This is a guest post by David Kaluper, Ed Tech blogger/ and consultant. Door 24 is a fantastic new iPad for Math grades 4th-8th. This app is aligned to Common Core Standards and focuses on basic Math facts, number sense, and logical/algebraic thinking. It uses fun interactive animated problems to help fix Victor Robot's circuits and find out the mystery of Door 24.From their press release, "The app’s focus on computational fluency supports problem solving and higher-order thinking and builds the mathematical processes and proficiencies that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) identify in the Standards of Mathematical Practice (SMP)."I highly recommend checking out Door 24 by clicking here!!!This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Schools www.freetechforschools.com

Beth Cagnol and Mike Hogan Ever thought about becoming a freelancer? This is the first of a six part series of articles from two ELT professionals who have successfully done just that: Mike Hogan and Bethany Cagnol. Here, they share advice on surviving financially, getting organised, managing your online reputation and getting work. Many ELT professionals are enticed by the flexible, independent nature of being a freelancer. You get to choose what sort of contracts to pursue, you are your own boss and you have more freedom on how you spend your time. However, going this route means that you and you alone are responsible for finding and maintaining enough hours to generate a sustainable income. You’re also responsible for paying your own taxes, health insurance, pension contributions, etc. In order to keep your head above water it’s essential to be well organised, maintain high-quality training services and stick with it even when the going gets tough. Organising yourself Whether you’re a teacher, teacher trainer, writer or other ELT professional, the starting point for freelancing means organising the budgeting and financial aspects of your career. By this, we mean assessing your current (or desired) standard of living on a monthly and yearly basis and then calculating the income necessary to sustain that lifestyle. From there, determine the average number of hours you need to work, per month, so that you can earn a living and still provide the best training for your learners. Obviously balancing the supply and demand fluctuations of the industry can be challenging. Your income will not be the same every month and there may be periods when you earn very little or nothing at all. Advanced preparation and proper management of your income and expenditure will give you more security and enable you to create a ‘rainy day’ fund for those quiet months. Solid administration skills are also necessary to stay organised. Paperwork is nobody’s best friend, but it’s essential to keep all of your documents, invoices, receipts, and records in order. Consider hiring an accountant to help you with your financial goals, at least initially. They can save you a great deal of money in the long run, are therefore a wise investment, and can also educate you about the standard aspects of freelancing such as pension contributions, health insurance, and tax deductible expenses. Getting work When seeking out teaching opportunities, it is essential you look the part, walk the talk and be a highly professional representative of the ELT industry. The person hiring you, or the client choosing to invest in your training, will be thinking, "Why should I choose you?" It’s crucial to distinguish yourself from everyone else offering the same services. Your CV, brochure and business cards should be clean, professional, easy to read, up-to-date and in the language of the individuals who will receive it. Take the time to manage your reputation. Don’t be afraid to Google yourself (images included) and be aware of what can be found. Prospective clients will do the same and it’s essential that you align your online appearance with who you are and what you want to be known for. On the other hand, if you can’t be found online, these days, your prospective client may wonder why - especially if you’re a freelancer. At the very least you should have an online profile, if not your own website. Most freelancing work today is obtained through word of mouth. Keeping work Reflect on what people think when they hear your name and what you want them to think. As a freelancer, your reputation is your brand; you should deliver the very best you can, every day. Adopt a quality-control process that enables you to collect and act upon any positive or negative feedback. Do this face-to-face, but also offer it anonymously, for example, through an online survey. As you build your business as a freelancer, satisfied clients will recommend you to others; this way, opportunities will start to find you and eventually you will spend less time looking for extra hours. Use that time to develop yourself professionally, so take courses, read up on the latest techniques, go to conferences, or volunteer for an association. The time you invest in yourself can lead to obtaining work more easily, possibly billing higher rates, and ultimately maintaining the high-quality teaching and training services you provide. This article first appeared in the September 2013 edition of the Teaching Adults Newsletter - a round-up of news, interviews and resources specifically for teachers of adults. If you teach adults, subscribe to the Teaching Adults Newsletter now.   © Mike Hogan and Bethany Cagnol, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the authors with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Business & English for Specific Purposes, Professional Development Tagged: Becoming a freelancer, Bethany Cagnol, ELT, ELT professionals, Freelancing, Mike Hogan, Teaching adults

