OUP Webinar: Using Games for win-win learning

Attending webinars from the comfort of your own home is a fantastic experience!

 Image courtesy of google images

This morning I attended an excellent OUP Webinar presented by John Hughes, called 'Using Games for win-win learning'.  You can read all about it in this informative OUP blog post here:

https://oupeltglobalblog.com/2018/01/25/using-games-win-win-learning/

You can register to attend the same webinar repeated on Thursday February 15th.  Details from the OUP website are here

I enjoy playing games with my learners and in this webinar I learned more about the rationale behind using games for learning, and most importantly of all, the presenter offered many practical examples of varied types of games.  It was an interactive session with interesting polls, text chat opportunities and games such as charades, being played. Handouts were made available at the close of the session, and these will be invaluable for future lessons.

The important thing about games is that they can be used with every type of learner, and used judiciously, games can make language points and vocabulary more memorable.  They are indeed a hidden type of repetition drill and if the students are engaged and 'in the flow,' they will not notice that behind the fun, there is a serious element to learning going on.  Gamifying teaching in a pedagogical and meaningful way can lead to more learner engagment and motivation.

The book Games for Language Learning, by Andrew Wright et al. was mentioned in the session. I have had this book in my personal collection for a while.  It is a rich resource, full of fantastic and easy to implement ideas for games.  According to the author, games as drills form a 'living communication', and this is an interesting point to note.

During the lively session, attended by over 300 teachers from around the globe, I learned about the 5 'C's that are vital components for a good and enjoyable game:

Some interesting links included one to Gareth's Short Story Blog

In the article,  the focus was on 'Rory's Storytelling Cubes'.  I will need to investigate this resource, which looks fun.

The notion of 'FLOW' during a game is important, and the book called 'FLOW- The Psychology of Optimal Experience' by Mihaly Csikszent  was referred to in the webinar.

The use of QR codes in games such as treasure hunts was also mentioned inthe slide presentation.  This article QR codes: A treasure hunt, by Nicky Hockly, Director of Pedagogy of the renowned Consultants-e Edtech training website, contains an excellent post about how to go about organizing a treasure or scavenger hunt using mobile phones and QR codes.

I was so engaged in following the presentation and doing the activities and adding replies in the text chat box, that the one hour session flew past!

I would like to take this opportunity to say ..........

 ........ to OUP for this exciting series of  practical and worthwhile webinars, and to John Hughes for the inspirational presentation today!!

Book Review: Talking Images: Idioms - by Lucy Holmes and Sharlene Matharu

I am delighted to be writing a review of a newly published photocopiable teachers' resource book called Talking Idioms: Images, written by two of my Lake School of English colleagues.

The talented joint authors are Lucy Holmes and Sharlene Matharu and they have been working at the Lake School of English for a considerable number of years between them now.

Below an image reproduced with kind permission from the Lake School.  It shows the two authors with their book called 'Talking Images: Idioms'. This resource book is created for teachers by two practising and very experienced teachers.  You can read more about them here.

All the original and brilliant artwork contained in the book has been drawn by Sharlene Matharu herself, seen below on the right.

Before I begin the review, I would just like to mention that the Lake School is a hotbed of incredible creativity, talent and innovation. This is thanks to the amazing support and encouragement of the two hardworking and inspirational directors, Carmel Engin and Susan Barber, (seen in the image below).........

..........and the warm, friendly atmosphere created by the school by the teachers and staff, and of course, inspired by the many students from around the globe!

'Talking Images: Idioms'  has been primarily designed as a 'pick up and use' resource book, and I honestly believe it is and will be the perfect addition to any busy staffroom.  It contains a wealth of idioms, all based around practical themes, and using images to gain maximum communicative effect.  All the materials have been trialled at the Lake School beforehand, and given the seal of approval by both students and teachers alike.

I have recently had the pleasure to have a good look through the contents of the book, which contains 12 thematically based units. Each lesson aimed at B1 level and above, would ideally take 45-60 minutes of classroom time.

I was most impressed by the following aspects:

What I liked most of all was the wide variety of lesson activities contained in the book.  They would appeal to new or indeed, experienced teachers, to enjoy using and I have added a few of them below:

Each lesson has a set amount of clear, logical stages, and thus it makes it an engaging book for any teacher to work through.

