David Read, the Academic Director for Technology Enhanced Learning at the University of Sheffield, introduces a brand new online conference for teachers of EAP. On the 15th and 16th January 2015, Oxford University Press and the English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) at the University of Sheffield are running a free online conference for teachers of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) with the theme of ‘The Cultures of EAP’. The idea behind the conference is to explore and celebrate the many differences in the way that EAP is taught and  learnt around the world. In setting up this conference, we wanted to give EAP teachers across the world a chance to come together and share knowledge and experiences of teaching in different contexts. When I looked around online, there seemed to be plenty of webinars and online conferences for EFL/ESL teachers, but almost nothing available for teachers of Academic English. There are some excellent organisations and communities out there, such as BALEAP in the UK and social networking groups such as the #EAPChat hashtag on Twitter or the Google+ TLEAP group, but no chances yet for a dedicated online conference. In fact it was the TLEAP group on Google+ I turned to when looking for a suitable theme for this conference. Several contributors suggested the idea of the Cultures of EAP. What do we mean by this? Well, it’s an acknowledgement that EAP teaching and learning is not one thing, and can vary considerably from country to country, institution to institution and student to student. For example, what differences are there in the students we teach? I teach at the University of Sheffield in the UK. Many of our students are postgraduate students from China and the Middle East planning to study a Masters or Phd, often in engineering, management or journalism. This heavily dictates the type of language work we do with them in class. Is that the same for other centres in the UK, especially those with students planning to study different subjects, such as humanities? Does that change the style and content of teaching? And what about other English-speaking countries such as the US, Canada and Australia, what dictates the nature of EAP in those countries? And how does this differ from teaching EAP in a student’s home country? Another area might be student differences and challenges based on their first language or educational background.  For example, what writing challenges do Chinese students face because of their L1 that students from other nationalities don’t? Is it easier for some students to give presentations because this is something that is common in their own country? How does a teacher deal with this in class? We’d love to have a range of speakers from all across the world to give us a truly global perspective on how EAP is taught and learnt. Don’t worry if you haven’t presented online before, full help and training will be given. And even if you don’t want to present, you can just register to attend and make sure you get a spot on one of the numerous sessions that will be run over the two days. To submit a speaker proposal or to register for attendance, please go to this page on the University of Sheffield website.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Skills Tagged: David Read, EAP, English for Academic Purposes, Online Conference

At the time of writing, I am preparing to close down my business and declare bankruptcy. This has been on the cards for some time, now. While I have been open about the state of affairs, I have been very guarded about the effect it was having on me. I have been very busy presenting a brave face and looking as if everything is just fine.It has meant that I have had to pull out of all the conferences I was scheduled to attend and/or speak at. It has meant that I have had to turn down invitations to all manner of interesting sounding events. This, in turn, has left me feeling largely excluded and marginalised.Deep down, I have been feeling like an abject failure, and burning with shame that my ineptitude looks set to change the life circumstances of my husband and sons. My husband works unbelievably hard, and commutes two hours each way, every day. The thought that - through no fault of his own - he might lose his home, has been almost more than I can bear.Finally, I confessed this in an email to a friend/colleague, and her response has overwhelmed me:No Karyn, please do not feel shame, stand proud, you have never robbed anyone nor done anything underhanded, you have worked honestly and with sincerity, and you have done your best...and you are such an inspiration in yourself! i always felt lifted when talking to you and seeing your spirit.Yes, dammit! I have never robbed anyone (although a few have robbed me). I have never been underhanded (although - again - a few have been underhanded with me). I am sincere and honest. And I have done my best. I am able to say with certainty that I have inspired some people along the way. Many have been kind enough to tell me so. And yes, I am by nature an encourager.I know. I am naive. I have admitted it before. But I will not apologise for that. Nor can I see it as a fault. I would rather be naive, than be conniving, grasping, and looking-out-for-number-one-at-the-cost-of-everyone-else. I don't see how anyone could be in this business if that was how they rolled.So, yes. Learning Anorak looks set to close its doors at the end of this month. And, no, I'm not handling it at all well. But as of today, I can add defiance the things I feel.I'll let you know if that turns out to be a Good Thing ;o)

