Christmas carols are rich with narrative, cultural significance and timeless lyrics. Packed full of gospel truths, they are also an ideal tool for introducing our students to the most precious gift of all. Research has shown that music in general is a valuable tool for language teaching. Through song, we can build vocabulary, change the… Read more »
This week we spoke to Jo Ratcliff, who has been involved in developing Uncover John Seeker Bible Studies – English for All Edition. Her contribution was to help simplify the original Uncover John studies so that they can more easily be used with internationals. And Jo herself knows only too well the struggle to find… Read more »
Photocopiable Lessons for Different Levels by George Woolard. CENGAGE ELT; 1 Spi edition (1 Jan. 1996). 94 pages. ISBN-10: 1899396357 ISBN-13: 978-1899396351 Marina, could you tell us about this book and why it was written? This book was created to introduce British humour to English lessons. The author, George Woolard, is an experienced ELT… Read more »
These ideas are based on the experiences of an international café run by Christians from various churches in Reading who wanted to set up a café in a neutral venue, away from church buildings. We recognise this is just one model and there are other successful international cafes run in different ways. It has been… Read more »
Teaching beginners has been one of the great joys of my life. Walking alongside a new reader, a new speaker is an enormous privilege, watching the world expand, opportunities appear and confidence grow. One student, feeling emotional one day, said, “You have changed my life.” And I realised in this instance, it was not an… Read more »
Do you ever feel that as a team you’re not always exactly on the same page? Do you sometimes feel that your motivation is lacking and you forget why you’re doing what you’re doing in your English classes? Do you or your team have a habit of getting distracted and wonder if you’re ‘on track’?… Read more »
Interaction (noun) /ˌɪntərˈækʃən/: A situation where two or more people or things communicate with each other or react to each other. Think about your day. How many times have you used language to interact with another human being? Family, postman, work colleagues, text messages, GP receptionist, social media, adverts, emails, teachers, shop assistant in… Read more »
Where to put students? When you welcome new students through your doors, what do you do? Some of you reading this will have a fairly refined placement process and others of you won’t, especially if you currently only have one English conversation group. Whatever your situation, we do hope the ‘Top Tips’ below will help… Read more »
Caroline Greaves shares with 2:19 some of the joys and challenges of running English classes in Croydon. When and how did you become interested in English Language teaching? I’ve been interested in English language teaching since doing a gap year with BMS World Mission in 2002, working on the ‘Circus of Hope’ in Brazil. This… Read more »
Jane McNabb is based in Plumstead where her husband is pastor of Slade Evangelical Church. Jane is involved in English conversation classes based at the church and has experience of storytelling/Bible studies with lower-level English learners. You can hear the seminar that she lead at Forum 2016 on Bible storytelling here. Could you tell us… Read more »
Looking for ways to use our Easter cards pack? Here are some more informal ideas, ideal for using in a café setting or at the end of a lesson to introduce the Easter story to your students. Memory Game As the Easter story contains some unusual words it might be worth introducing the vocabulary initially… Read more »
Wondering how you can use the Easter story cards pack with your students? Here are some ideas to get you started… Pre-teaching – Presenting new vocabulary Using realia, present the vocabulary needed for the Easter story (e.g. toy handcuffs to represent ‘arrest’ or a rose to show the students what ‘thorns’ are). Where this is difficult,… Read more »
