homework for the next lesson

Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher

“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If only it were that simple.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.

She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.

Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.

We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.

The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.

What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?

My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?

Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.

The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.

Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.

It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.

Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.

Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.

Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.

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Senior Contributing Editor

Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile

She can be reached at [email protected] .

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There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.

when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep

same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.

Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.

I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids

The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????

I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic

This is not at all what the article is talking about.

This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.

we have the same name

so they have the same name what of it?

lol you tell her

totally agree

What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.

Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.

I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^

i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.

I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.

Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much

I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.

homework isn’t that bad

Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is

i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!

i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers

why just why

they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.

So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.

THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?

Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?

Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.

But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!

why the hell?

you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it

This is more of a political rant than it is about homework

I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.

The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight

Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.

not true it just causes kids to stress

Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.

homework does help

here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded

This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.

I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.

Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.

I disagree.

Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.

Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.

As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)

I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!

Homeowkr is god for stusenrs

I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in

As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.

Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.

Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.

Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.

As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.

I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.

oof i feel bad good luck!

thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks

thx for the article guys.

Homework is good

I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.

I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.

It was published FEb 19, 2019.

Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids

This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.

There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.

What lala land do these teachers live in?

Homework gives noting to the kid

Homework is Bad

homework is bad.

why do kids even have homework?

Comments are closed.

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Homework Matters: Great teachers set great homework

However, despite what I regard as the critical importance of homework, I regularly hear or read these objections:

‘there is no point of setting homework for the sake of it’,
‘children need to have a childhood, why rob them of their evenings’
‘research shows that homework doesn’t make much difference’.
‘I couldn’t possibly cope with all the marking if I set homework every week’
‘half the class won’t do it anyway, so what’s the point’

Well, I would argue with all of these points:

a) there is always a ‘sake’ because homework can and should always be an integral part of the learning process

b) it is perfectly possible to do lots of homework and have time to engage in all kinds of other activities and

c) the research doesn’t really deal fully with the nature of homework being set; we are not just talking about any old task – we are talking about great homework that feeds into lessons and provides exciting opportunities for student-led learning and creativity. (See the post about Hattie’s research , which he comments on himself.)

d) As I have described in my post about marking , the assumption that all homework needs to be teacher-marked is ludicrous and

e) the point about homework is to offer learning opportunities and generate a culture of high expectations; half the class will do it and they should not be held back because of the others.

Here are some of the key reasons why I think homework matters so much:

1) Bridging between teacher-led and student-led learning:

Most homework that I set (as I do religiously, every week for every class) is given on the basis that students will bring it to a lesson in the following week where we will discuss what they have done. 5 or more questions, tackled at home after an initial exploration in class, then form the basis of the next lesson: which questions did we find hard? What different kinds of answers did we get? Then I can help some who are struggling and push others on. This is simply not possible without the homework element. Most homework is, therefore, peer or self assessed. It has to be designed to facilitate that – which is reasonably straightforward. Along with research, note-taking and other pre-learning activities, most homework is about getting ready for the next lesson; this makes lessons much less teacher-centric.

(See this post: Flipped out by Flipping? You may have missed the point. )

2) Extending learning time.

There are so many learning processes that do not fit neatly into lesson-long segments. There all kinds of tasks that students prefer to do in their own time, on their own terms – outside the confines of the school day. All students work at their own pace and homework allows them to get to grips with ideas or finish something properly, when they were rushed in class. This applies to writing essays, writing up science investigations, practicing maths problems, constructing a paragraph in French, producing some ideas in a sketchbook for Art or DT…etc. It applies to any number of exam preparation activities. It also applies to some tasks that students would never be set within school time like making videos or designing websites.

3 ) Creating Opportunities for Creativity and Choice.

Homework to my mind is about setting students free to try out different ideas; it is not about drudgery. Giving options for how they present information is a great way to do this: make a video, write a dialogue, write a standard essay or a booklet explaining the idea to younger children. Each of these is challenging in its own way – and students can choose their preferred response. I’ve had some extraordinary work from students with this kind of open ended homework task. The diagram shows a template for a half-term’s worth of homework that would be submitted at different times.

4) Developing the skills required for independent learning

How likely is it that Jimmy will have his moment of greatest clarity during the History lesson, period 4 on Tuesday? Or that Sandi will feel at her most creative during Art on Friday after lunch? It is unlikely. I think I made most of my own personal break-throughs in my room at home; the penny won’t drop just because the teacher is there. The goal is to empower students to engage in learning so they can learn anything anytime they want to… and homework is the vehicle for that. Year 13 students don’t just suddenly develop sophisticated independent learning skills; they have to be built up over years – and routine challenging homework throughout Years 7-12 is a good preparation. A good, standard part of homework is to pre-learn material and make notes from books or videos – as with the ‘flipped classroom’ idea and the Khan Academy concept. These things transfer ownership for core learning to students leaving lesson-time free to deal with students’ questions, their difficulties, misconceptions, interesting variations and so on.

5) Reducing the diverging effect of home support: ie it’s about equal opportunities.

The research by Hattie et al shows that homes make more difference to learning than schools. So, take away homework and what do we have? Essentially, homes with the greatest cultural capital, typically more affluent and middle class, will just fill the gap with their own family-education as they always have. They’ll be fine. Meanwhile, children from families where home-learning is scarce or simply doesn’t happen are left without structure or resources to fall back on. The same inequalities that give children such different learning orientations from pre-school persist. I’d argue that homework for all is a basic element of an educational entitlement; it is a leveller – provided that schools offer support for ‘homework’ to be done anytime, any place.

6) Communicating the values of the school and the teacher

I think that the quality of homework that comes from a teacher or a school says a lot about the values in that school or classroom. There is a definite link between the teachers regarded as ‘great teachers’ – those who have strongly positive reputations in the school community and model very high expectations – and the extent to which they provide students with a rich diet of challenge in and in between lessons. It is part of the job to involve and engage parents in the learning process; homework is a crucial part of this. As part of the diet of homework, it is lovely to include tasks that explore family history or include parents in some way. Teachers do share the responsibility for promoting their school in the ‘parental choice’ market place and, like it or not, a reputation for being soft or inconsistent on homework can be the kiss of death. This isn’t some superficial ‘pushy parent’ nonsense. I feel the same; taking learning seriously includes taking homework seriously and all the best teachers do!

So, to finish, in the routine flow of school life, I would urge teachers to put time and energy into setting great homeworks, mixed in with some more routine consolidation tasks. A balanced diet! Don’t get overly bogged down in setting detentions and so on; reserve sanctions for those who are very very persistent in not doing any work in between lessons. The greatest sanction of all is that they miss out on learning…. that message can’t be stressed too much. As soon as homework is associated directly with punitive sanctions, the battle has been lost – and you get a canteen full of students copying out last minute bits of work just to have something to hand in! My most well-worn teacher-cliche, as I refuse to accept the scrappy, half-hearted, last-ditched effort: “you are not doing it for me, you are doing it for yourself!”

13 ESL Homework Ideas

Homework may not be many students’ favorite thing, but research says it’s truly an effective learning tool that teachers should use .

The trick is assigning great homework.

To help you do this with ease, we’ve compiled an awesome list of 13 homework assignments that will have your ESL students begging for more.

1. Read a Short Story

2. share a passion, 3. start a chat group, 4. listen to a podcast, 5. write a letter, 6. write an amazon review, 7. do a wikipedia edit, 8. write a short story or poem, 9. share their culture, 10. catch a movie, 11. meet new people, 12. analyze a song, 13. go on a photo scavenger hunt, what makes homework effective.

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Have students read a short story for homework and then ask them to tell the class about the story in the next session.

I would recommend giving students some suggestions on what short stories to read, depending on the level of your students.

Here are some suggestions of short story collections for each level of ESL learner:

“The Very First Americans” by Cara Ashrose: This collection of short stories features Native American culture and history, written in simple language.
“Oxford Bookworms Library: Starter Level” This series offers simplified versions of classic stories, such as fairy tales, adventure stories and more.
“Classic Tales for ESL Students” by L.A. Hill: This collection of classic stories from literature is retold with easier vocabulary and sentence structure.

