KEYS to guide your tech choices
Normally, when institutes move to online or blended programs six to nine months of preparation have gone into designing appropriate learning systems (Hodges et. al, 2020) and enabling teachers with technology-enhanced teaching skills. As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, most of us were thrown into online teaching overnight, and herein lies the danger that […]
Reflecting in times of Covid-19: Keep calm and keep GROW-ing
This blog, written for Cambridge University Press series World of Better Learning, explores 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. Click on the link below to read the blog, published in June 2020. Reflecting in […]
Teaching Online- Connect
One of the most important foundations for learning is that learners feel safe and have a sense of belonging. In remote teaching learners are not in the same classroom physically or perhaps not even in the same country so the distance created by the technology can have an impact on your classroom dynamics. Learners don’t […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
Preparing Young Learners for Exams
I think this was my first webinar ever… in 2015 way before training online was ‘normal’! In this interactive session for Macmillan Education I explore some of the key principles that underpin effective assessment and looks at how we can help young learners consolidate useful language in a fun way. Not only to improve their […]