Punctuation..? published by User Design Books is a short guide for using common punctuation marks. The blurb actually says it covers ’21 of the most used punctuation marks’, which I found a little embarrassing as I hadn’t heard of half… Read More ›
elt
It’s your move… helping students manage spoken discourse
Helping learners to deal with spoken discourse was a hot topic on my Diploma course. You might encounter the terms ‘interactional talk’ and ‘transactional talk’ when you get to modules on discourse analysis; a possible development task could be to… Read More ›
12 ideas for reviewing vocabulary
I’ve kept a list of all the vocabulary that has come up in class during the last few weeks of summer school. It’s a fair bit – about 200 words. Here are some ideas for reviewing vocabulary in groups. For… Read More ›
5 ways to make reading tasks more fun
This week a colleague at the British Council gave me FIVE different activities for my young learner classes. That means I have to share 5 ideas to even things out! There’s a theme to the ideas below – 5 ways… Read More ›
5 ideas to expand your ELT Toolkit
I was reading the Teacher Toolkit the other day, which is a fantastic site. I took at least 5 new ideas from it, mostly relating to classroom management. It reminded me how rewarding it is to learn from others, and… Read More ›
35 ways to introduce your lesson topic
Are you fed up with using the same old methods to introduce your lesson topic? Look no further! Here are 35 ways to kick off your lesson. How many have you tried?
What were the last 10 teaching books you used?
Last week my boss Martin Sketchley (eltexperiences) was sitting next to me compiling his list of recommended reading for the CELTA. It made me think about resource and reference books in general, and how I use them. I thought it… Read More ›
CELTA tip: language analysis assignment
The language analysis assignment is quite straightforward. It’s in two parts, grammar and vocabulary. You’re given a particular grammar structure or lexical items, and you have to analyse it and explain how you would go about teaching it. That’s about… Read More ›
Lesson idea: UK politics and the election
Today I taught one of my best lessons ever. It’s a massive day for the UK, and there was no way I was going to ignore the general election in class. I had a group of 14 year old intermediate… Read More ›
DipTESOL Tip – Phonology based activities
I found ‘Phonological Theory in Classroom Practice’ the most useful module on the DipTESOL. It really encourages you to try out new activities and integrate phonology into your lessons. During the final assessment for the module (which is a 30-minute… Read More ›
ELT Planning 