Finding common ground and building conversation can often prove a difficult task for many. Help learners build this important social skill using this resource, which includes a Venn diagram worksheet and sentence prompts to help students...

Get small groups of English language learners talking with this short activity. Attached is a worksheet that encourages learners to talk about leisure activities that they do, that they'd like to try, and that they would never try....

How do you get your class talking? Use a card like the one included to help English language learners join the discussion. On this card, for example, nine sentence starters are provided. You could also use this with native English...

Use these common phrases as part of a writing activity or discussion. Learners can use the prompts such as, I have a . . ., to come up with a sentence. This could even turn into a more in-depth writing activity.

In this language arts worksheet, students participate in a small group discussion about leisure activities. Before the discussion, students fill out a chart about activities they already do, ones they want to learn and those they would...

Speak up and listen up. Scholars participate in a speaking and listening mid-unit oral assessment. They discuss whether their rules to live by should be a personal choice or made into a law, and then they complete an exit ticket to...

How familiar are your pupils with globalization? Hold a discussion on that topic using the questions and viewpoints provided here. Learners can study the vocabulary and read the points of view in order to prepare for the final talk.

How is a poem similar to and different from a news article? Pupils use a graphic organizer to compare and contrast the two genres. Also, as part of a mid-unit assessment, scholars participate in small-group discussions based on poetry...

When working in an ESL classroom, this resource could be used to provide discussion starters. Phrases such as, "through the day" or "around here," could be used as a way to spur discussion.

Let's talk it out. Using the resource, scholars work in triads to discuss how their research has deepened their understanding about sustainable fishing. Next, pupils engage in a whole-class discussion to consider their next steps toward...

After reading or watching the musical Les Miserables, challenge your high schoolers with these analysis questions. The sheet provided suggests having class members record the answers to these questions, but they would also be good...

Everyone comes from somewhere. An interdisciplinary lesson on Elvira Woodruff's The Orphan of Ellis Island includes discussion starter and writing prompts for the novel, as well as a graphic organizer to help learners begin their...

Teach learners how to communicate and collaborate in a discussion on a shared project with this rich activity. It asks participants to channel their unique imaginations to produce a fictional "groupworld", while adhering to proper...

Partner up! Scholars continue their fishbowl activity with one partner sitting inside the circle and one sitting outside the circle. Participants add to sentence starters to analyze the perspective of the Pearl Harbor Attack seen in the...

Are you afraid of what goes bump in the night? Talk about the supernatural with your English language learners to find out their beliefs while practicing speaking skills. Learners read three different viewpoints on the paranormal...

Good readers have internalized a system of strategies to understand text. While most reading programs explicitly teach these strategies, this presentation could be used as a discussion starter to help students understand such things as...

Smile for the camera and find out how your English language learners feel about fame! Class members read three different points of view on fame and then discuss ten questions about the topic.

Technology is a hot topic, so why not discuss it with your English language learners? There are three viewpoints from students included on this page, along with vocabulary words and ten tech-related questions to discuss.

Listen up, it's time for a Fishbowl discussion! Scholars continue their discussions about water management in industry and agriculture. After hearing both sides of the debate, pupils complete graphic organizers, deciding which sector is...

Your learners talk to each other every day, but are they really listening? Use a lesson based on listening skills to ensure that class members feel heard and respected. It includes games, discussion topics, and self-assessment tools...

If friendship were a soup, what ingredients would be in it? As part of a study of Marcus Pfister's Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale, kids engage in a series of friendship-themed activities using materials contained in this richly...

The End of the Line, Angela Cerrito's gripping novel about an adolescent murderer incarcerated in an unusual "school," is the subject of a comprehensive set of support materials. Chapter vocabulary and discussion questions are excerpted...

Readers are introduced to the key themes in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie by this carefully crafted anticipation guide. A great discussion starter.

As part of a study of crafting compelling arguments, class members tackle the problem presented in Lawrence Kohlberg's "The Heinz Dilemma." After discussing the dilemma with classmates, writers draft an essay with a claim, support...