I’ve created these writing mats for our IGCSE students to refer to whilst learning how to write the various genres of text required for the CIE IGCSE in English 2nd Language. They’re also handy for revising. You can download the ppt file under each picture. Please note: I didn’t write the model texts myself. I […]
In this activity, students “marked” a ChatGPT-generated text in order to become familiar with the mark scheme. As they had already tried the task, they noticed differences between this text and their own. (Spoiler: the text was grammatically sound and fairly well organised, but not amazing in terms of the organisation required by this particular […]
As I see it, one of the most important aspects of my role is to teach academic English. Of course, all subject teachers are teachers of academic English too, but I’m aware that they are sometimes unsure about this part of their role. To make a neat little list of structural (pink) and lexical (blue) […]
Lizzie Pinard has a list of her top 10+ EAP Resources BALEAP’s list of EAP-related sites How to read and understand a scientific paper from Jennifer Raff’s blog, Violent Metaphors. Watch Jennifer MacDonald’s Getting Discipline Specific in the EGAP Classroom presentation from the BALEAP 2015 conference. Tyson Seburn’s Academic Reading Circles. Buy the book here. Visual Metaphors […]
This summer I met the lovely Emma Gore-Lloyd whilst working at at an idyllic Devonshire summer school, and she’s very kindly let me guest-contribute on her brilliant blog. Devon is also where I rediscovered my teaching creativity and with it, my motivation! Prior to this summer, I can’t say I was burnt out but on […]
This activity could work for any course where students need to be able to identify and write a variety of text types. This year the IGCSE E2L got a bit more challenging: students had to be prepared to write two of the following text types: informal email/letter, formal letter, article, report, review, with the report […]
The IGCSE in E2L requires students to be able to write articles and formal letters using persuasive language. To get the top marks for a piece of writing at GCSE, students need to use “a consistently appropriate style” with an “excellent sense of purpose and audience.” Many of my students haven’t studied persuasive language in […]
I often think that our students must so overwhelmed when they first start at school here. Not only is the language a different one, but the whole culture of the school is likely to be quite different from what they know. They are thrown into an entirely new environment, with new rules and expectations, far […]
In the autumn term, I offer Y13s help with writing their personal statements in an after-school session. It can be hard to sell yourself in your own language, let alone a second, so I put together this list of useful sites that students can use to find a suitable alternative to knowledge or an appropriate […]
A Hive of Activities 