About
A bit about the guy whose head this stuff comes from:
Father of the most wonderful two children in the world, husband to the best wife in the world, British, Master’s (distinction) in TEFL/TESL, Apple iMac lover, Arsenal Football Club supporter, gardener, visitor to 45 countries, early riser, long-distance swimmer, kayaker and cyclist.
Also… Newbie blogger, keen tryer-outerer of Web 2.0 in the EFL classroom, keen on using Twitter as a PLN (Personal Learning Network), trying to keep up with my students’ knowledge & awareness of social media, trying to keep up with my kids, trying to keep up with my diet and exercise schedule, trying to keep up with cool, new stuff on the web…
The story of how I got here is here: Part I, Part II and Part III.
Plus…
Webmaster of the sites you see on the right. There are lots more to come.
(But not the ones in the Blogroll – that’s real cool stuff from real cool bloggers.
Plus…
ISTEK 2010 – Istanbul, Turkey
Here are my Powerpoint presentations on “What’s News? Current Events in the Classroom” and “Making Recordings to Help You and Your Students in the Classroom“.
(Thank you to everyone who attended these sessions)
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My Dissertation (From a real long time ago, way back in 2003)
If you are interested in communicative language teaching and pronunciation, you might like to take a look at my dissertation (downloadable as PDF):
“What is meant by communicativeness in EFL teaching? An evaluation of the pronunciation component in a sample of elementary level course materials, with proposals for improvement incorporating a Discourse Intonation approach.” – 2003, The University of Birmingham, U.K.
Plus…
An Article
You might also want to read an article of mine on creating news lessons:
“Creating ESL/EFL Lessons Based on News and Current Events”
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XI, No. 9, September 2005.
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Teaching the News
A few thoughts from presentations I have given about bringing news / current events into the classroom.
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My Book
You can also download a free sample PDF showing various parts of my book:
“1,000 Ideas & Activities for Language Teachers”
Plus…
More to come…
Thank you Heather – I greatly appreciate your finding this so I can keep my links working properly. Please tell me more if you find them.
Dear Sean,
Thank you so much for the material you provide. I teach English in a Men’s prison, and I find your lessons a useful means of varying the lessons .My pupils need subjects that will provide food for thought as well as a base for English learning. They have usually heard of the subjects you bring up, they are mostly well read in current affairs, and this helps their understanding of the texts. I appreciate the time you put into producing these lessons plans, and have been using them for several years now, in a teaching context that is quite different from the usual classroom situation.
Keep up the good work !
Kathleen.
France.
Thank you Kathleen for your message. I’m glad you find my materials useful. You too keep up the good work.
Sean
Mate, you have been an extraordinary help over the last 4 years. I cannot begin to thank you enough. I intend to donate soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude for what you have been steadily doing.
Great to see you are a Gunner too!
I wanted to show you what I’ve been doing with your material. I’ve been taking some of the basics from your lesson and rearranging them on A4 sheets in Adobe Illustrator. I always reference the site on the page, add an imaged and some warm-up questions. I’d be happy to email you a sample.
All the best in 2012, and as they say here “Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu!”
Simon
An Aussie in Japan
Thanks Simon, I really appreciate the feedback. I’d love to see your lessons – it’s always good to see what teachers do with my materials – usually so much better than what I do with them. Will be saying “Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu!” myself in three weeks – I’m moving back to Japan.
Best wishes,
Sean