E V O L V E S C H O O L: TeachingEnglish newsletter 20 March 2019

TeachingEnglish newsletter

20 March 2019

Welcome to the TeachingEnglish newsletter!

We've selected a range of practical resources to help you in the classroom and ideas to help you with your professional development, which we hope you find useful.

The TeachingEnglish team

Addressing human trafficking and modern slavery in the language classroom

This webinar will present the courageous, inspiring and innovative actions that ELT educators and students are already taking to confront trafficking and slavery. Judy Boyle will provide practical support and detailed guidance for teachers who would also like to integrate this topic into their lessons. Join us on Thursday, 28 March for this webinar looking at how to integrate difficult topics in the language classroom.

A conversation on implementing inclusive practices: creating an inclusive school environment

Can we say that our school systems are inclusive and we practise what we preach? Join Phil Dexter, Maria Jose Galleno, and Suzanne Mordue on Wednesday, 27 March to discuss this question. This will be an interactive session looking at how we can take small but significant steps through an inclusive practice approach. We will be discussing what teacher educators can do to make a difference in supporting approaches to successful teaching and learning.

Featured blog of the month for February

Our featured blog of the month award for February 2019 goes to ELT-Connect and their post 7 Fun Tasks for Classroom Debates. This post has some great ideas to help you get the whole class talking. Our shortlisted posts for this month feature Lady Gaga at the Oscars, writing tasks with young learners, becoming a better listener and tips for teaching older learners.

The life cycle of a flowering plant

In this lesson for primary learners, students watch a short video about the life cycle of a flowering plant and complete an accompanying worksheet. They label a diagram and then draw and colour their own flower. After watching the video and completing the worksheet, you can extend the topic using activities from the LearnEnglish Kids website. And why not plant your own flowers too, and watch them grow?

Center for Intercultural Dialogue video competition

Intercultural dialogue (ICD) is 'the art and science of understanding the other'. ICD can include international, interracial, interethnic, and interfaith interactions. Typically, people assume that ICD requires face-to-face interaction. This competition asks: 'How do social media influence intercultural dialogue?' The competition is open to students enrolled in any college or university in the world during spring 2019, and the final deadline is 31 May 2019. Find out more about entering and what you could win.

Encouraging learners to explore language through creative activities

Our featured talk this week focuses on the professional practice 'Understanding learners'. Every time our learners speak in a new language, they are essentially exploring their creativity. Nevertheless, all too often these are lost opportunities as it is all too easy to get bogged down in getting through a task and moving on to the next. In this talk 'Encouraging learners to explore language through creative activities', Adam Simpson looks at the barriers to creativity, how we might overcome them, and a number of easily adaptable activities which facilitate creative thinking.