Teacher Discussion Forums

I think we agree. But you put it more elegantly than I did.

Yeah Roger,

You can indeed get them in the Far East. I just purchased a COBUILD New Students Dictionary in Bejing two weeks ago at the Foreign Language Bookstore on Wangfujing DaLu. I saw them in Shanghai too, along with the more advanced user versions in both locations.

Yeah but, I think "Too many cooks spoil the broth." is a different kind of sentence than "Too many cars is a problem in Japan." :) Iain is certainly correct that spoil here is plural . But how would it work if we said, "Too many cooks is a problem in the kitchen." The key, I believe, is in the predi...

It's just business, guys! Believe me, I also know the frustration you feel from a teacher's point of view. :x But let's look at it from the school's position. Getting students is not always easy, and keeping them certainly is the key to success. Parents have to be satisfied, and often that means the...

Right! They'll have to actually look through the dictionaries on the shelves at the bookstore to find a good one. Roger suggests the Oxford, which is OK, but my favorite is the Collins COBUILD series. The New Students Dictionary is highly simplified for, I would say, lower intermediate students (ass...

I'm with Iain. Granted, the new board takes some getting used to and I admit to still being a little confused with how to navigate in it. But I'm gradually learning--mostly from other posters who're using techniques I can copy. For instance, I learned to use the quote system from Iain. Well, to be h...

A teacher may well learn the finer points of the language, but still not have the first clue about how to interest, motivate, inspire, or control a class of students . :? It's quite possible you have a point there. But I have the gnawing feeling this originally came out of a brochure for a program ...

Some of the ideas posted are good. I especially like numbers 9 and 10, although I personally might alter number 9 so that after students guess about the topic of the text, I'd hand it out without telling them what I think it is, and then after they've processed the text (whatever you're going to hav...

Hi, Your idea to give students exercises in which they have to use dictionaries is excellent. Many students do not know how to use one efficiently or even have much of an idea on the range of information that is available in a good dictionary. Notice my term "good dictionary." Many (especially bilin...

Where did all the existing posts go? And replies?