Mar 6, 2019 Beginners & Low levels, Coursebooks, Grammar, Teaching lexically How (not) to teach … the present continuous I have already suggested that one way is to teach the present continuous is through a chunk. But I know some do not want to teach it this way. Instead, the preference is to teach the present continuous meaning by meaning.Divide and rulesIt is curious how grammar is sometimes divided up. For example, while most […]
Feb 14, 2019 Opinions Grammar nonsense: the syllabus for Beginners It’s been quite a while since we last published a post in this particular series. Writing both a Beginner-level book as part of the Outcomes series and two levels of the new Pearson series Roadmap really hasn’t left much time for writing anything else – especially given my typing speed and slowness of thought. And […]
Jan 29, 2019 Chunk of the day, Chunks Chunk of the day: go through a rough patch According to some recent research I read, the number of divorces in the UK last year was highest among men and women aged 40 to 44. I mention this because this afternoon, I had one of those depressing kinds of conversations that I seem to be having more often as I get older! I was […]
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, Revision, Teaching lexically, The state of our profession Translation in language classes: tackling the taboo Translation is a fantastic tool for all language teachers to use in their classes. That might be a surprising statement from a native speaker teacher working in a multi-lingual teaching context in the UK. and to be honest it’s been a long and winding road that brought me to that view. Let me take you […]
