Dr. Jack C Richards is an applied linguist, writer, and teacher trainer. He is the co-author of Speak Now, a four-level speaking course that helps students to communicate with confidence. In this article, he looks at teaching conversational English. Conversations are longer exchanges that may follow on from small talk and are the more meaningful type of interaction that results from small talk. They are a more serious type of exchange in which what is said and how it is expressed are both important. One of the most important aspects of conversation is managing discourse around topics. Whereas topics are only lightly touched on in small talk, conversation involves a joint interaction around topics and the introduction of new topics that are linked through each speaker’s contributions. The skills involved include: Initiating a topic in casual and formal conversation Selecting vocabulary appropriate to the topic Giving appropriate feedback responses Providing relevant evaluative comments through back-channeling Taking turns at appropriate points in the conversation Asking for clarification and repetition Using discourse strategies for repairing misunderstanding Using discourse strategies to open and close conversations Using appropriate intonation and stress patterns to express meaning intelligibly Second language learners need a wide range of topics at their disposal in order to manage conversation as interaction, and developing topic fluency is a priority in my speaking classes. Initially, learners may depend on familiar topics to get by. However, they also need practice in introducing new topics into conversation to move beyond this stage. Casual conversation between friends or people who know each other well has these characteristics: Topics switch freely Topics are often provoked by what speakers are doing, by objects in their presence or by some association with what has just been said There does not appear to be a clearly defined purpose for the conversation All speakers can introduce topics and no one speaker appears to dominate the conversation Speakers comment on each other’s statements Topics are only elaborated on briefly, after follow-up questions or comments from listeners Comments in response to a topic often include some evaluation Responses can be very short Ellipsis is common The speaker’s co-operation is often shown through speaker support and repetition of each other’s vocabulary Vocabulary typical of informal conversation will be present, such as clichés, vague language and taboo language Developing topics in conversation is a subtle process that requires skills in topic management. Personal recounts are very common in conversation and serve to re-tell an event that the speaker was personally involved in. They often involve one person sharing a recent experience followed by the second speaker’s sharing of a similar experience as in this example: A: Someone nearly ran into the back of my car on the freeway yesterday. B: No way! A: Yeah I was going down highway 201 when …. B: That almost happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I was …. Students need practice in sharing personal experience and exchanging recounts, as in the example above. Agenda management and turn-taking are also important features of small talk and conversation. The former refers to the participants’ right to choose the topic and the way the topics are developed, and to choose how long the conversation should continue. This includes strategies for opening, developing and closing conversation and for introducing and changing topics. This process is often jointly managed by the participants, depending on the social relationship between them (e.g. teacher-student; friend-friend; employer-employee). Turn-taking involves providing opportunities for another person to take a turn in speaking and recognizing when another speaker is seeking to take a turn. Teaching conversation Ways of teaching conversation include: Awareness raising activities: students examine examples of conversation, either recorded (audio or video) or transcribed examples, and look for examples of how such things as openings, topic introduction, back channeling, etc. are realized, and for indicators of casual or formal speech. Dialog completion: students are given transcripts of conversations with selected features removed (such as opening, closings, clarification requests) and asked to try to complete them. They then listen to or read the completed dialogs, compare, and then practice. Planning tasks: students are given topics to include in a conversation and asked to write dialogs that include them and that also include personal recounts. They then compare and practice. Improvisations: students are given skeleton dialogs or dialog frames (e.g. containing a sequence of topics or functions they should use in a conversation) and use them to improvise conversations. Both small talk and conversation have features in common: They require being a good listener: this can be indicated through the use of back channel signals They involve asking questions: conversation develops through the participants asking question and following through on the answers they get with further questions They involve sharing of information: participants are expected to share information they have that is relevant to the topic being discussed Don’t forget to read Jack’s previous post on Teaching ‘Small Talk’.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Skills Tagged: Applied Linguistics, Conversation, Conversational English, Fluency, Jack C Richards, Speak Now, Speaking, Topics

