Vol. 4 Issue 18 – ELTWO Research Paper: Using Blogs to Practice Grammar Editing Skills’ by Christopher Harwood

This paper reports on the pedagogic reasons for using blogs as a learning aid and how blogging was integrated into a curriculum at the National University of Singapore to support the learning of grammar editing skills of music students.

Vol. 4 Issue 18 – BBC TeachingEnglish Article: Using poems to develop productive skills

The TE editor says, “You and your students might already enjoy reading and listening to poetry in your own language and perhaps in English too. Poems are, after all, authentic texts….

Vol. 4 Issue 18 – Video: Language and the Mind Revisited – The Biolinguistic Turn

UC Berkeley presents the The Charles M. and Martha Hitchcock Lecture series, featuring linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky. Chomsky examines biolinguistics – the study of relations between physiology and speech.

Vol. 4 Issue 18 – About.com Video: Vocabulary for Business Letters

The About.com ESL team says, “Writing a business letter can be intimidating for an English learner. Watch this About.com video to learn some common English phrases to help you write a successful letter”.

Vol. 4 Issue 18 – Webinar: Dealing with challenging learners

TeachingEnglish team says, “What is a challenging learner? Why do some learners challenge us more than others? How can we understand challenging behaviour in a different way so that we can teach these learners better in the classroom? This webinar will address these questions and explain the effects of loss, trauma, violence and neglect on the brain, learning and behaviour”.

Vol. 4 Issue 18 – Book Of The Week: ‘Interact’ by Bob Jones & David Coulson

We all tell stories. We tell simple stories, and we tell long stories. We tell stories to friends, classmates, parents, and acquaintances. We talk about things we have done, or repeat stories we have heard from other people. We like to tell stories, and we like to listen to stories.

ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue 17

ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#17 | April 23, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036 Video: What is Special About Language? Book Of The Week: Easy English for Busy People Article: ‘Using Graphic Organizers as Study Guides’ by Kenneth Beare ELTWO Research Paper: ‘Motivation through Autonomy: A Case Study at a Japanese University’ by Richard Miles BBC TeachingEnglish Article: Vocabulary… Continue reading ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue 17

Vol. 4 Issue 17 – Article: ‘Using Graphic Organizers as Study Guides’ by Kenneth Beare

Kenneth Beare, About.com ESL Guide, has posted an informative article titled “Graphic Organizers in ESL”.

Vol. 4 Issue 17 – ELTWO Research Paper: ‘Motivation through Autonomy: A Case Study at a Japanese University’ by Richard Miles

Since the 1990s learner autonomy has become more widely utilized by educators around the world (Little, 2007), but does it necessarily have a positive effect on motivation in second language classrooms? In an attempt to provide at least a partial answer to this question, a preliminary study was conducted in which students in an oral communication class at a Japanese university were given a degree of autonomy in part of the curriculum and then compared with a similar class in which no such autonomy was granted. Students in the dependent group made autonomous decisions as to how the teacher would assess their speaking effort, how feedback would be provided and how this portion of their grade would be calculated and assigned.

Vol. 4 Issue 17 – BBC TeachingEnglish Article: Vocabulary and autonomy

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and the British Council has been helping to celebrate his 200th birthday. One way that we have done this is by making teaching materials which can help teachers introduce Dickens into their lessons.