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Theory in ELT

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Assessing learner infographics: rubric ideas. One of the things I want to promote here on EAP Infographics is getting our learners to visualize data themselves.

Assessing learner infographics: rubric ideas

If you’ve gone through the process of introducing the notion of infographics and gotten learners to produce their own, at some stage you’ll hopefully feel some need to give feedback to your learners on their performance. While I don’t intend the following to serve as a formal ‘set in stone’ rubric, I would suggest that teachers aspiring to assess learners’ infographics consider doing so under these four headings; 1) research and synthesis; 2) respect for intellectual property; 3) design and creativity, and; 4) mechanics. I recommend deciding on the relative importance of each of these headings for your particular context. 1. Research and synthesis Is the scope of their topic clearly defined?

2. Does the visual demonstrate respect for copyright/fair use? 3. Is there effective use of metaphor / the big picture? 4. Are there any spelling or grammatical errors? 9 great reasons to use infographics in your EAP classroom. My learners were tired.

9 great reasons to use infographics in your EAP classroom

They didn’t want to do any work. They were visibly slouching down in their seats, losing the battle against sleep, or at least total apathy. Infographic: present perfect continuous tense. Assessing learner infographics: an example rubric. In a recent post I looked at the ways in which we can give feedback on learner-created infographics, suggesting that we do so under these four headings; 1) research and synthesis; 2) respect for intellectual property; 3) design and creativity, and; 4) mechanics.

Assessing learner infographics: an example rubric

Infographic: the grammar of cause and effect. Teaching academic vocabulary: a guide for beginners. While this is intended as an all-you-need-to-know guide for teachers contemplating teaching academic vocabulary for the first time, I also hope there’s a little bit for everyone in today’s post.

Teaching academic vocabulary: a guide for beginners

For teachers just starting out as EAP educators, this whole post might serve as a useful guide in how to go about teaching vocabulary in the language classroom, while the experienced among us may wish to fast forward to the third section and explore the tools I suggest. Whoever you are, please drop me a line in the comments section and let me know if you found this post useful! Learning vocabulary is as important a step in developing future academic reading, listening, writing and speaking skills as any other aspect of language learning. Consequently, in this post I’ll reflect on what we teachers need to do in terms of dealing with what learners need to know about the words we want to teach, and how we can effectively teach them. Ok, ready? Everything EAP students need to know about passives. In today’s post i’m offering you a great worksheet that summarizes everything your learners need to know about the passive voice if they’re studying English for academic purposes.

Everything EAP students need to know about passives

It’s only a two-page handout, so don’t be expecting too much in terms of gap fill exercises and the like. It does, however, examine why we use the passive voice, the typical reasons we have for omitting the agent, and lists of the most common verbs used in the passive form and for which function. There’s also a couple of gap fills, as well as a writing task for you to use to get your learners practicing their passives in context.

The image below (right) shows you two of the exercises in the worksheet: If you like the look of that, please feel free to download the worksheet here and the answer key here. 5 classic ice breakers you can use with all learners. Making learners comfortable on the first day of class, after a holiday, or even when coming together for the first time in a few days, can be beneficial in establishing, fostering and rekindling a positive learning environment.

5 classic ice breakers you can use with all learners

By taking time to do a few icebreakers, we can help learners become more comfortable with one another, and consequently more willing to participate in class. Icebreakers should never be seen as a waste of time: integrating icebreakers is a fantastic way to get ideas flowing… and never forget that! Here, then, are five old favorites that work in any situation and never fail to get your classes energized. 1. 5 ways we can apply Socratic Questioning to teaching language skills. Welcome back to my third and, probably, last post examining the benefits of adopting the Socratic Method in our classes.

5 ways we can apply Socratic Questioning to teaching language skills

Over my last two posts we’ve seen that, even though the Socratic Method is typically used in the teaching of law and philosophy, it can also prove to be a valuable tool in teaching English. Our learners can benefit from continual questions that force them to deepen their vocabularies, sentence structures and develops their confidence in using English. When we as teachers use the Socratic Method, our learners are placed in a position where they have to find new methods of expressing themselves, rather than simply relying on the same words and constructions over and over again.

