I’ll be presenting new video material for the Business Result series at the BESIG conference on 19th November. You can preview the talk by reading two articles about using video on the OUP ELT Global Blog here: http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2011/11/03/the-power-of-business-video-part-1-using-graded-video-in-business-english-teaching/
August 9, 2011
Over the last year I’ve been involved with a project to add video to the course series ‘Business Result’. The DVDs will be available with the books next year. In the meantime, click here for a taster
July 20, 2011
This is a post by visiting blogger Lindsey Wright. Lindsey is from the USA and here she gives an overview view of technology and teacher training in the US schools context. Lindsey regularly writes about web-based learning, electronic and mobile learning, and the possible future of education. Training Teachers to Use Technology Like a digital tidal… [Read more…]
July 12, 2011
To round of this mini-series of posts on observation forms, here are few final tips and ideas for ways of observing and using profromas. Lesson plan observation A simple but effective technique is for the observer to try to recreate the lesson plan that the teacher is following. The lesson plan pro-forma in Example 3.1 in… [Read more…]
June 7, 2011
One of the most commonly used observation instruments is a pro-forma with a set of rows and columns or a table. Quite simply, the trainer designs the form to pick out areas he or she wishes the observer to look out for. It can be used for virtually any area of teaching. The example below shows… [Read more…]
June 2, 2011
Using scales for observing is a simple technique but it can have many applications. For example, it can focus on areas such as pace of the lesson at a certain stage (slow<—> fast) or how controlled or teacher-centred a lesson is every ten minutes or so (free<—> controlled. Other areas that lend themselves to this… [Read more…]
June 1, 2011
Pictures are often more effective than words, so drawing an image or a diagram of what happened in the lesson is a useful way to observe. Even if you are writing things down, you can usefully illustrate a point with a diagram. For example, ask the observer to make a record of the classroom layout… [Read more…]
May 31, 2011
Yesterday I posted on the topic of observations that follow the class chronologically. I also picked up on the fact that we talk about strengths and weaknesses of the lesson and these comments tend to be subjective. Arguably, if the observer ‘copies’ down what happened in a lesson and then the teacher and observer reflect… [Read more…]
May 30, 2011
Starting today and for the next few days I’ll be putting up a series of posts to summarise the different types of observation forms we use when observing lessons with a few remarks on the pros and cons of each. If you have experience with any of them (both as observer or person being observed)… [Read more…]
November 5, 2011
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