This is a guest post by David Kaluper. it was originally posted hereBeen, the innovative site for visually bookmarking a site and collaborating has just launched a educational portal that makes it perfect for educators to use with their class. This free web tool is not only ideal for social bookmarking in schools but real-time collaborative web browsing as well. Been's new web portal now allows for educators to create student accounts, and communicate with them in real-time while bookmarking/browsing the web.This is ideal for Guided Learning, Flipping a Classroom, Project Based Learning, and can be used by any subject or curriculum. Educators can use it to create internet scavenger hunts, to research/introduce a topic, or any other number of possibilities.The educator account is perfect for moderating student's 'Beens' (bookmarks/collections), comments, resetting passwords, etc. Being "housed" inside of an educational portal allows for educators to see public Beens but only allows for students to see those of their teacher. Teachers can also collaborate w/ their peers to allow for collective Beens that can be use for group projects.Finally, the ability to collaboratively surf the web when being on the same page allows for students/educators to share comments and surf together to guide instruction. Also, educators can assess students who have questions when surfing the web or researching a topic.I highly recommend checking out Been for Education by clicking here!!!This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Schools www.freetechforschools.com

Ever thought about writing your own teaching materials? Stephen Greene is an English language teacher, teacher trainer, and materials developer. Here, he takes us through the process he undertook to write his first published materials. I have always written materials for my students. My first job was in a school in Poland where we had a grand total of two resource books to help us. The fact the course books we had ordered didn’t turn up until almost the end of the first term meant that we had very little choice but to get creative. There are many reasons why we occasionally need to look outside the course book, but for me one of the main reasons is just the fun and the interest of doing it. I simply love writing for my students. When OUP offered me the chance to co-write the Teacher’s Pack for Cambridge English Proficiency Masterclass with Jeanette Lindsey-Clark, I jumped at the chance. I thought to myself that all I would have to do was replicate my endeavours over the last 15 years, but on a grander scale. I could write a book, no problem. It turned out that I had a lot to learn. Doing your research Normally, I just wrote. I knew my students, my syllabus and my course book. I knew the strengths and weaknesses of all of them. If there was something lacking, and I felt inspired, I would sit down at my computer and write something to make up for it. But when writing on this project I had to study. I needed to study the brief from the publisher in detail. I had to go through the Student’s Book to understand how it had been put together and the methodology that the author had used. I also had to check the changes in the Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) exam and ensure I understood what the new questions demanded from the candidates. And all of this before I could even start doing any writing. Constrained creativity A number of times I had a great idea and spent some time developing it only to realise that it didn’t fit the criteria I was supposed to be working to. I found this to be one of the more difficult aspects of writing for somebody else; coming up with ideas wasn’t the hard part. Instead, coming up with ideas that fit the requirements of the project constrained and restricted my creativity. After a while, though, this restriction actually led to a better focus. Being disciplined The romantic image I had of sitting down at my computer and letting the creative juices flow through me to the screen just didn’t happen. Or at least, when it did happen it was as a result of being very disciplined and working through the times when I just couldn’t think of what I was supposed to write about. Balancing writing with teaching, family and having some sort of life isn’t easy so I often had to force myself to stay up until the early hours of the morning to keep to schedule. Deadline is king One of my favourite (non-ELT) writers, Douglas Adams, had a thing about deadlines: "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." This might be fine for a famous author, but for the likes of me, struggling to even get one book published, this was never going to be possible. If there is one thing that is going to make an editor angry with you and so not invite you back to the party it is to miss a deadline. Just don’t do it, under any circumstances. The results Despite the hard work and the steep learning curve the whole process was worth every minute. I learned an incredible amount about the publishing process and I believe this has made me a better teacher because I clearer insight as to why certain things have been selected in course books. The discipline, focus and awareness of objectives have also improved the writing I do for my students and I feel sure that my personal materials are of a much higher standard now. I am a much better writer now, but I know I still have a lot more to learn. This article first appeared in the September 2013 edition of the Teaching Adults Newsletter - a round-up of news, interviews and resources specifically for teachers of adults. If you teach adults, subscribe to the Teaching Adults Newsletter now.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Business & English for Specific Purposes, Professional Development Tagged: Creativity, Deadlines, Discipline, Materials writing, Research, Stephen Greene, Teaching adults, Writing process

