ELT Experiences

Six Steps To Prepare for Remote Teaching

I will now be using my laptop to start delivering lessons remotely to my students who I usually teach face-to-face

When it comes down to responding to the CORVID-19 as a teacher, many are being required to deliver lessons and content remotely to their students. In fact, today I was informed that all teaching would be suspended until the following week with all courses being delivered online. Obviously, the amount of teachers that I have been in touch with via Twitter and Facebook have faced similar situations – even the PM, Boris Johnson, has recommended that all people who are able to teach online, where possible. It is drastic action, but it is necessary.

When teaching remotely, it is important to prepare and have the necessary equipment, skills and environment suitable to deliver remote lessons. In this blog post, I am sharing some things that need teachers should consider before delivering a lesson or input for a course.

Episode 8: How To Plan A Lesson

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Hello all and welcome to another post and video about planning lessons from a course book. In the video below, I share my thought process and ideas about particular stages of a lesson. I think it is good to share the ideas and the rationale behind this process with the (albeit rather long) video.

The course book that I was using was Move Pre-Intermediate – I haven’t used this for around a year so it was refreshing to remind myself of this book. The main topic of the chapter which I selected was about food and the desirability of food based upon colour. It included a reading, discussion and a grammar focus of countable and uncountable nouns.

With the video above, I share some of the ideas of supplementing the course book. These included using a survey as a lead-in/warmer to engage learners about the topic, matching key language (words and images) about food as well as focusing grammar from the language that had been introduced initially and recycling this from the initial survey.

These were my main ideas and they are not exactly great but I am happy to share these with you. I do hope you enjoyed the video, despite the length (and apologies in advance about that), and don’t forget to Subscribe to my YouTube Channel and Liking the video would be wonderful.

Many thanks and happy teaching!!! ?

Episode 7: How To Start Teaching EAP

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I have been teaching EFL for the last 14 years and last summer, I was fortunate to make the transition to teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP). When I gave in my notice last April with my previous employer, I was a little lost and didn’t know what to consider. My wife (all thanks to her) recommended that I get in contact with my University where I had completed my MA. And here is where I started my journey towards EAP.

I was offered a 6 week intensive English course to teach, Monday to Thursday, and invited to an interview to be part of a ten-week summer pre-sessional course at the University, all in one day. In this blog post, I am sharing my tips for securing employment as an English Tutor with a University. Continue reading

Pancake Day: Lesson Ideas and Activities

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One of the most popular events during late February or early March, in the UK, is Pancake Day. I am sharing some lesson ideas you could use with your class to celebrate the event and to get your students learning more about this British custom.

It is very important to introduce your students to celebrations in the UK, so they are able to learn more about British society and events which they may come across. Furthermore, they will feel more inclusive within British society if they are able to participate with some events.

Episode 6: How To Teach Connected Speech

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One of the most difficult aspects of teaching pronunciation in the classroom is connected speech. It is difficult to know exactly how to incorporate some elements of practise to raise learner awareness of this area of pronunciation and it took me a number of years to develop confidence. In the following video below, I share three teaching idea associated with teaching connected speech. You are more than welcome to include the following ideas with your students.

I have also made a video below to help you better understand how you could also use connected speech in the classroom. It would be great if you could watch this video and leave a Like. If you haven’t subscribed, please Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.

CELTA Tips: How To Fail The CELTA Course

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Hello and welcome to a new episode of CELTA Tips. Many of my videos on this playlist look at various ways to pass the CELTA but today we are going to look at how to fail the course. You may be wondering why I want to share some ideas on failing the course but I want you to know some things to consider when doing the course so you make sure that you are not doing them.

Episode 5: How To Teach A Grammar Auction

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A few days ago, I decided for the first time ever to deliver a grammar auction activity to my group of learners. I had never done this activity before but had done variations from it: awarding points for correct answers, etc. In this blog post (and video below), I would like to share my tips to ensure that you are able to deliver a fantastic grammar auction lesson.

Episode 4: Five ESL Word Games with No Material

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In this episode of TEFL Tips, I share my five favourite word games that I like to incorporate in my classes at those final ten or fifteen minutes of the lesson when you don’t know what to do. It is an essential skill to know at least five games that you can start using with minimal preparation or planning required.

Episode 3: Six Ways to Teach Vocabulary Effectively

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In today’s episode of TEFL Tips, we are going to look at what to include when teaching vocabulary with students. The key to communicating in any language is having vocabulary to assist in expressing meaning. Watch this video below to learn how I teach vocabulary in the EFL classroom.