Category: English Teaching Tips

Executive Skills and the Struggling Reader

Students who struggle with reading often lack the thinking skills, such as memory, planning, and the ability to shift focus when necessary, that seem natural to skilled readers. For many teachers, the process of reading is so familiar that they often have difficulty explaining it to students. Much like riding a bicycle, we know we… Continue reading Executive Skills and the Struggling Reader

ELTWeekly Volume 9, Issue 5

Real-Time Assessment: Providing a Window Into Student Learning (Video) Oracy in the Classroom: Strategies for Effective Talk (Video) Teaching Your Students to Read Like Pros Authentic materials in the classroom: the advantages Six reasons to use video in the ELT classroom Making the Impossible Possible – Q&A session EMI (and CLIL) – a growing global… Continue reading ELTWeekly Volume 9, Issue 5

Real-Time Assessment: Providing a Window Into Student Learning (Video)

At Summit Prep, in Redwood City, California, every teacher gathers real-time data—daily. They do this to gain insight into their students’ needs, informing how they teach every day. They use a variety of tools ranging from a free online personalized learning platform to Google surveys, paper assessments, and quick and easy formative assessments, like counting… Continue reading Real-Time Assessment: Providing a Window Into Student Learning (Video)

Teaching Your Students to Read Like Pros

Over the last few decades, the use of comprehension strategies to help students read has become increasingly popular. Unlike traditional reading skills that support word reading, such as phonemic awareness and vocabulary, comprehension strategies help students become active, self-regulated thinkers about the meanings of texts that they are reading. Skilled readers regularly employ various cognitive… Continue reading Teaching Your Students to Read Like Pros

Authentic materials in the classroom: the advantages

I asked a dozen teaching colleagues (identified below by their initials) for reflections on the advantages and disadvantages of using authentic materials in the classroom. From their comments – many of which were generously long and thoughtful – three main ideas emerged: 1) We need to define the term ‘authentic’ and also include in the… Continue reading Authentic materials in the classroom: the advantages

Six reasons to use video in the ELT classroom

In the first of a short series of posts, Unlock author Lewis Lansford looks at why we should be using video in the ELT classroom. 1. Video speaks to Generation V Skype was released in 2003 and YouTube followed in 2005. The iPad was unveiled in 2010. Internet usage has increased from 16% of the… Continue reading Six reasons to use video in the ELT classroom

Making the Impossible Possible – Q&A session

Last month, we hosted Gareth Davies’ webinar, ‘Making the Impossible Possible: How to get your students writing’. During the webinar and on his previous blog post, we called for questions for Gareth that we could ask him post-webinar, to delve deeper into creative writing in the EFL classroom. Here’s the full transcript of this interview: What… Continue reading Making the Impossible Possible – Q&A session

EMI (and CLIL) – a growing global trend

Across the world, an educational trend is becoming increasingly popular. Subjects such as Science, Maths, Geography and Economics are being taught through the medium of English – known as English Medium Instruction, or EMI. My definition of EMI is: “The use of the English language to teach academic subjects (other than English itself) in countries… Continue reading EMI (and CLIL) – a growing global trend

Using digital projects to raise teenagers’ global awareness

For this professional development webinar, Richard Whiteside discussed the benefits of getting students to do digital projects as a way to build 21st century skills and global awareness. He also provided practical ideas and tips for doing digital projects with your class, using examples from Eyes Open and Uncover. Catch up with the recording below!  Richard… Continue reading Using digital projects to raise teenagers’ global awareness