It has been a while since I have posted anything due to the time constraints of fatherhood and this post will not be technology related. As most of you fellow teachers normally like to read a lot during the summer, I thought I would recommend a book written by a teacher.An ex-colleague of mine who teaches English has written this hilarious book called 'I Never Liked Mrs Carlsberg Even Before She Made That Bomb'. It is about about Billy Rivers, a fifteen year old boy who gets into hot water involving his useless Geography teacher, a bomb, a world-famous sprinter, a peculiar almost-superpower and the most beautiful girl in school.Any teacher who is constantly told about what to do for the 'perfect' lesson will love the fifteen year old's dissection of what we think results in good learning.Happy reading!This post originally appeared on Free Technology for Schools www.freetechforschools.com

Image courtesy of pixabay. Stacey Hughes, former EFL teacher, is a teacher trainer in our Professional Development team. Here she uses course material from Network to explore how social media can be used in the classroom to motivate young adults learning English. Want to get young adult learners really motivated? Then make the language they are learning meaningful by linking it to authentic English practice opportunities. One way to do this is to set up a social networking project in which students can apply the vocabulary, grammar and communication skills they have built up in class. In this blog I will first list some of the pedagogical benefits of using a social media project. I’ll then suggest a few ideas for projects before outlining how a social media project can be set up in class. Why use a social media project? A social media project provides English practice opportunities in an environment that is familiar. Many of our students frequently use social media already when they tweet, post questions or comments online, blog, share videos or links, and chat online. By linking this social media use to English learning, students feel that what they are learning is meaningful for authentic communication and they can personalise learning as they build a network of classmates and peers to communicate with. Social media also provides plenty of models for how language is actually used and endless opportunities to use critical thinking skills to evaluate sources of information. Finally, social media projects can show young adults how to apply social media skills to further their professional growth. Examples of social media projects Social media projects aim to get students to use social networks to perform authentic tasks or solve authentic problems. Smaller projects include creating a profile or uploading and sharing a photo with a comment. An example of a larger project might be researching to find a place to live or places to stay on holiday. The projects can be chosen to suit the language level of the student. Below is a list of social media projects you can do with your students. Build a personal or professional profile Students decide how much information to share and the best image of themselves to project, where to post the profile and how to share it so others can see it. Post a blog or comment Students respond to another blog or set up their own personal or professional blog. They comment on and rate an article, product or event. Connect online Students find an old school friend or a new friend in another country, join a group online that shares their interests, or collaborate on a project. Investigate something local Students learn about a local problem, find out about local events, or contact an organisation in their community. Find out Students find places to stay when travelling, find a job or a place to live, find a suitable restaurant - the possibilities are endless. Evaluate a website Students decide whether the information on a website is credible or not, or if a site or posting adheres to accepted ‘netiquette’. Game This may seem an odd choice, but there is a lot of language involved in learning the rules of the game and playing it well. Many games also have online forums and opportunities to link up online with other gamers. Lesson plan for setting up a social media project The following example of a social media project could be done over several weeks. Use social networking to find a job Level: Elementary and above Aim: Students will research job finding resources and present their findings to the rest of the class. Lead-in: use an image or anecdote to begin a discussion about finding a job. Ask students if they have experience looking for a job and what resources they used to find one. Find out if they use any social networks (friends, family connections or social networks online) to look for jobs. This discussion could bring up some interesting cultural differences. Put students into pairs or small groups to brainstorm resources they could use to find a job. They should list a variety of resources, not just online ones. Ask each group to share their list with the class. Example resources include a career centre at school, newspapers, websites, professional networks, company web pages, jobs fairs, and personal networks (friends and families). Write the following questions on the board: Where is it? Who can use it? How? What kind of information is available? Do you get personal attention? Can you set up interviews? What employers use this resource? Ask each group to research the job-finding resources they have brainstormed and answer the questions. You may ask each member of the group to research a different type of resource, or each student could research them all. The research can be assigned for homework. If you are doing the project over the course of several weeks, ask students to bring in examples of new vocabulary they have found. Use these new terms to create vocabulary walls or a class wiki. Bring the groups back together to share the information they found. Ask them to create a group presentation. The presentation could be on a poster or could use presentation software such as PowerPoint or Prezi. Encourage them to use tables, charts or bullet-points for a good visual effect. Each group can practice their presentation in front of another group. Ask the groups to give each other feedback by posing questions: Was there anything you didn’t understand? Do you have any questions about the information that the group didn’t answer? Ask each group to give their presentation. Encourage groups to listen to each other, take notes and ask questions. As a follow-up, ask the class to write a short blog listing ways to use social networking to find a job. Ask each group to list 1-2 ideas, then collate these into one document. Share the document online and invite other classes in the school to read it. (This project plan was adapted from Network 1 Teacher’s book, page vii) In conclusion The plan above demonstrates how a social media project can bring the real world into the classroom and make language learning meaningful for authentic tasks. It brings in a range of related vocabulary and grammar, and practices all four skills, but keeps the focus on the task. This focus is motivating and completing the task can give students a sense of achievement, especially if they then have a live audience to share with.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Multimedia & Digital Tagged: Language practice, Lesson plan, Motivation, Network, Project work, Projects, Social Media, Social networking, Stacey Hughes, Young Adults