Intermediate

“The Best American Short Stories” This series features contemporary short stories from a wide range of American writers, so there’s something for everyone here.
“Short Stories in English for Intermediate Learners” by Olly Richards: This collection of engaging stories is designed specifically for intermediate ESL students.
“Roald Dahl: The Collected Short Stories” This delightful collection of quirky and imaginative tales has become a favorite of many of my students.
“Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri: This Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories explores the immigrant experience, something which many ESL students can relate to.
“Dubliners” by James Joyce: This classic collection of interconnected stories captures the essence of Dublin in 1914. But it still feels modern to many students.
“Nine Stories” by J.D. Salinger: This classic collection of short stories is a class favorite when I’ve used it.

What do your students really care about? Give them a chance to talk about it in front of the class.

Have each person choose something they’re passionate about, something they might consider themselves an expert on.

Challenge students to think of a creative way to present five must-know facts about that subject. They might make a movie, create a poster or brochure, write a song or even put on a skit.

Have each person present their creative project to the class, and then give the class five minutes to ask questions of the presenter.

Set certain parameters like students must speak in complete sentences or require that every student ask at least two questions at some point during the presentations.

Students will love sharing about their passions, and they’ll get some great speaking, listening and discourse information in the process, as well as teach the rest of the class some interesting vocabulary.

Ask for class for a volunteer to start a class WhatsApp chat group. They can also decide to use another messaging app like Telegram, Viber, Voxer or any other app that has a group chat function.

Encourage them to send at least one message and to respond to a couple others for their homework.

This text group has the added advantage of students being able to make friends with one another, and a place to ask about missed homework assignments on days when they can’t make it to class.

Note that if a student doesn’t want to be included in the chat group, you should have a back up assignment prepared for them.

Listening is one of the ESL student’s most difficult skills to acquire, so listening to a short podcast episode is ideal homework.

You can ask students to write a little about the podcast to turn in to you, or you can ask them to briefly summarize what they heard for the class in the next session.

Here are some suggestions for well done podcasts:

The English We Speak : Produced by the BBC, this podcast focuses on teaching commonly used phrases and idioms in conversational English.

The Moth : A storytelling podcast where real people share their personal experiences and anecdotes in English.

Stuff You Should Know : Though not specifically designed for ESL students, this podcast covers a vast array of interesting topics, providing exposure to diverse vocabulary and subject matters.

Ask your students to write a letter . The letter can be written to a friend or family member (which they could then actually mail or email), or it could be a fan letter to a favorite musician or actor. They could even write a letter to Santa Claus or a historical figure.

For example, a student might choose to write a letter to Marie Antoinette, asking her what it was like to be the queen of France at such a young age.

You can also choose to have students write letters to one another. Then the next homework can be writing that letter writer back.

Ask you students to review a product on Amazon (or any other shopping website that has reviews). Ask them to select a product they have really used, so they have a genuine opinion on the quality of the product and whether it lived up to their expectations.

Then, in the next session, show the reviews on the overhead projector to the class and ask a student to read the review.

You can then go over any errors in vocabulary, grammar or sentence structure and revise the review together as a class.

Since anyone can edit a Wikipedia article, it’s a great place for ESL students to hone their writing and editing skills, and they’ll have a built-in readership, too!

Ask students to select a person that they know a lot about—a well-known figure from history, pop culture, music or film would all work. Then ask them to read the Wikipedia entry to see if they can add anything else to the article.

Perhaps the article on Ryan Gosling is missing a key detail about his recent Ken performance. If so, the student will revise and edit the article. They should take notes on what they changed, so they can explain it to you or the class the next day.

Ask your students to get creative. Have them write a short story or a poem . This can get them to use descriptive language that they don’t always have a chance to use.

One good activity to do before you assign this homework is an adjective bubble chart. For this, you start with one adjective. For example, write “moist” on the board, circle it and then draw 4-5 lines coming off of the”moist” bubble.

Ask your students to come up with other adjectives that are related to “moist” and so on. They may come up with “wet,” “watery,” “soaked” or “damp.” Then draw lines from each of those. This can lead to words that you never expected to come up.

Have your students select 3-4 adjectives from this introduction activity that they’ll use in their story or poem.

Ask your students to prepare a short presentation on an aspect of their home culture to tell the class about in the next session.

For example, a student from China may explain the Lunar New Year, a student from Vietnam may explain Tet or a student from El Salvador may tell the class about their quinceañera .

They can use photos, art, a PowerPoint presentation or they can just explain in their own words.

Then open the class up for questions.

Can you legitimately send students to the movies for homework? You can when you’re teaching ESL.

Your students don’t have to commit to a full-length movie. Instead, you can use the videos on FluentU to screen mini-lessons using clips from TV shows and movies, movie trailers, news segments, vlogs or music videos.

Use these videos in the classroom or assign homework to watch a few and complete the subsequent quizzes. You can also ask students to complete flashcard quizzes based on vocabulary words you want them to pay special attention to. These quizzes are adaptable so every student will have a unique experience catered to his learning level.

There are plenty of ways to use a movie for language development. And whether students watch a new release or catch an old Elvis flick on TV, they can do any of the following activities as homework:

Summarize the plot.
Describe a main character.
Note new or interesting vocabulary (particularly slang) they hear while watching.
Write an interview with one of the characters in the movie.

I’m sure you also have your favorite movie-related language activities and many work as homework assignments. So get creative with how you have students share about what they watched.

For the most part, people are willing to help someone in need, and that is doubly true for someone who needs to complete an assignment for school.

That’s why sending students out to interview native speakers on campus is such a fun homework assignment.

Start by helping your students write a list of questions they’ll use for their interviews. Students can choose a topic or you can assign one, like leisure activities or celebrity news.

Tell students to list five to ten questions they might ask on that topic that will elicit specific answers.

As a class, discuss how students might introduce themselves to a potential interviewee.

Then send students out to their interviews after class. They can share the answers they got in the next session.

Music is great for English learners since it stresses many aspects of language that can otherwise be hard to isolate, like the emotion of language, intonation and stress.

Have students choose their favorite English language song to listen to for homework and then ask them to do the following:

Practice the lyrics to learn intonation and rhythm.
Note slang and cultural references in the songs.
Summarize the theme of the song, or just what it’s about.
Have students share their favorite lyrics and what a particular song means to them.

Give individual students or groups of up to three students a list of items to find on their homework scavenger hunt. But instead of being specific in your list (for example, including items such as cat), be descriptive in your list.

You might include items such as something frightening, something beautiful, something quiet, something cool.

Students find items they think fit the description. For example, someone who is claustrophobic might choose an elevator for something frightening. They then take a picture of it.

The next day, have each person get with a partner and show them the pictures they took for each item on the list.

If the connection is not obvious, students should ask their partner to explain why they chose a particular item, such as the elevator.

Assigning homework that works isn’t as hard as you might think, especially if you focus on the following points.

Put your homework in writing. It can be tempting to just announce homework assignments to students at the end of class, but language learners benefit when you reinforce what you say with what they can see. So take a minute to write any homework assignment on the board so students can read it as well as listen to it.
Let students know what goals you have for a particular assignment. Is it practicing a certain grammar point ? Improving their listening skills ? Pronunciation practice ? When students know why they’re doing something, they’ll be able to tell on their own when they’ve successfully completed their homework assignment.
Keep your homework practical . Your students may not find themselves planning out a menu for Thanksgiving when they leave your ESL classroom, but odds are they’ll have to order food at a restaurant at some point. Think about realistic ways students will have to use English in the real world and try to make your homework practical.
Let your students be creative . Give your students choices on how they express themselves or present information. It’s okay for students to make a home movie, put on a one-man play or paint a picture to present to the class. Just because you prefer a particular type of creative expression doesn’t mean your students do, so give them choices and let them express themselves.
Make homework fun! Every class has its own personality, so what’s fun for one might not be fun for another. Tailor your assignments to the personality of your class. Think about what they would think is fun, and go with that.

No matter what you believed in your student days, homework doesn’t have to be boring. With a little creativity when assigning homework, you might find that the activities you assign for outside of class become the highlights of your students’ days.

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Smart Classroom Management

A Simple, Effective Homework Plan For Teachers: Part 2

In part one of this two-part series on homework, we covered four strategies:

1. Assign what students already know.

2. Don’t involve parents.

3. Review before the end of the day.

4. Confront students who don’t have completed homework.

This week, we’ll finish the series with the final four strategies. At the end of the article, I’m going to issue a challenge—including a way to earn a free book.

