Category Archives: teaching journal

5 reasons to keep a teaching journal

Posted on 07/03/2014 by fabenglishteacher

Since I started my M.A. last autumn I’ve been keeping a journal in various forms. For the last month or so this has become a notebook in which I write a few thoughts, often questions actually, EVERY EVENING, except Saturday … Continue reading →

Posted in teaching journal | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Practicing the Past

Posted on 26/02/2014 by fabenglishteacher

Today the 6ème were using the past simple for the first time, this is always a delicate moment and I’m never sure whether I won’t be producing a herd of grammar monsters who will answer the question “what did you … Continue reading →

Posted in teaching journal | 1 Comment

A lesson on plagiarism

Posted on 25/02/2014 by fabenglishteacher

Do your students “cheat”? Or is it only school pupils that do so? Obviously the need for a good mark with minimum effort overrides any longer term motivation about actually learning English, or so it often seems. So today, when … Continue reading →

Posted in teaching journal | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Posted on 18/02/2014 by fabenglishteacher

It’s half-term, time to take a step back and look at how I’m doing and where I’m going (as well as changing the beds and eliminating that marking pile!). It feels like I made those New Year’s resolutions a millennium … Continue reading →

Posted in teaching journal | Leave a comment

Have they just had Sport? Is it windy?

Posted on 07/02/2014 by fabenglishteacher

I teach teens and Young Learners. Most of my classes have three lessons of one hour per week and I have noticed a major difference in the concentration and the work we get done, depending on the time of day … Continue reading →

Posted in teaching journal | 1 Comment

Observations on observation

Posted on 27/01/2014 by fabenglishteacher

Today I watched a Maths lesson given by a colleague. I now nothing about Maths or teaching Maths and it was my first “out of subject” observation so I was interested to see what I would learn from the experience. … Continue reading →

Posted in teaching journal | Leave a comment

Do I have to teach grammar for them to learn grammar?

Posted on 22/01/2014 by fabenglishteacher

I experienced two “moments” while teaching this week, both related to teaching grammar. In the first class the present perfect +ing was introduced in a text about music. I asked the pupils who played an instrument and elicited a few … Continue reading →

Posted in teaching journal | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Being bleargh

Posted on 18/01/2014 by fabenglishteacher

Although I’m supposed to be reflecting on action, in action and for action, I appear to have had a job reflecting anywhere near action at all this week, it has just flown by. When I finally pause for breathe and … Continue reading →

Posted in teaching journal | Tagged | Leave a comment

Take your students on a tour of the white house

Posted on 15/01/2014 by fabenglishteacher

In our coursebook we have a reading comprehension on the White house. While vaguely interesting, to me more than my 12 year-old pupils, it is a bit flat to say the least. So this time I wizzed up the class … Continue reading →

Posted in teaching journal | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

It makes me mad when…

Posted on 07/01/2014 by fabenglishteacher

I spend (relatively) ages thinking of a fun way to introduce the passive and my pupils just won’t play ball. For some reason my pupils always seem to find the passive challenging ( answers on a postcard please), even though … Continue reading →

Posted in teaching journal, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment