Letter 1

Dear Hania,

(…) I have read the Tribute to late Earl Stevick with interest and even have taken notes for later reference. (…) Thank you for drawing my attention to EU grants With kind regards,

Marija Liudvika

Letter 2

Dear Hania

While reading through your site, I noticed you have a link to the Accredited Online Colleges website and other resources on old.hltmag.co.uk/dec13/lett.htm

Affordable Colleges Online, an organization dedicated to providing free higher education tools and information for current and future college students and their families, has recently published a new resource for students with disabilities, titled “Making College Affordable: A Guide for Students with Disabilities.” Multiple experts in the field with experience in academia, financial aid, and law contributed to the content in this resource guide, including:

• Advice and resources for loans and scholarships available specifically for students
with disabilities
• A comprehensive list of the best schools for disabled students, evaluated by each
institution’s disability services
• Distance learning tips for students with disabilities
• Job resources for students with disabilities
• Additional helpful resources

Anyone can access our free guide at the following location:

College Affordability: A Guide for Students with Disabilities
www.affordablecollegesonline.org/spotlight/affordable-colleges-for-students-with-disabilities/

Would you mind sharing the link to this guide on your resources page above (or on a similar page) and help us reach as many students and families as possible?

Thank you,

Dan Schuessler
Chief Affordability Officer
Affordable Colleges Online
E-mail: dan@affordablecollegesfoundation.org

Letter 3

Dear colleague,

We are pleased to announce the results of Disabled Access Friendly’s writing competition, organised in cooperation with ELT Teacher 2 Writer and Burlington Books.

The competition was to write an EFL lesson plan that would not only focus on linguistic aims, but also provide insight and information about mobility disability, thus building pathways for caring and action. Entries were received from all over the world and 18 were shortlisted These are now included on our site for free download. Thank you to everyone who entered and congratulations to the winners!

1st prize was awarded to Catherine Zgouras for “Max’s Wheels” aimed at young learners (A2). This lesson takes the form of a simple and entertaining story about Max, whose wheelchair holds some surprises that young children will love!

2nd prize was awarded to Miguel Mendoza for “It’s just a different pace” aimed at teenagers and adults (B2). We meet Ramon from Venezuela, who “walks with a different beat”. He says the most difficult barrier he faces is not a lack of ramps or suitable pavements, but people and their attitudes.

3rd prize was awarded to Kate Baade for “Choosing a WAV” (Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle) aimed at adults (B1). Learners think about how a standard car could be converted to make it more accessible for a wheelchair user.

Other entries that deserve a mention are: “A story of rock solid friendship” by Anila-Ruth Scott-Monkhouse “Dream big” by Magdalena Jozwiak “Follow your dream” by Jonathan Rickard “The Robotic Arm project” by Marjorie Rosenberg

By using Disabled Access Friendly’s material with your students, you join teachers from around the world who are making a difference.

With best wishes
the Disabled Access Friendly team

--
Disabled Access Friendly
www.disabled-accessfriendly.com Like Our Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/DisabledAccessFriendly Follow us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/DAFCampaign

Letter 4

MISTAKES

Never mind exams – whether we are talking about pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary, mistakes can be a question of life and death! Literally!! :-) In this little clip, a typical business presentation has just come to an end and the speaker has thought of a catchy acronym to round off his talk… Reading it out loud turns out to be a fatal mistake… A brilliant sketch – and an excellent introduction to an accuracy-focused lesson… Topic: Mistakes / Pronunciation / Business Level: C1 – C2

http://youtu.be/YpE8_uyBNtA
As usual, the handout [+ the KEY] is to be found here [NB: To download documents from the site, you need to use Firefox or Internet Explorer]
http://nic313.wix.com/nickmi#!handouts/vstc3=comedy-handouts-3

Comedy for ELT - Mistakes
Never mind exams -- whether we are talking about pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary, mistakes can ...

Nick Michelioudakis, Greece

Letter 5

PSYCHOLOGY AND ELT – CURIOSITY 2

Q: What do cinema trailers, soap operas and good fiction writers have in common? A: They always leave you hungry – hungry for more information. What is going to happen? Is Frodo going to make it to Mount Doom? Will Bella choose the vampire or the werewolf? As Dr Lowenstein has suggested, this curiosity is something almost unpleasant – like an itch. The good news is that the technique of generating this itch is not hard to master. And it can make all the difference in student motivation! The idea is to create a gap… but I’m not going to tell you everything. I’d rather let the great Dan Heath do the talking. Watch this short clip and find out how a priest managed to make even budget meetings interesting (budget meetings mind you – not sermons!).

http://youtu.be/SmXa5Bt7bUQ To read an article on a fascinating study about Trivial Pursuit and Mars bars (and some tips on how to create your own itching powder), just click on the link below: http://nic313.wix.com/nickmi#!articles/vstc2=psychology-and-elt-2

Psychology and ELT - Curiosity 2 Q: What do cinema trailers, soap operas and good fiction writers have in common? A: They always leave...

Nick Michelioudakis, Greece

Letter 6

Thousands of English lovers in 51 countries choose winners of the Love English Award

English aficionados have been mobilised and the battle for victory in the Love English Awards is over. The awards are organised byMacmillan Dictionary to promote unsung heroes talking about all things English. In true ELT style, the winners and runners-up are an international bunch indeed.

There may have been more than 12,000 votes from 51 countries, but the ‘Best Website’ category was an extremely close call, with the third annual award going by a narrow margin to English Experts. English Experts is a Brazilian initiative that uses voluntary contributions from an active community of English teachers and students who come together to discuss some of the trickier bits of English in an open and easy-to-understand way.

