Emily McLaren is an English language teacher and travel blogger who is currently based in Glasgow, Scotland. She has taught English in Thailand and continues to travel and use her TEFL qualification and skills wherever possible. In this post, Emily discusses what a new English language teacher should consider and prepare for before starting their first job. After earning my TEFL qualification a few years ago, I spent a summer in Thailand for my first English language teaching job. It was one of the most challenging but enjoyable times of my life. I thought I was prepared before I left, but after speaking to some other EFL teachers, it was apparent that we all had different experiences of our first job teaching English abroad. With that in mind, and based on my own personal experiences, here’s a few points that I think are the most important things for new EFL teachers to consider before taking on their first job. Do as much research as you can before you go. Not just on the country, but for the logistics of the move too. Your passport must be valid for at least 12 months and you’ll likely need a visa to confirm your eligibility to work abroad. Not only that, but you’ll need to consider what items you take with you. In my case, I left large winter coats and boots at home and picked up quite a lot of things after I’d settled in and figured out what I did and didn’t need. It’s much easier than trying to squeeze your whole life into one suitcase! Something to pay particular attention to is the dress code of your school. Come prepared with formal clothes such as a shirt, smart trousers or skirt, and comfortable and practical shoes (you’re on your feet all day!). Don’t show up for your first day in a baggy t-shirt and sandals - teachers in Thailand, specifically, are held in high respect and as such, you should dress to reflect this. If it turns out that your school is more relaxed with what you wear, then great, but don’t be surprised if you’ll be expected to wear formal clothes. Bring plenty of classroom essentials. I didn’t think of this and thought I’d have access to coloured pens, paper, stickers, and all the other items we use day-to-day in the classroom - but I didn’t! My school had a few textbooks and that was more or less it. Thankfully, a more experienced EFL teacher had plenty of stationery to share, but if you’re going to be working in a developing country, you’ll need to come prepared with your own supplies. So you’ve got your stationery covered, but what else should you bring? I had access to a small CD player, so I loaded up a few CDs with songs my students could sing along to. Be sure to choose songs that are sung in a clear accent with minimal use of slang terms - here’s a list if you’re really stuck for ideas, and I found that my students loved to sing (and shout) along to Jingle Bells! I incorporated music into my lessons by playing the song a few times and having my students sing along, which was great for practicing their pronunciation. I also made up worksheets of the lyrics with a few missing words for them to fill in. Finally, it’s well documented that realia can make your lessons even more memorable. You’re creating a link between the object and word, which is an excellent way of getting your students to remember the new words they’re learning. There’s no limit on what you can use - some soft toys, your favourite food from home, train tickets, or small items of clothing are all safe bets. I brought some sweets and asked my students to describe them to me - some described the taste, some spoke about the shape, and some told me the colour. All of their answers were accurate, and this is another small way of encouraging students to practice their use of adjectives. Your lessons need to be fun. For the most part, I attended school in the United Kingdom, where lessons were very formal and there wasn’t much time for laughing. However, in Thailand, my students loved jokes and I found it much easier to teach in a classroom that was having fun. Most teachers find it difficult to motivate their students to write, but there’s a huge number of digital resources on offer, such as apps, videos, and social media, which can all be harnessed to reinforce what your students are learning. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone of writing on a board and try out some new things. As I mentioned before, not only is incorporating realia into your lessons a great way of teaching your students new words and phrases, it’s also a lot of fun! You can use realia to role-play real-life situations and to put words and phrases into practice. I brought some restaurant menus from home with me and some accessories such as a hat, false moustache, and glasses, and would role-play ordering food with my students. They thought the false moustache and glasses were hilarious, and would always wanted to wear them to "look like a waiter"! Prepare yourself for cultural differences. I think this is one of, if not the, most important thing to consider. You’ve probably already given some consideration to this, but as this post points out, many schools are much less structured than the Western ones. I was taken aback at how relaxed the education environment was and it took a few weeks for me to get to grips with everything, but I enjoyed just being able to teach without the usual bureaucracy. Remember, you’re there to teach, not overhaul the education system. That’s just how it is! Go with the flow and try not to get stressed out over things you can’t control - focus on your students and teaching them as best as you can. Teaching English abroad can feel overwhelming to begin with, but you will settle in and succeed. Preparation really is key, so although you can get caught up in the excitement of moving, make sure you put aside some time to do as much research as you can before you head off.Filed under: Professional Development Tagged: EFL, Professional Development, teaching english abroad, Travel