  Exemplarr wishes you a Happy Ganesh Chathurthi

Photo courtesy of Jenn Durfey via Flickr Ritsuko Nakata, co-author of Let’s Go, looks at why children forget what they’ve learned and shares her top tips for getting young learners to remember new language. Ritsuko will be hosting a webinar on this topic on 13th February 2014. Teachers are often puzzled and dismayed to find that their students have forgotten what they learned in the last lesson, not to mention lessons from a few weeks or months before. However, if we look back on our own school days, I think we can say that we also had a similar experience: often forgetting what we had learned. We also crammed for tests and tried to memorize everything, forgetting most of it after the test. Children tend to forget things Why do you think you forgot your lessons? Was it the way the teacher taught you or was it your own attitude towards learning? It might have been a combination of both. There might have been other factors as well, like the way you felt at the time, or the environment in which you were living and learning. There are many reasons why students forget. As teachers, we have a great responsibility to get our students to learn as much as possible. When I first started out teaching, I worked very hard in every lesson and the children were able to repeat after me quite well. However, I was shocked when I saw them again at our next lesson. They had forgotten almost everything! They could repeat well after me, but could not say a single word on their own. I was beginning to think my students were just not good at learning English. I started to think very carefully about what and how I was teaching the children, and why they couldn’t remember much even after working so hard in each lesson. I realized that it was the way I taught them! I was teaching them to become parrots, repeating all the time and speaking like robots. The children were satisfied just to repeat rather than trying to remember what to say, because I did not teach them how to retain what they learned and actually use the language themselves. So what are some other reasons children forget what they have learned? Perhaps they were not paying attention during the lesson or were bored. It’s possible that they did not understand the lesson. They may not have been given enough of a chance to internalize the language. Or they might have not practiced it enough to react spontaneously to it. So what is remembering and being able to retain new language? It is NOT memorization. How many times have we memorized things, only to forget them fast? Since English is a communication tool, we want our students to use the language they learn in class. If children use the language, they will remember it because they are the ones talking, not the teacher. Children need a little time to process the new items we teach them. They need more time to practice saying them aloud in order to become independent speakers. As teachers, we need to make time for practice in our lesson plans. How can we help them remember? One way to get students to remember their lessons is to make the lessons active and student centered, where the students do the work together. They will want to learn more, and will be more active in class, concentrate better and enjoy your lesson. This leads to retention of the lesson, gives the children confidence, and will surely bring a sparkle to their eyes (and the teacher’s, too)! We should give children lots of practice time in class. If your students do not have exposure to English outside of class, this is the only time they will be able to practice. In Japan our once-a-week lessons are only 35 to 45 hours a year. This means that a year’s worth of lessons do not even amount to two days! Therefore we have to make every lesson an intensive one so that they can remember each one six days later when we meet again. An intensive lesson does not mean study, study, study! An intensive lesson can be a lot of fun and even more interesting than a slow-paced lesson. Children concentrate better when there is rhythm to the lesson. They speak out more when they get a chance to do quick, short drills instead of one long one. They are more active when they can talk to each other and not only to the teacher. They are motivated, concentrate more and enjoy their lessons. Emotions affect learning and, if they are having fun, learning and concentrating, they will remember the lesson! Motivation and a sense of progress play a big part in student attitudes. Once children are able to remember their lessons, they will have more confidence and will be motivated to learn (and remember) more. Output is important! To help our students remember better, our lessons should concentrate on a lot of output from the students. Not only speaking naturally with speed, rhythm, good intonation and pronunciation, but also reading and writing. Listening is also important, as it is an active skill that requires concentration and understanding. With a balanced lesson, that teaches the four skills, we can cover the learning needs in a way that fits the students’ ages. With a variety of techniques, we can cover the different learning styles of the students as well. It’s easy to get into the "textbook trap" This means that when the lesson starts, everyone opens their textbook, all heads are looking down and it is difficult to get the children to look at the teacher. Instead, it is more interesting to pre-teach the lesson before looking at the text. This way, the students will pay attention to the teacher, and the cards and other materials that are used. Visual aids will help slower learners by allowing them to see as well as hear the words. Adding the sentence pattern will provide context to the vocabulary, and therefore meaning to what the children are learning. Without meaning, memory will not be well formed. After the sentence is learned, the question form can be practiced. Putting the Q&A together, the students can ask and answer each other instead of being asked individually by the teacher. They will have fun and will have to THINK of the words themselves, instead of just repeating after the teacher. It’s important to present the language in a variety of ways Using actions while talking stimulates both sides of the brain and improves memory. Songs and chants with gestures also are important to bring rhythm into speech. Picture and word cards provide the visual stimuli necessary for students to grasp the meaning of what you are teaching. Putting the students into groups and pairs will encourage them to start speaking on their own, to each other, creating their own dialogs instead of relying on the teacher. If you teach new language step by step, with children putting together new chunks of language to build meaningful short dialogs, the students will remember what they say and will be ready to read and write what they have learned. Their memory will be built up gradually. With plenty of review, their language bank will be expanded throughout the lessons and they will be able to retain most of what they learn. Join me for my webinar on 13 February to find out more. I’ll be sharing some of the techniques we can use to build our students’ confidence and get them motivated as they have fun learning. I’m looking forward to seeing you there! Get more free articles, videos and lesson plans from Ritsuko and her Let’s Go co-authors.Filed under: Grammar & Vocabulary, Skills, Young Learners Tagged: Answers, Auxiliary verbs, Conversation, Introducing new language, Language acquisition, Let's Go, Let's Share, Questions, Ritsuko Nakata, Speaking, Vocabulary retention

Learni.st bills itself as a crowd sourcer of knowledge, serving as a gathering place for users to post content on "boards" shared with other members and is a great aid to E-learning. This expands on the Pinterest concept of photos pinned to boards. Learni.st caters to small business owners interested in becoming thought leaders in their respective industries. Using Learni.st, you can create boards with content related to your own industry, attracting followers who share your interests. Many of the board topics are of interest to startups, since the sight was designed with the growing small business in mind. As you launch and refine your marketing campaigns, consider these growing social media sites as possible additions to your strategies. Instead of struggling to be heard in the flurry of posts and marketing messages on larger, noisier sites, get noticed by a smaller audience on a lesser-known outlet. Just as with the big sites, it takes dedication, consistency and creativity, but over time you can build a following and find more customers for your business. Learni.st

