Your concern is well-founded.  Vocabulary items need to be selected, contextualized during presentation, practiced repeatedly and recycled whenever possible.

SELECTION:  Your teachers need to have selection criteria for those vocabulary items they set for their students to learn.  To name some, we consider  ‘high frequency’ (How often is the word used?), ‘receptive or active vocabulary’ (Are vocabulary items to be comprehended only or both comprehended and used?), and ‘appropriateness’ for learners’ age and level.

Answer: Since 2011, when we started collaborating with Linguaglobe, there have been a number of activities where we suggest ways of consolidating grammar structures. This time, we will work with an activity which can be used to consolidate the Past Simple.

TITLE: "Re-living Yesterday"

LEVEL: A2+, age 12+

SKILLS: Writing, Speaking, Introspective thinking, note taking.

TIME:   10 - 15 minutes

MATERIALS: None needed

QUESTION:  My students use the computer lab for 1 hour per week and work on various other projects with their teacher. We watch National Geographic videos, play songs in English and, once in a while, watch a whole movie.  This year I would like to offer the same activities,  but I am looking for something outside of the coursebook publisher's materials. Can you help?

There are two suggestions we would like to offer you.  The first has to do with computer lab activities and the second with project work tasks.

ANSWER: Getting learners to collaborate to make conversations among characters they have 'created' can provide them an opportunity to practice speaking spontaneously.  You may wish to try this group work activity, which starts with a revision of words and expressions which describe feelings and emotional states.  This activity may add some variety and provide a welcome change to the regular use of speaking activities for pairs.

TITLE: "Put on a happy face!"

LEVEL: B1 +

Project Image: 

ΑΠΑΝΤΗΣΗ: Πράγματι η συνέντευξη και για την υποψήφια, αλλά και για τον/την υπεύθυνο είναι μία «τέχνη». Ό,σο περισσότερο εμπειρία έχει ο/η υπεύθυνος, τόσο ευκολότερη γίνεται η συνέντευξη, γιατί ξέρει τι ερωτήσεις να απευθύνει και που να εστιάσει. Επίσης, δεν σπαταλάει το χρόνο του/της και εκμαιεύει τις απαντήσεις που τον/την ενδιαφέρουν. 

QUESTION:  Translanguaging is a new term for me.  I attended a conference presentation in which the speaker said that the 'taboo' of an EFL teacher using any other language other than English with her learners has been officially lifted.  In University, I was taught to use English only in class!

Answer: This is something we are asked quite often. Many colleagues would like to celebrate Christmas with their young learners, but they would like to do more than just teach them a carol or two. The activity we describe below can be used with learners from Junior A - C, and, if the main theme is changed, with higher level learners (B1+). 

"Decorating Our Christmas Tree"

Materials:

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ANSWER: Part of our year syllabus for our intermediate-and-above level teenage learners needs to focus on developing Study Skills Outside of Class. As we require parents' support to further this aim, it is important to encourage these learners to discuss their new study strategies with their parents.

Here we'd like to present activities designed to help teens make their homework practices more effective.

HOMEWORK --  KEEPING TRACK AND KEEPING ON TRACK:

Answer: Absolutely. A chant with movement, using a TPR (Total Physical Response) routine, which helps the children learn the chant much more easily, but at the same time, gives them the opportunity to stand up, move and stretch.

The Chant:

“Can you tell me what you are?”

I’m a bird.

I’m a star.

I’m a frog.

I’m a cat.

Can you tell me

what you are?

ΑΠΑΝΤΗΣΗ: Πολλή καλή ιδέα και, τώρα το καλοκαίρι, όταν ξεκουραζόμαστε λίγο, είναι μια καλή περίοδος για λίγο στοχασμό και για ασκήσεις αυτογνωσίας. Η άσκηση που προτείνουμε, μας βοηθάει να κάνουμε μια ενδοσκόπηση και αυτο-αξιολόγηση για προσωπική και επαγγελματική ενδυνάμωση.

ΤΙΤΛΟΣ: «Τα δυνατά μου σημεία»

YΛΙΚΑ:  Ένα λευκό Α4 χαρτί

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