This is the second article of a three-part Business English series by ELT teacher, teacher trainer and course book author, John Hughes. Here, he looks at how the use of video can support business English teaching. One survey into the use of video in education reports that teachers increasingly welcome this tool as a means to support learning. For example, 68% of teachers believe video stimulates discussion, 66% say video increases motivation and 62% think their teaching is more effective by using video. Please see the link provided at the end of the article for more details of this survey. These figures are all based on responses to education in general, but I’d suggest that if you were to research similar figures for Business English teachers, you’d probably find the percentages were even higher. That’s simply because video lends itself in so many ways to Business English teaching. Here are five examples of how to integrate video into your Business English lessons, with suggestions for classroom activities. Presentation skills The internet is full of videos showing different types of business presentations. They range from the highly professional presentations we associate with speakers on TED to much more basic material. With all of these we can assess the presenters’ performances with our students and decide what techniques and language will help improve their presentations. In addition, we can also video our own students giving presentations. By using the video recorder on a basic mobile device, you can record a student’s performance, use it to give them feedback, and let them self-assess their own presentation. Watch this presentation taken from TED talks. It’s called ‘The magic washing machine’ and gives students a masterclass in how to use visual aids in a presentation. Workplace and process videos I once taught business and technical English in a factory instead of a language school. This was much easier than being in a normal classroom because I could take the students onto the factory floor and have them talk about their workplace. However, we don’t always teach students at their workplace, so video can help. For example, ask your students to make short videos of their workplace and film the key stages of a process. Then they can bring these into class and describe what is happening on screen. You’ll also find a range of videos online that showcase different companies and how they work. These are a great resource to teach the language for describing workplaces and their processes. This process video shows how IKEA produces its furniture. Students can watch and note down the different stages or information about the company and its structure. Infographic video One modern genre of video is the ‘infographic video’ (also called ‘kinetic typography video’). It shows animated text on screen which merges with images and may have narration or simply some background music. You can write comprehension questions for students to answer whilst they watch. Many business infographic videos tend to include lots of numbers and figures, so I give students the numbers shown in the video and ask them to note down what these refer to. This infographic video looks at the importance of using video in business. Interviews One of the simplest video formats is the interview or a business person talking directly to the camera. If you want to teach the language of specific business area, then find an interview with an expert in the field. Alternatively, make your own video by preparing a set of questions and interview a real business person to show in class. If you teach very experienced business people, then interview them and ask their permission to show their video to another class. In particular, if you teach different one-to-one classes, interview each of your students with the same set of questions. Then show the videos of the students to each other. It’s a nice way to bring other people into your one-to-one lessons and for students to share their knowledge. Take a look at this interview with an expert talking about cultural differences in business. It’s taken from the videos in the Business Result series. Short films Using short films in a lesson can add some fun and variety. For example, one short video called ‘The Black Hole’ looks at what happens when an office worker photocopies a black hole which has magical properties. Play it to students and ask them to think what they would use a ‘black hole’ for at work. Another short film called ‘Signs’ lasting about twelve minutes offers all sorts of opportunities for use in the classroom. The first two minutes show a young man going through the same work routine every day - a perfect springboard into the use of the present simple, and for getting students to talk about their routines. Here is the ‘The Black Hole’ video, and here is ‘Signs’. And finally, here is the survey I mentioned at the beginning of the article about using video in education.   This article first appeared in the July 2014 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: Business & English for Specific Purposes, Skills Tagged: 21st Century skills, Bringing Online Video into the Classroom, Business English, Interviews, John Hughes, Presentation skills

The 2010 award nominations are now open. Nominations are invited in the following categories:Best individual blog Best individual tweeter Best group blog Best new blog Best class blog Best student blog Best resource sharing blog Most influential blog post Most influential tweet / series of tweets / tweet based discussion Best teacher blog Best librarian / library blog Best School Administrator blog Best educational tech support blog Best elearning / corporate education blog Best educational use of audio Best educational use of video / visual Best educational wiki Best educational podcast Best educational webinar series Best educational use of a social networking Best educational use of a virtual world Best use of a PLN Lifetime achievementYou will notice that the list includes things like wikis, Twitter, webinars, podcasts, PLNs, social networking and so on.... so it's no longer just about blogs, per se.Nominations can be made in a variety of ways. Find out more here.

