This is what happens when your employer asks you to complete a table with all your certificates (but this is not all of them). This is also the moment when you kinda regret doing all that, as it just means more work 😅
#work #work_at_school

#funsies #life #books #Russian

So, what is feedback? The definition is actually a combination of all the points in the poll. To make a long story short, it’s anything the students get back as the result of their work.

Beware of the fact that corrective feedback on grammar and vocabulary is not be-all and end-all, it’s just a part of the whole feedback notion.

However, today I want to tell you about just that – corrective feedback on grammar and vocabulary. The picture shows what I typically do with my only adult student. Her level is Intermediate, she is extremely motivated and ready to do pretty much anything and everything, that's why I adore her. She is such a breath of fresh air! #methodology #feedback #motivation

Enough singing praises to her, so, corrective feedback.

The first column is emergent language and some paraphrased stuff that originally sounded a tad bit too Russian. The second is grammar mistakes. BUT! I do praise her accomplishments as well, don’t worry.

Sometimes we discuss her errors and mistakes together, sometimes I assign it as HW (like in this particular case). In the next lessons we will recycle the vocabulary, and dedicate some time to the repeated grammar mistakes.

It’s a good idea to keep track and record of your student’s mistakes so that you actually actively notice what the repeated slips are. I keep them in a separate presentation and leaf trough the slides every 2-3 weeks to see what needs to be revised. And, of course, to see what mistakes are slowly disappearing. Drawing your student’s attention to their improvement is a MUST.

However, it’s virtually impossible to have the same system with groups. Seems like I’ll have to continue looking for a way that would balance efficiency and application, yay (no ☹) #methodology #feedback #motivation

A pan in an ELT blog! What the hell? Bear with me, it’s relevant. Well, kinda…

This monstrosity appeared in my house after I had asked my husband to order a big pan. I didn’t even fathom that the non-industrial ones come in this size, as I had never seen such a pan in any of the households I had the honor of visiting.

I was frankly amazed by the sheer size (and weight!). And when I asked why my husband got this one, he just shrugged and replied something along the lines of “Well, you said you wanted a big pan”.

It got me thinking about the difference of understanding we have even for such seemingly simple notions as “big”. We need to be aware of such things to be good at communication in both private and professional life. For instance, if we tell a student to do something ASAP, well, there might be a problem. For us, ASAP might be immediately after the lesson, for the student it might be after they have beat the latest boss in their favorite game. It’s all about priorities, isn’t it?

The ASAP example was pretty simple, but this situation highlighted the importance of ICQs and criteria one more time. To do a task to our exacting standards, students first need to be aware of what those are. What’s more, we also need to MAKE SURE that they are in the know, so to say. And to do that, we need ICQs, even if sometimes they sound silly (downright stupid).

I would appreciate you sharing any sudden insights connected to anything, even the most mundane things. Please, do comment on this message ASAP.

🌍 Do you write a comment? – YES
🌍 Does it have to be deep? – NO
🌍 Is ASAP sometime in the next century? – NO
🌍 Is ASAP as soon you have read the message? – YES

#random_musings #methodology

⛴ NAVIGATION 🚢

Apparently, I’ve been doing it all wrong until this very moment. So here are the hashtags for this channel. Most of them are self-explanatory as you can see. I might add to them later on.

⏳Work
#methodology #work_at_school #conference #CPD #burnout_resistance #activities_ideas #AI #lesson_materials #A2 #B1 #B2 #exams #listening #failure #lesson_ideas

🦔 Random Stuff
#life #books #rant #hobby #random_musings #funsies #motivation

• How Languages are Learnt – by Polina Kordik School of English.
A glorified book club, but a really good one. The book itself is quite interesting, the monitoring teachers were cool, the people attending the course were amazing. However, in my opinion it is a tad bit overpriced. 8/10

• Three conferences
1. “Every Lesson is PROурок”, Гимназия им. Примакова.
Not bad, nothing new, really. The organization wasn’t top-notch, but it was their first, so some leeway is to be offered. It was fun to visit another school of the same caliber as mine. 5/10
1. Trendy English Evolution
It was interesting as I met some long-lost colleagues, was fun to get back in touch. There were some nice talks I genuinely enjoyed. 7/10
2. Перезагрузка образовательного опыта, МПГУ
Loved it. Had a chance to meet up with some amazing people. Kudos for making it free, even novice teachers could attend. 7/10

• Psychology in Language Teaching, МПГУ
It was conducted by Kate Redkina, I like her a lot, and the content was quite engrossing. Several things that I found out were quite a game-changer, immediately implementable and actually implemented. 9/10 (yes, I am hard to impress).

CPD is not just about methodology though…

P.S. Some honorable mentions of what we can use CPD for, most of them kind of ring true for the original meaning: Celebrated Palpable Disaster, Casually Playful Despair, a Casually Pessimistic Dolphin, the Captivating Perfection of Demonology etc.
Which one do you like best? Maybe you’ve got some other ideas about possible interpretations? #methodology #CPD #professional_development

On the way to work I was thinking that I am relatively free today so I could dedicate some time to CPD. However, instead of actually learning anything new, I started off my day with ways to change the CPD abbreviation... Here is me, absolutely unapologetic 😅🫣🤍 #CPD #work #work_at_school

Your students can't sit still? They despise reading from the bottom of their little black hearts?

There's one little thing that can become akin to a drop of luck potion - off-the-wall reading.

☝️Procedure: the students are given a task to complete a table. They go to different texts on the wall, note down the required information. The activity is timed, so as soon as the timer runs out, the students are supposed to go to the next little text or part of a text (jigsaw reading 2.0).

👍 Benefits
➕ students don't just sit and read (good for 5-8 grades mostly)
➕ they have a time limit, so they don't diddle-dawdle
➕ it helps them learn to scan the text for required information (a very useful skill!)
➕ they do not cheat off each other (no time!)

👎 Disadvantages Disadvantage
❌ prep time (But frankly, it is a negative side to most additional activities. However, with the advance of AI, it's much easier to manage)

🆘 Anticipated problems and solutions:
1⃣ some students might not want to stand up (and it's ok! - just let them read quietly)
2⃣ some might complain that they are not fast enough (pair them up for peer check to aleviate stress)

#work #work_at_school #activities_ideas