There are plenty of articles and videos on how journaling can help you focus, clear your mind, process your thoughts and so on. But if you are like me, you probably don’t really believe them. I’ve been keeping a journal since I was 8, when my school teacher read us passages from Anne Frank’s Diary …
Category Archives: global issues in ELT
73 cows: a video about sustainability
I have recently watched this short film and I found it so compellingly beautiful that I thought about creating a lesson around it. 73 COWS 73 Cows is an award-winning short documentary about the journey and personal conflict of Jay Wilde, the first farmer in the UK to embark upon transitioning from beef farming to …
#IATEFL2018: ELT as emancipatory practice by Steve Brown
Here’s another set of notes from a talk I attended yesterday. Introduction We live in a world where people who are in position of power are using it to further disadvantage people in an already disadvantaged position. We are assisting to the commodification of language, learning and teaching! Wheere is power located in ELT? school owners publishing …
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#IATEFL2018: Making PARSNIPs palatable by Rose Aylett
Here are my notes from this very interesting and thought-provoking session I attended yesterday. Premise PARSNIPs are left out of classroom practice because of: institutional policies local culture lack of materials fear of Ss reactions However, they are important and Ss often need the language to talk about these issues. So why boycott them? How …
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I'm tired
I apologise for the rant that follows, but sometimes I just need to get things out of my chest, and this is one of those times. Despite the best efforts of the institution I work for to actively promote equality, we still get loads of requests for madrelingua (native speakers). And do you know where these …
Fighting climate change: lesson notes
Today I would like to share a very successful lesson I created for a B2 (upper-intermediate) group around the topic of climate change and this article by The Guardian. This is a very rough plan and needs fine-tuning, mainly to suit your learners needs and interests. I have used this lesson with both adults and …
Does equality really exist in ELT?
Lately I’ve been feeling a bit pessimistic about the state of ELT. It feels everyday more like a club we NNEST are not welcome to join. When I look around me, online and offline, I see more and more people participating in the NEST-NNEST debate, affirming that there should be no differences. That gender, colour …
Freedom in the classroom: Open Sankoré
Free and open source IWB software that I find really useful in my everyday teaching.
How to be a confident NNEST
Many things have already been written and said about the topic of NNEST equality in ELT. However, what can we do as NNESTs to improve our self-confidence and how students and employers see us? Last week I read this excellent post by Elly Setterfield, which got me thinking about how I see myself as a …
Sensitive issues and ELT
It all started with a notelt from Mike Harrison where he was asking if we thought it appropriate to bring up hot or controversial topics in class. I thought my answer would be “no”. I remember my CELTA tutors telling us how “what’s the best way to avoid stress” is a good topic for ELT, …