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Living, teaching, and thriving with ADHD
ADHD is not a character flaw. It’s not laziness. It’s not a failure in parenting. It’s a neurological difference that requires understanding, compassion, and support.
中文 is good (Translanguaging)
A monolingual approach to teaching English is still popular to this day. In fact, “Use English” is still at the top of Englist’s official list of class rules. Nonetheless, recent research reveals that strict “English only” approaches aren’t the most effective way to help students learn English.
Are you overscheduling your kids?
Parents overscheduling their kids to the point where it may be doing harm, including causing depression and anxiety. Research shows that scheduling activities for every moment of every day doesn’t help much with cognitive development. It also …
Academic Writing
How Englist does online learning better than others
We understand that online learning is hard for families. Online classes might mean parents need to do a little extra work in helping their kids, or might need to pay a little bit closer attention to how their student is behaving in class. It’s no fun for anyone – parents, students, and teachers. What makes Englist such a great program is that we both understand the difficulties and drawbacks of online learning, but we are also able to transition to an online system in the blink of an eye.
The 5 most common mistakes in academic writing
There are a few academic writing mistakes Englist teachers see more often than others. Take a look at the five most common mistakes in academic writing and see if these are problems you may have in your writing.
3 common types of academic writing
Those who don’t have a good grasp of writing structure and who have never learned how to properly analyze and organize their thoughts tend to fail when they try to write on their own. Even if they have a large English vocabulary and are proficient in English grammar, they find it extremely difficult to write English academic essays that will be logical and well constructed to the end reader.
Elementary Fundamentals
The problem with an American-centric curriculum and how Englist does it better
Every day across Taiwan, students at buxibans, bilingual programs, and “international” schools open American textbooks filled with stories about the 4th of July, historical figures like George Washington, and jokes that don’t quite land. Taiwanese parents and administrators assume these are the best path to fluency for Taiwanese students—but are they?
Writing, rewriting, and why we do it in the classroom
Last semester, a few parents decided to remove their kids from class about halfway through the term. The parents argued their children were doing too much work during class time — specifically drafting their writing tasks as well as redrafting them after I had edited them … To them, this was evidence of a lack of learning. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Make kids readers
One of the most common questions we hear from parents is “What else can my son or daughter be doing?” And the answer is always – “Read!”
College Applications
Why your kids are studying the wrong way for the SAT
Students practice until their heads hurt, and as soon as the test is done, they forget most of what it was they were learning. Cram, forget, cram forget. It is how testing works in Taiwan and how it will continue to work. The thing about these methods is that students aren’t actually learning, and this sort of training has very little value.
5 great (and 5 overrated) extracurricular activities for college
High school students need to take up activities that make them stand apart from other candidates and show them to be thoughtful, engaged, passionate, and bright. A popular way of ensuring you stand out is to plan a “spike”, or an extracurricular that is highly unique, independent, and impactful.
Why are tests like the SAT such a big deal?
This guide will help readers better appreciate the idea of testing, especially in terms of college entrance exams like the SAT, college credit tests like Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, or English proficiency exams like the TOEFL.