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Mark Muirhead
I first arrived in Poland in the dead of winter with the thermometer reading -25C and the snow piled up a metre on the ground. I quickly warmed to the city of Lodz and have spent the last almost-11 years teaching here. I return to my tropical and balmy Scotland at least twice a year, but I happily spend most of my time here. I've long since given up my battle with the Polish language, and now concentrate on my battle of the bulge. I'm losing.
I have taught all levels of General English, and while Elementary gave me the most fun, I've concentrated on exam groups over the last few years. I have worked for English Language Centre for the past 9 years, and through them I have given presentations at UCET Conferences and for English Professional. I have been a certified ESOL examiner for FC, CAE and CPE for the past 8 years. Outside of the classroom I'm an avid cinema-goer, enjoy travelling (having friends and family dotted around the world helps), and my laptop - with Internet access - is never far away. |
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A free for all free-for-all
The Internet is perhaps the best source for supplying students with engaging, authentic materials. Each day we can find hundreds of new articles, video clips, podcasts, games or pictures but while we know it's all out there, how can we exploit it that would make it a worthwhile classroom exercise? In this practical presentation, I'll be presenting several ideas that can help exam-oriented students improve fluency and accuracy for the Speaking paper, and reading and editing skills for the Reading and Use of English papers. For non-exam groups, the blended learning approach to other exercises can help students come away feeling rewarded, confident and perhaps even entertained. These activities can be adapted to students of all abilities and ages. In some cases, all you have to do is turn on the computer and let your students get down to it, so even the technophobes out there will find something they can use. |