Ross Thorburn
Refocusing Very Young Learners' Attention

It can be very difficult to get and keep the attention of very young learners. I was once teaching a class about toys when a boat sailed past the classroom window. How can you compete with that?! Whatever you do to get the attention of your very young learners it has to be more interesting and fun than just shouting “sit down” or “look at me”. Below are my four favorite refocusing strategies. Each of these packages “sit down and look at me” in something more fun than whatever is distracting your class. Start whenever you feel your students’ attention is beginning to wander. Everyone will join when they see the fun.

Refocusing Very Young Learners' Attention
Classroom Management
Ross Thorburn
Grade your language: 1 acronym, 5 strategies, ...

The concept of teaching English in English is so common, we rarely stop to think about how unconventional and challenging it is. No other subject is taught so immersivity. Can you imagine receiving instruction on interpretive dancing through an interpretive dance? Or getting taught to code by reading java? Probably not.

 

Teaching English in English would be impossible without one key skill - grading language. Here are 5 strategies to help you help your students understand. And to help you remember them, they spell G-R-A-D-E.

Grade your language: 1 acronym, 5 strategies, every level
Teaching & Learning
Ross Thorburn
5 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Every ...

Cognitive biases screw up everyone’s thinking. They make us more afraid of flying than driving. They stop the U.S. enacting universal health care. And they convinced Tony Blair and George W. Bush that the Iraq War was a great idea, even when we knew it wasn’t. In short, cognitive biases make us less logical, less rational and less efficient decision makers. All of this applies to teachers too. Here are five cognitive biases that screw up your thinking in the classroom and why they stop you from being a better teacher.

5 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Every Teacher's Thinking (And What You Can Do About Them)
Teacher Development, Academic Management
Ross Thorburn
5 Reasons to Stop Using PowerPoint This Year

“Please email us your training."

 

"What do you mean? How can I email you interactions, epiphanies, questions, reactions, reflections and learning?”

 

"Just send your PowerPoint deck".

 

When did people start to think that “PowerPoint” is a synonym for “training”? Do they think the “T” in “PPT” stands for “training”? Training is so much more than a series of slides, handouts and bullet points. If your new year’s resolutions included cutting down on fats, sugars or caffeine, here are five reasons to add PowerPoint to your list of things to avoid in the new year.

5 Reasons to Stop Using PowerPoint This Year
Teacher Development
Ross Thorburn
Five Fool-Proof Ways to Destroy Teacher ...

Maybe you hate your school. Maybe you’re working undercover for a competitor. Maybe this is your next gig after hacking the American election. Whatever the reason, you’re in good company; there are a lot of people dedicated to destroying teacher development. Little has been written about the field of destroying teacher development (or “DTD” for short), so to make your work easier, I have compiled this list of the highly effective DTD techniques. Go forth and destroy!

Five Fool-Proof Ways to Destroy Teacher Development

teaching

5 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Every Teacher's Thinking (And What You Can Do About Them)

5 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Every Teacher's Thinking (And What You Can Do About Them)

Cognitive biases screw up everyone’s thinking. They make us more afraid of flying than driving. They stop the U.S. enacting universal health care. And they convinced Tony Blair and George W. Bush that the Iraq War was a great idea, even when we knew it wasn’t. In short, cognitive biases make us less logical, less rational and less efficient decision makers. All of this applies to teachers too. Here are five cognitive biases that screw up your thinking in the classroom and why they stop you from being a better teacher.

Make Your ESL Games Great Again

Make Your ESL Games Great Again

When I was a first-year teacher, my lesson plans looked like this.

"Warmer (game)

Grammar

Game

Book p14-15

Game

Review"

Games were great at entertaining my classes. Much later I realized that some games were also great for learning English. The challenge was figuring out which games. 

If you want your games to be more than a break between grammar drills and book work, check your games against “GAMES” (Group, Appropriate, Motivating, English, Skills).

Teaching Mixed Ability Classes - How Can We Teach More Of Our Students More Of The Time?

Teaching Mixed Ability Classes - How Can We Teach More Of Our Students More Of The Time?

To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln (via Penny Ur),

You can teach some of the students all of the time, or all of the students some of the time. But you can’t teach all of the students all of the time.

Why not? Because most classes are mixed level. Some students learn faster than others, some write better than others, some are quieter than others. So the question we need to ask ourselves is…

How can we teach more of our students more of the time?

We can teach more of our students more of the time by making our mixed level classes “MIXED” (by using Materials, Instructions, eXpectations, Evaluation, Discipline).