Homework Strategies 5-8

5. Don’t collect it.

Most teachers collect homework.

Why? What are you going to do with it? Grade it and return it? Correct it so your students can analyze it later? Slap a sticker on it?

Collecting homework is a waste of time. Here’s why:

Upon return, nearly all students will stuff it in their desk or backpack and not give it another thought.

Returning it the next day–after you’ve moved on to the next lesson–is too late to be any benefit to students.

Homework is practice only and therefore shouldn’t be graded beyond a simple credit/no credit.

6. Partner check.

Instead of collecting it, have your students pair up and cross check their answers. Why? Because it adds ownership, motivation, and accountability to homework. It also deepens comprehension and is done before the next lesson–when it really matters.

If there is a discrepancy in answers, the students must work out who is right and why.

During this time, if there is a student whose homework is incomplete (rare, see strategies 1-4), he or she must begin work on it immediately and may not participate in the partner activity.

When your students are finished, allow for questions and be ready to provide further explanation.

7. Throw it away.

It’s done. You squeezed all the learning you needed from it. Now it’s time to throw the homework away. There is no reason to keep it, and pitching it in the trash underscores the importance of practice—which is an often-overlooked key to academic success.

It’s also an opportunity to have some fun. So grab a wastepaper basket and place it on a chair or desk in front of the room. Ask your students to crumble up their homework, and on your signal, shoot it at the basket.

Afterward, draw a crumbled ball or two from the basket and give out a simple prize—a sticker, first to line up, 15 seconds early for recess, whatever. This isn’t done as an incentive, mind you.

It’s done because it makes your classroom more fun , which is critical to effective classroom management.

8. Double it.

Any student who comes to school without homework completed, and doesn’t get it finished during partner check, must do it at home that evening along with the homework assigned for the day.

It is homework. And, sorry, but we’re busy learning today.

So the only time he or she can do it is at home. In the morning both homework assignments are due.

If a student comes to you and asks if it can be done during recess, it’s up to you. However, I’m not in favor of sending students to recess time-out .

If you decide to give your students the option of doing it during recess, I recommend you supervise them yourself in class and that you don’t accept the homework until the next morning.

A Challenge!

I challenge you to try this homework plan to begin the new school year.

If it doesn’t make your life easier, and you’re not thrilled with the improved learning and motivation in your students, email me and I’ll send you a free copy of any of my books.

Although, having seen this homework plan in action, I probably won’t believe you.

If you haven’t done so already, please join us. It’s free! Click here and begin receiving classroom management articles like this one in your email box every week.

30 thoughts on “A Simple, Effective Homework Plan For Teachers: Part 2”

I was wondering have you had safe and civil schools CHAMPS training by Randy Sprick? I just completed a 2 day training, and I feel everything I was ever taught to do is now obsolete. I was just curious what your thought on this were!

Sorry, I haven’t heard of it.

I have a question regarding strategy #8: Double it. What do you do if the student doesn’t return/complete both homework assignments the next day?

If you follow the first four strategies, and I encourage you to go back and read them, it shouldn’t happen. Done correctly, they provide irresistible motivation for students to complete homework. However, if it happens, then three assignments are due. If you follow the strategies, Shauna, you’ve done your part. At some point it’s up to the students and out of your hands. Coddling, encouraging, pep-talks, etc. won’t work.

If you lose a student, and he or she is refusing to do homework, then that is a different problem altogether. He or she cannot be a welcome member of your class any longer. Read the series on handling difficult students (right sidebar, near the bottom) for how to do this.

I am eager to try all 8 strategies tomorrow. I am skeptical, though. My students are inner-city minority kids who rarely manage to get their homework out the door. If they do there’s a good chance they have no space/tools/atmosphere in there home to do their homework. Is there any advice you can give me to remove those excuses from the list of excuses in the morning? I know they would be thrilled to trash it in the end.

Like all strategies on this website, the homework plan was developed and proven effective with disadvantaged students. One of the core philosophies of Smart Classroom Management is that there are no excuses, from the teacher managing the classroom to the students who we know can do the work. This attitude must permeate everything you do in the classroom. It is indeed possible to get homework back from all of your students every morning, but you have to believe it and know that it’s true before you can expect it from your students. It must become just the way things are done in your classroom.

This year In my first grade classroom I did weekly homework packets instead of nightly homework. Students were given packets of review work on Monday and they were due on Friday. The majority of the class turned them in but there was the same 2 or 3 who rarely had it done. I was wondering what you thought of weekly packets instead of nightly and I was wanting your comments on whether you feel homework is effective/necessary at first grade?

I’m not a fan of weekly homework packets. I think it’s something that needs to be checked daily. I’ll be sure to write about this topic in the future. As for your second question, I think homework can be beneficial (to a degree) for first grade as long as it’s review and doesn’t take long to complete.

Hello Mr. Linsin. I work in an experimental school where all work is done through email. We use little to no paper. The problem is that students have a built-in excuse: they can simply say they lost their internet connection or had other technology issues. Sometimes the files get corrupted on their USB drives. My question is, should I force a student who “lost” his or her data to re-do the homework during step 6?

If a student doesn’t have his or her homework, whatever the reason, it still must get done. So, yes, absolutely. Part of the learning with homework is in the responsibility. You may, however, want to require students who claim to have lost their data or have other tech issues to bring a note from parents. My guess is that this would be an exceedingly rare occurrence.

My school year starts next week, and I just found your articles on homework. I plan to implement these eight steps in my high school classroom. My question is, when a student turns the assignment in late, do you recommend still giving them full credit on a credit/no credit grade?

Hi Melanie,

No, I don’t recommend giving full credit for late homework. Depending on your students and their grade level, however, you may want to consider 1/2 credit for late homework.

its nice to go through the tips regarding home work need a long discussion and debate to improve it

Hi Michael, I recently began asking my students to get their tests signed by their parents. Quite a number of boys don’t bring it the next day; a few don’t bring it all. I think the main cause is a lack of responsibility (something I’ve seen come up quite often). Maybe 1 or 2 students are embarrassed to show their parents. The only strategies which seem relevant to this are 3 and 4. Is there anything else you’d suggest? Thanks!

It comes down to how much they have respect for you. The better rapport, and the more trusting relationship, and the more they admire, respect, and look up to you, the fewer problems like the one you describe. As you get better in this one area, you’ll have greater leverage–and then everything becomes much easier.

I love your website! One question about homework: isn’t one of the main purposes of homework assessment for learning? If it is not collected, how else do you suggest teachers getting hard data on student progress (other than summative assessment scores)?

Hi Bethany,

I believe homework should be used for practice. It grooves and solidifies learning that has already taken place. Although it can give teachers feedback, I don’t think it should be used as an assessment–for many reasons. Your data should come from a controlled environment (teacher speak for your classroom) to make sure it’s an accurate assessment of what your students can do. There is a lot more to this, and if it fits, I’ll write an article about it in the future.

Hi ya… Is this geared toward elementary students? Wondering how it would work in middle school? THanks!

Smart Classroom Management is for all K-8 grade teachers. However, on the upper and lower ends of that spectrum, expect to make some small but mostly obvious modifications.

I am a middle school math teacher. I have a question about throwing homework away. It sounds like so much fun and I really would like my kids to do it. However, we are using an online program, Zangle, to enter their assignments (homework, assessments, etc) that the students can see and check. I sometimes make mistakes on entering in grades and would like to have them keep their homework to make sure I entered it correctly. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!

Hi Christina,

If you follow the series guidelines on how to check homework, then you don’t have to ask your students to keep it (because you’ll check it right in front of them).

Personally, I think these tips are great, but I wouldn’t mind having that free book either because, hey, free book.

And who doesn’t love free books?

I am a new teacher just getting my ABCTE certification. How do you handle students who are absent for legitimate reasons? Do you require them make up all the homework they miss? How do you help them catching up? Thanks a ton!

I will certainly use your hw policy. Do you have a deadline for late hw after which no credit is given?

I’ll put your questions related to absences on the list of possible future topics. As for your final question, students either have it or they don’t. The deadline is first thing in the morning.

Throw homework away?? Think I would get into some serious trouble if I couldn’t prove to leadership that homework was being done.

