Teaching Online – Engage them!
When learners are emotionally engaged their academic performance improves which in itself can help to improve learner motivation. 1- Provide opportunities for learners to actively participate during sessions; in a larger group nominate, use names to allow them to turn on their microphone and individually contribute, or type the answer in the chatbox or select […]
Teaching Online – Plan, prepare and teach!
Teaching online still requires us to apply principles of effective practice and a key principle for effective online learning & teaching is careful planning… 1- Have a clear aim in mind when you are planning your session. Without a doubt, the platform you use has a lot of different, interesting functionalities but check when you plan […]
Teaching online – things take time
Even though you might be teaching GenZ learners, many of our learners are new to online learning… Make sure you take time to introduce your learners to the platform or tools you’ve selected to use for your online learning. Set them ‘running around’ the platform tasks; can they turn on their microphone? Type one thing […]
Tips to Teach Online – Keep it simple!
Most likely your learners are new to learning online too. So make sure you keep your activities simple: Reuse familiar activities and get them to respond in the chatbox or with young learners, why not get them to use their bodies? They can still act out ‘eating a banana’ and it will enhance engagement. Don’t […]
Encouraging extensive reading to advance intensive reading skills
In this webinar for MacmIllan Education, from March 2020, I talk about the challenges of reading. And as you might know… our human brains are not hard-wired for reading which means that the only way to develop our reading habit and become an effective reader is through reading, reading and reading! I explores the ins […]
Developing Reading Comprehension Skills
As you might know, reading is one of my favourite past times but if you ask me how I got taught how to read and enjoy it… I have no idea! However, as I have mentioned before reading is an unnatural skill for our brain and needs explicit instructions. In this webinar for Macmillan International […]
Mindsets in the classroom
“For Learners to have a true sense of their abilities, they not only need to learn but they also need to know that they know.” Richard Bandler As soon as we get our math books out, one of my 6-year-olds starts shouting out, “I can’t do that Miss, too hard… you know. My mum also […]
Using Images in the Primary Classroom
Images are powerful tools for learning. In this blog posts written for National Geographic Learning, you will find different ideas for how to use images in the young learner classroom. https://infocus.eltngl.com/author/anna-hasper/
Developing Vocabulary Skills through Reading
In this webinar for Macmillan International Curriculum, October 2018, I talk about the importance of developing children’s vocabulary to make their learning-to-read journey more enjoyable and explore how we can further develop learners’ vocabulary skills through reading.
The word gap: challenges, impact and how to bridge the gap
Even though the word gap issue is regarded by many as a more general problem rather than being specific to one group of learners, the impact can be especially crucial for students whose first language isn’t English. In this blog post, written for Pearson I talk about what the impact is for us teachers and the importance […]