How to build learners’ confidence and help them manage their stress when teaching exam classes.
For many learners of English exams and exam preparation is stressful, but an inescapable part of life. Key to learners succeeding in exams is not only making them test-wise and teaching them the necessary language knowledge and skills but also developing a level of exam confidence and providing them with the tools to manage their stress […]
Can we motivate our learners or should they motivate themselves?
We all have learners that come to class but just don’t seem to be that motivated to be there. Don’t worry, it’s got most of the time nothing to do with you. In general, making learners stay focused and motivated is one of the biggest challenges (Healey, 2021). According to Scheidecker and Freeman (cited in […]
Modern English Teacher Blogs & Articles
If you want to keep developing as a teacher, Modern English Teacher is a wonderful magazine to subscribe to. Not only does MET offer a wide variety of articles, blogs and vlogs, they also provide regular free webinars for teachers. My blogs can be found here. To read some of the many articles I’ve been […]
Problems-solving for future-proofing
Problem-solving is essential in our ever-changing world. In this interactive session, Anna explored what competences learners need to successfully solve problems and introduced how ‘Get Involved’ uses project-based learning to engage learners and integrate these key competences into English lessons.
Motivation learning online for all
While most teachers are now more confident teaching with technology and online, many teachers are still reporting that student motivation remains a challenge. In this interactive webinar, Anna Hasper explores the concept of motivation and highlights the importance of shifting away from teachers motivating learners to student-generated motivation and finding ways to ignite the fire […]
Focusing on Engagement
I’m obsessed with the brain. How it works and maybe even more so by how it doesn’t work. Whilst brain research has made headway in the past 15-20 years, there is still a lot we do not know about the brain. However, one thing we can say for sure is that our students’ brain certainly […]
Every cloud has a silver lining: professional learning from teacher educators
If COVID-19 has a silver lining, it undoubtedly is the learning opportunities the shift online has provided. Even though there have been challenges, most ELT teachers and teacher educators have developed digital knowledge and skills, pedagogic beliefs and confidence with technology which would not necessarily have happened without the forced transition online. This blog post below, […]
What to do about CPD and how to…
The Drive Home a recording for TeacherTalk Radio A lovely chat with Harry Waters -my old employee from my GEOS Sydney DOS-ing times!- about CPD in English Language Teaching. We talk about how we can choose our development and what we can focus on in our Professional Learning Journey. https://teacherstalkradio.podbean.com/e/the-drive-home-with-harry-waters-23-03-2022-what-to-do-about-cpd-and-how-to-do-it-with-anna-hasper
How to choose from a PD smorgasbord?
As a practicing teacher and teacher training, I very much believe that our learning should never stop. English language teachers have continued to develop their own practice, formally but mostly informally for generations (Richardson & Maggioli, 2018). And the recent shift online has reinforced the importance of this: the pandemic became a huge learning opportunity, […]
Reflecting in times of COVID-19: keep calm and keep GROW-ing
In this blog article written for CAE, I explore the benefits of reflective practice. Learn the benefits of reflecting, to promote a self-improving culture of learning and increase your ability to adapt during these unpredictable times.