24/03/2012

IATEFL

I am just back from the IATEFL conference in Glasgow, where Spring was definitely in the air and over 2,000 EFLers gathered to share ideas, discuss and learn. And meet old friends - which for me is one of the best things about conferences like this.


I went to a number of fascinating presentations, but have been left with a very strong feeling about what makes an effective presentation. For me the best presentations were when speakers abandoned their notes, spoke from their hearts and told stories of real-life classroom situations from which we could all learn.
A plea to all presenters - please don't read your notes aloud, don't just read what's on your slides, tell us what you care about and illustrate your ideas with real-life stories - share your experiences. Consider what the listener is going to get out of your presentation - some practical ideas, an opportunity to see something differently, to learn something new. Or just send a link by email and we can read what you wrote ourselves.

14/03/2012

Two new sections

I have just added:

Teaching mixed ability classes to TEENS

and

Topic Based Lessons - the weather to PRIMARY

In Riga, Latvia

The wind may have been cold but the welcome from the nearly 400 teachers who attended the OUP Day on Tuesday was definitely warm.

06/03/2012

New page

I've just put up a new page -Olha - which is just a lot of information about me, in case you are interested.

New Posts

I have just uploaded two new sections on the TEEN pages - Getting Teenagers to Speak English and Writing Compositions.

I apologise for the way the way the font keeps changing on the page - ah don't you love technology when it has a mind of its own?

Some more primary sections coming very soon, I promise.