Archive for May, 2010
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Taking feedback
I remember with great clarity when one of my students complained that the level of challenge was not great enough for her. Another student heard her complaint and promptly said the same! That was a difficult moment for me, one which obviously needs to be read in context, but it more…
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Lesson plan 35: Amazing apes
This lesson springs from new evidence which suggests that orang-utans are able to ‘act’ to convey different messages.
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Spring has sprung!
Tui was first with the news – as usual – even before dawn. Then, in an instant, the morning sun, which yesterday had to shaken grumpily out of its slumbers, was blazing through the ranchsliders, daring me to press ‘snooze’. And last night’s rain had miraculously metamorphosed into an exuberant rainbow. more…
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Working with difficult language areas
This week’s tip is related to the previous one: our teaching is not synonymous with students’ learning. Here are some ways to help students gain a fuller understanding of tricky new language, some of which might help to ‘activate’ it too:
• ‘Little and often’ is a useful motto. When ‘new’ more… -
Lesson plan 34: The fourth plinth
This lesson is about an unusual art project in London in which contemporary artists are invited to create works of art for an empty plinth in Trafalgar Square.
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Travelling the road to discovery
Auckland is blessed with a full, radiant moon. But does that mean there’s a full moon everywhere, floating simultaneously over desert sands and frozen tundra, not just our own boggy fields? Why don’t I know these things? I can only comfort myself with the quote from Einstein that opens our more…
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Banishing the myth
The most shocking realisation in my teaching career was being forced to acknowledge that teaching does not equate with learning.
As a teacher, you may focus in on a language structure – either in a single lesson or over a series of several – only to then hear your students misusing more… -
Lesson plan 33: What’s the best age to retire?
This eLesson text explores a change in employment law in the UK that will make it possible for people to go on working after normal retirement age.
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How to approach the present perfect 2
Following on from last week’s tip (present perfect for unfinished past), this week we look at how to introduce the second use of the present perfect: past experiences, states and events where when is less important than what.
Putting the present perfect in context is crucial to aiding understanding. I like more… -
Partnership, protection and participation
Happiness. What a fabulous theme for a lesson! Our Global voyagers will learn, as they stop off at Unit 6, that it’s not all about fame and fortune. No, happiness, it seems, is made up of three indefinable – but refreshingly universal – elements: relationships, beliefs and purpose.
Armed with this more… -
Lesson plan 32: Cycle scheme
This elementary eLesson is about a new cycle scheme that has just started in London.
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Home and away
This weekend, New Zealand stayed at home and watched the rain do its thing – which gave me ample time to make myself at ‘home and away’ with Unit 8 of Global pre-intermediate. Of course, as immigrants, I and my students here are both ‘home and away’ at the same more…
