School of Schenk

I love to have my students create podcasts to improve their speaking skills. I give them a topic and some links to online resources to do research on the topic. The assignment is to have an intelligent conversation about the topic with a partner. The students are supposed to record their conversations on their mobile…More

Instead of confronting students with pre-fabricated questions on a text, why not have them create their own set of questions before reading a text? As an example I’ll use an article and a video from The Guardian’s website that cover the fascinating Mars One project, in which they search for volunteers to establish a human…More

This activity is based on a pro/con-article from The Guardian in which the two authors debate whether googling should be allowed in exams. For the exercise to work I cut the article in half giving each student only one side. I used the article as prompt and model for a pro/con discussion done in pairs.…More

Preparation: Watch the following video clip presenting the Microsoft’s new Skype Translator: LINK TO VIDEO Now read the following reaction of a journalist who could test the new app: This week I’ve been using the preview version of Microsoft’s Skype Translator. And it’s breathtaking. It’s like science fiction has come to life. I don’t speak…More

On nanoism.net you’ll find stories of the shortest kind. Each story is comprised of not more than 140 characters – the length of a tweet. In the classroom I use the stories in two ways: – I like to print out a few dozen of the stories and stick them to the classroom walls. Now students  can…More

As a follow-up on yesterday’s more content-driven lesson I’d like to share a few activities that are supposed to focus on language. They don’t come in the shape of traditional grammar activities, so it might be important to explain their aim to your students beforehand. Dictogloss Use the first three paragraphs of the text (124…More

This lesson is based on a funny and insightful animated short film call “What the internet is doing to our brains”. It is supposed to closely link language input and output. LINK TO VIDEO 1. Tell your students they will watch a film called “What the internet is doing to our brains” and ask them about…More

Here’s a quick lesson on Amazon’s new Dash Button that follows the structure of “Think, Pair, Square, Pair, Share” (TPSPS). THINK: Watch the ad for the Amazon Dash Button. Could you imaging using such a button? What products would you use it for? PAIR: Share your ideas with a partner. Now read a newspaper article from…More