Author Archives

Teacher and Materials Writer

• What I learnt from my first TESOL conference

  By Pete on February 28, 2017 • ( 3 )

  

  Finally, some time to reflect on CamTESOL, which was held on 18-19 February. It was my first ever teaching conference (both attending and presenting), so thought I’d jot down a few reflections. Presenting is tough but rewarding… Teaching and presenting… Read More ›

• Lesson ideas: football and conditionals

  By Pete on February 11, 2017 • ( 6 )

  

  Looking for a way to teach/review conditionals? A former colleague at LTC Eastbourne (cheers Angel) told me that football was his ‘go to’ topic for conditional structures… Show the students a league table (or part of it): source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/football Use actual… Read More ›

• Supporting young learners

  By Pete on February 1, 2017 • ( 1 )

  

  Young learner classes at our school are mostly organised by age. This means there can be quite a range of abilities, and differentiation* is an important part of planning.  I generally find that our materials can be a bit on… Read More ›

• Present perfect game

  By Pete on January 22, 2017 • ( 4 )

  

  I’m on good form! It’s been a fun weekend of classes. Today I tried out a new task for practising the present perfect (life experiences). Well, it wasn’t exactly new, just a variation on a few well-known tasks. Still, it… Read More ›

• Making it up as you go along…

  By Pete on January 21, 2017 • ( 2 )

  

  I had a brief chat with TalkTEFL after class about how some activities we make up during class work better than the things we plan! Today was a prime example. My teen class were really lacking a bit of get… Read More ›

• My TEFL articles

  By Pete on January 17, 2017 • ( 5 )

  I’ve just uploaded a few of my articles to Scribd. Hopefully I’ll have more to add in the future… Click here for advice on writing for ELT magazines. Here’s an article I wrote in July 2015 for ETp on error correction…. Read More ›

• Reasons to explore your staffroom

  By Pete on January 11, 2017 • ( 8 )

  

  What’s your staffroom like? Do you know what’s in all those cupboards and drawers? Is there dust collecting on most of the supplementary materials? What’s in that unlabelled ring binder? I’m lucky to have worked in some really well-stocked staffrooms…. Read More ›

• What Kate and Kris did…

  By Pete on January 4, 2017 • ( 0 )

  

  Happy New Year! Attention! New blog! My mates in Bangkok have started this site to help people who want to teach English. They offer general advice, opinion and interviews with current teachers, to give an idea of what the job is… Read More ›

• Article for The Teacher magazine

  By Pete on December 12, 2016 • ( 3 )

  

  I’ve had an article (this post) published in The Teacher magazine this month. As I mentioned in my post on ELT magazines, they always send you a free book of your choice when they publish your stuff! Was pleased to receive… Read More ›

• Workstations for reviews (young learners)

  By Pete on December 5, 2016 • ( 5 )

  

  I saw my boss use a simple workstation activity during a peer observation. It was a really good way to prepare students for their final task. I often include a quick 10-15 minute workstation activity in my YL classes now…. Read More ›