01 December 2021

Open Study

An Open Study is a student-selected and student-directed piece of writing where s/he applies the Response and Analysis tools and techniques acquired and developed in class to literary and non-literary texts. Students select the texts and areas for discussion, while also producing a piece truly representative of the student's competencies and suitable for summative evaluation. 

25 November 2021

Evaluating writing through portfolios

 


Over the course of a year or a programme or a cycle, students amass a significant quantity of written work, some of which shows progress and development, some achievement. These are of course not the same, and a focus on the latter harms the former. Portfolio assessment means the student selects pieces from his/her annual, programme or cycle corpus against defined criteria and the selection as a whole is then assessed, being both representative as will as summative.

23 November 2021

Play-based learning, doing it effectively

 

Play for young(er) chidren is seen as "a good thing" and is often described as the child's "work". "Play-based" programmes abound, however play is frequently misunderstood and mis-applied and can have little or no educational value. This session considers Developmentally Appropriate play and how it can be an effective learning and teaching strategy.

21 November 2021

December 2021

Click on the event title(s) below for more information. Leave your questions or comments below, or contact us for registration information. The events below are open group sessions from our SeminarsAdvanced Use of English and Professional Conversation programmes; contact us to ask about scheduling open on demand or closed private programmes. 

This page is updated twice a week so please check back, or join the emailing list for event announcements.

30 October 2021

Advanced - Vocabulary : Counting Uncountables

 

A useful simplification and generalisation for Beginner to Lower Intermediate level students is that uncountable nouns cannot be counted. Sadly, this is not absolute; they are not exceptions to the rule. Many, if not most, "uncountables" can in fact be counted. Waters, fishes and two lagers all exist, and many "uncountable" plurals are actually quite common. Advanced learners should know this, which and when and why.

29 October 2021

Cambridge English C1 Advanced (was CAE) Writing : reports and reviews

 


This session covers the Report and Review options of Cambridge English's Advanced C1 Writing examination. (We call it CAE because that is how it is known, although its official name has changed to "C1 Advanced".) This section of the examination focusses on genre, audience, purpose, Use of English and on assessing the candidate's range.

28 October 2021

November 2021

Click on the event title(s) below for more information. Leave your questions or comments below, or contact us for registration information. The events below are open group sessions from our SeminarsAdvanced Use of English and Professional Conversation programmes; contact us to ask about scheduling open on demand or closed private programmes. 

This page is updated twice a week so please check back, or join the emailing list for event announcements.

27 October 2021

Out with the old; effective approaches to teaching reading

Research* shows that "round the class" reading (or round robin reading or reading in turns) is ineffective. So what works? This one-hour session reviews four highly-effective, teacher-friendly communicative approaches to unlocking a text and promoting reading comprehension, both explicit and implicit. The prompt is a G4 text on Volcanoes and activities are targetted at that level, although the model and approaches can be used all levels. For EFL, immersion and bilingual teachers, including teachers of subjects other than English.

22 October 2021

Advanced Use of English Practice & Feedback - Grammar : any and some

 

Anyone? Someone? No-one? At times. there and related expressions can be mutually exclusive. At others, the use of each is possible, however the when, the where and the why is significant. 

21 October 2021

Cambridge English C1 Advanced (was CAE) Writing : what it is and how to do well

This session covers the Writing section of Cambridge English's C1 Advanced examination. (Formerly CAE, its official name has changed to "C1 Advanced".) This section of the examination focusses on genre, audience, purpose, Use of English and on assessing the candidate's range.