Would you like to know the name of your CEGEP program in English? Use this instant program name translator. Looking for glossaries related to your field? Try this collection of field-related glossaries. CEGEP Program Name Translator Select the name of your program from the list or see the (nearly) complete list of programs below.
Read on »Posts By: Nicholas Walker
ConverSolo is FREE for all VWT members
Our team has been busy! We’ve been working on a new AI-powered platform that helps language learners get interactive speaking and writing practice. If you have a free or paid membership on VirtualWritingTutor.com, you can enjoy instant access to our units of study on ConverSolo.app. Try it today! This video explains how. Login to VirtualWritingTutor.com
Read on »Automated Essay Scoring Moodle Plugin
Automatically score essays using the Virtual Writing Tutor and Moodle. Download the plugins here.
Read on »30 conversation questions to ask a traveler or a voice-enabled chatbot
You know someone who has just returned from a trip. You want to have a conversation with them, but you worry that you won’t be able to sustain the conversation. What you need are conversation questions! Here is a list of conversation questions to ask a returning traveler after their trip abroad. Practice asking these
Read on »Inflation for ESL students
You have probably heard about inflation being a problem for our economy. But what is inflation?
Read on »Improve Writing
We have added a new feature to VirtualWritingTutor.com. The system can now rephrase your writing into standard English.
Read on »What’s my English level?
If you want to know your English proficiency level, look no further. The VirtualWritingTutor.com can help with the “Check Level” button on the first page of the VWT. We all know what people mean by English level, right? It’s your level of skill communicating in English. Often teachers want to know a student’s level to
Read on »Automatically Scored Emails
Emails follow a predictable pattern, with a salutation, a paragraph explaining the email’s purpose, the main content of the email, a call to action, a paragraph indicating that a reply is expected, a close, and finally a signature.
Read on »ESL Strategies: Flashcards
Have you ever tried using flashcards to learn new vocabulary? Learning vocabulary is an essential component of language learning. Without a large vocabulary, it is difficult for English Second Language (ESL) learners to express themselves effectively. Once ESL learners have mastered the grammar of English, the main difference between them and native speakers is the
Read on »Applied Linguistics at Concordia University
There is so much to learn about Teaching English as Second Language. Scholarship means maintenance. Get your Master’s in Applied Linguistic from Concordia University. I did, and it has made all the difference.
Read on »Don’t use this red pen! Use Labodanglais
I sent CEGEP ESL teachers across Quebec red pens inscribed with the words “Don’t use this pen.” Why? I want teachers to try Labodanglais.com. It’s a Moodle-based website with companion courses for the Actively Engaged Series. Labo is packed with engaging content and interactive features, and it can score students’ writing assignments automatically in just
Read on »ESL Strategies: Reciprocal Teaching
Students learn much more when they teach each other than when the teacher does all of the teaching (Hattie, 2009). Students teaching each other is called reciprocal teaching, and it has the second biggest effect on student achievement of all the classroom processes, accelerating learning by 37%—almost as big as formative evaluation. Reciprocal teaching involves
Read on »ESL Strategies: Formative Evaluation
magine two students. One student took the practice test before taking the test that counts. The other student skipped the practice test. Which student do you think will do better on the final test? The answer is pretty obvious.
