» Teaching English through songs in the digital age – #ELTchat summary 12/01/2011

Free Reading Worksheets Ereading Worksheets has the best reading worksheets on the internet, and they’re all free. These worksheets are skill focused and aligned to Common Core State Standards. You are free to save, edit, and print these worksheets for personal or classroom use. BusyTeacher.org Students love being able to understand and read current news in English and there is something to interest everyone in a newspaper. The average reading age for most newspapers is approximately 11-13 years old, just perfect for those learning English as a foreign language. Newspapers are also a handy resource for English language teachers. If you are teaching in an English speaking country look out for the free press newspapers. Try to collect enough newspapers so that you have one copy between two students. You can get heaps of activities from just one edition of a newspaper so don’t throw them away after just one session, share them with other teachers in your school.

Music @ ESOL UK Read the paper here for an introduction to the theory and practice of using music for language learning. Please note, many of these videos are high quality. For best performance, pause the video at the beginning and allow the video to progressively download onto your computer. Oracy and talk for learning High-quality classroom talk is essential to pupils’ thinking and learning. It is also linked to improvements in reading and writing, and overall attainment. This resource for secondary school teachers covers how different types of talk, together with listening skills, can be explicitly taught and practised in the classroom to develop pupils’ oracy. Crossword Puzzle Maker!! You must have an OLD browser. The old crossword maker doesn't allow all of the new features like cool fonts, adding images, shadows, special colors, and much more coming in the furture like saving, and being playable online. You can upgrade your browser to IE 9+ or better yet, get the Google Chrome browser and enjoy all of those great features. Not convinced?

How to Engage Students in the First few Minutes I have a wonderful friend who is currently a student teacher. I absolutely love chatting to her about her experiences and questions, as she challenges me to reflect on my own practice: to re-evaluate my strategies; to work out what it is I do and why; to tweak what isn’t working. Her questions are always intelligent, thought-provoking and full of exciting curiosity – she is going to make an exceptional teacher.

First World War Centenary What the resources include The lesson plans enable pupils to write a thank you letter to the person they have studied as their personal act of remembrance. We have also produced accompanying assemblies to introduce remembrance and the Thank You campaign. US Presidential Election Background 2016 presidential candidates Basic details of each candidate’s backgroundWhere the Candidates Stand on 2016’s Biggest IssuesWhat happens when … and how The important dates, Feb-Nov, listed and explained2016 Primary Results and Calendar Quickview of the results so far by NYTimes Warm-up What do kids want in a president? The 8 Minutes That Matter Most I am an English teacher, so my ears perk up when writers talk about their process. I've found the advice handy for lesson planning, too. That's because both writing and planning deal with craft. In writing, you want your audience to be absorbed. You want them to care about your characters.

Valete fratres - Librarians and the First World War - Untold lives blog On Remembrance Sunday, we are sharing a story about librarians who lost their lives serving in the First World War. In 1923 The Library Association commissioned the calligraphers Edward Johnston and H Lawrence Christie to design a roll of honour commemorating the British librarians who fell in the Great War. Johnston, a renowned calligrapher best-known for designing an alphabet used on London Underground signs until 1980, was familiar with the British Museum Library having studied its manuscript collections as a young man.