19 jan

Posted at 17:34h in Teacher Development by

As I said in my previous post on lesson observation, I don’t see lesson observation as police work, i.e. observers should never simply walk into teachers’ classes unannounced to observe them. Therefore, the way I see it, observation should always be done in three stages: pre-observation meeting (when observer and observed discuss the group, the plan, the class etc.), observation (in which observer sits in on the whole class, not just part of it), and post-observation meeting (when observer and observed discuss the class in question). This month, I’d...

19 ago

Posted at 17:49h in Career, Reflections about Education, Teacher Development by

I am now on a plane on my way to Natal-RN, where I’ll participate tomorrow in BRAZ-TESOL Rio Grande do Norte’s symposium, and I took this time to write this… ‘comeback post’, after a pretty long hiatus. Many months ago, I wrote a post on lesson observation here, and have owed the blog readers a follow-up post on peer observation ever since. Well… sorry. This post will not be about peer observation, but next month’s will, I promise. What I want to talk to you about this month, if...

19 jul

Posted at 22:22h in Career, Teacher Development by

I will start this month’s post by apologizing, and for two different reasons. First, I haven’t posted on RichmondShare since January, and I am truly very sorry for that. I was finishing my first book (yay!) and saying I’ve been really snowed under lately is putting it mildly. But I’m back – thanks for waiting! – and I’ll be sharing much more about the book soon (but it’s probably coming out in October). Then, I also apologize for straying from my topic here today. I promised at the beginning of...

29 jan

Posted at 08:00h in Teacher Development by

Happy New Year, everyone! As promised in my December post, this year I’ll be discussing what I believe to be a key issue in ELT, namely teacher development. In no particular order, and evidently not aiming at exhausting the subject – which would be impossible –, I hope to be able to, in twelve posts, touch on most of the key areas a teacher must develop in, and more importantly on ways in which I believe they can do it. The reason why I’ve decided to start by addressing lesson...

19 dez

Posted at 00:21h in Career, Teacher Development by

It is that time of the year again. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been the type of guy who devotes quite a lot of time to planning his new year’s resolutions and, at the end of the year – now! – has no idea what they were or whether he’s achieved them. I’m not at all proud of that, but there you have it. Life gets in the way, you know. Too many classes, too many students, too many projects. You start writing a book (again!), you...

20 jul

Posted at 18:18h in Career, Vocabulary by

This post continues from where this one left off. How to read for language development I honestly believe that the sheer fact of being reading constantly and on a wide array of topics — books of different genres, newspaper articles, blogs, reports and so on — for information and/or pleasure is good enough and will be extremely beneficial linguistically. I will list below, however, some of the ideas I’ve tried out and which will hopefully help you as well. - Have a vocabulary notebook at the ready whenever you’re reading at...

19 maio

Posted at 22:57h in Language Acquisition, Teacher Development, Vocabulary by

The way I see it, reading vastly and variedly is the most important language-learning exercise there is. Extensive reading — which Thornbury (2006, p 191) defines as being the more leisurely reading of longer texts, primarily for pleasure, or in order to accumulate vocabulary, or simply to develop sound habits of reading — helps develop general language competence; develops general, world knowledge; extends, consolidates and sustains vocabulary growth; helps improve writing; creates and sustains motivation to read more. (Click here for article on ER). It also makes you...

19 abr

Posted at 20:24h in Career, Reflections about Education, Teacher Development by

Hello everyone! I want to start this month’s post apologizing for my… silence last month. I’ve got only myself to blame – anyone writing about organization skills out there? – and can just promise it won’t happen again. Scout’s honor. So let me pick up from where we left off last time:  I ended by asking you whether you’d feel insulted if someone (a teacher trainer, a colleague, your coordinator) told you you had to work on your English. There weren’t many replies, I’m afraid, but the very few people...

19 fev

Posted at 12:29h in Career, Teacher Development by

Following up on last month’s post, I’d like to dedicate this month’s installment to discussing the following question: What does it mean to know a language? Or, more to the point, what does it mean for a teacher of English to know the language? Without getting very technical and/or long-winded, it is my opinion that a teacher of English as a foreign or second language must be able to get their messages across –speaking or writing– with no (or very little) difficulty, being able to employ the most effective words,...

19 jan

Posted at 12:34h in Career, Teacher Development by

First of all, it’s an honor to be blogging here on RichmondShare along with some of the brightest stars in the Brazilian ELT market, and also a little scary! Thanks Richmond for the invitation and thank you all for reading! Now to the topic at hand: language development for teachers. Scott Thornbury (1997) wrote – and I love quoting him – that among the consequences of (…) a limited knowledge of language are: a failure on the part of the teacher to anticipate learners’ learning problems and a consequent inability...