Category Archives: Language

Brookline Student Starts an ESL Global Community

“Anna Lin started teaching English in the fifth grade. Now she has a student-run nonprofit dedicated to the practice.” By J. Osterheldt, Globe Columnist,Updated June 7, 2022,

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key

Brookline High School students Luchenzhi “Sunny” Wang, Anna Lin, and Bezawit O’Neill are part of Language Virtual, a tutoring program started by Anna to teach students how to learn and speak English. Jonathan Wiggs/globe Staff

Excerpt: How one Brookline student turned teaching English into a young, global community By Jennee Osterheldt,Globe Columnist,Updated June 7, 2022,

“As a fifth-grader Anna Lin became a teacher.

Her family would travel from Brookline to Thailand to see relatives in the summer and she was asked to help students learn English.

‘I stepped in a classroom of 30 students, all wearing their green and khaki uniforms, and I was younger than them,’ she recalls. ‘I felt like there was a wall between me and them and I thought we couldn’t connect.’

She started by using something she loved — math — to teach the language. PEMDAS: parentheses, exponents, multiplication, and division from left to right, and addition and subtraction from left to right…Summer after summer, she returned and taught. Until the pandemic gripped the world in 2020. She was a freshman at Brookline High School and she wasn’t thinking about what COVID meant for summer fun. She was thinking about teaching in Thailand. ‘I promised I would come back,’ she says. ‘I was sitting at my dinner table with my mom and thinking we don’t have to go to the country to connect with them. We can do it virtually.’ Lin began to reach out to friends at school and friends around the world who moved away, too. They could be teachers to their peers wanting to learn English.

She created a website, Language Virtual, and put out a sign-up sheet. That first year, there would be three students and three teachers.

Now, Anna Lin is finishing her junior year in high school. And she has 100 teachers her age, largely sophomores and juniors, teaching the English language. It also counts as community service hours that some students need to graduate. A lot of them are in Brookline but there are also teachers nearby in Concord, Belmont, and Revere, and as far away as Turkey…Language Virtual does not adhere to a specific teaching style. They have lesson plans around storybooks like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” There are exercises around family, food, and animals. And there is room for teachers to cater curriculums to students.”

Free, Online, Quality English Lessons Please Visit Language Virtual 

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post

NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.

 

Level: Intermediate – Advanced

Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.

Time: Approximately 60 minutes. 

Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.


Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and improving oral skills. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing. 

 Predictions: Using a Pre-reading Organizer

Directions: Examine the title of the post and of the actual article. Next examine  any photos. Write a paragraph describing what you think this article will discuss. A pre-reading organizer may be used.

Pre-reading chart by J. Swann

 

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

Directions: Try  to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. You use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance. 

  1. All 30 students were wearing their green and khaki uniforms.
  2. Math is universal  Lin says.
  3. The beginning was very nerve-racking.
  4. After that month I began to look at them as friends.
  5. She was a freshman at Brookline High School.
  6. She was thinking about teaching in Thailand.
  7. Now, Anna Lin is finishing her junior year in high school. 
  8. They have students in America who have immigrated to the United States from many countries.
  9. Sometimes students come by word of mouth, other times they are referred by ESL teachers.
  10. She and her four siblings were adopted from Ethiopia. 

 

Grammar Focus: Word -Recognition

Directions: Students choose the correct word to complete the sentences taken from the article. They are to choose from the options presented.

Language Virtualdoes/donot/knotadhere too/to a specific teaching/teach style. They has/have lesson plans around storybooks like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” Their/There are exercises/exercise around family, food, and animals. And their/there is room for teachers to/two cater curriculums too/to students.

Reading ComprehensionFill-ins

Directions: Place students in groups and after they have read the entire article, have them complete the following sentencestaken from the article. They can use the words and terms from the list provided, or provide their own terms. They are to find the meanings of any new vocabulary.

Lin began to ___out to ___at school and ___around the ___who moved away, too. They could be ___to their ___wanting to ___English.

She created a___, Language Virtual, and put out a sign-up sheet. That first year, there would be three ___and three teachers.

