TeachingEnglish newsletter 21 March 2018

TeachingEnglish - the global home for teachers 21 March 2018 Welcome to the TeachingEnglish newsletter This week we feature a lesson plan for primary learners that focuses on story brainstorming and planning. For teenagers and adults, we feature lessons that are designed to develop reading and speaking skills - 'A boyhood home' (in Liverpool), and 'A night out in Newcastle'. Our development resource this week comes from our collection on 'Assessing learners' - two articles that introduce you to the basics of test-writing. We also have a recording of a very practical webinar by Amy Lightfoot on using mobile technology in the classroom, and a useful blog post to help you better understand and manage learners at B2 level - 'Ideas for beating the B2 plateau'. And finally, don't forget to register for our next webinar on 28 March -  Teacher evaluation in ELT with Simon Borg. We hope you find these resources useful. Deb TeachingEnglish team Teaching kids This activity, 'Anna's wet day out', trains young learners to plan a very simple story by looking at the brainstorming process prior to writing, then allowing them to select ideas and guiding them to the actual writing of the story through a clearly staged plan. Go to the lesson plan Teaching teens This lesson, 'A boyhood home', for B2-level learners is based on the theme of the National Trust and the restoration of John Lennon's childhood home, and his life. It consists of two texts which explore the relationships between buildings and famous people who lived in them. Learners practise speaking about past memories and life histories and practise past tenses. Go to the lesson plan Teaching adults 'A night out in Newcastle' is a lesson plan for teachers of teenagers and adults at intermediate level and above that explores the theme of things to do in a city at night. Students will have an opportunity to develop their reading skills, work co-operatively in a group and deduce meaning from context. Go to the lesson plan Development 'Assessing learning' involves applying the principles and practice of assessment to designing tasks for measuring learners' progress, and this week we feature two articles for those of you who are looking to develop in the area of test-writing. Writing a good test is indeed quite a challenge! Article 1 looks at some important considerations, including reliability, validity and affect.  Article 2 examines different question types and their functions, and their advantages and disadvantages.  Events In this practical seminar, 'A beginner's guide to mobile learning in ELT', Amy Lightfoot explores the current opportunities for learning English using mobile phones both in and out of the classroom. She debates the pros and cons of this medium and looks at a variety of content that is currently available. She shares her experiences of creating some of this content and discusses the early outcomes of these projects. Amy also considers the educational implications of widespread mobile phone availability, particularly in developing countries. Watch a recording Magazine Once learners reach a certain point - often around intermediate or upper-intermediate level - things slow down. The quick results and easy wins of the early stages have finished. When Corinna Keefe ran into this problem, she found some good advice from the world of fitness. Read her latest post - 'Ideas for beating the B2 plateau' - to find out what she learned and how you can help your B2 learners.  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 14 March 2018

