Category Archives: thoughts 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 →

Posted in guest post, reflecting on teaching, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , | 13 Comments

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 →

Posted in reflecting on teaching, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , , | 20 Comments

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

Plan B

Posted on April 13, 2011 by

One of those days … You know the kind, where nothing really works!  I had planned to use an infographic in class with my high school students. We’re coming towards the end of the course and I wanted to do … Continue reading →

Posted in lesson ideas, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Questioning the question

Posted on April 8, 2011 by

This is a technique I’ve been using with my mixed level high school classes recently.  The aim is to generate ideas before writing a composition using question words as prompts.  It’s very simple, very basic, but so far has been … Continue reading →

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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

Flashes of inspiration

Posted on February 14, 2011 by

This blog post started writing itself in my head last Friday. It’s a little different from my usual posts. It isn’t a close up on a classroom activity or a teaching technique, it’s more like a “moment in time” photo, … Continue reading →

Posted in musings, thoughts on teaching | Tagged , | 25 Comments