Also self or peer marking that often? again would get me into some serious hot water, with SLT saying I wasn’t doing my job correctly.

What do you do about students who have trouble with executive functioning and forget to bring their homework home, lose their homework before it’s done, forget to do it at home, forget where they put their homework by the time they get home, actually complete the homework but lose it after it’s done, leave their homework at home, forget where they put their completed homework, or forget to bring their completed homework to class? I’ve had all of these excuses from students, mostly those who need organizational help.

I’ve learned so much from your website since I’ve started reading your articles! Looking forward to your response. Thanks!

The point is that the students who do their homework want their credits and want to see their work appreciated. And what is the consequence for those who do not show effort? Thanks, Kathrine

Hi Michael,

My homework strategy is similar to yours. However when walking around and checking student homework I do not say anything, initially, to those who haven’t completed. Instead I just silently note the non-completer’s names on my clipboard. Then I return to the front of the class and issue a detention of 10 minutes to those who didn’t complete their homework (students are aware of the rule and consequence).

The student then has a choice of completing the homework before their detention and putting it on my desk when they enter the detention room for me to check or sitting down with it and completing it during detention and giving it to me when their detention is finished.

What do you think of this strategy? Do you think issuing detention for not completing homework is too harsh?

I like it, Gary. No, I don’t think it’s too harsh.

Thanks Michael.

Glad to hear it!

Outside-the-box ESL homework ideas

Are your students reluctant to do homework? Do they think that doing it is time-consuming and not worth the effort? If that is the case, it’s not because the idea of homework itself is boring or useless, but because students often spend too much time doing meaningless activities and at some point realize that they prefer to manage their free time differently. Let’s face it: they are probably right. But there are ways to make students like homework again. Why? Because the role of an English teacher is not only to teach English, but also to teach how to learn English , to equip students with the necessary tools to become independent English users. You can tell your students how to use grammar, or explain what words mean, but it’s up to them to actually ‘make language [their] own, … assert [themselves] through it’ , as the linguist Henry Widdowson puts it. 1 So instead of giving your students pages of exercises and getting irritated because they don’t do them, use some of the ESL homework ideas below. They will help your students make English their own.

Students choose what they need

Start with a question for your students: In what situations do you use English outside the classroom? Then ask them to choose two or three words covered in the lesson which they think will be of use to them. Give them a minute to think what words might come in handy in the everyday situations THEY often find themselves in. The words might be different for a student who uses English at work, or who has friends they chat with in English, or who lives in an English-speaking country, or who doesn’t speak or write in English outside the classroom, but watches American series or reads celebrities’ posts on Instagram. Once they have chosen the words, ask them to use each of them at least once before the next lesson. They can use them in a conversation, an email or a message. They should simply be on the lookout for situations where the words might be used, e.g. while watching a film, they might want to respond to what an actor says using the word ‘hilarious’.

In the following lesson, ask your students to report how the task went: Did they achieve it (partly or fully)? What situations did they use them in?

Students use and listen for grammar in context

The same goes for grammatical structures. For instance, after introducing and practising Present Perfect Continuous, ask your students to think of out-of-the-classroom situations in which they are likely to use it. Thinking about a new tense for a couple of days might prompt students to say (if only to themselves): ‘I have been cleaning for an hour’, or ‘I’ve been waiting here for too long’.

If you think this might be too challenging to start with, make the structure more approachable first by asking your students to notice the new language while they hear people talk (at work, in films) or when they read something in English (a post, a blog entry, the news). When they’re back in the lesson, ask them to tell you what they were listening to or reading when they recognized the structure. They could take notes on it before the lesson, but they might also talk about it on the spot. As it doesn’t require much preparation, it is probably the easiest of the ESL homework ideas presented here, so you might choose to try it first.

Students use functional language

Lower-level students often struggle to start speaking English, first in the classroom, then outside of it. To help them open up and get accustomed to using the language in different situations , their homework could be going to a café and ordering something. They could also ask someone for directions, or have a chat with an English-speaking colleague. Back in the classroom, ask them to report how it went, what they ordered, etc. Give your students a couple of weeks to do the task – some may not get the immediate opportunity to do it, others might need time to pluck up the courage.

This idea works especially well when students either live in an English-speaking country, or are going on holiday abroad. If the latter is the case, make the task more demanding, as they will probably be forced to speak English anyway. They could ask detailed questions about a menu in a restaurant or haggle over a price.

Students predict and plan

The flipped classroom approach will give your students plenty of opportunities to ‘own’ English. Tell them what the topic of the next lesson will be (e.g. recycling) and give them the following homework: look up five words that they think will be useful to talk about recycling. They will then have to use them in the next lesson. This task will make students research the topic and plan what they might say, which is a great step on the way to becoming an independent learner.

For this to work, students need to be honest with themselves and choose words that are actually new for them, not just come up with some they are already using. But if they truly want to learn, tasks like this one will provide strong motivation.

Once the lesson has finished, ask your students what words they had prepared and whether they were able to use them all.

You can also use one of our Flipped Classroom lesson plans and ask students to use the tasks as a guide to get ready for the conversation you are going to have in the lesson.

Students read, listen and watch to create their own ESL homework ideas

If your students are not used to reading online articles in English or watching authentic videos, you should definitely encourage them to do so. A simple idea to start with would be to ask them to find an article, a video or a podcast (in English) on a topic they are interested in, and report to you what they found out about the topic. You and the rest of the group could then ask some follow-up questions, or it could be the student who prepares some talking points for the group. Nothing motivates a student more than talking about what they like, and not what the course book dictates.

You could also choose one of our Critical Reading Club lesson plans . Ask your students to read an online article at home and have a discussion about it in the lesson. This will help them become independent readers and will maximise the student speaking time. If you study a foreign language yourself, try to use some of the ideas first, in order to better understand what they are about and to pick those which your students would benefit from most. And don’t forget to let us know what you think about these outside-the-box ESL homework ideas in the comments below!

1 This idea is nicely exemplified by the author and teacher trainer Scott Thornbury in his blog entry about motivation in language learning .

Recap lessons immediately after they are done

Are you an online writing tutor? Or an online tutor of any kind? If so, might I suggest a quick and easy tip which I have found useful?

Immediately after each lesson, write a recap of that lesson, including everything you and the student or students did in that lesson.

Send copies of the recap to the student or students you have just taught and their parents if they are children. This way they receive immediate feedback on the lesson. And because the recap contains homework assignments for the next lesson, students and parents know what work students should complete for the next lesson.

Save another copy for yourself. For each student or each class, copy the email sent to the student and parents. Paste it along with the date you sent it in a folder named after the student or the class. Paste the most recent recap at the top of a file. If you send any additional information before the next lesson, add this to the top of the file with the date. This recap helps you recall the past lesson and reminds you of the homework expected at the next lesson.

Since I teach writing online, in my recaps I include the writing we did during the lesson. Students sometimes keep a copy from the class, but in case they don’t, they can copy from the recap and paste the writing to a document and continue the work there. Or in the recap I remind the student that the unfinished work is a google doc which they can easily access.

Here is an example of an email I sent recently:

Today ____ and I revised an essay he wrote on the film The Last of the Mohicans. It was perhaps the best essay he has written for me in terms of organization. That is because we organized the essay last week before he wrote it, and he followed the prewriting organizer.

Next he chose another topic (see below) and together we created a prewriting organizer for that topic. He will complete the essay for next our next lesson.

Genre: Persuasive

Topic: Why Miss Kathy should visit Orlando, FL

Thesis: You should visit Orlando, FL, because it has Universal Studios and a waterpark.

Topic sentence 1: One reason you should visit Orlando is because Universal Studios is there.

Harry Potter, Hogwarts world
Underground roller coaster

Topic sentence 2: Another reason you should visit Orlando is because it has a great water park.

High, long sliding board/tube
Bumper cars in water

Because I include the essay outline in the recap I save for myself, I have a detailed reminder of the work we did in class and the work expected from the student. I reread the recaps before the next lesson. Sometimes in my own version I include work I must prepare for the next lesson, such as finding grammar worksheets on a particular topic or providing an answer key to a vocabulary quiz.

For me, this kind of recap is definitely worth the small effort it takes.

