Jim@SpongeELT

Lesson idea: Final term SMART goals

In this post we look at SMART goals and how you might use them at the end of terms throughout the year to help with learner goal maintenance.

Review: Teaching and Researching Listening – Michael Rost

Over the last month or so, I have started reading ELT books heavily again. You could say that I took a six-month hiatus after the 2020 summer – the pandemic has held most of my attention, creating a whole new world of problems to deal with in the academy, classroom, and, well, the world inContinue reading “Review: Teaching and Researching Listening – Michael Rost”

The 2019/2020 Academic year – One hell of a topsy-turvy!

The 2019/2020 academic year – what a bloody interesting ride that was! I, like all you lovely people, felt that this year turned out to be both a challenge and a learning curve (from both a teaching and training perspective). Coronavirus threw the proverbial spanner in the works for pretty much everyone, and the educationContinue reading “The 2019/2020 Academic year – One hell of a topsy-turvy!”

Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 8

This is part of the series Cambridge Train the Trainer. Boom! Last week done. And it was a big week. I kind of don’t even really know where to start – there was so much great information and stuff that we were involved in. Let’s start general and then get specific, it’s easier that way.Continue reading “Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 8”

Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 7

This is part of the series Cambridge Train the Trainer. So, what have I done this week? Why don’t you take a guess? This week on the course we spoke about how __________ and feedback intertwine, looked at another procedure for delivering __________, identified aspects of __________ written feedback, and wrote up the __________ forContinue reading “Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 7”

Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 6

This is part of the series Cambridge Train the Trainer. What do trainers look for when observing? This is a pretty big question, something I have read a lot on over the last few years. The answer is… well, many things. It really is largely dependent on the context and purpose of the observation. AnotherContinue reading “Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 6”

Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 5

This is part of the series Cambridge Train the Trainer. Observation. It leaves a bad taste in some teachers’ mouths. It’s one of those development tools that is probably done more poorly than well. It’s also one of the most important development tools we have, and it was the focus for this week. We lookedContinue reading “Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 5”

Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 4

This is part of the series Cambridge Train the Trainer. Whereas week 3 was devoted to planning training session, week 4 was devoted to delivering training sessions. We looked at using certain types of tasks, used these tasks, and we also covered supportive trainer talk. Let’s take a closer look at these now. Task formatsContinue reading “Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 4”

Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 3

This is part of the series Cambridge Train the Trainer. Week 3 in review This week we covered what I felt was less content, but a lot more practice – or implementing the learned content. We started off looking at the way in which input sessions are planned and the process of this planning. TheContinue reading “Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 3”

Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 2

This is part of the series Cambridge Train the Trainer. Overview of the week So, last week was very much the introductory week to the course – we were eased into things basically. This week was a lot heavier in terms of looking at what trainers do and the planning involved, which I found great.Continue reading “Cambridge Train the Trainer – Week 2”