Recent Posts - page 37
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I clearly love coursebooks
I always feel embarrassed when I speak up for coursebooks. I think I’m supposed to hate them. Everybody else seems to, so I guess that’s the right thing to do. According to Steve Brown’s latest post (well worth a read),… Read More ›
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Article for Modern English Teacher: using Quizlet in teen classes
Here’s my article for the latest Modern English Teacher, April 2018. I did a bit of action research on using Quizlet in class, which I mentioned before in this post. Sorry about the graphs, Scribd makes them look a bit… Read More ›
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DipTESOL: introduction to the phonemic chart
This is an introductory session on the phonemic chart for trainees taking the DipTESOL. I’ve designed this to supplement input given via distance learning courses, to be run in-house. It’s meant to help trainees give a basic explanation of the… Read More ›
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Book review: Her Own Worst Enemy
The latest offering from Alphabet Publishing looks like a great resource for bringing drama into the language classroom. Her Own Worst Enemy is written by Alice Savage, a Professor of ESOL in Texas who has previous publications with Longman and… Read More ›
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General ideas for teaching pronunciation
(This is a follow-up to my post on phonology-based activities. I’m sharing it now because some of our teachers are about to begin training for the Trinity DipTESOL. Phonology/pronunciation features quite a bit on that course, so I want to… Read More ›
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The 8 stages of teaching my own materials
I sat down to plan a General English class for our adult learners to the other day. I say plan, more like adapt. We have an in-house set of lessons so there’s already a plan in place, but the lesson… Read More ›
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Integrating technology in the EFL classroom
A few weeks ago I blogged about my recent experience of using edtech in class. Claudia Andrade shared an interesting response to the post: This got me thinking about my practice and my reliance on certain forms of evaluation. Looking… Read More ›
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How I plan with coursebooks
Coursebooks. Arrgh. I write and read so many rants about them. Global coursebooks are too ‘catch-all’, they’re not aligned with what we know about second language acquisition, they’re a straightjacket, the images promote certain ideals, the content is too diluted,… Read More ›
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Behind the scenes – thoughts on the blog
Ages ago I was asked on Twitter to write a ‘behind the scenes’ of ELTplanning. Well, here’s one (of sorts). It’s not about the process I go through, more just my feelings on blogging. Loads of teachers have contacted me… Read More ›
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Edtech exploration
I’ve come across loads of edtech sites/tools recently. I’ll forget them all if I don’t start writing them down. Here’s a random mix of stuff I’ve come across or have been using. Things I tried in class last term… Quizlet… Read More ›
Featured Categories
materials writing ›
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Materials writing conversations #20: The title
September 7, 2025
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Materials writing conversations #19: vague briefs
October 31, 2024
DipTESOL tips ›
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DipTESOL Independent Research Project
August 10, 2021
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Reflections on the DipTESOL
June 29, 2021
teacher development ›
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EAL adaptations: Poetry, Year 6
March 7, 2026
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EAL adaptations: fantasy writing, rationales
February 21, 2026