“OK guys, we’re going to describe this picture…” you say to your eager students. Silence is their response.
We’ve all experienced the silent response and will continue to experience it for as long as we teach a foreign language. But what are some ways to alleviate it? Click here to read more.. »
Over the last year or so I have given papers at a number of conferences throughout the region. These conferences have primarily involved discussions within TESOL and Applied Linguistics but have also crossed-over into the related realms of general education, lifelong learning and learning disorders.
There have been some great presentations at the conferences I’ve attended (..and some not-so-great!). Click here to read more.. »
What’s a common homework assignment or part of the so-called on-going assessment? Getting your students to write a diary is a pretty safe bet. We’ve all requested it and most students will deliver.
The diary is used as a reflection of general speech and trying to get the student to find their own voice in their L2. But at the end of the day, no matter how much of their voice we can help them find, they don’t always progress when it comes to speaking. Be it confidence or perhaps even the physicality of actually speaking the L2, there are often obstacles. One possible way to alleviate these obstacles are to change tact a little bit. Click here to read more.. »
Everyone owns one.. at least one. Or at the very least, has access to one. People that don’t even study languages own one. Dictionary play a pretty major role in the lives of people of all ages. They’re set a standard for us to follow… sometimes we disagree, and sometimes we all get along. So how can language learners make the most of them?
I’ll steer clear of the descriptive elements and this will be more prescriptive… No, I’m not telling you that you have to follow it, but these are just some ideas that I’ve had from both my own learning and also from observing my students during class. Click here to read more.. »
Here’s an activity that incorporates three skills in one: listening, writing and speaking… with some reading thrown in if you twist it a little bit.
The steps are pretty simple, it’s simple to incorporate and easy to control. Click here to read more.. »