5 Perc Angol (or “5 minute English”), a site about the English language in Hungarian, almost retained its crown from last year but 32 votes between the top two put the Brazilians ahead.

The ‘Best Blog’ award recognises the growing number of individuals using their own creativity in the world of ELT. Luke’s ENGLISH blog has won the accolade for a third year running. Unlike the website category, it was the runaway winner with almost five times as many votes as his next competition, Worldwide School Blog, based in Poland.

Paris-based Luke Thompson’s popular series of podcasts has captured the imagination of thousands of his supporters. Luke has created a blog that’s a bit different, with an English teacher’s perspective and guidance on subjects from phrasal verbs one week to the vocabulary of having babies the next.

Macmillan is proud to be able to draw attention to some of the top anglophile talents on the internet wherever they’re from. “We’re celebrating the diversity of content out there and showing that promoting the English language doesn’t just lie in the domain of publishers and academic institutions,” Katalin Süle, Reference & Dictionary Publisher at Macmillan Education, said.

The growing number of nominations shows that the quality of sites and blogs on the English language is constantly improving and that more and more people are going digital to find ideas. This year, voters had a record 90 contenders to choose from.

The winners will receive a coveted badge of recognition to boost their visibility and credibility online, as well as £100 of Amazon vouchers. Find the final results .

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Letter 8

Dear Teacher,

Folk music lost one of its founding fathers earlier this week when Pete Seeger passed away at the ripe old age of 94. We pay tribute to him with a worksheet based on his performance of English Is Crazy, a look at some peculiarities of the English language, based on the work of linguist Richard Lederer.

It will soon be St. Valentine’s Day, and this month’s second addition to theDownloadable Worksheets section of the Teachers’ Area of www.tuneintoenglish.com is the beautiful Make You Feel My Love, written byBob Dylan and recorded by Adele. The phonetic activity on this worksheet was contributed by Colm Boyd, based in Barcelona. There is a link to over 25love-themed worksheets on the homepage of the website.

On the other side of the coin, our third new worksheet is based on the desire to hold on to a relationship even when it appears to be breaking down. A Tense Review based on Just Give Me A Reason, by Pink & Nate Ruess was submitted by regular contributor Mena Bianco from Naples.

Pink’s song is a favourite in this year’s Tune Into English Roadshow – you can see students of the Liceo Scientifico Statale “Galileo Galilei”, Palermo singing it here. Thank you to all those who have hosted the show – I look forward to meeting many more of you in the coming months. You can read the latest comments here and see a large selection of videos and photographs on facebook.

You can sing along with the UK Top 10 Charts on the Speak Up site – updated weekly, there is a link on the Tune Home page too.

The Karaoke page of Tune Into English now features over 8,800 songs.

Remember, a 48-page worksheet based on the film Once, an Irish love story with a difference, and the 95-page e-book Notes from an ELT Consultant are available to download on the site, and that Tune Into English also works with schools in the UK and Ireland to promote study tours and teacher refresher courses there. Full details are online.

Finally, the 1st February is St. Brigid’s Day, the other patron saint of Ireland, marking the beginning of the Celtic spring – you may enjoy making a St. Brigid’s Cross with your students.

Much love to you all for St. Valentine’s Day!

Best wishes,
Fergal Kavanagh
Tune Into English
www.tuneintoenglish.com

Letter 9

Dear Hania Kryszewska,

LangCorr is excited to announce its expansion into the United Kingdom. We are introducing a new innovative approach to marking papers and giving interactive feedback.

Below you’ll find a press release about this exciting new tool in the educational field.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need images or videos.

Yours sincerely, Diana Voru

------------------------ PRESS RELEASE:

Digital marking restores teachers' work-life balance

Teachers and a strong educational background are some of the most important cornerstones of our society. Teachers provide their students with some of the essential lessons and skills that they will use for the rest of their lives. However, one of the foundations of improvement and learning is effective and relevant feedback for students who are struggling. Regardless of the subject or area of study, feedback is a measurement of progress and success for students, but marking papers is also a time-consuming task that weighs heavily on teachers’ work-life balance and is often overlooked by students when done improperly. English Teachers teach English to at least 150 students and giving thorough and individual feedback to 150 students is simply a daunting task!

To address this problem, LangCorr has devised an exciting new approach to marking papers to give students feedback that not only encourages them to actively improve their skills, but also saves teachers’ time and energy that they can devote to helping more students and restoring a healthy work-life balance. The best news is that we are expanding the range of our programs so teachers and students in the UK can begin benefitting from this exciting new approach to education.

• The revolutionary Language Corrector program is an innovative marking and feedback system that has already changed the way that large numbers of teachers provide corrections and grades for papers.
• It provides multimedia approaches to feedback that engage students with exercises, interactive videos and games that focus on problem areas.
• Predefined grading comments and suggestions help teachers save time during grading and give more specific help to their students.
• Teachers can also monitor the progress that students are making in relation to the feedback to determine whether additional help is required.

LangCorr is happy to announce that services are being extended to UK markets and we are very excited to begin this partnership with a new market. Language Corrector has already made its mark on the Danish school system and we are confident that this interactive, innovative, and proven correction program will have a similar effect in the educational system of the United Kingdom.

• Danish teachers have praised the program due to the benefits of extra time spent away from marking papers and more energy to help students in more effective and customized ways! Whatever your role happens to be in the world of education, Language Corrector is a powerful new tool that will help bring the educational standards of your institution even higher!

Contact:
Diana Voru
diana@langcorr.com
www.langcorr.com
+45 52 221 790