November 2010 John Hughes
This year MATEFL, in collaboration with HEINLE CENGAGE LEARNING, brought over John Hughes a well known EFL personality and author. The seminar was held on Saturday 13th November 2010 at the Malta University Residence and was very well attended.
John Hughes is a teacher trainer and course book author. He has taught in Austria, Poland, Italy, Malta, and the UK. He has published a number of course books and resources materials. His books include Spotlight on FCE (2007) and Practical Grammar both published by Heinle. Currently, he is also involved in designing and delivering online teacher training courses.
This is how John describes the workshops:
First Session: Challenges to teaching writing in the age of twitter
For many years teachers have taught writing through a genre-based approach. In other words, they've presented text types such as letters, for and against essays and short stories and asked students to reproduce the same features of the genre. This approach works well if the text type follows certain norms and conventions but what happens in this age of Twitter and Facebook where written texts do not conform? How can we prepare our students for writing texts that may not even exist yet? This talk will look at these issues and offer some practical ideas to use in your writing lessons.
Second session: Imaginative grammar
Grammar is not something we normally associate with the imagination. Language lessons and course materials tend to present or clarify the grammar item and then offer restricted practice activities. But what happens if we let the students go beyond that practice stage and apply their own imagination with the grammar? This workshop will set out to define the crucial role of imagination in learning and then explore some practical ways we can combine it with our grammar teaching.
John Hughes is a teacher trainer and course book author. He has taught in Austria, Poland, Italy, Malta, and the UK. He has published a number of course books and resources materials. His books include Spotlight on FCE (2007) and Practical Grammar both published by Heinle. Currently, he is also involved in designing and delivering online teacher training courses.
This is how John describes the workshops:
First Session: Challenges to teaching writing in the age of twitter
For many years teachers have taught writing through a genre-based approach. In other words, they've presented text types such as letters, for and against essays and short stories and asked students to reproduce the same features of the genre. This approach works well if the text type follows certain norms and conventions but what happens in this age of Twitter and Facebook where written texts do not conform? How can we prepare our students for writing texts that may not even exist yet? This talk will look at these issues and offer some practical ideas to use in your writing lessons.
Second session: Imaginative grammar
Grammar is not something we normally associate with the imagination. Language lessons and course materials tend to present or clarify the grammar item and then offer restricted practice activities. But what happens if we let the students go beyond that practice stage and apply their own imagination with the grammar? This workshop will set out to define the crucial role of imagination in learning and then explore some practical ways we can combine it with our grammar teaching.