The end of a school year always makes me look back on what's happened since September, and reflect on what I learned about myself and my job, and what I learned from other people. I thought my learners could benefit from something similar, so I used my class of B2 teenagers as guinea pigs. I… Continue reading Ending on a high
Category: Classroom ideas
When all is said and NOT done
We’ve all been there: you’re in class, you’ve read a text or done a listening activity, you’ve done the controlled activities in the books, and now comes freer practice. In a lot of coursebooks, this will involve a discussion in pairs with an open question which should invite students to extend their answers, and ideally… Continue reading When all is said and NOT done
Online games in a paperless classroom
My school's policy on sharing materials and photocopies at the start of the 2020-2021 school year was simple: don't share anything, don't give handouts. Easier said than done when you don't have a lot of time to digitalise (digitise?) resources you've spent several years building up. Despite an abundance of online resources and tools that… Continue reading Online games in a paperless classroom
Breathe your way to sanity
Picture the scene. It's Monday afternoon, about 5.15 pm. I can hear the distant shrieks of my 8 year-old Young Learners about to enter the building. They know, because they have been told on MANY separate occasions, that there are lessons going on around them as they come in, so it's definitely NOT OK to… Continue reading Breathe your way to sanity
Keep ’em in line!
One of the first things I was taught when I faced a classroom of Young Learners was that they needed a system: one that would be appealing enough to get them to stick to the class rules, and would motivate them throughout the year. I made an absolute mess of this in my first year,… Continue reading Keep ’em in line!
Claire’s English Classroom 