Category Archives: reflecting on teaching

Looking back at Bilbao (1) teen angles from Chris Roland

Posted on March 20, 2012 by

Here’s the first in a series of posts inspired by the TESOL Spain conference in Bilbao. Which in turn was inspired by the ever photogenic Guggenheim building right opposite on the other side of the river. After the conference one … Continue reading →

Posted in conferences, lesson ideas, reflecting on teaching, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

One size does not fit all – a guest post by Sirja Bessero

Posted on February 7, 2012 by

Sirja is Estonian. She teaches English at a design college in Sierre in the Swiss Alps. We met recently over coffee and croissant at the ETAS annual conference in Yverdon.  We fell so easily into conversation it felt like we’d … Continue reading →

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Back to the drawing board

Posted on November 23, 2011 by

This is a very simple lesson outline that worked well for me.  It grew out of a lesson plan prepared by a colleague for the team of teachers teaching supplementary skills classes in a local state school.  For me it … Continue reading →

Posted in reflecting on teaching, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

Echoes of Paris

Posted on November 10, 2011 by

Last weekend I was in Paris for the annual TESOL France conference.  It was a fantastic experience, such a great atmosphere, an impressive line-up of talks and so many people to meet.  Back home again and in class, there have … Continue reading →

Posted in conferences, reflecting on teaching, thoughts on teaching | Tagged | 14 Comments

A tale of two lessons

Posted on October 11, 2011 by

(of circles and squares) Last Thursday I taught two lessons, back-to-back, with two classes from the same school, with students from the same year, following the same syllabus and studying for the same exam. Not surprisingly, I guess, I used … Continue reading →

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Lessons in Welsh revisited

Posted on July 3, 2011 by

My blog was one year old yesterday and in the spirit of anniversaries I went back and re-read my first post  only to find that I’ve come round in a full circle.  No surprise really, it’s that time of year. … Continue reading →

Posted in musings, reflecting on teaching, using translation and L1 | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

Loose ends

Posted on June 13, 2011 by

end of course feedback A few weeks back I finished off a six month course at a local high school. It was the first time the course had been run at the school, and it was the first time I’d … Continue reading →

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The dog ate it

Posted on April 1, 2011 by

This is a short post about a very simple afterthought that caught my class’s imagination.   Last week I was running a workshop with some teachers at a school in Seville (a big thank you to Els and Enda for … Continue reading →

Posted in reflecting on teaching | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

Every lesson tells a story part two

Posted on March 23, 2011 by

This post was first published as the second part of a longer post about using narrative in teaching and learning. Part one talked about encouraging students to “tell the story” of their lessons. This part talks about how I experimented … Continue reading →

Posted in reflecting on teaching | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Cuisenaire rods

Posted on March 22, 2011 by

A few weeks ago, I got involved in a twitter conversation with Sandy Millin about cuisenaire rods and how and why we use them in class. We  both thought it’d be worth exploring beyond the 140 character limit of our … Continue reading →

Posted in guest post, reflecting on teaching, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , | 6 Comments