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Tag Archives: Adult Learners


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25 ideas for using audio scripts in the ELT classroom

shutterstock_381582928Philip Haines is the Senior Consultant for Oxford University Press, Mexico. As well as being a teacher and teacher trainer, he is also the co-author of several series, many of which are published by OUP.  Today he joins us to provide 25 engaging and useful classroom activities for language learners using audio scripts.

Many ELT student books come with audio scripts at the back. However, these are sometimes not exploited to the full. Here are 25 ideas for how to make better use of this resource. There are suggestions for using the audio script before listening to the audio, while listening to the audio and after listening to the audio.

Before listening to the audio for the first time:

beforeaudio

While listening to audio for the first time:

whileaudio

After listening to the audio:

afteraudioafteraudio2after3

 


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Reading Skills for the Selfie Generation

teenagers-tablets-learningThomas Healy is an Assistant Professor in the Intensive English Program at the Pratt Institute, New York City. A full time instructor, he presents regularly on how to adapt traditional classroom materials to meet the needs of the Selfie Generation, and how to use widely available and easy-to-use digital tools in language learning. 

Today, he previews his upcoming webinar ‘Reading Skills for the Selfie Generation’ with a short vlog outlining his approach.

The “Selfie Generation” interacts with reading materials in profoundly different ways compared to previous generations. Learners are now challenged by both print and interactive, digital text. How can we build their traditional reading skills while improving their digital literacy?

– Learn how to make your materials and classroom activities more interactive using easy-to-use an affordable computer applications

– Even non technologically minded instructors will come away with ideas that are easy to implement

In this free-to-attend webinar, you can expect to –

  • Learn how to harness technology in a productive way to support literacy and language learning for students with dyslexia at all levels
  • Gain ideas for formative assessment using appropriate apps to monitor progress
  • Embrace learning technology in simple, easy ways – no matter your budget

If you’d like to attend the webinar or receive a recording of one of the sessions, simply register at the link below.

webinar_register3


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How can I boost classroom participation?

answering-questions-in-classZarina Subhan is a teacher trainer who has been working in the field of EFL for 25 years. She has taught in both private and government institutions in many different countries and has worked with policy makers, educators, community leaders and civil servants In a variety of contexts. Her interests are education and development of people and institutions. Today she previews her September 28th and 29th webinar, “Boost Classroom Participation” in a short video blog explaining what you can expect when you attend this free session.

All learners need a classroom atmosphere in which they can feel able to experiment with, notice and understand aspects of the English language without fear of making mistakes in front of their peers. This webinar will give you practical ideas for how to create this kind of environment in your language learning classroom.

In this free-to-attend webinar, you can expect to…

  • Reflect on recognise ways in which we might accidentally demotivate students
  • Learn how to reduce student anxiety
  • Gain strategies which help students participant more actively

If you’d like to attend the webinar or receive a recording of one of the sessions, simply register at the link below.

Register for the webinar


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IELTS Speaking Practice: Part 3 – What’s the word?

shutterstock_323995139Louis Rogers is a freelance author and senior academic tutor at the University of Reading. He has worked in a number of countries and taught in various contexts ranging from young learners to Academic English. Louis is co-author of Oxford EAP B1+, Foundation IELTS Masterclass, Proficiency Masterclass and Intermediate and Upper Intermediate Skills for Business Studies. In the third and final installment of his IELTS series, he explores range of vocabulary and lexical resource in the IELTS speaking test. 

What’s the word?

This lesson helps students in any section of the speaking test by focusing on one element of the marking criteria in particular – lexical resource. Some of the key indicators used by markers in this category are the variety of words used, the adequacy and appropriacy of the words used and the ability to circumlocute (get round a vocabulary gap by using other words) with or without noticeable hesitation. Obviously, the first ones are long term goals. For example, it takes students a long time to build up a wide range of lexis and to understand the subtleties of the appropriacy of word choice. However, the last one is something that can be frequently practiced even with a limited range of lexis.

