Group items tagged

Excellent article with in-class strategies and suggestions about developing strong student/teacher relationships, and the positive effects of such relationships.

Good reminder to all of us teachers to step back and breath at times, rather than getting stuck on the gerbil wheel.

70 Practical Things Every Teacher Should Know Yup, totally. Including my personal favorite "how to wash their hands correctly". :-)

Looks at what skilled teachers think, say, and do to create successful classroom & learning experiences.

Really interesting website for teachers and students. From their "About" section: "This site aims to provide students and teachers with information and ideas to assist them apply the Habits of Mind. Each of the sixteen habits is presented along with information on when to use each habit and strategies to make the process easy. Each page includes a short video that demonstrates the Habit of Mind and could be used as a starting point for discussion."

Free reading excepts on a variety of topics, organized by lexical level and accompanied by questions, discussions, and teacher activities. Probably best for Level 5 / Level 6 / advanced students

Free reading excepts on a variety of topics, organized by lexical level and accompanied by questions, discussions, and teacher activities. Probably best for Level 5 / Level 6 / advanced students

short blog post on wait time and the importance of teacher wait time before AND after questions

short blog post on wait time and the importance of teacher wait time before AND after questions

Op-docs is a series of video interviews (some animated, some filmed, whatever) that are, obviously, opinion pieces. They're not terrible long (from about 5 minutes to 15 minutes) and cover a wide variety of topics. They would probably be a good resource for Level 5 and 6 teachers. The speaking, while mostly native speakers, was not incredibly fast. They also could be used as resources for combining ideas from multiple resources.

Short video (5 minutes) with study tips. Not necessarily new but I got some ideas about activities that have students "teach" the material. Level 5 & Level 6 students might be able to watch and understand. Would be a good session intro video / ideas to work into (I know, we tell these to our students 100 times and they don't listen...maybe if they see a video on it from someone else & then is teacher reinforced, it might stick better?)

Game based practice for vowel & consonant sounds using the IPA. Would need to know IPA in order to use. Good teacher training website as well if you need to learn the IPA. Free but if students register they can track their progress.

Although this is written from the viewpoint of a high school, native speaking (probably) population, from the research on adult learners, this is still true, if not more so.

Assessment alternatives to quizzes/tests

A well considered piece on the value of "not knowing" and how teachers can leverage this into a positive, rather than a negative. Looks at the need for students to understand the value of connecting to the information, rather than learning simple because it's expected.

Article from a foreign language teacher about her experiences regarding phones in class. Good ideas for how students can use but not abuse.

simple, useful presentation tips for students

This is an interesting website, dedicated to providing news articles to teachers / students at various reading levels. The lowest reading level I could do was "4", which is probably good for Level 3 with support. You do have to register, but it's free to join. Once you set up a class (I did "test class", grade 3), you'll be directed to articles at that reading level. Good way to add some extra non-fiction reading to your classes, especially if you're looking for timely, easier-to-access reading than found in your textbooks.

Speaking and listening teachers -- this is definitely a site worth taking a look at. It will work with all the computers in the computer lab (I confirmed the new headsets worked by using it) AND all computers have headsets with mics. There are LOTS of speaking activities you can do with this!

I have done this with some success at level 1, but it could really work better for a higher level. For example, you could ask the students via the Vocaroo recording to tell you about their weekend and see how they do with the past tense. Level 2 and up is best. Hi- I was actually able to record my voice from my home computer which is not the newest. It actually scared me because I yelled "Hello Mate"! How would one make the link and email your recording to them and vice versa?

Excellent TED talk about the power of relationships in teaching. Talks about public schools, but relevant for all teachers at all levels of education. My favorite part? "While you won't like all of them (your students), the key is, they can never, ever know it." How powerful is that in forging relationship?