WORD LIST:website,learn, peers,teachers, world, reach, friends, students, friends,

III. Post Reading Activities

WH-How Questions

Directions: Have students use the  WH-question format to discuss or to write the main points from the article. 

Who or What is the article about?

Where does the action/event take place?

When does the action/event take place?

Why did the action/event occur?

How did the action/event occur?

Discussion Questions for Comprehension /Writing

3,2,1, Questions

Directions:Discuss three new ideas  that you’ve learned about the topic from the reading,  two things that you did not understand in the reading, and one thing you would like to know that the article did not mention.

Ask/Answer Questions

 Directions:  Place students in groups and have each group list 3  questions they would like to pursue in relation to  the article. Have groups exchange questions. Each group tries to answer the questions listed. All responses are shared as a class.

Group Activity

Directions: With your group members think of ways you might start a global ESL learning community in your school. Write a letter to Anna Lin (in care of Language Virtual) asking for information.

ANSWER KEY

 

Category: Education, Language, People, Social Issues | Tags: ,

How The Deaf Culture Name Signs

“How does a person get a name sign — the series of unique gestures used to identify someone in American Sign Language? To understand the process of name signing, a Times team turned to people who knew it best.” S. Bahr, The New York Times, August 30, 2021

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key

Monique Holt, left, Marsellette Davis, top right, and Frank Dattolo explain their name signs in the Times interactive article. “Once we in the Deaf community get to know who you are, then we can honor you with respect by giving you a sign name,” Ms. Davis said in the article. Credit…The New York Times

Excerpt:How a Question on Sign Language Led to a Deeper Look at Deaf Culture,By Sarah Bahr, The New York Times, Aug. 30, 2021

“For a team of Times journalists, the process of answering that question underscored the importance of two storytelling basics — rely on experts and think of the audience — and resulted in an interactive article in July that provided a broader understanding of deaf culture.

‘One of our priorities was to show our readers the diversity of experiences and backgrounds that exist in the deaf world,’ Ilaria Parogni, a senior editor who wrote the article, said. ‘Delving into name signs allowed us to tap into that.’

The challenge began when The Times set out to learn how Vice President Kamala Harris received her name sign (also known as a sign name).

Name signs are an important component of ‘capital D Deaf’ culture, a term used by some deaf people to indicate that they embrace deafness as a cultural identity.

A group of five women had collaborated on a name sign for Vice President Harris…Scott Reinhard, a graphics editor, originally pitched the idea to the Culture desk and suggested talking to the women about how they arrived at the name sign.

Ms. Parogni and Alicia DeSantis, a deputy editor for visuals and multimedia, organized a two-hour video call with the five women in February…Ms. Parogni said that it quickly became clear to everyone that there was a much bigger story to be told beyond Ms. Harris — about the history of name signs and their significance to deaf people…Amanda Morris, a hard-of-hearing woman raised by two deaf parents who is fluent in ASL, offered additional support when she joined The Times in June as a disability reporting fellow…The team also took her recommendation to make a key detail in the story more prominent: Name signs cannot be assigned by a hearing person. And Ms. Morris reinforced a direction team members had decided on earlier to make the article accessible to visually impaired readers by including video transcripts — invisible descriptions of videos on a page that are read aloud to blind or visually impaired users on a screen reader”.

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post

NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.

Level: Intermediate – Advanced

Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.

Time: Approximately 60 minutes. 

Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.


Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and improving oral skills. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing. 

I. Pre-Reading Activities

 Predictions: Using a Pre-reading Organizer

Directions: Examine the title of the post and of the actual article. Next examine  any photos. Write a paragraph describing what you think this article will discuss. A pre-reading organizer may be used.

Pre-reading chart by J. Swann

 

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

Directions: Try  to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. You use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance. 

  1. A name sign — the series of unique gestures used to identify someone in American Sign Language.
  2. The process of answering that question underscored the importance of two storytelling basics.
  3. One of our priorities was to show our readers the diversity of experiences and backgrounds in the deaf world.
  4. A group of five women had collaborated on a name sign for Vice President Harris.
  5.  Scott Reinhard, a graphics editor, originally pitched the idea to the Culture desk.
  6. Ms. Parogni pitched American Sign Language  teachers throughout the project.
  7. People need more than just subtitles.
  8. Ms. Morris helped make a few of the subtitles more accurate.
  9. The team also took her recommendation to make a key detail in the story more prominent.
  10. Ms. Morris reinforced a direction team members group.