I can't wait to try some of the lessons out in real time, and hopefully this will happen in the very near future :-)

The authors have included a free sample chapter for people to view, and it is available via their website here:

http://talkingimagesidioms.com/sample-chapter

Once again I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to Lucy and Sharlene, a dynamic duo who have worked so hard to achieve this dream of self publishing their materials.

I would highly recommend this excellent teachers' resource book, and it is a truly......

........achievement for them both.

I hope I have given teachers, who are reading this post, a little taster of what the book is for and about.

You can find out all the details of how to purchase it via the writers' own website 'Talking Images: Idioms'

http://talkingimagesidioms.com/

There is also a great competition to win a signed copy for free, and details are on the Lake School of English Facebook page:

Lucy and Sharlene have created their own 'Talking Images: Idioms' Facebook page where you can view comments and updates as they occur:

https://www.facebook.com/talkingimagesidioms

To enter the competition, you need to like their Facebook page, and post a funny sentence, using your favourite idiom.  If your entry makes them laugh the most, you could be .....

If you do win a copy, please DO make sure to add a comment here to let me know!

Best of luck!

Natural Born Actor Teachers?

What do you think?



Which of the following statements apply to your style of teaching?  Please DO post a comment if you wish to say what you think :-)

• I usually act a word for the students to guess the meaning
• I'm a budding theatrical diva/divo
• I'm an aspiring poet and I encourage my students to create their own poems
• I always wanted to be a comedian or comedienne so teaching is a nice alternative
• I am always cracking jokes in class
• I usually enter my classroom with a theatrical flourish
• I am prone to using wild gesticulations to emphasize a point
• I often change the tone of my voice to accentuate a particular point
• I sometimes throw in random quotes to grab my students' attention
• I sometimes feign anger when students don't hand in their homework
• I often act out dialogues as examples for my students
• I encourage my students to do role play at every given opportunity
• I love watching Youtube clips of me and my lessons
• I give Oscar-worthy performances when I feel like it
• I can act happy and teach when I am miserable inside
• The show must always go on - that is my personal motto

Can you guess which of the above I have done/ I do in my lessons?

Probably everyone has a little bit of an acting side in them if it is nurtured properly.

TEACH with passion.

PERFORM with passion.

Teach + perform = PERFECT lesson?

 =
students?

Little Free Library of Abruzzo

I hope the new year has got off to a flying start for everyone!

My first post of 2018 is about someone who is realising a dream.......

Recently I had a big clearing out of books and I came across an exciting initiative in Abruzzo which proved to be the ideal solution for donating a few of my books in English.

The initiative was set up by an enthusisatic book lover, Giovanna G. who has created a small bookcrossing library for free.  The objective is to take a book and donate a book so that the books are circulated by as wide an audience as possible.  This involves trust and respect for each book.

I think it is a wonderful idea, and by all accounts it is enjoying a hugely successful outcome. It is part of a larger, national bookcrossing project. 

I am delighted to have played a small part in this initiative, and the books I have enjoyed reading in the past, will now hopefully continue to touch other peoples' lives in some way.

I have been in contact via emails, with the organizer Giovanna G.and it is evident to see how truly committed she is to realising her dream project.  I had the pleasure of chatting to her on the phone just before Christmas and it was lovely to hear her voice!

Recently, Giovanna has started up another new and exciting library initiative in the local area, and she has been crowdsourcing the materials and doing creative fund-raising projects.

I hope to meet this amazing lady in person, and visit the new library in Villanova.

I wish her all the best for a wonderful 2018.

News Update: 7th November 2018
I have just read about the passing away of the original founder of the Little Free Library, called Todd Bol, from the USA.  It is a remarkable and awe-inspiring story.

Merry Christmas!

I hope the 2017 festive season brings joy, peace, love and happiness all around.

 

Have a fun-filled time! 

Olive Oil Harvest 2017

Thankfully this year was a good one for olives and we were delighted to have a bumper crop in November. 

We picked each olive by hand over 5 solid days and the result was approximately 255 kilos, which was then converted at the local olive mill to about 55 litres of lovely 100% extra virgin olive oil.

The picking was an enjoyable experience, surrounded by nature and peace and quiet.  In some areas it was a bit tricky to get at the branches as seen in the image below and I had to be very careful indeed not to fall!