Gareth Davies, an experienced teacher and teacher trainer gives his thoughts on the first of our Solutions Speaking Challenges: reducing the use of L1 in class. In a recent survey on speaking challenges run by Oxford University Press, teachers were asked to vote on their top speaking challenge. The problem that received the most votes was ‘in group or pair speaking activities, my students chat in their mother tongue’. I am not sure if this is good or bad news, in some ways it is comforting to know that teachers all around the world have similar problems to ones I am facing, but on the other hand I know that speaking is an important part of the learning process and the final exams, so I know my students need as much practise as possible. So how do I get my students to stop using the comfort blanket of their mother tongue and encourage them to speak in English? Taking away the comfort blanket My first answer to this question is don’t worry about it. This might sound controversial but in my experience the more you nag teenagers, the less likely they are to do what you ask them to do. There’s an old expression: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. So our job is to explain why it’s a good idea to use English and create the right environment but not to force the students to do it. So I suppose the question could be: how can I create the right environment to encourage my students to stop using the comfort blanket? If we know what is stopping the students from using English then we might be closer to the answer. I think there are three main reasons why students don’t use English in pair work and group work. 1. They are scared to make mistakes School culture often makes students scared to make mistakes; it might not be what we are doing in our English lessons but what is going on when they are not being taught languages. That means we need to work hard to overcome their resistance to error rather than highlight every error the students make. Often students are scared that if they make mistakes they will be marked down, so let’s let them know that mistakes are an essential part of the learning process. To do this we could have ‘quantity not quality’ days where we tell the students they will be marked on how much they say not on how they say it. Also we could have a dice or spinning wheel with typical mistakes written on it. For each speaking activity we spin the wheel and whatever it lands on is the mistakes the teacher listens for and corrects. This shows students they can learn from their mistakes. Finally, as a teacher it is really important to respond to the content of what is being said. So if your student says "I went in Rome", initially respond to the fact they were in Rome rather than the fact they have their preposition wrong. 2. They don’t have any ideas An oft heard quote is that students don’t have any ideas, but in the feedback to the survey many teachers said the students were on task but just not using English. So can we use this to our advantage? Could we allow the preparation time to be in the students’ L1? Allow them time to come up with ideas and then translate them. Would this give them the tools to give more than just one- or two-word answers? Whatever we do, I think for speaking activities to work, preparation time is a necessity not a luxury. I also think it is important to give students a chance to work in pairs to plan what they are going to say before changing pairs and asking them to do the activity. It is often a nice idea to repeat the activity with a new partner, the students will feel the first one was a rehearsal and they feel more relaxed second time around, (maybe even stealing some of their previous partner’s ideas.) Finally, you could give the students opinions; maybe students are too shy to say what they really feel for fear of being ridiculed, so if we tell them they have to argue against X or in favour of Y then they can hide behind the ‘role’ they have been given. 3. They don’t see the point I often hear teachers say that students don’t see the point. Maybe a reason for this is that if they are in a class of twenty then they realise the teacher can’t listen to all of them at the same time, so they only feel they are learning when the teacher is listening. One thing we could try is to ask the students to record themselves using their phones or other recording devices. They could send us their recordings so we can use something from it in the next lesson and they can keep a record for themselves. A lot of respondents to the survey said their students don’t listen to each other. This is a common problem, turning speaking into a series of monologues. One way to combat this is to have an activity within an activity. For example, ask your students to answer as a famous person or as another student in the class, or try to get random words into the speaking activity, or to slip in a lie. Their partner has to listen and guess who they are, or guess what the word was or what the lie was, training them to listen. So throw away your ‘No L1’ signs, stop worrying when L1 pops up, and allow students to have their comfort blanket when they need it. But let them know why you want them to speak English, let them know that you actually welcome mistakes not frown on them, they are part of the process of learning, and encourage students to listen to each other by bringing fun to speaking activities and hopefully you’ll soon have them leaving their comfort blankets behind by themselves.Filed under: Skills, Teenagers Tagged: ELT, First language, Gareth Davies, L1, New Solutions, Secondary, Solutions second edition, Speaking, Speaking in class, Speaking in English, Teenagers

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What is micro-learning? Micro-learning is learning in smaller segments and goes hand in hand with traditional eLearning. Micro-learning activities include short-term lessons, projects, or assignments with smaller amounts of information. The course material is broken into smaller lessons or modules, rather than teaching a broad topic all at once. Although the course may be broken down into smaller modules, it is still hosted on an eLearning platform. Micro-learning even in e  - publishing can be best when the student truly needs the information or when they are the most receptive. These instances are real-life examples that they can relate to, such as reading a bulletin, catching up on recent tweets, or reading a blog article about cooking. Micro-learning occurs on a daily basis. Micro-learning has a few main advantages. For example, it gives the students the ability to gather information in small segments and helps them absorb it much more effectively. Another advantage is that the learning can be done on-the-go. Mobile learning allows you to learn anywhere, anytime. Like eLearning, micro-learning can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Emails, online articles, multimedia videos, and short presentations can give the students the tools to achieve their end-of-course goals. Find an eLearning platform that works for you and build your course!

Ahead of his webinar on 7th and 12th February on the same topic, Gareth Davies looks at how to make vocabulary learning inspring and motivating. I was sitting on a train late last year and I watched a girl do her English homework. She got out a course book, turned to the back and started memorising a list of words for Unit 4. The word list had a date above it, as did previous word lists, suggesting to me that the girl was revising for a test that was coming on Monday morning. The girl read the words, occasionally writing in a translation or stopping to look one up on her phone. This made me a little sad. Obviously to her, (and her teacher?) vocabulary was just a list of words to be learnt for a test; but vocabulary is so much more than that. It’s a bundle of words to be used and consumed, a tool to help you express yourself and your imagination, the very key to successful communication in a language. How can we change this perception of vocabulary? How can we make vocabulary learning more inspirational? What tools can we give our students to allow them to learn and grow their vocabulary autonomously and not just trudge through a list of words? How can we make vocabulary feel like a bundle of joy, each word like a Christmas present to be unwrapped and discovered? We are lucky as English teachers that we have so much more than just a school subject on our hands; we have a tool for creativity. But if we are not careful we can turn English into another subject to be endured by the students. In my webinar ‘Getting the words off the page’ I will look at some answers to the questions posed above and think about some practical ways to teach and review vocabulary so the students actively enjoy learning words. To find out more about teaching vocabulary, register for Gareth’s webinar on 30th January.Filed under: Grammar & Vocabulary, Professional Development, Teenagers Tagged: Gareth Davies, insight, Language learning, Learner autonomy, Motivation, Professional Development, Teenagers, Vocabulary, Webinar

There’s an ever-growing range of companies offering an array of social media analytics tools, from entry-level platforms such as Hootsuite and Sprout Social to sophisticated stand-alone products like Socialbakers and Radian6. All of these products use an API to capture data—the exact same data already available to you and your business for free from Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics and many other social media networks. The only differences between the native analytics and the more sophisticated—and expensive—options are the interface and the math used to calculate ambiguous metrics like "potential reach" and "engagement." As it turns out, the more you pay, the prettier the interface, the sexier the reports and the more complex the math. How much "pretty" you need or can afford depends on your budget, the scope of your marketing effort and the nature of your business.

