Author Archives

Teacher and Materials Writer

• Integrating technology in the EFL classroom

  By Pete on October 30, 2017 • ( 8 )

  

  A few weeks ago I blogged about my recent experience of using edtech in class. Claudia Andrade shared an interesting response to the post: This got me thinking about my practice and my reliance on certain forms of evaluation. Looking… Read More ›

• How I plan with coursebooks

  By Pete on October 26, 2017 • ( 8 )

  

  Coursebooks. Arrgh. I write and read so many rants about them. Global coursebooks are too ‘catch-all’, they’re not aligned with what we know about second language acquisition, they’re a straightjacket, the images promote certain ideals, the content is too diluted,… Read More ›

• Behind the scenes – thoughts on the blog

  By Pete on October 26, 2017 • ( 2 )

  

  Ages ago I was asked on Twitter to write a ‘behind the scenes’ of ELTplanning. Well, here’s one (of sorts). It’s not about the process I go through, more just my feelings on blogging. Loads of teachers have contacted me… Read More ›

• Edtech exploration

  By Pete on October 9, 2017 • ( 8 )

  

  I’ve come across loads of edtech sites/tools recently. I’ll forget them all if I don’t start writing them down. Here’s a random mix of stuff I’ve come across or have been using. Things I tried in class last term… Quizlet… Read More ›

• Global Digital Citizen Foundation

  By Pete on October 6, 2017 • ( 0 )

  

  I came across this great site after they linked to an old blog post of mine. What a stroke of luck! According to the site, Global Digital Citizen Foundation is a ‘non-profit organisation dedicated to cultivating responsible, ethical, global citizens… Read More ›

• Lesson idea: crazy recipes

  By Pete on October 2, 2017 • ( 4 )

  

  I feel like I say this a lot, but thanks to ELT-cation (Svetlana) for yet another great lesson idea. Your post on Wordless Videos for ELT was awesome. I used the Western Spaghetti video from PES as inspiration for a… Read More ›

• Making things up… during observed lessons

  By Pete on September 18, 2017 • ( 8 )

  

  Last weekend I had a pretty scary lesson observation… I’ve been observed more at British Council Thailand than in any other teaching job, which is to me a good thing. There have been formal observations twice a year, observations during… Read More ›

• Lesson idea: Introducing inventions (2)

  By Pete on September 18, 2017 • ( 0 )

  

  My Primary students (aged 11) are studying technology and inventions at the moment. I used this activity to introduce the topic – it worked well. This idea could be used for generating interest, sharing personal responses, developing schematic knowledge, revising… Read More ›

• App review: ELSA Speak

  By Pete on September 4, 2017 • ( 5 )

  

  Let it gooooo, let it gooooo! Now that’s out of my system, here’s a review of ELSA Speak. It’s an app that teaches you to ‘pronounce English like an American through real-world conversations’. It’s a great use of AI in… Read More ›

• Students that make my job easy

  By Pete on August 30, 2017 • ( 5 )

  

  Full marks to my awesome teen class last week. The work they produced was fantastic and I’m so proud of them. We did a short project based on describing graphs. It started off with scanning tasks and a few activities… Read More ›