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 […]
Oct 3, 2017 Chunks, Intermediate word of the day Intermediate word of the day: ban If you ban something, you say officially that people must not do, sell or use it. People can also be banned – if it’s officially said that they’re not allowed to do something. Here are some things that are sometimes banned: Ban can also be a noun, so when two countries are having a trade […]
Oct 1, 2017 Chunks, Word of the day Word of the day: hangover Now I know what you’re probably thinking: this is bound to be a post about the kind of hangover you wake up with the morning after the night before; what you get if you had a bit too much to drink the previous night and you crawl out of bed late for work with your […]
