Monthly favourites

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Websites, videos & random stuff I use in class

PIN.jpg

Hi everyone!

Today’s post is all over da place… but goooooooooood (me thinks). I am sharing with you a few things I used in class, plan on using in class, and some things some of my Facebook friends shared with me!! So, let’s share folks!

I was teaching question tags and I came across My English Page website and it is pretty good. You can get the question tag lesson material (theory) here and exercises here. I would not use this for weak students or lower level learners. I’d say it is better for A2+. I usually go to the Grammar Bank website when I am looking for theory + exercises (online), but I thought I’d try this one a try as well.

My learner asked me to find videos/material that would help him familiarise himself with the Aussie accent. I grew up in Sydney but only have an Oz twang as I have been told and my accent is not as Aussie as it used to. So, anyway, I asked my Facebook teacher friends for help and many made suggestions, so I am sharing these suggestions here as well (thanks to everyone!!).

So, Aussie accent lesson plan from ELT stories.

Katherine suggested I checked out Elllo. I had never heard about this website. I just had a quick look and there are various videos with different accents (from all over the world) and listening questions (plus the transcript of whatever the person in the video says). There are even EAP videos (yup) Interesting!!! You should check it out.

I discovered ABC News Australia. Videos that last for 90 secs. You can find them here.

I used this article again in class and had forgotten how good it is to get students talking. I have two words for you. Language Police. You can read the article here and use it in class as you wish.

Harvard Business Review Podcasts: I am going to use this podcast in a lesson later on (if I make a lesson plan, I will share it here). The podcast about productivity is worth listening to though, especially with your Business English students/ higher level learners (lawyers/ CEOs etc.). I love the part about reading and the flashlight/ naps.

Quick fun game (saw this in a planner group).

Tell your students:

So,you have $10.000 but you can only buy things that start with the first letter of your name. What do you get???

My answer: I’d get  jumpers, jugs, jelly beans- jelly babies, juice, Jo Malone perfumes, a jigsaw puzzle (not sure about that one), Japanese beauty products (that’s cheating) : Dunno what else….

But, how can you make this part of a lesson? Well, you can do this when teaching nouns, or as a speaking task before teaching story telling. It could be part of a lesson where you teach reasons or the use of because.

Something random

(coz everything else mentioned so far is connected :p)

Lettering is a ‘thing’ and I am trying to improve my lettering skills. I found some pdf files on some websites and if you want to try lettering with your students or improve your own calligraphy skills, you should check out this website.

So, that’s all for now guys. If you have found anything worth sharing, do let me know in the comments section below. By the way, I often wonder what you think when you read my posts, I mean, I am so informal!! But I am me and I am talking to you guys like I would if we were in the office, sharing ideas. OK. I am off now!!

Till next time……

P.S. EAP pre- sessional tutor posts have  started to get advertised on Baleap and indeed.org.uk. You should check them out and you can also read my tips regarding pre-sessional EAP courses/ interviews and so on.

Hey, I missed you guys. Haven’t written a (kinda) proper post in ages!!!This is actually my 200th post!!! Thanks for being here xx ❤ ❤ ❤ 

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The girlie side of ELT: my Xmas book gift guide/ reading list

Hi everyone!!

Today’s Girlie Side of ELT  post is a video about books I will be reading during the Christmas break ( I am a teacher) and some book suggestions.When I am not reading books about teaching,  I like reading romance novels, so light reading. I also like historic novels and books about productivity, business, getting things done and so on.

The books mentioned

(Affliate links)
The Rosie Project & The Rosie Effect:

These are books about a guys search for the perfect girlfriend/ wife. This is a fun/ light hearted book to read.

Books thumban.jpg
Bridget Jones mad about the boy

Bridget Jones? This is the latest book and it has nothing to do with the movie. That’s what I’ve been told.
Queen’s Sorrow

Novel about Henry the 8th wives. I have read a few books written by Dunn. They are easy to read.
Girl boss:

This book has been written by the owner of Nasty girls and she talks about the company and how she rose to success/ advice and more.
The Decision book:

If you want to be more productive, read this book. I read it in one night. Yeap. A page turner.
Presence:

I love Amy Cuddy’s TED talk , so I had to get her book. It is about challenging yourself.

