Apr 8, 2019 Coursebooks, Grammar, Lexis, Opinions A different kind of Beginner-level book 1 If that’s what it’s not, what is it? A recent talk I did about the Beginner syllabus and why we really shouldn’t be bothering with short auxiliary answers at this level produced quite a few responses o social media – both positive and negative. On the whole, I’m happy to receive both, though some made […]
Mar 28, 2019 Coursebooks, Grammar, Opinions Why don’t we teach more grammatical chunks at low levels? One of the curiosities of the dominant grammar syllabus at low levels is that certain ‘higher-level’ grammar does occasionally creep through as words or chunks, while other patterns are apparently still not allowed to. Would you like some more chunks? The best example of this is that Would you like …? is frequently taught as […]
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 […]
May 19, 2017 Classroom Activities, Coursebooks, Grammar, Lexis, Opinions, The state of our profession Complicating the coursebook debate part 3: coursebook use Today’s post follows on from another recent post that looked at some of the so-called false assumptions that supposedly lie at the heart of coursebooks. The assumptions, as stated in a recent piece by Geoff Jordan, are that all coursebooks and coursebook-using teachers “lead students through each unit and do the succession of activities in […]
