Jim@SpongeELT

Review: Cambridge Elements – Reflective Practice in Language Teaching – Thomas S.C. Farrell

For those that don’t know, Cambridge has an Elements series, which is basically a series of 50-page booklets aiming to cover all the relevant and recent research on a certain topic. When they are released, there is usually a two-week period in which they are free to download, then you need to pay for them.Continue reading “Review: Cambridge Elements – Reflective Practice in Language Teaching – Thomas S.C. Farrell”

The Teacher Trainer Diaries: 2021/2022 in review – Part 2: Workshops throughout the year

You can read Part 1 of the 2021/2022 in review series here 🙂 This part will focus on the workshops that were planned and delivered over the course of the 2021/22 academic year. I won’t go into too much detail about all the workshops, but I will talk about the rationale behind the workshops, howContinue reading “The Teacher Trainer Diaries: 2021/2022 in review – Part 2: Workshops throughout the year”

Review: Language Teacher Education – Jon Roberts

On the reading list for the NILE MATD is Jon Roberts’ Language Teacher Education. I had never heard of it, to be honest, but after reading it I am unsure as to why it isn’t more widely known. In this review, I’ll talk about the ‘what’ of the book, major takeaways, as well as myContinue reading “Review: Language Teacher Education – Jon Roberts”

Review: Cambridge Elements – Explicit and Implicit Learning in Second Language Acquisition – Bill VanPatten and Megan Smith

Some time ago, Cambridge released VanPatten and Smith’s Explicit and Implicit Learning in Second Language Acquisition as part of the Cambridge Elements series. Whenever these Cambridge Elements come out, there is usually a period of about two weeks in which they are free to download. I took advantage of this, got myself a copy, andContinue reading “Review: Cambridge Elements – Explicit and Implicit Learning in Second Language Acquisition – Bill VanPatten and Megan Smith”

The Teacher Trainer Diaries: 2021/2022 in review – Part 1: Development programme overview

We are here again – at the end of another academic year, this year somewhat less dramatic than the previous! As I did last year, I’m going to reflect on the year from a teacher training perspective, taking a look at what was covered in the programme each term, the feedback I got, and theContinue reading “The Teacher Trainer Diaries: 2021/2022 in review – Part 1: Development programme overview”

Musings of an academic manager – Getting ready for summer courses

Over the past three months, we have been working hard to define, plan and create materials for a range of summer courses we are delivering over July. It’s been a lot of hard work, but something that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. In this post, we’ll take a look at our goals, how we met our goals,Continue reading “Musings of an academic manager – Getting ready for summer courses”

Article Notes: Roads to quality street: perspectives on quality in ELT – George Pickering

‘Article Notes’ is a set of blog posts in which I write down my notes about articles that I read. These notes are not meant to be ‘academic’ or ‘formal’; rather, they are my ramblings and immediate thoughts in reaction to the content I read. I’ve written them up to help me remember the article,Continue reading “Article Notes: Roads to quality street: perspectives on quality in ELT – George Pickering”

Sponge Chats – Teacher Training with Adrian Tennant

This blog post is part of the Sponge Chats video series. I recently had the privilege to sit down with Adrian Tennent, an ELT heavy-weight within teacher education. Adrian has trained in numerous countries and contexts around the world, and consulted on loads of really interesting projects. He is also a writer and, of course, a teacher!Continue reading “Sponge Chats – Teacher Training with Adrian Tennant”

Review: Beyond Training – Jack C. Richards

I first picked up Richards’ Beyond Training about two or three years ago. I remember reading it and thinking it was an interesting read, but now, a few years, on I decided to pick it up again and see if there was anything ‘new’ that I could gain. Well, I can say that, one, IContinue reading “Review: Beyond Training – Jack C. Richards”

Conference notes: Oxford TEFL Training and Leadership in ELT

Today, I had the pleasure and privilege of not only attending, but presenting at Oxford TEFL’s Training and Leadership in ELT conference. I have to say, hats off to Oxford TEFL. They put on a FREE conference focused on training and management, something I think is super rare in our industry, and something we needContinue reading “Conference notes: Oxford TEFL Training and Leadership in ELT”