Oct 16, 2017 Chunks, Word of the day Word of the day: kinky To use one of those understatements that we’re apparently so well known for, the English are not exactly famous for being very direct – and this is particularly true when it comes to expressing our more intimate feelings. The stereotype is that we all suffer a bit from the kind of stiff upper lip that […]
Oct 13, 2017 Classroom Activities, Coursebooks, Lexis, Opinions On the over-use of concept-checking questions: part 2 I recently wrote a post outlining why I’m not a fan of using concept-checking questions – CCQs – when dealing with vocabulary and if you’ve not read it, it may make sense to go there first before continuing. I ran through several reasons I find the continuing use of CCQs problematic when applied to vocabulary, […]
Oct 10, 2017 Chunks, Intermediate word of the day Intermediate word of the day: peak If something peaks, it reaches its highest or best point, value or level of skill before then becoming worse, lower or less successful. So what kind of things can peak? Peak can also be a noun and an adjective. The peak is the time when something or someone is at their highest or greatest level. […]
Oct 9, 2017 Chunks, Phrase of the day Phrase of the day: slap bang in the middle Onomatopoeia is a strange thing. Officially, it’s the use of words that supposedly sound like the sounds they refer to. If we only speak one language, we hardly ever even notice such words as buzz or thud, and if we do stop to think about them, we automatically assume that these are just the noises […]
Oct 6, 2017 Classroom Activities, Coursebooks, Lexis, Opinions, The state of our profession On the over-use of concept-checking questions: part 1 There aren’t many things that I think should be comprehensively banned from EFL classrooms, but the use of closed CCQs (Concept-Checking Questions) for items of vocabulary is one! For those of you unfamiliar with CCQs, they seem to have come into the ELT mainstream via International House and the very early teacher training courses offered […]
