Newsletter 2021#14

Good morning

This week was a bit momentous for me, as Friday was my last official day at Warwick University. I started work there as a Senior Teaching Fellow (that title always makes me feel quite important!) seven years ago and it's been a fantastic job. I've worked with stimulating colleagues and such a variety of wonderful students from such different contexts. I've loved it but it's time for something new and so now, I'm officially freelance. That's a bit scary, but very exciting. So, I have a question for you. What do I call myself now? Particularly in relation to ELT-Training.com. There are times when a job description is required -what do I put? Teacherpreneur (hmm...) Director? CEO? (all sound very corporate and I'm not really a corporate type). If anyone has a great idea for a job title, I'm all ears :)

Enough about me - what do I have for you, today? A small something to make you smile, a grammar quirk to make you think and a site with some really nice ready made lessons- what's not to like?!

A smile
I met Miranda Crowhurst (virtually) last year and she often makes videos for English teachers for Twinkl ESL. This one got a lot of views on Facebook and I thought that it might give you a smile over your coffee. It portrays the vagaries of phrasal verbs and it's called Make up your mind, English - hope you enjoy it.

Sneak Preview
Even when you've been teaching a long time and feel as if you know your stuff, there are still odd occasions when you come up against a bit of language that makes you stop and think. This happened to me a couple of weeks ago when someone emailed me to ask about a question she was struggling to answer to her class. It's about the difference between 'this' and 'it'. If you'd like to know more, I made a short video about it here - I hope it's interesting. And if you like that, you can find the other Grammar Quirks videos here.

Website
Finally, today - a small gift for you. I met Milada Krajewska a few years ago when I went to an IATEFL talk she gave and I've used the activity that she showed us about 'what's through the window' many times since with great success. She has a website with some lovely ideas for lessons that include slides and are completely free and she also has a webpage of what she calls 'budding lessons'. In her words: I would definitely call these ideas half-baked, but somehow I can see lessons hidden here. The ingredients are top-notch, they just need a bit more time, love and tenderness to hatch. Give them some of your love ;) So there's a challenge for you.

OK, that's it from me for now. Have a great week and I'll be back next Sunday,

Best
Jo