Dictation redux
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A while back, I posted about using dictation in EFL classes. I recently gave dictations in my final exams, and reading the results taught me some further uses for dictation.
Students failed to notice how a falling intonation indicated the end of a sentence. I did not announce the punctuation, as I had not [...]
Read more »Timed writing
Blaine Ray wrote,
Having [students] do time writings without editing is an excellent way to assess fluency.
I’ve been having my students write for 5 minutes almost every class, usually at the beginning, sometimes at the end. Sometimes I set the topic, but most times I left them free to write whatever they wanted. I had them [...]
Academic Writing Part 2
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This is a follow-up to my previous entry on this subject.
If you are looking for a website to help you teach academic writing to university students (whether EFL students or native-English-speaking students), I recommend those by Gavin Budge (Writing for the Reader), and by Andy Gillett: Academic Writing.
As many of my students don’t [...]
TPRS Workshop in Nagasaki! – Cancelled
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Update: This workshop has been cancelled.
There will be a 3-day TPRS workshop in Shimbara, Nagasaki, Jan. 15-17. The workshop will be in English with interpretation in Japanese. The workshop will be led by Susan Gross, a TPRS veteran (Ben Slavic mentions her constantly on his blog as his inspiration and teacher), and Melinda [...]
Keeping track
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All new vocab goes on the board. I don’t care if everyone in the class understands and recognizes the item except one person; for that one person, it goes on the board (and I’m sure at least one other person is grateful).
I very quickly ran out of room on the board, but I [...]
What does dictation evaluate?
I have a question about dictation. I’ve been looking at various rubrics that Susie Gross and Jason Fritze have created to evaluate students, and I wanted to come up with my own that I could show to my department colleagues. I want to win them over to the idea of making fluency the main objective [...]
Read more »TPRS
Image by …storrao… via Flickr
I am reading everything I can find about TPRS.
I recently got Blaine Ray’s Fluency Through TPR Storytelling, and have been reading it each night until I fall asleep.
Today, I got hooked on Ben Slavic’s page. Yesterday, I downloaded all the handouts, docs, posters, everything that wasn’t nailed down. I spent the [...]
Funny ads
Via Google (click on “add more content” to your iGoogle page), I discovered Funny Ads. I’ve had it on my iGoogle page for a few days, but didn’t watch any of them until today. A number are in languages other than English (some of those have English subtitles), and a number are “silent”, where the [...]
Read more »My textbook doesn’t work
Having spent half the weekend in Tokyo for JALTCALL 2007, and after spending too much time preparing in previous weeks, I decided to cut out the fancy stuff, and just go by the book for once: just follow the instructions in the teacher’s manual. Would you like to know how it went?
I knew you would! [...]
Teaching vocab
(Photo by seaworthy on Flickr).
I’m looking for vocab teaching activities. I really don’t have time to make many materials, so I’m looking for stuff that’s already out there.
I’ve insisted my students buy word-cards. I show them how I want them to use them, in class. I’m going to set a target for them of [...]
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