Basically, the Socratic Method is an excellent way to promote the practice of asking and answering questions among our learners, as they get to grips with the fact that there are different ways of responding to different types of questions. 1. 2. 3. 4 steps to applying the Socratic Method in the language classroom. In my last post we looked at the way that Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates used the a technique of questioning learners to facilitate learning and examined 6 ways that we can do the same in our English classrooms today.

4 steps to applying the Socratic Method in the language classroom

Through the Socratic Method, we as teachers constantly aim to elicit responses from our learners to lead them to logical conclusions: this is a technique we can actively exploit in language teaching. Learners are actively engaged and motivated to learn with this method. Here are four steps that we must consider to ‘Socratize’ our classes… 1. Active learning is not merely nice, it is a necessity. 6 Great ways to use Socratic questions in language classes. It’s a silly question to ask if you’re all familiar with Socrates, the Greek philosopher credited with being one of the founders of Western philosophy.

6 Great ways to use Socratic questions in language classes

Nevertheless, we might not necessarily be aware of how useful Socrates’ pedagogy can be to us in our language teaching. The Socratic technique includes using a series of questions that ‘guide’ learners towards the answers to questions. Socrates and his learners would conduct discussions in the public square in Athens; you can do exactly the same in your langauge class! Here’s how… 1. These types of questions are used to dig deeper and prove the concepts behind a particular argument. “Why do you say that?” 3 surefire ways to motivate your language learners to do homework. Getting learners to do homework has long been a challenge for teachers.

3 surefire ways to motivate your language learners to do homework

Homework has a negative connotation for learners and with good reason; they view it as an unwanted extension of the classroom that intrudes into their leisure time. I’ve argued on the blog before that assigning too much homework or giving meaningless tasks is detrimental. Nevertheless, as teachers we can employ the following three strategies to make homework more interesting and relevant, so that our learners will be encouraged to complete it.

10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking. One of education’s primary goals is to groom the next generation of little humans to succeed in the “real world.” Yes, there are mounds of curricula they must master in a wide breadth of subjects, but education does not begin and end with a textbook or test. Other skills must be honed, too, not the least of which is how to get along with their peers and work well with others. This is not something that can be cultivated through rote memorization or with strategically placed posters. Students must be engaged and cooperation must be practiced, and often. The following team-building games can promote cooperation and communication, help establish a positive classroom environment and — most importantly — provide a fun, much-needed reprieve from routine. 10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking 1.

This team-building game is flexible. You can recycle this activity throughout the year by adapting the challenge or materials to specific content areas. Investigating the emotional side of the classroom: What is your personal classroom management profile? Now that we’ve reached the end of our epic classroom management journey, I hope we can define it as a system for establishing order and routine in the classroom so that learning can take place with the minimum of disruptions.

Any teacher’s personal classroom management style will determine the order and rules their class will follow and how they will interact with learners. Investigating the emotional side of the classroom: What can we learn from Glasser’s Choice Theory of classroom management? Having focused on the discipline-based theories of Skinner and, to a lesser extent, Jones in my last two posts, it’s definitely time for a shift of gears!

What better way to do that than with psychiatrist William Glasser’s theory of classroom management, an effective blueprint to enable teachers to organize and sustain a flourishing learning environment. Glasser is a world away from Skinner in particular; he asks that we as teachers educate our learners as to how they can make good choices and take responsibility for their behavior in the classroom. When adhered to, Glasser’s Choice Theory can make education a rewarding experience for both learners and teachers alike. The features of Glasser’s Choice Theory. Investigating the emotional side of the classroom: What can we learn from the Jones model of positive discipline?

Those of you who’ve visited the blog recently will know that I’ve been tackling a two-pronged series, looking at both the physical and emotional aspects of effective classroom management. In my last ‘emotional’ post I looked at Skinner’s behaviorist theory of classroom management. My hope is that you all found that a little too extreme and desire something a little less authoritarian. If that’s the case, today’s post is for you! The Fredric H. Jones Positive Discipline Model is a classroom and school management system. Investigating the emotional side of the classroom: What can we learn from the Jones model of positive discipline?