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<for><in><> the next lesson/class

Thread starter Joseph A
Start date Feb 15, 2023

Senior Member

Feb 15, 2023

Hello everyone, Is eithet "for" or "in" correct in the following sentences? 1. This dialogue (It) will be your homework in the next lesson/class. 2. This dialogue (It) will be your homework for the next lesson/class. I think we can delete those prepositions as follows: 3. This dialogue (It) will be your homework next lesson/class. I think #2 and #3 are correct. Situation: Imagine that you are a teacher. At the end of the lesson (before the class ends or before the bell rings), you ask your students to read the dialogue on pageX and translate it into their native language so that in the next class, they'll read it well and translate it.

sound shift

"Homework in the next lesson/class" doesn't work because it suggests that the homework won't be done at home, but at school, and that doesn't make sense. I would say "... homework, to be done before the next lesson/class".

sound shift said: "Homework in the next lesson/class" doesn't work because it suggests that the homework won't be done at home, but at school, and that doesn't make sense. I would say "... homework, to be done before the next lesson/class". Click to expand...

How to assign homework for online lessons

Off2class has added functionality to allow teachers to assign homework for online lessons., at the end of an online class, you have the option to assign homework to your students and take up their answers, with the answer key, at your next online lesson.

You’re winding up your online lesson with a student who asks, ‘What can I do before our next lesson?’ Homework. Post-lesson activity. Self-study. Whatever you call it, the request for further study materials to complete before the next lesson can be problematic for online teachers. It can be a challenge to assign homework for online lessons. Some of the reasons are relevant to all tutors and teachers, while some are particular to those of us who teach in a virtual classroom. I am not going to debate here whether homework is valid for students. I believe that a post-lesson activity is valid when:

the teacher sets relevant materials
the student makes the effort to complete the homework, and most importantly
the teacher and student review the homework together in a timely manner, and in a way that allows the student to auto-correct though guided discovery (rather than just receiving a grade)

My online students (and their parents) want homework… As an online English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, my students and my students’ parents (of my younger learners) are enthusiastic about homework. However, assigning a relevant activity that can be submitted and reviewed online has always been a bit of a tiresome chore. Not long ago my business partners and I started to load our ESL lesson content onto our site . The site provides step-by-step lesson plans aimed primarily at online ESL tutors, though our user base includes a large proportion of educators teaching students in person. Recently, we decided to complement each of our ESL lessons with homework. The homework can be assigned to students immediately after completing the lesson. We’ve also built a student management module in our site to mimic the steps that a teacher would take in a physical classroom:

A teacher enrolls a student into the classroom on our site and teaches the lesson
At the end of the lesson, a prompt requests if the teacher wishes to assign homework to the student
An email form is automatically populated with the student’s (or parent’s) email address and the teacher can decide when the homework is due
The student logs in to the site and completes the homework online (no download, no printer and no chance that the dog will eat the homework)
The student can save and return later to complete the activity, and submit the work once completed

The ability to deliver and receive relevant homework online has solved a major pain point for me as an online ESL teacher. I can send the email notification with one click, advise a parent if necessary, ensure the homework is relevant, receive the student’s answers and use the completed homework as my next lesson.

Please feel free to leave any comments or questions we especially love feedback from online esl teachers., 16 comments.

Casey Courtney says:

February 11, 2015 at 12:50 am

James Heywood (Off2Class) says:

February 11, 2015 at 7:44 am

Thanks Courtney!

Rob Hyde says:

February 14, 2015 at 4:24 pm

Homework is very helpful. I have several students who have been doing Off2Class homework where previously they weren’t following through. The review function is also very good. One point – in Conditionals 1.2 Section D – calls for student’s own language, but then the program marks all as incorrect. Can those sections not mark in red, or perhaps a third color to indicate need for discussion with tutor? The only question I have is whether you considered having a way to email the corrected work back to the student for further review. My hat is off to Off2Class 🙂 Keep up the good work.

February 15, 2015 at 8:54 am

Hi Rob, Thanks for your feedback. We’re glad that you are enjoying the homework. As to your questions: You are correct. Whenever a student answers open-ended questions, the text will always appears in the submitted work as orange. The reason we did this is that we feel any answer that requires input from the teacher should be marked in a single color. I am not a huge believer in marking answers as right or wrong. Sometimes students may provide an answer that is not the one that a question asked for, yet the answer itself may not be wrong in the sense that it allows the teachers to understand better the students’ abilities and understanding of English. About the corrected homework… give us some time on this. My understanding is that the learning opportunity for the student happens when the teacher looks at the submitted work together with the student. The student is in a position to analyse his or her own work with guidance from the teacher. I always felt that this was enough. I guess my question is, When you return a corrected worksheet to a student, does a student ever return to look at the correct homework again? We appreciate hearing from our users, and we’ll certainly consider both points you mentioned for future changes to the Homework section. Best wishes, James

Paul Lanciaux says:

March 4, 2015 at 5:50 pm

Hi…new to OFF2CLASS, and just had the first session with my student. I’m impressed with both the quality and the quantity of exercises available. Since my ESL student is eight years old and a very beginner, the presentation and graphics for the Alphabet and Conversation sections kept her attention for the full half hour lesson. Also, the responses to my emails for initial support from Off2Class have been very timely and much appreciated. Good job, guys!

March 4, 2015 at 10:08 pm

Hi Paul, Thank you for your feedback. We really believe that bright, clear graphics and stimulating images sustain motivation for students of all ages, but it is particularly great to hear that your Young Learner found it a beneficial experience. I primarily teach Young Learners online so it is great to hear from other teachers who are using Off2Class lessons to do the same. We’re here whenever you need our support and thanks again for your comments. Best wishes, James

March 7, 2015 at 5:59 pm

Quite informative. I’m not an online ESL teacher – yet, but I find the idea of homework online quite sensible. Keep up the good work.

March 7, 2015 at 8:15 pm

Hi Jon, Thanks for your comment. Some users on our site aren’t yet using the online homework activities that come with each of the lessons, though those who convert to the system are sending positive feedback. The current generation of students is generally very comfortable completing and submitting homework online, and I’m happy that it might just reduce the amount of paper flying around classrooms! We are going to more functionality soon to allow more flexibility to the students around delivering feedback on the student’s homework too. Best wishes, James

Dolores says:

February 21, 2017 at 1:27 pm

Hi James Totally agree with your points in your comment on 15 Feb above, open-ended questions in orange and especially your point about the teacher going through the homework with the student at the next lesson. It serves as revision and clears up any loose ends. Great app, especially the recent launch of interactive one-on-one for in-class lessons. I only teach individual students face-to-face. Dolores

February 21, 2017 at 4:43 pm

Thank you Delores for stopping by and providing useful feedback. I’m pleased that you are enjoying Off2Class! James

Cathryn says:

May 12, 2017 at 12:48 am

Wow, these are some great ideas. I’ll try and use them in my ESL lesson. Keep up the good work!

Kris Jagasia says:

May 13, 2017 at 1:11 pm

Cheers Cathryn, they are a huge time saver! Kind Regards, Kris

November 9, 2017 at 10:55 am

Hi The homework function is great and much appreciated by my students. However I have a question about marking the homework. At the moment. I am using the drag and drop function with the green tick and red cross but this is really very time consuming and takes much more time than if I was doing it on paper (particularly as they seem to have to aim for a very precise spot and so often bounce back). Am I missing something? Thanks for your help Nell

November 9, 2017 at 11:13 am

Hi Nell! So nice to hear from you. For questions, other than free text questions (which don’t have a ‘right/wrong’ notation, when you mark the homework as reviewed, we place the orange/green text color onto the student’s answers. You might still want to add your comments, annotations and personal feedback though. You can watch our demo video here where we go over this: https://www.off2class.com/video-resources/ Happy Teaching!

humss courses says:

September 21, 2021 at 1:19 am

Thank you very much for sharing your fantastic ideas with the community.

Chris says:

September 21, 2021 at 1:51 pm

Glad you enjoyed the post!

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Categories:

What’s the Right Amount of Homework?

Decades of research show that homework has some benefits, especially for students in middle and high school—but there are risks to assigning too much.

Many teachers and parents believe that homework helps students build study skills and review concepts learned in class. Others see homework as disruptive and unnecessary, leading to burnout and turning kids off to school. Decades of research show that the issue is more nuanced and complex than most people think: Homework is beneficial, but only to a degree. Students in high school gain the most, while younger kids benefit much less.

