Jamboard mentioned a lot recently. I decided to give it a go with my Secondary classes. Started using it last week so this is all new to me. Early thoughts.
Jamboard versus (e.g.) whiteboard.fi
This was the first step for me – working out which one I might find more useful. There were far more tools on whiteboard.fi (wait), but Jamboard won straight away because it integrates well with Google Classroom (wait), so that was that really.
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This review is for the PGCEi from the University of Nottingham. It’s a bit general – see links for more details.
Overview of modules
There are 3 modules on this course.
Hi all.
Short one. Diversity features quite a bit.
New releases
Another offering from the George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley of ELT, this time via Waygooze Press.
Other than that, I’ve haven’t seen much released. I’ve been reading some of the John Catt publication books. All quite new and a pretty good range, lacking in criticality at times though. Reviewed one here if interested.
Groups and chats
(If you say ‘groups and chats’ fast enough you can get a good beat going)
There are lots of Facebook groups for ELT writers. These are the main ones I’m in:
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Here’s a quick speaking activity for Primary EAL. A good one for Friday afternoon fun.
Check out this ‘Hidden Words‘ post on Bored Panda. Is just a load of illustrations with six hidden words in each.
Get the students to spot the words, explain where they are, explain their meaning, look up their meaning if unsure, etc. Lots more language than I thought came out of this one, and the students took control of the activity! A nice one for fluency practice.
Here it is as a Powerpoint. All images (including feature) copyright Bored Panda, I just had to add it to a ppt because of adverts or suggested reads on their site being potentially iffy for YLs. Plus all the comments give the answers away!
Hiya, hope online learning is going well.
Here are some random reading tasks I set for homework. Each student chooses one of these to do a week. These are in a big folder on my desk, but they’ll be adapted for online learning now probs. Still, you might find them useful. Ten for fiction, six for non-fiction.
Most of these are well-known, so not all my ideas or anything. Examples:
Lockdown again 😦
Here’s a handout I gave to learners for self-study over Christmas. Might be useful now seeing as we’re going back to online learning. Ha, not as a handout obvs… Just the image!
Cheers.
Before lockdown I was an avid pub quizzer. It’s the perfect hobby for a materials writer because we accumulate tons of useless facts when researching articles. Here’s a list of some random topics I’ve written texts on in the last, pfff, 18 months maybe? I’ve discussed this with Clare Maas before – I’d love to see your updated list of writes, Clare!
(more…) The PGCEi was full of great reads. Here were the articles and chapters I most enjoyed from the course, all of which were part of the core content. I’ll find as many open access links as I can!
10 Roberts (2013) International Education and Global Engagement: Education for a Better World? (Google Books here)
What’s in a word? This book chapter scrutinises the term ‘international’, rants a bit about the concept of ‘international mindedness’, and outlines what it should mean in practice. I like this chapter as you can sense that the author has some beef, but also talks a lot of sense.
9 Bailey (2015) The experiences of host country nationals in international schools: A case-study from Malaysia (open access)
This was a small-scale study but I really like the insight it provides. I see this as research that could be replicated by teachers in a range of contexts. The important thing is that it focuses on student perspectives – and highlights how they differ from those of their teachers’ viewpoints.
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Last blog post of 2020. Here’s how the year went…
January: Handed in my notice at British Council. Started Module 2 of the PGCEi. Goaded a few people on Twitter, felt guilty, stopped using Twitter. For a day.
(more…) I’ve just finished a PGCEi through University of Nottingham. I got a mark of 78 for each of the three modules, which basically means ‘your writing is okay, but your stuff’s not really a contribution to the field or anything; solid but unspectacular’. Spot on, I’d say.
Here are the macro indicators for assessment.
The differences between a Merit and a Distinction might seem subtle/subjective – things like ‘broad knowledge’ versus ‘broad and detailed knowledge’, or ‘originality’ versus ‘considerable originality’. However, based on the conversations I’ve had with PGCEi candidates from my own/previous cohorts, I can say there are three clear areas that set your 60s apart from your 70s. They are:
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