There is a growing interest in using tablets in the English language classroom. Teachers are interested in them for a number of reasons. Firstly, is their potential for the higher student engagement that comes with using a device that is interactive, intuitive and with scope to use a multitude of tools for personalised learning. Teachers also appreciate the benefit of having some course components that give instant feedback to students thus saving marking time. Another compelling reason is the ease with which teachers can create lessons for classes that are more targeted to individual needs. If you are considering using tablets with your students, our new white paper Tablets and Apps in Your School is a great place to start your journey. It supports and guides decision-makers with the who, what, why, where, and how of implementing tablets. Download your free copy of the white paper now. The authors, Diana Bannister, MBE and Shaun Wilden are familiar to many in the ELT world. Bannister works directly within the education sector, helping schools implement and develop learning technologies, and is working on two long-term projects focusing on the use of tablets in European schools. Wilden trains teachers in the use of new technologies, as well as writing blogs, conducting webinars, moderating the #eltchat group, and delivering talks worldwide. Bannister and Wilden understand that, for a school leader, it’s not just a question of whether the technology will benefit the students or if the teachers want it; they also need a vision for how they will be implemented - from introduction to training to maintenance and on-going cost. In the paper, Bannister and Wilden look at the questions that leaders need to ask themselves before embarking on a tablet programme, including, "Is my school ready for tablets?" and "Which tablets do we buy?". Importantly, they also address issues of e-safety and parental involvement. As well as parents, teachers need to be on board and open to the idea of adjusting their classrooms for tablet use. Bannister and Wilden suggest steps to take to ensure teachers are comfortable with the new technology and outline the benefits of starting small. Perhaps the key issue for teachers is the use of tablets and apps for good teaching and learning. How can they help students learn English better? In the final section of this paper, Bannister and Wilden address this issue by setting out some guidelines for best practice. Most importantly, they outline the key questions teachers need to ask about tablets to ensure their use fulfils learning outcomes, and give a rationale for how specific apps can fulfil specific aims. One of the most convincing arguments for using tablets in the classroom is the possibility for students to then take that learning outside of the classroom - they can use the digital materials they are familiar with from class on their own devices at home. Bannister and Wilden conclude that tablet use in education is moving into the mainstream, but that we are still in an evolutionary stage. They recommend that school leaders do their homework and carefully consider not just the technology, but the impact implementation will have overall. To find out more, download the white paper now.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Multimedia & Digital, Teenagers Tagged: Apps, BYOD, Change management, Diana Bannister, Digital storytelling, e-safety, EdTech, Implementing tablet devices, mlearning, Personalisation, Professional Development, Shaun Wilden, Tablet devices, tablets, Technical infrastructure, White paper

We’re helping to solve your EFL teaching problems by answering your questions every two weeks. This week’s blog is in response to Simone’s blog comment requesting extra hints for teaching the over 50s. Stacey Hughes from the Professional Development Team responds. Hi, My name is Simone and I run a prime school for seniors, they complain a lot about understanding and using the language abroad. Do you have any extra hints for teaching people over 50 years old?" "You can’t teach an old dog new tricks" or so the saying goes, though perhaps the adage, "you’re never too old to learn" is more accurate. While older learners may face some hurdles younger learners don’t, the lifetime of learning through experience that they bring to the class makes them, in some ways, better learners. They have learning skills they may not recognise - the ability to solve problems and think critically, for example. They may have a clear perception of their own strengths and weaknesses or they may have strategies from learning another language in the past. Perhaps the biggest advantage adults have is their positive motivation: they have chosen to learn or they have an expectation of what they want to do with the language they are learning. This means that they want learning to be applicable to their lives. If, as a teacher, you can show this link, you will have very enthusiastic students! Here are some tips for teaching older learners: Make sure learning meets needs Find out about your learners’ goals and expectations. What do they want English for? How fluent do they hope to be? What problems do they have when reading/ writing/ listening to and speaking English? A simple checklist and follow-up discussion can go a long way in clarifying what your students want and will show them that you are interested in making the lessons applicable to their needs. Make lessons immediately applicable Adult learners are unlikely to be learning for learning’s sake. They want to be able to use what they have learned in real situations, so they are unlikely to want to learn language that they don’t perceive as useful for them or that seems a waste of time. Use activities where learners can use their strengths Some research suggests that older learners may not be as fast at rote learning as younger learners, and they may not learn as quickly. However, they will be very good at the types of problem solving and critical thinking activities they employ in everyday life and work. Use role play and simulations to practice language and provide lots of opportunities for discussion in small groups. Older learners are also good at reflection, so after a discussion activity, ask them to say what they did well and how they think they can improve on their weaknesses. Create a comfortable atmosphere Older learners have a certain status, so putting them into a classroom situation where they feel belittled or where their life experience is unappreciated will hinder learning. Create a classroom where learners feel comfortable about making mistakes. Build confidence through praise and encouragement. Set achievable goals and help learners see when they have reached them. One useful strategy is to tell learners about your own embarrassing experiences when using a language abroad (we all have them!). This can help them see that everyone makes mistakes and that it is OK. It may also help to point out that most people are forgiving of language mistakes and appreciate the effort learners make when speaking their language. Not too fast, but not too slow either How demotivating it is to feel confident when listening in class, but find that in the ‘real world’ of films and native speakers, people just speak too quickly! By all means, build listening skills with materials in class, but teach students to listen to authentic texts, too. Help them feel confident in knowing that, even if they can’t understand every word, they can get the main ideas. Point out websites where students can listen to newscasts and podcasts, especially when they are relevant and topical. So, for example, ask students to familiarize themselves with today’s news in their L1, then ask them to listen to an international newscast giving the same news, but in English. Or point them to a podcast that gives information related to an individual student’s line of work or expertise. Encourage film buffs to watch films in English with the English subtitles on for extra support. Capitalize on learners’ experiences and interests Learners naturally want to talk about what they are interested in, and adults have a wealth of experience to bring to the classroom. Extend course materials when necessary so that you can bring in more vocabulary and structures students need in order to be able to talk about things they want to talk about. Make lessons practical and authentic If your learners need to be able to use English abroad, then teach the language they will need to use abroad. This is applicable at any level. For example, at a lower level, you might help students understand train and airline announcements, language for commercial transactions and directions, etc. Higher level students may wish to understand and be able to discuss news and current events when abroad, so build in lesson time for this. Supplement and extend course materials with relevant materials from the web. For example, supplement a unit on sports with sports news, blogs or gossip about sports figures, podcasts or news about the impact of sporting events in the local area - whatever is current and relevant and of interest to the students. Make use of 24/7 Adult learners are generally willing to learn anywhere at any time, so provide plenty of materials for them to continue learning outside of class. Many course materials have online components, but students can also listen to English on their smartphones on the bus or to a CD/ MP3 player while driving. Those who love fiction can be given graded readers to read at home, or they can listen to downloaded audiobooks. Those who like writing can communicate by posting comments on blogs or by writing emails to another student in class. Revise, revise, revise Older learners may need more revision than younger ones, so build in plenty of revision. This doesn’t mean repeating lessons. Find new contexts and situations for your students to use the language they have learned. Don’t be afraid to repeat listening texts again for revision in the next lesson, especially at the lower levels. Have fun Adult learners are likely to be learning in their own time and may be attending classes partly for social reasons. It is obviously important to set learning goals, but you can still have fun reaching them. Invitation to share your ideas We are interested in hearing your ideas about teaching the over 50s, so please comment on this post and take part in our live Facebook chat on Friday 24 January at 12pm GMT. Please keep your challenges coming. The best way to let us know is by leaving a comment below or on the EFLproblems blog post. We will respond to your challenges in a blog every two weeks. Each blog will be followed by a live Facebook chat to discuss the challenge answered in the blog. Be sure to Like our Facebook page to be reminded about the upcoming live chats.Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Professional Development Tagged: #EFLproblems, Adult Learners, Authentic texts, Critical thinking, EFL, Language learning, Learner autonomy, Learner needs, Motivation, Older learners, Over 50s, Professional Development, Stacey Hughes

