Issue 38

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Issue 38

Welcome to Issue 38!

First of all, I am delighted to welcome to you to the October 2015 edition of the IH Journal! This is the new team’s first edition of the Journal together and it’s been a good experience working out our procedures. There have been some behind the scenes changes from previous editions. One of the…

Technology Column - Addicted to Podcasts

by Shaun Wilden I am something of a podcast addict, both as a consumer, and for the last year a creator. Making and producing The TEFL commute podcast, now in its second season, is quickly becoming my main hobby. With podcasting as a whole undergoing something of a revival of late, perhaps it’s time…

Developing Skills in Online Learning

by Julian Wood At IH Bristol Foreign Languages http://www.ihbristol.com/languages/department-of-foreign-languages , we’ve been improving our understanding and use of online learning. It can be hard fo

Experiments with Slack - Team Messaging in Training

by Cecilia Elorza As Research Project Tutor on the teacher training programme at IH Montevideo, I have always been on the lookout for more efficient ways to improve communication with my trainees. In this two-year programme, which consists of nine subjects, trainees are expected to write a final…

Young Learners Column - 5 Ways to Use Graded Readers

by Kylie Malinowska I’ve just recently been asked to present a series of workshops on using graded readers in primary settings. I haven’t planned it all out, and I’m not sure yet what I will do as I have to admit I haven’t used graded readers for a long time. Years in fact. I used to love using them…

If it’s Not About Elephants, It’s Irrelephant: Memes for Thought

by Kylie Malinowska Note: The below is an adaptation of an article that was first published as ‘If it’s not about elephants, it’s irrelephant! Memes for teaching early years’ in IATEFL’s YLT SIG Journal ‘C&TS Digital’, Issue 2, 2015. The Elephant Lady

Taking the Cookie Cutter out of the Coursebook

by Alistair Grant “The conception and construction of methods have been largely guided by a one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter approach that assumes a common clientele with common goals.” [Kumaravadivelu] How do we typically train students to process coursebook texts? Well, we have our lead-in, our…

Unexplained mysteries as a teaching aid

by Edward Crabtree The use of unexplained mysteries in language classrooms. Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast – Lewis Carroll. `This is all crazy` says a middle

A Few Notes on Recycling Vocabulary in the Classroom

by Karl Emmet As language teachers, one reasonably safe assumption we can make is that the learners will only have an explicit focus on language in their classes. Therefore as teachers, we must ensure our students get plenty of opportunities to revise during lessons. The following article…

Teaching Games

by Mike Astbury Why use games in the classroom? Games work and I think that most teachers use games and fun activities in their lessons. This post will firstly examine why they work, and encourage their wider use, and secondly provide two games that you can download and print to use with your…

Reducing L1

by Anthony Ash During my CELTA, I was told I should never revert to the learners L1 nor let the learners speak it. I think my tutors said this because they viewed the English Language Classroom as a place where all opportunities of speaking English should be maximised. Of course, making the most of…

So You Think You Can Write?

by Anya Shaw and Veronique Ward Once upon a time there was a teen class who hated writing; a teacher, Chris, and a page from English File Upper Intermediate. What followed was a tale of overcoming adversity, trial and error, competition and ultimately, inspiration. And so the IH Belgrano 50 Word…

Memory techniques in Language Learning

by Alex Zagorac In the times of the Ancient Greece and Rome, the purpose of memory techniques was to compensate for the scarcity of recording media, or even their complete absence – in which case memory techniques were supplemented with repetition techniques for permanent memorizing. That seems to…

Developing Teachers Column - Moving into Management

by Sandy Millin You’ve been teaching for a while. You’ve done the Delta or the Trinity Diploma. You want to move out of being in the classroom full-time but don’t fancy spending the rest of your life

DoS-ing for the First Time

by Paulina Melichova Monday, 7:15am. Outside, the sun is shining beautifully. ‘Should be a nice day’, the thought just crosses my mind, when the deafening, shrill sound of fire alarm interrupts my morning routine. I run out of my room, down the stairs and to the fire panel, thankful I had at least…

Ceci n’est Pas Un Professeur

by Daphne Vallas En tant qu’enseignante basée au Royaume-Uni mais éduquée en France, le dilemme persiste quant aux concepts de « détention du savoir » (ownership of knowledge) et « facilitation de la transmission du savoir » (facilitation of knowledge). Veuillez pardonner l’imperfection de la…

Drill? – Wir sind doch nicht beim Militär!

by Anette Igel Drill scheint im DAF-Unterricht verpönt zu sein. Für viele trägt das Wort allein schon viele negative Assoziationen, entweder tatsächlich mit der Vorstellung wir drillen unsere LernerInnen wie Soldaten, oder aber mit eigenen Erfahrungen aus dem Fremdsprachenunterricht in der Schule.…

Teacher Driven Professional Development in Doha

by Peter Frey 1. Introduction and Contextual Background According to the Doha News on 2 October, 2014, Qatar’s population had reached 2,187,326. This increase is sustained by an annual growth rate of 7.48%. As development continues at a rapid pace in preparation for the 2022 World Cup and 2030…

Review: Film in Action

by Sam Lanchbury Film in Action by Kieran Donaghy, Delta Publishing You’ve just walked out of class and your Director of Studies calls you into their office to discuss a problem – a complaint by one o

Review: The IH Teacher Training Certificate

by Natalia Gonzalez Brandi Being trained to train: Is it necessary? Many teachers become engaged in training when their boss approaches them and tells them: “Okay, you´ve done your DELTA or you´ve been teaching here for many years: let´s make you a Coordinator, Assistant Director of Studies, etc.…