Spicy Tooth

Padlet

Writing is very often a solitary activity. I remember when I was a student, being set an essay or assignment, sitting there with a blank sheet of paper in front of me, not knowing where to start. Padlet is a great online tool that allows you to write and see what others have written in…

Phonology resources

Here are a selection of resources related to phonology: Adrian Underhill’s interactive phonemic chart (and pdf version) is useful for trainees and students alike. He is the author of Sound Foundations, a book on teaching phonology, and also has a series of videos on YouTube on pronunciation, as well as The Pronunciation Blog. Cambridge English…

Vocabulary resources

Here are a selection of resources related to vocabulary: Free pictures are available from a number of sites. Be careful with using images found via Google because they may be subject to copyright. Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries is a good online dictionary for learners and teachers alike. Includes phonemic script and pronunciation in British and American…

Photos, Pictures, Clipart, Icons

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and teachers use lots of them to enhance their lessons. It could be a picture to teach vocabulary or a photo to bring a presentation to life. Although many of us rely on Google as a source of images, strictly speaking they are not royalty free….

Type IPA phonetic symbols

There are occasions when you need to enter phonetic symbols into a document. For example, in a lesson plan to show the phonetic transcription of a word or in a language analysis assignment. Entering the phonetic transcription would typically involve using the ‘insert symbol’ function in Word, or memorising the keyboard shortcut for each symbol….

So, you’ve just started your CELTA…

A new cohort of trainees started their part-time CELTA at my organisation today. The first day involved going through a lot of formalities – who’s who, course handbook, CELTA 5, tour, pre course task and the foreign language lesson. We, the trainers, were modelling some of the techniques used in English language teaching (ELT), with…

Word Maker

Wordmaker is a useful website that will create words from any series of letters you type in. Here are some ideas on how it can be used: As a warmer, learners are given a word from which they must create as many words as possible. For example, the word ‘vocabulary’ can be used to create…

Half a Crossword

There are a number of websites that allow you to create crosswords, such as Teacher’s Corner, Puzzle-Maker and EclipseCrossword. What sets Half a Crossword apart from the others is indicated in its name. Half a Crossword allows you to create crosswords that can be used as a jigsaw activity in the classroom. Students work in…

random.org

random.org is a great numeracy resource which generates random numbers. It’s not just a simple random number generator; it has lots of useful applications, such as random dice, random playing cards and a random time generator. The dice and playing cards came in very handy for demonstrating arrays to learners, ideas which are explained in…

NRICH Maths

NRICH maths is an extensive collection of resources that promotes maths through problem solving. There are many interesting activities that encourage learners to think of different ways of solving problems, which is a change from many of the worksheet-based maths sites. NRICH covers a wide range of levels, from primary to secondary. The website is…