Vocabulary Cluster By Learnnc.org

 

 Grammar Focus: Structure and Usage

Directions: The following groups of sentences are from the article. One of the sentences in each group contains a grammatical  error.  Identify the sentence (1, 2, or 3 ) from each group that contains the grammatical error.

I

The signs consist of gestures that reflect a individual’s personality.

Scott Reinhard is a graphics editor.

The Times worked with several interpreters throughout the project.

II

It was clear that video, graphics and design would have to be integrated.

There was an much bigger story to be told.

More than a dozen journalists worked on the project.

III

There were questions the team had to work through.

Ms. Morris helped make a few of the subtitles more accurate.

Name signs cannot be assigned by an hearing person.

Reading Comprehension Fill-ins

Directions: Place students in groups and after they have read the entire article, have them complete the following sentences  taken from the article. They can use the words and terms from the list provided, or provide their own terms. They are to find the meanings of any new vocabulary.

One of our ___was to show our___the ___of experiences and ___that exist in the___world, Ilaria Parogni, a senior ___who wrote the article, said. Delving into___ signs allowed us to ___into that.

Name signs are an___ component of capital D Deaf  culture, a ___used by some deaf people to ___that they embrace ___as a cultural identity. 

WORD LIST: deafness indicate, term, important, tap, name, editor, deaf, backgrounds, diversity, readers, priorities, 

III Post Reading

Discussion Questions for Comprehension /Writing

Directions: Have  students discuss the following questions/statements. Afterwards,  students share their thoughts as a class. To reinforce the ideas, students can write an essay on one of the topics mentioned.

  1. What does ALS stand for?
  2. What is a name sign?
  3. According to the article, what did the Times reporters want to explain to the readers?
  4. What term do some deaf people use  to indicate that they embrace deafness as a cultural identity?
  5. What can gestures from the name signs reflect?
  6. Aside from using the hand and fingers, what other context clues are important when signing?
  7. Can name signs be assigned by a hearing person? Why or why not?
  8. What did Ms. Ms. Parogni do in order to prepare for this project?
  9. Who is Deborah Leiderman?
  10. Write down three new ideas  you’ve learned about the topic from the reading, two things  that  you did not understand in the reading, and one thing you  would like to know that the article did not mention. Review the responses as a class. 

ANSWER KEY

Category: Culture, Education, Language | Tags:

Knowing Multiple Languages Can Make You a Spelling Champ!

“A ‘woefully confused polyglot’ discovers which non-English words have become common enough to count toward her Spelling Bee score.” L. Thuy Vo, The New York Times, March 7, 2022

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post  with Answer Key

Illustration by Alison Zai New York Times

Excerpt:How My Multilingual Upbringing Helps Me Solve Spelling Bee, By Lam Thuy Vo, The New York Times, March 7, 2022

“As a child born to Vietnamese immigrants in Germany, I was sometimes asked to translate documents into German, some of which were much more important than I had realized. Growing up in this kind of household also meant being somewhat linguistically agile. From an early age, I made acrobatic leaps between grammatically and tonally disparate languages without thinking much about it…Experiencing the world in multiple languages has made me experiment with how I approach finding words in puzzles that were constructed by people who do not know the languages I do. (However, I’d love to one day solve a Spelling Bee written by a native speaker of Vietnamese, German and English who also dabbles in French.)

Because I learned French in middle school, not too long after I started learning English, the word croissant is distinctly French to me. Even if you ask me about this fluffy, buttery pastry in English, I will be that endlessly pretentious person who uses the Vietnamese French pronunciation, ‘cruh-ah-suuh-nt.’ In my mind, that’s where the word belongs.

But many words, like croissant, have crossed the globe and exist independent of their origins. A Starbucks customer in America might order a ‘cruh-sant,’ familiar with it because of her American upbringing… I think of these words as the manifestation of different cultures in the place I now call home, the United States.”

