Small texts for beginners

This website brings some short and easy texts ready to be photocopied and handed-in to students.
Click here to go to Small Texts for Beginners

Teachers Narratives

This is a great website developed by the Department of Education of the University of Washington for both fresh and experienced teachers whose aim is always learn a little bit more about the way teaching takes place in different environments (and with different publics!).

All the narratives contain a list of suggestions and tips for the specific problem related by the teacher, and all the strategies point to the best approach to be used with students fitting that specific profile.

Even though the taught subject is sometimes related to the engineering field, it is really worth reading the needs analysis they perform for each case.

I have personally selected some of the best narratives which, in my opinion, best illustrate the reality of our everyday professional lives:


My Students Look Bored in Class

Facing bored students frustrates Dr. Wong.

Synopsis:

Dr. Mike Wong, who teaches a large mechanics of materials class, is frustrated that his students appear bored and disinterested. Mike wants his class to be an engaging and instructive experience, so he talks with a research colleague who offers useful suggestions for enlivening the course.

Click here to be redirected to the whole narrative.



Why Are My Students Performing So Poorly?

Christina's students did not perform on a recent exam as well as she expected.

Synopsis:

Dr. Christina Delgado has been teaching for 15 years in mechanical engineering, but in one class she’s frustrated that her students’ performance is not meeting her expectations. Exam scores are lower than previous years she’s taught this class. Trying to figure out why her students are struggling, Christina speaks with an instructional consultant to tease out the roadblocks to student performance.

Click here to be redirected to the whole narrative.




This Student Is Driving Me Nuts!

Dr. Rucker must manage classroom dynamics when a student dominates the discussion.


Synopsis:

Dr. Craig Rucker is having difficulty managing one particular student in a graduate level class he's teaching. He's frustrated that this student dominates the class discussion with her professional experiences. Craig speaks with a friend to figure out how to maintain a positive learning environment for all.

Click here to be redirected to the whole narrative.

How to Teach Phonemic Symbols - make it easier!

This IPA Typewriter, by Peter MacKichan is a very useful tool for teachers and students that want quick and accurate phonemic transcriptions.
Click here to go to IPA Typewriter.

How to make your students SPEAK

The website itself says: "The main aim of these Talking Point worksheets is to promote fluency by presenting students with stimulating discussion questions. All Talking Points are designed for use with students who have reached Pre-Intermediate level, though they are also very successful with Intermediate and more advanced students. Each Talking Point is accompanied by Teaching Suggestions (TS) with answers."
A great resource for teachers!
Click here to go to Talking Points.

How to teach Anagrams - challenge your students!

The definition of "anagram" is: "A word or phrase formed by reordering the letters of another word or phrase".

As it is commonly known amongst teachers, one good technique to have students memorising a word and its pronunciation is by making them repeat this word backwards, divided in chunks.

Using anagrams can be even better for this purpose, since you are using the language in its different angles, and proving to students that they can play around with words since they know those words in English. Anagramsite.com is an excellent source of anagrams - you can generate an anagram from the website, or even use some examples they offer there.

Of course that the fun factor is also involved - playing with the meaning of the words (or its non sense)make students really stop to think about the language, and instantly access their background experiences of those words. For this, I suggest dividing the class in groups, and, while you write the words/expressions, on the board, they have to shout what those words/expressions are in "real" English. The group that gets more correct answers wins the game. (Don't forget to say to students that they will have x expressions/words before the game begins, and to tell them "one!"or "two left!" so they have the chance to recover their results).