SEMINAR WITH ELENA MERINO

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure to attend the Pearson event for English teachers in Valencia. Such event took place at the hotel Barceló, near the City of Arts and Sciences and it was a great success in terms of organization and the content of the seminars. Today I am going to write about the talk by Elena Merino, Pearson's most recent addition to their team of teacher trainers. She has a degree in English language and literaure plus she has studied a Masters in TESOL in the United States.

AN INFOGRAPHIC IS WORTH A 1000 WORDS

I have recently discovered how infographics have become a very useful tool in education and how learners seem to like them a lot. The old saying "An image is worth a thousand words", which was first coined more than one hundred years ago, is still valid today and can be used in the English classroom.

IMPROVING STUDENTS' READING SKILLS WITH FLIPBOARD

I've recently read an article talking about how new technologies and social networks could be introduced in the classroom to improve teacher-student interaction and motivate them with apps they are familiar with. 

TEACHING GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT

Grammar, along with vocabulary, is the main tool that allows us to understand and produce a text thus allowing us to communicate effectively. Teaching grammar in class is sometimes seen as boring both on the part of the students, who perceive it as a monotonous activity, and the teachers, who struggle to provide a dynamic lesson that engages students.

USING POSITIVE LANGUAGE - HOMES

This is an activity I really like to use with my students, it is suitable for B1-B2 students. They'll be able to practise three of the four skills, reading, speaking and writing, while they learn new vocabulary. 

QUESTION TAGS: LISTENING + SPEAKING

Whenever I had to teach question tags I always found it a little bit boring for the students, and they never understood the purpose of using them. They were quite happy saying: "Your father is a pilot, no?" You English teachers should be familiar with this, shouldn't you?

IKEA ACTIVITY: SPEAKING + WRITING

This is an activity I created for my B1 students in order to practise the use of comparatives and superlatives with vocabulary related to the house.