The National PTA and the National Education Association support the “ 10-minute homework guideline ”—a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But many teachers and parents are quick to point out that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students’ needs, not the amount of time spent on it.

The guideline doesn’t account for students who may need to spend more—or less—time on assignments. In class, teachers can make adjustments to support struggling students, but at home, an assignment that takes one student 30 minutes to complete may take another twice as much time—often for reasons beyond their control. And homework can widen the achievement gap, putting students from low-income households and students with learning disabilities at a disadvantage.

However, the 10-minute guideline is useful in setting a limit: When kids spend too much time on homework, there are real consequences to consider.

Small Benefits for Elementary Students

As young children begin school, the focus should be on cultivating a love of learning, and assigning too much homework can undermine that goal. And young students often don’t have the study skills to benefit fully from homework, so it may be a poor use of time (Cooper, 1989 ; Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). A more effective activity may be nightly reading, especially if parents are involved. The benefits of reading are clear: If students aren’t proficient readers by the end of third grade, they’re less likely to succeed academically and graduate from high school (Fiester, 2013 ).

For second-grade teacher Jacqueline Fiorentino, the minor benefits of homework did not outweigh the potential drawback of turning young children against school at an early age, so she experimented with dropping mandatory homework. “Something surprising happened: They started doing more work at home,” Fiorentino writes . “This inspiring group of 8-year-olds used their newfound free time to explore subjects and topics of interest to them.” She encouraged her students to read at home and offered optional homework to extend classroom lessons and help them review material.

Moderate Benefits for Middle School Students

As students mature and develop the study skills necessary to delve deeply into a topic—and to retain what they learn—they also benefit more from homework. Nightly assignments can help prepare them for scholarly work, and research shows that homework can have moderate benefits for middle school students (Cooper et al., 2006 ). Recent research also shows that online math homework, which can be designed to adapt to students’ levels of understanding, can significantly boost test scores (Roschelle et al., 2016 ).

There are risks to assigning too much, however: A 2015 study found that when middle school students were assigned more than 90 to 100 minutes of daily homework, their math and science test scores began to decline (Fernández-Alonso, Suárez-Álvarez, & Muñiz, 2015 ). Crossing that upper limit can drain student motivation and focus. The researchers recommend that “homework should present a certain level of challenge or difficulty, without being so challenging that it discourages effort.” Teachers should avoid low-effort, repetitive assignments, and assign homework “with the aim of instilling work habits and promoting autonomous, self-directed learning.”

In other words, it’s the quality of homework that matters, not the quantity. Brian Sztabnik, a veteran middle and high school English teacher, suggests that teachers take a step back and ask themselves these five questions :

How long will it take to complete?
Have all learners been considered?
Will an assignment encourage future success?
Will an assignment place material in a context the classroom cannot?
Does an assignment offer support when a teacher is not there?

More Benefits for High School Students, but Risks as Well

By the time they reach high school, students should be well on their way to becoming independent learners, so homework does provide a boost to learning at this age, as long as it isn’t overwhelming (Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). When students spend too much time on homework—more than two hours each night—it takes up valuable time to rest and spend time with family and friends. A 2013 study found that high school students can experience serious mental and physical health problems, from higher stress levels to sleep deprivation, when assigned too much homework (Galloway, Conner, & Pope, 2013 ).

Homework in high school should always relate to the lesson and be doable without any assistance, and feedback should be clear and explicit.

Teachers should also keep in mind that not all students have equal opportunities to finish their homework at home, so incomplete homework may not be a true reflection of their learning—it may be more a result of issues they face outside of school. They may be hindered by issues such as lack of a quiet space at home, resources such as a computer or broadband connectivity, or parental support (OECD, 2014 ). In such cases, giving low homework scores may be unfair.

Since the quantities of time discussed here are totals, teachers in middle and high school should be aware of how much homework other teachers are assigning. It may seem reasonable to assign 30 minutes of daily homework, but across six subjects, that’s three hours—far above a reasonable amount even for a high school senior. Psychologist Maurice Elias sees this as a common mistake: Individual teachers create homework policies that in aggregate can overwhelm students. He suggests that teachers work together to develop a school-wide homework policy and make it a key topic of back-to-school night and the first parent-teacher conferences of the school year.

Parents Play a Key Role

Homework can be a powerful tool to help parents become more involved in their child’s learning (Walker et al., 2004 ). It can provide insights into a child’s strengths and interests, and can also encourage conversations about a child’s life at school. If a parent has positive attitudes toward homework, their children are more likely to share those same values, promoting academic success.

But it’s also possible for parents to be overbearing, putting too much emphasis on test scores or grades, which can be disruptive for children (Madjar, Shklar, & Moshe, 2015 ). Parents should avoid being overly intrusive or controlling—students report feeling less motivated to learn when they don’t have enough space and autonomy to do their homework (Orkin, May, & Wolf, 2017 ; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008 ; Silinskas & Kikas, 2017 ). So while homework can encourage parents to be more involved with their kids, it’s important to not make it a source of conflict.

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Classroom language for finishing classes

By: Alex Case | Category: Teaching English | Topic: General

Last Updated: 24th Jun. 2022

Useful classroom language for teachers for finishing classes

Hurrying up the final activity

"Just five minutes till the end of the class, so just two minutes more for that activity"

"One minute!... Thirty seconds!...Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, a half, a quarter, an eighth, a sixteenth, stop!!"

"Just finish that sentence/ exercise/ paragraph/ question and then put your pens down"

Packing up/ Finishing the last activity

"Put your books and pencils away/ in your bag"

"Okay, time up. Close down all the programmes but don't turn the computers off"

"Put your books away."

"Pack your things away."

"You may pack away now"

Tidying up/ Putting the room back in order

"Can I have all the dictionaries/ colouring pencils/ Playdoh back please?"

"Can you make sure you clear your desks/ put all your rubbish in the bin as you leave?"

"Can the last person to leave please turn off the lights and shut the door?"

"Can someone collect all the dice?"

"Can you go back to your original places/ put your chairs and desks back where they were?"

"Can you put all the chairs and tables back into their original places?"

"Can you collect the pictures/ texts off the walls? Be careful not to pull off the paint from the walls"

"Put the/ your... on my desk/ in the box as you leave"

"Make sure you haven't forgotten anything"

"Whose book/ eraser/ ruler/ dictionary/ pencil case/ coat/ hat/ scarf is this?"/ "Has someone forgotten a...?"

"Don't worry, I'll clear up/ put the posters on the wall/ put it somewhere where the glue/ paint can dry"

Not time to stop.

"The bell hasn't gone yet."/ "I don't remember hearing a bell"

"There are still two minutes to go."

"We still have a couple of minutes left."

"The lesson doesn't finish till five past."

"Your watch must be fast."

"One more thing before you go."

"Wait a minute/ Hang on a moment/ Just hold on a moment/ Stay where you are for a moment/ Just a moment, please. / Just a sec/ Just a second/ Wait for it!"

"(Go) back to your places/ Where are you going?/ Where do you think you are going?/ Don't you think you are jumping the gun?"

"As we still have a couple of minutes left, we'll..."

"You can't go until you all..."

"Why are you packing your bags already?"

"Did anyone tell you to pack your bags?"/ "Did I say you can go?... I thought not"

"Patience!"

Nearly time to stop

"Five minutes to the end of the test. (If anyone has finished early you can leave/ please sit quietly until everyone has finished)"

"Okay, just one more time and that's it."

"Okay, (this is the) last time"

"This is the last round of the game, (so if you get a point it will be a draw and if you don't the other team will win)"

"Did any groups finish the game?"

"Before we go, we just have to..."

"Oh, whoops. That's the bell already/ Is it that time already? Before you go, we have to... It'll only take a minute"

"We don't have time to do the whole thing, so we'll just do this exercise/ line/ section/ tapescript and then stop"

Time to stop

"Well, only one team can win so there doesn't seem to be much point in going on"

"That's all for today"

"We've run out of time"

"Is that the bell I hear?"

"Well, you can all stay here and carry on speaking if you like..."

"It's almost time to stop."

"I'm afraid it's time to finish now."

"We'll have to stop there."

