How can we focus language teaching more at discourse level rather than sentence level? The first #eltchat of 2012 attempted to answer this question! I wasn’t actually there and didn’t take part in the chat and I’m still not quite... Continue Reading →
There is a lot of talk about learner needs, needs analysis and learner centred lesson planning and course planning. But do learners really know what they need? Or do they just tell us what they want? The difference between "wants"... Continue Reading →
Summary task woesUnfound ideas from the textsLacking clarity What is a Haiku?Distillation of ideasConcisely worded This could go quite wrongHaiku for summary tasks?Might be worth a try Learners at CPE (Proficiency) level frequently have issues with the comprehension and summary task on the... Continue Reading →
Back in December I posted on "nine pretty pictures" - ways of exploiting images with learners. I recently came across "The Little People Project" - though unfortunately I can't remember where - it might have been The Guardian, but I'm... Continue Reading →
On the tenth day of Geekmas, some blogger gave to me: ten tricks for reading Welcome to the teflgeek Christmas celebration! Themed around the classic Christmas carol – but going backwards, mostly because it’s more like a countdown that way: 12 blogs... Continue Reading →
Trying to come up with new and interesting ways of saying the same old thing is a skill that taxes most of us on a daily basis: "I like your hair." "Your hair looks nice." "Wow! Have you had your... Continue Reading →
At first glance, the free-wheeling Dogme approach to teaching and formal assessment do not sit well together. Rather they would appear to occupy opposite ends of the spectrum, representing as they do either “winging it elevated to an art form”... Continue Reading →
I've been looking into language testing and language exams quite a lot recently, which is maybe why a recent piece on the "Click" podcast from the BBC caught my attention (listen to the segment here). The report is on the... Continue Reading →