Shaun Crowley has worked as an EFL teacher and a marketing manager for an international ELT publisher. He is the founder of www.linguavote.com, an e-learning platform for learners of English that features social learning and gamification. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @shauncrowley In ELT we often regard our profession to be independent of teaching subjects like maths and science. That said, many of the approaches and materials we use are influenced by wider trends in education - from constructivist thinking in the 80’s that influenced the publication of Headway, to the recent "flipped learning" approach that’s inspiring some EFL teachers to rethink blended learning. In American mainstream education there is an increasing emphasis on a concept referred to as "21st Century Skills" - a collection of various competencies that are regarded as being important for success in life, such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication, digital literacy, creativity, problem solving, environmental awareness and self-expression. Now let’s be honest - it’s a bit of a buzzword, with a meaning that’s open to interpretation. But the essential concept is pertinent: the ability to combine the subject you’re learning, with the skills and awareness that you need to apply your knowledge of the subject successfully. In ELT terms, I would interpret 21st Century Skills as: Analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating materials written in English Developing a "voice" on a topic and expressing it in English Researching materials and solving problems that are presented in English Being creative in English and taking communicative risks in pursuit of fluency Collaborating in diverse international teams, communicating in English Respecting international cultures and sensitivities Presenting yourself professionally in English Being able to use software to express yourself in English Being able to navigate software and digital content that’s presented in English Having the self-discipline to study English independently, and "learning how to learn". This probably isn’t an exhaustive list but already it is clear how relevant 21st Century Skills are to ELT, particularly in today’s interconnected world where English is the lingua-franca. And when we look specifically at the expected outcomes of English classes in schools and universities, it is even more evident that 21st Century Skills have increasing importance. 21st Century skills and the changing ELT landscape When I first started promoting ELT materials 10 years ago, there was a sizable market of end-users we playfully referred to as "EFNAR" (English for no apparent reason). These days, English is considered in most places as a foundation subject, a universal requirement for success in later life. Students are aware that English is a necessity for their CVs, particularly if they harbour ambitions to work for an international company. In many countries, English has become a preparatory subject in universities, partly because of the rise of English medium instruction on undergraduate and postgraduate courses. These trends have implications on the type of English students must learn, but they also have implications on the interpersonal, cognitive and technical skills that students need to apply to function effectively in English. Meanwhile, our students’ online worlds are bringing 21st Century skills to the surface even when they are at home… in gaming (collaborating as part of an international team on the Xbox), social networking (sharing thoughts with an international audience), and internet browsing (being able to quickly evaluate the validity of English websites found on Google). So if we ask how ELT will be influenced by future trends in mainstream education, I would suggest that 21st Century Skills will become a lot more integrated into the language learning process. What might that look like?  In my next posts I will offer four ideas for integrating some of these competencies in class and as part of a blended learning curriculum.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, English for Academic Purposes, Multimedia & Digital, Skills Tagged: 21st Century skills, Blended Learning, Critical thinking, Digital literacy, EFL, ELT, English medium instruction, Technology

Yesterday, I came across this TED talk by Ramona Pierson, CEO of Declara. Pierson was seriously injured in a car accident several years ago. In fact, that she survived is nothing short of astonishing.Please don't get so lost in the sensational story of her injuries and the fact that she now looks so unscathed that you lose the message that this young woman was moved into an old age home, and that fact probably saved - if not her life - her ability to function and lead the life she has.This was radical collaboration. A bunch of people came together and taught her some vital skills. Sometimes they were skills the bunch of people didn't have themselves, so they more or less made it up as they went along. Others were skills some members of the bunch had honed and flexed decades previously. This was outside the box/left field/pick your cliche thinking in action. Was this bunch a collection of young buck mavericks, known for flying off at a tangent? Not even a little bit. This was a bunch of senior citizens in an old age home. They didn't hold a thought shower. They didn't run a few ideas up the flagpole and see who saluted. They all just pitched in and did what they could. It was probably quite messy, because it was life and not corporate business. And just look at their results.By and large, people in old age homes are considered to have done their bit for society. They are now being afforded the chance to put their feet up and take it easy in the final years of their lives. They can even be quite disempowered. They are as likely to be 'done to' as school children - not consulted about their schedules and preferences, but with activities planned and scheduled by well-meaning people who believe they know what's best for them. Old age homes aren't exactly sought after harvesting grounds for recruitment agencies. And yet, and yet.I find this story inspiring on so many levels.I am also inspired by Pierson's approach to recruitment (among other things). However, rather than diluting this particular slant by going down that rabbit hole, let me leave you with a link to an interview she did with Business Week, so that you can explore more on your own.