For more details about the books, check out my video. Do subscribe to my channel cause I am really tying and I do know I need to improve and get proper filming equipment, bt for the moment, I am testing it out.

Thanks for stopping by.
xox
Joanna

Hi everyone!!

Today’s blogmas post is a video about books I will be reading during the Christmas break ( I am a teacher) and some book suggestions.

I like reading romance novels, so light reading. I also like historic novels and books about productivity, business, getting things done and so on.

The books mentioned

(Affliate links)
The Rosie Project & The Rosie Effect:

These are books about a guys search for the perfect girlfriend/ wife. This is a fun/ light hearted book to read.

Books thumban.jpg
Bridget Jones mad about the boy

Bridget Jones? This is the latest book and it has nothing to do with the movie. That’s what I’ve been told.
Queen’s Sorrow

Novel about Henry the 8th wives. I have read a few books written by Dunn. They are easy to read.
Girl boss:

This book has been written by the owner of Nasty girls and she talks about the company and how she rose to success/ advice and more.
The Decision book:

If you want to be more productive, read this book. I read it in one night. Yeap. A page turner.
Presence:

I love Amy Cuddy’s TED talk , so I had to get her book. It is about challenging yourself.

For more details about the books, check out my video. Do subscribe to my channel cause I am really tying and I do know I need to improve and get proper filming equipment, bt for the moment, I am testing it out.

Thanks for stopping by.
xox
Joanna

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Monthly Favourites: September

Hi everyone!

I haven’t written one of these posts for a while now, so I am back with a #monthlyfavourites post. You will find websites, videos and blogs in today’s post. So, keep reading.

septmber-favourites-elt

Fun English: Advanced Pronunciation Exercise—Test Your Skills: My higher level learner wanted to do some pronunciation practice and I did a bit of research and found this poem that focuses a lot on sounds. You can check it out here.

If you like lists of words (not to give them to your learners but to use in order to make exercises , feel inspired etc.), you may want to check this site out. I focused on Business English but you can check it out and see what else you can find.There are videos where your learners can read and listen to texts. Lots of ESP stuff. One more thing, the pages take ages to load. Don’t give up.

Drawing in the classroom: story telling.You can find the post here.

EAP blog: Teaching EAP: Polemical. Questioning, debating and exploring issues in EAP.

TED talk I enjoyed and will be using in class as part of a conversational lesson: The optimism Bias (this was recommended to me by a friend after I said that I always have low expectations).

Or a shorter version and slightly different video about the same topic.

I also talked about gender pay gap with my learners and used two things as stimuli. I usually prompt my learners by asking them if there is a gender pay gap in their country. Why they think there is one. What can be done to do change this. I also ask them what they think the gender pay gap is in the US, what in the EU. Which countries have the biggest gender pay gap and which the smallest (they also guess incorrectly here!!) This Video from the Harvard Business Review Website

//players.brightcove.net/2071817190001/BkesRPIZ_default/index.html?videoId=4644365717001

this article that has a very long text, graphs (some are bad graphs!!) and extra info about the situation in Europe.

Some random stuff

I started modern calligraphy. It’s fun and relaxing. You can print out pages and practice in your free time by clicking here (uppercase version. You can also practice lower case as well).

Snipping tool: You know when you have a pdf file and want to cut something out but cannot? You can use the snipping tool. It can be found at the little windows button (the one you go to when you want to shut down your pc or search for files. You search snipping tool and you start snipping). See I snipped my own blog post 🙂

capture

So, there you have some of my favourites. I have been gathering and saving stuff for a while now, but as you know, I have really been into my girlie blogging and haven’t been sharing that much here (sorry). You can read my makeup, beauty and other favourites here.Don’t forget to follow my blog or give my Facebook page a ‘like’ so you do not miss notifications of when I publish a super duper post :).

Do you have anything to share? Any favourites? leave a comment in the section below.

