May 12, 2015 Classroom Activities, Lexis, Opinions Making active and creative use of all the languages in your classroom. I was recently at the third annual BELTA Day conference in Brussels, organised by the excellent Belgian English Language Teachers’ Association. Whilst there, I saw a really fascinating presentation by a local teacher called Joris Van Den Bosch. Joris has spent the last four years working as a secondary school EAL teacher at the British […]
Apr 26, 2015 Classroom Activities, Lexis, Opinions Asking more: why some questions are better than others There’s an old saying that claims questions are never dangerous – only answers are. Well, a recent presentation I saw by Jim Scrivener gave me pause to reconsider this received wisdowm and to ask whether some questions might be if not exactly dangerous, than at the very least far less useful, productive and worth learning […]
Mar 27, 2015 Lexis, Opinions, Vocabulary Choice The Lexical Approach and natural selection Today we’re pleased to be able to bring you a guest post by Dr. Ivor Timmis. Ivor works at Leeds Beckett University and has always been one of the people we most look forward to hearing speak at conferences. Ivor has been involved in ELT for around 30 years – as a teacher, teacher trainer […]
Mar 23, 2015 Lexis, Opinions, The state of our profession, Vocabulary Choice In so many words: on the importance and shape of vocabulary lists Today we’re delighted to feature a guest post by Bruno Leys. Bruno works at VIVES University College in Bruges, Belgium. He’s published several coursebook series such as Breakaway, Takeaway and High Five and he regularly gives talks and workshops for teachers. Below, Bruno shares his thoughts on vocabulary lists . . . Last spring, when […]
Mar 3, 2015 Lexis, Opinions Phrasal verbs: myths and realities Last year I was lucky enough to attend the PASE conference in Warsaw, where I saw a locally based teacher, Jonathan Marks, give a thought-provoking talk on phrasal verbs. Having long believed that this is one area of the language that’s incredibly badly presented in most coursebooks, and that subsequently is often poorly handled in […]