Forgetting a word or not knowing a word is something learners come across from day one, however how they deal with this varies greatly. Under test conditions it can lead, in the worst cases, to students completely freezing and forgetting everything else they wanted to say. Even when it is not so obviously noticeable it can mean that students start to pause and hesitate excessively. Frequently practising how to deal with this situation can build students’ confidence and mean that they do not panic as much in the exam.

The activity here practices this skill and at the same time recycles some of the target lexis of the course. In this case the target lexis comes from the first three units of Foundation IELTS Masterclass. However, simple cards and the same staging can easily be created using any course.

Activity cards

IELTSvocabone

Copy and cut up the cards so that you have one set for every four students in the class. Put students into groups of 4 and divide each group into A and B pairs. Pair A will need to time one minute. In pair B, one of the students takes a card and tries to describe the words on the cards to their partner. They cannot say the words on the cards. The B pair can monitor to check the other pair is not cheating. Their partner must try to guess the words their partner is describing. At the end of one minute they get one point for each word correctly described. The pairs then swap roles so that Pair B is timing and Pair A is describing. You can continue this activity until all the cards have been used or after a fixed time of ten minutes. The fixed time would give each student two turns at describing the words without saying them.

 


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Blending learning effectively – a balancing act

College students taking notes in lecture hall. Image shot 2010. Exact date unknown.

Russell Stannard is the founder of www.teachertrainingvideos.com. He is also an associate trainer at NILE where he runs courses in the Flipped Classroom and tutors on the MA programme. Today, he joins us ahead of his webinar ‘How can we blend our learning effectively? Tools and Principles’ to preview the topic.

The reality is we all blend our learning these days. Nearly all learning is a  combination of  face to face delivery and the use of some technology, whether used in the class or outside.

Common problems in ELT blends

The tendency in ELT has been for these blended learning courses to develop out of traditional face to face courses. This can often lead to several problems.

  • There is a lack of planning between the F2F component and the digital content.
  • Courses often become very big with more content than most students will ever be able to work through.
  • The links, videos, audio and other digital content tends to be very disorganized.
  • A lot of the digital content tends to be very individually based.

These are perhaps the four biggest problems I have come across, though there are many more. I must admit that in the past, I have definitely made some of these mistakes myself!

Being organised

When you blend your courses, you have to be organised. One way to do this is by choosing a platform that allows you to save and organise your content in one place so that students can easily access it.  Moodle, Blackboard and Schoology are just some examples. I think Edmodo is  a very good tool and the Facebook layout makes it very easy to use. It is also free and really easy to set up.

Edmodo allows you to organise folders with all your links and files in one place. You can create discussions, set up quizzes, set assignments etc all from one site. What is more you can track all your students work and it even keeps a database of all their marks. The security features are also excellent. Each group you create has a passcode and so you can control access and even lock a class once all the students are logged in, so that now lurkers or outside students can join. It even allows you to moderate your student’s posts before they go live

The amount of content

It is a really good idea to distinguish between what is core learning content and what is extra. Blended courses tend to end up with long lists of ‘useful’ links and content but that can overwhelm the students. I suggest firstly being very selective with what content you share with your students and secondly link it to your lessons.  For example, if you come across a useful site for studying vocabulary, like Quizlet, then introduce it in the class and even link it into your lessons. This way students are more likely to make use of the technology.  Blended courses are meant to link together and the total impact should be bigger than the sum of the parts, so the key is how you combine and work the F2F and digital.

Group work

It is getting easier and easier to set up collaborative work outside the class. In fact Edmodo can really facilitate this and you can even put your students into groups.  As I have pointed out, a lot of the digital content that teachers share, tends to lead to students working on their own so look for opportunities to set up collaborative work.

Russell will be covering Edmodo and looking at the issues around blended learning in his up and coming webinar on April 26th and 27th. If you’re interested in joining this free session, click the link to register below.

register-for-webinar