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 ›
Phrasal verb resource books you’ve used… GO! Okay, so there was a good one on the bookshelf at LTC called ‘Illustrated Phrasal Verbs’. Me and Sketch used it so often that the student’s book fell apart (only one copy –… Read More ›
Just a few things this time. I’m out the loop at the moment, enjoying my teaching too much! Facebook groups for writers There are a lot of Facebook groups for ELT writers these days. If you would like to share… Read More ›
Russ Mayne suggested I should have a post or page listing all my reviews. So, here it is. It turns out there are quite a few. As always, all views are my own and these reviews are highly subjective! Before… Read More ›
What might be optimal ESL provision in international schools? Alderfer and Alderfer (2011) state that there is no unifying set of criteria to assess ESL programs in international school contexts. Their research sets out to provide one. The authors outline… Read More ›
Just a quick one! Twinkl ESL are currently offering free access to users in South America in response to school closures. Miranda’s doing a great job at Twinkl and offering loads of awesome resources, many of which can be adapted… Read More ›
Reading. One of the big four, along with elephants, lions and rhinos. Or is it listening, speaking and writing? Who knows. Either way, my question for you is: when was the last time your students were actively learning a new… Read More ›
Question from a reader: I’m after some advice. I can’t decide which professional development course to do. I have a CELTA plus five years’ teaching experience and I’ve been thinking for a while about doing a DELTA or Dip. Then… Read More ›
A question I’ve been asked on LinkedIn by a writer (post for writers/editors, not publishers)… Is it worth joining the ELT Publishing Professionals database? Anonymous Bit fiddly to answer on LinkedIn, also the answer might be useful for others. So…… Read More ›
One thing my CELTA course skimmed over was how to develop learners’ conversation strategies. There seems to be a good amount of focus on conversation strategies in recent coursebooks. However, at times I find these can be problematic. Models of… Read More ›
