Dear Hania

I was really delighted to see my letter published in the new issue of HLT magazine (…). I would say that  the new issue (Febryary 2019) is much more than a language teaching magazine, full of very interesting articles on various topics and problems connected with teaching. The old and new aspects of this fantastic job becomes more and more attractive thanks to its  power to influence the students' minds.

You have really  succeeded in celebrating the HLT  20th anniversary, and you haven't forgotten any person contributing to the success of the magazine, 

 I  think I will print   the   whole  issue to keep  as a sort of bible. 

 So long life to this glorious  teaching tool !

 All the best.

 Leda    

Greetings to everyone.

There were some posts on different English-teaching-FB walls regarding speaking, namely how to encourage children to start speaking in sentences, so I've decided to write a word or two about it ...

Talking to them in sentences is a good start, I believe. (If all they hear is isolated words, then isolated words they know.)

In my new blog-post, I have delved into some gap-fill approach when addressing young children ...

You're welcome to read it ... and share it on.

Best,

Mija Selic

Dear Promoters of Universal Welfare

It is just a strong endeavor to do my best for the welfare of one and all through poetry compositions and share my concern to promote Universal Brotherhood, Peace, Protection of Human Rights and above all Protection of World Environment.

This year’s WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY is celebrated on 5TH JUNE and the theme of the United Nations is #BeatAirPollution. I earnestly seek your cooperation to promote this universal cause so that we can together BEAT AIR POLLUTION, for which I plead to support and share the below video message to educate the youth, like-minded individuals, forums and organizations https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=aCx8H0alZ2o

Poetically yours

Dr. T. Ashok Chakravarthy

Poet - Writer - Reviewer

Weaving creativity into instruction

Mohamed Elhess is an adjunct faculty at the College of Education at Washington State University. He teaches courses in English as Second Language (ESL) endorsement. His research interests include student engagement, creativity, and addressing the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse learners.
 
In this week's featured subscriber article, Mohamed argues that students need to be creative and imaginative to be motivated to use new language and elaborates on:
•    creativity instruction and language development;
•    challenging thinking-skill activities;
•    imaginative activities;
•    real life experiences;
•    incorporating technology.
 
The right kind of classroom instruction and teaching mindset allow a window for students to think creatively and utilise language in ways that reflect better language learning and improved learner capability, which can flourish from within. Creativity enables teachers to remain open about the myriad of opportunities and possibilities to develop the creative process and new and innovative ways of thinking.

Read about activities encouraging imagination

In his latest blogpost, our resident blogger David Dodgson explores the world of EAP to meet the language needs of his senior high school students.
 
The world of ELT is full of specialisms. Whether it is working with different age groups, ability levels, exam classes, or people learning English for specific purposes, it is impossible for anyone to call themselves a 'general English' teacher. For a long time, I have seen my specialism as teaching young learners in the lower secondary (10-13) range and above. However, teaching young learners is a very broad term in itself. Each age group has different needs and considerations based on their level of maturity and stage of education. As learners get older, their needs become more targeted as well. As university applications loom, they may need to prepare for tests like FCE and IELTS. They may even have to take exams for other subjects like physics and economics in English, which brings with it a whole host of other considerations.

Read the blogpost

Reading for pleasure? Motivating EAL learners

In our complimentary article this week, Verity Cole sets out to find ways to get her teenage learners to read more.
 
My motivation for embarking on a programme of action research on extensive reading was a feeling of frustration at my students’ lack of motivation to read outside class.
 
The benefits of extensive reading on students' language acquisition have been widely researched, but unfortunately, my students were not to be convinced by academic research. The Reconnaissance phase of my action research therefore aimed to explore the reasons behind my learners' disinclination to read. It also sought to identify factors that my learners felt would motivate them to read more.

Read the full article

Impostor syndrome in teaching
and how to deal with it

What is impostor syndrome and why do many teachers suffer from it? As teachers, we are expected to be experts in so many areas that it is easy to feel like frauds. But sometimes, severe feelings of inadequacy can impact negatively on our careers and our lives. In her latest blogpost, Chia Suan Chong, our ETp blogger, explores how we can start dealing with it.

Read Chia's latest blogpost

Private tuition

In this week's complimentary online article, Maaouia Haj Mabrouk considers whether after-school lessons are a blessing or a curse.
 