"There's the bell. It's time to stop."

"That's all for today. You can go now."

"The other class are waiting to get in, so we'd better make a move"

"It's break time/ Let's take a break. (Please be back at 10:45)"

"That is the end of the test. Pens and pencils down please. Make sure you have written your name on the front/ on every page. I'll come round and collect the papers/ Please hand your papers in as you leave. No speaking until all the papers are in, please"

"If no one's won the game, the person with most cards/ the person nearest the last square is the winner"

"Sorry if everyone didn't get a chance to play"

Summarizing and reviewing the class

"You've done really well today"

"We didn't have time for the roleplays/ a free speaking activity/ to go through the homework, so we'll do that next week"

"Let's go through what we've studied today one more time"

"Let's tick the things on the lesson plan on the board that we did/ that you can now do"

"Do you feel more confident about the test/ using the Present Perfect Continuous now?"

"I think you'll find what we studied today really useful when you study abroad/ use English at work/ write essays, especially..."

"The aims of today's lesson were..., so I think we achieved..."

"Well, I didn't expect to (be talking about)... but it was very useful/ interesting, I reckon"

Feedback on the lesson

"Did you have fun today?"

"What was your favourite part?"

"Do you want to play the same game next week/ in the next lesson?"

"Do you feel more confident (about that language/ skill/ paper) now?"

"Do you feel like you've improved?"

"Do you think that will be useful (when you go abroad/ in your work/ in your studies)?"

"Do you need any more practice of that (or not)?"

Talking about the next lesson

"We'll do the rest of this chapter next time."

"We'll finish this exercise next lesson."

"We've run out of time, so we'll continue next lesson."

"We'll continue this chapter next Monday."

"The next class starts at 5 o'clock"

"We'll practice that one more time next week"

"Right, I think we have no more problems with the passive now. Next week we will move onto..."

"Today's lesson was hard work, so we'll do something a little easier/ a bit more fun in the next class"

"It's been mainly grammar today, so next week we'll do more skills work/ vocabulary/ speaking"

"I was pleasantly surprised by how easy you all found that. I'll have to think of something more difficult for next week!"

"When is the next lesson?"

"Did I tell you (all) that the next lesson is in the main hall/ in the Self Access Centre?"

"So, remember next week is a holiday. So I'll see you in two weeks/ the week after next"

"Oh yes, you're right, there's a holiday. In that case, I'll see you the week after next"

"I'm on holiday next week, so they'll be a cover teacher/ replacement teacher..."

"We'll start the next lesson by../ with the next person's presentation"

"We're finishing this lesson a little early/ late, so the next lesson will start at 9:35"

"Please don't be late for the second lesson"

"Please apologise to your next teacher for me making you late"

"You'd better hurry to your next lesson (but no running in the corridors)"

"We've finished the book! So, next lesson we'll do some revision before the final test at the end of term"

"And that is the end of Unit 3. Next week we'll do a little revision and start unit 4"

Homework, extra work, preparing for the next lesson, and self-study

"For homework please/ I'd like you to/ can you..."

"The same point comes up in your homework/ You'll feel a lot more confident about that when you've done your homework, which is..."

"I'm going to give you one more chance to do the homework from last week, so anyone who's already done it can enjoy their free time"

"If you feel like you need more practice, you can do practice at home by..."

"I think we all need some more practice of that, so for homework..."

"This is your homework for tonight."

"Prepare the next chapter for Monday."

"Don't forget your homework."

"Take a worksheet as you leave."

"And the homework is... nothing!"

"Do exercise 10 on page 23 for homework/ Your homework is exercise 10 on page 23/ The homework for tonight is exercise 10 on page 23"

"If anyone needs any extra practice, I suggest doing exercise 11 and 12 as well"

"There is no homework tonight."

"I forgot the check the homework/ We didn't have time to check the homework, so we'll have to do that next time"

"As you have a long holiday/ a big test coming up, I'm going to give you a bit more homework than usual"

"So, the homework is exercise A. And B. And C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J... Okay, I'm joking. Just exercises A and B"

"The people who missed the beginning of the lesson/ the last lesson might also want to do..."

"I told you about your homework earlier, and it is...?"

"Tonight/ before the next lesson/ before next week/ at the weekend, I'd like you to..."

"Remember the last piece of homework/ writing/ the last project? Well, I want you to do something like that/ something similar, but..."

"Please revise that for homework and we'll use that language in the next lesson/ next week/ in the test"

"This homework is a bit long/ difficult, so I'll give you till this time next week to finish it"

Final chit chat

"What are your plans for the weekend?"

"The weekend starts here!"

"You'll all be wanting to get home to watch the big match"

"Does anyone know the weather forecast for tomorrow?"

"So, apart from your homework what are your plans?"

End of the first lesson

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you (all)/ it was nice to meet you (all)"

"That lesson was mainly just to get to know each other, so next week we'll start using the book/ start talking about TOEIC"

"I want to finish each lesson by standing up and saying goodbye to the class and the teacher, so..."

End of the last lesson

"Your English has really improved this week/ term/ year, so make sure you don't forget it!"

"It was a pleasure teaching you"

"I hope that you've learnt a lot, and I hope to see you again some day"

"Good luck in your future studies/ work/ lives"

"So, it's the end of term/ the week/ the year/ this level"

Final greetings

"Goodbye"/ "Bye"/ "Bye bye"/ "See you"/ "See you, then"/ "See you then"

"See you later"

"See you tomorrow"

"See you next weekend"

"Goodbye, everyone."

"See you next Wednesday."

"See you tomorrow afternoon."

"See you in room 7 after the break."

"Stand up so we can all say goodbye"

"When I say 'Goodbye everyone', you have to say 'Goodbye teacher, goodbye everyone'. I will then say 'You can now go' and you have to say 'Thank you, teacher'. You can then leave, but quietly of course. Okay. Right, let's practice a couple of times. 'Goodbye everyone'..."

Instructions for leaving

"Please don't make any noise in the corridor (as the other classes have tests)

"Don't forget your bags/ coats/ projects/ posters"

"Pick up a worksheet/ questionnaire/ note for your parents/ timetable for next term on the way out"

"Try not to make any noise as you leave/ No shouting/ No speaking in the corridor"

"Line up for the leaving drill. Today's question is 'Can you guess how many fingers?'"

"Get into a queue/ line up next to the door"

"Form a queue and wait for the bell."

"Be quiet as you leave. Other classes are still working."

"Remember how much trouble you got into last week for making noise in the corridor"

"The front door is locked at this time of night, so please use the back door"

"Does everyone know where the bus stop is?"

"Can everyone remember the way out of the building?"

Rushing out

"Can I leave you to clear up? It's just that my train is leaving in 10 minutes"

"I have to go now, but feel free to stay and chat if you like"

"I'm afraid there's another class in here in five minutes, but we can continue talking outside in the corridor"

"The janitor will be around in ten minutes to lock up, so we'd better make a move/ we'd better go/ we've got to shoot"

"I'm afraid I don't have time to answer extra questions today (but I'll arrive early for the next lesson/ I'll be in the teachers' room this afternoon and you can ask me then)"

"We'll all miss our bus/ train if we don't leave soon"

As they are leaving

"See you next week/ tomorrow/ on Wednesday/ next term/ after the holiday/ later/ this afternoon"

"Enjoy your break"

"Merry Christmas"

"Have a good time in..." [if they have told you where they are going]

"Have a good weekend"- "You too"

"Have a good holiday."

"Enjoy your vacation."

"Have a nice trip"

"I didn't notice your new shoes because you were sitting down"

"Wrap up warm, it's cold out there!"

"Bye Jane. See you Mr Fernandez. Have a good weekend"

"Catch you later!"

"Take care"

"Have a good one"

"If anyone sees Jun before the next lesson, can you tell him what the homework is?"

"Bon voyage"

Discussion questions/ thinking points

Would you use all of the stages above? Would you use them in the same order or not? Why?

Are there any stages that you usually do in L1 rather than English? Could you switch to English? Why/ why not?

For the stages you would use, which of the phrases in that section would you choose to use now with your classes? Which phrase would be the next level up once they have got the hang of that phrase?

How can you get the students using that classroom language too?

Once students get used to the routine of using such stages in the lesson, it is possible to use a much more difficult phrase with the students guessing from context what you mean. Would your classes benefit from you doing that?