This is the final article of a three-part Business English series by ELT teacher, teacher trainer and course book author, John Hughes. Here, he looks at ideas and exercises for successful networking. We often think of successful business networkers as people who enjoy being the centre of attention. However, effective networking is about using normal conversation to meet new people and build positive business relationships. At its core, networking requires a business person to be interested in the other person, to be positive and to be interesting. Let’s look at these three aspects of networking in terms of the language your students will require. I’ll share ways to develop each part of the skill with three classroom activities. Be interested It’s important for the other person to know you are interested in what they are saying. That means using techniques to show you are listening and interested. Clearly, use of body language is crucial here such as regular eye contact with the other person and nodding your head in agreement. But the language you use will make a huge difference to how the other person feels. We can teach phrases to respond such as ‘Really?’, ‘I see’ and ‘That sounds interesting’. However, these phrases alone are not enough. Work on asking questions which follow on so, for example, you might build a dialogue like this: Person A: I’m based in London but I’m working on a new project in California. Person B: Really? How often do you go out there? Note that the question following ‘Really?’ is an open question because this will always be more effective for networking than a closed question. Open questions beginning with what, why, who, where, when or how draw out a more interesting detailed response. A closed question such as ‘Do you work here?’ only demands a Yes or No response. One simple exercise to practise this is to give students a list of closed Yes/No questions that you might ask in a social situation. For example: 1 Do you work here? 2 Do you do any sport? 3 Can you speak any languages? Tell students to work in pairs. Student A asks one closed question and Student B answers with a Yes/No answer. Then Student A has to transform the same question into an open question and Student B responds with an open answer. So they might produce a four line dialogue like this: Student A: Do you work here? Student B: No, I don’t. Student A: Who do you work for? Student B: I work for a large multinational company based in Bonn…. By working through the list of closed questions and creating dialogues with open questions, the exercise demonstrates how useful open questions are for networking and it provides good speaking practice with revision of question forms. Be positive In general, we prefer to do business with positive, friendly people. When we are positive, we tend to connect with the other person and making connections is what networking is all about. One activity you can use in class to practise making positive connections is the following. It’s also very good for practising the past simple and present perfect. Write the following on the board: - Companies you’ve worked for - Subjects you’ve studied - Places you’ve visited - Jobs you’ve done - Recent films/concerts you’ve seen Students stand in groups of four or five as if they are talking at a conference. You set a time limit of three to five minutes and explain that the students can talk about any of the topics on the board. During the conversation, they give themselves a point every time they find they have something in common with another person. So part of a conversation might go like this: A I’ve worked for a few companies. My last employer was Microsoft. B: Really? I’ve worked for Microsoft too. [Receive a point.] When did you work for them? A: In 1999. I was based in New York. C: Me too. I worked in New York. [Receive a point.] The activity is great for fluency and a lot of fun. Students become very competitive to receive points so this encourages them to make conversation. It also highlights the benefits of being positive and finding things in common with the other person. Be interesting Of the three aspects of networking, the third and final is the one people find strange; after all, can you really train someone to ‘be interesting’?! In fact, what this means is that to be a successful networker, you need to give the other person plenty of information about you (i.e. be interesting) so that they can respond (i.e. be interested). In language terms, it means that introducing yourself like this isn’t enough: ‘My name’s John. I’m a sales manager.’ Instead, give more information about you such as: ‘My name’s John and I’m in charge of our sales teams across Central and Eastern European regions.’ You can give students further practice with ‘being interesting’ by putting them in pairs. Write a series of topics on the board such as: Job, Location, Company, Hobbies. Each student takes turns to talk non-stop for one minute about themselves on each topic. The other student listens and times the minute. Obviously a student wouldn’t normally talk non-stop for a minute without the other person responding but the aim is for students to practise saying much more about themselves. For more ideas and exercises on successful networking, take a look at John’s video-based course, Successful Meetings, co-written with communications expert, Andrew Mallett. This contains eight units on different aspects of meetings skills including a unit on networking.   This article first appeared in the August 2014 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: Business & English for Specific Purposes, Skills Tagged: Business communication skills, Business English, John Hughes, Networking, Questions

