Author: Tarun Patel

#IATEFL – Why invest in extensive reading? (OUP ELT Blog)

[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 7 | March 14, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036] What is extensive reading and how can it transform learning? The short answer is reading by choice and for pleasure but what does this mean in practice? The two comments above, reflecting on last year’s participation in OUP Italy’s Read On! class library project,… Continue reading #IATEFL – Why invest in extensive reading? (OUP ELT Blog)

ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 6

[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 6 | February 15, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036] Life Skills for Teachers: Getting Organised (Video) Between language and folklore: “To hang out the broom” Teaching speaking – Teaching talk as interaction Student Autonomy, Compliance, and Intrinsic Motivation How English became English – and not Latin Bottom-up decoding: listening Questioning That Deepens Comprehension… Continue reading ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 6

Life Skills for Teachers: Getting Organised (Video)

[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 6 | February 15, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036] In the first of a series of life skills for teachers videos, teacher training expert and author Emma-Sue Prince offers tips to help teachers organise their time, class and workload. Watch the video and download the accompanying ideas sheet for more tips to help… Continue reading Life Skills for Teachers: Getting Organised (Video)

Collaborative Activities in Advanced Adult ESL Classes (Video)

[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 6 | February 15, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036] Effective interactive activities for advanced adult ESL learners provide multiple exposures to academic vocabulary, elicit their opinions and experiences, and develop their reading, research, and note-taking skills. In this webinar recording, Ventures author Dennis Johnson shares his experience of developing such activities, and demonstrate… Continue reading Collaborative Activities in Advanced Adult ESL Classes (Video)

Questioning That Deepens Comprehension (Edutopia)

[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 6 | February 15, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036] Questions are a common way for teachers to check for understanding, right? The answer we’re looking for is “yes.” Who hasn’t questioned a group of students to determine whether or not they understood the content? Unfortunately, not all questions are created equally. We propose… Continue reading Questioning That Deepens Comprehension (Edutopia)

Student Autonomy, Compliance, and Intrinsic Motivation (Edutopia)

[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 6 | February 15, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036] Many empirical studies have shown that excessive control from strict, negative rules and punishments and extrinsic rewards for doing the “right thing” can achieve short-term compliance. But there are costs: It undermines intrinsic motivation, it decreases the overall quality of performance, and it connects continued performance… Continue reading Student Autonomy, Compliance, and Intrinsic Motivation (Edutopia)

Teaching speaking – Teaching talk as interaction (Cambridge Conversations)

[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 6 | February 15, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036] Implications for teaching Three core issues need to be addressed in planning speaking activities for an English class. The first is to determine what kinds of speaking skills the class will focus on. Is it all three of the genres described in the preceding… Continue reading Teaching speaking – Teaching talk as interaction (Cambridge Conversations)

Bottom-up decoding: listening (OUP ELT Blog)

[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 6 | February 15, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036] In a previous post I explained some of the reasons why we should focus on bottom-up strategies for listening and reading. In this post, I’d like to show how this might work in practice for the skill of listening. Even learners who have a… Continue reading Bottom-up decoding: listening (OUP ELT Blog)

How English became English – and not Latin (OUP Blog)

[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 6 | February 15, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036] English grammar has been closely bound up with that of Latin since the 16th century, when English first began to be taught in schools. Given that grammatical instruction prior to this had focused on Latin, it’s not surprising that teachers based their grammars of… Continue reading How English became English – and not Latin (OUP Blog)

Between language and folklore: “To hang out the broom” (OUP Blog)

[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 6 | February 15, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036]   We know even less about the origin of idioms than about the origin of individual words. This is natural: words have tangible components: roots, suffixes, consonants, vowels, and so forth, while idioms spring from customs, rites, and general experience. Yet both are apt… Continue reading Between language and folklore: “To hang out the broom” (OUP Blog)