New technologies and ... new dictionaries!

In their latest webinar, Macmillan hosted Michael Rundell talking about how computer technology helps us make better dictionaries. If you -like me- feel sorry you missed this great opportunity, here's your chance to enjoy it. Just click on any of the links in the image below to have access to Michael's slideshow or listen to his presentation:

Michael Rundell Webinar via kwout

Happy listening!

Gladys

Self-correction for homework

Great Dr. Kathie Nunley shares the following:

TEACHER TIP # 1: When assigning math problems for homework, always send an answer sheet too. Have students self-check after every problem or two. Doing 20 - 30 problems incorrectly and not knowing until the next day, does more harm than good.

(You too can send your favorite teaching tip at Kathie@brains.org)

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I'm convinced this tip applies not only to math problems, but to any process in which logics is involved (for instance, grammar practice, many cases of word formation, stress patterns). However, I've learned through several discussions in staff rooms that practically all of my colleagues believe asking students to self-correct their homework will simply lead to cheating or lack of purpose for homework in the student's eyes.

I believe it's all up to how you deal with the following session. Of course, the idea is not to go over the homework asking for the answers, but to ask students to share which they got wrong, and account for their mistakes. "What if they say they faced no difficulties?" many teachers may ask. In that case, I can simply ask them to take turns to discuss how they got to the right answer in the cases I consider worth discussing! ;-)

To encourage self-correction is, in my view, a perfect way to foster autonomy among our learners, and I can honestly tell you it's always paid off in my classes... Now, what has your experience been?

On discovery learning and giving students choices

Kathie Nunley reports:

HOT TOPIC # 1: ...A new study compared unassisted discovery to explicit instruction and then compared assisted discovery techniques to explicit instruction and other teaching methods. They found in the 580 classroom comparisons, that unassisted discovery does not benefit learners. Classrooms which allowed enhanced discovery, using feedback, worked examples, scaffolding and some explanation were most successful in learning outcomes.
Alfieri, L et al. (2010). Does discovery-based instruction enhance learning? Journal of Educational Psychology, (Nov issue preview).

HOT TOPIC #2: More research now out supporting the perception of student choice in classroom assignments. In this study, half the classes received a choice in their homework options, half did not. In the following unit of study, the options were reversed. Results show that when students received a choice of homework activities, they reported higher intrinsic motivation to do the homework, were more likely to complete the homework, felt more competent in the work, and performed better on the unit test.
Patall, E. et al. (2010). The effectiveness and relative importance of choice in the classroom. Journal of Educational Psychology. Vol 102(4), 896-915,

Subscribe to Dr Kathie Nunley's newsletter for free at: http://help4teachers.com/usage.htm

Working with triads

This week, great Alistair gives us a very productive idea on how we can work with triads (as an alternative to pairwork). From roleplays and discussions on grammar, he goes on to rewiew a proposal Nolasco and Arthur present in their book Conversation. Basically, it goes like this: 2 students have a conversation on any topic, in which B has been told to use a certain "sub-skill" (e.g. interrupting, negotiating meaning, holding the floor, etc.) as many times as possible (mind you, A must not be aware of this). The third student must simply observe them and take down instances of the sub-skill being used (something neither A or B know, BTW).

To read it in detail, go here.

I believe this is quite a replicable technique that might be used as a time-filler or to develop specific sub-skills with many different age groups and levels. Besides, I appreciate the fact it allows shy students to shine by playing part C!

Let us know if you've tried it!

Gladys

PS: remember you can subscribe to Developing Teachers newsletters for free. Just click here.

Some "different" dictionaries

As we turn into the discussion of how to help our students acquire lexis, today I'd like to invite you to look into three online (free) dictionaries which I believe are rather different from what you might be familiar with:

• The Internet Picture Dictionary® (allows browsing by categories)

• One Look® Dictionary (allows searching for words related to a concept)

• VisuWords® (online graphical dictionary)

• And last, but not least, a dictionary of collocations, which can be consulted online (again for free): Oxford Collocations Dictionary Online for Advanced English Learners: 

ozdic.com - Collocations for "task"

Do you know of other online dictionaries you'd like to recommend? How do you think these resources might be integrated into the EFL lesson? Share your ideas by posting a comment to this entry!

See you around!
Gladys
NOTE: Originally published on 19th June, 2009. Last updated on 7 September, 2012.

The World Cup is here!

Many of us will now have to face the challenge of keeping our students learning English... while their minds are on the Football World Cup!

Longman Pearson is offering us all some great resources to help us succeed at this. Check them out!

Longman Home via kwout

(just click on the image above to get access to several handouts)

There are ideas for different levels. I'm positive teens and adults in Argentina would enjoy them!

