Search found 27 matches

by KatrinaB88
Fri Jun 26, 2015 2:04 pm
Forum: Elementary Education
Topic: Need to find interesting activities to teach phonics
Replies: 3
Views: 8546

teaching phonics

You won't teach 'phonics' in 8 hours..... This is a step by step process. There are loads of materials available online and colourful books too. I love Jollyphonics, Ladybird, Oxford, Osbourne etc..... You can check out my site too for some fun if the class gets tedious, an hour is waaaaaay too long...
by KatrinaB88
Fri Jun 26, 2015 1:55 pm
Forum: Adult Education
Topic: New Teacher with a Serious Problem
Replies: 1
Views: 5943

Adult Education

Hi I don't want to seem negative however if I understand you correctly you have been asked to design a curriculum for 150 adult learners of English of an unknown proficiency?? The only slightly useful bit of information that you have been given is that they all speak Spanish as a first language? I a...
by KatrinaB88
Sat Jul 19, 2014 11:06 am
Forum: Elementary Education
Topic: Genki English: opinions & experiences
Replies: 3
Views: 10154

Genki English

Hi I've never used this particular programme, but generally use a lot of online stuff in my classes. Generally I steer clear of stuff that costs a lot, coz it's often just 'not in the price' and nothing very different to alternatives. However I do have excellent wi-fi and usually all these programme...
by KatrinaB88
Thu Jul 17, 2014 12:56 pm
Forum: Bilingual Education
Topic: Chinese idioms:Calling a Stag a Horse
Replies: 1
Views: 5979

Calling a Stag a Horse

Hi Your post is interesting. I use stories in the English language all the time in my lessons to encourage learning across all language areas. I am interested though how when teaching Chinese as a foreign language you can incorporate the complexity of teaching the characters so that students can acc...
by KatrinaB88
Thu Jul 17, 2014 12:51 pm
Forum: Bilingual Education
Topic: Bilingual Education vs. English-Only
Replies: 7
Views: 11059

Bilingual Education

Personally I believe there is a definite place for quality bilingual instruction in today's global world. It is a complete mistake to have English only and in particular if we are talking about English only when this is the L2 or L3.... Research shows that children need fluency in their native langu...
by KatrinaB88
Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:32 am
Forum: Elementary Education
Topic: New student in Elementary classroom.
Replies: 6
Views: 19577

New student in elementary classroom

Hi

I've always found that a shadow student is the best help. Although have to say that anytime this has happened in my classroom, all the existing students fell over themselves to be helpful. So get everyone in on helping is my advice.

Katrina
GreatEng.com
by KatrinaB88
Wed Feb 19, 2014 4:03 pm
Forum: Adult Education
Topic: BOISTEROUS STUDENT
Replies: 6
Views: 21753

Boisterous Student

yep, I think the enthusiasm is great and moving the groups further away is a plan. I also think that mixing up the groups from time to time, even though they are of different levels will help in that everyone will get to know this student better. Generally i find classes work better when everyone fe...
by KatrinaB88
Mon Jan 27, 2014 1:07 pm
Forum: Pronunciation
Topic: English pronunciation for speakers of Indian English
Replies: 1
Views: 5288

pronunciation for Indian speakers

In my opinion you need to do three things:- 1. Your learners need to listen as much as possible to the authentic target accent. 2. You need to teach them the sounds of the a to z in that same target accent. 3. Choose any passage you like and work on the sounds and intonation, the simpler the better....
by KatrinaB88
Thu Jan 23, 2014 10:52 am
Forum: Adult Education
Topic: alphapbet/phonics/sentence structure for tiny tots
Replies: 0
Views: 2596

alphapbet/phonics/sentence structure for tiny tots

Dear All If you are working with tiny tots please feel free to check out my software specifically created to give a basic foundation in English language and reading for non native speakers of English, although I've found native speaker beginner readers also love it too! Go to www.GreatEng.com. It's ...
by KatrinaB88
Mon Jan 13, 2014 12:14 pm
Forum: Elementary Education
Topic: Balance in the classroom
Replies: 3
Views: 6387

Balance

Hi

Students need to learn to speak, read and write. We also know that people learn best in different ways or in a combination of different ways. My suggestion is to simply mix things up in your classroom and try to incorporate an element of each skill in each lesson.

Best

Katrina
by KatrinaB88
Thu Jan 09, 2014 12:16 pm
Forum: Adult Education
Topic: Purchasing proper ESL manuals and grammar books.
Replies: 4
Views: 27968

grammar books

Hi I like all of the previous suggestions. Just to let you know, now I don't use any books at all. I prepare my own exercises for practice. Generally I just google a point to remind myself of the key points and then build contextual exercises around the point/s for my class. I find this works very w...
by KatrinaB88
Mon Jan 06, 2014 10:34 am
Forum: Assessment
Topic: Meaningful learning
Replies: 3
Views: 7862

meaningful learning

Hi Rote learning in my opinion is a waste of everybody's time. Practice on a certain point in context is however a good way to learn language. Rote learning is used predominantly in exam cultures where typically students can get an A in a given test but not be able to speak a sentence in a real life...
by KatrinaB88
Sun Jan 05, 2014 9:06 pm
Forum: Assessment
Topic: Tests
Replies: 2
Views: 6385

tests

I'd go with a combination of continuous assessment and weekly short tests, say spelling, fill in the blank type thing. Of course how you test and assess really depends on the age group you are working with, one method does not meet all needs etc. Generally I agree with you though, if you test in a r...
by KatrinaB88
Mon Dec 16, 2013 4:01 pm
Forum: English for Specific Purposes
Topic: English for Specific Purposes
Replies: 2
Views: 7595

English for Specific/Special purposes

Just making a general comment here that generally many establishments offering ESP courses are actually not. ESP is very specialized and a strong word of warning to newly qualified English language teachers out there, many centers may put you out of your depth with no assistance at all teaching ESP ...
by KatrinaB88
Sun Dec 15, 2013 3:55 pm
Forum: Elementary Education
Topic: Using scrabble tiles to help teach spelling
Replies: 3
Views: 7197

spelling

Hi I think in China, students do actually memorise full words, this is because 99% of them did not learn to read in English using phonics and many even at university still don't know that each letter has a sound and then those letters are combined etc to make other sounds. Scrabble will be perhaps u...