Dear ESL/EAL professionals,
Yes, the summer was too short. And yes, September is just about to start! With wistful longing, but also refilled with summer energy, we do the strategic planning for the next school year.
At English Online, we thought of a few things to help you reduce the 'new school year' stress and ensure the smooth transition to your work mode.
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English Online Webinars
| Webquests and Task-Based Teaching |
In this webinar Margarita Berezyanskaya presented ways to teach task-based projects through the vast supply of authentic Internet materials. Watch the video.
| Language skills 2.0: Speaking |
The webinar discussed web 2.0 tools for practicing speaking skills in online and face-to-face classes. Watch the video.
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The National Online Forum for EAL/ESL Professionals
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New school year is around the corner and many of us are dusting off our school curriculum guidelines, teacher materials and classroom activities to kick off another year of learning. At the same time, there are small but important things to remember when approaching the classroom in a new school year.
- Gear yourself up with useful school supplies - not only students have their school supplies list, teachers need to enjoy this part too! Experienced teachers recommend a magic supply-kit they found handy over the years of teaching.
- Prepare yourself - "Approaching a first class with a new group" might be a challenge even for experienced teachers. The best strategies are to break the ice, establish positive atmosphere and do language and needs analysis of your students.
- Decor your classroom - posters with positive messages and highlights of certain aspects of the language (Pronunciation corner, Idiom of the Week, Word of the Day, etc) will create an environment that triggers learning. Pinterest ideas on this topic are vast, so you can choose the ones to your taste.
- Remember your students' names - calling students by their names is one way to show respect and establish good communication. However, it is quite challenging to remember new names, especially if they come from different culture than yours. This post suggests fun and effective ways to learn students names.
- Write your rules down - clarify classroom rules with your students and write them down, so that you always can refer to them. Remember, adult learners need age-relevant ways to enforce studying.
Happy teaching!
Sincerely,
English Online Team
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Upcoming Events
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August 30, 2014, 3 pm BST
"Getting the most out of online video resources" with Nik Peachey.
Tutela Webinar
September 4, 2014, 6 pm EDT
" Climbing out of the Wadi: Keys to Saudi student success in North American Universities" with Trevor Laughlin.
English Online Weekend PD Webinar
September 13th, 2014, 10 am CDT
Session 1: "Teaching discussion pragmatics in an Academic English Program" with Jagrati Chauhan and
Session 2: "English Grammar Uncloaked - Verbs" with William Moore.
English Online TWT Webinar
September 19th, 2014, 7 pm CDT and September 20th, 2014, 10 am CDT
"WWW As a Gigantic Repository of Authentic Materials" with Margarita Berezyanskaya.
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- Story Builder is an online tool for creating fun and engaging stories. The final product looks like this.
- QuickKey is a smart app for quick formative assessments. It saves you time by scanning quizzes, questionnaires, tests, etc and gives you test results in different formats.
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