Teacher Discussion Forums

Great resource, Richard and just what I need for this week. You've done much of the preliminary work by adding the pertinent vocab for each clip. I'm definitely going to bookmark this site. Thanks!!! I looked at the clip "How to fit in on your first day at work" . Seems more appropriate for up'r int...

Does anyone vary the playback speed when showing videos to students. Unlike conventional DVD players, most video software allows for this. It's also a great way to quickly preview clips or songs by playing at higher speed.

Youtube is known from most of the students nowadays. Of course, we know that most of them will not necessarily watch useful videos for their English culture and knowledge. However, as teachers, we can make good use of youtube by finding both interesting and entertaining videos that can motivate stu...

Group learning can create a favorable atmosphere for the students to develop their imagination and creativity. In my class, I often divide the students into several groups and ask them to accomplish some tasks through cooperative learning. Since the students can have a relatively private discussion...

Chupichulo obviously scrapped the idea or there'd be more posts with more specific questions/advice. I've started such a thread on the General Discussions if anyone's interested:
Opened your OWN school or plan to? ...or tutored 1-to-many?

I taught in a middle school for almost 5 years, and one thing is certain, students dislike quizzes, tests, exams and any other descriptor that conjures fretful nights of cramming, studying, rewriting notes, or sleep deprivation. Of course they dislike it and justly so!!! Exams assess studying (shor...

Longshikong- ...I am unsure how eager schools would be to implement the program. Meaning, schools have a lot of other "things going on" and I'm sure they would like to jump on board with this program, but where's the time? Too many things going on, actually. No wonder ADHD levels are as high as the...

Nice concept but it seems Word, as limited as it is, does a slightly better job. The explanations aren't going to help students at or below upper intermediate in their reading comprehension. I'd pass the link on to my students if it were up to the standard of professional writing programs such as Wh...

francesen wrote: 'what food do you like?'.

Depends on how the question was asked. If your friend used connected speech patterns that children drilled individual words will not be able to parse, they'll inevitably hear: What foo do you like?

Six years later, it seems they're not much better because the software compares your pronunciation not to a range of native speakers but to a single recorded sample of a single indiviidual. Even that person would struggle to get 100%. Furthermore, such software programmers neglect the fact that pron...

I've assigned videos for (optional) listening homework. I tell students to note precisely when (according to the counter) they had difficulty. I've shared with them the following typical challenges because I want them . There's not much they can do about 1 and 4 but 2 and 3 should help convince the ...

...make your courses relevant and your style and method effective Since Asians are unaccustomed to voluntarily offering critical feedback, even if positive, I realize achieving this requires opening up a regular 2-way feedback channel--something, up until now, I haven't put much thought nor effort ...

effective and efficient What nazarene alludes to is Self-efficacy Theory : According to self-efficacy theorists, low self-efficacy causes motivational problems . If students believe they cannot succeed on specific tasks (low self-efficacy), they will superficially attempt them, give up quickly, or ...

For many students of English, the only practice they get is with their classmates and their teacher. I want to give them plenty of opportunities to actually use their English to communicate with someone in real time--what learning English should be about! All too often, especially here in China, stu...

Sally, your advice brings to mind a practical advice book on the subject I read from my B.Ed course which along with prescriptive advice was interspersed with comic strip scenarios: How to Talk to Kids So Kids Will Listen Part of an adult placement test I once used included a 10-12 panel comic strip...