Random Quote
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
---- Albert Einstein
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
---- Isaac Asimov
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.
---- Terry Pratchett
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
---- Franklin D. Roosevelt
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
---- George Orwell
I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
---- Terry Pratchett
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
---- Evan Esar
Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.
---- Kin Hubbard
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
---- Edward R. Murrow
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
---- Thomas A. Edison
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.
---- Galileo Galilei
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
---- Arnold Lobel
A magician pulls rabbits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
---- anonymous
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
---- Thomas Merton
The voodoo priest and all his powders were as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself.
---- Mark Helprin, Memoir from Antproof Case, 1995
This may be the most interesting blog theme I've ever seen. http://eflgeek.com/index.php Definitely in my top 5 at least.
---- Steve Dembo
As soon as I buy the moose head, I have to go pick up some KY jelly.
---- Mary Roninette Kowal
Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
---- Kelvin Throop III
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
---- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir
It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
---- Arnold Toynbee
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
---- Robert Frost
Newspaper Topics
Last fall I taught a couple of classes (3 hours total) with newspaper articles and discussion questions and then again this Spring I’ve been teaching a company class with two students. These students are quite fluent in English and their only requirement was that we discuss newspaper articles. The topic did not matter. I got to choose and format the discussion the way I wanted to.
Instead of merely printing up the article and bringing it to class, I instead copied it into MSpublisher, formatted it, added vocabulary notes and discussion questions. I then emailed the article to students 1-2 days in advance of the lesson for them to read it and be prepared for discussion. The articles are from a variety of news sources and most of them should be usable in any country or context with adult learners.
I’ve uploaded an archive file (11.2mb) with all articles so far in both publisher and pdf format. If you have pdf then you’ll be able to modify them to your own uses. Here are two sample articles to take a look at before you download the whole archive: metrosexual and toronto subway strike.
update
I’ve finished another article on cloning dogs and pets for class this week. It’s not included in the archive, so if you want it, you’ll have to get it separately.
If you like these or find them useful, please leave a comment.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Saturday Jun 7, 2008 at 09:08 AM
Materials | Lesson_Plans |





Sabrina wrote 5 words on Sunday Jun 8, 2008 at 01:24 AM
Great Resource!!! Thanks for sharing!!!!
Sean. wrote 21 words on Sunday Jun 8, 2008 at 04:45 PM
Sabrina,
It’s good to hear you found it useful. Thanks for dropping by, I hope to read more of your comments.