Creator: Englishfailblog.com | visit site
Grade Range: 8 - 11
Here is a site to whet student interest in looking for English errors! This site encourages submissions of photos that depict those cringing mistakes people make with the English language. Mistakes can be found in signs, headlines, advertisements, or anywhere people can mangle the language with misspellings, incorrect punctuation, misplaced modifiers, etc. The site calls these an "English FAIL." Not only is this hilarious, it teaches students how to spot those errors and with guidance how to fix them.rn<br> <br>rnCaution: This is an open blog. While students may submit their own pictures, you should preview what you want to show them and supervise site use while in the classroom. Some of the topics or images are questionable (i.e. Erotic Cat Food). There are plenty to share without crossing the line, but teachers MUST control the sharing to avoid the occasional inappropriate choice.
In the Classroom
This is a great way to get students involved in proofreading and looking at the ambiguities of inexact language. Share one or two at the start of class on a projector/whiteboard as grammar check-ups. You might create a FAIL wall in your classroom, allowing students to post pictures they find in your community (give exrta credit for thier analyiss and suggested corrections to the errors). This would also work well as a class wiki. Invite English classes from other schools to join your class in adding to the wiki (and thus avoid the more questionable content of a "public" version). Share the wiki address via your professional network or groups such as NCTE for teachers to request access. The advantage of a wiki: start it this school year and keep adding from year to year. Your former students will return to see the latest or contribute to such a humorous endeavor.
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