Nov 27, 2019 Opinions, The state of our profession Five things I’ve learned from running the ENGLISH QUESTIONS ANSWERED group One of the side-effects of being a coursebook writer and teacher with a relatively high social media profile is that I get a lot of mail. A depressingly large chunk of this is simply messages saying things like HI! or WHERE ARE YOU FROM? Then there are messages from both teachers and students who are […]
Jul 24, 2019 Opinions Teaching young learners lexically We’re very pleased to be able to offer you another in our series of occasional guest posts by teachers and writers we admire. This time, a young teacher from Moscow called Masha Andreivitch, who we first saw speak at a conference over there last year, outlines her thoughts on how to apply a lexical way […]
Jun 9, 2019 Coursebooks, Grammar, Lexis, Opinions A different kind of Beginner-level book 4: a spiralling syllabus A spiralling syllabus is NOT just about grammar Hopefully, you’ll have read our previous post on a spiral syllabus. In this short post, I want to add that the spiral syllabus doesn’t only apply to grammar. The same principles also apply to vocabulary and ‘functions’ and indeed to whole exchanges. In the case of vocabulary, […]
May 13, 2019 Coursebooks, Grammar, Lexis, Opinions A different kind of Beginner-level book 3: choosing which vocabulary to teach Making choices about vocabulary: teaching what’s relevant to most students, responding to individuals In our last post, we looked at how we’ve tried to ensure that Outcomes Beginner provides students with just enough grammar to have the kinds of basic conversations they’ll want to have. Today we want to explore another way in which we’ve […]
Apr 28, 2019 Coursebooks, Grammar, Lexis, Opinions A different kind of Beginner-level book 2 Just enough grammar and a spiral syllabus In our last post on teaching beginner-level students, we stated this principle: While there is a value in noticing and practising a particular aspect of grammar or vocabulary, it will not be mastered in that lesson. Accurate production of words or grammar in conversation / writing will be […]