Read on »ESL Strategies: Set Goals
Imagine you were just hired at a company on the same day as another graduate from your college. Suppose that one of you were a fast learner and the other were a slow learner. Fast-forward 10 years. Which one of you would have the better salary and the better job? Which one of you would
Read on »Understanding CEGEP ESL Proficiency Levels in Quebec
College English Second Language teachers in Quebec teach almost every level of English. Why? Because people in Canada have a range of levels of proficiency. Some people grow up speaking English with their parents and go on to study at an English university. We call them educated anglophones. For other people, English is a completely
Read on »Gain Confidence during Oral Exams with this Pronunciation Checker
Many students are worried about their pronunciation accuracy and go into their oral exams woefully unprepared. The little preparation they do leaves them feeling very worried about their current ability or overconfident. In either case, the student does not perform at his or her best. If teachers could provide students with individual coaching before a
Read on »Chatbot Dialogue Creator for Oral Practice
Visit the Virtual Writing Tutor to create a free oral chatbot dialogue that you can publish anywhere online. Use the chatbot to practice your English second language speaking skills in a fun and interactive way. This is a great activity to add a speaking practice component to a pen pal exchange project or to prepare
Read on »How to monetize your ESL lessons fast
If you are a teacher who has developed original materials for your students, did you know that 1) you own your copyright and 2) you can start monetizing your materials tomorrow? In this blog post I will explain how Labodanglais.com can help you supplement your income. Have you read my other posts about jumping into
Read on »Free Chatbot Creator
If you are like me, when things get repetitive you start to think, “This is tedious. I need a robot to do this for me.” Am I right? This semester, my students have been sending me about 50 emails a week and hundreds of text messages. I don’t keep office hours. I just answer student
Read on »How can I use “leading cause” in a sentence?
You can use the phrase “leading cause” to help establish the importance of your topic in the introduction of your argument essay. It is usually used to talk about the main cause of a bad event.
Read on »7 Secrets to Write Like a Native English Speaker
English is one of the most common international languages, and many people note that it’s easy to learn. However, everything depends on your goals. If you’re an ESL student and you need to write academic papers, the learning process will certainly be much more difficult than when learning basic phrases as a traveler. Nevertheless, millions
Read on »How to Write and Revise an Argument Essay
Get your argument essay score in 2 seconds Simply click on this link to the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar check website. Compose your argument essay and click “Score Essay,” select “Argument essay,” and click “Check. Use the score and feedback to help you revise and maximize your score when you submit your essay to your
Read on »10 Effective Tips to Help You with Essay Writing
The writing process is complicated. You can easily get into a flow and churn out thousands of words in a couple of hours. On the other hand, it can also happen that you suffer from writer’s block for months. When you’re a student who needs to submit essays regularly, it’s important that you find a
Read on »Talk Fast or Die
Instructions: In groups of 3 or 4, take turns reading the prompts. Read the clue below and talk for one minute without hesitating or repeating yourself. Your partners with warn you if you hesitate or repeat yourself by saying, “Talk!” If you continue to repeat yourself or hesitate, your partners will say, “Die!” and you
Read on »Automated Essay Scoring Explained
Get your essay score here An argument essay has 5 paragraphs: an introduction, two supporting arguments, a counterargument, and a conclusion, plus a works cited section. An opinion essay has 3 or more paragraphs: an introduction, one or more paragraphs with supporting arguments, and a conclusion, but no works cited section IELTS essays involve letter
Read on »Listicle Writing Tutor
A listicle is a list article. It usually consists of an introduction, three or more list items, and a conclusion. People like to read listicles because they are easy to read. The introduction orients the reader to the listicle’s purpose and author’s credibility. The list items are usually arranged in the order of priority, form
Read on »Automated Essay Evaluation for Innovative Teachers and A+ Students
Get your essay scored and corrected automatically with this essay checker. It can score 4 types of essays: opinion, argument, film analysis, and literary.
Read on »How to create a career-summary chatbot
A great writing project for ESL students to try in 2020 is to create a speech recognition enabled chabot about a career that interests them. See this example of an interactive career-related chatbot. Students will love it! Students can create their chatbot online and then export it to a blog or a Learning Management System
Read on »Next Semester? Moodle!
How I started with Moodle In 2010, I was working at a college far from home in Montreal. I would ride the subway for an hour early in the morning to the bus terminal and take the bus for another hour before arriving at the college where I worked. Although I was deeply committed to
Read on »Is Distance Learning Effective?: Pros and Cons of Distance Learning
Lisa from Think Tank shares multiple perspectives on distance learning: flexibility, distractions, access, communication, and organization. There’s a lot to think about, and this article is a great place to start putting the pieces together when considering the pros and cons of distance learning.
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