Blog posts in February 2013

Here we've got ideas, observations on ELT, including Mark's Pronunciation Blog and loads of conference and speaker reports...

Mark Hancock's Map of ELT - APAC audience comments

Posted by: 
 - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/archive/201302

See the map and an article about it here. Here are a couple of queries from the audience and responses:

Durrant and McLoughlin on the thinking classroom

Posted by: 
 - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/archive/201302

Lynn Durrant and Gerard McLoughlin are teacher trainers at International House Barcelona, and the focus of their presentation was on how we can nurture engagement and higher order thinking skills in the classroom. Lynn began with five top tips for creating a better classroom environment: 1. Give students choices; 2. Short and sweet activities eg 2-4 minutes; 3. Plenty of movement; 4.

Noureddine Azmi on how teaching with ICT can open minds

Posted by: 
 - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/archive/201302

Noureddine began by describing his teaching context in Morocco. The students he is working with already have a high level of English, but needed to develop their intercultural understanding, and in particular, openness to new ideas. He went on to explain the perspective transformation theoretical framework, as developed by Jack Mezirow.

Tim Murphey on appreciative inquiry

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Tim Murphey on appreciative inquiry - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/tim-murphey-appreciative-inquiry

Tim Murphey began what was a very feelgood session by recommending an action log at the start of each lesson. You put up on the board a list of all the activities you're going to be doing, and as the lesson progresses, the learners write how they felt about each activity. The teacher may go further by collecting and 'publishing' these logs so students can see each other's comments.

John Hughes on intercultural understanding

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John Hughes on intercultural understanding - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/john-hughes-intercultural-understanding

John organized his presentation by the three question words why, what and how.

David Block on the commodification of English

Posted by: 
 - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/archive/201302

David is a sociolinguist at the University of Lleida, and this talk was a critical evaluation of the concept of "English", including the way the language has become commodified.