Teaching English
Dickens!
Next week we will be celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens! In preparation for this we have been creating teaching materials based on Dickens texts.
Using texts constructively: what are texts for?
Text use may seem a dull topic after all the exciting matters that other guest writers have dealt with recently.
ESP SIG and TESOL ESP IS online discussion
TESOL ESP IS and IATEFL ESP SIG would like to invite ELT professionals from around the work to embark on a first joint online discussion titled English for Specific Purposes (ESP) around the world
Approaches to teaching grammar
This month we'd like to know how you approach teaching grammar.
Teaching grammar is an important part of language teaching and there are different ways of approaching it - but which ways do you find most effective for you and your students?
A deductive approach is one where the teacher directly presents the rule to the students.
An inductive approach is where the teacher encourages the students to work out the rule for themselves through relevant examples.
How do you approach grammar teaching?
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The Inca: A lost society
The topic of history and heritage could be inherently problematic for some learners, and the tribal element of this plan, and the atrocities involved with downfall of the Inca tribe, may be distressing for those who have experienced such events in their own lives.
This is a reading lesson based on a text about Inca society. Reading can be a very solitary activity, but this lesson has been designed to maximise the amount of communication and interaction among the students,
Using poems to develop productive skills
You and your students might already enjoy reading and listening to poetry in your own language and perhaps in English too. Poems are, after all, authentic texts.
Carapace
A young Sri Lankan woman needs some advice. Her mother wants her to marry a rich man that she has never met, but what does her boyfriend think?
Superlative noughts and crosses
I like to use this activity to promote the use of the superlative form. It utilises a well-known game that students find stimulating and fun to play.
Disabled Access Friendly
The Disabled Access Friendly campaign aims to sensitise students to issues affecting people with mobility disability.
Disabled Access FriendlyAll about me
This lesson provides students with a live listening on the topic of the teacher’s personal interests and opinions. The students then use this as a model to chat about similar topics with their classmates using basic tenses and a variety of structures.
Featured blog of the month
The latest featured blog comes from David Petrie, based in Portugal. We enjoyed his series of entries in December, with a rather seasonal title - the 12 days of geekmas.
Second International conference for English language teacher educators
The second international conference for English language teacher educators will be held from 3 to 5 March 2012 at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad.
Powerpoint for teachers
This is something I've already blogged about - if you have the right facilities in your classroom, powerpoint can be a very useful addition to your teaching toolkit.
If you're interested in some of the technques mentioned here, there's another video that explains how to create the 'word bank': http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/rob-lewis/powerpoint-teachers-part-2
IATEFL competition for teachers in Brazil
The International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language - IATEFL - holds an international conference in the United Kingdom every year. The event attracts over 2000 ELT professionals from more than a 100 countries who attend talks, workshops and symposiums, have the chance to meet leading writers and linguists and exchange ideas with professionals from all sectors of ELT.
Vocabulary and autonomy
This article looks at ways to improve your students' abilities to both explore, store and use vocabulary.