Teacher Discussion Forums

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this discussion, but here goes anyway... I've been teaching for some years now but I've never really learned the art of writing on a whiteboard while facing my students. I'm right handed, so when I write on a board I face the board and my students see my b...

Hello everyone, Thanks for an interesting discussion! Larry wrote : But now, I'm beginning to come to terms with the possibility that all my efforts, and sincerity, and even knowledge, were, for all those many years, mostly irrelevant. What counts...really counts...is the student, and little else do...

Here is an interesting reference that I found on dictionary.com : [ French, from Old French colpon, piece cut off, from colper, to cut, from colp, blow. See coup.] Word History: A Roman might have had difficulty predicting what would become of the Latin word colaphus, which meant “a blow with the fi...

Not only was the bicycle stolen, the car was too.

Not only was the bicycle stolen but so was the car.

A three pence suite basicly means two armchairs and a sofa. It is a British expression for this kind of furniture.

Hello angellll,

I hate to be pedantic but I think the expression is 'a three piece suite'.

Can anyone confirm this?

Strider.

What do you call clear, adhesive tape? Where I come from, people say 'Sellotape', as that is the brand that everyone uses. Here in France, people say 'Scotch'. However, I can imagine, in some places, asking for Scotch could lead to confusion (or perhaps inebriation). So, sticky tape? Sellotape? Scot...

Following an interesting exchange under the 'language audit' thread, I thought it might be an idea to share experiences using the Cambridge BULATS test. I just started using the computer version of the test this week and already one thing I've had to think about is the length of time it takes to do ...

Hi emile,

I'd like to know more about your experience with Bulats, but I think that might be getting a bit off-topic so I'll start a new thread. I think it could be useful to share experiences and ideas about Bulats.

I look forward to your comments!

To continue from Link_H's post... I once worked for a training centre that was helping a large French pharmaceutical group as they took over a company in the US. My boss persuaded the company to send him to the US with a cameraman, where he interviewed many of the employees. The interviews were abou...

Hello Link_H, Thanks for your detailed response! Funnily enough, the test I had in mind as BULATS - I've already had some training on this in my present post. Like you, I will meet with the heads of departments and find out what their needs are. I think it will be important also to find how how muc...

Hello everyone, interesting discussion! As you know, ESL teachers develop a sixth sense when it comes to decoding foreigner speech.... In some ways, we ESL teachers lose our effectiveness the better we get at understanding this speech I agree with this - I find that when I hear mistakes so many time...

Hi David Temple,

I visited the site and listened to a couple of programs - it's certainly a good resouce to exploit. Thanks for the reference.

Do you know if it is possible to download the programs?

Well, my dad used to say that an 'ex' is a has been and a 'spurt' is a drip under pressure.

I hope this helps.

Hi everyone, After 4 years teaching in a Lycée, I'm going to change my job. :lol: I'll be working for a big engineering company who need an in-house trainer. It's a great opportunity for me and I'm looking forward to starting. However the first thing I want to do when I get there is carry out a Lang...

Hello F.k., Welcome to the wonderful world of teaching English! 'Backchaining' is a really useful technique to help students pronounce words. It works best with words that have several syllables. It's very simple : first, the teachers says the word, so that the student has a model to aim for. Then, ...