more readily absorb product information, ultimately producing material that can be used in new sales trainee orientation, as review material, or as job aids.
Time Required: 10 to 15 minutes.
Size of Group: Unlimited, but participants should work in small groups.
Materials Required: None.

Game Categories:
Opener
Energizer
Communication
Team-building
Review
Topical
Purpose: To help teams learn to set—and meet—group goals.
Time Required: 30 minutes, stretched over the course of a one-day session or over two days in a longer class.
Size of Group: Unlimited, but participants should work in teams of about four.
Materials Required: None.

Game Categories:
Opener
Energizer
Communication
Team-building
Review
Topical
Purpose: To encourage participants to create their own review session and provide the trainer with a snapshot evaluation of the material.
Time Required: 15 minutes.
Size of Group: Unlimited.
Materials Required: None.

Game Categories:
Opener
Energizer
Communication
Team-building
Review
Topical
Purpose: To help participants think creatively in any type of training class.
Time Required: 10 minutes.
Size of Group: Unlimited.
Materials Required: Flipchart.

English Skill Level: Advanced Beginning to Advanced
Grade Level: Secondary to Adult
Background
By and large, vocational English (VESL) grew out of adult education ESL programs that determined the need for programs that are more particularly focused on work place skills. VESL developed to meet the needs of ESL students who planned on entering the workforce or who [...]

English Skill Level: All
Grade Level: All
Also Called: Learner-Centered Curriculum
Background
The learner-centered approach is a general orientation toward language teaching that has evolved since the 1970s in reaction to teacher-fronted, top-down language teaching classrooms and curriculum. In general, a learner-centered approach focuses on the background, needs, and expectations of students to create a more effective, authentic, and [...]