As you probably already know, I have been dealt a series of severe professional blows since July this year. The consequence of this could very well be the demise of my business (barring a miracle, that is). As a consequence, I have been applying for 'proper' jobs in order to keep paying the bills, while - hopefully - being able to continue doing the job I love (although I am quite open to considering alternatives). This has been a very interesting exercise.I have made full use of automated searches to track down potential jobs, and - to be fair - there have been several likely candidates every day. What has been disappointing is the realisation that the first line screeners on the other end are totally ill-equipped for the job. Of course, they probably know nothing about my field, and so they are utterly unable to say "Ah! She has oodles of experience of X. That maps across perfectly to the advertiser's requirement for Y." To them, X only equals X. As a consequence, I have had 'bong' emails in respect of jobs I could do standing on my head with one hand tied behind my back, jobs that may as well have included my name in the job description... sometimes within minutes of submitting the application.So the method has its flaws. As a consequence, I thought I'd put the boot on the other foot. It may or may not work. I thought I'd advertise myself as a potential employee, and see whether that works any better.My CV is online, so I won't bore you with that. Instead, let me tell you what I'd like to do and where I might like to do it:As my pseudonym (learning anorak) implies, I am passionate about learning, and passionate about learners. I am an enabler 'tot in my murg in', as we say in Afrikaans (down to the marrow). I will go to great lengths to help people reach a new place in their journey, whether it be personal or professional. Can there be a better way to end a day than to know you gave someone a leg up to something they couldn't access before? My husband and I head up a ministry in our church that seeks out and gets to know visitors and first timers, invites them over for a meal, and introduces them to people with shared interests. This is not unlike my approach to learning solutions. Find the people. Learn about them: what they do, what they need. Put them in touch with the right people and/or the right information.I can see myself helping an organisation streamline its learning and development provision, un-bottle-necking the L&D team, and embedding learning in the workflow. Taking learning to the point of need so that when Joe Bloggs hits a bump in the road during his day job, he can access the answer, implement it and get on with his life. That would be my dream job!I'd love to work with people/organisations who are venturing out into the realms of using social media, either for corporate/commercial identity purposes, or as learning tools. I would like to help people overcome their fear. For many years, I taught rank beginners how to use computer apps, and found it enormously rewarding. I have a knack for taking the unknown and relating it back to the already known.I have worked with and for global non-profits, collectives, small-to-medium private businesses, public sector organisations, a further education college and FTSE100 blue chips. I have no objection to going back to any of those sectors. I have never actually worked for a university, but, during my Master's degree studies often thought how much I would love to help faculty members move into the spaces their students already occupy (and some that they don't), to harness the learning potential of those.I'd like to work at the Open University. I visited them some years ago, and was struck by how much everyone seems to enjoy working there. I remarked on this to one manager, who agreed, saying "We have our fair share of part-timers, full-timers and never-go-homers." I relish the idea of working in an environment where people get so caught up in what they're doing, that they occasionally forget to go home. Being something of a workafrolic myself (yes, you can 'borrow' that term, I did), I can relate to this.So there you have it. Any potential recruiters out there looking for a person like me, you know where to find me.

Picks from Rod's Podcaster Guide and E-Learning NewsHigherEd Camp Philly - follow-up and link to their Ning community siteDoes Google Wave Mean the End of the LMS? - The Chronicle is asking whether Blackboard can be replaced by WordPress. How about Google's Wave as a replacement for the LMS?Blind Search - What happens when you remove the branding from Google, Yahoo and the new Microsoft "Bing" search engines? Livescribe Pulse SmartpenReviewThis computer in a pen records audio while you take notes on special "dot paper". Play back the audio by tapping on your hand written notes, dock the pen to recharge and simultaneously sync to your PC, and share notes and audio."Pencasts" are a great solution for student note taking and faculty who want to describe and animate difficult concepts.See my demo Pencast on Podcasting: Pencast on Podcasting by Rod Murraybrought to you by Livescribe Podsafe Music Selection from the MusicAlley by Mevio (aka Podsafe Music Network) "Summertime" by Brother Love - one of the most popular tracks on the network Duration: 13:09