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 First Guest Podcast for ESL-Voices!

We are happy to introduce this great ESL learning Podcast: “English as a Simple Language” from Don La Bonte:

“Here is a free 40 hour self-directed, progressive video lesson plan focusing on the basic English conversation patterns for beginners helping them to express their emotions. Patterns introduced to students are subsequently reinforced by multiple reviews encouraging them to speak rather than just passively listen or read.  They learn to speak by speaking. All videos are also available in a free podcast format for easy access anywhere.” Don La Bonte www.labonteesl.com

 

Also visit: LA BONTE’S Top 100 English Conversation Patterns

“Language is the art of communication of your feelings and feelings are conveyed through very common conversation patterns.” Don La Bonte https://www.labonteesl.com/patterns

NOTE: Mr. La Bonte has graciously allowed ESL-Voices to add his Podcast  to our Resources section. You can find his work here:

~ Thanks Don, we appreciate your hard work and willingness to share~  ESLV

*******************************************************************************************

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post

Knowing Multiple Languages Can Make You a Spelling Champ!

NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.

Level: Intermediate – Advanced


Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.


Time: Approximately 60 minutes.


Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.


Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and improving oral skills. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing.

I. Pre-Reading Activities

 Predictions: Analyzing headings and photos

Directions: Examine the titles of the post and of the actual article.  Examine any photos, then create a list of  words and  ideas  that you  and your group members think might be related to this article. 

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

Directions: Try to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. You use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance.

  1. The author is very proud of her Spelling Bee score.
  2. In the U.S. many children are multilingual.
  3. The author describes herself as a woefully confused polyglot.
  4. The author was born to Vietnamese immigrants in Germany.
  5. Growing up in this kind of household also meant being somewhat linguistically agile.
  6. I made acrobatic leaps between grammatically and tonally disparate languages without thinking much about it.
  7. That’s roughly 60 million people who seesaw between at least two languages.
  8. Experiencing the world in multiple languages has made me experiment with how I approach finding words in puzzles.
  9. I’d love to one day solve a puzzle written by a native speaker of Vietnamese and English who also dabbles in French.
  10. Crossword puzzles may describe a term in a clue and ask for the answer to be in a foreign language.

 

Grammar Focus: Word -Recognition

Directions: Students choose the correct word to complete the sentences taken from the article. They are to choose from the options presented.

Finding word/words in the/an honey comblike grid has/have also re-emphasized to/two me that English, likes/like most languages in/on this globalized age, is already something/somewhat multilingual in nature. Sometime/Sometimes we just forgot/forget that many in/of the words/word we use came to/too us from elsewhere.

 

Reading ComprehensionFill-ins

Directions: Place students in groups and after they have read the entire article, have them complete the following sentencestaken from the article. They can use the words and terms from the list provided, or provide their own terms. They are to find the meanings of any new vocabulary.

But many___, like___,have crossed the ___and exist ___of their origins. A ___customer in ___might order a “cruh-sant,” familiar with it because of___American upbringing.

With this in___, it’s been a___ to discover what ___terms are now part of everyday ___life.

WORD LIST: American foreign, joy, mind, her, Starbucks independent, globe, words, croissant, America,

III. Post Reading Activities

WH-How Questions

Directions: Have students use the  WH-question format to discuss or to write the main points from the article.

Who or What is the article about?

Where does the action/event take place?

When does the action/event take place?

Why did the action/event occur?

How did the action/event occur?

Discussion Questions for Comprehension /Writing

Directions: Have  students discuss the following questions/statements. Afterwards,  students share their thoughts as a class. To reinforce the ideas, students can write an essay on one of the topics mentioned.

  1. Do you speak a language other than English? If yes, how has it helped you?  If no, has it hindered you in any way?
  2. What are the advantages of knowing more than one language? Are there any disadvantages?
  3. In the United States, how many people speak a language besides English?
  4. What type of Spelling Bee does the author hope to solve one day?
  5. Throughout the article, which languages does the author use as examples of words English speakers may or may not know?
  6. If you only speak English after reading this article would you like to learn another language? Why or why not?
  7. List three new ideas  that you’ve learned about the topic from the reading,  two things that you did not understand in the reading, and one thing you  would like to know that the article did not mention.  Share your responses with your class.

