We recently looked at an article in English in Mind about a child genius. She was the youngest black female ever to get a place at an American university. I created a few activities based on information in the text… Read More ›
lesson planning
Help please: Frayer models
What better place to think through a lesson idea than on my blog?! Hopefully all you great teachers can offer a few ideas… I recently came across the idea of Frayer models while browsing Teacher’s Toolkit. I found other explanations and examples of… Read More ›
Lesson tip: creative displays
The other day I did a creative writing activity with my teen class (ages 12-13). The activity was based on the teacher resources in English in Mind, and it worked well. Students had to describe the colours, sounds and smells in their… Read More ›
classroom organisation: some reflections
I was re-reading a booklet the other day on how to use Cuisenaire Rods in class, written by John Evans whilst at LTC Eastbourne. It’s brilliant so look it up! Anyway, the first activity in the booklet involves using rods… Read More ›
30 activities inspired by game shows
Game shows and TV quizzes are a great source of inspiration for classroom activities. Believe it or not, I keep a notepad on the coffee table so I can jot down any teaching ideas I get from watching TV! It’s… Read More ›
Getting teens to talk
This post outlines my problem-solving techniques, and offers some tips for improving interaction in teen classes. It’s only a few weeks into term, but I’m revisiting familiar issues with my new teen classes: Why are they so timid? Why won’t… Read More ›
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 ›
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 I gained from the CELTA: Lesson Frameworks
My CELTA course was exceptional. The whole experience more than surpassed my expectations, and I came away with heaps of ideas and confidence. In fact, I gained so much from the course that I ended up passing the DipTESOL barely… Read More ›
ELT Planning 