MariaVlachopoulou

In September I always give a welcoming letter to my 3rd grade students. They are the ones who are about to do English for the first time at school.  What I try to stress in this letter, among other things, is the idea that learning English IS fun (of course we all know that it can be dead boring sometimes, but this is something I omit on purpose!). And this is somehow a promise to them and a reminder to myself to try incessantly and make it fun for them. I believe it is crucial to make a good start when you start learning a language. So throughout the year I am trying to put my words into practice and maintain their interest for the language as keen as possible! Here are some ways I rely on-everyone has their own, and there is always room for trying something new! Vary the way of starting and ending a lesson . Ken Wilson in his plenary in Tesol MT, March 2015 said that apart from teachers we are human beings and we might  (just an idea) start a lesson differe...

New technologies and social media are very popular with students nowadays, so educators should take advantage of this advancement and use it to engage their students and allow for communication and collaboration with peers around the world. Participation in collaborative projects with classrooms from other countries can have many advantages and help students develop some of the 21 st century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation. It can also broaden their horizons as they get in touch with students from different cultures and they are able to share their experiences with them. There are, however, some things you need to consider in order to participate in a successful project actively or even design it yourself. 1. There must be a clear timetable with carefully designed activities and deadlines. 2. Clear instructions for the activities should be given and other parametres should be defined such as “Is...