Category Archives: thoughts on learning

loop or lope?

Posted on February 12, 2013 by

  a new fixation continued … In my last post I wrote about the books I’ve been reading with – or rather alongside – my 10 year old son and the insights we’ve shared into how we “grow” language through reading. This … Continue reading →

Posted in pronunciation, thoughts on learning, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Back to school

Posted on September 13, 2012 by

This is a very personal post.  From a different side of the learning fence.  It’s about the challenge I face as a parent at the beginning of the new school year. I have two kids, 8 and 10, who are … Continue reading →

Posted in musings, thoughts on learning | Tagged , , | 20 Comments

a learning experiment

Posted on September 12, 2012 by

thanks to Bob Doran on flickr for his light experiment Earlier today the twitter-based #eltchat group were discussing experiences of, and opinions about, some “alternative” teaching techniques, namely the Silent Way, TPR (Total Physical Response) and Suggestopedia. I mentioned a method … Continue reading →

Posted in #eltchat, musings, thoughts on learning | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

A book review from a six year old

Posted on December 7, 2011 by

[this post has been languishing in my drafts for some time ... since the spring in fact ... but then a few days ago the books were back on our kitchen table after I'd lent them out to a friend … Continue reading →

Posted in CLIL, thoughts on learning | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

eltchat summary : affective & effective teaching

Posted on September 19, 2011 by

After three months of clashing schedules, last week I was finally able to return to #eltchat (if you don’t know what it is, please scroll to the bottom of the summary).  And not only did I attend both chats  (well … Continue reading →

Posted in #eltchat, thoughts on learning, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , | 3 Comments

A journey in languages

Posted on September 12, 2011 by

I’m feeling a bit shy … maybe even a bit sheepish … as I come back to blogging after such a long time away, and a bit unsure about where to start. This is a post that’s been playing in … Continue reading →

Posted in musings, thoughts on language, thoughts on learning | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments

Writing to learn

Posted on November 23, 2010 by

This post  was inspired by Dave Dodgson in Ankara, Turkey, and his account of using dictogloss with young learners. I’m a big fan of dictogloss*  (or dictocomp as Marisa Constantides calls it in a comment on the same blog post) … Continue reading →

Posted in thoughts on learning, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Making waves?

Posted on November 2, 2010 by

This post is a very late contribution to  Jason Renshaw‘s  wandrous whiteboard challenge. The basic idea is to start the activity (and preferably the lesson) with a blank board and to ask the students to fill the board with whatever … Continue reading →

Posted in thoughts on learning, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

You’ve got mail

Posted on October 20, 2010 by

The email experiment continues …. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been experimenting with emails and extending  my classes beyond the classroom. In the first post I wrote about the experiment,  Every lesson tells a story,  I described how … Continue reading →

Posted in thoughts on learning, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

The story continues

Posted on September 26, 2010 by

A few days ago I wrote a post  about how I’m using email with one of my classes as a way to extend our lessons, and the learning process,  beyond the classroom.  In that post I looked at the summaries … Continue reading →

Posted in thoughts on learning, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments