"When one teaches, two learn"
I’m putting together an online presentation for some Brazilian teachers and I’ll be talking about “Stickiness”. I thought it would be worthwhile to air my own thoughts specifically about what makes our teaching “stick”. In other words, how to make what we do transfer into...
Let me start with a question. Which of the girls above speaks the most fluent English? Can you put them in order from best to worst fluency? Now that you’ve done that – note that these are the “Wondergirls”, a Korean girlband phenom. They are...
Here is a quick look at the dozens of “teacher helpers” available as printables at the back of the Teach | Learn course book. Teach | Learn doesn’t have to be used as a full textbook and offers a wide variety of communicative activities and...
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1. Inside – Outside I’ve seen classrooms literally transformed when teachers start using this technique in their classrooms! What it does, is allow students to work with others in the class that they might never...
With the events in Egypt unrolling these past days, my mind has been on them and also on the wider question, what makes a “liveable” country? I took down from my bookshelf, a treasured book, Notes from the Rainforest, by Gyorgy Faludy. Gyorgy is/was a...
I made this “street scene” video for the One Day in the World project, held on 10.10.10. An effort to collect video and create a picture of the world on that day. It was a beautiful day in Vancouver and as I sat on Robson...
I’ve been busy, busy, busy! So not posting much but here is the preface of the course book I’ll be publishing tonight or tomorrow. Teach | Learn. It outlines how the book works and the rationale for the books use and strength as a teaching...
Last week I wrote about a forthcoming course book that I am publishing – Teach | Learn. It will be out next week but thought it would be interesting to some, to see a sample lesson and to get a few thoughts about the delivery...
Teach – Learn is almost ready! It will be here soon and to be used and enjoyed instantly with students. 36 complete “student created content” lessons with an abundance of extra materials / blackline masters and clickable online lesson extensions / ideas. Also, an online...
The age of twitter and FB stimulation, is upon us. Quickness, brevity. Nobody take “the time” any more. It’s all about me or more to the point, “give me”. Talked with someone while testing my conference rooms this morning. He mentioned my blog posts are...
I’m putting the finishing touches on my Teach – Learn: Student Created Content coursebook. One of the basic principles (which are outlined in the book’s preface) is that the students practice language using language that comes from their own “selves”. The big textbook companies have...
In the new year, I’ll be offering for download/purchase my coursebook – Teach / Learn. It is the result of over 20 years of teaching and testing and based on a methodology that I’m convinced works. Works for teachers – they can focus on student’s...
Listening is one of the most overlooked skills, especially in the initial stages / levels of language learning. (see my blog post here about this and download the activities ebook). Using authentic listening materials combined with the 5 Ws, really makes a great multi level...
{this is part of the “Captive Mind” series of blog posts – publishing online and de-commercializing thought.] ———— Teaching and the Art of Questioning [Also see this post . Download: Teaching and the Art of questioning handouts] Developing the art of questioning can be...
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1. Loop Input Loop input is an intuitive and practical teaching technique that many trainers use. I’ve given my share of teacher training workshops/presentations and it is something I include in every one – almost...
I stumbled upon Alex Case’s old blog post, “25 ways to get away with being a crap English teacher”. Insightful list that I could add to. However, I’d rather focus on the positive so I thought I’d address the question posed in one of the...
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1. I heard it through the Grapevine Let’s face it, many times as a teacher, we are faced with having to pull a lesson “out of our hat”. Last minute, we have to teach a...
The #1 Series in ELT is now a handy ebook that you can share with others and view offline! I put this out a month ago, thinking that I could get members to pay $5 for it and support EFL Classroom 2.0. Only a couple...
Have you ever had a “teachable moment”? Do you think we can actually make them happen or are they totally arbitrary, unpredictable by nature? First, let me explain by way of a story, what a teachable moment is. When I was first teaching, I taught...
Today, I get to have some fun! Last week, Willy Cardoso wrote a fictional conversation that he might have had with Karenne Sylvester about the use of materials in ELT. Karenne wrote previously about “materials light” or Dogme teaching. When I read Willy’s post – I definitely...
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