Newsletter 2021#28

Good morning

It's been a pretty exciting week for me. We drove all the way through France and Italy and got a ferry to Greece and as I write to you now, I'm looking out over the Med. This digital nomad lifestyle isn't bad, it has to be said, but I haven't been idle and I've still got lots of great stuff for you... Are you ready?

Something old

Information gap activities can be a great way of getting learners to talk in a structured way and jigsaw reading can be used at any level and doesn't take a great deal of preparation. There are a few things that are worth thinking about to make it run smoothly, though. If you're new to teaching, this video will talk you through them. If you've got a bit more experience, you might find it helpful to recommend to trainees or less experienced colleagues.
 

Something new

Sometimes tech is just great and when I discovered Autodraw recently, I immediately thought that it would be a really useful tool if you want to practise prepositions of location, 'there is/ there are' and articles in a communicative way in an online classroom. It's easy to use, free and you don't even have to download anything. This short video will show you how it works.
 

Something borrowed

Nik Peachey is someone whose work on Ed Tech I really respect and his Learning Technology Scoop It site has links to lots of articles on using technology in class. Some of these are a bit controversial and there is a lot of food for thought here. I challenge you to follow the link and read just one article - go on! I should also say that Scoop It is fab, too. It's a curating tool that allows you to easily bookmark websites that you like and then share that bookmarked page with whoever you want to (this is very handy if there are sites that you want to share with your learners, for example).
 

That's it for this week. If you're interested in following my adventures, I'm posting regularly on Instagram about my travels- just look for elttraining.

Catch you next week,

Jo