In one of my recent classes, we were discussing the way in which the use of social media inside authoritarian countries like Russia, China and Iran is almost always monitored, and how posting something that's deemed to be subversive or…
Author Archive
Word of the day: big cheese
At a party last week I was introduced to a foreign businessman who was visiting London. We got talking and started chatting about what we both did. I told him about my work and when I asked what he did, he responded - in…
Teaching through the tears: creating cross-border classes in a time of conflict
I first went to Russia in December 1999 to visit a friend of mine who’d just taken a teaching job there. Little did I know then what a central part in my life the country would come to play over…
Another five things I’ve learned running the ENGLISH QUESTIONS ANSWERED group
Three years ago now, I was talked into setting up a Facebook group called ENGLISH QUESTIONS ANSWERED. It was designed to be a space where anyone at any level could ask questions about how English is used, whether or not…
Chunk of the day: a rite of passage
Generally speaking, I'm not one for complaining about people’s use of language, and certainly not those supposed transgressions of grammar rules such as using like when reporting speech, saying there were less people than expected, or that people are loving…
Using texts to develop lexical awareness
In this guest post, Patrick Gallagher outlines how he uses the WORD / CHUNK OF THE DAY sections of this website with his students. We hope it'll give you some ideas for how you could explore and exploit these texts…
Twenty things in twenty years part eleven: we’ve been in thrall to the cults of Learning Styles, NLP and Multiple Intelligences for way too long.
It never ceases to both depress and astound me when I see quite how many conference talks, articles, books and courses on Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences are still out there in mainstream ELT. Philip Kerr recently alerted…
Back to school Part Five: challenges and homework
As if to prove the point about procrastination and failing to do stuff outside class that I made in my last post reflecting on my own language learning experiences, I'm almost ashamed to begin by admitting it has been over…
Chunk of the day: having some work done
Those of you who follow my ongoing series of ONE-MINUTE ENGLISH videos on YouTube or Instagram may have noticed that I've recently started filming them from the chaos of my attic. You'll have seen the piles of boxes behind me,…
Word of the day: whitewash
By the 18th of June 1984 – thirty-seven years ago today – miners in England had been on strike for three months. In what has been called "the most bitter industrial dispute in British history", the National Union of Mineworkers…