 Pouring the lovely 'liquid gold' from the olive mill containers below......

... into our own container, was a magical moment!

 Then it was time for clearing all the olive tree prunings and adding them to the bonfire!

A job well done!

Congratulations to the Lake School of English!

In 2018 the Lake School of English will proudly be celebrating its 40th year as a hugely successful English language school in Oxford.  This is an enormous achievement, and a glowing testimony to the two dedicated directors, Carmel and Susan, and each and every single member of the hardworking members of staff.

In recognition of this incredible landmark number of years, there is currently a special promotional offer for earlybird bookings!

Link to Lake School page with more details of this special limited offer is here

Also, for the recent British Council Inspection in August 2017, the school achieved 14 points of strength out of a possible total of 15.  Again this is great cause for celebration and congratulations.

Below a screenshot of the Instagram page with news of the outstanding success:

In addition, the Lake School has been nominated yet again by the EL Gazette as one of the UK's Top 100 British Council accredited English Language Centres in 2017, and it is currently in third position.

You can read more information on the Lake School of English News page here

A personal message of congratulations was sent to the school using one of my favourite comic tools.

I am proud to be associated with the Lake School, and I wish the whole team all the very best for the future.  May it continue to provide an excellent and outstanding teaching service for many more years to come!!

If you wish to read more about the school and all it has to offer the discerning EFL student / teacher, then the website offers a comprehensive overview of everything you need to know.

Link: https://www.englishinoxford.com/

You can follow and read all the latest news from the Lake School on Twitter and on Facebook!

Castle in The Sky: Roccascalegna

A visit to Abruzzo should include a special trip to the medieval Castle of Roccascalegna, perched precariously high up on a steep rock cliff.

I first read about it in Life in Abruzzo's post here.

 Image above courtesy of KRB

The article and images inspired us to see this beautiful castle for ourselves. So one bright sunny Sunday in mid October, we set off with great anticipation, and we weren't disappointed!

Below a view of the village from one of the open windows:

The castle was the dramatic location for some of the scenes from the movie 'Tale of Tales'.
Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tale_of_Tales_(2015_film)

You need a pair of sturdy walking boots to access the castle and its internal areas and you will not be disappointed when you see the stupendous views of the Abruzzo countryside from the top.

A little rest was needed after all the walking, and the seat below on the way down from the castle provided a pleasant moment of respite, despite a few wooden slats missing!!

After a leisurely walk around the ramparts, we followed the steps down and passed a few colourful paintings on gas covers such as the one below.

We had a lovely lunch at the nearby  Il Corvo Restaurant.  The gnocchi were excellent and the beautifully presented cheesecake was to die for!

All in all, a pleasant morning was spent in this location!

During the winter months the castle is open on a Sunday.

Summer Teaching at the Lake!

I think I am now .........

regarding blogging for the moment!

This rather belated post is going to be about my teaching at the Lake School of English during the summer months from July through to October this year.

Comic tool used: http://www.professorgarfield.org/pgf_comics_lab.html

I had the great pleasure to teach a variety of levels ranging from AO (Complete Beginner) to B2+ (Upper Intermediate).  All the learners were wonderfully receptive and I enjoyed teaching each individual class.  It was also as usual, fantastic to be back in the staffroom and be an active member of the dynamic teaching team.

If you are on Facebook, you can see the many social activities that are organized by the school, and it is plain to see that all the students are happy with their studies and with the school in general.

Lake School Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/TheLakeSchoolofEnglishOxford/

Never Stop Learning
Not having taught in a physical classroom for a number of months, I was pleased to see that I slipped straight back in as if I had never been away.  This was encouraging, and over the nine weeks I challenged myself to be creative and try out new lessons whenever possible.

Whilst in Oxford, in September, I quietly celebrated my 38th year of being an EFL teacher / Teacher Trainer.  Looking back on my very first day of teachng at the Briam Institute in Madrid in 1979, I was able to reflect on how things have changed since those early days when I was a novice teacher. I guess the most important  point I have learned along the way is to always strive to develop as a teacher, and to never stop learning.

I will outline some of the tools I used in my lessons. They are tried and tested ones, and I have used them time and again to create colourful visual aids to help motivate my learners.

The Joy of Teaching Teens

I taught classes mostly consisting of adult learners but also included a lot of Under 18s.  I particularly enjoyed teaching a group of Teens from Switzerland, who really kept me on my toes and forced me to think quickly during the lessons.

