This is a video created for an assignment in my Internet in Education course at the University of South Florida. This is meant as a sample of what it might look like to create video modules for a hypothetical online course for Indonesian students wanting to learn English. This is not a real online course.
Warm-up Activity using For & Since
I use this activity as a warm-up when talking about the present perfect and using “for” and “since.” This works well as a follow up review activity for lower level classes or a refresher for those who are more advanced. Briefly explain why we use both “for” and “since” in the present perfect. For: a… Continue reading
5 Years Later: Joey Goes Global on ABC News!
It’s been 5 years since my last big adventure. Before embarking on my teaching career in South East Asia I backpacked through the horn of Africa and explored the northern Somalian state of Somaliland. I learned a lot about a unique part of the world after studying about it during my degree work. On February… Continue reading
Survival (teaching the infinitive)
I absolutely love this lesson because it is a great way to get students working together and having fun while getting the hang of an important grammar point. The infinitive form of verbs. to + verb to cut, to start, to help, to protect etc. I also like this lesson because it’s easily adaptable to… Continue reading
ESL Lesson Plan: Relative Pronouns (no preparation)
This is an activity I like to use when teaching relative pronouns. It can be adapted to any age group or level just by changing the difficulty of the examples and expectations of the students. The best part is it requires NO materials or preparation and is great when you need to come up with… Continue reading
Wake up Mr. Joe, time to write!
There’s a big hole in my website between when I settled down in Indonesia until now. For some reason I can never keep up the motivation for writing when I’m sedentary. It is so much easier to write when I’m on the road sitting at a guesthouse in some strange city. The one thing I… Continue reading
Why tourists are wrong about Medan
Don’t head the warning It all starts with the Lonely Planet guidebook for Indonesia. The writer paints a bleak picture of Medan by telling the reader that it is “consistently at the top of the worst cities in the world list,” among backpackers. To be fair, the writer does go on to defend Medan by… Continue reading
Responding to the “You’re so lucky!” comments
When I tell people I am teaching English in a foreign country many people respond with, “Wow, you’re so lucky!” They are right, but for the wrong reason. They assume that somehow I luckily happened upon a lottery in which the winner gets to travel the world and live anywhere they want. Well, no… that… Continue reading
ESL Activity: Superlative Olympics
Objective: This is a great activity to get the students engaged through interaction and competition. Let’s face it, there is very little interesting about grammar so I’m always trying to figure out a way to get them to understand the topic with out realizing they are learning. It’s called the Superlative Olympics but you can… Continue reading
ESL Activity: Have you ever…? (Present Perfect)
It seems like I’m teaching the past perfect every week in at least one of my classes. Since I love to incorporate geography into my lessons it can often be interesting to find out where students have been and also get to talk about my travels with them. Here are the rules: Set up: You… Continue reading