ELT Archives - Page 2 of 6

5 tools for teaching online

January 30, 2020September 23, 2015 by Blog Editor

Independent tutor and digital learning pioneer Lana Friesen explains how she is using the best programs and apps to help her students meet their learning objectives.

With such a new industry, online teachers are developing tools and combining programs and apps to facilitate the learning experience of students. In doing so, teachers are pre-empting apps yet to be created to meet the demands of this growing industry. Including all components of communication can be tricky in classrooms, especially online ones. This medley of tools demonstrates how, with a degree of ingenuity, teachers can plan a full-spectrum curriculum for their students, regardless of the setting. We are, in a sense, the MacGyvers of online teaching. We are pioneers and must embrace this reality with open arms and open minds.

A round-up of Indie ELT books

January 30, 2020September 21, 2015 by Blog Editor

This is the third in our series of round-ups of self-published or small press ELT books … and this time we’ve been able to add fiction to the list as well as books for materials writing and teacher resources.

A beginner’s guide to teaching online, part 3: sharing materials

January 30, 2020September 16, 2015 by Jaime Miller

The final in our series: A Beginner’s Guide to Teaching Online. Jaime has been teaching private online lessons for TOEFL iBT since 2010. By 2012, she had left local schools and earned 100% of her income from teaching online lessons. In this series, she answers the question of which of the many platforms (like Skype or Wiz IQ) is best for teaching online. This post looks at sharing materials with students.

A beginner’s guide to teaching online, part 2: screen sharing

January 30, 2020September 9, 2015 by Jaime Miller

In the second of three in our series The Beginner’s Guide to Teaching Online, Jaime Miller compares Skype, Zoom, and Wiz IQ to see which is best for sharing screens with students in your online lessons.

A beginner’s guide to teaching online, part 1: which platform to use?

January 30, 2020September 2, 2015 by Jaime Miller

The first of three in our guide to teaching online. Jaime Miller has been teaching private online lessons for TOEFL iBT since 2010. By 2012, she had left local schools and was earning 100% of her income from teaching online lessons. The series kicks off by looking at the question of which of the many platforms (like Skype or Wiz IQ) is best for teaching online.

The ELT publishers’ collection: tools and trends

January 30, 2020September 1, 2015 by Blog Editor

Over the summer, we’ve been doing collections of past posts – so far, for ELT authors and EFL teachers. To round things off, here’s one for the ELT publishing people.

The EFL teachers’ collection

January 30, 2020August 19, 2015 by Blog Editor

ELTjam mostly writes about the intersection between tech and education, which means we’ve got plenty of posts of interest for teachers. Here’s a collection.

Grassroots language technology

January 31, 2020July 14, 2015 by Blog Editor

In an update of a post from @muranava’s excellent EFLNotes blog, Mike Boyle, ELT author and editor, talks about why learning to code and taking on technology projects to help language learners is a career boost for EFL teachers and materials writers.

Designing learning spaces for a mobile era

January 31, 2020July 2, 2015 by Paul Driver

The shift from the immobility of PCs to the mobility of tablets and smartphones allows digital space to interact with material space, both in and out of the classroom, in entirely new ways. At British Study Centres in Oxford, where Paul Driver works, this was an important consideration in their decision to integrate mobile technology into the everyday practice of language teaching. Here’s how they transformed their learning spaces.

The ELTjam Lexicon of ELT in the Digital Age: ‘aha moment’ to ‘authoring tool’

January 30, 2020June 28, 2015 by Nick Robinson

Welcome to the second installment of The ELTjam Lexicon of ELT in the Digital Age. You can read more about the series here and see the full list of terms we plan to cover here. This week, we’re finishing off the ‘A’s.

Why online teaching liberates ESL teachers

January 30, 2020June 18, 2015 by Jaime Miller

Inspired by her talk at Innovate ELT, guest blogger Jaime Miller of English Success Academy looks at the reasons and pluses for getting into teaching online.

Why mental health matters

January 30, 2020June 10, 2015 by Fiona Oates

Another post sparked by an Innovate ELT talk, this time given by Fiona Oates and Andrew Dodd, about their Mental Health Friendly initiative, the result of conversations between the two Barcelona-based English teachers. Fiona tell us how they got started and more about the project.

The power of social learning

January 30, 2020June 4, 2015 by Shaun Crowley

Social learning is a term that is increasingly being used by ELT practitioners. But what is it, and what’s all the fuss about? In this post, Shaun Crowley explains the concept and the mechanics behind it in ELT and non-ELT apps – arguing that social learning has the potential to enhance EFL blended learning.

And … action! Mobile learning in the classroom

January 30, 2020May 25, 2015 by Kat Robb

The exploitation of video in the classroom is nothing new, but the creation of video doesn’t take place as often as it could, mainly due to lack of equipment and knowledge of how to use it. There is a difference between a teacher with ten or twenty years’ experience, and one with one year’s experience repeated ten or twenty times. Using technology in the classroom is about being flexible within one’s own teaching practice and being prepared to experiment and learn. Kat Robb tells us how she uses video in class.

Notes from the oil tanker

January 30, 2020May 20, 2015 by Brian Engquist

Few words have been so prevalent in ELT as ‘EdTech’ and it has not been unusual to attend conferences where perhaps more than half of the talks on the schedule made at least some reference to the impending digital disruption sweeping into our sector and how best to prepare for it, avoid it or pretend it didn’t exist. Pearson’s Brian Engquist gives us his take on how to proceed.

Reflections on Innovate ELT

January 30, 2020May 20, 2015 by Adam Beale

Last week’s Innovate ELT conference in Barcelona owed much of its success to the incredible delegates so naturally we turned to them for a write up. Keen blogger Adam Beale reflects on his experience for us.

A look at some of this year’s ELTons nominees

January 30, 2020May 6, 2015 by Blog Editor

The ELTons are just under one month away, and this year’s nominees feature an exciting range of resources. Here we take a look at a selection of some of the digital-linked nominated products. Winners will be announced at the spangly ceremony on 4th June. Good luck to everyone! ARM cubes Paul Driver’s ARM (Augmented Reality Media) Cubes are a new way for … Read more

ELT Entrepreneur – Mark Holmwood

January 30, 2020April 29, 2015 by Blog Editor

ELT Entrepreneur Mark Holmwood of Holmwood Online got in touch with us to tell us about his transition from the classroom to the cutting room, making videos for his online publishing site which produces courses for schools and individuals in English and Chinese.

App Design: Green Owls and Pots of Gold

January 31, 2020April 18, 2015 by Damien Herlihy

ELTjam blog reader and app-developer-in-training, Damien Herlihy, tells us about how he approached his app as a learning experience rather than a business and his attempts at crowdsourcing input and feedback from teachers.

ELT Entrepreneurs – John Pettigrew of Futureproofs

January 30, 2020April 8, 2015 by Blog Editor

John Pettigrew has gone from working for publishers to bring his expertise to his own company, Futureproofs, a web-based platform that helps teams of authors, editors and designers to make sure that the books they work on are correct before they’re published.