The Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Networks for Language Teachers

 Does this look familiar?? To –ing or not to –ing……that is today’s question! One of my students asked me last month why we use the –ing form for blogging, networking, computing…..Good question! My answer? Because technology is constantly changing and plus usually these actions are constant, happen often, plus they are amusing but can be [...]

Vocabulary and Grammar – An Elementary lesson for CELTA trainees at CELT Athens

Olha Madylus teaching vocabulary necessary for her revision of the past simple with our elementary students 1st collector for An Elementary class at CELT Athens – Part 1 Follow my videos on vodpod These are the first fifteen minutes or so of a 60 minute lesson observed by our CELTA trainees early on during their [...]

The Plan-Link Road to Success in Exams or what passes for teaching

Warning!!!! This post may upset you but it is based on fact, not fiction. It first appeared in a local ELT publication and it is based on the evidence of a *notesbook and the learner’s testimony about the methods this teacher used to get him through to the First Certificate. Three failed attempts later, this teacher decided her schedule (at about 30 [...]

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many [...]

Happy Christmas to all from the CELT Athens team!

Here is a short animated Christmas card I made for all readers, friends, trainees and PLN! Wishing you all the happiest of Christmases, peace, good health and prosperity in the year to come! This has been an incredible year which has made my life richer through wonderful connections with colleagues around the world and for [...]

Our Edublogs Awards Nominations for 2011 – #eddies11

Here are our nominations for 2011   Best individual blog TEFLtastic with Alex Case   is my favourite in this category. Best individual tweeter This is a very difficult decision as the Twitter scene seems to change every single day of the week. For sheer consistency and a steady sharing of great ideas, I nominate @NikPeachey as a tweeter of the highest [...]

Using Wikis in ELT – #ELTchat Summary 09/11/2011

This is the summary of a very lively discussion held on Twitter. By Alexandra Koukoumialou (@AlexandraKouk) and Dina Dobrou (@DinaDobrou) #ELTchatters gathered on 9th November to discuss wikis. As usual a wealth of ideas and links were shared. But let’s just start by defining what a wiki is: A wiki ( /ˈwɪki/) is a website that [...]

Going to Conferences, Connecting with Fellow Teachers – #TESOL France

My online life has become a source of continuous Professional Development and constant contact with my Personal Learning Network (PLN), which includes inspired and inspiring educators from all over the world. I talk to them on Twitter and Facebook every day. We hold organised discussions on Twitter every Wednesday. But meeting with them in person [...]

Introduction to ELT Management

Are you an ELT Manager? Are you thinking of improving your Language Teaching Operation, introducing an innovation or simply, looking for ways to run your school more efficiently?   Cambridge has just announced the inclusion of this new specialism for the Cambridge DELTA Module 3 Assignment. As many of our candidates are Directors of Studies – [...]

Survey on the use of Social Networks for Foreign Language Teachers

This post originally appeared in my TEFL Matters Blog Dear PLN, Many of you are aware that since earlier this year,  I have been involved in an EU funded project – aPLaNet – whose aim is to help Foreign Language Teachers develop and maintain their own PLN in an autonomous way. Creating one’s PLN takes [...]