It’s Friday afternoon. You are presenting a grammar explanation of the past perfect to your class but when you look up, your teens are staring at the screen of their smartphones, chatting to their neighbor, or even resting their heads down on the table with a sense of pre-weekend lethargy. Sound...
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16th May 2017By Eve Conway
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9th May 2017By James Pengelley
We’ve all been there before: 5 minutes before class starts, the panic sets in. Will I have enough material to get me through the lesson? You flick the photocopier on and madly scan through the activity book to see if there is a crossword, a puzzle, a reading text that you can take as back... -
2nd May 2017By Bryan Holmes
Listening is one of the most problematic skills for an ESL learner to acquire. This is because skills are developed over time and with plenty of practice. As a result, this can be a frustrating experience for learners since significant improvement is difficult to ‘prove’, whereas for instructors... -
25th April 2017By James Pengelley
Last year we described some of our best ideas for teaching writing, and making writing lessons fun. We couldn’t have been happier with the response…nearly 5,500 readers have visited, shared and commented on this post, making it one of our most popular contributions on the blog. But, as... -
18th April 2017By Sharon Maloney
World Book Day (April 23rd) is a wonderful celebration of reading and books. In places such as the UK, books are given out to those who don’t regularly read, gifted through organisations such as prisons, libraries, colleges, hospitals, care homes and homeless shelters. It is not only a celebration... -
11th April 2017By James Pengelley
Classroom management: buzzword or mantra? Hype or necessity? With class sizes of 40 or more the norm, Hong Kong English teachers will tell you that anyone with even the faintest experience in front of a local classroom will know that classroom management is important. Whether or not that... -
4th April 2017By Sharon Maloney
Easter is a festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, which is celebrated all over the world by Christians. Easter is also closely linked to the Jewish Passover. Church services, decorating of Easter eggs (symbolizing Jesus’ empty tomb), egg hunts and chocolate eggs are just a... -
28th March 2017By Bryan Holmes
Many non-native English speakers have problems recognizing and using the different intonation patterns in English. For an instructor, it’s crucial to raise the learners’ awareness of intonation because it performs a function, as well as indicating an emotion. Teaching this aspect of phonology...