Author Archives

Teacher and Materials Writer

• Punctuation..? – Book Review

  By Pete on September 28, 2015 • ( 1 )

  

  Punctuation..? published by User Design Books is a short guide for using common punctuation marks. The blurb actually says it covers ’21 of the most used punctuation marks’, which I found a little embarrassing as I hadn’t heard of half… Read More ›

• It’s your move… helping students manage spoken discourse

  By Pete on September 11, 2015 • ( 11 )

  

  Helping learners to deal with spoken discourse was a hot topic on my Diploma course. You might encounter the terms ‘interactional talk’ and ‘transactional talk’ when you get to modules on discourse analysis; a possible development task could be to… Read More ›

• 12 ideas for reviewing vocabulary

  By Pete on July 26, 2015 • ( 12 )

  

  I’ve kept a list of all the vocabulary that has come up in class during the last few weeks of summer school. It’s a fair bit – about 200 words. Here are some ideas for reviewing vocabulary in groups. For… Read More ›

• Thoughts on teaching Vietnamese learners

  By Pete on July 17, 2015 • ( 13 )

  

  I’m currently working at the British Council summer school in Ho Chi Minh City. It’s been a fantastic experience so far, and it’s the first time I’ve ever taught English to Vietnamese learners. It’s also my first stint at the… Read More ›

• 5 ways to use Shakespeare in ELT

  By Pete on July 14, 2015 • ( 0 )

  

  I’ve seen a few things Shakespeare related on the British Council Facebook page. I’ve taught a bit of Will over the years. Here are 5 activities that have worked well.

• 5 ways to make reading tasks more fun

  By Pete on July 5, 2015 • ( 10 )

  

  This week a colleague at the British Council gave me FIVE different activities for my young learner classes. That means I have to share 5 ideas to even things out! There’s a theme to the ideas below – 5 ways… Read More ›

• 5 ideas to expand your ELT Toolkit

  By Pete on June 29, 2015 • ( 3 )

  

  I was reading the Teacher Toolkit the other day, which is a fantastic site. I took at least 5 new ideas from it, mostly relating to classroom management. It reminded me how rewarding it is to learn from others, and… Read More ›

• 35 ways to introduce your lesson topic

  By Pete on June 22, 2015 • ( 41 )

  

  Are you fed up with using the same old methods to introduce your lesson topic? Look no further! Here are 35 ways to kick off your lesson. How many have you tried?

• Little tips from CELTA training that go a long way

  By Pete on June 8, 2015 • ( 17 )

  

  When you undertake a 1-month intensive CELTA course it’s near impossible to absorb all the information you’re given. You have to prioritise, and that means getting the basics right. Staging a lesson, introducing new language effectively, anticipating problems, that type… Read More ›

• Fluency practice: What do you know about Britain?

  By Pete on May 31, 2015 • ( 4 )

  

  Here’s a fun way to get students sharing information, in the context of history and culture. I originally got this idea from waygook.org, which is a good source of lesson inspiration if you’re a teacher based in South Korea. Let’s… Read More ›