Peer needs analysis

For the November 2017 edition of English Teaching Professional I wrote an article on a classroom rapport building practice that I’ve called peer needs analysis (PNA). Here I provide a brief introduction to PNA, and some free resources that you can try out in your own classroom. See the article itself for more ideas and …

Drill tables

When we introduce new grammar, many of us like to use spoken drills to provide learners with controlled practice of the new language. For the last few years I've been using what I call ‘drill tables’ to do this. I’m not sure if other teachers do something similar, but I’ve found them a simple, engaging …

The rarest verb tense in English

Ever wondered what the rarest 'tense' in English is, and how rare it is? No? Hmm... Just me then. Anyway, just in case you’re still interested in finding out (and my students always are), the rarest verb tense in English (we should properly call it an aspect) is the future perfect continuous in the passive …

I, she, you

Here’s an idea for making speaking activities last 3 TIMES as long! I call it ‘I, she, you’ because it practices 1st, 3rd and 2nd person singular verb forms, in that order. It works especially well in secondary classrooms with teenage students who are a little reluctant to speak. There are 5 stages to the …

The Activity Cycle

Preparation-activity-feedback... And why characterising these three common stages as a cycle can help some teachers make their classrooms more learner-centred. This blog expands on an idea I introduce in the Trinity CertTESOL Companion (Anderson, 2017). I thank colleagues who have found it useful for suggesting I write a blog post about it. Here I describe …

ELTAI Conference 2017; Kochi, India: East meets West… and transcends it :)

The theme of this year’s ELTAI (English Language Teachers’ Association of India) Conference, “Western theories and Eastern practices”, was evident throughout the memorable event, not only in the conference itself, but it also seemed to imbue the heavy monsoon air that circulated around the venue, and the bustling city of Kochi, Kerala – ‘God’s own …

Sentence pelmanism

Do you have difficulty getting your students to speak English in class? Perhaps they lack confidence, perhaps they don’t know much English, or if you teach large classes, perhaps it’s difficult to keep them using English when they get excited... If any of these are true for you, here’s a fun game  that your students can …

Delighted to win the British Council Master’s Dissertation award

Taking on the live-blogging role for the British Council #ELTons Awards was quite a responsibility. I wanted to ensure that all the finalists got a mention, and that all the authors were credited for their work. I ended up writing over 4000 words. Indeed, I was so busy with that that I had almost forgotten …

Join me at the ELTons Awards

I’m very happy to announce that I will be the official live blogger for the British Council 15th ELTons Awards, taking place this Wednesday, 14 June, 2017. We’ll be kicking off at about 5:30 PM (current UK time is GMT+1). Join us via the live stream video link, where, as well as watching the whole …

Reimagining English language learners from a translingual perspective

This article, written for ELT Journal, explores the potential implications of translanguaging and translingualism for foreign language teaching and learning, especially English language teaching. It reports on an exploratory study of ‘EFL learners’ in the UK, finding that over 76% of them perceive a need for translingual practices in their varied future professions and studies. …