Author Archives

Teacher and Materials Writer

• More thoughts on using the CEFR in EAL contexts

  By Pete on April 20, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  I wrote about the CEFR framework a while back, explaining how I thought it was misused in many EAL contexts. It’s been on my mind again recently, so I just wanted to reiterate some points and add a few more…. Read More ›

• Teach Meet: developing listening skills

  By Pete on April 11, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  In my previous school we did ‘Teach Meets’. Once a year, each teacher would share some research or teaching ideas related to their own practice. We’d come together once a term for some teachers to present (gallery walk style) and… Read More ›

• Effective questioning

  By Pete on April 11, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  Jane Maria Harding da Rosa at EELT asked if I had any tips regarding effective questioning. She felt that effective questioning is not covered much on initial teacher training courses, so is planning some input on it for her blog/channel… Read More ›

• Adaptations: Follower (Year 7 poetry)

  By Pete on April 9, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  The assessment for our Year 7 poetry unit was on how Seamus Heaney portrays his relationship with his father in the poem Follower. It didn’t require a super-detailed analysis, mainly recognizing the main themes and the time shift, but some… Read More ›

• Information gap activity: Endangered animals

  By Pete on April 4, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  I did an info gap activity with my Year 9 class the other day that worked well. It’s pretty similar to others I’ve done, e.g. this one about Kenya, but if it ain’t broke… Topic: Endangered animals in Thailand. The… Read More ›

• Teaching EAL learners: talk for iQTS candidates (Uni of Sunderland)

  By Pete on April 2, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  I was invited by Uni of Sunderland to talk to their iQTS candidates about EAL teaching strategies. I had an open brief, so I opted to share some more general tips for early careers teachers. I talked about: There was… Read More ›

• EAL adaptations: Poetry, Year 6

  By Pete on March 7, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  Our current poetry unit with Year 6 is probably the strongest planning I’ve picked up this year. Minimal adaptation needed, mostly accessible, fun, and the level of challenge is spot on really. It just needs tiny tweaks. Here are some… Read More ›

• EAL adaptations: fantasy writing, rationales

  By Pete on February 21, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  Here are some more scaffolding tweaks I’ve made to our Year 7 mainstream English content. Last term, learners studied ‘Fantasy Writing’. It was an awesome topic and the in-house resources overall were brilliant. I had tons of fun teaching it!… Read More ›

• Coursebook evaluation in… EAL?!

  By Pete on February 18, 2026 • ( 0 )

  

  I’m using more coursebooks in my current practice than I have done in a long time. This has put the importance of coursebook evaluation on my radar again. Coursebooks and EAL Adopting coursebook-driven ELT curricula in EAL contexts wouldn’t be… Read More ›

• Community building activities for tutor time

  By Pete on February 16, 2026 • ( 1 )

  

  Last year, Joel Lawrence and I worked on some community building resources for tutor time at St. Joes. They were meant to be used as part of an induction phase, maybe weeks 1-2 of term. Nothing ground-breaking here! Just sharing… Read More ›