Till next time….

 

 

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#Marchfavourites

Hi guys,

I am back with another monthly favourites. I am sharing with you websites, videos, articles and loads of random stuff you can use in your classroom. I am kinda happy with this one cause there are lots of interesting things here today.

 Shout Out to Bloggers

I discovered a new blog that I like (technically she discovered me), so you may want to check her posts out. It’s called the ELT Think Tank. The post I am sharing with you today is How to get most out of Socrative in the Classroom.

Tekhnologic and I worked on a colour blind friendly post. The focus was on colourblind friendly graphs. You can find it here.

Online material for the classroom

Ideas for an article+ lesson plan (video based session): Guy Goma, the IT Job Applicant Who Was Mistakenly Interviewed on Live TV. This has been turned into a lesson plan (thanks Sue for telling me) and you can get it at Lesson stream

Websites to check out for extra grammar/vocabulary etc practice: www.englishpage.com

I was looking for a reading text that focused on conditionals and discovered this website. You may wanna have a look. Press here.

Articles I read and loved (I used with my learners)

8 benefits of being a cat owner

This is an incredibly cruel way to model plus-sized shorts: This article caused a lot of discussion!

 Videos:

The New York Times

The NY Times website has loads of videos you can watch and create lessons. I created a lesson based on the McDonald’s coffee case (you can find it here) but there are loads of other websites you can check out here.

Harvard Business Review

There are loads of short videos to watch with your learners. I have used this one:

How to get the feedback you need to grow

Random but relevant

Crafts

You know I like my DIY and well, I watched this video and loved the idea. You can make (scrunched up/crumpled) paper flowers. Press here to watch the tutorial.

Fonts

Free calligraphy fonts which you can use for your blogging, lesson material or to practice calligraphy with your students (just an idea). Tip: you download the font and then you open the file you have downloaded. You press True Type Font File and then install. It gets added to your Word.

Work

Looking for a summer job (EAP and others)? These are my favourite websites for job hunting:

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/www.baleap.org.uk

I had a great moment this month as I got two of my blog posts published in the Huffington Post. You can check them out here and here.

Finally, this is not a favourite for March, but I am really looking forward to this. I am going to be presenting at the Iatefl Birmingham conference. I will be part of the forum on academic writing and will be talking about drawing in EAP. If you are there, do come and say ‘Hello’. My talk is on Thursday the 14th at 10:25.

So, that’s all for now. Don’t forget to follow my blog if you are not already and give my Facebook page a thumbs up so that you do not miss notifications! You can follow me on Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram. If you want to read my beauty/TV and random favourites, check out blog number 2.

ELT fav

Thanks for stopping by. If you have a favourite you would like to share, feel free to leave a comment in the section below. Sharing is caring.

Thanks for stopping by.

Jo

 

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#Decemberfavourites

Happy New Year everyone!!! Today’s post is going to be about what I loved in December ELT wise. So, let’s see!!

Articles

Here are some articles I used to generate discussions/ long talks with my learners.

The secret to living a long life: This one was funny. I asked my (female) learners, “What do you think the secret to a long life is”. They gave me loads of answers but no one expected this one. There is a video as well, so there was a bit of listening practice as well.

13 things airlines don’t want you to know: They found this one VERY interesting!!Loads of colloquialisms here. Looked at lots of words and idioms. Some of my students wanted to read the whole article even though we had run out of time!

Fondue slippers: Disgusting and again very interesting!!!

Blog Posts

I read two lovely blog posts that had the same theme. 30 things to ask yourself on Newe Year’s Eve. Anna Loseva posted the questions a year ago. You can find the post here. Rachel’s post is here and Sandy’s is here. Just as I was editing this post, Vedrana wrote her 30 questions to ask. You can find that one here.

C’mon Let’s speak: Great ideas for speaking activities by Hana.

Tekhnologic’s 2016 Calendar. You seriously need to check out his blog. Really good (and very helpful).

Evan Frendo mentioned this site during his BESIG talk. If you are interested in corpora, check this one out. Laurence Anthony’s Website.

