Here’s a short poetry task that worked well with YLs and teens. It’s based on a poem from A Nest Full of Stars by James Berry. Before you ask, no. I haven’t suddenly gone all NLP. Aims Create a… Read More ›

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Reflections on the DipTESOL
Here are some short video reflections on my DipTESOL experience. These are meant for candidates on the new DipTESOL course run through DublinTEFL. I’ve explained more in this intro vid… Excuse the tiredness. And the lockdown hair! Barbers are shut… Read More ›
New ebook! 100+ Professional Development Tips for Post-CELTA Teachers
So, here it is, my first self-published ebook! Here’s the blurb: This book is aimed at new teachers such as those who have recently completed a CELTA or Cert TESOL course. It offers a range of development tips and ideas… Read More ›
Self-Publishing for ELT Professionals course (so far)
I’m taking this training course on self-publishing through ITDI.pro. It’s four weeks long, and we’re going into the final week of input. It’s not necessarily close to the end though. I’d imagine they’ll be plenty to discuss in the forum… Read More ›
EAL presentation tasks
I’ve been teaching an intensive English course this term. It works out (online) at about 8 hours per week, would have been a lot more had we not been back in lockdown. Seven students, Japanese, between 12 and 14 years… Read More ›
Timesaver: Conversation starters
Here’s a quick fix warmer while you’re waiting for all students to arrive in your online class. I googled ‘conversation starters’ the other day and found this list of questions 225 starter questions on gifts.com. I pasted these questions into… Read More ›
Timesaver: Quickfire questions
Online learning again… Five weeks in. Need to keep things lively. Starting the lesson with these quickfire questions for my A2 level students. Nothing special, but livens things up while we are waiting for everyone to arrive. Here are the… Read More ›
Materials Writing: Samples
Question from a reader: Can you give me some advice on how to write a sample? Ummm… The free ‘No Nonsense Guide to Writing’ from ELT Writers Connected includes a good overview on this topic (see page 27, written by… Read More ›
Materials Writing News and Views, May 2021
Busy, busy! Will breeze through some happenings since the last update in March. New releases This from Afshin Vatandoost – a new general English coursebook series from Pearson.
Jason Anderson and the TATE
There’s a Mercury Music Prize-winning band name if ever I heard one. This post is actually a long one about Anderson, CAP/TATE, British Council and Project-based learning – that didn’t have quite the same ring to it. I attended Jason… Read More ›