Here’s a useful website that I came across the other day that I thought was perfect for reviewing IELTS task 1 language, specifically describing and comparing trends. Storyline is a game designed to see how well you can guess various … Continue reading IELTS Writing Task 1 Review Activity: Storyline
This post has been written in coordination with the latest episode of the TEFL Commute podcast, which I produce with Lindsay Clandfield and Shaun Wilden. You can listen to the episode on our website by clicking here. Occasionally I’ve had a student who doesn’t seem to realise that punctuation, capitalisation and spacing are actually things that really matter when writing. Spaces are deposited at random places. Commas are used in between what should definitely be two different sentences. Sometimes punctuation is omitted completely, and you’re left with a piece of writing that resembles a stream of consciousness that you have to try … Continue reading Punctuation Matters!
What follows is a public service announcement on behalf of all teachers who have students at intermediate and above…
Below are examples of common mistakes some of my Spanish speaking students continue to make in speaking and writing at intermediate level and above, even though these are things they should have dealt with at a lower level. They…
1) …swap the pronunciation of e and i
Continue reading ““i’m going to italy” and other intermediate errors (Updated)”
Here’s a simple idea for practicing the past simple with lower level students. I got it from Quora, a website that allows its users to ask and answer each other questions. Unlike other similar sites, you are required to sign up to get access, resulting in a higher calibre of contributions. If you’re interested in the big questions, I recommend signing up. Continue reading “My Life In 20 Lines – a simple storytelling activity”
I wrote here about how I battled with a story given to me by my Portuguese teacher. If you haven’t read it, I suggest you read that first, or this post won’t make much sense.
Feedback, or Should I Say Correction?
So having expressed my displeasure at the difficulty of the story to my teacher, I was interested to see how he would react. I wasn’t too concerned about his response as while he may have flaws as a teacher, but he doesn’t seem to have too many as a human being, so I felt that he would deal with it in a positive way. Fortunately, I was correct in my assumption. Continue reading “Learner Diaries: Reading Woe & Writing Joy Part 2”
Continue reading “Learner Diaries: Reading Woe & Writing Joy”
The Teacher James 