Websites and some random stuff

  • Fonts. You may want to use different fonts for your websites, lesson handouts or whatever. Check this website out.
  • Free digital paper for scrapbooking/journaling etc (only for personal use). I was given two free jpegs to share with my readers on blog number 2. It is really pretty. You can check it out here.

My covers.jpg

So, that’s all folks. Don’t forget to subscribe/follow my …. lovely blog. Follow me on Twitter: @joannacre and Pinterest.If you are interested in makeup and other girlie stuff check out blog number 2!

Till next time….

 

 

 

 

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#Monthlyfavourites November 2015

This month I thought I’d ask someone else to write the #monthlyfavourites post and the lovely Theodora, from TheodoraPap blog, agreed to write a guest blog post. So, let’s see what Theodora liked in November. Over to you!!

November’s peaks

I had been meaning to write a post in my own blog with November’s peaks, when I saw Joanna posting that she wanted somebody to guest blog! So here I am!

My peaks are not just blogs, but also websites or articles that I came across and found really interesting to read.

So here we go!

Number 1:

Minecraft? Why not?

 minecraft.jpg

Watching my son playing minecraft, I couldn’t help wondering how teachers can actually use this game in their lessons. I have seen various talks on the subject, but since I am gaming-illiterate, I still have difficulty integrating something like this in my lessons.

Here is an article – guide with useful ideas that could actually work for someone like me, as well

http://eflmagazine.com/language-learning-minecraft/

Number 2:

Herbert Puchta’s webinar notes

Herbert Puchta is one of my heroes. I have been using his course books and I have been attending his seminars and I actually met him in Athens last year at the TESOL convention. A brilliant man with wonderful ideas. Lot’s to learn!

http://www.herbertpuchta.com/resources/

Language

Number 3:

29 photos taken by people who didn’t know they were recording history.

people taking pics.png

In my job, one of my tasks is research. So, I spend lots of hours in front of my computer, looking for authentic material that could be integrated in our courses. There are so many wonderful pictures showing what is happening in the world and could actually become prompts for discussions with your students.

http://randomenthusiasm.com/7901950-29-photos-taken-by-people-who-didn-t-know-they-were-recording-hi

Number 4:

CEFR and Grammar.

 Cerf.jpg

 How well do you know CEFR levels and how to evaluate your students’ level?

You will be surprised…

https://cupelt.typeform.com/to/BqeV27

Number 5:

A bit of CLIL?

 pepper.jpg

How healthy is your nutrition? Have you ever thought of having an informative lesson with your students?

Try British Council’s Lesson plan!

https://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/teachers/lessons-and-activities/lesson-plans/healthy-eating

Number 6:

Self-confidence matters.

believe in yourself.jpg

 

Feeling a bit down (like me) lately? Here are some tips from Ted- lessons to boost your confidence.

http://blog.ed.ted.com/2015/11/05/3-quick-tips-to-boost-your-confidence/

Number 7:

Move it move it!

 bike.png

Have you been looking for something to lift your spirits? My personal craze!

Try spinning (or indoor cycling or RPM). Feel the energy!

https://www.facebook.com/LESMILLSRPM/videos/10153157337672265/

That’s all folks! Have a nice December and thank you Joanna for putting me up on your blog! Pictures taken from the pixabay website.

Thanks so much Theodora!!!!!

Till next time….

 

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December Holiday Season Calendar

Just like last year, I will be sharing with you another holiday season countdown till school break up for Christmas holidays. So, here are some suggestions for activities you can do with your learners. Where possible I have added an educational twist.

Tuesday 1st December

Christmas/holidays around the world project: Get your students to find information about how Christmas is celebrated around the world. It may be a good idea to do some research on how people in Australia celebrate cause it is summer over there :). Give your students about ten days to finish their projects. Inform them that they will be presenting to the rest of the class. Depending on class size, you can do this as individual/pair or group work. You can also send your learners to this website and ask them to find information. Presentation date: Friday the 11th

Wednesday  December 2nd

Sock Snowman: Get your students to make a snowman out of a sock. You can watch the video with your learners and make a sock.

