I just made a short podcast for my current Celta trainees up here in Hamburg, where I talk a bit about our general approach to training, teacher talk, language grading, task-setting, work management (less generally interesting unless you are on the course) and tips for passing the Focus on the Learner assignment (these tips may […]
Tag: philosophy
What makes a lesson GREAT? Pt. 2
This is the second instalment of a series of five posts that I have started in order to expand on a short answer I gave to Mike Harrison over on the IATEFL Facebook group page in response to the question what makes a lesson GREAT? It was the capitalisation that gave me the idea to […]
What makes a lesson GREAT? Part 1 (and a postscript)
This was the question posed by Mike Harrison on the IATEFL facebook page recently. Considering the space constraints of commenting on a platform like that, and given my Faible for whimsical responses to serious questions, I replied thus: If you are familiar with acrostics, a form of poetry where the first letters in each line […]
On Why The (Unplugged) Revolution Will Not Be Televised
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjaADbq_2AI (Gil Scott-Heron reciting The Revolution Will Not Be Televised) There is nothing like a conference to re-ignite debate.
Cooking Unplugged (or: the roaring in the oven)
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about food recently. Granted, this soon after the festive excesses of the Christmas/New Year period, the last thing you may want to read about is food, but please bear with me for a while. Recent debate over in Chia Suan Chong’s Devil’s Advocate blog series drew my attention back once more […]
A Different Kind Of Scaffolding in ELT
There was a trainee teacher on my last CELTA course who had come to us without any academic background to speak of but with a wealth of life experience; in the end, he turned out to be one of the most interesting trainees I’ve worked with.
Powerful beyond measure
This is to the teachers I am working with on our current CELTA course. We have come a long way since the beginning, two weeks ago. Through your journals I have had the privilege of following your developmental and emotional journey. Of all the ideas, thoughts, questions and wishes that keep recurring, one of the […]