Dr Charles Browne is Professor of TESOL and Applied Linguistics at Meiji Gakuin University in Japan,  a recognized expert in vocabulary acquisition and extensive reading, especially as they apply to online learning environments. In addition to creating two well known high frequency word lists for second language learners (known as the New General Service List and New Academic Word List), he has created several free online learning sites including an extensive reading and listing website known as ER-Central, and has helped advise many publishers and companies working in these areas including SecretBuilders, who recently launched a set of ER reading apps using graded readers published by Oxford University Press. Did you ever notice how whenever you try a new online game, that the first level is almost ridiculously easy to complete but the final levels are incredibly hard? This is done for several reasons, and some of the basic principles of online gaming can be usefully applied to online learning environments as well. First, most online games provide a way of leveling up - for example if you kill enough monsters in Warcraft, you will gain enough experience points to go up to the next level. Games usually have many levels and make the first level(s) purposely easy both to help gamers to build confidence and interest in the game, to teach them how to use the basic features of the system, and to instill a desire to play the game more to reach higher levels.  Second, most good RPG (role playing games) as well as many other types of online games, provide players with an interesting or compelling storyline which helps to pull them deeper into the world of the game, as they become motivated to find out what happens next. And third, online games usually give players a way to accumulate points as well as to rank themselves against other players. This, too, leads to higher levels of motivation and commitment since most players want to achieve the highest score, or at least higher than others around them. When we try to apply the use of game thinking and game mechanics to learning environments such as second language learning it is called "gamification", something which, when done correctly, can lead to higher levels of learner motivation, engagement and time-on-task. Interestingly, one popular approach to second language acquisition, extensive reading (ER), echoes many of these ideas.  In 2002, Day and Bamford wrote a very influential article on the 10 most important principles of a successful extensive reading program, with the following 3 principles often cited as the being the most important: 1) reading materials should be easy 2) learners should be able to choose what they want to read 3) learners should read as much as possible First, if the reading material is easy, it instills leaners with a confidence at being able to read well, as well as the desire to read more and more in order to reach higher levels, very similar to the principles of gaming. Second, when learners are able to choose whatever story they want to read, they get pulled into the book’s storyline and become motivated to find out what happens next in a very similar way that gamers are pulled into the storylines of RPG games. And third, when teachers have students keep track of how many pages they’ve read and post those numbers to the whole class (which is common in many ER programs), it leads to higher levels of motivation through a friendly spirit of competition in much the same way this is achieved in the gaming world.Filed under: Graded Readers, Teenagers Tagged: Games, Gamification, graded reading, learning games, Reading

Centuries ago, people believed the world was flat. They don't (or most don't) believe that any more. So, if you were to chuck in a casual reference to the flat earth during a presentation you were doing to a client, or a roomful of attendees, you would immediately lose credibility. Clearly here is someone who does not have his/her finger on the pulse.But the flat earth is an extreme example. There are other, more recent ones. In recent meetings, I have heard people make casual reference to the whole left brain/right brain thing as if it were indeed, still a thing. We used to think so. But now, thanks to the work of people like Prof John Geake (among others), we know that is simply not the case.Similarly, I have heard people cite the example of how the Americans spent millions researching a pen that could write in the zero gravity of space, while the Russians just used a pencil. That illustration gets used to demonstrate why it is important not to overthink things, and that sometimes, the simplest approach is the best. While that may be sound advice, the story of the pen/pencil thing is bogus. The graphite in pencils is problematic in zero gravity, too.Every single one of us has seen a Facebook share that tells us that a million shares will get this kid his heart transplant, or that Bill Gates will donate a dollar to X charity for every 'like' the photo gets. Truth is, no amount of sharing is going to get that kid a heart, and Bill Gates already donates millions to charity, but to the charities of his own choosing. And by sharing these things, a person reveals a level of naivete and - it has to be said - laziness.It is always possible to check whether a story is true. There are several sites online where you can verify (or otherwise) the latest viral sharing trend. Hoaxslayer, Snopes, etc. It takes a matter of minutes.It is also possible to check whether the earth is flat, whether global warming is real, whether fracking is harmful, whether nuclear energy is really clean, whether the Russians really did just use a pencil while the American spent millions developing the space pen. (Please note: I am not for a moment saying that all of these are myths. But you can check for yourself which are true and which are not.)...and to see what the current thinking is on how the brain works, whether learning styles actually exist.I am a learning professional. I try to keep abreast of current thinking and research in my field so that I don't discredit myself or my company by casually dropping an absolute clanger into a conversation with a client.Whatever your field is, I genuinely believe you owe it to yourself to do the same.Things that were once unequivocally true (the earth is flat; eating fat makes you fat) are being shown by emerging research to be not so very true after all (the earth is round-ish; processed carbs make you fat). Information is everywhere, and it is impossible to keep on top of it all, but keep your eyes and ears open in the fields that interest you. And, in the field that pays your salary, make a conscious effort to keep up. That's my advice. Not that you asked for it.

