OUP Webinar: Choosing your words carefully, September 22
[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 17 | September 21, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036] How many words do learners need in order to operate effectively in English? How do we decide which…
Teaching Pre-School Children: The Importance of Stories (Cambridge Conversations)
[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 17 | September 21, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036]
Oral stories are particularly important. For both adults and children language is perceived largely through sound, which many people believe links to a primitive human instinct. It’s easy to ignore words on a page, but humans are hard wired to pay attention to sounds, which in many instances provide information vital to survival. A caveman who ignored the sound of a lion did so at his own peril, to name but one of countless examples. If you have trouble getting through to a young learner, as many people report, an oral story is often the ideal vehicle.
Stories are also important because they allow us to simulate intense experiences without actually having to live through them. They teach us lessons that help us to survive and make sense of the word. (more…)
Strategies for Teaching IELTS: Part One – Where to start? (OUP Blog)
[ELTWeekly Volume 7, Issue 17 | September 21, 2015 | ISSN 0975-3036]
As with most things in life, the key to a successful IELTS course is in the preparation. If you have a clear idea of what you and your students need to do from the outset then you are far more likely to help your students achieve their goals than if you have no plan at all. Likewise, as the expression goes, first impressions last, so if you can impress your students in the first few classes, then they are more likely to trust you for the rest of the course.
It is important to have as much information at your disposal as possible before the course actually starts. This will help you to prepare properly and show your students that you really do know what you are talking about. I have added a number of questions for each of the points listed below, but the answers will often depend on your own context. (more…)