Calling all Summer School Teachers:  I just made a new Pinterest board called June / July that has lessons for teachers who teach in June and July.  There are quite a few free lessons.  Some of the lessons are summer-ish like beach or fishing themed and others are lessons to review important skills such as sight words.  Click on the picture below ...

The Vortex Game.  This is a game I’ve created that can be used with any age or level – for pretty much any purpose.  It came out of a conversation with a colleague (thanks Sarah!) who was looking for an idea to help learners with minimal pronunciation pairs, but it can be used with pretty much anything! I can’t claim complete originality here ...

This is an entry for everyone currently working at an ELT summer school somewhere in the world!  It’s not always easy and there’s a lot of hard work – hopefully this post will help out a bit!  I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy my summer school experiences immensely over the years and one of the things I’ve enjoyed doing most has been the project ...

For many teachers, though the school year might have just ended – the joy of summer school classes is about to start.  Or may have already, but I think lessons at my habitual summer haunt are due to begin on Monday morning – I’m not there this year, so not sure. In any event this post contains a collection of getting to know you type activities / ...

This is a great activity that you can use as a warmer or as a fun practice task in a number of situations. I should acknowledge that I originally saw my Dip tutor Peter Moran do this during a lesson in Wroclaw in 2006 – in various forms it’s been one of my staple activities ever since! I can’t remember why Peter did this – though as I recall he ...

Summer school stigma: the idea that no one wants to be in summer school, not even the teacher. If you ask me, summer school gets a bad rap. Those who look at summer school with the ''glass half full'' perspective will see a chance for teachers to step up as leaders and get some freedom from the binds of forced curriculum. They’ll also see a ...

Following on from the recent blog challenge on raising awareness of disability access issues, I came across the Leonard Cheshire Disability campaign whilst watching Shaun the Sheep dvds with my daughter. The campaign is called “Creature Discomforts” and has very similar aims to the blog challenge – namely to get people to think about the way ...

Keeping kids’ attention is hard enough, but what do you do on those days when the weather is perfect and no one – including you – wants to be inside? Happily, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the beauties of summer and teach valuable skills at the same time. Get Inspired by Your Surroundings Teaching language arts? Use the outdoors to inspire ...

  By now, summer plans are well underway.   My summer plans have included working on my quilt (it's getting there), going zip-lining (fantastic), and whale-watching (saw several humpbacks doing their whale-y things).  My students are hopefully enjoying their summers, too!   The sky's the limit when it comes to kids' summer plans.  At least--their ...

Keeping kids’ attention is hard enough during summer school, but what do you do on those days when the weather is perfect and no one – including you – wants to be inside? Happily, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the beauties of summer and teach valuable skills at the same time. Read More