How to implement guided reading
This teachers‘ guide introduces you to guided reading. Guided reading is a common differentiated teaching approach used in the young learners’ classroom to develop learners’ reading skills. It aims at helping all learners become confident and effective readers, starting at the level they are at. Guided reading is used to close the gap between shared […]
Vocabulary matters. A talk and vocabulary-focused approach for rich guided reading
This teacher’s guide highlights the importance of explicitly teaching vocabulary in the young learner classroom. The understanding of written text means that we need to move our learners from using social, everyday vocabulary to talk to recognising and using more abstract vocabulary used in writing. Learners need extensivevocabulary building, multiple exposures to the new vocabulary, […]
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 […]
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 […]
The art of storytelling in the YL classroom
In this blog written for Pearson, I’ll be talking about storytelling; why storytelling is so powerful, what the benefits are for learners and how you can use storytelling with your learners in the YL classroom. Since this blog is no longer ‘live’ here’s a link to web archive or you can simple read what I […]
How to Implement Guided Reading into the primary Classroom
Reading isn’t easy… and learning to read is even harder! We often forget the effort it took us to start reading fluently. In this I talk about some practical tips in implementing Guided Reading into the primary classroom using “Connect and Talk about Texts” resources from Macmillan to show you some examples.
Pronunciation – The Oxford 3000
An easy way for your learners to check their knowledge and pronunciation of 3000 essential keywords in English.
Great free downloadable worksheets and ideas
Check this out! Some great free downloadable worksheets and ideas to review and expand students’ existing vocabulary knowledge with ESL Topics Word Banks. Intended for Intermediate students but ideas can easily be adapted. Happy teaching!