Category Archives: language

Grammar? Who needs it?

Posted on April 13, 2012 by

Not many peole in my classes really like grammar. They may think they need it, and they get a lot of satisfaction in ploughing through exercises, because we all know that when you get the answers right you feel good, … Continue reading →

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#ELTCHAT Summary for November 30th 2011 How to Improve Speaking Skills using Critical Thinking (CT) without Spoon feeding.

Posted on December 2, 2011 by

#ELTCHAT Summary for November 30th 2011 How to Improve Speaking Skills using Critical Thinking (CT) without Spoon feeding. Hi everyone, I’ve been trying to keep up with the fast flying tweets on #eltchat recently, despite rather too much work. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal, language, Learning, resources, tefl, Thoughts | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Halloween will soon be here

Posted on October 22, 2011 by

The leaves turn and our thoughts go in the direction of Festivals Autumn and Spring are the in between times and for some reason that really appeals to me. I like the crisp feeling in the air, in autumn, the … Continue reading →

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Blooming Phrasal Verbs

Posted on October 16, 2011 by

The title of this post, of course, may well have you nodding in sympathy for all those generations of learners who curse about phrasal verbs. The focus, though, as you may have noticed, is green and when I say “blooming” … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal, language, Learning, resources, tefl, Thoughts | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Where English has Taken Me a reply to Vicky Loras’ Blog Challenge

Posted on October 10, 2011 by

Yesterday I was inspired by Vicky Loras’ blog challenge and I sent her this little video I had made of my own story told through my English related wanderings. I’m afraid the beginning is a little weak but it gets … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal, language, Thoughts | 2 Comments

Can we really listen to each other?

Posted on September 27, 2011 by

This morning I was reading an article about communication and why we are all so bad about it. It didn’t really say anything world shatteringly new, but it did talk about how we are all so busy following our own … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal, language, Learning, teaching, tefl, Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Flipping the classroom and the future of homework

Posted on September 6, 2011 by

Homework in a Digital Age Last week’s evening eltchat was dedicated to homework and I tried, which is not always easy in 140 characters, to explain how I think homework is changing in the digital world. The idea came to … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal, language, teaching, tefl, Thoughts | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Making the most of Discourse

Posted on August 26, 2011 by

Making the most of the text Before I begin this post I’d just like to say that I am aware of the constraints authors are under when writing coursebooks, and I don’t want to write yet another attack on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal, language, Learning, resources, teaching, tefl, Thoughts | 2 Comments

Getting back to Basics

Posted on August 1, 2011 by

I’m afraid I missed eltchat last week because I was away from home and had limited Internet access, which, although I hate to say it, was possibly no bad thing… Just for a while, at least, because I was quite pleasantly surprised to … Continue reading →

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#ELTchat Summary: how can we teach lexical grammar, going beyond “single word” lists?

Posted on June 17, 2011 by

#ELTchat SUMMARY : June 15th 2011. Coming to you from Verona, Italy….. What is ELTchat? If you have never been to an #ELTchat discussion, you don’t know what you’re missing. For a comprehensive introduction to these breathtaking chat sessions, read … Continue reading →

Posted in language, resources, teaching, tefl, Uncategorized | 4 Comments