Placement test for learners of English Placement tests are very important for students of languages. First, they can serve as motivation because they show whether the students improved their knowledge. Second, they help students choose the correct course on their level. And last but not least they inform students how good their English is. However, good placement tests are very expensive and mostly printed. That is why we have decided to create a placement test that will be available for free and in electronic form. The test contains 60 questions. If you are taking the test on a mobile device, it might be more comfortable to see it full screen. Placement test As there were some problems with the server, I have added the flash version of the test. Placement test – flash And here is another HTML5 version of the test, but it is placed on a different server. Placement test – HTML5 If you have a blog or a website where you would like to share this test, you can do so by placing the following code there. Placement test_print
Utiliser Skype Mystère pour découvrir le monde Vous cherchez une activité pour créer un moment spécial dans votre classe ? Internet permet de créer des connexions impossibles avant celle-ci. L’activité Skype Mystère est un bel exemple d’une activité simple et qui peut transformer l’atmosphère de votre classe. Audrey Miller du site Infobourg a écrit sur le sujet il y a une dizaine de jours. Le Skype Mystère est une activité qui intègre TIC et collaboration. Cette idée a vu le jour avec l’arrivée de Skype in the classroom. Voici la description de cette initiative gratuite. Skype in the classroom est un moyen simple et gratuit pour les enseignants d’ouvrir leur salle de classe. Comment est-il possible de mettre en place un Skype Mystère ? L’équipe de la iClasse a publié un article qui donne des règles de bases pour le bon déroulement de cette activité. 1.
Creative teaching resources | Sparky Teaching Pinterest YouTube Facebook Twitter We like to think our teaching resources are a little bit different... Resources with a twist, so to speak. Our resources have been used by schools all over the UK and US, as well as other countries including Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and we hope you find something here that resonates. For schools with a sparky ethos. Find out more > Mathematips Revision cards that celebrate the visual and beauty in maths. Find out more > Scientips Science key words and tips - sparky style! Find out more > e-SENSE TRAVELCARDS Send e-Safety messages home with your students. Find out more > Revision tips cards with a twist to keep your students motivated. Find out more > Reward who your students are as well as what they've done. Find out more > Every so often we make a video for you... Find out more > Hook your students into learning key words, designing fair tests and actually enjoying the write-up! Find out more > Spelling, punctuation and grammar with a twist... Find out more >
Correcting writing: 8 practical ideas Correcting students' writing is something we do on a very regular basis. And the feedback we give depends on many factors. For example, with more creative writing (e.g. compositions, reviews, stories, etc.) we will clearly want to demonstrate our interest in the content, apart from just using our red pen. Depending on the level and the assigned task, we might want to zoom in only on certain mistakes and ignore others (e.g. correct use of past simple). Below I’ve listed some of the most popular correction techniques (I use error and mistake interchangeably here): Using symbols:Most teachers use correction codes which can be written either above the mistake or on the margins. Ideally, we'd like our students to spot and correct the mistakes themselves.
Write and Improve: An Online writing helper Writing is probably the most difficult area for learners to improve on by themselves. Writing demands an audience and if you have no-one to tell you how successful your efforts are – or not – then you are doomed to repeat your failures into eternity. Cambridge English have, however, just released a beta version of an online, browser based writing helper. Currently free to use and requiring only a facebook login (or email registration), the service allows learners to input their answers to one of the five questions provided (or submit a piece of writing of their own choice) and to get feedback on their efforts. In the screenshot above, the highlighted text at the bottom of the image is the submitted text. You’ll also notice the “tabs” under the heading Detailed Feedback these are meant to provide a closer look at what errors the writer has made and give suggestions for improving them: As it stands, the feedback it gives is primarily linguistic and syntactical. So who should use this tool?
