Feb 14, 2019 Opinions Grammar nonsense: the syllabus for Beginners It’s been quite a while since we last published a post in this particular series. Writing both a Beginner-level book as part of the Outcomes series and two levels of the new Pearson series Roadmap really hasn’t left much time for writing anything else – especially given my typing speed and slowness of thought. And […]
Jan 29, 2019 Chunk of the day, Chunks Chunk of the day: go through a rough patch According to some recent research I read, the number of divorces in the UK last year was highest among men and women aged 40 to 44. I mention this because this afternoon, I had one of those depressing kinds of conversations that I seem to be having more often as I get older! I was […]
Jan 17, 2019 Classroom Activities, Grammar, Lexis, Opinions Translation: Tackling the Taboo part 2 In the first post on tackling the taboo that surrounds using any form of translation in the language classroom, I unpacked my own slow conversion, considered the roots of the English-only dogma, and explored why such positions were unsustainable. Today I’d like to move on to more practical matters and simply share seven activities that […]
Dec 23, 2018 Classroom Activities, Grammar, Lexis, Opinions, The state of our profession Translation: tackling the taboo As a native speaker teacher working in a multi-lingual teaching context in the UK, I am perhaps an unlikely convert to the cause of translation in language teaching, and it’s been a long and winding road that’s brought me here. Back in 1993, when I did my four-week CELTA course, there was certainly no mention […]
Dec 3, 2018 Chunks, Word of the day Word of the day: nippy After an Indian summer – a period of warm weather in autumn, a time when it’s usually pretty cold – that seemed to last for ever, London has suddenly turned really cold. Over the last few days, temperatures have plummeted and at night it’s regularly dropping below zero out there. It’s so cold that there’s a dusting […]
