Someone contacted me last week in a panic. ‘Aaargh, we’re going to start using Seesaw – any tips? Is it easy? Can you do a lot on it?’ etc. I find Seesaw really easy to use as a classroom learning… Read More ›
tefl
Review: Work It Out with Business Idioms
Scroll to *get on with it, Pete* for review. Do you remember that BBC article about how rubbish us native speakers can be at communication? I think that put me off teaching idioms for a bit. I came to think… Read More ›
18 more ways to introduce your lesson topic
This term I’ve tried out a few different ways to introduce a lesson. These ones have worked well. They might be worth reading if you’ve exhausted my previous list! Song lyric gap fill Example: 3rd conditional, regrets Do a short gap… Read More ›
Review: Retrieval Practice (Kate Jones)
This resource by Kate Jones (2019) is a concise overview of all things retrieval practice – theory, research and classroom implementation. It begins by defining the term… ‘… the act of recalling learned information from memory (with little or no… Read More ›
Wordwall assignments
Yes, another Wordwall post. No, I’m not on commission. It’s just a great tool. I forgot to mention the ‘Set Assignments’ feature in my previous posts. It’s a really useful diagnostic tool. Make your game. Click to share it and… Read More ›
Jamboard (so far)
Jamboard mentioned a lot recently. I decided to give it a go with my Secondary classes. Started using it last week so this is all new to me. Early thoughts. Jamboard versus (e.g.) whiteboard.fi This was the first step for… Read More ›
Reading tasks for homework
Hiya, hope online learning is going well. Here are some random reading tasks I set for homework. Each student chooses one of these to do a week. These are in a big folder on my desk, but they’ll be adapted… Read More ›
Materials writing and pub quizzes
Before lockdown I was an avid pub quizzer. It’s the perfect hobby for a materials writer because we accumulate tons of useless facts when researching articles. Here’s a list of some random topics I’ve written texts on in the last,… Read More ›
How to get a PGCEi Distinction
I’ve just finished a PGCEi through University of Nottingham. I got a mark of 78 for each of the three modules, which basically means ‘your writing is okay, but your stuff’s not really a contribution to the field or anything;… Read More ›
British Council Video Zone
Here are some short activities I wrote for British Council Video Zone last year. They were quite fun to write, quick too. No full lessons, just springboards I guess. I hope you find something useful. Plenty more video-based resources on… Read More ›
ELT Planning 