ESL-Library

Each Follow Friday (#FF on Twitter) we pull a buried blog post from the dusty archives of the web. We hope you agree that there is a lot to learn from these “oldie but goodie” posts by educators. If you know of a related post on this topic, please share your link.

Title: A quote that I had to share
Writer: Richard Whiteside
Role in Education: ELT Teacher, student in Manchester
Date Posted: November 9, 2010
Subject: Grammar
Twitter ID: @nutrich
Blog: ELT Stuff and Bits

Why we pulled it from the archives? I love quotes. I scribble them over the front and back covers of all of my notebooks and even have a quote chalkboard in my garden. We’ve started using topic based quotes in ESL-Library’s new materials as a pre-reading activity, and I hope that teachers will enjoy this new addition. When I came across Richard’s quote about grammar, I knew it deserved to be dusted off for a Friday tribute.

Summary: Richard Whiteside shares a quote about grammar, along with a book recommendation. Though I generally whip up a quick summary to go here, I’ll borrow a line from Richard: “I don’t think I need to add anything.” Check out the post and see if you agree with where Richard put the highlighting in the quotation. I do!

Is there a quote you like to use in class? Do you keep track of your favourite quotes? Our upcoming Health lesson on “Food poisoning” has this quote: “Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables.  They probably get jet-lagged, just like people.” ~Elizabeth Berry. Students discuss the meaning of the quote and decide what “tone” of writing it is (sarcastic, humorous, serious…). At the end of the lesson, they meet another quote and again discuss the tone: “Red meat is not bad for you. Now blue-green meat, that’s bad for you!” ~Tommy Smothers.

Check out all of our 2010/11 “From the Archives” tributes here. Be sure to follow all of these great educators on Twitter.

Tara Benwell

Tara Benwell is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in materials and articles for the ELT industry.   Website: http://www.tarabenwell.com   Twitter: @tarabenwell