One of the most common questions I get asked by colleagues is how to usefully collect and collate information using Google Forms. Google forms are extremely useful for polling students, conducting short assessments and keeping records of staff activities.Rather than re-invent the wheel with this one, I thought I would point you towards Google's own support pages. These are worth exploring in detail as there is wealth of information on using Google apps but for now, check out how to use forms and then give it a go yourself.Here is the linkThis post originally appeared on Free Technology for Schools www.freetechforschools.com

Ahead of his forthcoming webinar on the subject, John Hughes, ELT teacher, teacher trainer and course book author, looks at the growing need for critical thinking skills to be integrated into Business English teaching. In a recent article on the subject of technology and the 21st century workplace, The Economist (January 18th, 2004) made the following demand: "Schools need to change, to foster the creativity that humans will need to set them apart from computers. There should be less rote-learning and more critical thinking." As teachers and educators, many of you will be familiar with this viewpoint; after all, the calls for more critical thinking in education grow louder all the time. But the fact that this comment appears in a business magazine like The Economist reflects a growing view from the world of work that ‘critical thinking’ is a key skill. Critical thinking in the workplace Employers, Human Resource recruiters and business schools globally also report a lack of suitable graduates and candidates with ‘critical thinking skills.’ A recent article in The Wall Street Journal highlighted the problem and looked at the high number of business schools that now include critical thinking as a key course component. In other words, you are increasingly likely to see the term ‘Critical thinking skills’ listed on the syllabus of a business course programme next to course components such as ‘Presentation skills’ or ‘Negotiating Skills’. Fostering sub-skills to develop critical thinking So if companies require critical thinking skills and business schools are teaching these skills, is it time for Business English teachers to consider how critical thinking skills might be integrated into their Business English courses? After all, we readily teach the skills and language for presenting, negotiating, meetings and so on. So why not critical thinking In fact, some language schools specialising in business English and corporate training ARE already offering critical thinking in English as part of their courses. And I suspect that many Business English teachers probably help students to develop this skill as part of their typical Business English lessons without realising it. Take the use of Case Studies, for example. A case study requires students to identify evidence, recognise different perspectives, express opinions with supported arguments and negotiate a final outcome. These are all sub-skills that go towards developing critical thinking as well as improving language fluency. In my forthcoming webinar on the 25th & 26th June I’ll be going into much more detail on this topic. We’ll define the sub-skills of critical thinking in Business and what language we need to teach students in order to support those skills. I’ll also suggest a variety of practical activities that you can use in your lessons to start developing the skills whilst at the same time - of course - improving students’ business English.   Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Business & English for Specific Purposes, Professional Development, Skills Tagged: Adult Learners, Business English, Critical thinking, Professional Development, Skills, Teacher Development

Every now and then, when Google Now predicts where I am going to walk to on Sunday, I do get a little bit worried. Should we worry or should we trust that they will 'do no evil'.You can also find more infographics at VisualistanThis post originally appeared on Free Technology for Schools www.freetechforschools.com

