21 October 2011 / by Radmila Gurkova

Friday Meeting 21/10/2011

This weeks meeting focus is on telephone classes, the S1 beginners’ course, Legal (Law course) and P4 structure material. Although we’ve had positive feedback on most issues covered in the meeting, we still need to improve in some areas.

This year we began teaching low-level (P2) telephone classes and although at the beginning it was a bit tough because most of the time was spent on explaining each activity done, now the teachers have created new activities which make it more teacher friendly to teach over the phone. However, there is still big room for improvement and we want to know how we can teach an effective 30 minute class.

We’ve just opened up a new Legal course and wanted some feedback on how to begin the course. Where do we start? How can we incorporate our method to this course? Next week we will cover this topic more in-depth.

 

The S1 beginners’ course is still underway and so far we have reached the half way mark, and as the weeks go by the S1 course is modified and changed slightly with all the feedback that teachers give in these meeting. More flashcards are being added to aid the student to fluency at this level

The P4 structure material this week has been a bit repetitive. We’ve had the similar structure activities focusing on reported speech. On the one hand, this is a great way to practice a structure in different ways in class (if it is a low-level P3) however, for a P4 or P5 (high and advanced levels) we need to think of different structure material that we could use in class as repetition leads to boredom in class and this is what we want to avoid.

14

November 2011
English Tip #4 - False Friends
by Radmila Gurkova
False friends are words that look and sound similar but have different meanings. When we are learning a language, we tend to subconsciously  use familiar-words... There are many wo...

11

November 2011
Oxbridge TEFL: Job Vacancy - English Teacher in Córdoba
by Radmila Gurkova
We have been contacted by an English academy that is looking for a d...

11

November 2011
Oxbridge and Ciball host first teacher's meeting
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On the 3rd of November Oxbridge joined forces with CIBALL – A centre in Madrid developed as a meeting place for innovators associated with the network o...

11

November 2011
Asteroid - Near miss in collision with Earth
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GuRj1ve1M An Asteroid on a flyby this month will have a 'near-miss' collision with Earth. The asteroid, the size of an aircraft carrier is being tracked by NASA and is reported to orbit the Earth much closer than the Moon's on November 8th. Nasa has been tracking the asteroid over a period of days to gather...

11

November 2011
English Tips #3 - Ziggurat
by Radmila Gurkova
What is a Ziggurat? Noun - an ancient Mesopotamian temple tower consisting of a lofty pyramidal structure built in successive stages with out...

10

November 2011
Would you fire someone for 'planking'?
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRHnTFesv7c "Police take offence to new planking craze after one was done on an officers vehicle." Planking is an online craze - started in Australia and New Zealand —where people post pictures of themselves laying flat as a board on ...

10

November 2011
English Tips #2 - it's vs. its
by Radmila Gurkova
So, it's vs. its.....which one???? it's and its cause all sorts of problems. Take a minute to understand the difference between the two. IT'S is a co...

09

November 2011
English Tips #1 - For and Since (Time)
by Radmila Gurkova
We often use for...

08

November 2011
Michael Jackson Doctor Found Guilty
by Radmila Gurkova
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=944iHM4A8Lw&feature=related "Jurors find Dr. Conrad Murray guilty of involuntary manslaughter." Michael Jackson can now rest in peace after a jury of seven men and five women found his personal physician guilty of involuntary manslaughter, after a long two and a half years wait. The "Doctor" will remain o...

04

November 2011
Friday Meeting 4/11/2011
by Radmila Gurkova
How can we effectively teach Business English? We have been debating for a while about the difference between General English and Business English. The structures that business...