Newsletter 2021 #4
Good morning
Does it feel like
Groundhog Day to you? That's where I am this week - I'm struggling to remember which day it is (and I know that I'm one of the lucky ones) -so I hope that you are surviving and keeping cheerful. Here are a few distractions for you to help you stay positive.
Something from the archive
As you may have realised, I love grammar. I find the way that the language fits together really fascinating, especially the parts that make you think 'Why is that like that?!' When we went into Lockdown last year, I started making a little series of videos that I called
Grammar Quirks that describes a few of these oddballs. It's free and might give you something to wrap your brain around.... Try one of the videos out and let me know what you think.
Sneak preview
Our industry seems to love acronyms (oh, and terms that sound really similar but aren't - don't get me started on 'focus on form vs focus on forms'....). Anyway, this week, I thought that I'd make a short video to clarify some of them. Can you, hand-on-heart, identify the following (easy ones first)? EFL/ TEFL/ ESOL/ EAL/ ESL/ ESP/ EAP/ IELTS/ TOEFL/CELTA? If you can, this video isn't for you, but if you're wondering about some of the latter ones,
let me explain...
A great website
I was thinking about which website to show you this week, and I remembered this one... Mario Rinvolucri had a big impact on my teaching when I was first starting out and I was lucky enough to be at his (hugely well attended) talk at IATEFL in Liverpool. He was one of the founder members of Pilgrims, a language school synonymous with innovation and a humanistic approach to language teaching and it has a regular publication-
Humanising Language Teaching Magazine. If you don't know it, it's worth a bit of a look. It's free and you can access back issues and search for teacher/authors you like (lots of famous names here) or articles on a particular subject. If you want a suggestion to start you off, this article by Christopher Walker in the most recent issue is great-
Three Ideas for Making A Success of Online Teaching. Have a look around - you're sure to find something interesting :)
That's it for this week. I hope that this brings a bit of colour and motivation to your week and I'll see you next Sunday!
All the best
Jo
