Some of the most beneficial feedback I’ve received in my career has been the most challenging to listen to. This is because they all share the common denominator in revealing a blind spot in my development that was known to others but not to me. Although constructive feedback of this type can be...
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26th September 2017By Laura Wilkes
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5th September 2017By James Pengelley
Before you run to lynch me for saying this, stop and ask yourself: what are the factors within teachers control that positively impact the learning environment? This was exactly what John Hattie aimed to answer when he produced a comprehensive list of effect sizes on learning. Going one step... -
25th July 2017By Eve Conway
Can you remember what your favourite story was as a child? I remember from an early age being obsessed with Roald Dahl books. At home, I avidly read Matilda and identified with the main character as like her, I too was a keen reader at a young age. I also remember reading The Twits and The Witches... -
11th July 2017By Bryan Holmes
‘Receptive Skills’ (also known as ‘Passive Skills’, or reading and listening) are often contrasted with productive skills (speaking and writing). When learning a new language learners tend to develop their receptive skills first and then acquire productive capability. It’s a complex... -
4th July 2017By Tom Garside
Whenever we use language, whether we are speaking, listening, reading or writing, we do it in some kind of context. The situation we are in, the tone we want to express and the ways that others respond to us all affect the nature of the language choices that we make. Language without context lacks... -
20th June 2017By James Pengelley
English exams are big business – the British Council claim more than 2 million IELTS exams were taken in 2013, while over 700,000 people sit a Trinity ESOL exam each year. English exams have become particularly popular for students wishing to emigrate, study or work in English speaking countries... -
6th June 2017By Tom Garside
Over the past 200 years or so, English has grown to become the lingua franca (shared language) in a huge range of industries. The fields of media, engineering, medicine, shipping, air travel, international business and commerce all rely on English as the common language which can facilitate... -
30th May 2017By Tom Garside
Word lists are a widely-practised teaching tool for vocabulary study, but any student who has worked with them will tell you that memorising lists of words is a very time-consuming method that does not really help students to learn words deeply, or to use them appropriately. The main problem with...