Comments for Sean Banville's Blog

Comment on About by Sean

Sean — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:34:00 +0000

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

Comment on About by Simon

Simon — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:41:29 +0000

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

Comment on Royal Wedding 100 Questions for Prince William and Kate by Role-play questions for the royal wedding | efl-resource.com

Role-play questions for the royal wedding | efl-resource.com — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:26:38 +0000

[...] questions for the royal wedding Posted on 17 April, 2011 by Simon Thomas Sean Banville has some fun interview-style questions for students to answer in Will & Kate role-plays.Share this post:Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postRecommend on FacebookGoogle Buzz-up this [...]

Comment on 10 ideas for teachers to change the world. No 1. Show diversity by On dialogues and diversity | efl-resource.com

On dialogues and diversity | efl-resource.com — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:21:34 +0000

[...] He also shares some mildly subversive ideas about making coursebook grammar tasks more heterodox here and here.Share this post:Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postRecommend on FacebookGoogle Buzz-up [...]

Comment on Egyptian History by Activities about the revolution in Egypt | efl-resource.com

Activities about the revolution in Egypt | efl-resource.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:36:17 +0000

[...] about the revolution in Egypt Posted on 7 March, 2011 by Simon Thomas Sean Banville has some excellent ideas.Share this post:Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postRecommend on FacebookGoogle Buzz-up this [...]

Comment on Royal Wedding Lessons by Royal Wedding lessons | efl-resource.com

Royal Wedding lessons | efl-resource.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:30:03 +0000

[...] you weren’t already sick of hearing about it before it even happened, Sean Banville has found some interesting, shorter and longer Royal Wedding lesson ideas.Share this post:Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postRecommend on FacebookGoogle Buzz-up this [...]

Comment on A week in the life of a webmaster by Sean

Sean — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:39:26 +0000

Thanks Jesse,
I do get long vacations in my regular job – this gives me plenty of time to relax

Comment on A week in the life of a webmaster by Jesse

Jesse — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:31:44 +0000

Hi Sean,

I’m a huge fan of your work. I taught in Japan for two years and regularly found inspiration for my post-secondary lessons from Breaking News English and have been amazed at its consistent supply of materials and resources. a four day vacation seems like barely enough time off! Give yourself a pat on the back for your work!

Comment on Using Office Hours To Boost Learning & Impact Students by Elaine

Elaine — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:08:43 +0000

Thanks for the feedback Tyson.

As a recent graduate, I completely agree (and have done so myself) that students often go into office hours and just sit there and listen while one or two other students ask all their questions. I think that this is a sign that the students genuinely have questions to ask but are too shy, are being overshadowed by others, or are just not being asked the right questions.

To create discussion, or at least to bring value, I suggest you just start naming things off to discuss or problem sets to go over. Usually, if a student doesn’t respond, it means that the topic is way over their head. Move to something easier. If a student mumbles a bit about it, it probably means that you’re getting closer to what will really help them.

Hope this helps!

Comment on Using Office Hours To Boost Learning & Impact Students by Tyson Seburn (@seburnt)

Tyson Seburn (@seburnt) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:01:57 +0000

Great topic, very relevant to me. I’ve always been one that really never liked office hours, both as a student or now professor. I’d like to have a bit more concrete examples of how professors structure their office hours or utilise them best. Often when I leave it up to students to come, they either don’t or they come with very general, wishy-washy questions because they feel they have to say something.

I’d like to have more training for office hours both for me and my students.