Educational twist: Get them to write down the instructions on how to make this. Half the class watches the video and then they have to tell their classmates (the other half) what to do. If you are interested in grammar, get them to practice countable and uncountable nouns.

Thursday December 3rd

Secret Santa time. Explain what secret Santa is. Put all your students’ names in a bag and then each student pulls a name. Make sure there is a money limit or that everyone is making a gift instead of buying something (that’s up to you to decide).Also specify that the presents need to be gender neutral!  Tell them they must bring in their presents on X of December (give yourself time to make or purchase something if a student has forgotten to bring a purchase).

Friday December 4th

Charlie Brown and the Christmas tree: Watch the video with your class.

Educational twist: tell them to summarise what happens in this story (writing). You can also make your own listening true or false questions. This is a great video about the true meaning of Christmas/the holidays.

Monday December 7th

3D paper tree: Again time for some video-viewing. Make some 3D paper trees with your students to decorate your class.

Educational twist: Get them to write down the instructions on how to make this. Half the class watches the video and then they have to tell their classmates what to do OR you (the teacher) make some trees, ask them to try to explain how they think the tree was made and then watch the video and check if they got it right!

Tuesday December 8th

Christmas gingerbread men streamers. Get a string of paper and get each student to draw a gingerbread man. Then cut out the men and make a hole on the top of the paper and hang it in the class.

 

Picture from http://www.enchantedlearning.com. Found here

Educational twist: teach your students the parts of the body while making the streamers.

Wednesday December 9th

Get your learners to look for and find words related to Christmas. Depending on their age, you can choose hard or easy word search games. You can even give them a time limit to make it even more challenging. Find word search games here.

 Thursday December 10th

Time for some Christmas songs/ carols. Find a Christmas song you like, search for the lyrics and start singing with your students. My suggestion: Santa Claus is coming to town

                           You better watch out

                                  You better not cry

                                          Better not pout

                                                   I’m telling you why

                                                        Santa Claus is coming to town

Friday December 11th

Students present their Christmas project.

6101d-cartoon-christmas-tree-20742748

Taken from dreamstime. Link found here

Monday December 14th

Online Christmas trivia: Get your learners to answer questions about the holidays.This can be done online in pairs or groups. You can find the quiz here.

Tuesday December 15th

Make gingerbread men: Get your students to watch the video with the recipe on how to make gingerbread men.

Educational twist: 1. ask them to write the recipe! This is a good way to practice numbers. 2. You could also have the ingredients and ask them to show you how you are supposed to make the gingerbread men (after they have watched the video). 3. Homework task? Based on notes they made, ask them to make gingerbread men and bring them to class.

Wednesday December 16th

Make decorative banners using various Christmas Fonts with your students. You can find free Christmas fonts here.

Thursday December 17th

Pin Rudolph’s red nose. How do you play? Find a picture of Rudolph online, blindfold your students, turn them round in circles for a bit, and then ask them to pin Rudolph’s nose. This activity is loads of fun and young learners really like it. 

f5513-untitled2brudoplph

Friday December 18th

How about watching a movie related to the holidays? Here are some movie ideas:

The Polar Express

Home Alone

Frosty the Snowman

Miracle on 34th Street

The Muppet Christmas Carol

It is a wonderful life

Educational twist: Get your students to write a film review or summarise the main points of the story.

Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday extras (December 21st-23rd)

  • Go to audible.com and use the free trial option to listen to Charles Dickens audiobook (it is 2hrs 54 mins long). This is appropriate for higher-level learners.
  • Play Christmas word snake. How is this played? Each student takes turns to write a word connected to holiday season on the board. The final letter of student A’s word is the first letter of student B’s word.

                                     Christmas

                                                       Santa

                                                                 Angel

                                                                           Lantern   

  • Time to make a card for the Holidays! You can find templates here or improvise!!
  • Play Holiday season Bingo (make word or picture Bingo cards). You can find templates here.
f5ac5-bingo

Picture from DLTK website (linked above)

So, that’s all for now. Happy planning your Christmas/ Holiday season exercises. You may also want to check out Tekhnologic’s website for a Christmas advent calendar. Feel free to add any ideas in the comments section below. Don’t forget to follow/ subscribe to my blog.