ANSWER KEY

Category: Education, Language

Supporting the Use of Non-Binary Pronouns in Schools

“Transgender and nonbinary students are urging educators to use inclusive language, but not everyone is on board.” L. K. Wertheimer,The Boston Globe September 28, 2021

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key

Alia Cusolito, a sophomore at Old Rochester Regional High School in Mattapoisett. Credit- Harry Scales. The Boston Globe

Excerpt: ‘A very scary thing to tell someone’: The debate over gender pronouns in schools, explained By Linda K. Wertheimer September 28, 2021, The Boston Globe

“On the first day of school at Old Rochester Regional High School in Mattapoisett, Alia Cusolito donned cool, 3-inch, dangling sword earrings. The sophomore also pinned a circular black button with ‘they/them’ in silver letters onto their shirt and a pink ‘they/them’ pin to their backpack. The buttons were a plea for respect and for acknowledgement from teachers and peers of Alia’s identity and preferred pronouns. The teen identifies as nonbinary.

‘The language we use to describe ourselves is a choice, but the gender I am is not a choice,’ says Alia, who switched from she/her pronouns to gender-neutral ones in ninth grade. ‘Nonbinary fits me. My identity isn’t a choice.’

As president of the school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance club, Alia, who is 16, wanted to attend class and walk the halls without the worry that someone, teachers included, might misgender them…Before the school year began, school librarian Allison Barker, adviser to the Gender Sexuality Alliance club (known around the country as GSAs), slipped sample get-to-know-you forms in every teacher’s mailbox. The forms, which students would be asked to fill out, included a blank space to fill in their pronouns and preferred names. Barker has distributed such forms for the past three years to help teachers ease the way for students who may feel anxious to announce their names and pronouns in front of the class.

But Alia’s first two days of school this year were a disappointment. Only three of their nine teachers gave students a way to provide pronouns and names of choice…Many teachers and school administrators I interviewed, including the principal at Old Rochester Regional, say they’re listening and making changes… While asking for pronouns has become routine in some school systems, it isn’t at all commonplace at others.

In some cases, administrators say they’re moving slowly because for many teachers the concept of gender-neutral pronouns is relatively new. And community backlash is a realistic fear. Gender identity, as well as anything to do with the LGBTQ community, used to be a hush-hush topic in schools and elsewhere…In Virginia, a gym teacher sued the Loudoun County school system, contending that his free speech rights were violated when he was suspended for saying at a school board meeting that he wouldn’t refer to transgender students by their preferred pronouns. In August, a judge ruled in his favor… Advocates say the pronoun/name forms are necessary for health and safety reasons. ‘Simply respecting a student’s chosen name and pronoun is the single most important thing you can do to prevent suicide and mental health issues,’ says Kimm Topping, program manager of the Massachusetts Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students.”

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post

NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.

Level: Intermediate – Advanced


Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.


Time: Approximately 60 minutes.


Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.


Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and improving oral skills. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing.

I. Pre-Reading Activities

KWL Chart

Directions: Have students use the KWL chart to list the information they already know about transgender or non-binary terms. Later in the Post- Reading segment of the lesson, students can fill in what they’ve learned about the topic.

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

Directions: Try to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. You use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance.

  1. Some people identify as Transgender.
  2. Many teens identify as non-binary.
  3. Alia was president of the school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance club.
  4. Many students feel anxious saying their names and pronouns in front of the class.
  5. I’ve seen  a new trend myself as a parent.
  6. My son is an eighth-grader in a suburban Boston middle school.
  7. Those who oppose the distribution of pronoun forms, include parents and conservative Christian groups.
  8. At Old Rochester Regional, a collaboration is taking place  between students and the school educators.
  9. Some teachers still called students by their dead names on the first day and some were misgendered.
  10. Students upset about teachers who didn’t distribute the forms expressed their angst on an Instagram site.

