Teacher Discussion Forums

New FREE resource from englishraven.com! World News for Kids! is a simple but dynamic teaching and learning resource for learners in the 9-15 range. The basic idea is a range of carefully leveled current news articles presented online, geared toward the interests and subject-based needs of students...

Sorry - the links above have become about out-of-date. The tips have been replaced with better video versions at this link: http://www.english-itutor.com/TOEFL_Speaking_Tips.html I've also added some brand new speaking tutorials that might be helpful: http://www.english-itutor.com/TOEFL_Speaking_Tut...

The best activity I've ever used with large classes is "Finding Out" - you can read more about it here:

http://www.englishraven.com/SLAC_finding_out.html

Best wishes,

~ Jason

A lot of the materials and activities on my site were made for and road-tested with Korean middle school students: http://www.englishraven.com You might also like to look at the site for my Pearson Longman textbooks (called Boost!): http://www.boostskillsseries.com The 20 books there were made espec...

You might find something you like on my site as well: http://www.EnglishRaven.com In perusing this thread, I ended up on Barry's site (barryfunenglish), and I have to say, those are some really fantastic resources! My hat's off to you. I've been thinking of developing some similar tools, but conside...

Hi Alex, I'd be happy to contribute something to your blog on this subject. I've gone through the process of writing supplementary materials, then books for the schools I worked at, then managing my own materials resource site (www.EnglishRaven.com), and eventually writing a 20-book series for Pears...

Are the speaking and writing sections of the TOEIC part of the company's requirements? If so, the resources I have on this page may be of some help to you: http://www.english-itutor.com/TOEIC_SW.html Other than that, I really recommend the Oxford Preparation for TOEIC series - it's the best I've see...

Sorry - I should be responsible and update this notice. Membership subscriptions have been added (from january 2009) to the site for those wanting to access everything. However, there is a still a considerable bag of free materials available throughout the site, and a lot more free resources being a...

I really recommend the Children's BBC site (British English) and Kidzworld site (American English) for finding motivating articles to teach teenagers - more details and examples on this page: http://www.englishraven.com/Activities_for_reading.html There's also my own Boost! Integrated Skills Series ...

I like your ideas, Syl - as well as your site. Great work! In relation to this issue of expanding access to more English beyond school hours (and making it motivating), you might like to check out my ideas for Extensive Reading Online at the following link: http://www.englishraven.com/Activities_for...

Very common issue... You might find some ideas for positive reinforcement in your classroom at this link: http://www.englishraven.com/ttools_posrein.html The main downloads and teacher guides are located in the members download area, but you can still access images on the page link above which show ...

I'll definitely check out your site, Eric. I agree with your assessment of the TOEFL speaking format, and wrote extensively about this in a blog post last year: iBT Speaking and Writing - how do they stack up to the real thing? (Part 1) http://jasonrenshaw.typepad.com/ibt_speaking_writing/2007/03/ib...

What an outstanding attitude to teaching, Ed! I really admire your perspective. I'm a TOEFL instructor as well, and I regularly take practice tests applying the same conditions and time limits as the original test, to keep myself sharp when it comes to teaching and to understand what my students may...

I'm currently working on something like this (a teacher development program specifically for TOEFL teaching). You can learn a lot about the speaking and writing sections of the test in particular by joining my forum at: http://global-english.lefora.com There are lots of sample tasks there, sample re...

Cambridge FCE and PET are easier than IELTS, and more suitable for teenagers in terms of topic content. They're also part of the same "exam suite", which means they have similar task styles and rubrics. Basically, using PET and then FCE is an excellent building process for eventual IELTS preparation...