TeachingEnglish newsletter 21 February 2018

TeachingEnglish - the global home for teachers 21 February 2018 Welcome to the TeachingEnglish newsletter This week we feature three great lesson plans: for kids, 'Creepy crawlies'; for teens, 'CLIL lesson - The Atlantic Ocean'; and for adults, 'Choosing a house'. We also encourage you to take a look at our two latest blog posts on inclusive practices (IP) which cover the tenets of IP and a checklist that you can use when lesson planning. This week's featured article looks at raising awareness of diversity in the language classroom, and focuses on diversity related to physical or sensory impairment. And finally, watch a recording of Noreen Caplen-Spence's webinar - 'CLIL for secondary schools'. We hope you find these resources useful. Deb TeachingEnglish team Teaching kids 'Creepy crawlies' can be done over a series of lessons as part of an ongoing project, dedicating each lesson to a different insect, or otherwise as one lesson. Children love squeamish subjects, so you may find that they want you to extend what you originally planned to do. You'll find that insects are a great basis for teaching several language areas such as colours, numbers, food and body parts. Insect by insect, find suggestions of activities you can develop around each one. Go to the lesson plan Teaching teens This CLIL lesson is based on a running dictation using a text about the Atlantic Ocean. The text can be graded for difficulty according to your learners' language level and subject knowledge. In this activity, students will practise all four skills and geography terminology. Go to the lesson plan Teaching adults 'Choosing a house' is an activity for higher elementary- level students, primarily to practise vocabulary and collocations related to house and home, but also as an early confidence builder for speaking skills. The target language here is vocabulary rather than any longer expressions, although it is impossible without some wider general English ability, and students will certainly need to be familiar with present simple question forms. Go to the lesson plan Development In the language learning context, perhaps the most significant dimensions of diversity relate to physical or sensory impairment (e.g. a long-term health issue or hearing loss) and neurodiversity (i.e. non-typical ways of processing information, often identified as dyslexia, dyspraxia or another specific learning difference). It is these aspects that this article focuses on, because of the challenges they present for language learners. Read this article by Anne Margaret Smith which includes activities to raise awareness of diversity in the language classroom. Events In this webinar, Noreen Caplen-Spence explores what works in CLIL. She stresses the final L in CLIL, i.e. learning is the focus of the session. In addition, she unpicks what is meant by CLIL in different contexts. Finally, she looks at some strategies that are practical, learning-centred and inclusive. Watch a recording of the webinar Magazine Every ELT teacher can easily practise inclusivity in their lessons, although there is always more that we can be doing to ensure every student is sufficiently supported and challenged in our classrooms. According to the new code of practice, just as 'every teacher is a teacher of SEN', it seems to me that every ELT teacher is an inclusive practices (IP) teacher. Read Rachael Harris's post to find out more about the tenets of IP. And check out Rachael's follow-up post The Inclusive teacher checklist when planning your next lesson to check that you are reaching and challenging all your students to achieve the best possible outcomes. You have received this newsletter because you registered on our website or previously showed interest in British Council news. If you wish to opt out of future newsletters, please unsubscribe here.

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TeachingEnglish newsletter 14 February 2018

