How is assessing online different? The learners: Our learners are in a different situation; often at home with parents watching them and without the support of their peer group. We need to be mindful that they may feel uncomfortable or sensitive to their situation. The options: Certain ways of direct
How Zoom is making classroom recordings a key part of our teaching
In traditional face-to-face teaching, there have always been lots of benefits to recording students in class. For example, if you make an audio recording of a role play conversation, then the two students can listen back. Or a student can make a video recording of their presentation, watch it back
8 Ways to get your young learners up and moving during online lessons
1. Factor in ‘wiggle breaks’ We all get stiff and achy when sitting at a computer screen all day, and it’s no different for our learners. When planning your online lessons make sure to plan breaks more frequently than you would normally, and encourage your learners to get up, move
Teaching English Writing Skills Online: Adapting to the Online Classroom & Maximizing Student Potential
Writing is generally considered to be a solitary endeavor, which can make it challenging to teach at the best of times. When it comes to teaching writing skills online, teachers often find this particularly challenging. And as many teachers have had to start teaching online with little or no formal
Using an image as a springboard for online work
As teachers around the world have moved from face to face teaching to online teaching, we’ve decided to change the focus of this series of blog posts too. For the next few months Look author Katherine Bilsborough will be sharing ideas of how to use an image as a springboard
Tips for Making Grammar Engaging and Memorable
Teaching that Sticks One of the main goals for teachers is to make learning memorable. In their article Teaching that Sticks, Chip Heath and Dan Heath suggest there are six characteristics that make ideas ‘stick’. A sticky idea is: Simple Delivers a core message Unexpected Gets and holds attention Concrete
Five practical ideas for starting English lessons with Zoom
Like so many teachers, I recently started delivering my English lessons on Zoom. On reflection, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that so many of the things I do in a normal face-to-face lesson are easily transferable to a platform like Zoom. I can present language by screensharing or using the whiteboard,
The Story Within A Teacher’s Voice
Every teacher uses their voice to teach. The tone and delivery of what you say to your students will become a familiar and comforting sound especially if you teach young learners. When you tell stories, you are using a powerful tool not only for teaching language, but also as a
Bridging the Gap Between Home and School
This is the blog post to read if you are a school manager, coordinator, or freelance teacher looking to build stronger relationships with parents and caregivers. Read on to learn practical ways to build trust, confidence, and establish a genuine partnership between home and school. Introduction We have long known
Exploiting video for authentic English
So far in this series of articles on using video in the classroom, I’ve focused on ways to plan a video lesson and how to make the activities more collaborative. In this post, I’d like to look at the impact authentic video can have on a lesson when we teach