Cheap SEO services can be an ideal option if you are looking for an easy ways to save on your internet marketing needs. Even though cheap SEO services can offer amazing benefits, it may also have some drawbacks. Read on this article for you to know some of the pros and cons of cheap SEO services. Pros Good for Starters - It can be a great option for small business owners, it would be excellent if you can consider of obtaining a cheap SEO services as it may offer varied services that is very beneficial according to your requirements or needs. If you are just starting, it can be an effective aspect that you have to remember as it offers great opportunity to make it big. Reach Target Audience - One of the main benefits of cheap SEO services is you can actually have the best opportunity to reach your target audience or customer. When you take such services, it would be just easy for you to reach your target market without too much effort needed. This can offer you a magnificent chance to reach your target audience easily. Easy Advertising - When you have a website that is well-optimized, it can be an ideal means to be sure that you can obtain the proper opportunity to advertise your product or services easily. As more people are using the internet particularly social media, it can be your main tool to be sure that you can effectively promote. It is an effective way on how you can have the ideal way on how to effectively increase the visibility of your website, which is an effective way for you to reach lots of people or target audience. Affordability - Of course the most obvious benefits of cheap SEO service is you can able to have the ideal method to save on the expenses when it comes to your website build-up and maintenance. This is an ideal choice for small business starters who are just beginning to learn the ropes of business. Cons Even though there are several companies out there, it is a must if one can find the right company. It can be a challenge to look for the right company as there are several out there for you to choose from. Limited Services - Since you are just paying less, do not expect that you can get the full services of an SEO company. Meaning to say, the services that you can get from cheap SEO services may be just limited and will not maximize your opportunity to reach your target audience. On the other hand, there are also some cheap SEO services that offer complete services even though the fee for their services is just less. These SEO companies are dedicated to offer their services for small business owners that are looking for affordable SEO services. In conclusion, cheap SEO can still be your best option if you are looking for an affordable way to save in your online services.

The process of learning shall continue to evolve with the rapid digitization of technology. Many companies in the market today provide e-learning services, which can be used to support classroom learning. For both educational as well as training purposes, such systems can be continuously updated with new information. The services of an experienced e-solutions provider are required to design effective training programs. Using Learning Management Systems, it is possible to monitor the progress of learners. By doing so, appropriate feedback can be given. Skill gap analysis tools can also be provided, to measure the gap between learning and application. Interactive learning can be achieved through game-based applications. Games actively engage participants to achieve targets. For this, they need to build and implement strategies, and think quickly. Many educational games are used to enhance the interactive experience for students, to make learning fun. It is soon understood that learning is not just a theoretical course, but also involves practical application. Learning and development form integral parts of any organization. Therefore, it is necessary to have e-learning solutions customized as per industry type. Induction programs, user training, manuals and quality control programs are some of the solutions created specifically for Banking & Financial services industry, Software industry, life sciences and retail services. However, it is important to have experienced engineers and professionals, such that programs built are user friendly. Companies need to keep their employees informed of the latest business developments, to stand out against competitors. One mode of doing this is through collaborative learning. E-learning companies provide collaboration suites, using which employees and managers can share ideas and best practices. This can be achieved by posting on forums, discussion boards and blogs, and participating in surveys, which can be designed by e-learning companies. Such fruitful discussions can also involve employees from across the globe, through the Web. At the pre-implementation stage, businesses can be guided by assessing learners’ skills and recommending best suited courses accordingly. E-learning companies maintain coordination between stakeholders, for logistical purposes. In the post-implementation stage, a system of feedback can be installed to improve the courses for the future. Increasing the effectiveness of e-learning courses should be a constant endeavor. E-learning services can be provided on various digital platforms. Cellular phones can be used for mobile learning, and both computers and mobile devices (netbooks, tablets) can be used for imparting game-based learning.