TeachingEnglish - the global home for teachers 14 February 2018 Welcome to the TeachingEnglish newsletter For the classroom this week we have a new lesson plan for adults and teens to celebrate International Mother Language Day on 21 February, 'Benefits of being bilingual'.  We also have a lesson plan on the topic of branding and brand names. If you teach kids, read our latest article 'Bloomifying stories in the inclusive practice classroom' by Rachael Harris, and don't forget that she will also be discussing this topic in our upcoming webinar Storytelling in the Inclusive Practice classroom on 14 February at 12.00 UK time. Our featured blogpost this week is by Corinna Keefe - 'Inclusivity: teaching and talking about refugees'. We are also pleased to announce this year's TIRF Doctoral Dissertation Grants (DDG) competition. And, finally, if you missed the panel discussion on 'Video in English language teacher education', you can watch a recording of this event. We hope you find these resources useful. Deb TeachingEnglish team Teaching kids Storytelling has become the new buzz in ELT, which is logical when you consider that it's one of the few wholly authentic activities that we do in the classroom. But the difficulty with storytelling and learning is how to be sure of using a range of different skills that will involve all students, whatever their language or cognitive developmental level. The Teachers' Standards produced by the UK's Department for Education in 2012 urge teachers to challenge all students and develop activities for an inclusive classroom. How can we do this with storytelling? Read Rachael Harris's article 'Bloomifying stories in the inclusive practice classroom'. Read more Teaching teens This is an integrated skills lesson which involves some discussion, reading and writing. It explores the area of 'brands' and the associations we have with particular brand names. Students will rank their favourite brand names and discuss what they like/dislike about them. They will read and discuss the context of a text about brand naming and complete related vocabulary building exercises. Lastly, students will create and brand their own imaginary product, which they will present to the rest of the class. Go to the lesson plan Teaching adults This lesson, 'Benefits of being bilingual', has been devised to celebrate International Mother Language Day on 21 February, which exists to promote awareness of linguistic diversity and multilingualism. However, it can be used at any time of the year. The lesson begins with a few statements about bilingualism. The students decide if these are true or false and then read a text to check their ideas. They then move on to look at impersonal report structures and end with a personalised practice activity. Go to the lesson plan Development On 8 February, the University of Warwick and IATEFL Research SIG jointly hosted a panel discussion called 'Video in English language teacher education'. Presenters and session titles were: Russell Stannard - Technologies' impact on teacher training; Julia Huettner - 'This is messy': Using video as a springboard for teacher reflection; and Thom Kiddle - Using video for asynchronous multimodal discussion and sharing opportunities online. This research project is funded by a British Council ELTRA award. Watch a recording of the webinar here Events TIRF - The International Research Foundation for English Language Education - is pleased to announce its 2018 Doctoral Dissertation Grants (DDG) competition. Grants of up to US$5,000 will be made to successful applicants investigating a range of topics in English language education. The application deadline is Wednesday 25 April 2018. Find out more Magazine In this post, Corinna Keefe explains how she started a discussion about the refugee crisis, history and identity in her classroom - and why. Read more about how she planned a series of lessons about refugees, aimed at secondary school students, to give them space to explore their history, learn about the present and think seriously about the future. Using online research activities and lively discussion, her students started to form their own responses and ideas.  Read more You have received this newsletter because you registered on our website or previously showed interest in British Council news. If you wish to opt out of future newsletters, please unsubscribe here.

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TeachingEnglish newsletter 07 February 2018

TeachingEnglish - the global home for teachers 7 February 2018 Welcome to the TeachingEnglish newsletter This week we announce registration details for our latest course 'Evaluating and creating digital content'. We also announce a new practical publication, A handbook for exploratory action research, specifically targeted at school teachers working in relatively difficult circumstances. For the classroom, we focus on Valentine's Day, with two lesson plans to use with your kids, teens and adults. And finally, register for our upcoming webinar - 'Storytelling in the Inclusive Practice classroom' on 14 February. We hope you find these resources useful. Deb TeachingEnglish team Teaching kids In this lesson, learners will play a vocabulary game with words associated with Valentine's Day. They will then review language related to Valentine's Day through a simple collocation activity, and read and learn a well-known Valentine's Day poem, noticing the use of countable and uncountable nouns. They will then produce their own poem. Go to the lesson plan Teaching teens Celebrate Valentine's Day with this specially designed lesson plan for teens and adults. Students will brainstorm vocabulary related to the topic and then discuss some well-known quotes about love. They will speak about how people can find love, and read about Valentine's Day traditions in the UK. Students will then create a character for themselves and take part in a speed-dating role play, as well as deciding how important love is in our lives. Go to the lesson plan Teaching adults Nowadays our classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse. The traditional classrooms which used to be more uniform are a thing of the past. In recent years most classrooms include students from different backgrounds, cultures, religions and family situations, and this makes the job of the teacher even more complex and demanding. Read our latest blog post 'No one stays behind!' to find out more about activities to try with diverse classrooms. Read more Development Register for our latest course, 'Evaluating and creating digital content' - a course that explores how to evaluate and create digital resources and activities to use with your learners, in and out of the classroom. This is a moderated 15-hour course, and there are different start date options - 21 March or 6 June.   Find out more Events Join Rachael Harris in this webinar, 'Storytelling in the Inclusive Practice classroom', on 14 February 2018 at 12.00 p.m. UK time to learn more about storytelling using Bloom's taxonomy and how to ensure all your students in the primary classroom are engaged and challenged. By using Bloom's taxonomy, we can provide activities that involve a variety of thinking skills, providing learning opportunities for all the learners in a class.  Find out more and register Magazine This is a practical handbook, written in a non-academic, teacher-friendly style, to show teachers how they can engage in research for their own continuing professional development and for the benefit of their students. Based on examples from actual experience, including cases from Champion Teachers: Stories of Exploratory Action Research, the book is particularly targeted at school teachers working in relatively difficult circumstances. Find out more and download a copy You have received this newsletter because you registered on our website or previously showed interest in British Council news. If you wish to opt out of future newsletters, please unsubscribe here.

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