Till next time…..

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#MonthlyFavourites June 2015

So, since I enjoyed writing my first #monthlyfavorites post, and you guys seemed to like it as well, I am back with #Junefavourites. So, here are the things I loved in June. I start off with ELT-related things I enjoyed, I move on to fun kinda work -related stuff and I go completely girly and borderline personal at the end of the post. If you like these posts or have your own favourites, feel free to comment in the comments section. Of course there are blog posts,websites and other great stuff I missed out or couldn’t fit in this post, so leave your favourites in the comments, will you?  : ) . So, here goes folks. Let’s see what I liked in June!!

*How to read this post: I suggest reading the whole thing and then pressing the links you are interested in.

Twitter

Because I teach Business English a lot. I very frequently write #BusinessEnglish in the search tab and find loads of tweets with a lot of information about tasks, websites etc.

Facebook group

ELTpics: This is a Facebook group where teachers can share their photos and then other teachers from all around the world get to use them for free (after giving picture credits of course). If you are always looking for pictures, you may also want to check the ELTpics website.

Website

BBC 6 minute English. There are 6 minute podcasts that you can use with your learners. I use them with my online students. I just send the link and then we talk about what they heard. I sometimes make some quick exercises based on the recordings.

Blog Posts

Sandy Millin: Integrating everyone in the classroom. This is a must read. Period.

Vicky Papageorgiou: Summer Opportunities. Vicky has gathered all the free MOOCs you can attend for summer CPD.

Biz-e-training: How to get your Business English learners to do homework.

Roseli Serra talking about her PLN. Lovely warm post.

David Harbinson: A challenging conversation (with students about prejudice). I really enjoyed reading this.

Ljiljana Havran’s blog  Ljiljana talks about misconceptions regarding learning and teaching. Dreamreader.net wrote a follow up article (inspired by Ljiljana) and you can find it here

Tekhnologic: 10 PowerPoint Tips for Teachers. Read this post and learn more about PowerPoint. I know I did.

Toot toot-ing my own horn  🙂

IATEFL BESIG. I wrote an article for the Besig newsletter and it can be found here. I talk about some of the challenges of teaching online and offer suggestions on how to deal with them.

Book

Creativity in the English language classroom by Alan Maley and Nik Peachey. Quoting the British council (where the book is shared),

The activities will help teachers to explore the role of creativity in the classroom both in the sense of helping students to express their unique creative identity and also by helping them to think about and use language in a creative way.

For the Pdf press here

Something for the fellas  😀

Yeap, boys, before I go all girlie on you, I have something for my male readers who wear ties. This is also a great conversation topic if you teach Business English. It was published a way back, but it is always one of my go to articles. You can find the link here.

Girlie and Random Stuff

Office looks

Of course I am going to have a YouTuber in here (this post is inspired by YouTube anyhow). So, ladies, some nice clothes for the office. Dunno if I would wear these clothes to teach, but they are nice little outfits (me thinks).

DIY soaps and stuff

If you like bath bombs and creams, you may want to have a try with these DIY products. I actually made the rose sugar cane scrub  🙂

Lipstick

I love this! I had to mention it! The Clinique Pop line. It is like wearing a lip balm only it is really pigmented and long-lasting. Ladies, I do   ❤ my makeup, so I recommend this one!!

clinique pop

Poppy Pop

You can find a colour bind friendly blog post with all the colours of this particular lipstick range here.

Photos

And cause I am always borderline personal on my blog. Here, is a fun time of this month. A pic with my gals at a wedding (I am the one in glasses).

Ther girls

Random weird pic I took.

Ruins

Ruins

Song

This song is called the last dance (thanks Vedrana for telling me). I like it. I like the beat, and it suits my mood these days in Greece. Half of the post was written during the good days and the final touches during the bad ones. 



Till next time…To better times……