Dr Mark Griffiths shares some thoughts about his upcoming webinar, Get your students ready for Trinity success, which will look at some of the key features of the Trinity College London Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) exams, focusing in particular on Grades 3-4. Mark is a professional linguist, teacher, teacher trainer, author, researcher and language consultant with more than 25 years’ experience in the fields of English language education and linguistics research. As a specialist in the field of Trinity, with more than 10 years’ experience of training teachers in preparing students for the exam, he offers a range of ideas, tips and preparation strategies. Have you prepared your candidates for a Trinity exam? Or are you thinking of preparing them for Trinity in the future? Maybe you’re just interested in activities that create a more communicative classroom? I’m Mark Griffiths and in my webinar I’ll be looking at some of the key features of Trinity College London’s Graded Examinations in Spoken English, (or as many people call them, the GESE exams). I’ll show you lots of practical activities you can use in your classroom to prepare for Trinity, and to improve your students’ communication skills. We’ll look at the format of the Trinity GESE exams and we’ll see how this changes from Grade 3 into Grades 4, 5 and 6. We’ll look at the language focus of the exams, especially the very popular Grades 3 and 4, and we’ll also explore a range of different ideas for practising the grammar and lexis communicatively. One of the most important aspects of the Trinity GESE exam is preparing a Topic to discuss. We’ll explore ways of helping your students to think of a Topic and we’ll discuss how we can help them to prepare material for their Topic presentation that is both communicative and personal. And would you like to know some typical examiner questions for the Trinity GESE exam? I’ll show you some in our example ‘Aim at the Exam’ practice section, and I’ll share activities that you can use in the classroom to practise the conversation between the examiner and your students. Many teachers also have questions about grading. Which Trinity GESE grade should my students do? Are they ready for Grade 3? Could they pass Grade 4? I’ll show you a grading tool that will help you to check if your students are ready for the Grade and show you how the typical examiner questions can help you to decide the best Grade for each student. All of the material in this webinar has been developed in consultation with Trinity College London and so you know that all of the grammar and lexis, the example questions, and the types of practical activities included in the webinar will practise the language and communication skills that the Trinity examiner wants to hear. This webinar really is ideal for anyone preparing Trinity. I’ll offer a range of ideas, tips and preparation strategies for Trinity and show you how to pass the exam, how to impress the examiner and how to avoid those typical mistakes! I hope you can join me.Filed under: Exams & Testing, Teenagers Tagged: Exam preparation, GESE, Teenagers, Trinity

Kenna Bourke is a full-time author of ELT and children’s literacy books with a special interest in English grammar. She is the author of Oxford Discover levels 5 and 6, and many more. In this article, she looks at three reasons why reading makes students better writers. Reading makes you a better writer. And it’s fun! But why? Because when we write, we naturally incorporate what we’ve learned about lexis, style, syntax, and spelling. My all time hero is not a pop star, not a president, not a philosopher, not a painter, not a pirate, not a private detective, or even - dare I say it - a primary school teacher. No, my all-time hero is Roald Dahl, a writer who gobblefunked better than anyone. Dahl instilled in me a love of words - real words and invented words - and a love of twisting words; making words do things they’re absolutely not supposed to do … not in any circumcrackles! He also made me understand that, in writing, anything can happen if only you’re brave enough and curious enough to allow it to. I devoured his books as if they were delicious snozzcumbers. Now, I realize you may never have gobblefunked, and perhaps you haven’t yet had the pleasure of tasting a snozzcumber, but I’ll bet you know which of these two words is a verb and which is a noun, don’t you? And how many of you have students who’d be among the first to put up their hand and correct the Big Friendly Giant’s grammar? The Big Friendly Giant, the title character in Dahl’s The BFG, spends his life kindly and gently blowing happy dreams to children. But he has no one to teach him English, so he borrows a novel (Nicholas Nickleby, by the well-known author Dahl’s Chickens) from a little boy who happens to be asleep, and he reads it again and again and again, for ‘about 80 years’. This, he explains to his tiny friend Sophie, is how he learns to write English - by discovering new words and teaching himself how to write them. And yes, sometimes he gets his words frack to bunt, but that’s OK because context - fizzwiggling, wonderful context - helps us figure out what he means. Reading non-fiction is just as valuable to writers as reading fiction. But why? Because sometimes we feel a need to explain things to people. Or we want to inform or teach someone how to do something. Or we have to persuade a friend that our way is the right way. Or maybe we’re just bursting to express an opinion on a subject. And here, non-fiction is our friend! Good non-fiction models teach you how to tell a factual story; how to build a solid argument; and how to convey information concisely, logically, and comprehensibly. Well-written informational texts can help students realize that very often our world is every bit as intriguing as the invented world of fiction. I mean, who would believe that 2,000 years ago, a country would bury 8,000 beautifully crafted clay soldiers? Extract from Oxford Discover, Level 4 © Oxford University Press Reading makes you think; and thinking helps you write. But why? Because reading forces us to reflect on our own experience; make comparisons with other, often different, realities; build analytical skills; and generate new ideas for writing.  Imagine a planet without wheels. How on earth would you know what the time was? How would you get to school each day? Where would you get food from if there were no trucks, trains, or planes to bring it to you? What would people  read if there were no printing presses (because yes, printing presses need wheels)? A wheel-free world? How ridiculous! No, but seriously … What if there really was a planet with no wheels? Extract from Oxford Discover, Level 5 © Oxford University Press So … would I have become a writer had I not read Roald Dahl? Quite possibly not. I think, on balance, I might have grown up to become a grossgreener and lived on scrambled dregs. But WHY? Because, as my all time hero said, When you’re old enough to write a book for children, by then you’ll have become a grown up and have lost all your jokeyness. Unless you’re an undeveloped adult and still have an enormous amount of childishness in you." Roald Dahl Would you like practical tips on teaching writing and developing 21st Century skills in your children? Visit our site on Teaching 21st Century skills with confidence for free video tips, activity ideas and teaching tools.Filed under: Grammar & Vocabulary, Skills, Young Learners Tagged: 21st Century skills, Children, Gobblefunk, Grammar, Invented words, Kenna Bourke, Oxford Discover, Reading skills, Roald Dahl, Writing skills, Young Learners

