How often has this happened to you? You sit down with your one of your students (read: certificate exam candidates in Greece ) and review an essay he or she has produced, and you have subsequently corrected. At one point, you come to a bit of text that you had previously underlined, and perhaps had inserted [...]
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In my previous post, I discussed how and why to use songs in the classroom, but my main focus was how the lyrics in a song can be exploited. However, there are, as the old saying goes, many ways to skin to a cat. If we go beyond the words a song contains and think [...]
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AIM: Vocabulary for character traits LEVEL: Intermediate and above TIME: 45 minutes MATERIALS: Photos of people (emphasis on facial features/ langauge), Dictionaries PREPARATION: Photo Sources: Photos may be cut from old magazines or found on the internet. Search Google.com. Type in ‘faces’ and click on images. You will find many to choose from. If a coursebook [...]
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AIMS: – To foster creative writing – To help student brainstorm and write elements of plot, character profiles, settings, mood, etc. – To brainstorm adjectives or other word forms LEVEL: Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced TIME: At least 20 minutes (depending on the amount of music played) MATERIALS: Recorded pieces of music in a variety of musical [...]
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Here’s a look at the power of giving students a ‘real reason’ to write, and the reeling negative effects of teaching too many ‘exam classes’. Some years ago, I was working with an upper-intermediate level exam class here in Greece, composed primarily of young teenagers who would attempt to take various C1 (advanced) level exams [...]
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