Freelance teacher trainer, Edmund Dudley looks some of the issues related to promoting speaking skills in mixed-ability groups ahead of his upcoming webinar on Solutions Speaking Challenge #3: "It’s so hard getting the weaker students to join in". Mixed-ability groups present a particular challenge for teachers when trying to promote speaking skills. For every student who gets actively involved in class, there is another who does as little as possible. For every student who speaks, there is another who stays quiet. For every hand that goes up, there is another which stays down. Naturally, our aim is to get all the students involved. In reality, however, when a lesson is not going as well as hoped we tend to modify our goals. Unable to involve everyone, we settle for what we can get.  Rather than noticing that only the stronger students are getting involved, we are simply grateful that at least somebody is saying something. The fact that weaker students are getting a free ride in the lesson can pass us by. So how can we get the weaker students to join in speaking tasks? The following questions are crucial to a full understanding of the challenge: What do we mean by weaker students? In most cases we mean students whose level of spoken English is below that of the other members of the group.  What we need to be careful of, however, is making the assumption that level of spoken language proficiency matches strengths and weaknesses in other areas. A student who is weaker at speaking may have strengths in other areas which can be capitalised on when it comes to speaking. What do we mean by a mixed-ability group? The groups we teach are ‘mixed ability’ not only in the sense that they are heterogeneous but also in the sense that the students themselves are simultaneously proficient at some things and weak at others. Every student we teach has strengths, talents and skills. The first thing we need to do if we are to encourage weaker students to speak in class is to boost their confidence. And the best way we can do that is to find their strengths and focus on them in a real, relevant and constructive way. Can’t speak or won’t speak? When we open our mouths to speak we become vulnerable. In many situations, when weaker students decide not to join in, they are making an entirely understandable decision. Why risk making a mistake or looking foolish in front of the rest of the class? This is where teachers come in. We need to create a classroom dynamic which nurtures confidence. We need to be attentive, appreciative, sensitive, supportive and - where necessary - protective.  The only way students will find the confidence to speak is if they feel they can put their trust in the teacher and the learning environment s/he creates in the classroom. Before we rush to experiment methodologically, it is vital to remember that the ideas and techniques we implement will only be effective if the essential foundations of trust and confidence are already in place. That brings us to the practicalities of the lesson: how we set up, manage and review speaking tasks. We have already established that it is hard to get weaker students to join in. Is there anything practical we can provide them with that will make a positive difference? - Time This has both a micro- and a macro-dimension. In the context of a single lesson, students need to be given enough time to formulate a response or utterance, as well as a chance to plan it and rehearse it. At the start of a course, meanwhile, we should not expect students to start speaking a great deal in the very first lesson - they need to be given enough time to acclimatise and feel secure in the classroom. - Options Speaking tasks tend to work best when they have options built in - options regarding roles, tasks and outcomes. For example, providing different speakers with a number of different communicative roles to choose from is an effective way of ensuring that all students feel confident and in control. - Variety within tasks and modes of interaction Differentiated activities can enable weaker students to complete speaking tasks at a level appropriate to their abilities. This does not necessarily mean segregating the weaker students from the stronger ones: in fact, as we shall see, some of the best differentiated speaking activities are based on weaker and stronger students working together to complete a joint task. - Resources Less confident speakers are more likely to lose their nerve before a speaking activity begins. We need to provide them with three important resources: information, language and encouragement. They need to have a clear idea of what to do and how to do it. They need to know how much time is available to prepare and for how long they have to speak. They need plenty of language resources, such as useful phrases and expressions. And as they prepare, they need to have someone they can ask for help, someone to encourage them. Yes, it’s hard getting the weaker students to join in. There are days when it cannot be done. With the right strategies in place, however, we can expect to see some positive changes over time. Register for Edmund Dudley’s webinar ‘Solutions Speaking Challenge #3: Promoting speaking in the mixed ability classroom’ on either Wednesday 25th July or Friday 27th July to explore this challenge further. Filed under: Skills, Teenagers Tagged: ELT, Professional Development, Skills, Solutions second edition, Speaking, Speaking in class, Teacher Development, Teenagers