Improve Your English by Watching Friends – 3 Steps on How to Actively Watch TV Shows
I am delighted to introduce you to Paul Mains who has written this post. Paul approached me a couple of weeks ago offering to write a piece for my blog. He offered me a choice of topics and I was immediately drawn to the above topic. Many learners watch films and follow TV series in English. However, many often feel guilty and think that they should be doing something more worthwhile to work on their English.
The Notebook
This EFL lesson is designed around a beautiful short film by Greg Gray and the theme of household chores. Students learn and practise vocabulary related to household chores, talk about household chores and watch a short film. Language level: Pre-intermediate (A2)- Intermediate (B1) Learner type: Teens and adults Time: 60 minutes
London Short Fiction: Mud Man
Continuing our series of short fiction set in, or influenced by London. This week’s story by Melaina Barnes is the winner of our competition with the British Academy’s Literature Week to find a new modern fairy tale for London. To explore the Literature Week programme — running 11-17 May — and register for events visit the British Academy’s website. Out he comes, dredged from the canal. The narrow-boat girls pat him, tend him, talk to him. –Mate.
10 lifesaving websites for ESL teachers
Lisa has asked me for some recommendations regarding useful sites for EFL teachers and I’m happy to make a little compilation of the places I visit most often to find ideas, inspirations, betimes lesson plans if I feel exceptionally lazy (The Liberation of the Garden Gnomes by Peter Vahle is just shiny!) and share them with you. So, here we go – my ten favourite websites:
The Reader
This EFL lesson plan is designed around a moving short film commissioned by Bells and directed by Greg Gray. In the lesson students write a narrative, watch a short film and discuss literacy strategies. I would ask all teachers who use Film English to consider buying my book Film in Action as the royalties which I receive from sales help to keep the website completely free. Language level: Intermediate (B1) – Upper Intermediate (B2) Learner type: All ages Time: 90 minutes
Four Ways to Think About Using ThingLink - Rethinking ThingLink
This is a guest post from Shawn McCusker of EdTechTeacher.org, an advertiser on this site. While there are some very creative web tools out there, ThingLink is one of my favorites. It has earned this status by passing several of my key benchmark-tests for the classroom: It is dependable and accessible.Students need not fear that their work will be lost as it automatically saves.It is relatively easy to learn and use.Rarely does a lesson become more about “ThingLink” than the topic about which students are trying to express their knowledge.
Use six different tenses in English
Students often learn just one piece of grammar in a lesson. Most of them master that day’s subject and move on to the next. But, when the time for revision comes, they often don’t remember what they’ve learnt. For example, two weeks ago my class encountered an exercise in which several tenses were revised. First, they demanded that I re-explain the grammar and then they seemed really confused about what form they should use.
The Giving Tree (Shel Silverstein) –[Multimedia-English videos]
A story about unconditional love. Read from the original book by Shel Silverstein. THE BOY WOULD COME= The boy used to come. USED TO can express a habit or a state (a situation), but WOULD can only express a habit- I used to get up at 8 o’clock, but now I get up later = I would get up at 8 o’clock, but now I get up later.- That house used to look very old, but now they have repaired it. (a state. We can’t say: “that house would look very old”)
Teaching Reading and Writing with Technology: Phases of the Moon
For the last few weeks, I've been mentoring a fabulous student teacher. She has been gradually taking over more subject areas, and later this week, she'll be teaching everything. I really enjoy having the opportunity to work with student teachers because they bring a lot of enthusiasm to the classroom, and they often have really creative lessons. My current student teacher is no exception.
Why You Should Learn English with TV Series
For the majority of exceptionally fluent English speakers I meet, the most fun, enriching, and effective way to learn English is through watching TV series. In fact, it’s surprisingly common to hear that people learn significantly more English from TV, movies, and videos than all traditional methods combined (For example: English courses, textbooks, and even study abroad experiences). So why is this the case? Why is it so hard for English schools to consistently deliver on their promises, and why is it that the most fluent English learners in the world are benefiting much more from English speaking TV series, a media that was not intended to teach English? Learn 101 Common Expressions from Friends with our FREE EBook
June 2012
One of the most valuable things a teacher can do for students is to help them identify resources for learning outside of class. If students can make a personal—even emotional—connection to material, they will go beyond what is required in an ESOL course in their study of English because it has become enjoyable, not just necessary. I knew I hit the jackpot when students begged to watch another episode of Fox Broadcasting Company’s hit musical comedy-drama Glee. For my advanced-level college students, I had created a listening log together with pre- and postviewing classroom activities on the first episode, titled “Pilot,” which originally aired in 2009. I use the term listening log to describe a series of tasks completed individually by students outside of class while watching the episode.
50 ways to use video in the classroom – EFL CLASSROOM 2.0
I will be travelling quite a bit this year to conferences and schools, speaking about a lifelong teaching passion - the use of video as an educational material. It is something I've promoted and developed many language learning ideas around - foremost through my work on EnglishCentral. So enjoy these practical ideas for using this most "real" material with your students, Each idea has a recommended example - just click "View It".
30 Trends In Education Technology For 2015
30 Trends In Education Technology For The 2015 School Year by Terry Heick What’s trending up for 2015 school year in terms of education technology? iPads are still the standard but other platforms are making headway.
