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There are an increasing number of state school types in the UK - including three different kinds of academies, four major kinds of maintained schools, independent schools, grammar schools and others. It can be very difficult to distinguish between these schools, and understand which - if any - you are interested in founding. This guide is designed to help you distinguish between the different kinds of schools in operation in the UK, and in particular to explain the differences between free schools, traditional academies, academy converters and maintained schools. The New Schools Network will help you set up any new stateCfunded school. Most of the groups we work with choose to set up free schools, but some are exploring setting up new maintained schools. We hope this document will help you decide which path you would prefer.

Sometimes, information is hard to understand just because it's presented in a manner that just doesn't quite appeal to the way we like to learn best. While it isn't always possible to take every class or complete every project in a way that fits into your individual style, there are ways that you can help to ensure that you're making the most of the material at hand. Here are a few tips to help you start improving your learning experience by helping make it work a little better with your needs, whether you're a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner.

While many people think of poetry as something that is difficult and would be hard for non-native speakers, Alan provided some excellent exercises to show how even low-level learners of English can easily get into L2 creativity through simple poetry exercises. In this way, they can express emotions and incidents from their own lives in simple English which helps them to gain a better understanding of the communication resources at their disposal as well as providing strong motivation for further study. Below, I have described his exercises with my own simple poetry examples.

Study guides to help our students understand some of our favorite movies

Eight rules for writing short fiction: 1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.4. Every sentence must do one of two things - reveal character or advance the action.5. Start as close to the end as possible.6. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them - in order that the reader may see what they are made of.7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages. The greatest American short story writer of my generation was Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964). She broke practically every one of my rules but the first. Great writers tend to do that. - Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1999), 9-10.

I blog to better understand and share ideas, activities and programs that best support optimal educational experiences for children's success and happiness.

Understand how people learn and teach them by the ways they prefer - not how you prefer to teach (which is probably also your preferred learning style).

The idiom dictionary is compiled from the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms and the Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. The Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms explains over 7,000 idioms current in British, American and Australian English, helping learners to understand them and use them with confidence. The Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms, based on the 200 million words of American English text in the Cambridge International Corpus, unlocks the meaning of more than 5,000 idiomatic phrases used in contemporary American English. Full-sentence examples show how idioms are really used.

From "how to" information on lesson planning and writing behavioral objectives to ideas about classroom management, and descriptions of the advantages and disadvantages of different instructional methods, this section of the ADPRIMA site can be helpful to new teachers, beginning teachers, and teacher education students. Every attempt has been made to write these descriptions in an easy-to-understand style. Most visitors appreciate this. You will find useful information here that will give you a different perspective, get you thinking, and maybe help you to be a more effective teacher, or better student

The increasing popularity of social networking sites and mobile phone texting have presented society with problems in how to protect children online. More and more youngsters are becoming victims of Internet predators and bullies. Parents are finding it more difficult to ensure their kids are safe online. Gone are the days when Mum and Dad could keep an eye on their child's surfing with parental controls on the family computer. Today's new mobile and networked world poses new and dangerous threats to online kids. Two recent initiatives aim to teach children about cyber-safety. Internet safety will soon be taught in UAE schools, while in Indiana, USA, parents will attend an Internet Social Networking conference. The UAE has launched a nationwide programme aimed at educating students on how to use the Internet safely and avoid suspicious websites. Spokesman Jay Bavisi said: "Advances in instant communication media, including the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and other instant messaging services, drive the very fabric of our modern society. Parents, siblings, teachers and children alike will need to understand the dangers the connected world presents." The Indiana conference will explore topics like cyber-bullying, sexting and online child exploitation. Local attorney Steven DeBrota said: "The number one way to keep a kid safe is for them to be skeptical. If they do not believe automatically what people tell them, they will be safer."

Literature has been a subject of study in many countries at a secondary or tertiary level, but until recently has not been given much emphasis in the EFL/ESL classroom. It has only been since the 1980s that this area has attracted more interest among EFL teachers. The purpose of this article is to look at some of the issues and ways in which literature can be exploited in the classroom. There are also links to classroom activities and lessons with literature that you can download and use straight away.

"Spoken Word is writing that is meant to be read out loud. Some examples of spoken word you might be familiar with are stories, poems, monologues, slam poetry, rap and even stand-up comedy. Spoken word is written on a page but performed for an audience and since it is performed, this poetry demonstrates a heavy use of rhythm, improvisation, rhymes, word play, and slang. It is more animated than more traditional forms of poetry. When writing a spoken word piece use words and phrases that project onto the minds of the listeners like vivid images, sounds, actions and other sensations. If your poem is rich with imagery, your listeners will see, smell, feel and maybe even taste what you're telling them. Here are some spoken word poems from our Power Poets."

The well-researched and accessible pedagogy, Seven Principles for Inclusive Education, is the underpinning for all of Tanenbaum's curricula and teacher training programs (training in the Seven Principles is a core piece of all our teacher training programs). The Seven Principles can be applied to any classroom or lesson plan to increase equity and decrease exclusion. 1. Teaching All Students Educators should take several different approaches to teaching the same material so that information becomes more interesting and tangible to a greater number of students. 2. Exploring Multiple Identities Students who are proud of themselves and excited by the world around them will be more compassionate and understanding people; the same is true for educators. 3. Preventing Prejudice Educators should take a proactive approach to debunking preconceived stereotypes and preventing them from escalating into prejudices and negative biases. 4. Promoting Social Justice Students are good judges of what is fair, especially when they are affirmatively challenged to consider issues of social justice. Educators should talk to them about issues of social justice and injustice in terms of fair versus unfair, respectful versus disrespectful. 5. Choosing Appropriate Materials Inclusive classrooms use books and materials that reflect accurate images of diverse peoples and challenge stereotypes. 6. Teaching and Learning About Cultures and Religions Educators should create curiosity and expand students' horizons by teaching about others in a positive manner. Students should have the opportunity to learn from their peers as well as other cultures. 7. Adapting and Integrating Lessons Appropriately Educators should be flexible when using and adapting lessons in our curricula, as well as in prescribed curricula in general. Many of the most teachable moments are unplanned and unscripted.

Links to other debating resources have been added below. Drop me a line with links if you know of other good resources out there!

When it comes to teaching vocabulary, one challenge is knowing which words and phrases to teach. There are several areas that should always be included in vocabulary instruction. In addition to single words, idioms: (time on my hands, getting cold feet) and phrasal verbs (get in, go out).  It's especially important for students to learn idioms, phrasal verbs, because there's no logical way to figure out their meaning from the individual words. Also keep in mind that reading is a channel for new vocabulary growth, so always include vocabulary exercises whenever you assign new reading material. It's also a good idea to have students keep a vocabulary notebook. The notebook could be organized into sections for words from novels, selected readings, or news articles, as well as vocabulary they've encountered at random. However the vocabulary books are organized, make sure everyone has the same plan. In this section there are several good strategies you can use for teaching vocabulary. There are also activities you can try with your students to increase their knowledge of English vocabulary.

The etymology of a word refers to its origin and historical development: that is, its earliest known use, its transmission from one language to another, and its changes in form and meaning. Etymology is also the term for the branch of linguistics that studies word histories.

ESL students don't share the same cultural context as their instructor in most cases, making humor in the ESL class dicey.