I met Dean and Emma and their then-two-year-old daughter Liz (not their real names) in 1992 and we’ve been good friends ever since. When I first started socializing with them, I was struck by how comfortable they were as parents and how well they integrated their young child into their
In this series of blog posts for primary teachers, Katherine Bilsborough, coauthor of Imagine, offers simple tips for easy ways to make teaching grammar, phonics, and reading as easy as A, B, C! Primary children are often developing reading skills in their first language (L1) at the same time as
We all want the best for our students. We want them to do well academically, pass their exams, communicate effectively, and thrive socially. But sometimes our focus on academic achievement and paper qualifications can take precedence over our concern for their wellbeing. Of course, that’s understandable. Well-being is difficult to
As a teacher, do you ever have that feeling of mild panic that you’ve gone in too high with a text? I certainly have. Oh, no, you think, the students are out of their depth here. Should I abandon this or persevere and hope we get through it somehow? You
The International Baccalaureate (IB) focuses on teaching the value of perspectives, ideas, and connections from around the world. Whether you’re new to the IB, an IB educator, or are familiar with another curriculum framework, you probably know that it’s a challenge to think about how to take a big idea
This blog post is a follow-up to a webinar I gave a few weeks ago. The webinar addressed this question: How do we avoid overwhelming our learners when we present them with new topics and information-rich texts and then ask them to discuss and analyze them in a meaningful way?
In this series of blog posts for primary teachers, Katherine Bilsborough, author of Imagine level 1, offers simple tips for easy ways to teach grammar, phonics, and reading. The best way for children to learn grammar is by first seeing and hearing examples in context, then getting opportunities to practice
As English language teachers and educators on the path of enrichment, we’re always on the lookout for new ideas and activities that we can incorporate into our classrooms to enrich our students’ learning experience. In the past, I would spend hours trawling my favorite ELT resource sites looking for that
What makes a confident English communicator? Is it always a student with a very advanced level of English? Not necessarily. I have worked with students who have a low intermediate level of English but who can communicate very effectively only using the English they know. On the other hand, I
A key factor in helping young learners progress in the writing skill is making sure they are involved in the evaluation of their writing. Here are the positives we can help them with: understanding standards recognizing what they have done well developing ability to judge their own work learning how