Language Teacher Toolkit: 5 great zero preparation lesson ideas When the pressure is on and there are only so many hours on the week, you need a repertoire of zero preparation go-to activities which promote input and/or practice. Here are five you might well find useful. 1. We know that listening is the most important yet often neglected skill for language learning. You tell the class you are going to recount what you did last weekend and that they have to make notes in English. You then make some true or false (maybe not mentioned too) statements in the target language about what you said in your account. 2. Pupils work in small groups. This is definitely an "output" task but one which can encourage students to speak fearlessly with an ear on fluency rather than accuracy. 3. For intermediate to advanced level. • My brother has twin sons. • I have three cats. • If I’d been a boy, I would’ve been called George. • My family was brought up in Spain. • My favourite movie is The Sound of Music. • My father was an extra in Star Wars. 4. What's her name? 5.
Learning Scientists - Downloadable Materials About the six strategies for effective learning resources: These resources were created based on research from cognitive psychology from the past few decades. To learn more about how we created the materials, see this blog. The materials are intended to teach about principles of learning and to provide teachers and students with flexible guiding principles to guide learning and studying. However, they are not intended to fix all problems within education. Further, we cannot guarantee success, and we cannot predict students' grades based on the use of these strategies. Fair use of the materials: Please use our materials and pass them along to others for educational purposes!
Russell Stannard | Award-Winning Educational Technologist Ask Answer Add - A Speaking Activity to Help Learners Maintain a Natural Conversation Ask Answer Add - A Speaking Activity to Help Learners Maintain a Natural Conversation Ask Answer Add is one of my favorite speaking activities and requires no resources in class. It is a very straightforward exercise and I’m sure it will really help your learners build their speaking skills and learn the invaluable skill of maintaining a conversation. The premise is quite simple, and it is suitable for any level of learner. Ask The idea behind the activity is very simple. What’s your favorite food? Answer Start with just one question and let the learners know that they are going to ask this to their partner. A. Add The student answering the question should then add some extra information. A. Ask This extra information now gives student A something to comment on or to probe for more information. A. Answer Now student B has another question to answer and another opportunity to keep the conversation going. A. What do you think?
TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC Nik's QuickShout Most Influential Images – elt sparks “Pictures can create an atmosphere where change is possible.” – James Nachtwey The 100 most influential photos published in a website by time magazine is the perfect SPARK to talk about the power of images. Striking and powerful images engage students towards deeper discussion where they not only describe the image, but also speculate on the stories behind them. This lesson culminates in a task where students choose an image from the internet and talk about why it is influential and representative of 2016. CONTEXT – Image spark: Show Ss the ‘Man on the Moon’ image (see above). Create a context with a Q&A session about the photo (pair/group work).Write question prompts on the board – Who? Suggested questions: What do you see? Step 2: Ask Ss to complete the sentence in pairs: (after a couple of minutes of brainstorming, I alowed students to use dictionaries) This photo is one of the most _____________ images of all time. Step 3 – Return to context: Step 4: Choose 5 images from the following website:
LearnEnglish - British Council This online level test will give you an approximate indication of your English proficiency level. You can use the result to help you find content on our website that is appropriate for your English language ability. About the online level test 25 multiple-choice questions 10–20 minutes This test is designed to assess your understanding of English grammar, vocabulary and phrasing. You will be required to read each question carefully and select the answer that you think is correct. Instructions Test your English language skills by choosing the correct answer, then decide how sure you are that your answer is correct. It is very important to be honest about how sure you are. You will not be able to return to the previous question once you have submitted your answer and moved on, so make sure that you are completely satisfied with the answer you choose before you submit it. Results Your result will be one of three possible levels: Find content for your level
Apps to update your teaching skills | LTSIG Share this..... Teacher’s toolbox series Teachers blogging about their favourite tools By Angeles Hergenreder Do you feel your teaching skills need an upgrade? Have you considered the help of smartphones to do so? Their usage is making a huge impact on our lives and that, of course, includes how and where we teach and learn. Getting started An application or app is a type of software designed to perform a specific task such as playing a game, adding special effects to photos or collecting content from the Internet. Phones come with many apps already installed. You can run apps on your computer too. Educational apps There are many educational apps available to study English. While searching for educational apps to expand my students’ exposure to the language, I found the British Council apps. What I did with the apps was to assign some exercises to my students as homework and ask them to take screenshots to show their results. Noneducational apps Beautiful QR Code Generator Instagram Mindly Sing!
25 ideas for using audio scripts in the ELT classroom | Oxford University Press Philip Haines is the Senior Consultant for Oxford University Press, Mexico. As well as being a teacher and teacher trainer, he is also the co-author of several series, many of which are published by OUP. Today he joins us to provide 25 engaging and useful classroom activities for language learners using audio scripts. Many ELT student books come with audio scripts at the back. However, these are sometimes not exploited to the full. Here are 25 ideas for how to make better use of this resource. Before listening to the audio for the first time: While listening to audio for the first time: After listening to the audio: Like this: Like Loading...
Communicative language teaching Approach to language education Communicative language teaching (CLT), or the communicative approach (CA), is an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study. Learners in environments using communication to learn and practice the target language by interactions with one another and the instructor, the study of "authentic texts" (those written in the target language for purposes other than language learning), and the use of the language both in class and outside of class. Learners converse about personal experiences with partners, and instructors teach topics outside of the realm of traditional grammar to promote language skills in all types of situations. According to CLT, the goal of language education is the ability to communicate in the target language.[2] This is in contrast to previous views in which grammatical competence was commonly given top priority.[3] Background[edit] Societal influences[edit] Academic influences[edit]
Viewing ESL/EFL Blogs | TOPICS CALL Pages | ESL/EFL | Sandy Peters Create Your Own ESL/EFL Blogs Sandy Peters Viewing ESL/EFL Blogs To get an idea of ways you can use blogs in ESL/EFL, take a look at various types of blogs created by both educators and students. Blogs Used in ESL/EFL Classes Our Class 2007 Rosa Ochoa creates class blogs where she sets up weekly work for her adult migrant advanced students AMEP in Sydney, Australia.There are quizzes, competitions, students' own texts, students' recipes, photos, videos, and a lot more. Blogs to Extend ESL Class Projects: Relevant Postings and Student Comments Globally Speaking Sandy Peters used this blog to provide her ESL students an out-of-class writing space where they can express their ideas and opinions on topics of global interest. A Look at Bullying Sandy Peters used this blog to help university ESL students explore and comment on aspects an issue of consequence: school bullying. Class Blogs and Student Blogs that Successfully Incorporate Web 2.0 Tools Blogs Offering a Collection of Podcasts