Articles published in the ‘Issue 29: Autumn 2010’ Category
Issue 29 Editorial Classroom Matters Doing action research – what’s in it for teachers and institutions? – Anne Burns The language syllabus: why not start with lexis? – Dave Willis Activities for using film in English language teaching – Arizio Sweeting Beginners in English, experts in life – Kate Pickering Pillars of pronunciation: approaching spoken English – Brita Haycraft The trouble with handouts ...
Andrew Scott, IH Journal Editor The International House Journal is now fully online and we are reaching new readers around the world. Although the old hard copy might be missed by some, there is no doubt that the digital edition is far more accessible to language teaching professional wherever they work. With ever increasing visits to ...
Over the last 20 years discussions of practitioner action research (AR) have become more and more common in the English language teaching (ELT) literature (e.g. Nunan, 1989, Wallace, 1998, Edge, 2001; Burns, 1999, 2009, 2010a). AR has also been increasing in teacher training and tertiary education programs across the world, and in some countries it ...
This is the first of two articles which will look at the content of language teaching – what is to be taught – and how that content should be organised. In this article I will argue for the importance of lexis as a starting point, and will emphasise the importance of the most frequent words ...
In the autumn 2007 edition of the IH Journal, Mark Lowe published an article entitled ‘Films in English Language Teaching’, in which he discussed the various reasons why teachers should use films for English language teaching, how and what type of films to use in class. As a film enthusiast and a published author in ...
All too often low level coursebooks (and some teachers) start off from the premise that there is a strong correlation between students’ linguistic limitations and their general intelligence. This article will look at different ways to support students’ learning while recognising & incorporating their real-world experience. When I started preparing to co-author Global, two experiences were ...
When teaching foreign learners to speak English, how come we neglect the backbone of a spoken language: sentence stress? Initial help with spoken English Teaching students of different nationalities, we soon note that they have several problems in common when it comes to speaking, such as a disregard for stress and ‘unstress’, flat intonation, stopping and starting ...
Last week I had to teach a lesson for a friend who was sick. She was so sick she didn’t have time to tell me more than the name of the book and the page number. I asked around the staffroom for any suggestions on teaching this particular unit as I hadn’t taught it before. ...
The stories featured in this article are all examples of what Jürgen Kremer, transpersonal psychologist and spiritual practitioner, called ‘tales of power’ after one of Carlos Castaneda’s novels. He defines such texts as ‘conscious verbal constructions based on numinous experiences in non-ordinary reality, ‘which guide individuals and help them to integrate the spiritual, mythical, or ...
I have the sometimes challenging but always rewarding job of training English teachers. I don’t train them how to be good teachers, though. I train them in how to use an online platform called Macmillan English Campus (or IH Campus to you). As you can imagine, I come across all ranges of teaching experience, IT ...