We deal with an increasing amount of information daily, whether we are scrolling social media or catching up on the news. How can we avoid information overload and retain what we read? We need to be active consumers of information, constantly improving our ability to understand and present information visually.
Doorways to Digital Literacy in Stand Out, 4th Edition
Recently, the National Skills Coalition did a study on the relationship between employability and digital literacy. Through analyzing a sample of job ads, they concluded that, across all industries, 92% of jobs require digital literacy skills. While that percentage is large, it’s possible that this statistic is still a bit
How do we improve listening outcomes?
Traditionally, ELT listening lessons often focused on micro-skills like using context and general knowledge to get the gist. More recently, there has been a reconsideration of listening and how we might improve it, based on four main processes. These can be described as: In this post, we define these four
New Ways to Support EMI Teachers, Students, and Schools
English-Medium Instruction (EMI) is the use of the English language to teach academic subjects in settings where English is not the most common language of education. Over the past two decades, the number of schools with EMI curricula has expanded dramatically because English became essential for success in a variety
Teaching Social Issues with the SDGs
I’d like to start this final post in this Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) blog series with an explanation. Despite the distinction we’re making between environmental SDGs, such as number 13 – Climate action – and social SDGs, like number 1 – No poverty – you will have realized that the
Four Ways to Address Workplace Skills in the Classroom
Beginning in 1992, the United States developed standards identifying workplace soft skills for workforce preparation. While these standards changed and new ones were introduced, the same underlying skills were always there: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and technology skills. Below we discuss four ways to address workplace skills in the Adult
How to ‘go green’ in your classes with the SDGs
So far in this series, we’ve examined the connection between English teaching and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and how projects can be leveraged to let learners explore the SDGs for themselves. In this post, we focus on the SDGs that concern the climate and biodiversity crises, such as SDG 7
Exploring the SDGs Through Project Work
In the first post in this series, we looked at why we should promote the United Nation’s SDGS – Sustainable Development Goals – with our English learners. This post turns to the how, specifically, in the shape of projects. If your teaching normally consists of individual lessons from a course,
The SDGs and English Language Teaching
Eight years ago, the United Nations set an ambitious agenda for change on a global scale: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These 17 goals aim to create a sustainable and equitable future for all, addressing issues related to wealth, health, education, work, justice, sustainability, and protection for the natural world.
Meeting the Challenges of Teaching Literacy to Very Young English Learners
When you are four years old, it can be intimidating to walk into a classroom for the first time and be expected to learn to read and write in English. You hear unfamiliar sounds, your favorite animal or food is called something different, and you are unsure how to act. Can