Videos
Full Lesson Flow Video: Steps 1 through 8
This video shows the full English Forward Lesson Flow from beginning to end. The theme of the lesson is symptoms and medications and the teacher focuses on speaking & listening skills. Below you’ll find the video divided up into smaller sections, each clip showing on one of the eight steps.
Lesson Flow: Step One Activating Background Knowledge
This video shows a teacher demonstrating how to Activate Background Knowledge, the first step of the ESL by Design Lesson Flow. The teacher teaches the class the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” as a warm up and then leads a discussion of the types of medicine we use when we’re sick. You’ll see the teacher using a number of different teaching strategies, including Mind Mapping, Word Sorts, and Authentic Materials.
Lesson Flow: Step Two Mini-Presentation with Prompt
This video shows a teacher leading a Mini-Presentation with Prompt, the second step of the ESL by Design Lesson Flow. The teacher talks about the many things we do when we have health problems like allergies, the flu, or a cough. You’ll see the teacher demonstrating the use of Picture Cards.
Lesson Flow: Step Three Discussion and Comprehension Check
This video shows a teacher leading a Discussion and Comprehension Check, the third step of the ESL by Design Lesson Flow. The teacher checks students’ comprehension of the material from the Mini-Presentation on the topic of what to do when you get sick. You’ll see the teacher demonstrating the use of Signal Cards.
Lesson Flow: Step Four Highlight Lesson Focus and Model the Task
This video shows a teacher leading a Highlight Lesson Focus and Model the Task, the fourth step of the ESL by Design Lesson Flow. The teacher begins by asking students whether different illnesses are serious or not and then sorts the illnesses on the board. This leads into an activity in which the teacher asks students’ advice about how to care for these illnesses. You’ll see the teacher using a number of different teaching strategies, including Word Sorts and Problem Solving.
Lesson Flow: Step Five Guided Practice
This video shows a teacher leading a Guided Practice, the fifth step of the ESL by Design Lesson Flow. The teacher models a conversation with students by asking, “What’s wrong?” and the students give advice on what to do when someone feels sick.
Lesson Flow: Step Six Small Group Work
This video shows a teacher facilitating Small Group Work, the sixth step of the ESL by Design Lesson Flow. In the lesson students role play conversations with each other based on the guided practice in step five. They ask each other, “What’s wrong?” and practice giving advice to each other. You’ll see the teacher using a number of different teaching strategies, including Picture Cards and a Line Dialogue.
Lesson Flow: Step Seven Highlight How English Works
This video shows a teacher explaining how to facilitate Highlighting How English Works, the seventh step of the ESL by Design Lesson Flow. The teacher gives a brief explanation of the How English Works step and how to prepare for this section of the lesson. She goes on to explain the language structures she chose to highlight in this health lesson through the use of Sentence Frames.
Lesson Flow: Step Eight Quick Check and Review
This video shows a teacher demonstrating Quick Check and Review, the eighth and final step of the ESL by Design Lesson Flow. The teacher uses picture cards to facilitate mini-conversations with students asking them, “What’s wrong?” to check their understanding. She then reviews material from the lesson using an Exit Check.
Teaching Strategies: Language Immersion – German Demonstration Lesson
In this video you are immersed in a German language classroom where props and nonverbal communication are used to get language points across. The video gives you a peak into what students experience in the English language classroom. At the end of the video you’ll find a summary of the Language Immersion and Communicative Approaches to language teaching, and a discussion of how these approaches fit within the English Forward system.
Teaching Strategies: Chalk Talk
See a teacher using the Chalk Talk strategy in the classroom. In this clip the teacher models the use of drawings and pictures rather than text to get students talking about their first jobs.
Teaching Strategies: Realia – Weather Maps
In this classroom clip the teacher uses authentic, real world materials such as the newspaper and weather maps to lead a lesson on forecasts and geography. The teacher incorporates everything from numbers and percentages to weather vocabulary.
Teaching Strategies: Word Sorts
In this clip the teacher begins by describing the Word Sort strategy. The teacher then models the strategy by having students sort vocabulary words related to the home.
Teaching Strategies: Activating Background Knowledge
This clip shows the start of an ESL lesson on caregiving. The teacher activates students’ background knowledge by leading a discussion about growing a tree and how that compares to the way we raise our children.
Teaching Strategies: Line Up
This classroom clip demonstrates the use of the Line Up strategy in the classroom as a way of grouping students. The teacher begins by asking students to line up according to their date of birth. Students then pair up with a partner next to them in the line, talk with their partner about their children, and report what they learned back to the class. This activity is a follow-up to the “Teaching Strategies: Activating Background Knowledge” video.
Teaching Strategies: Think-Pair-Share I
In this clip the teacher sets out pictures of families around the classroom. Students circulate around the room thinking about each picture, talking about the picture with their partner, and sharing their ideas with the teacher. The teacher uses the pictures and the Think-Pair-Share strategy as way to get students thinking about how they raised their own families. This activity is a follow-up to the “Teaching Strategies: Line Up” video.
Teaching Strategies: Think-Pair-Share II
In this clip the teacher uses the Think-Pair-Share strategy to encourage student discussion. Students begin by thinking about the things they’ve done to encourage their children to grow up happy and healthy. Then they talk with their partner, and share with the class. This activity is a follow-up to the “Teaching Strategies: Think-Pair-Share I” video.
Teaching Strategies: Problem Solving
In this clip the teacher leads students in solving the problem of hiring a caregiver for their children. Students work in groups to create questions to ask a potential caregiver to ensure their children will be safe. This activity is a follow-up to the “Teaching Strategies: Think-Pair-Share II” video.
Student Stories: Coming to America
This video tells the story of six immigrants who came to the US to make a better life for themselves and their families. The immigrants talk about why they left their country and their goal of learning English in the United States.
Student Stories: Learning English
This video tells the story of six immigrants, their motivations for attending ESL classes, and the challenges they face learning English in the United States. The video is a follow-up to the video “Student Stories: Coming to America.”
Student Stories: Pathway to Prosperity
This video profiles workplace ESL classes. The video tells the experiences of immigrant students learning English on the job and the struggles they face working in a new country. This video is a follow-up to the video “Student Stories: Learning English”.