Further to my review of Bringing Technology into the Classroom by Gordon Lewis, I thought it would be good to share some applications/websites that we have been known to use in our centre:
Teaching with Technology
Category: Teaching English
Technology in the Classroom
Technophobe or Technophile? Â Are you already using technology in the classroom?
On our CELTA courses it has often fallen to me to deliver our session on using technology in the classroom. Â Not that I am in any way an expert on this subject but perhaps my love of a good gadget has swayed my colleagues into thinking I know what I’m talking about. Often, however, I find myself talking about a topic on which the trainees know more than me. Â This is of course not a problem, as good teaching practice suggests, I draw on their knowledge and use it to my (our) advantage.
In order to try and get one step ahead, or at least in line with the target audience, I picked up a copy of Bringing Technology into the Classroom by Gordon Lewis, published by Oxford University Press.
Listening skills in the EFL classroom
Listening, like reading, Â is a passive skill but this does not make it any less important than the active skills of speaking or writing. After all, we cannot have a conversation if we can’t follow what the other person is saying. Think about the following questions related to teaching listening skills and then read on for the answers:
- What types of listening skills do we use?
- Is listening in the classroom more difficult than listening in the real world or vice versa?
- How can we make sure listening in the classroom helps students in the real world? Continue reading “Listening skills in the EFL classroom”
Coursebooks – How to use and adapt them
On our CELTA courses in Munich, we use two coursebooks with the students (currently Speakout and English Unlimited) but as the course progresses and trainees become more confident in the classroom, we encourage them to move away from the coursebook a little. Why?
A Stress-free, Prep-free Christmas
Planning a pre-Christmas lesson but stuck for ideas? Â Worry not, I have the perfect lesson for you….
Is CELTA difficult?
“With only 1% of CELTA course participants worldwide failing the course, you would be forgiven for thinking it was just a case of enrolling. Â However, a quick internet search about the intensity of the course will show that it is not to be taken lightly”
– The Ultimate Guide to CELTA by Emma Jones & Amanda Momeni
OK, now you have done your research, you know how intensive it is but that still doesn’t answer the question of whether it is difficult or not….. Continue reading “Is CELTA difficult?”
Is CELTA worth it?
I have to admit, I am shocked at how many people see the CELTA course just as a money-making scheme. Â True, it is not the cheapest TEFL course on the market but if you want quality you have to pay for it.
Giving Instructions: The Golden Rules for CELTA Trainees
We’ve just started a new CELTA course in Munich so instruction-giving is very much on my mind! This is something trainees should try to get sorted out asap but do sometimes struggle with, especially when teaching lower levels. So here are my “golden rules”.
Continue reading “Giving Instructions: The Golden Rules for CELTA Trainees”
13 Ways to Present Lexis
The American athlete, Hank Stram’s philosophy of “Simplicity plus variety” is certainly one that could be applied to introducing new lexical items to students. Some traditional ways of presenting lexis are still very useful, after all, do we really need to reinvent the wheel? Here we have a selection of new as well as old methods for introducing new lexis .. Continue reading “13 Ways to Present Lexis”
A Guide to Lesson Planning: Language Analysis
In order to teach a specific item of language, for example a tense or a lexical set, it is essential that you, as the teacher, “know” this item thoroughly which is why on a CELTA course you are asked to include a language analysis on the lesson plan. What does this include and what do you need to consider? Here, in this third post in the series on lesson planning, we have the answers to these and other questions all about language analysis. Continue reading “A Guide to Lesson Planning: Language Analysis”
The Ultimate Guide to CELTA 