It’s the end of an era! I’ve spent nearly five years with the same language school (British Council) here in Thailand, which is a pretty long stint. Overall, it’s been a good experience. I mentioned before that the pay and… Read More ›
reflections
Types of curriculum
Leslie Owen Wilson’s useful post on types of curriculum is well worth a read. Before I read it my idea of ‘a curriculum’ was narrow. I thought of it as a group of subjects that are taught, plus the skills… Read More ›
Bottery’s Educational Codes
During the face-to-face component of our PGCEi were introduced to Mike Bottery’s Educational Codes and Values (from The Morality of the School, 1990). Bottery outlined four codes which underlie approaches to education in schools. Here’s a grainy snapshot from Bottery… Read More ›
Parents and online learning
Soooo much training! In the last 10 days at work I’ve completed five modules of mandatory training on Zoom, had two webinars on using EtonX with YLs, got up to speed quickly with Microsoft Teams (which I had previously neglected… Read More ›
The benefits of using an ELT coursebook
Late last year I read the Jordan and Gray/Hughes exchange on ELT coursebooks, which appeared in ELT Journal. It’s an interesting discussion if you haven’t read it yet. I generally agreed more with Hughes, but that’s to be expected; I… Read More ›
Dialogue in ELT
I received some really interesting responses to my post on good working conditions in ELT – thanks for all the comments on Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. One of the many comments that are worth exploring in a bit more depth was… Read More ›
What are good working conditions in ELT?
I’ve read a lot about poor pay and working conditions in ELT recently. Keith Copley’s recent article in ETPro touched upon some of the many issues that influence working conditions in the industry – institutional power, neoliberal-romantic rhetoric that promotes… Read More ›
Tweaking my young learner teaching
I start my PGCEi next month. I’m really looking forward to having an extra reason to reflect on my classroom practice, overall approach, etc, and delving into research about how children learn and develop. I’m focusing on primary level learners… Read More ›
Article for ETP: Using LinkedIn for professional development
Here’s my recent article for English Teaching Professional, March 2019. Why is LinkedIn so good for teachers, and particularly budding materials writers? Have a read…
TEFL Tiglets #2
Following on from my original post on TEFL Sniglets (Tiglets), here are a few more words that should be in our TEFL dictionaries but aren’t…