Newsletter 2021#40

Good morning
 

Getting towards the end of the year and what a year it's been. I hope that looking back on it you can see how your teaching has developed and that there are positives to draw from the adjustments that we've all had to make. This is the 40th newsletter I've put out this year and my last for 2021. I'm having a bit of a break over Christmas and I'm excited about starting my new Video Creation for Educators (VoiCE) programme in January, so I hope you enjoy these offerings and I'll be back in the New Year.

Something old

I deliberately don't say much about my paid products in this newsletter, but as you won't hear from me until January, I'm making an exception this week. If you're feeling as if you'll miss me and want to continue on your CPD journey over the holidays (a bit!) then you might like to try one of my mini-courses. If you've never looked at these before, I designed them to be used with a group of teachers as stand-alone CPD sessions to last about an hour each. There are input videos interspersed with tasks to do and it will be as if I were running a workshop with you. You could do them on your own, or you could team up with some colleagues and do it together online (or face to face!).

I've got two to choose from:

Dictogloss  - an introduction to one of the best classroom language learning techniques I know. If you're wondering what dictogloss is, or haven't thought about it for a while, you've got a treat in store. Low preparation, high output, useful for listening, speaking, writing, new language acquisition and with a communicative, holistic approach. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Digging for Lexis - This is another technique that is going to save you so much time in preparation. This session will show you how to really exploit the language in the texts that you already use in class, whether that's for reading or listening, from a coursebook or from other material. Great for you AND your learners.

Something new

My new video for this week should probably be called 'something old' too, because it's referring back to some material that I used waaay back at the start of my teaching career. I think it's still great, though and I've used it many times over the years with low level learners, so see what you think. It's about using picture stories to encourage communication.

Something borrowed

Although the holidays are coming, this is often a difficult time of year for teachers. If you're in the northern hemisphere it can be cold and bleak and the Covid situation everywhere seems never-ending. It's not surprising that many teachers are complaining of burnout.

I thought, then, in this final section, I'd leave you with a couple of links to help. The first is a collection from Etp magazine on Wellbeing with motivating and uplifting articles from inspirational people like David Dodgson, Jane Revell and Chia Suan Chong. The second is an invitation to a free IATEFL webinar on Saturday 8th January by Carol Griffiths, entitled 'Surviving Burnout'. You can find out more about it here and register here.

On that note, let me wish you a very happy Christmas and New Year (if you celebrate them) and I really look forward to welcoming you back on the 9th January. See you then.

Best

Jo