For many English language instructors, teaching academic writing can be a struggle. Perhaps that’s because we usually approach writing internally, and often without any kind of structure or process. Students might start with the first sentence and see where that takes them. But think of it this way: Unless you’re
Tag: Critical Thinking
3 Tips to Improve Visual Literacy in the ELT Classroom
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.
Reflecting and building background knowledge
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?
Promoting Critical thinking, Questioning and Discovery in Young Learners
The main aim of these blog posts is to promote critical thinking, questioning and discovery learning in primary learners. Each blog post starts with a question that teachers will use as a springboard with their learners. Activities will cover a range of types, interactions and outcomes. The ideas will be
Critical Thinking in ELT
After years of talking and writing about critical thinking (CT) and of reading and listening to others do the same, my colleague John Hughes and I decided that we should codify our thoughts on the subject. What came out of it two years later was Critical Thinking in ELT: a practical
A Working Model for Critical Thinking in the ELT Classroom
In the article on the topic of Critical Thinking in ELT, my co-author Paul Dummett suggested that critical thinking in English language teaching should involve more than simply identifying fact from misinformation or searching texts for supporting evidence. We argue instead that critical thinking is more encompassing and should be viewed
How to motivate learners with visible goals
Why do we have goals? As teachers, we are encouraged to have goals for our lessons. Some teachers even write the goals on the board at the beginning of a lesson, so students can see them. For other teachers, their goals (also sometimes called aims) are written at the top
Giving Students A Voice: Six Critical Thinking Tips
Critical thinking is seen as an increasingly valued skill to teach students in the 21st Century, but the first thing we need to ask is what exactly is it? Very often critical thinking can become a complaint that people aren’t thinking like me! Some definitions have a focus on being
A Critical Look at Critical Thinking
Before taking a critical look at critical thinking, it may be useful to come up with a clear definition of the concept. One way to think about it is to focus on the type of thinking required: “Critical thinking is thinking that is clear, logical, open-minded, and based on evidence.”
How to integrate critical thinking at lower levels
Critical thinking is often associated with teaching students at higher language levels. Perhaps it’s because the kinds of problem-solving tasks which are associated with critical thinking require a level of English at Intermediate or above. Maybe it’s also that the kind of language used to describe critical thinking skills includes