Academic English

A highlight of the English for Academic Purposes - Academic English resources available in the Lesson Library

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Many teachers are tasked with teaching “Academic English”. That can mean many different things and usually has a specific focus (science, math, medicine etc …). However, typically it covers some fundamental vocabulary that students need to succeed academically, especially for the skills of reading and writing.

Our lesson library has a plethora of quality materials for teaching academic English and I’d like to highlight some that are available to subscribers. Hope you find them useful but take a look through our whole “academic” category or search for specific subjects and themes. I also recommend checking out this prior post about vocabulary.

1. The Academic Wordlist. This list of almost 600 essential academic words is a vocabulary must. This resource provides full sets of PPTx presentations in a quiz format for teachers to present each sublist of words. It includes exercises and additional materials as well as access to full Quizlet sets for each sublist - for student self-study. A complete primer for the AWL. Click the icons to download the presentations and access the flashcard sets.

2. The top 50 Academic Words. This PPTx resource focuses on the top 50 Academic words students should know and master to succeed at school and higher level study. Also see our set of readings for applying these words. Complete with answer keys. See too - this full glossary for the Top 100 Academic Words.

   

3. New York Times Video Compilations. The NYTs has an excellent series of videos - start with this one. Our library also has a workbook for the video word set.

4. Top 25 Academic Words. A great video and summary of the most important academic words for students to master. Here is our set of materials to support the video.

5. Heteronyms. Heteronyms are an important aspect of academic vocabulary and use. Two or more words that are identical but which change form (noun or verb) depending on stress. Think - record (a music disc - noun) and record (to capture sound - verb). Use our video and workbook to review these important academic words.

6. Tracking sheets. Students should track their knowledge of academic vocabulary. Use our tracking cards. Or search the whole category for sheets that might work for your class.