Maria Heron from NILE asked me to record a video about my NILE dissertation. They are promoting the course and are keen to get reflections from alumni. She sent me a bunch of questions and asked for a 5 minute… Read More ›
reflections
Seesaw for EAL and young learners
Someone contacted me last week in a panic. ‘Aaargh, we’re going to start using Seesaw – any tips? Is it easy? Can you do a lot on it?’ etc. I find Seesaw really easy to use as a classroom learning… Read More ›
Jamboard (so far)
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… Read More ›
Year in review
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.
How to get a PGCEi Distinction
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;… Read More ›
RIP LTC Eastbourne
I’ve heard that it’s the end of the road for LTC Eastbourne. I haven’t come across an announcement from the school itself (now a Twin Language Centre). I’m only going on contact with staff, past and present. I’m gutted.
Bad teaching
A ramble from last year. Just came across it again. Ha! When I re-read it I thought, ‘actually Pete, it was pretty bad teaching! What were you on about?!’ Meh. I don’t just post the good. Enjoy. I’m such a… Read More ›
Be like Walton Burns
There was a good post from Russ Mayne recently on the importance of criticism. He mentioned overly unpleasant criticism and unnecessary venom that might accompany it. Russ mentioned both academic and social media contexts. This post is about the latter,… Read More ›
Research in brief: Critique of BICS and CALP
BICS and CALP in a nutshell BICS and CALP was an idea first proposed by Prof Jim Cummins in the early 1980s. BICS stands for Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills, and CALP is Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency. Here’s what they are:… Read More ›
Monetizing your teaching blog
WordAds… ah, go on then. I didn’t want to make money from my blog. I had my reasons for that, which were basically… I’ve always felt bad, kinda guilty about the idea. My content is random and rambling – I… Read More ›
ELT Planning 