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Showing posts from April, 2022

Education Man Crush

On my days off I keep on keeping on with my PhD research, I stumbled across a gentleman called R. H. Tawney and I must say I have quite the education man-crush on the chap, have a read of this and if it doesn’t get you all tingly, I don’t know what will: “Thanks to the fact that they (Tutorial Classes) are small, tutor and students can meet as friends, discover each other’s idiosyncracies, and break down that unintentional system of mutual deception which seems inseparable from any education which relies principally on the formal lecture. It is often before the classes begin and after they end, in discussions round a student’s fire, or in a walk to and from his home, that the root of the matter is reached both by student and tutor.” R. H. TAWNEY, ‘AN EXPERIMENT IN DEMOCRAT EDUCATION’,  THE POLITICAL QUARTERLY , MAY 1914. Okay, maybe it doesn’t touch you as deeply as it touched me. You probably just need some background about the man, what he did, who he taught, that kind of stuff. ...

iGCSE ESL: Note-taking & Summary Skills

  I will be taking over the Year 4 and Yearr 5 iGCSE ESL classes next year. Several students have signed up for an additional EAL class to help them with the note-taking and summary skills sections. I remember from my time in Korea that the lessons I created around David Attenborough documentaries were useful for the students. For any of you who haven't seen the documentaries, they are excellent for Level B1/B2 students. The documentaries are an hour-long, but they are filled with short 5 to 10-minute sections about an individual animal these are perfect for the students to watch in class. Added to this is the legendary narration by David Attenborough, he doesn't talk very much, so lots of long pauses for students to make notes or fill in blanks, and when he does talk, well, every single word is pure gold. My previous worksheets focused on vocabulary, grammar and then some critical thinking questions at the end. These questions would be based on the part 3 questions in IELTS. H...