If you try any of these with your classes, just let us know!

Gladys

The communicative classroom

Most present-day practitioners would probably like to think that their classes are "communicative" in the widest sense of the word. Their lessons probably contain activities where learners communicate and where tasks are completed by means of interaction with other learners. To this end... [more]

Rings a bell, doesn't it? Right now, when we happen to be discussing the challenges of communicative language teaching at college, Tim Bowen (via Macmillan) shares a most interesting article on the issue. Definitely an opportunity not to be missed!


I invite you to enjoy Bowen's article (just follow the link!) and come back here to share your reactions:
1. What idea has caught your attention the most?
2. What relationships can you establish between Bowen's ideas and the ones discussed so far either in class or by the authors you've been reading?
3. Would you describe your own teaching as communicative? Why (not)?

That's all for today...
Have a nice weekend!

Gladys

You plan what you are

Great teacher Alistair writes:

When we plan our courses, the syllabuses we draw up reflect the ideas we have about teaching. If we think that grammar is one of the most useful tools, then there will be lots of grammar in the plan. If we think that functional work is the way to go then this will dominate. Likewise with skills, if we feel that the development of language skills rather than language is the road to success, we might take a more task-based approach…

(you can read more about this, and even subscribe to his free newsletter here)

As we are right in the middle of our discussion on lesson planning, I couldn't help but think this idea perfectly applied to the aims you set for your lesson plans... Do you agree? And how much do you like the image of yourself your lesson aims show?

See you next Fri!
Gladys

How do teens perceive their academic self?

We read in Mid-March '10 Edition of Dr Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter:

High School students' academic self-concept is influenced not only by the achievement levels of other students in their class (so called, "frame of reference" effect) but also by the prestige or standings of the school they attend (so called,"reflected glory" effect). In a large study, researchers found that among equally achieving students, those placed in high-achieving learning groups had lower academic self-concepts than their peers. But, the negative effects of being placed in high-achieving learning groups were weaker for high-achieving students. For both groups, academic self-concept was positively influenced by their perceived school standings in the community. Trautwein, U., et al. (2009). Within-school social comparison: How students perceive the standing of their class predicts academic self-concept.

Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(4), 853-866.

Interesting, don't you think?

Gladys

NOTE: You can subscribe to this newsletter at: http://help4teachers.com/newsletter.htm

A CLIL lesson plan

Just before classes at TTC start once again, why not have a look at...

... Carol Read's Amazing world of animals?

In this six-lesson CLIL project children build up their language skills and learn about different aspects of animal life in order to create a magazine/e-zine.

Have you ever implemented any CLIL lessons yourself? Would you try something similar with teen learners or adults? Or do you think such an approach would only work with young learners?

Gladys

Managing behaviour

As we get ready to go back to school, doing our best to teach "Positive discipline" becomes a hot issue to most of us, teachers in service. Why not devote 15 minutes to enjoy John Bayley observing a series of lessons and demonstrating how top teachers produce results? There are four different videos available, so choose the one you find most appealing from the title, and follow the link!

Bayley on Behaviour - Establishing the Ground Rules | Teachers TV via kwout

Do you have any tips on behaviour management to share? Or any questions you'd like to ask? Post a comment!

Gladys

ALSO ON TEACHERS.TV: advice on giving praise, disruptive girls, underachieving boys or dealing with fidgeting, bright extroverts or quiet pupils (on their Behaviour Hub).

Using our mother tongue in class

On 15th Feb 2010, David Alistair posted the following tip (#150) at DevelopingTeachers.com:

"If you are teaching monolingual groups it is clearly very useful to know the mother tongue of your students as you can pre-empt some problems they might have. But actually using the mother tongue as a teaching tool has been a different story as teacher training courses used to banish it to ELT oblivion & we used to ignore the poor student who was desperate to translate,

encouraging them to 'think' in English. Nowadays it is recognised as a useful & natural tool in the process of language learning.

"There is still a case for not using it on the initial training course as some teaching skills might not be developed if translation were relied on. Here are a few translation activities:

"1. Same day articles - for news stories that have international appeal, get hold of copies of the English story & the students' language story - newspapers, internet, radio. - predict the

content of the story.

- read the English version & picking up on any useful language.

- students translate the story.

- they then compare their versions with the mother tongue version.

- they could also then compare the mother tongue version & the English versions, looking at style & content.

The shorter the article the better!

"2. False friends - picking up on them as they crop up or in warmers/coolers. (Spanish/English false friends here)

"3. New language consolidation - after the presentation & before the practice, elicit & have a quick comparison with the mother tongue version of the target language to highlight the similarities or differences. This can be a very comforting stage for the students.

"4. To provide variety to your array of techniques, use the Community Language Learning (CLL) procedure now & then. Very basically, this involves seating the students in a circle with a tape recorder in the middle. They have a conversation, preferably about a subject of their choice but you could lead into it from the current theme, & all of their contributions are taped. When they have a problem, they call on you & you whisper to the student the English version of what they want to say. They then say this in the conversation. This technique can be used at all

levels, & is especially useful at very low levels. Before the next lesson, transcribe interesting parts of their conversation & use it for analysis & consolidation.

"5. Word-for-word versions - good for the translation obsessed student. Give out a literal translation of a short article or conversation & the students translate it into their language &

discuss how it could be more naturally expressed in English.

"The important thing about using translation in class is that it is used in a principled way - you know why you are using it, the students know, there are times when it is OK & when it is not. The alternative is a lazy use of translation where both the students & the teacher become reliant on it."

How do YOU feel about using students' mother tongue in class? Do you regularly try any of the activities suggested in this tip?

Post a comment and learns who shares your feelings!

See also: http://developingteachers.com/tips/pasttips64.htm

More on this issue at: http://teachingefl2teens.pbworks.com/Speak-English-Please!!!

Peace,

Gladys

CBL: learning language through content learning

Now you've read about CLIL (see our entries on CLIL here and here if you've missed them), you must be willing to look into a similar approach to the teaching of languages: content-based learning (CBL).

Here's an excellent starting point: a summary by one of our workshop participants during 2009.

Content Based Learning (CBL)


Thanks, Alejandra, for having shared this! (please leave comments at her Scribd if you can!)

Gladys

Teaching pronunciation

A short post today, just to share a game available online for students to practise word stress (notice it's designed to be based on the vocabulary presented in each unit of their textbook):

Incredible English (OUP): Stress monster!


And here's another game, aimed at practising homonyms (two words are homonyms if they are pronounced or spelled the same way but have different meanings ): Word Frog>Homonyms


Try them and have fun (be brave and choose the highest levels of difficulty!!!) !

Do you think activities like these ones can actually contribute to our students' learning the pronunciation of English? Share your beliefs by posting a comment!

Gladys

Managing your class

Class discipline is probably a concern to most teachers (either novice or experienced) more often than any movie might suggest... In this enlightening article, Marti Schwartz shares his tips to succeed at managing our classes:

Teacher Magazine: Teaching Secrets: Creating Positive Classroom Management via kwout

(click on the link below the image to be re-directed to the full article)

Regards,
Gladys

What IS assessment?

Many people assume that assessment is simply another word for testing but in this article Adrian Tennant outlines its role as an important aspect of teaching and learning (click on the image below or on either of the links in it to be directed to the article itself) :

Onestopenglish | Assessment matters: What is assessment? via kwout

Another great resource from the kind guys at Macmillan's Onestopenglish!

Gladys

More on CLIL

Keith is a well-known expert on CLIL and the teaching of content through the medium of foreign languages, and this webinar looks at ways of teaching language within specific subjects such as science and geography.

Webinar_Archive_6 via kwout

For more resources on CLIL teaching, visit Onestopclil - Macmillan's comprehensive resource bank for CLIL teachers. You can start by getting familiar with what CLIL is>, and learning about its methodology and activities through the CLIL Teacher Magazine>. The CLIL Young Learners section> has plenty of engaging, flexible resources for children and teenagers, and the Image Gallery> and Animations> sections are rich with fantastic ways to make vocabulary and grammar learning more fun. CLIL extra> will help you navigate through all these new features.

Enjoy!
Gladys

CLIL: integrating the teaching of content and language

You've probably heard about Content-Based learning as a way to motivate language learners and provide them with a tangible purpose to study a second or foreign language. Willing to keep reviewing proposals along the same line? Visit Onestopclil, the site run by Macmillan publishers to help teachers learn about CLIL (content and language integrated learning). They have lots of articles, and even downloadable resources and a teacher forum for you to explore!

If you'd like to keep updated about this trend in methodology, why not subscribe to Macmillan's online magazine for free? Click on the image below for a direct link:

Remember you can share your impressions, ask questions or share relevant links by leaving a comment to this entry!
Love,
Gladys

Great opportunity to ask questions

Do You Have Questions About Teaching High School ELL’s? | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... via kwout

If you post a question, or would like to make a comment on any of the answers already provided at the site, use the comments feature here!

Gladys

The future of language teaching

A Virtual Game to Teach Children Languages - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com via kwout

This was published today in the "New York Times"... How long before we see this kind of technology integrated into our classes, I wonder?