Don't waste time looking for pictures on Google

Of course you could get your images off of Google-is-Evil (assuming that you don't mind a spot of stolen property, that is...)

But one problem with that is that Google has zero interest in the quality of the images... or in how much language you could get out of them.

An alternative soure are newspapers and magazines -- which do have a vested interest in presenting their readers with striking, interesting photos (including ads:..).

I habitually rip images out of the newspapers and magazines that are about to go in the recycled bin, and store and classify them in folders (in the image above, you can see my "transport" and "sports" folders)... just in case they might be useful in class one day...

Using mobile phones in the classroom

You need your book and a pencil, your mobile phone is best kept switched off in your pocket... Or is it?

Do your teenagers play with their mobile phones in class...? Do your adults suddenly stand up in class and walk out, as whoever it is that's calling them is much more important than their English class...? As a teacher, do you hate mobile phones too...?

This article on Modern Foreign Language Environment [website] suggests ways in which you could make (profitable) use of mobile phones in the classroom...

Interactive grammar exercises

On ESL Blues, you will find a huge number of interactive grammar exercises, from "Pre-intermediate to high-intermediate level English".

Note also the diagnostic quizzes and tests.

Would you want to use them with your learners?
I'd suggest that, broadly speaking, we could divide the websites that we might use as language teachers into one of three different categories:

1. Sites for our own professional use
2. Sites that we could use with our learners
3. Sites that we could recommend to our learners

We might also have a fourth category -- into which we might dump all those sites that we would not use, because...

ESL Blues I would put into that third category -- a site I would recommend to my learners, somewhere where they could get lots of further practice and revision, one which they could use outside class, in their own time.

It isn't, however, one I'd use in class...

More exercises
We also have grammar, vocabulary and reading exercises on our English courses site.

Learning Spanish?
For any of you struggling to learn Spanish, there are also Spanish grammar exercises.

If you are looking for more exercises, our "Learn Spanish" site again has grammar, vocabulary and reading exercises.

Are texts more important than images?

Some one asked the question after the session in July. No, text isn't really more important. Or necessarily more useful. I'd suggest that it depends...

I'd also suggest, however, that as teachers, we can easily fall into a number of traps.

We assume that (1) all pictures are intrinsically good, intrinsically useful to us when we are teaching language, and useful too to the people learning it. That's not true.

If it's a picture of a mobile phone, then it's not true: it's no more useful than actually reaching into your back pocket for the real thing (which would be a lot faster, for one thing). Or Zidane head-butting that Italian in the World Cup Final.... You just don't need that picture!

People also (2) waste a lot of time looking for, printing and photocopying images, when it in many cases it would be far quicker just to draw the picture on the board. You can't draw a picture of (say) a parrot? So, how about you imitate one...? (And which is more memorable -- a picture nicked off of Google, or your imitation...?)

It also sometimes worries me that if we spend hours looking for, finding and editing the material, we are (3) forgetting that it's not really the material that matters; what really matters is the interaction and the language the material leads to.

Spend less time on getting the material together and more on thinking about what the students are going to be doing... then you are heading for a successful language class.

Texts are important too!
Perhaps because we image pictures to be so important, it's easier (4) to overlook text. Text is important too -- apart from anything else because, in order for our learners to learn the language, they need to be "exposed" to, and have to "deal with", lots of examples of language in context, ie. texts.

And images as well!
Of course, you can find great pictures that will lead to a lot of language... But which of the two images below do you think you could get most out of...?


What does it "depend" on...?
As with all resources that we might be using in the classroom (whether technological or otherwise), it depends... on the amount of language (and response from, and interaction between our learners) that we are going to get out of the resources.

Where to find texts and images
See the "links" in the sidebar (right) to access the various sources you had on the handout from our session.

Phonemic script

We have Jan Mulder's neat little application on the desktops in the computer room at IH which allows you to write phonemic script. It's easy to download if you want to install it on your own PC.

But what if you don't know the phonemic script for a word, or aren't sure? A good dictionary should tell you, and online you can check it on dictionary.com, among other places.

Hard Bargaining (speaking activity)

Old and looking a bit dog-eared on the shelf in the staffroom, but still packed with good ideas...

This one came to my email inbox in the DevelopingTeachers.com "Weekly Teaching Tip" (details below). The original source is Jill Hadfield's Advanced Communication Games (Nelson, 1987), a collection of photocopiable speaking activites.

'Hard Bargaining' involves getting the students to barter. Each student has a card and they have to negotiate with the other students in order to get what they need. An example card might be 'You have but don't need 10 sheep' and then 'You need 4 pigs' and each student has different things in each section.

Here the focus is on animals but a simple change to the cards can produce a lexical set that has been introduced that week for example. The students could be bartering with anything and reviewing whatever vocabulary you wish.

You can see the past tips on developingteachers.com. You can also sign up to receive them weekly in your mail box.

See also
In a previous post, there were other things that you can receive in your mailbox. "Don't search, have things come to you!" I always say.