The company I work for recently switched from an Outlook Exchange based email system to a cloud based system. This happened just before I joined the team, so the switch shouldn't really have affected me. I have been using cloud based email on a personal basis for a while, now, so I didn't really expect to encounter any challenges. But distribution lists have got me (a bit) beat at the moment. I don't use those for my personal emails.I have yet to figure out how to create a distribution list of my own - any help on this front would be welcomed. The distribution lists from the Outlook system have either been carried over or recreated (I'm not sure which), so I can use those to send out group emails. Being fairly new to the company, I don't know who is included on the various distribution lists, and I have yet to find a way to expand an existing distribution list to find out who's on it. Once again, any help you can offer...When I send out a meeting invitation to one of the distribution lists, the invitees are unable to respond. They receive an error message to the effect that the invitation has been sent to , whereas they're logged in as . So in fact, meeting invitations have to be sent to a list of individuals, rather than a named distribution list. If the distribution list is long and/or if you don't know who's on it, this can be problematic!Have you had similar challenges? How have you resolved them?

Over the past week, I have had several conversations with colleagues about the power of social media for learning. For many, it's still a new concept. And it got me thinking about the role that social media play in my own lifelong, lifewide learning.For the past couple of weeks, my radar has been inundated with news about the abducted girls in Nigeria. So much so, that I was surprised at how much noise was being made about a lack of media coverage of the situation. From where I was sitting, this tragedy was dominating the news. But I get most of my news via my social media streams, so while the traditional media might not have been giving over many column inches to the missing girls, social media had taken the ball and was running with it.Protest marches and sit ins have been organised. Demands have been made of the Nigerian government. There is talk of US troops being deployed to help locate the girls.What many people perhaps don't realise is that this isn't the first time this has happened. The large group of parents currently pleading for the safe return of their daughters is not the first group to have their lives unalterably changed in Nigeria in recent times. Over the past few years, bombings, murders and abductions have been frequent, but largely unreported. According to the Guardian, Boko Haram began kidnapping women and girls from schools across north-east Nigeria last year after police detained family members of its commanders. "Since you are now holding our women, just wait and see what will happen to your own women," leader Abubakar Shekau said in 2012. The Nigerian government appears to have been taken by surprise at the vehemence of the response this time around, and have (finally) made a commitment to getting the girls back. Why did it take so long? The verdict seems to be that no-one made enough noise...at first. To quote further from the Guardian, The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag took off on Twitter more than a week after the girls were taken, spearheaded by a former federal education minister, Oby Ezekesili and other Nigerians with large followings on Twitter. It has since attracted the attention of the world's media, and serves as a rallying cry for concerned observers. Just two days before the abduction and the bus station bomb, President Jonathan's daughter got married. In online protests, Twitter users contrasted photos of the wedding and a crying girl. Beneath was written: "She got a presidential wedding; they deserve a president rescue."The power of this reaction reminds me of the very different case of United Breaks Guitars. Social media make it possible for people to acquire information that might not otherwise even register on their horizon. It allows people to get their message out to a wider audience. It enables people to learn from one another when the traditional sources aren't delivering.Never doubt the power or the reach of social media. No group of people need stand alone in their grief (or their triumph, come to that). #bringbackourgirls #bringbackourdaughters

Shaun Crowley has worked as an EFL teacher and a marketing manager for an international ELT publisher. He is the founder of www.linguavote.com, an e-learning platform for learners of English that features social learning and gamification. