This is a copy of the guest blog I wrote for the International House Teacher Training Blog here. The IH ‘Future of Training’ Conference (23-24 November 2018) will mark 65 years of teacher training at IH London, the ancestral home of the initial ELT certification course that later became the Cambridge CELTA. It promises both…… Continue reading ‘The future of training’ or The elephant that swallowed the room
Category: Language teaching
Recent past and possible future trends in applied linguistics
Lei & Liu’s recent article: “Research trends in applied linguistics from 2005 to 2016: A bibliometric analysis and its implications” (2018) is possibly one of the most revealing accounts of recent changes in the popularity of research topics, authors and publications in applied linguistics since the turn of the (albeit rather short) current century. Based…… Continue reading Recent past and possible future trends in applied linguistics
Peer needs analysis
For the November 2017 edition of English Teaching Professional I wrote an article on a classroom rapport building practice that I’ve called peer needs analysis (PNA). Here I provide a brief introduction to PNA, and some free resources that you can try out in your own classroom. See the article itself for more ideas and…… Continue reading Peer needs analysis
Drill tables
When we introduce new grammar, many of us like to use spoken drills to provide learners with controlled practice of the new language. For the last few years I’ve been using what I call ‘drill tables’ to do this. I’m not sure if other teachers do something similar, but I’ve found them a simple, engaging…… Continue reading Drill tables
Sentence pelmanism
Do you have difficulty getting your students to speak English in class? Perhaps they lack confidence, perhaps they don’t know much English, or if you teach large classes, perhaps it’s difficult to keep them using English when they get excited… If any of these are true for you, here’s a fun game that your students can…… Continue reading Sentence pelmanism
ELT Journal Article: Affordance, learning opportunities and the lesson plan pro forma
My recent article for ELT Journal is available free online, here, as it was selected as Editor’s Choice article for July 2015. Oxford University Press also asked me to record a short introductory video, now posted on YouTube, where I can be seen doing my Tommy Cooper impression (not discussed in the article): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReNGZQ90YAo&list=FL_Ny_v5SlZ2aoD0Lljy0lng&index=1 If you…… Continue reading ELT Journal Article: Affordance, learning opportunities and the lesson plan pro forma