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commentary

These posts contain links to and commentary about aspects of the language teaching industry.

G is for Grapple

No, I’m not going to be weaving a well-constructed post about an apple posing as a grape (pictured above) as a metaphor for an ELT issue–the operative word being “well”–nor am I beginning a series of posts that will piggyback off Scott Thornbury’s well-known blog format (ok, maybe just this once).  Instead, two of his recent posts on coursebook/syllabi approaches, P is Postmodern method and C is for Critical Pedagogy, have given me that little nudge to write about the grappling with curricula and coursebooks I undergo every summer.  (By the way, they also have inspired a desire to incorporate vivid metaphors into my posts, which will continually manifest itself somewhere, some way.  You wait!)

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Kaplan PLI workshop

Hello everyone from Kaplan PLI,

Please find the slides to the workshop embedded below, which you can view online.  I’ve left hyperlinks to the web tools we looked at below.  Thanks for welcoming me to your school for tonight’s workshop.  I hope to meet up with all of you at other professional development events. =)Read More »Kaplan PLI workshop

I am my students.

Aside from receiving feedback from my final assignment, my first year in the University of Manchester Educational Technology and TESOL MA program is now complete. I was excited, frustrated, inspired,  deflated, elated, and stressed out throughout the year.  Right now, I feel weird.  There’s nothing hanging over my head, nothing left to write.  This must be how my students recently felt.  In fact, I think in more ways than this, I am my students.

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The disconnect between students and content lectures

On the first day, language learners go in, sit in a theatre-style tiered classroom altogether, unclear about what it will be like to study a content university course.  It’s their first time to do so.  They fear that they will understand little.  And they’re right. They expect that writing downthe slide points will be enough.  And they’re wrong.  Learning how to engage with the lecture content means survival.  How to do this is what we, as instructors, need to help learners figure out.Read More »The disconnect between students and content lectures

A step towards critical thinking

A valid buzz surrounds the importance of teaching students to think critically when reading, looking at visual media or listening to arguments.  Many international 1st-year university students are products of a believe-what-you’re-told, there-is-a-right-answer educational system.  As a result, questioning does not come naturally. And so, I want to devote a couple posts to ways I try to instigate this new ability.Read More »A step towards critical thinking