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @shauncrowley. In Part 1 of this series, Shaun Crowley considered the importance of 21st Century Skills in ELT, concluding that the group of competencies that define this term are indeed important to English language learning. In the next four posts, Shaun continues by offering ideas to help you integrate some of these skills into your classes. Critical thinking skills are some of the key "21st Century" competencies, so it’s no surprise that we’re starting to see publishers position their course books with this benefit up-front, from primary to tertiary level. Here is an idea to help you maximize opportunities for critical thinking, so that your students are better prepared for the rigours of university education and the professional workplace. Adopt a "question-centred" approach to your classes Since the recent curriculum reforms in the US, a question-centred approach to teaching has been gaining popularity in schools. Teachers start a module with a big question. Students consider this question critically, and over the course of the module they synthesize information to form a conclusion in the form of a final homework assignment. This approach first made its way into ELT with the publication of Q Skills for Success. But whatever course you are using, so long as you have enough time to step out of the materials, it should be possible to customize your lessons to feature an "essential question". For example, Headway Elementary Unit 4 is called "Take it easy" and follows the topic of leisure activities. Before you start this unit, you could write this question on the board: "What makes the perfect leisure activity?" Perhaps search for a YouTube video that offers a nice way-in to thinking about the question… here’s one I found following a quick search: Pre-teach some of the main vocabulary items that fit into the question theme. Then spend a few minutes discussing the question and gauging students’ opinions before you open the book. As you go through the unit, use the various listening and reading texts as opportunities to return to the big question, encouraging students to synthesize and evaluate the different input.  For example, in the "Take it easy" unit, there’s a text called "My favourite season." Here you could ask: Is the perfect leisure activity one that you can do in any season? Return to the big question any time you see a link to the course material you are using. Then at the end of the unit, have students write an answer to the question for homework. If students are not in the routine of doing homework, round off the question with a class discussion. Have you adopted a similar approach to your classes? If you have, we’d love to hear how you apply the question-centred method.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Multimedia & Digital, Skills Tagged: 21st Century skills, Blended Learning, Critical thinking, Q Skills for Success, question-centred, Technology, YouTube

I recently had to attend a speed awareness course (I know, I know - you're all paragons of driving virtue). The delivery method for the course was chalk-and-talk with endless PowerPoint slides, almost all of which contained a list of bullet points. The instructors did their level best to make it interesting, and - to be fair - there was some solid content. But I can't help feeling that it might be time to explore some alternative delivery approaches. Perhaps this is a post for another day, but right now, I digress.If you know anything about me, especially if you've read my recent post, you'll know how my brain imploded when one instructor tried to explain the psychology behind speeding in terms of the whole left brain/right brain thing. You'll be proud of me, though, because I didn't immediately challenge him to a duel. :)I know I've only recently touched on this point, but it really set me to thinking. When all's said and done, this was a course about road safety. Imagine how their credibility would be damaged if they cited traffic ordinance that was as outdated as the left brain/right brain concept. Why do we put so much effort into one and not make the slightest effort about the other?The company I work for provides (among other things) training in various safety-critical fields: working at height, working with high voltage, working in confined spaces, hazardous agents in the workplace, for example (and those are just the ones that pop into my head - there are hordes of others). Imagine if we trotted out outdated safety equipment, or cited outdated safety precautions. The results could be devastating!The people who work in these areas make it their business to keep up to date with the latest information and legislation. They wouldn't dream of doing otherwise.Why is it then, that there isn't the same level of commitment to keeping up with the research about how learning itself works? Why is it okay to trot out research that is decades old and out of date? To cite pop-psychology as if it were solid fact? To quote urban legends as 'evidence' that 'prove' the point you're trying to make?Why isn't the learning world beating a path to Itiel Dror's door (for example)? Or Mo Costandi's? Or (while he was alive) John Geake's? In his presentations, Itiel often mentions how learning providers will feature a picture of a brain in their materials at various exhibitions. And when he asks how the product they're selling relates to the brain, the vendors are stumped. They know little about the brain, other than that learning happens there somehow or another.I have to question the ethics of this. In other fields, professionals keep up with emerging research on pain of dire consequence: structural engineers, microbiologists, burn specialists, aerospace engineers, surgeons... and the world holds them to account. Why are we being allowed to get away with it?

