Using Presentation Software

Image by yewenyi Students have changed: research now tells us that they listen to music on their iPods 5 hours per week. They play video games 3.5 hours a week on their consoles, PCs, tablets, portable game devices, cell phones, etc. They watch the TV 16.5 hours per week. They only read 2 hours a week. They use computers and the Internet 5.5 hours per week, and they are generally as proficient or even more so than adults! They can’t stop using their phones for texting, calling, emailing, blogging, chatting, messaging, browsing the web, looking up information, sharing... you name it! However... most teachers are still using only old-fashioned...

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Using audio books to learn/teach English

Image by hiro.qli We all know that the more exposure a person gets to the language they are trying to learn, the faster they will learn it, and the more vocabulary they will acquire. Many of you are probably aware of the many graded audio books published by different ELT publishers, like Penguin, Macmillan, OUP, etc., and have used them in your classes, or as out-of-class assignments to help your students develop their reading and/or listening skills. Browsing the web, I came across a very interesting resource: www.librivox.org. This is a digital library of volunteer audio recordings of books that are in the public domain. Their Wikipedia...

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Icebreakers and team building activities

I came across this very interesting website, www.icebreakers.ws, that includes a good selection of icebreakers and team building activities organized by names, group size and categories. There are active activities that will get your students to move, get-to-know-you activities, and team building activitie...

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ClassDojo is a great tool to improve students' engagement, motivation and behavior

Someone tweeted the other day about this nice web app, ClassDojo, and I think it might be a great tool for elementary school teacher...

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¿Cuáles son los niveles de inglés?

Tabla de equivalencias "Terminé los niveles intermedios en una escuela de idiomas, pero cuando me fui a inscribir a otro instituto me dijeron que debía iniciar los niveles intermedios porque mi nivel era básico. ¡No lo podía creer! Hacía solo un par de meses que había dejado la otra escuela". Seguramente conoces a alguien que le ha sucedido esto, y quizá te has preguntado cómo es esto posible. ¿Qué no se supone que el nivel intermedio es el nivel intermedi...

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