Many people think it’s a logo or website, but it’s much more than that. A brand is not only what people see when your business is presented to them, but it’s also what they feel. And it’s that feeling that makes or breaks a business. It’s the perception of what your audience thinks and feels about you and your business that makes up your brand. You want your brand to establish your business persona or identity in a way that you will be noticed… and it’s those feelings about your brand that will determine how you and your business are remembered and trusted. Whether it’s positive or negative, those feelings associated with the perception of you and your business is what’s critical and needs to be given significant attention when starting or building your business. So if you haven’t given a lot of thought into developing a professional brand, now is the time! There are several ways a brand helps a business grow: Makes your business memorable and represents something meaningful to the consumer Creates trust that you can be relied on to meet a consumer’s expectations Builds your credibility and establishes you as an authority in your field Saves you time and money by getting established quickly and avoiding lost sales Attracts your ideal clients who are looking for exactly what you have to offer Provides a solid base to help grow your business with loyal followers With so many reasons to have a solid brand in place, it’s also important to ensure you have brand consistency. It’s the visual brand of your business that will help develop brand recognition with your followers. So if you want people to remember who you are, brand consistency needs to be always top of mind when creating your website and all of your marketing materials including your social media pages. The visual component of your brand often consists of the following attributes: A well designed logo Specific brand colours Strategically chosen fonts/typography Relevant shapes, photos or images An overall flow, style and feel You want to take all of these attributes into consideration when designing your business cards, product/service packaging, social media banners, advertisements, flyers, stationery, eSignature and anything else your prospective clients and followers might see. With your website being the primary marketing piece that you have (remember that it’s working for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week), it not only needs to represent your brand perfectly but also all of your marketing materials must look similar to it. This means everything you do when representing your business must match your overall brand in order to get maximum results. You don’t want to confuse and throw people off when brand consistency is not there. A confused mind will say "no" every time.

Shaun Wilden, a freelance teacher trainer and expert in online tutoring, shares some thoughts on his upcoming series of webinars on teaching students online. Register here if you’d like to join him online. Over the last few years, language teachers have had to come to terms with a technological shift in the way they teach. Though VLEs (Virtual Learing Environments) have been used in education for many years, it is only over the last few that they have become part and parcel of teachers’ working lives as either they, their school, or the material they use have found their way online. Be it setting homework via edmodo, using Facebook to extend the classroom or using online workbooks to complement courses, language teaching is more blended than ever before. Being thrust into this asynchronous world of teaching can be quite daunting for those of us that were trained for the face-to-face classroom. We are used to standing in front of a group of learners, setting tasks that get our learners to communicate while we monitor, react, guide and prod. We are skilled in the art of classroom management, noticing when a student is off track, reading body language to gauge if a student is struggling and knowing when a task is finished and how to wrap it up. We are comfortable working face to face, knowing our training and experience has given us the skills to handle most things that school life throws at us. While the popularity of social networking has implicitly helped us come to terms with asynchronous communication, a tweeted conversation or discussion of the latest cat photo on Facebook hardly counts as adequate training for dealing with students online. Is it a given that a skilled classroom teacher will automatically make the transition to the online environment? As with many of the technological changes that come to schools, blended learning is often introduced at the behest of the stakeholders, sometimes with little thought given to how the change is going to affect teachers and impact on their working routine. Likewise, they often presume this is what the students want and assume that students will jump into asynchronous learnin,g embracing in-task discussions with the same gay abandon they show when updating a social network status. However, in reality an online forum is, for many, a far more stressful entity than the physical classroom. If you have ever joined Twitter, think about how long it took you to craft your first tweet and the angst of getting it right. Will anyone read it? What does it say about me? Is my language correct? Do I have anything to say? These are all questions that tend to go through your mind. There is something about the written word that increases the stress - perhaps the permanency compared to the ephemeral nature of something said. Having trained teachers to work online for the last eight or so years, I’m all too familiar with all these issues and the nervousness teachers feel when venturing into the online teaching environment. Even the most confident teacher can feel trepidation when taking their teaching into the asynchronous world. How do I set my class up? How do we communicate? How do I motivate them? How do I stop certain students dominating? When do I need to give feedback? Are questions I regularly get asked. Now, you may be forgiven for thinking that starting to blend your teaching is a bit of a minefield. It isn’t. Getting started is easy; being effective is more of a challenge. So to help you get acquainted with the asynchronous world, we’re running a series of workshops over February and March. If you want to learn about the skills and being an effective teacher, join me over three webinars when we’ll discuss everything from netiquette to making sure students join in and not lurk. To find out more about tutoring online, join Shaun’s forthcoming webinars: Online tutoring part 1: what does it offer teachers and students? 4th February 2014 Online tutoring part 2: the challenges and benefits 26th February 2014 Online tutoring part 3: getting the most out of your students 26th March 2014Filed under: Multimedia & Digital, Professional Development Tagged: Asynchronous learning, Blended Learning, elearning, Online learning, Online materials, Online teaching, Online Tools, Online tutoring, Shaun Wilden, Social networking, Virtual Learning Environment