Zarina Subhan is an experienced teacher and teacher trainer. Since 2000, she has been involved in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) materials writing, training trainers and teachers in facilitation techniques and teaching methodology. Zarina now spends her time divided between teacher training, materials writing, trainer training and presenting at conferences.  "When we originally went to the moon, our total focus was on the moon, we weren’t thinking about looking back at the earth. But now we’ve done it, that may have been the most important reason we went." - reported by David Beaver, co-founder of Overview Institute. Similarly, when we go into the classroom, as teachers, our total focus is to help our students to learn. But unlike the astronaut, who was quoted, many of us fail to look back. We can become so focused on the job of teaching that we don’t reflect often enough on how we can develop ourselves. Let’s consider a question. What’s your ultimate goal as a teacher? Many would say they want to help their students be the very best they can be. However, the reality that many language teachers face is that they cannot always engage their students in what they are teaching. They feel they have to teach to the test, or cannot cover everything in the book in the time allocated. Not enough feel like they may be ‘making a difference’. This is the first of a series of six articles designed to help teachers develop themselves, in order to make a real difference to their students. I’ll be suggesting ways you can boost class participation, and encourage your students to really experiment with the language they are learning. So, where to start? It can be very helpful to begin by objectively considering how you teach, by being observed. Classrooms are a teacher’s territory and if observations are done as a form of inspection or prerequisite to promotion, it can be very stressful. However, if you invite a close teacher friend into your territory, it is quite a different matter. It allows you to ‘see yourself’ through another professional’s eyes, and a professional who is non-threatening at that. I suggest asking a colleague (preferably in the same school as you) if they would be willing to partner up with you. It could be as informal as "I don’t really think I teach p.68&69 in the Grade 6 book very well. Would you be interested in seeing how I do it? Could you share any of your ideas with me?" Although it won’t be assessed, it will still probably cause a bit more anxiety than if it were just you and your students. So be sure to plan to do it a little way into the future and not just "next Tuesday", only to realise it is parents’ evening the same night… When discussing and arranging your time to be observed, you should also negotiate when you can observe your colleague in return. If you make it a two-way observation, you are effectively both agreeing to be open and honest with each other and discarding all barriers. It is also fair. More importantly, observing, mentoring and listening to, as well as giving feedback can be a very beneficial process that leads to some reflective time and consideration on how to do things differently. When you see how others teach exactly what you teach, it provides a real chance for you to try out new things. These changes you make, however small, refresh your teaching. Before observing someone, there are certain things that need to be in place. Make sure you understand what the other teacher is hoping to gain from the experience and also what they hope to achieve for their learners. It can be helpful to ask them to write a lesson plan, even if they don’t normally do so for every class they teach. This is because it is good to understand what led to the lesson you observe. A lesson plan also gives the teacher the chance to point out ‘known difficulties’, whether these are particular students, or specific things about the class the observer needs to be aware of. In addition, a lesson plan allows the observer to have some questions in mind before the lesson begins. For example, "Why is this activity not happening till the end? I would’ve used it at the beginning!" They are questions that shouldn’t be asked before the observation because you could make the teacher feel unsure of themselves, but hopefully will be answered by what is evident in the classroom. And of course, a lesson plan is equally important to provide for your teacher friend who is going to observe you. Remember to keep things equal. Make sure you always thank the person you observe at the end, and highlight the positive things that you saw. If they asked you for constructive criticism, give it, but remember it should be useful and more constructive that critical. Be sure to take notes and get yourself organised before speaking to them. What kind of things should you note? Here are some suggestions. Level of anxiety / stress in the classroom Levels of differentiation and learning Method of questioning to increase student participation Listening to students and clarifying what is said How cognitively challenging are activities for the students? It’s a good idea to also provide some points that you would like the other teacher to look for in your lessons, so when you are observed, you too benefit from the experience. When this is done effectively and efficiently, both teachers usually benefit so much that they implement it at other times and it becomes a peer observation tool for self-development. It works when all things are fair and equal. This way, we can deal with our students’ learning and also our own, by putting into place a method of looking back and reflecting like the astronaut who went to the moon. Ours is just as epic a journey and I hope you will join me in my next blog post. I’ll be exploring anxiety in the classroom, both for teachers and students, and how you can reduce it to improve class participation. This article first appeared in the June 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: Professional Development, Skills Tagged: peer observation, Peer review, Professional Development