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”
When presenting new language we have to be able to check that the students have understood the meaning, one way of doing this is to ask CCQs.
Unfortunately our trainees often struggle with CCQs so I am going to attempt to simplify them here for you. Continue reading “Concept Checking Questions (CCQs)”
What was the last thing you wrote? A Whatsapp message? Shopping list? Maybe an email? So why are teachers still getting students to write descriptions of picture stories to practise writing skills? Let’s look at some ways of making our writing skills lessons more useful for real life. Continue reading “Developing Writing Skills in the EFL Classroom”
It is very interesting when observing trainee teachers on a CELTA course, how many feel the need to “teach” in the old-fashioned sense of the word. Many trainees believe that if they haven’t stood at the front of the classroom talking at the students for a good chunk of the lesson that they haven’t actually taught anything.
In my opinion, teachers of EFL (though I am sure teachers of other subjects would benefit too) need to stop thinking that they have to teach but rather that they have to help students learn. After all, if you have discovered something for yourself, you are more likely to remember it. Continue reading “Focusing on Language in the Classroom”
You might have noticed that things have been a little quiet over the past month on our The Ultimate Guide to CELTA blog. This is due to the fact that we’ve been busy with another intensive CELTA here in Munich and have been helping another great set of trainees through their course. Read on to find out what I took from this particular course! Continue reading “Reflections on a CELTA course”
The Ultimate Guide to CELTA 