‘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...
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4th June 2019By Bryan Holmes
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28th May 2019By Bryan Holmes
Teaching TEFL classes in Hong Kong can present a bit of a conundrum. In a culture that prioritises grammar instruction and accuracy over fluency, reading tasks are often seen as a series of questions to which the answers simply need to be copied straight from the text. However, reading... -
21st May 2019By 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... -
14th May 2019By Tom Garside
It is a common misconception that people who grow up in English speaking environments are automatically qualified to teach English. If you are recruiting teachers to work at your centre, here are some key questions that will tell you more than you think about prospective teachers: 1) Why did you... -
6th May 2019By Sean Martin
As much as many of you will sigh at the thought of written assignments, yes, there are assignments and they form the spine of the Trinity CertTESOL. There’s no getting away from it. The course is accredited at level 5 on the UK National Qualifications Framework, is equivalent to the first year of... -
30th April 2019By 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... -
22nd April 2019By Laura Wilkes
Communicative language teachers often borrow drama techniques to facilitate study and production of language in their classes. A popular example of this is roleplay from improvisational theatre to get learners using functional phrases whilst in role to fulfill a communicative aim. For example,... -
16th April 2019By James Pengelley
The grammar juggernaut continues to roll on despite many of the criticisms of an overly grammar-oriented focus that we’ve discussed previously on this blog. In spite of our criticisms, one of the confusing things to make clear is that we don’t discourage teachers from teaching grammar entirely....