Vocabulary Cluster By Learnnc.org

 

Grammar Focus: Identifying Prepositions

Directions: The following sentences are from the news article.  For each sentence choose the correct preposition from the choices listed. Note that not all prepositions listed are in the article.

Some Prepositions: at,  as, across, around,  by, during,  for, from, in, into,  of, on,  to, over,  off, through, up,  with, since,

Devoll, the school’s principal___13 years, wanted___ know how they could fix it. Barker believes consistency is the key. She gave Devoll a copy___ a form that’s gone viral, created___ a Pennsylvania middle school science teacher who runs an Instagram site called Teaching Outside the Binary. Barker praised the form’s inclusion___an option ___students___decide who should know their new identity, including whether guardians and parents should be___ the list. “That’s ___their safety,” Barker says. “They don’t feel comfortable being out ___their parents, but___school, they have found safety___being able ___express their true selves.”

Reading Comprehension Identify The  Speakers

Directions: Read the following quotes from the speakers in the article. Then identify the speakers.

  1. “I think it’s not asking very much to simply ask a child what they would like to be called.”
  2. “I think everyone who cares about children is on a learning curve. Our understanding of gender identity has evolved in the last decade.”
  3. Advocates say the pronoun/name forms are necessary for health and safety reasons. “Simply respecting a student’s chosen name and pronoun is the single most important thing you can do to prevent suicide and mental health issues.”
  4. “Expanding the curriculum and letting students be called what they want in school are both part of making schools safer.”
  5. “What other emotional and mental labor do queer and trans kids need to put in before we’ll be shown basic respect?” 

III. Post Reading Activities

WH-How Questions

Directions: Have students use the  WH-question format to discuss or to write the main points from the article.

Who or What is the article about?

Where does the action/event take place?

When does the action/event take place?

Why did the action/event occur?

How did the action/event occur?

Discussion Questions for Comprehension /Writing

Directions: Have  students discuss the following questions/statements. Afterwards,  students share their thoughts as a class. To reinforce the ideas, students can write an essay on one of the topics mentioned.

  1. Do you consider yourself transgender  or non-binary?
  2. If so, how do you want others to address you?
  3. Do you know someone who identifies as transgender  or non-binary?
  4. In this article how does Alia identify?
  5. What was one of Alia’s fears going back to class?
  6. Which pronoun has been in use since 1375?
  7. What did the school librarian suggest students do before the school year began  to help teachers get to know them?
  8. Did all of the teachers comply with students’ preferences?
  9. What is a ‘dead name’ ?
  10. Why was Alia frustrated? How did they feel about the teachers’ support?
  11. How does Alia’s father feel about the situation at her school?
  12. Why are so many teachers and administrators afraid to use gender-neutral pronouns?
  13. Why would there be community backlash over using gender-neutral pronouns in schools?
  14. What incident occurred in the Loudoun County school in Virginia?
  15. How do opponents of transgender and non-binary pronoun forms view this topic?
  16. According to the recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey, what happens to youths who identify as LGBTQ in Massachusetts?
  17. What happened during the Stonewall riots in 1969?
  18. (Groups might research the riots and  share presentations with the class)
  19. After reading this article list three new ideas  that you’ve learned about the topic from the reading,  two things that you did not understand in the reading, and one thing you would like to know that the article did not mention.  Share your responses with your class.

ANSWER KEY

Category: Children/Teens, Culture, Education, Language, Transgender | Tags:

Good Gossip vs. Bad Gossip

“Two Proverbs: The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; A whisperer separates close friends. ” K. Radtke, The New York Times, June 29, 2021

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key

image Credit- Gwendle Le Bec, NYT

Excerpt: Letter of Recommendation: Gossip, By Kristen Radtke, The New York Times, June 29, 2021

“In middle school I learned how to solve for the hypotenuse and identify properties of an atom, but the most enduring skill I picked up was how to gossip. Eighth grade in particular was consumed by chatter and rumors...As a class of 26, we had perhaps more access to one another than is advisable at such a vulnerable age.

Our homeroom teacher, Ms. Deehr, a severe Catholic-school teacher who resembled a sitcom stereotype, had no tolerance for what she called ‘talking behind each other’s backs.’

