Hanna Kryszewska is a teacher, teacher trainer, trainer of trainers. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Gdańsk, Poland. She is co-author of resource books: Learner Based Teaching, OUP, Towards Teaching, Heinemann, The Standby Book, CUP, Language Activities for Teenagers, CUP, The Company Words Keep, DELTA Publishing, and a course book series for secondary schools: ForMat, Macmillan. She is also co-author of a video-based teacher training course: Observing English Lessons, and online course for Orient Black Swan on 21^st Century Skills and Teaching the whole person: Humanising language teaching. Hania is a Pilgrims trainer and editor of HLT Magazine.

E-mail: hania.kryszewska@pilgrimsteachertrainig.eu   

                                     

Activities for Inclusive Language Teaching. Valuing diversity in the ELT classroom. Ed. A. Smith. (2020) DELTA Publishing. ISBN-978-3-12-501739-9, pp 136. This book has been published in the Ideas in Action series. The aim of the series is to build a bridge between theory and practice in language teaching. It looks at how theoretical ideas can be illustrated by practical, motivating and enjoyable ideas for the classroom. The editor and the other authors who have contributed the theoretical background and practical ideas to this book are all members of the IATEFL SIG: Inclusive Practices and SEN (https://ipsen.iatefl.org/about-ipsensig). This group promotes and instils a genuinely inclusive approach which gives the learners the feeling that they are included, that they belong and can participate, and gives the teachers ideas how to achieve this aim. In the introduction the book looks at ways to define inclusion, micro-strategies for the inclusive classroom, and then micro-strategies for implementing inclusion. This is a very brief theoretical section of the book. The main body is made up of 4 highly practical sections with activities for the classroom. These are: Well-being in the classroom, Understanding difference – embracing diversity, Working together, and What can we do now? – activities that foster reflection and self-evaluation in an unintimidating way. The activities are ready to use, with all the necessary photocopiable materials such as grids, role-play cards, quotes, visual materials, mindmaps and many other. In total there are over 30 activities that you can run tomorrow, but their additional value lies in the fact that they set inclusive teachers and school communities on the right track and inspire them to create own activities along the lines proposed by the book.

                                          

Learning to Teach Grammar. S. Haines. (2020) DELTA Publishing. ISBN-978-3-12-501628-6, pp 216. This book has been published in the Learning to … DELTA series. The aim of the series is to look at various aspects of teaching English in greater detail. In this book the author looks at teaching grammar through practical activities supported by theoretical underpinning. The structure of the book and the approach is very suitable for pre-service teachers, or candidates who want to get a teaching qualification. In the introduction the author looks at various aspects of teaching grammar, considers what it means to teach grammar, ways of teaching grammar and trouble shooting some problems. He also looks at ways of teaching grammar at relatively low levels; the ten sections look at talking about the present, the past, the present perfect, talking about the future, modal verbs, conditionals, the passive, nouns, adjectives and adverbs, and connecting sentences. The structure of the units is similar – the form, the usage, how to teach the given grammar area, followed by suggestions for classroom activities (presentation and practice) and a lesson plan (with a task to improve, adapt or modify the plan). The lesson plans are based on various types of materials and types of texts – a listening, a reading, a coursebook text or visuals. At the end of the book, we find consolidation sections for each of the ten sections, and a glossary. The book is ideal for a foundation pre-service or early in-service teacher training course in class or for self study. It offers a really in-depth treatment of the subject, so it would take too much course time to cover the wealth of its content in class time. Hence a mix of in-class work, and self-study seem a perfect option for how to use this book.

 

Inspiring Coaching. A Collection of Coaching Ideas and Experiences for Coaches, Teachers and International Speakers of English. K. Bachelor, R. Feather and W. Ellis (2021) Self published. pp 132.  The aim of the book is to take a different look at language learning where working on grammar or exercises is not of greatest importance. The authors who are prefect representatives and think-tanks of the Pilgrims coaching ethos and coaching practice, illustrate and showcase their thinking about teaching, or perhaps better language coaching, through reflections and anecdotal experiences. This approach offers perfect food for thought for an open mind. The authors do not have a concrete outcome on their minds, but rather they set you on a journey where the destination is only for you to discover. The book falls into 3 sections: Section 1 - by Kevin Bachelor, Section 3 - by Robert Feather, and Section 3 - by Wendy Ellis. For me it is a typical dip-in book, where I would read, reflect and digest, and when ready for the next bite I would return to the book. This is a very interesting publication which, I believe, would probably not get published by a mainstream publisher so I well done for the authors to have the courage to get in published themselves.    

                           

Teach Like You Imagined It. Finding the Right Balance. K. Lister (2019) Crown House Publishing Limited. ISBN- 978-178583400-4 pp 166. The soundbite on the back cover of the boos says a lot about its content and approach: Teaching is an incredible profession, but it also comes with a potentially toxic workload. You do not have to put up with burn out – and one way to avoid it is to return to how you imagined teaching to be in the first place.  I am sure many practising teachers will subscribe to this sentiment or will relate to this experience. The discrepancy between how you felt about your future teaching profession and the reality of the profession that hits you. It may be what you imagined or how you imagined it, but more likely it is a little or a lot different from your expectations. The book is all about getting the balance right and controlling your workload and stress levels. As the author puts it, the book is to ‘pave the way to a more balanced approach’. The book starts with an introduction which unpicks the Big Conflict in teaching, the reasons why the author has written the book, and suggestions how to use this it. Then follow seven chapters devoted to: understanding your subject and how you function in school, planning and delivering lessons, using marking and feedback to ensure the students are on track, assessing yourself and reporting back to the parents and school authorities, managing behavioural issues, having a good work-life balance alongside teaching, and, finally, leading as an approach to teaching. The book ends with a conclusion on what do when you have had enough, some tips to change the situation to be tried out straight away, and what action to take. This is a very honest book, a book that does not glorify teaching or gloss over problems. By being so honest and straightforward, the book is of great help to teachers who can identify with the issues raised in the book, and who can feel better that their frustrations, plights or dilemmas are not unique to them; there are many more teachers in the same boat and there is help round the corner.

                                                

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