We may deplore private tuition, or we may embrace it as an excellent idea. We may even be involved in it ourselves. Whatever our attitude to it, private tuition is a fact of life in many countries, so we need to address the issue and try to make the experience as beneficial as possible for our students.

Read the full article

Other English Teaching professional articles are only available to ETp subscribers. If your subscription is about to expire or you are not yet a member, you can subscribe from as little as £31 per year and receive 6 magazine issues, MyCPD (online professional development tracker) as well as instant access to the digital editions and an extensive digital library.

Special offer for group bookings of four or more delegates

Buy three tickets, get the fourth free*. Please contact our customer services team on info@pavpub.com for further information.
 
*Student rate applicable to teachers on initial teacher training courses, DELTA/DipTESOL courses or MA/PhD TESOL courses
**Cheapest ticket free.

Speechless but Meaningful:   Body Language in Intercultural Training? 

Dear colleague,

Some misconceptions concerning body language have received great attention both in academic and training contexts. Smiling, for example, has been identified by some scholars as universally indicating a feeling of sympathy. In fact, the ‘meaning’ of a smile (as of almost everything) depends on the context. Rather than displaying a warm and open mindset, in some contexts smiling may well indicate a strong feeling of embarrassment, i.e. almost the opposite of sympathy.    

Similar things can be said about posture, eye-contact, head shaking, personal space, the use of the left hand and many more. In general terms: the 'meaning' of body language is context-dependent rather than universal. Culture-based patterns play an important role in this.

In intercultural encounters, the messages we consciously or unconsciously convey can be crucial for establishing a trustful relationship – or the opposite.  But then, a ‘dictionary’ of body language does not exist. So how can anyone cope with the enormous diversity of behavioural patterns which can be found in the globalised world? How can I be sure that the handshake I offer will be accepted the way I mean it?

Can I be sure that shaking my head will be understood as showing disapproval rather than the opposite, as may be the case e.g. in Bulgaria? Will actively addressing a person of the opposite sex be seen as polite or presumptuous and unacceptable? 

In view of the great diversity of meanings in body language, how can the topic be incorporated into intercultural training courses? And most importantly: How can we avoid stereotyping?

Click here for some Japanese body language and gestures

Here are four suggestions for including the training of body-language in intercultural training courses:

1. Raise learners’ awareness that there are no communication styles, in verbal or in body language, which are universally accepted. They should know that communicative behaviour which they consider ‘normal’ may be considered inappropriate, impolite or utterly unacceptable in other contexts. Typical examples for this are touching a person, the V-sign or eye-contact. As a rule-of-thumb: When meeting someone from a different background, body language should be used with care. Conversely, interpreting body-language used by others is open to misunderstanding.

2. Raise learners’ curiosity, i.e. encourage them to find out what elements of body language may be expected in a context of their choice. There is plenty of information available on the internet (some more reliable than other). Make them compare their findings and emphasise that universal codes of body language do not exist.     

3. Provide them with meta-language in International English (English as a Lingua Franca). Learners should possess a repertoire of polite language functions to negotiate communication styles which are mutually acceptable for all concerned. Most business English training today tends to focus on British-American conventions concerning both (linguistic features of) English and body language. The teaching of Intercultural Competence in English is different.

4. Prepare learners for the unexpected, i.e. enable them to deal with confusing, annoying or irritating behaviour, utterances, values and patterns of thought without damaging a (actual or potentially) trustful relationship. Here as elsewhere the guiding rule should be: What you do and what you say and how and when you do it are what counts. Thus using meta-communication and mediation strategies appropriately can be crucial for dealing successfully with potentially difficult situations.

The ICE-train-the-trainer courses address both theoretical and practical issues connected with the use of diverse communication styles both in English and using body language. Participants receive a complete set of training and teaching material.

elc - European Language Competence info@elc-consult.com

(co)operation

By Francisco Gomes de Matos,ABA Global Education, Recife, Brazil

When languages we teach

Cooperative goals let's reach

For Global Peace educating

For Global caracter elevating

Intercultural awareness enhancing

Global Citizenship advancing

Pragmatic-variation prospecting

Spiritual diversity respecting

Ecolinguistically interacting

On sustainable environments impacting

A Global Community of language learners creating

A peaceful,nonviolent,nonkilling

communication multilingually propagating