Once students are used to hearing certain language at a certain stage of the lesson they no longer listen to the words, but mixing up the order of the stages can make them listen more carefully. Do you think your classes could benefit from doing that?

What do you think about doing choral greetings?

One problem with choral greetings is that students sound uninterested or even rude, even when saying things like "Have a good weekend"? How can you remedy this?

What do you think about teaching slangy expressions like "Catch you later" in your classes?

Students often make a mistake saying "Good night" when they mean "Good evening" or "Goodbye"? How could you explain the mistake to your classes?

Another typical mistake is "See you on Monday" "Yes, see you later". How could you explain why this is a mistake in simple language?

How could you explain the difference between "See you then" and "See you, then"?

Which phrases are unsuitable for the age ranges you are teaching?

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com

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for the next lesson vs for next lesson

Last updated: April 07, 2024

for the next lesson

This phrase is correct and commonly used when referring to a specific upcoming lesson.

I have prepared a presentation for the next lesson.
Please make sure to complete the homework for the next lesson.
The teacher will introduce a new topic for the next lesson.

Alternatives:

for the upcoming lesson
for the lesson next week
for the following lesson
for the lesson on Monday
for the lesson tomorrow

for next lesson

This phrase is correct but is less formal and can be used in a more general sense when referring to lessons in the future.

I need to prepare materials for next lesson.
Let's discuss the project for next lesson.
What are we going to learn for next lesson?
for the upcoming lessons
for the lessons next week
for the following lessons
for the lessons on Monday
for the lessons tomorrow

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IMAGES

Not Turning In Homework? Helping Kids with ADHD Remember
Tips To Help Children Enjoy & Complete Homework
Homework
Lesson 3- Homework
Managing the whole coast: Integrated Coastal Zone Management
Tips for Minimizing the Homework Battle

COMMENTS

NextLesson
Kelly A. Nextlesson is the go-to place for Common Core-aligned projects, lessons and worksheets. Our mission is to help teachers and parents prepare students for the real world by offering engaging, rigorous and relevant content along with interactive instructional tools.
The role of homework
Homework provides continuity between lessons. It may be used to consolidate classwork, but also for preparation for the next lesson. Homework may be used to shift repetitive, mechanical, time-consuming tasks out of the classroom. Homework bridges the gap between school and home. Students, teachers and parents can monitor progress.
Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?
Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That's problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.
Designing Effective Homework
Reinforce and allow students to practice skills learned in the classroom. Help students develop good study habits and routines. Foster positive feelings about school. In grades 6-12, homework should: Reinforce and allow students to practice skills learned in the classroom. Prepare students for engagement and discussion during the next lesson.
5 Ways to Make Homework More Meaningful
1. Less is More. A 2017 study analyzed the homework assignments of more than 20,000 middle and high school students and found that teachers are often a bad judge of how long homework will take. According to researchers, students spend as much as 85 minutes or as little as 30 minutes on homework that teachers imagined would take students one ...
Our Lesson Types
NextLesson offers K-12 teachers thousands of standards-aligned lessons that engage students by combining personal relevance, rigor and real world context. We have several different lesson types, that range from basic skills practice to in-depth projects and PBL units. Learn more below about our different lesson types.
Homework Matters: Great teachers set great homework
Most homework is, therefore, peer or self assessed. It has to be designed to facilitate that - which is reasonably straightforward. Along with research, note-taking and other pre-learning activities, most homework is about getting ready for the next lesson; this makes lessons much less teacher-centric. (See this post: Flipped out by Flipping ...
A Simple, Effective Homework Plan For Teachers: Part 1
So for the next two weeks I'm going to outline a homework plan-four strategies this week, four the next-aimed at making homework a simple yet effective process. Let's get started. Homework Strategies 1-4. The key to homework success is to eliminate all the obstacles—and excuses—that get in the way of students getting it done.
13 ESL Homework Ideas
4. Listen to a Podcast. Listening is one of the ESL student's most difficult skills to acquire, so listening to a short podcast episode is ideal homework. You can ask students to write a little about the podcast to turn in to you, or you can ask them to briefly summarize what they heard for the class in the next session.
Find Lessons
There are three ways to find lessons to teach on NextLesson. Lesson Search Bar: If you know the name or topic of the lesson you are looking for, use the lesson search bar at the top of the page. Browse by Standard: Click on the orange Browse by Standard button from your NextLesson dashboard to browse a complete standards list for a grade and subject, or browse a NextLesson-aligned pacing guide.
A Simple, Effective Homework Plan For Teachers: Part 2
It also deepens comprehension and is done before the next lesson-when it really matters. If there is a discrepancy in answers, the students must work out who is right and why. During this time, if there is a student whose homework is incomplete (rare, see strategies 1-4), he or she must begin work on it immediately and may not participate in ...
Outside-the-box ESL homework ideas
Tell them what the topic of the next lesson will be (e.g. recycling) and give them the following homework: look up five words that they think will be useful to talk about recycling. They will then have to use them in the next lesson. This task will make students research the topic and plan what they might say, which is a great step on the way ...
How to create digital homework that students love
Here are her step-by-step instructions on how you can do it too: 1. Go to TED-Ed and create a lesson . This will be your next homework assignment. You can either create a lesson using any engaging video of your choice, or simply customize an existing TED-Ed Original or TED-Ed Select lesson. If you need help creating a lesson, read this.
Homework
Homework is fundamental for learners to make effective progress. Learning a language takes time and time is something we don't always have in the classroom. ... If you're doing a lesson on food get the children to collect food labels to make a class poster in the next lesson. If you're doing clothes and/or colours they can look in ...
Recap lessons immediately after they are done
Paste it along with the date you sent it in a folder named after the student or the class. Paste the most recent recap at the top of a file. If you send any additional information before the next lesson, add this to the top of the file with the date. This recap helps you recall the past lesson and reminds you of the homework expected at the ...
<for><in><> the next lesson/class
1. This dialogue (It) will be your homework in the next lesson/class. 2. This dialogue (It) will be your homework for the next lesson/class. I think we can delete those prepositions as follows: 3. This dialogue (It) will be your homework next lesson/class. I think #2 and #3 are correct. Situation: Imagine that you are a teacher.
Distance, midpoint, and slope formulas: editable lesson and homework
This is an introduction to using these formulas in coordinate geometry proofs. (The midpoint formula is derived in the my next lesson.) Included are pdfs as well as editable versions of both the lesson and homework assignment. The editable lesson includes a QR code which takes students to a FREE video of me teaching the lesson! This is great ...
Law of sines: editable lesson and homework with keys
Included are pdfs as well as editable versions of both the lesson and homework assignment. The editable lesson includes a QR code which takes students to a FREE video of me teaching the lesson! This is great for students who are absent or need more review. It would also be an excellent resource for a flipped classroom. Answer KEYS for both the ...
How to assign homework for online lessons
A teacher enrolls a student into the classroom on our site and teaches the lesson. At the end of the lesson, a prompt requests if the teacher wishes to assign homework to the student. An email form is automatically populated with the student's (or parent's) email address and the teacher can decide when the homework is due.
Effective Practices for Homework
Homework has four basic purposes: Practice (e.g., after the teacher has directly taught a math algorithm in class, the homework is to complete several problems requiring use of that algorithm).; Preparation (e.g., pre-reading or looking over a new unit of study in a text for the next class meeting).; Study (e.g., reviewing content to prepare for a test). ...
What's the Right Amount of Homework?
The National PTA and the National Education Association support the " 10-minute homework guideline "—a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But many teachers and parents are quick to point out that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students' needs, not the amount of time spent on it.
Classroom language for finishing classes
"We've finished the book! So, next lesson we'll do some revision before the final test at the end of term" "And that is the end of Unit 3. ... Homework, extra work, preparing for the next lesson, and self-study "For homework please/ I'd like you to/ can you..." "The same point comes up in your homework/ You'll feel a lot more confident about ...
for the next lesson or for next lesson?
for next lesson. This phrase is correct but is less formal and can be used in a more general sense when referring to lessons in the future. Both "for the next lesson" and "for next lesson" are correct, but they are used in different contexts. "For the next lesson" is more commonly used and is appropriate when referring to a specific upcoming ...