TeachingEnglish - the global home for teachers 14 March 2018 Welcome to the TeachingEnglish newsletter This week we are pleased to announce that our next webinar will take place on 28 March. Join Simon Borg for 'Teacher evaluation in ELT'. As Easter approaches, this week we feature a couple of activities that focus on how this time is celebrated in the UK, together with opportunities for learners to reflect on special occasions in their cultures. We also include a complete set of teaching resources at two different levels designed around a graffiti image for your teenage and adult learners. We have a new winner of our blog of the month award: Thiago Veigga for his post  'A lesson on connected speech - Intermediate/B1 onwards'. And finally, our new blog topics for March and April are all about the learner. Why not share your experiences by blogging for us! We hope you find these resources useful. Deb TeachingEnglish team Teaching kids Children love learning about festivals and the way other people celebrate them. It's also fascinating for them to compare how they celebrate the same festival in their own country. Easter is widely celebrated by children across the world and it is interesting from a cross-cultural point of view to develop at least a few activities related to eggs, bunnies and hot cross buns!  Go to the lesson plan Teaching teens 'One nation under CCTV' is a complete set of teaching resources designed around an interesting and unusual photograph, with activities to activate your students' higher-level critical thinking skills. This pack looks at the topics of art and street art. The focus is on developing students' ability to speculate about an image, listening for specific information and summary-writing skills. Go to the resources A version of this lesson is also available for lower levels. lower levels Teaching adults For a lot of people in the UK, the Christian festival of Easter means the opportunity to eat chocolate eggs. This is a simple, low-level reading and discussion task on the theme of Easter in the UK. It helps students learn about how this time is celebrated in the UK and reflect on special occasions in their own culture.  Go to the reading task Development Our blog topics for March and April are all about the learner. We ask how you help your students break through the B2 plateau; if and how you help your students with personal problems that seem to be affecting them in class; how you approach culturally or socially and economically diverse classes; and how you manage disruptive or shy students and bullies. Read more Events In our next webinar, 'Teacher evaluation in ELT' - 28 March, Simon Borg will discuss the importance of teacher evaluation and ways of designing teacher evaluation systems that support teacher development. Key points that will be covered are the purposes of teacher evaluation, teacher evaluation criteria and different ways of collecting evidence about what teachers can do.  Find out more Simon also discusses some of the key messages about effective teacher evaluation that are identified in a recent report Magazine Our featured blog of the month award for February 2018 goes to Thiago Veigga and his post 'A lesson on connected speech - Intermediate/B1 onwards', a lesson plan for older intermediate teenage and adult students that helps them to understand and recognise connected speech. Our shortlisted posts for February 2018 include useful vocabulary for playing games, a game that is always different and an enjoyable warmer or filler for students at any level. 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 March 2018

TeachingEnglish - the global home for teachers 07 March 2018 Welcome to the TeachingEnglish newsletter This week we have a new lesson for adults and teenagers on the theme of animal trafficking. For primary learners, we feature a CLIL lesson on basic numeracy. And we also feature a special lesson to mark International Women's Day. We also announce the winner of our blog of the month award, which goes to Cristina Cabal and her post 'Making vocabulary stick'. 'Ingredients for successful CLIL' is our featured webinar this week - join Keith Kelly to find out more about managing CLIL in a range of contexts. And finally, are you taking full advantage of teacher development resources and opportunities available to you via teacher networks? Check out networks in your part of the world, and find out what's on offer. We hope you find these resources useful. Deb TeachingEnglish team Teaching kids This activity, 'CLIL maths: Basic numeracy', for young primary pupils is designed to work on basic numeracy skills while communicating in English. Learners practise basic addition and subtraction, while practising 'have got' in questions and positive sentences.  Go to the activity Teaching teens This lesson, 'Unsung heroes', devised for International Women's Day, will help to raise awareness of some not very famous, but nonetheless important, women. Students discuss the women's achievements and learn some useful vocabulary for talking about social issues. There is then a focus on relative clauses, before the final task of writing about another female hero. Go to the lesson plan Teaching adults Our latest integrated skills lesson for adults and teenagers, 'Animal trafficking', looks at the illegal animal trafficking trade. In this integrated skills lesson, students will learn about the illegal pet trade in Brazil. They begin by guessing the answers to some questions and then read and find the answers in three short articles. Finally, learners work in groups and hold a discussion about crimes and punishments. Try this new lesson plan Development One aspect of taking responsibility for professional development involves being aware of, selecting and engaging in appropriate professional development opportunities and resources to inform your classroom practice. One way to do this is by joining a teacher association or teacher network. Why not take a look at the large number of teacher networks and join one in your part of the world? Find out more Events In this webinar, Keith Kelly presents 'Ingredients for successful CLIL'. By referring to examples of CLIL in action in a number of contexts, he looks at managing and supporting the CLIL implementation process and the roles and behaviours of teachers in the delivery of CLIL. He also discusses resourcing CLIL and considers factors to do with the learners in CLIL education.  Watch a recording of this webinar Magazine Our featured blog of the month for January 2018 goes to Cristina Cabal and her post 'Making vocabulary stick'. Cristina's post provides a simple activity to encourage the use of newly acquired vocabulary and to help students remember it. Our shortlisted posts for January 2018 include a board game for phrasal verbs, suggestions for building language fluency, links to 30 PowerPoint games and activities, and helping students retain new language. 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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