Anyone who has ever been in one of my lessons knows how much I love using stories and anecdotes to introduce new language. Stories are the fabric of communication that can hold the attention of a room and allow access to worlds which from the average locked-down bedroom seem out of reach. With an idea [...]
As we take our first tentative steps into 2021 it is fair to say that while I can't wait for a fresh new year to begin everything seems to be progressing with caution (apart from the diet, that is). Here is a lesson that looks at what we want to build on rather than acquire, [...]
Little learners can be a big challenge online, but they also can provide the most rewarding lessons. Here are some of my reflections about teaching VYLs online, and what I consider the must-haves in an online VYL or YL lesson
It's that time of year again, and after 2020 I decided my learners need to finish this year on a high so I decided to put together an online Christmas lesson (which can also be easily adapted for face to face learners) to celebrate the much loved Christmas tradition of..... advertising.
As a new school year is about to kick-off, I've looked back at the last one and tried to make sense of how I feel about this year. A little shocked, a little numb, very relieved, proud of what I've achieved, regretful over what I got wrong, but overall, I'm left with a feeling of [...]
Now that the dust has settled, online teaching is fast becoming the new 'normal' for many of us and the knee-jerk emergency teaching measures are slowly being replaced by a renewed drive for ways of delivering quality lessons. One observation from the last two months of teaching online is that at times the digital platform [...]
Being a teacher means you have to expect the unexpected but I don't think any of us could have imagined what 2020 would entail. Coronavirus has pulled the rug from all of our feet; the devastating loss of lives, the fear and uncertainty, the financial repercussions, it's changed our lives forever. Living in Italy, the [...]
Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Tinder; digital photos are everywhere. It seems like a lifetime ago when we were able to do anything we wanted without the threat of it being immortalised thanks to someone's smartphone. Selfies have become so ubiquitous that the thought of asking someone else to take our photo in a beauty spot or [...]
Everyone knows it, the most important thing you can gain in the classroom is trust. Get your students to trust you and then anything is possible, barriers will no longer be up, they won't be scared to experiment and risk making mistakes, in a nutshell, you will have created an environment that is conducive to [...]
It's that time of year again, the time when finding time is difficult, when stress levels rise as teachers frantically plan exciting and engaging first lessons to make their students fall in love with them, while managers frantically juggle book orders, student enquiries, entrance exams, and new teacher inductions. It's the nice kind of stress [...]
I still to this day remember the first time I stood before 15 pairs of eyes, a board marker in hand and the overbearing sense of foreboding that weighed down on my shoulders as they waited for me to teach them something. That nervous anticipation thankfully now feels very foreign and I barely bat an [...]
Why the only teaching voice you need is your own: an important point to remember if you are a developing teacher
Learning lessons from TEFL 