Towards the end of last year, I was privileged to be invited to Jakarta to run some tech-related training sessions. One of the sessions was on reading skills, in which we looked at the influence of screens and e-books on reading skills. In the break at the end of it, we were discussing the session ...

For a given value of ‘learnt’, I’ve ‘learnt’ ten or more different languages. For at least the last five, Russian, Thai, Italian, Mandarin and Polish, my studies have been largely computer-based. I’ve found making languages a part of my everyday life, including at weekends, has given me the largest amount of progress. So how do ...

When I meet a new class, one of the first orders of business, along with ice breakers, learning names and clarifying schedules and textbooks, is to set up a class messaging group. I used to use this group as an administration tool - a way for the students to contact me about grades or absenteeism, ...

Apps and tablets are buzzwords in classrooms. Using technology is something teachers all around the world are encouraged to do but it makes teachers nervous, especially as it tests some people’s digital literacy skills and adds an extra layer to planning lessons. For some it just doesn’t add enough value to try or they have ...

As the exam date starts to loom larger in our students’ lives, their thoughts inevitably turn to making a final push towards success. In the final weeks before the exam, the coursebook is relegated to the shelf over the desk and the practice test book is dusted down and given a starring role in proceedings. ...

We ask a lot of our teachers, I think. We ask for high professional standards, for well-planned and effectively executed lessons, for them to take time to give student feedback, be at Parents’ Evenings, deliver pastoral care; to look after the wellbeing of their learners in a number of ways. But we don’t always focus ...

The article suggests features that enable teachers to distinguish between communicative and non-communicative activities. It offers some tasks to help them see this difference. Also, the author suggests ways of converting boring grammar exercises into meaningful communicative activities, and provides some examples for practicing such converting. The information is not new, but it is not widely ...

I recently had the following conversation with a two-year-old: Me: What did the farmer give the cows to eat? Boy: It wasn’t a farmer. It was a lady. This dialogue reveals something depressing but not totally surprising. By the age of two, this child has already absorbed the cultural messages we are all bombarded with: that some roles ...

“Gender is not an easy conversation to have. It makes people uncomfortable, sometimes even irritable. Both men and women are resistant to talk about gender, or are quick to dismiss the problems of gender. Because thinking of changing the status quo is always uncomfortable.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - We Should All Be Feminists It can be hard ...

"A decade working in mental health/support needs/autism and challenging behaviour was never as challenging as this 8 weeks teaching in occupied East Jerusalem!!!! My master’s thesis is definitely chosen - psychological effects of occupation on children and their education. And this doesn't even skim the surface of the effects on parental behaviour!!!!" Mhairi Claxnie, British Council ...