She quoted from Proverbs: ‘A whisperer separates close friends.’ I burned with shame over my recess gossip, fearing that eternal flames awaited me if I didn’t stop.

Yet, I whispered relentlessly and often without cruelty. My friends and I talked about a classmate’s parents’ divorce when we were trying to understand our own parents’ fighting… We were trying to understand things about ourselves, and the tiny world we inhabited, the only way we knew how: by observing one another and making sense of those observations together. Ms. Deehr failed to mention a verse that came later, also from Proverbs: ‘The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels.’

The anthropologist Robin Dunbar has proposed that humans developed spoken language not to more effectively hunt or build or conquer but to gossip…If humans did indeed develop language in order to gossip, it’s because gossiping creates interpersonal bonds and offers context about the lives we lead.” 

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post

NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.

Level: Intermediate – Advanced


Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.


Time: Approximately 60 minutes.


Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.


Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and improving oral skills. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing.

I. Pre-Reading Activities

 Predictions: Using a Pre-reading Organizer

Directions: Examine the title of the post and of the actual article. Next examine  any photos. Write a paragraph describing what you think this article will discuss. A pre-reading organizer may be used.

Pre-reading chart by J. Swann

 

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

Directions: Try to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. You use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance.

  1. When I was young I picked up how to gossip.
  2. Ten is such a vulnerable age.
  3. Our homeroom teacher, Ms. Deehr, was a severe teacher.
  4. She quoted from Proverbs.
  5. I whispered relentlessly and often without cruelty.
  6. We speculated about someone’s trip to another country.
  7. Trading information felt like an opportunity to accrue capital in a world in which we had none.
  8. For an adolescent, gossip was about currying favor.
  9. New York is a city of complex rules and norms.
  10. The internet complicates fun by allowing Trash talk.

Word Map by Against the Odds

 

Grammar Focus: Structure and Usage

Directions: The following groups of sentences are from the article. One of the sentences in each group contains a grammatical  error.  Identify the sentence (1, 2, or 3 ) from each group that contains the grammatical error.

I

  1. I whispered relentlessly.
  2. We was trying to understand things about ourselves.
  3. My friends and I talked about a classmate’s parents’ divorce.

II

  1. Trading information felt like a opportunity.
  2. For an adolescent, gossip was about currying favor.
  3. My friend and I moved to New York around the same time.

III

  1. That doesn’t mean gossip is ever moral or fair.
  2. Social media platforms reward our meanest, least empathetic selves.
  3. The internet also obliterate the privacy of a personal network.

Reading Comprehension Fill-ins

Directions: Place students in groups and after they have read the entire article, have them complete the following sentences  taken from the article. They can use the words and terms from the list provided, or provide their own terms. They are to find the meanings of any new vocabulary.

That doesn’t mean___ is ever ___or___ or even true; it’s just that it can also be an ___amount of___…Despite her many attempts, my___ never completely kicked her ___habit, and I remain___ that I can ___her off the ____for good.

WORD LIST:  hopeful, gossip,  coax,  fun,  enormous, friend, gossip,  fair, moral,  wagon

III. Post Reading Activities

Discussion Questions for Comprehension /Writing

Directions: Have  students discuss the following questions/statements. Afterwards,  students share their thoughts as a class. To reinforce the ideas, students can write an essay on one of the topics mentioned.

  1. Do you gossip with your friends? Why?
  2. What do you gossip about?
  3. What reason does the author give for her gossiping in school?
  4. In the article the anthropologist Robin Dunbar has proposed that “humans developed spoken language not to more effectively hunt or build or conquer but to gossip.”  Do you agree or disagree with this idea?
  5. How does the author distinguish between ‘gossip’ and ‘spilling secrets’?  Do you agree with her?  Why?
  6. In your opinion is gossip the same as ‘trash talk’? Why or why not?
  7. After reading this article, is gossip a healthy habit among people? Why or why not?
  8. Discuss three new ideas  that you’ve learned about the topic from the reading,  two things that you did not understand in the reading, and one thing you would like to know that the article did not mention.

ANSWER KEY

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