Dear HLT Readers,
Welcome to the slightly delayed April issue. We have all been very busy conferencing. IATEFL Glasgow was very interesting and you can view the highlights on-line at:
http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2012/sessions
Adrian Underhill, who happens to be a Pilgrims trainer, gave an excellent plenary on leadership in language teaching. You can view it at:
http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2012/sessions/2012-03-20/plenary-session-adrian-underhill
You can watch interviews with many well known TEFLers at
http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2012/interviews/all
It seems that teaching of thinking skills is very topical, if not the flavour of the year. There are a number of new publications on the subject. Especially impressive are two resource books published by Helbling, which will be reviewed soon on HLT. In the meantime, you can find out more about thinking skills by watching the very informative and inspiring IATEFL session by Marion Williams at:
http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2012/sessions/2012-03-20/teaching-young-learners-think-presentation
More on the subject can be found in the British Council webinar archive at www.teachingenglish.org.uk/webinars
A number of Pilgrims trainers have been involved in BC webinars and they are all well worth watching. This is your chance to ‘meet’ some trainers in our team.
Please note there are three very interesting conferences coming up soon. Perhaps you will be able to attend one of them ‘in the flesh’ and meet, among others, some of the Pilgrims trainers. You will find information about them in special boxes in this editorial. Just follow the links.
As for more inspiration, we are happy to announce a new DELTA publication on lexical chunking. You can get a preview and taste of the resource book in the Book Preview section: (A Taste of a New Book “The Company Words Keep” by Paul Davis and Hania Kryszewska, both Pilgrims trainers.
As for Pilgrims news we are happy to announce a new Pilgrims website. You can read more about it in Course outline section (Pilgrims’ New Website is Now Live! We are very happy with the way it looks and soon more features will be added. I will make sure you are informed about developments.
As I write this editorial, the Pilgrims Easter courses are in full swing. They last one week and, apart from having a great and inspiring time, we can enjoy the daffodils and cherry blossom. As Browning said:
Oh to be in England
Now that April’s there,
Perhaps next year you can join us…
Now briefly about the April issue of HLT. The two major articles address the subject of teaching high level students: (Some Issues in Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) by Kornelia Choroleeva, and (Some Successful Activities for Advanced Chinese Learners of English by Wang Ping.
There are three distinct themes in this issue of HLT. Those of you who are interested in using literature in class will surely enjoy reading (Children's Literature in Adult EFL Classrooms: Benefits and Pitfalls by Hsiang-Ni Lee and Mark Mallinder, and (Learning from Amelia Bedelia’s Mistakes: Implications on EFL Vocabulary and Idiom Learning and Teaching by Grace Chin-Wen Chien.
There are also articles on language skills, with a special focus on reading: (Going off the Beaten Track: Storytelling as an Alternative to Extensive Reading in the EFL Classroom by Mariana Andone, and (New Horizons for Homework: Reading into Writing by Feride Hekimgil.
Finally, the third area in this issue is methodology of language teaching: (A Culturological Approach to English Teaching. The Basic Triad of the English by Roza Karataeva, (Accuracy and Fluency by Robin Usher, and (A Swift Glance at 5 Critical Issues in ELT by Hadi Farjami and Amir Hussain Ghebali.
There are many practical ideas in the Corpora Ideas section (The Grammar Spoken of English by Simon Mumford), in the Lesson Outlines section (Songs as the Vitamin C of ELT: Practical Tips on How to Use Them by Merve Elbirlik Tülek, (Spelling and Vocabulary Games by Simon Mumford, (Happiness and (Writing an Open Letter or a Petition by Michael Berman, and in the Old Exercise section (Valuing Moments of Everyday Life by Szilvia Szita)
Enjoy the issue,
Hania Kryszewska
HLT Editor
e-mail: hania.kryszewska@pilgrims.co.uk
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