I hadn't taught a specific teenager class for a little while and with a 40 year+ age difference, I asked myself this pertinent question:

 'How can I motivate these lively teens and hold their interest, and how on earth can I gain an insight into their psyche and interests in a short period of time?'

Well, the lessons worked out fine and I found the learners to be very knowledgeable with a good level of English and keen to communicate.  The age gap did not make any difference to how I felt about teaching them and I really enjoyed the buzz from their collective energy. 

The following articles make for interesting reading:

• Teaching Teenagers, English Teaching Professional, Issue 23, 2002 
• Teen Power,  English Teaching Professional, Issue 39, July 2005
• Teenagers! Motivating the teenage brain, MET, Vol 13, No 4, 2004
• Motivating Teens to Use English (and not L1) in Class, ELT Chat summary, 19/01/2011 
• How to motivate teens to extend their speaking activities, ELT Chat summary, March 15, 2011

This article written by Tiziana Angiolini , outlines a summary of a presentation she attended called Motivating Teens and Youngsters

I have bookmarked it as essential reading for my next class of teens in the future.  Thanks Tiziana!

Jazz Chants

What the class above seemed to enjoy most of all was doing Jazz Chants.  This was a good way of drilling them on stress patterns in a fun way.  I asked them to create their own jazz / rap chants to recycle some phrasal verbs I had taught them and then to recite them in front of the class.  It helped that one of the students was a keen rapper, so he offered to keep the dialogues flowing in a rap style by beating the rhythm on the desk to keep the flow moving smoothly.  They did really well on this activity and although they had protested at the beginning that they didn't really like studying phrasal verbs, it was amazing how many verbs came up in their rap chants and all were used in a great context.  I wish I had recorded a few of them!

The Wonderful World of Word Clouds

I used word clouds very often in my lessons for recycling / revision purposes, as lesson summaries and as vocabulary pre-teaching.

Below a selection of lesson ideas using WordArt

A summary of one of my classes.  The umbrella shape was chosen because it had rained during some of the lessons and I had asked the students if they had all brought their brollies with them!

Here is a summary of the Green Room class I taught.  The bike represents my cycling to work every day!  The cloud shows what topics we covered in one of the weeks and some adjectives about the group, who were receptive and hardworking!!

Below a summary of a 1-1 lesson, where we had a cup of tea whilst discussing a wide variety of social topics around the world...

Below a smiley word cloud to recycle phrasal verbs with 'OFF' particle:

Below a word cloud used with my AO class to review family vocabulary relevant to them:

Reviewing some classroom language with this Beginner group:

I asked B2 students to create a dialogue / short story using some of these verbs in the cloud as prompts:

In the example word cloud below, you can see some informal English expressions which were included in a lesson from OK 4 book.  I simply added them into a word cloud and used it for revision and recycling purposes.  The students were given a copy to refer to.

The general feedback I received was that learners liked the word clouds very much as it / they helped them to remember the expressions in a memorable and visual manner.

 Using Comics to Motivate Learners

I love using comics in my classes as they can be powerful learning tools for learners. My scoop it site contains many links to comic creation sites and information on how comics can be used in a challenging, creative, and pedagogical manner:

https://www.scoop.it/t/comics-and-cartoons

Here is a comic I created a while back and I always use it when presenting phrasal verbs. 

Asking questions about the weekend using informal expressions:

Some sentences my students created with 'OFF' phrasal verbs transfered into comic form:

Mind Mapping Introduction!

I used Popplet mind map to create a simple introduction to myself, and students had to ask me questions to find out more information.  They were then invited to do the same.

Quizlet

I used this tool for revision and recycling of colloquial expressions with one of my groups.  I invited  members of the class to go to the computer and then the rest of the class had to help them complete the tasks.

                                        
This was great fun and the students were invited to create their own flashcard sets if they wanted to.

Newspaper Info

Summary

The time spent teaching face to face during the summer months went by too quickly. Teaching is in my blood, and I guess it is one of the most satisfying jobs one can ever do.  Of course it all depends on the students, the staff, and the working environment.

All three aspects and many others were absolutely .........

Another post about the Lake School will be written soon. I will include a mention of a very special landmark event for the school in 2018!!