Dobble is a great card game for quick thinking and bit of new vocabulary. I trialled it during a ‘fun and games’ social club last week and it went down well. Actually, the students enjoyed it so much that they… Read More ›
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Planning tasks for young learners
To an experienced YL teacher this post is just stating the obvious. To me it’s not, because I’m new to teaching primary aged learners. I’ve got in the habit of tweaking almost every activity to try and make it fun…. Read More ›
A fun way to drill
A bit of repetition never hurt anyone! It might not be the most riveting stuff, but sometimes I come across these ‘listen and repeat’ drills in our materials or in books. They’re ok. I used to like substitution drills myself…. Read More ›
Encouraging autonomy in teen classes
You might not need to encourage your students to take control of their learning. I do. My teens aren’t used to working independently or undertaking tasks without the teacher directing proceedings. Our current topic is health and fitness. I found… Read More ›
Introducing travel – student quiz
This came up again recently. There’s nothing wrong with ‘Where the hell is Matt?’, that will always be a classic. However, I like to mix things up, personalise, find different ways to engage my students. This worked well… First up,… Read More ›
Teaching for Success online conference
Oh look, Se at TalkTEFL has been taking the Mickey out of our ‘Quality Circle’… Sarah Smith and I will be chatting about our teacher-led development group (‘The Quircle’) at the British Council Teaching for Success online conference. We’re on the… Read More ›
Word stress – footballs and sticky balls
I like teaching word stress. I have various ‘go to’ activities for noticing and practising word stress – stuff like this: Using Cuisenaire rods Humming the stress pattern Fist pumping when you say the stressed syllable Building vocab based on… Read More ›
ClassDojo – not a no go
Sometimes I think I’m far too serious to teach young learners. Maybe my expectations are too high. Maybe I just don’t ‘get’ them. Perhaps I’m getting too old. Maybe I’m just not learning how to teach them properly. I don’t… Read More ›
Digital Breaks – James Styring
I attended a useful webinar by James Styring the other week, entitled ‘Easy and motivating ways to use digital technology in the classroom. Click here to watch a recording of the webinar. Overall, it was a very good presentation. There… Read More ›
Disappearing dialogues, colour-coded support
On the CELTA YL course I did a story retelling task. The students had watched a Shaun the Sheep video, and I’d pre-taught some of the tough vocab. After the video I wanted them to retell the story, but they… Read More ›
ELT Planning 