Koprowski - Ten Good Games for Recycling Vocabulary The Internet TESL Journal Mark Koprowskimarkkoprowski [at] yahoo.com Introduction Learning is remembering. If we respect this axiom, the review and recycling of new language items will be critical if they stand a chance of becoming readily accessible in long-term memory. Experts these days concur that learners actually need as many as 5 to 16 'meetings' with a new language item in a variety of contexts before it can be truly learned and activated for genuine use. 1. Divide the class into Teams A and B. Variation: To ensure a slightly quieter and less chaotic game, the teams can take it in turns. 2. Put the students into pairs or small groups. Variation: To add a spelling accuracy component, teams can also earn an extra point for each correctly spelt item. 3. Give the class a topic (e.g. food, clothes, animals, things in a kitchen) and ask them to stand up, in a circle if possible. 4. Divide the class into Teams A and B. 5. 6. Divide the class into Teams A and B. 7. 8. 10. Bibliography
UK slang for international students | Education UK (Global) By Sophie Cannon at Education UK, 27 January 2014 'Hiya mate, fancy a cuppa and a chin-wag?' 'I can't sorry pal, I'm skint. Gutted!' When you first arrive in the UK for your studies, you might be mystified by some of the words and phrases local people use. Don't worry, this is completely normal and you will soon be fine! People here often use slang – especially with friends. To help you cotton on (slang for 'understand'), here are some common words you may hear. Greetings, please and thank you Alright? People, friends and family Don't be confused if someone calls you pet, duck, sweetie, love, chicken, chuck, chucky-egg or sunshine. Other common slang and dialect terms you will hear are: Bairn = Baby or young child. Descriptions and exclamations There are lots of slang and dialect words to say something is good or cool – for example, in Wales you might hear people say tidy or lush, while in Birmingham you might hear bostin. If something is uncool, people may say it is naff or cheesy. Money
The Seven Best Short Films for ELT Students - Kieran Donaghy I’ve been writing lesson plans designed around short films for my website Film English for six years. Teachers often ask me how I find the short films I use in my lesson plans. The answer is quite simple: I’ve watched literally thousands of short films and developed an instinct for the type of engaging and simple short films which will work in the ELT classroom. In this article I’d like to share what for me are the seven best short films for the language classroom. The Mirror The Mirror is a short film by Ramon and Pedro which tells the story of a boy’s journey from childhood to old age. The Notebook The notebook is a moving short film by Greg Gray and is wonderful for introducing the theme of empathy. The Present The Present is a gripping short film with a wonderful twist by Jacob Frey which deals with the themes of empathy, teenagers and disability. Soar Soar is a delightful short film by Alyce Tzue which can be used to get students to predict and write a narrative. I Forgot My Phone
10 commonly made mistakes in vocabulary instruction Please note: this post was written in collaboration with Steve Smith of and Dylan Vinales of Garden International School. In this post I will concern myself with ten very common pitfalls of vocabulary instruction and with ways in which they can be easily pre-empted. Mistake1 – Shallow encoding practices As already mentioned in many previous posts of mine, a to-be-learnt word lingers in our Working Memory for no longer than two or three seconds immediately after we hear it. Thus, in order to commit it effectively to Long-term Memory, we must perform some form of rehearsal. Rehearsal involves either ‘shallow’ or ‘deep’ processing. In shallow processing we use repetition or matching a word to a visual cue. Example: if you taught your students ten words using some of the www.linguascope.com very entertaining games (e.g. matching words to pictures; word dictation; spelling games), they will have performed lots of fun activities for 10-15 minutes. Mistake 3.
Stop, Breathe & Think Learn Useful Expressions in English | International House Bristol Check out IH Bristol’s extensive list of over 1000 of the most useful expressions in English, available for free for Beginner/Elementary students to Advanced speakers. Learning English is one of the best ways to improve your life and the prospects of getting a good job. English is used all over the world as the language of education and business and it is becoming normal to expect everybody to be able to speak it. IH Bristol has more than 30 years’ experience of teaching English as a foreign language, of helping students to pass Cambridge Exams, to achieve the right score in IELTS or OET or just to learn to communicate more effectively in the language. Whatever your reasons for learning English, we know the kind of language you need to learn. However, not everybody can come to Bristol to learn in person. How to use the Useful Expressions 1. The more you use them, the more you will improve!
Anna Popławska Wednesday, 18 February 2015 10 very real teacher ailments and diseases I can't understand why these aren't in medical journals! 1. 8 Ways to Supercharge Google Docs with Drawings On the 8th day of Tech-Mas my true love gave to me… 8 Docs Drawings. Note: This post is part of my "12 Days of Tech-Mas" series for 2017. You can see all of the posts for each day as they get released in the main post here: "12 Days of Tech-Mas 2017". "You can't do that in Google Docs!" If you have ever made that claim, then you know the frustration of loving all the awesome things you can do in Docs, but still bumping up against limitations. Sometimes we can extend the capabilities of Docs by installing add-ons or extensions. That tool ... That's right. In this blog post we are going to take a look at eight things you can do with Drawings inside of Docs. See below for details, directions, and examples for each, as well as recorded video tutorials demonstrating how each works. Video Training - 1-Hour Recorded Webinar You can view watch the entire training video above, or view just the portions related to each example using the links below. The Basics 8 Examples of using Drawings in Google Docs
Nine ways to revise English vocabulary using slips of paper What can teachers do when classroom technology stops working? Cristina Cabal, latest winner of the British Council's TeachingEnglish blog award for her post on pronunciation, suggests nine activities for revising English vocabulary using simple slips of paper. Nowadays, it seems very simple to plan a lesson that makes use of the many tools available online, especially as more and more of us have access to the Internet in our classrooms. But while technology is increasingly part of our teaching, there are times when it can cause problems and frustrations for teachers, such as when the Wi-Fi stops working or the computer shuts down, leaving you with a one-hour lesson to teach and no plan B up your sleeve. One of the best ways to deal with this situation is to use slips of paper – a resource available to every teacher in any given situation. The following activities have never let me down. Using slips of paper to revise vocabulary 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Arrange students in pairs or in threes. 7.
Vocabulary and autonomy The general aim is to involve the students in a more autonomous fashion in their learning, rather than simply having them presented with word lists selected by the teacher or syllabus. The role of vocabulary teachingHow can teachers help their learners?Self-initiated independent learningFormal practiceFunctional practiceMemorizingBest approachPractical activitiesReferences The role of vocabulary teachingIn the context of learning English as a foreign language, a learner is forced to be autonomous and independent and make conscious effort to learn vocabulary outside the classroom simply because the exposure to the target language is limited in class. How can teachers help their learners? Self-initiated independent learningThese strategies involve planned, active and motivated learning and exposure to language outside the classroom (media). Examples of strategies Formal practiceThese strategies promote systematic learning and vocabulary practice. Literature referenceEllis, G., B.
TeachingEnglish - British Council This semester in my TESL course, I am introducing my students to ways in which they can incorporate mobile devices into their teaching. All of the things I am showing them I have already used in my English language courses at one time or another. My hope is to get them thinking about how they can have students use these devices to help their language learners instead of fighting against their use in class. As many of you know, I don’t have a problem with phones, tablets, and other types of computing devices in my classroom since I see the real problem as being much deeper. The problems with distractions and potential cheating has very little to do with the devices themselves and more to do with things such as motivation. You may have seen studies on both sides of this debate, but most of them have to do with surface issues and don’t deal with things such as teacher training on the use of technology in the classroom and approaches to teaching. Criteria: Poll Everywhere What is it? Tlk.io
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