Articles published in the ‘Issue 36: Spring 2014’ Category
Les étudiants en parlent Durant la conférence des directeurs pédagogiques cette année, le thème de la progression des étudiants est revenu à plusieurs reprises. Un sondage réalisé à l’échelle internationale faisait ressortir le progrès comme étant l’un des critères les plus importants d’un cours du point de vue les apprenants. La progression va-t-elle de soi ? Même s’il peut ...
There is one activity that I have pretty much each and every student I teach do at some time or other. They need to imagine that English teachers are to be replaced by robots and they are taking part in designing the prototype. As I think you’ll understand, I find reading how they visualize the ...
It is just over 3 years since the beginning of the revolution in Libya and we asked the DOS and teachers of IH Tripoli to give us a personal account of how things have changed and what day to day life is now like in Tripoli and at the school. IH Tripoli opened in December 2001 ...
Some time ago I wrote an article entitled, "So you want to open a Language School?" (I.H. Journal, Issue 29, Autumn 2010) and this article is best read in conjunction with that one. There's been so much interest and correspondence from you all (much appreciated) that I've decided to write a follow up, based on ...
At the 2014 IH DOS Conference I shared some ideas for using project work to tackle common problems in YL classrooms and the feedback I got from participants was overwhelmingly positive. And why wouldn’t it be? Nothing quite beats project work for developing the whole child and practicing experiential learning. Project work encourages learner independence, ...
No matter how good you are at independent professional development, there comes a time when nothing less than a piece of paper with an official stamp of approval will do. It looks great on your CV, and a good course provides you with time to try out and reflect on what you’ve learnt. In this ...
Every so often it’s good to go outside the profession to see what others are doing. In my case I like to look at what is happening with technology in education as a whole as I think, we, in ELT can learn a lot from how tablets and mobiles are being utilised in the state ...
Learner Autonomy is one of those ELT buzzwords, which everyone bandies about glibly. However, when you scratch beneath the surface, things are not as simple as they might have appeared at first glance. While Holec’s (1981:3) definition of autonomy, i.e. the ability to take charge of one’s own learning, is widely quoted, there is no ...
Overview “A radically new approach to studying the culture of English-speaking countries around the world.” This is how Blackcat publishers (www.backcat-cideb.com) are promoting their new coursebook. The course materials consist of student’s book, with audio and DVD materials, with downloadable activities to accompany the DVD lessons (which I did not sample), plus a teacher’s book. It’s ...
Overview of the books Collins Academic Skills series is a new set of books covering several aspects relevant to academic study. They are designed in particular for students from abroad who are studying, or intending to study, at an English-speaking university. The two volumes reviewed here are Writing, for learning to write better academic essays, and ...