Category Archives: teaching journal

I wish my students knew…

Posted on 26/04/2015 by

The other day I came across David Deubelbeiss’ post I wish my students knew… in which he flips Kyle Schwartz’ question to her students a while back that went viral; “what do you wish your teacher knew?” As so often, David got … Continue reading →

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In defence of vocab lists

Posted on 28/01/2015 by

Gosh, what a brave title, I can hear you all hissing from here. Before you actually start spitting at your screen, hear me out. Yes, I would love my students to learn English through communication activities and masses of comprehensible … Continue reading →

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New Year’s resolutions

Posted on 02/01/2015 by

It’s that time of year again, and the advantage of having a blog is that I can look back and realise how badly I failed keeping last year’s. The thing is by now I know exactly what I should be … Continue reading →

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Create a class memory jar

Posted on 30/12/2014 by

For the last couple of years our family has kept a memory jar. All year we fill it with train tickets, post-its, photos, special stones, etc. On New Year’s eve we open it together and remember all our adventures and … Continue reading →

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What’s my CPD Story?

Posted on 14/12/2014 by

(image taken from http://www.g-codemagazine.com) When I read about Vicky Loras’  blog challenge here I decided to write about my own story, not my “how I came to be an au pair, fell in love with the region (and…!) and did a CELTA … Continue reading →

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How to reboot your CPD

Posted on 07/12/2014 by

I’ve just watched a recording of Fiona Dunlop‘s webinar for IATEFL, entitled “How to access your CPD“. This, for me illustrates the availability of CPD today compared to when I started teaching, can you imagine it?- no internet, no blogs, … Continue reading →

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Reflective Teaching Challenge day 7 – What I learnt from an inspirational colleague

Posted on 10/09/2014 by

When I became a replacement teacher in a relatively challenging secondary school it was my first experience teaching teens.  I was almost eaten alive, discipline was a nightmare.  I think I was saved by the fact that the kids realised … Continue reading →

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Reflective Teaching Challenge day 5 – What does a good mentor do?

Posted on 07/09/2014 by

A difficult question because sadly I’ve never really had a mentor, once I’d done my CELTA I started work for someone who was willing to give me a lot of independence, and didn’t have the time to do much mentoring. … Continue reading →

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Reflective Teaching Challenge day 4 – What do you love most about teaching?

Posted on 06/09/2014 by

Wow, great question, I could ramble on about this for hours, and frequently do, although I’m trying to curb this habit as even my colleagues find me boring! So, I’ll be brief… What I love most about my job is … Continue reading →

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Reflective Teaching Challenge day 3 – An “observation” to improve for your teacher evaluation.

Posted on 05/09/2014 by

Mmm, an interesting one that, a few things come to mind but I’ll go with this comment a colleague made when she observed my classes last term- During the Teacher-Student phase of the lesson I tend to pick the same … Continue reading →

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