Blogs

  • Kia Ora to our latest Global Blogger

    Published on 5th July, 2010 in Global Bloggers by Matt Kay

    We have a new Global Blogger starting with us this week. He’ll be with us over the next couple of months and giving us a Global perspective from the other side of the world. Over to Martin…
    My name is Martin McMorrow. I am from London and have taught English in more…

  • Sentence stress 1

    Published on 1st July, 2010 in Teaching Tips by Frances Watkins

    A few weeks ago (12 March) we looked at how to work on word stress. This tends to be easier to practise than sentence stress, probably because the units of sound are smaller and generally less variable. However, spending time on sentence stress is also very valuable, particularly with a more…

  • The first six months of Dispatches

    Published on 30th June, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    Well, the first six months of my Global tour are now finished! I will be taking a rest for the summer before hitting the road again in September.
    I did a little calculation of the number of countries I’ve visited since Global has come out. It’s a whopping 14 countries in more…

  • When an ESL classroom can be a musical feast!

    Published on 29th June, 2010 in Global Bloggers by Patrick Talty

    Picture the scene. My IELTS students have just completed a rigorous 90-minute Reading exam. The mood is low. What do you do? How about several renditions of ‘Happy Birthday’ in several different languages? This scenario unfolded last week, for Asel, from Kazakhstan, whose birthday we celebrated. It got me pondering more…

  • Intensive listening

    Published on 24th June, 2010 in Teaching Tips by Frances Watkins

    Intensive listening is a skill which I believe to be overlooked in many contexts. Historically, one could argue that there was too much intensive listening, at the expense of general comprehension. However, nowadays coursebooks and teachers may have shifted too far in the other direction with the focus mainly on more…

  • Thank you, Global!

    Published on 24th June, 2010 in Global Bloggers by Vicky Loras

    I would like to thank everyone at Global and especially Lindsay Clandfield and Matthew Kay for giving me the opportunity to be guest blogger on the Global website and also for the material I received! My last blog post is dedicated to everyone at Macmillan!
    As this is my last post more…

  • Dispatch from Kazakhstan – A three language policy

    Published on 22nd June, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    My last trip before the summer was a week-long tour of Kazakhstan universities. It was my second time in the country and I was especially excited to visit the capital Astana, which I had included as the main topic of a lesson in Global Elementary (A created capital, in unit more…

  • Just happy to be here: sometimes teaching can be a very humbling experience

    Published on 22nd June, 2010 in Global Bloggers by Patrick Talty

    With the World Cup party in full swing, I asked my low intermediate conversation class which group of fans they thought were the most colourful. The majority went with the South Africans who they felt celebrated regardless of the team’s result, and who just dressed happily as Bruno, my Brazilian more…

  • Making your clarification more effective

    Published on 17th June, 2010 in Teaching Tips by Frances Watkins

    ‘Clarification’ refers to the ‘teach’ stage of your lesson, where the rules of meaning, use, form and pronunciation are clarified. In the past it was called the ‘presentation’ stage, but nowadays this term can hold slightly negative connotations, and be associated with more teacher-fronted lessons.
     In a grammar lesson, the clarification more…

  • The working life of an ESL student

    Published on 15th June, 2010 in Global Bloggers by Patrick Talty

    My afternoon Vocabulary/Conversation class had asked me recently if we could do a class focusing on the topic of work and all its related issues. They are an outgoing group of various levels and had suggested at the beginning of the session that they select the topics of discussion. I more…

  • Dispatch from Kazakhstan

    Published on 14th June, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    Last week was my last trip of the season, and what a trip it was. Nowhere other than Kazakhstan! I had the chance to visit three cities: the capital Astana (which features in Global Elementary), Almaty and Aktube. It was a busy trip, which included visits to more than eight more…

  • A day with a difference 2

    Published on 10th June, 2010 in Teaching Tips by Frances Watkins

    Last week we looked at some ways in which you can incorporate change into your teaching. Here are some more suggestions.
    • Use an approach or technique which is new for you, such as a dictogloss, a transformation exercise, a mumble drill (where students just repeat the target items repeatedly ‘under more…