Talk about yourself Examiner: Hi. What’s your name? Kelvin: My name is Kelvin. Examiner: Kelvin, OK. So, Kelvin, I’m going to ask you a few questions. I’d like to ask you about your school. Kelvin: I think I like economics most because I can study different kinds of demand and supply theory and I can use it in my daily life to observe the market. Examiner: OK. Kelvin: Actually, I don’t like physics too much because I need to calculate many difficult questions and all those mathematics words. Examiner: I see. Kelvin: Yeah, sure. Examiner: OK, and what would you like to study there? Kelvin: I think I would like to study something about business. Examiner: OK, that’s great. Melissa: My name is Melissa. Examiner: Melissa? Melissa: Yeah. Examiner: Hi, Melissa. Melissa: I’ve got no sisters and brothers. Examiner: And your dog? Melissa: Yeah! Examiner: Great. Melissa: I like mathematics the most because I think it’s satisfying to calculate the solution. Examiner: OK. Examiner: Great, OK. Examiner: Sure, OK.
Cool Activities Curriculet Curriculet frees up my time outside of the classroom - no more collecting reading questions, trying to spot-check them, giving points for writing something down, whether or not they actually did the reading or understood it. - Jessica Rice, English Teacher at Summit Preparatory High School With Curriculet, I can not only change our reading instruction on a classroom level by flipping the instruction, but also influence reading instruction on a departmental level by encouraging the department to expand the curriculum: we can read MORE in less time with Curriculet. - Kate Baker, English teacher at Southern Regional high School I cannot WAIT to share this with my colleagues. This is going to revolutionize the way I can teach info texts, short stories, and excerpts from novels! - Morgan Toal, English teacher at Lakewood middle school
10 Social Media Tips for Reaching World Language Learners Feeling outdated, not connected, or even totally lost in the digital age? Well, let me assure you, droning on and on about grammatical structures is a surefire way to quickly lose student interest in the world language classroom. Instead, embrace something which truly interests the millennial student: social media. Utilizing it in the classroom will give your students practical, engaging ways to communicate in the language you teach. The 21st century learner is not wired to memorize; instead, her or she is inclined to create, connect and collaborate. Social media is the perfect medium for us, their teachers, to reach them. Here are ten ideas to get you started on your journey toward not becoming the classroom dinosaur you have always feared becoming. 1. Blogging is a wonderful way to keep your students connected, even when they are no longer in class. 2. Micro-blogging via Twitter is another way to link students outside of class. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Blog Archive Prepositions AT IN ON - place » ENGAMES A week ago I published a post on prepositions AT, IN, ON for time. Several students asked me if I could do something like that for prepositions AT, IN, ON but for places. So here you are. Prepositions AT, IN, ON for places – MIND MAP Here is a mind map, where I try to explain the difference between the three prepositions. Prepositions AT, IN, ON for places – GAMES Here you can try three games to practise the grammar point. Prepositions AT, IN, ON for places – penalty. The second game is called teacher invaders. Prepositions AT, IN, ON for places – teacher invaders. Are you looking for something quieter at the end? Prepositions AT, IN, ON for places – cloze test and Angry Finches. Follow us
The Best Tools For Creating Fake “Stuff” For Learning The fake “stuff” I’m referring to in the headline includes newspaper articles, sports “trading cards,” iPhone conversations, Facebook pages etc. These can be used for conversation practice, to create reports on historical figures (or on natural disasters or on just about anything) and for numerous other learning activities. Here are my choices for The Best Tools For Creating Fake “Stuff” For Learning: Boy, this could be a great tool to help English Language Learner students practice writing and reading dialogue — FakeiPhoneText lets you create a text conversation that looks like the real thing and give you a unique url address of your creation. I Fake Text Message is a simple tool to create…fake text messages. ClassTools has created a similar site for text messages, though theirs can be embedded. Twister can be used to create fake tweets, as can this Fake Twitter Generator. I Fake Siri lets you create a fake conversation — in text — with the new iPhone voice feature Siri. Related Neat!