Your website needs a proper balance between textual and visual content. Awesome images or videos without text will give your visitor little to no useful data. On the other hand, you may find it hard to engage users with large slabs of plain text. Images are the main visual hook for websites that appears in logos, backgrounds, sliders and many more. They draw users into reading the text, illustrate the information provided in articles and blog posts and sometimes just entertain. Images are a perfect way to guide the eye through the text information. One of today’s big trends — large background images — is used on many websites as an central organizing element. Among those who often get the biggest advantage from full-size background photos are:  Photographers - to show up their best portfolio photos to potential clients; Decor and design studios - to showcase their greatest projects and products; Travel agencies - to provide visual info about places they offered to visit. Infographics are one of the most engaging and in-demand element among website owners and Internet users that combines text and images. As a format, they’ve evolved from often dry, technical diagrams to informative, powerful, and even fun story-telling devices. That help simplifying things for all types of users. Typically infographics allow users to grasp a complicated ideas and data with limited amounts of text and tons of catchy visuals. Today even text may be presented in a form of a beautiful and creative imagery. With a great variety of cool fonts and typefaces you may release your imagination. Always keep an eye out for unique typography solutions that support your imagery. There is just one limitation to consider: user experience! Never use fancy or fussy typefaces for body text. Users won’t spend the effort to work through it, and your design will look overloaded. Save unconventional fonts for titles, subheadings and other design elements that are used for drawing users to the content — not deliver it.

Basically any business s sells one thing or another, be it products or services, so in order to get customers people need to visit a website. In order to get people to visit a website it needs to be made popular. Although this may sound like a piece of cake it is not and all online business owners should reach out to digital marketing agencies to get this done. Just like advertisement companies in the past a SEO agency or digital marketing agency will promote the business in the online environment.What can a digital marketing agency offer?This type of agencies can offer tons and tons of services which are more or less useful. One of the best known services is search engine optimization, however social media management is also as popular. Other services may include inbound marketing, online reputation management, mobile and/or e-mail marketing and others.Here’s a quick rundown through what a digital marketing agency can do for customers:• SEO - basically makes sure the website is well rated and pops out in the top results when a query on relates subjects is performed.• SEM - setting up social media accounts for the customer and promoting the business. This is done via regular posts and high quality content. Also research shows that people who find a brand friendly and easy to connect with will become customers easier.• Inbound marketing - this means creating and putting out content that attracts people. The content has to be very high-quality, relevant and constant. Research has shown that people who receive valuable information from a website will easily turn into customers.• Online reputation management - this is an ongoing process as the agency periodically checks for bad reviews or defamatory material and makes sure that a business has a good brand name.• Mobile/e-mail marketing - this means bombarding lists of people with ads. It has been shown to be rather aggressive and people don’t respond very well to this. This option tends to do more harm than good for the brand name.Why just SEO?There are those who believe that just using SEO for a business linked website is enough. Although unarguably the work of a SEO consultant will be worth tons of business it might just not be enough. The good part about this is that it is much easier to find a SEO agency or SEO specialists than finding an overall marketing agency. Indeed one of the most important thing in the online environment is showing up in the top results. Specialists argue that based on the current pattern most customers just do a quick search and if a website is on the first page (not to mention top 3-5) they will decide to buy from that business. However there are lot of people who start from social media platforms and others who like to read a lot before making a decision. Unarguably SEO is the most important part but not choosing a complete package might mean lost money for business in the online environment.

Today’s question for the Q: Skills for Success authors: How can I teach a class where there is a huge gap in language proficiency among the students? Colin Ward responds. Do you have a question about teaching English for Academic Purposes that you’d like to ask our Q author team? Comment below or email your question to qskills@oup.com. Related articles #qskills - When should L1 be used in class? #qskills - Why are the four skills normally divided into listening & speaking and reading & writing? #qskills - How can I get my students to use smart devices in the classroom? #qskills - Do you have any advice for teaching technical English? #qskills - How do I motivate my students to speak English instead of their native language in class? Filed under: Adults / Young Adults, Skills Tagged: Adult Learners, Colin Ward, EAP, English for Academic Purposes, English Language, Language proficiency, Mixed-ability, Q Skills for Success, Questions for Q authors

You may be familiar with Facebook ad targeting, but did you know you can also target any of your posts to a certain demographic? Targeting on Facebook posts has actually been around since the middle of 2012, but not everyone has used it. With the decline in Facebook page reach, post targeting may be a feature you need to start using regularly to get your posts in front of the right audience. In addition to general demographics (i.e., gender, age, relationship, educational status, location and language), there are a few more options for targeting your page posts. For example, you can target your posts to users who have specific interests. While the Interests option is more limited than Facebook ads, it’s still quite useful. You can also specify the time and day you want your post to stop showing organically in the news feed (this is the post end date). To use targeting on a post, select the target icon. With targeting, the only thing affected is who sees the post in the news feed. Only users with the target parameters will see the post in their feed. However, the post is still visible to everyone on your page timeline. If you’re sending the same type of post to multiple targets, you can always hide the posts from your timeline to avoid repetition. One thing to know about the Facebook Targeting feature is that you must target more than 20 people. If you have a small fan base, restricting your posts may bring you below the minimum requirement. Set Up Targeting Regardless of how many fans you have, all pages have the Targeting option. If you don’t have the target symbol in your post area, you can enable it by going into your page Settings. From there, it’s just four easy steps: 1. Click Settings. Make sure you’re in the General tab on the left sidebar(available to admins only). 2. Select Targeting and Privacy for Posts. 3. Check Allow targeting and privacy options when I create posts on my page. 4. Save your changes. Enable targeting on your page. Back on your post, when you select a category to target, you either set your targeting choices right within the post area, or in some cases, a popup box appears to make your selection. If you want, you can select multiple targeting categories. For more details, visit http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-organic-post-targeting/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=FacebookPage&utm_campaign=New