English Language Resources from Macmillan Dictionary
We frequently create unique English language resources from our dictionary content. These resources are designed to help make the information on macmillandictionary.com more accessible to English language learners. Using all of our expertise in the area of language learning, we create educational material that is both unique and entertaining. Keep your eyes on this page.
Course planning
Pre-service teacher training courses typically focus on the detailed planning of a 40 minute or 60 minute lesson and don’t focus attention on how to go about planning a much longer scheme of work. This is also an important area to consider though, because most teachers are involved in teaching courses, which may typically last anywhere between 30 and 120 hours. The aim of this article is to share some of the conclusions of a recent project I was part of, with the hope that it might enable other teachers to plan a little faster too! Why do we plan our lessons?
ESL Treasure
HintsConceal a card or piece of paper with a word written on it from the students. Give them 3 hints as to what the word is i.e. 1. I am very big 2.
2046 is the last year your CEO has a business major
A quick Google search for top CEOs will yield a list of well-known names like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Sergei Brin and Larry Page. Not surprisingly, these CEOs have a lot in common – they’ve built successful companies, established iconic corporate cultures, inspired other great leaders, and the list goes on. But an undeniable common thread is their impressive, and often exhaustive, technical background. As we embark on The Fourth Industrial Revolution, our world is changing quicker than it ever has; the reality is that most companies are simply not prepared for what’s ahead. According to recent research by Juniper Networks and Wakefield Research, IT decision makers across various industries including telecom, healthcare, retail, and financial services are concerned that their company’s IT infrastructure would be an obstacle to accelerating a new product or service. Perhaps this explains one of the reasons why tech CEOs are so celebrated.
Katherine Bilsborough: Lesson plans – less is more
You can travel without a list of course but you will avoid a few problems if you spend a bit of time planning – not a whole week though. That would be silly. A few minutes should be enough. Pre-empting problems will bring peace of mind and when it comes to teaching, this is a major defence against burnout and work stress. New teachers who have had training will have been evaluated and assessed on their lesson plans.
ways to finish a lesson – so that the students take something away with them
There are lots of ways to start off a lesson beautifully, maningfully, logically, etc. For example, to talk about how your students spent their week (here are 2 worksheets to help), or to ask about their plans, or to discuss the weather/ news, or to remember vocabulary from the previous lesson in some creative way, or to revise some grammar, like here or here, or….well, the list is almost inexhaustible, as I am sure you know). But how do we finish a lesson?
What I Wish I’d Known as a New Teacher
It’s been two decades since my first year in the classroom. I reflect on that time and wish I’d known a few things about myself, about teaching, and about my students. Some of what I wish I’d known could have been shared with me—some I just had to live and learn. So I offer this reflection both for new teachers as well as for those who support them.
Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom
If this is your first time here, then read the Teacher's Guide to Using These PagesIf you can think of a good question for any list, please send it to us. Home | Articles | Lessons | Techniques | Questions | Games | Jokes | Things for Teachers | Links | Activities for ESL Students Would you like to help? If you can think of a good question for any list, please send it to us.
Reflective teaching: Exploring our own classroom practice
By collecting information about what goes on in our classroom, and by analysing and evaluating this information, we identify and explore our own practices and underlying beliefs. This may then lead to changes and improvements in our teaching. Reflective teaching is therefore a means of professional development which begins in our classroom. Why it is importantBeginning the process of reflection Teacher diary Peer observation Recording lessons Student feedback What to do next Think Talk Read Ask Conclusion
eltchat
The aim was to create a freely available social network for ELT professionals offering mutual support and opportunities for Continuous Professional Development. Now, every Wednesday at 19:00pm GMT or 21.00pm GMT, ELT teachers from all over the world log into their Twitter account and for one hour hold an online discussion on a topic they have selected. To join in you just have to follow the hashtag #ELTChat. You'll see the conversation and anything you tag with #ELTChat will be part of it If you already use a Twitter app like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, you can follow #ELTChat in there. Follow it here A how to guide for Twitter apps