Professional Development Services teacher trainer, Stacey Hughes, invites you to share your ideas. In our recent travels, we’ve seen some amazing and creative uses of digital technologies in the classroom.  As e-course books and educational apps become more common and as teachers begin to see the potential of online practice, they are finding innovative ways to use these tools to help motivate students and help them learn.  We have started asking teachers, "How do you improve language skills with e-books, apps, iTools, iTutor and online practice?" Here are some of the responses we’ve had so far. iTools: I love working with iTools because it allows me to make new practice activities that used to take me ages to make before the digital age. One of my favourite features is the thick white pen I can use to erase the words of a text.  For example, I erase the words of a picture story, children look at the pictures only and in pairs/small groups they have to come up with a dialogue that matches the messages of the images. This can entirely the same as the original or they could add to it depending on their language level. Once they have their dialogues, they practise them in pairs and finally act it out in front of the class. As children are the ones who choose the language to be used, it motivates them immensely and it helps develop their speaking skills. - Erika Osváth, Hungary iTutor: I like to get my students to prepare tasks for each other when they watch the video clips on their Headway iTutor. I ask students to choose one clip from the unit, watch the clip at home and prepare some simple questions/true or false statements/etc. about it. They then find a partner who has prepared a different clip to them and exchange tasks. They watch the clip at home and do the tasks. Some students like to give their partner feedback on the tasks e.g. language accuracy. This activity not only helps students to develop their listening skills but also allows them to create tasks that are the right level for their peers. - Jules Schoenmann, UK. A phrase a day app: At the end of the lesson, we (teacher and students) decide on the words/phrases to learn, aka ‘words of the lesson’.  For homework, students have to find a phrase based on one of the words of the lesson in their ‘phrase a day‘ app .  We don’t know which phrase each student has chosen. The only thing students have to do is write it down in their notebook. Their task in the next lesson is to use the phrase naturally in the course of the lesson at any time.  So, you need to make sure you offer some opportunities for speaking. You can do it the ‘competitive way’: the student who uses their phrase first wins. You may do it the ‘responsible way’: Each student is responsible for making sure they use it during the lesson. You nod approvingly when they do so - don’t worry, students will look at you the moment they’ve used it or even let you know loudly! You can do it the ‘hilarious way’ as an activity in itself: pick students in pairs across the table/room, or students next to each other. The situation is this for each pair: They are travelling on a train to a distant destination (tell them where). They are complete strangers and bored to tears. There is nobody else in the compartment.   So they decide to start chatting. The thing is that they have to use their phrase naturally in the course of the chat. So they have to steer the conversation.   Students are given no time to prepare and each pair improvises their chat in front of the class in turns.  It can be slow, fast, awkward at times but always surreal and hilarious, but never embarrassing for students. Just let them improvise and allow ‘silences’.  You’ll all have a jolly good laugh! - Anna Parisi, Greece. Let’s create a teacher’s resource! How do you use OUP digital resources? We are interested in your ideas! Please comment below how you use OUP ebooks, apps, iTools, iTutor, iWriter, and Online Practice. Let’s use each other as a resource and see how many new ideas we can share on this blog.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Multimedia & Digital, Teenagers Tagged: Apps, ebooks, iTools, iTutor, iWriter, Online Practice, Stacey Hughes, Teaching Resources

Here is a woman whose point of view very closely reflects my own. There are some things that simply cannot be quantified.I can’t believe nor understand how many companies can’t also accept the fact that deeper and broader personal connections can net stronger business ties, too, whether or not you can capture the data proof points that bear that out. It’s been that way since the dawn of time.Read the whole post here.

Picks from Rod's Podcaster Guide and E-Learning NewsBlackboard Pledges to Follow Open Standards - Blackboard’s Ray Henderson, pledges that the company will do more to follow industry software standards.Need to Learn Medicine? There's an App for That - The Medical College of Georgia is providing free health science education apps for their students.Harnessing the Power of Social Networks in Teaching &Learning - Dr. Alec Couros addresses social networking and education: open courses, control of knowledge, pedagogy, creative commons, and more.I'll Take My Lecture to Go, Please - A new study suggests a "clear preference" among undergraduates for lecture capture.Lecture Capture in a NutshellOverview of lecture captureLecture capture systems offer three important benefits: an alternative when students miss class; an opportunity for content review; and content for online course development.Resources on lecture captureLecture Capture Feature Comparison Chart - Features of Accordent, Echo360, Mediasite, Panopto, Tegrity and Wimba7 things you should know about Lecture Capture (2 page PDF from Educause)Previous interviews with lecture capture vendors:RPP #62: PanoptoRPP #63: TegrityRPP #71: Echo360RPP #72: WimbaRPP #77: MediasiteView Rod's "lecture capture" bookmarksPodsafe Music Selection from Music Alley"Maybe I'm Amazed" by Blake Morgan who has worked with Lenny Kravitz, Lesley Gore, Phil Ramone, and others. This licensed remake of the McCartney classic has topped the charts on the iTunes Music Store.Duration: 17:36