LESSON IDEAS #3: THE LEARNER SPOTLIGHT IDEA
Sometimes in a lesson you will notice that a learner has a story to tell about something. There was one occasion when I overheard a learner explaining to his partner that he had witnessed a…
TEACHING THOUGHTS #11: DIGITAL VS LEGACY AI
There are two forms of AI: there's the digital form that everyone is discussing right now and then there's the legacy, analog form that very few people are aware of. And it's the latter form…
TEACHING THOUGHTS #10: CONNECTIONS BETWEEN IMPROVISATION IN MUSIC AND TEACHING
I recently played guitar at a wedding reception in Nottingham and had a great day out. When you travel eight hours by train to get somewhere you know your commitment to your art is strong…
TEACHING THOUGHTS #9: “STORYTELLERS” ARE USUALLY BULLSHIT ARTISTS
I have a profound dislike of anyone who calls themself a storyteller as a teacher. What a high opinion you must have of yourself to regard your tedious anecdotes as having any real value in…
TEACHING THOUGHTS #8: MY RACIST TSUNAMI EXPERIENCE
Right-wingers are very fond of using water metaphors to describe aquatically the foreigners arriving in the UK. Racists love using water metaphors because everybody understands the idea that water is powerful and overwhelming. It's also…
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TEACHING THOUGHTS #7: RETHINKING THE CONCEPT OF EVALUATION
Could it be that there is only one evaluation question that it's worth using? It's a very simple question: What engaged you? This one powerful question asks the listener or reader to simply identify something,…
TEACHING THOUGHTS #7: JUST-IN-CASE VS JUST-IN-TIME TEACHING
This post is inspired by a reading in one of the advanced books - it might well be English File which has a reading related to animals. Anyway, the reason this comes to mind is…
LESSON IDEAS #2: THE COLLECTIVE VOCABULARY ANALYSIS IDEA
It's interesting to think about how you approach vocabulary when students are working on texts. There should be quite a lot of unknown words in any text when the level is appropriate. Here's an idea…
LESSON IDEAS #1: THE THREE QUESTION INTERVIEW IDEA
Coursebooks very often contain strange, abrupt transitions that don't make much sense. Life Upper Intermediate Unit 10 says it's a unit about talent and begins that journey by focusing on the work on an Indian…