Dealing with the physical aspects of the classroom: In search of teaching paradise? After a brief, award winning-inspired interlude, I’m back on track with my duel series on classroom management. While a lot of the posts in this series will be looking at the emotional aspects of keeping control of your learning environment, today’s post looks at how we might choose to manipulate the physical contours of the rooms in which we teach. Let’s get right down to business, then… My favourite classroom out of all those I’m using at the moment is the functionally named G045. Please take a look at the video clips below (there are four and one should play immediately after the previous one finishes) and you’ll get a good idea why. Dealing with the physical aspects of the classroom: The curious case of G062. Investigating the emotional side of the classroom: 4 Major Classroom Management Theories.

Last time round I introduced the main themes of classroom management theory. Over the course of five posts we’ll be considering the major theories in turn, each of which has its merits and weaknesses. Investigating the emotional side of the classroom: introducing classroom management. Dealing with the physical aspects of the classroom: introduction. In my previous post I asked the question, ‘What exactly do we mean by classroom management?’ I started that post by suggesting that we have to split this particular subject right down the middle: we have the physical side (arranging furniture, placement of the whiteboard, seating plans, etc.) and we have the emotional side. That post was the first in a series of seven I’ll be writing on the emotional elements of classroom management. What kinds of writing do EAP students really need to do? One of my favourite writers in the history of English language teaching literature is Daniel Horowitz.

My 10 favourite books about teaching English grammar. Funnily enough, I knew absolutely nothing about English grammar until I first started thinking about becoming a language teacher. Actually, if you’re a native speaker of English, that shouldn’t really come as a surprise at all. What that means, though, is that my grammar learning career is just about reaching its fifteenth year now, with no signs of me mastering the subject yet! Here are the books that have helped me along the way, both in getting my head around what grammar is and in enabling me to teach grammar. 1. Infographic: adverbs of frequency.

5 books that will help you teach English pronunciation. I don’t know about you, but I’m always on the lookout for new ideas on how to improve the pronunciation of my students; even the good ones need all the help they can get. Academic reading lesson: How do you measure happiness? Doing the CELTA? Here are 10 books you need to read before you start. PowerPoint show explaining the passive voice. Educational Technology and Mobile Learning: 5 Web Tools to Create Awesome Digital Newspapers for Your Class. What are the advantages and disadvantages of portfolio assessment? 9 great reasons to use posters in your language classroom. 4 ways to use YouTube in the language classroom. What is TPaCK and why do I need to know about it?

Some thoughts on teaching reading for new language teachers. Teach them English. Getting to grips with project based learning. 3 steps to teaching math and science to langauge learners. Surviving the zombie apocalypse: A great way to teach conditionals. Looking to 2014 and beyond: discussing the future. Why you should go and see Gavin Dudeney at #IATEFL 2012. Why you should go and see at Evelina Miščin at #IATEFL 2012. Why you should go and see at Joe Pereira at #IATEFL 2012. Why you should go and see at Hakan Şentürk at #IATEFL 2012. Why you should go and see Shaun Wilden at #IATEFL 2012. Why you should go and see at Eva Buyuksimkesyan at #IATEFL 2012.

Why you should go and see at Carol Read at #IATEFL 2012. Have you ever been interrobanged? Adam’s adventures in mind mapping: Part one. Five minute fixes: Compare and contrast outlines. Are you likely to be eaten by a Grue? Interactive Fiction in the Language Classroom. Up or down? Zeitguest: ‘Rewriting Comics when Teaching English to Students’ by Lindsey Wright. Why has it taken me so many years to use songs in my teaching? What would you do… if you had to sit this exam? Is this really bad grammar? Zeitguest: Keeping students on task online. Have you ever wondered why your group activities fail to inspire students? Why is my class going so well? Zeitguest: The Merits of Social Media and Modern Modes of Communication in Education by Maria Rainier. 10 video clips that will help you to enter the world of Dogme ELT. Learning styles… a load of rubbish?

10 contemporary motivation theories and how they explain why your students just aren't 'into it' Why I went the tech route with my collaborative work. Untitled. Favourite infographic for January: Bye-bye textbooks! Why texting is good for the English language. How I developed an academic vocabulary syllabus (part two) How to invigilate a language exam without going crazy. How I developed an academic vocabulary syllabus (part one) I need to teach vocab but I don't even know how to begin! This post's for you.

I'm interested in project based learning but I don't know where to begin! A suggested framework for choosing a course book. The case for: 6 reasons why our language learners should get homework.