A great selection of upcoming BC webinars The latest round of webinars has just been announced on the British Council’s Teaching English website, and I’m once again delighted to be a part of the series. My session, details below, opens up the new season and I’m pleased to be presenting among such an incredible group of educators. Here are brief details of all the upcoming sessions, be sure not to miss any of them! October, 2013: Adam Simpson (me!) – Encouraging learners to explore language through creative activities Encouraging learners to explore the language through creative activities in class is not as difficult as it may at first appear. November, 2013: David Petrie – Writing skills for exam practice The session looks at helping learners developing the writing skill, in particular those learners working towards language exams. December, 2013: Dave Dodgson – Using games to engage, motivate and educate language learners January, 2014: Sylvia Guinan – Social and emotional approaches to teaching with technology
Finding the Cure for Writer's Block in a Web App Posted 01/28/2014 at 6:38pm | by Michael Simon Lord knows how much I've spent on apps for writing. It wasn't so bad when I only had my Mac to worry about. Every few months, something new would come along promising tighter compatibility and a better overall experience, and I would eagerly fork over a few bucks to check it out. But even before we entered the post-PC era, sharing was always an issue. These days, things are a whole lot better. But that doesn't mean my search is over. It wasn't supposed to be this way. And at least one developer still believes that's true. Nathan Kontny is no stranger to technology. "Draft started as just a simple way to mark major versions of my work that I could easily go through to find that old stuff," Kontny said. Draft isn't just the best web app I've ever used, it's quickly becoming one of my go-to writing apps. "When I design things, I prefer to give myself as few choices as I can possibly have," Kontny said. "I treat my technology stack like that.
10 downloadable lesson plans for teaching environmental issues and problems Teach them English Adam Simpson's blog Skip to content ← A great selection of upcoming BC webinars 5 great writing warm up activities… and what they lead to → 10 downloadable lesson plans for teaching environmental issues and problems Posted on September 25, 2013 by Adam Most coursebooks have units on the environment and with very good reason; this is a hot topic, especially with Generation Y learners, and so therefore such units are quite stimulating classroom topics and often work well, with a teenage audience in particular. Don't miss any of my posts! You might also like: 15 free resources for teaching classroom language Getting started on writing effective lesson plans 15 great ice-breaker ideas and downloable worksheets Linkwithin This entry was posted in Teaching ideas and tagged downloadable lesson plans for teaching environmental issues and problems. 6 Responses to 10 downloadable lesson plans for teaching environmental issues and problems Leave a Reply Teach them English
5 great writing warm up activities... and what they lead to I think you might want to download these activities so you can use them later… so here’s a handy PDF file of this blog post! Warm up activities that get learners writing can be fantastic for getting the creative juices flowing while also giving a focused start to your lesson. A writing task at the start of class can be an effective way of leading into explicit grammar teaching or can just as easily be followed up with speaking activities. What’s more, many such activities are easy to adapt to be suitable for any type of learners, both adults and kids. 1. Ok, everyone in the world knows this classic set up: a genie has just granted three wishes to everyone in the class. Where can you take this? 2. This one needs a little bit of preparation, in that you have to cut out pictures of people from different magazines before class. You can examine the new adjectives used by the learners. Happy, creative learners of English! 3. 4. 5. Now it’s your turn…
A cracking activity for stimulating creative thought that requires very little prep and can be used at any level I think you might want to download this activity so you can use it later… so here’s a handy PDF file of this blog post! Later on this month I will be giving a webinar for the British Council Teaching English website. I’m lucky enough to be talking about one of my favourite teaching topics, encouraging creative thought among learners. This webinar will firstly look at the barriers to creativity, then how might overcome such hindrances. The session will round off with a number of easily adaptable activities which facilitate creative thinking. As a taster of what’s to come, here’s a great activity that you can use with any level of language learner and to reinforce / and put to practical use any language point you happen to have been teaching. Are you ready? What you need Scan through all those old teacher’s books you have kicking around your place of work. OK, I think you have the basic idea. Procedure That’s it. Your turn… If you like this and use it, please let me know how it goes.
How I prepare to give a workshop to teachers As I mentioned a few days ago, I’ll be at the INGED conference in Izmir this weekend. I’ve spent an hour or so today putting the final touches to my workshop. I thought it would be nice to share with you all the kind of things I do to get ready for such a session. Here’s a short video for you to watch. When preparing, what are my priorities? How many handouts do I need? My questions for you are: How do you get ready? I’m looking forward to your ideas on this!
4 great things to do with newspapers in the language classroom Although the way we consume news has gone through great changes in recent years, newspapers remain a great teaching resource to use in the classroom. Some of the best lessons I’ve ever taught have been based around newspaper articles. Their flexibility in terms of meeting objectives and outcomes are the key to why they are such a good resource for us as teachers. Here are four ways we can exploit newspapers, and a few carefully chosen links, too! 1. Newspapers are, by definition, full of writing that uses language to deliver information in a specific way. ‘A classroom scene’ by @sandymillin from ELTPics Make a copy of your chosen article for each learner and get them to make note of any words in the article that they are unfamiliar with. 2. Headlines serve as the basis from which we predict what the content of an article will be. With this in mind, give your learners only the headline of an article, and ask them to write it based on this prompt. 3. 4. A few useful links A word of caution…
15 free resources for teaching classroom language Teach them English Adam Simpson's blog Skip to content ← 15 great ice-breaker ideas and downloadable worksheets Why they still plagiarise and how we can take steps to stop it → 15 free resources for teaching classroom language Posted on September 19, 2013 by Adam As a new academic years begins, many of us are now experiencing the joy of starting out with new classes of learners. Classroom language exercises (part one) You might also like: 15 more free resources for teaching classroom language 15 great ice-breaker ideas and downloadable worksheets 30 free resources for lessons about personality and feelings Great games for the language classroom: Blockbusters Linkwithin This entry was posted in Teaching ideas and tagged free downloadable worksheets for classroom language. 11 Responses to 15 free resources for teaching classroom language Angeliki says: September 19, 2013 at 7:54 pm I have found your resources great!! Leave a Reply Your email address will not be published. Teach them English
15 more free resources for teaching classroom language Teach them English Adam Simpson's blog Skip to content ← Why they still plagiarise and how we can take steps to stop it 6 Useful tools for teaching and learning vocabulary → 15 more free resources for teaching classroom language Posted on September 20, 2013 by Adam As a new academic years begins, many of us are now experiencing the joy of starting out with new classes of learners. You might also like: 15 free resources for teaching classroom language 30 free resources for lessons about personality and feelings Resources for teaching language learners about Thanksgiving A huge bunch of resources for teaching the present perfect ... Linkwithin This entry was posted in Teaching ideas and tagged free resources for teaching classroom language. 6 Responses to 15 more free resources for teaching classroom language Leave a Reply Your email address will not be published. Teach them English Proudly powered by WordPress. ShareThis Copy and Paste