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 … Continue reading ELTAI Conference 2017; Kochi, India: East meets West… and transcends it 🙂
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 … Continue reading Sentence pelmanism
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 … Continue reading Delighted to win the British Council Master’s Dissertation award
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 … Continue reading Join me at the ELTons Awards
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. … Continue reading Reimagining English language learners from a translingual perspective
Download a free resource for teachers! A couple of weeks ago, my students requested a lesson on pronouncing place names in London and England because they were always having difficulty making themselves understood at train and coach stations. I didn’t find many resources on the Internet designed for language students, only more technical guides that often … Continue reading How to pronounce English place names
Many thanks to Adi Rajan for this interesting and very positive appraisal of the CAP model!
It’s a real pity Jason Alexander’s session at IATEFL 2017 wasn’t recorded. I’m grateful to Silvana Richardson whose tweets gave me a bit of a window into what he presented. His Context Analysis Practice (CAP) model truly validates what teacher trainers, particularly on the CELTA, have been using as a basic framework for lesson planning. During my CELTA tutor-in-training program, one of the trainees, asked me what she should write under approach on her top sheet. I was genuinely puzzled because the lesson shape wasn’t really PPP, nor was it text-based and I now have a label for it.
A new-ish 3-word model for ELT, courtesy of Jason Anderson (he says it’s not new, but hidden) #iatefl2017pic.twitter.com/tO9q1yLD9U
— Silvana Richardson (@laIoli) April 5, 2017
It also makes sense to explicitly call attention to context especially within the CELTA given the primacy of establishing a meaningful communicative context within the…
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The first of 2 articles on the 3-stage lesson planning model that I propose has just been published in the IATEFL Teacher Education Newsletter. In the article I argue that CAP is more appropriate and more relevant for today’s teaching and teacher education courses than alternatives such as PPP, ESA, etc. It's also the topic … Continue reading CAP – Context, Analysis, Practice: A lesson planning model for language teacher education
Some of us love grammar lessons, but others... If you, or your learners, fall into the second category, one great way to make grammar meaningful, interesting and even edifying is to adapt stories to include a little grammar that you can then extract and analyse. Stories provide for 'Context, Analysis and Practice' (C-A-P: something I'll be … Continue reading The Farmer and the Fortune Teller: Using stories to teach grammar
For trainee teachers on pre-service training courses, ICQs (instruction check questions) and CCQs (concept check questions) can often be some of the most challenging things to get right. Yet, when compared with many other aspects of pre-service training courses, there is a comparatively low survival rate for check questions (CQs) after trainees graduate. Indeed, when … Continue reading ‘Do you understand?’ – A case for reassessment
