Delta Development Blog

A blog for ELT teachers around the globe, led by leading experts in the field. Join them in discussing issues of interest to you including:

new trends and theories in language teaching
materials development
practical teaching tips and activities
ideas and suggestions for professional development

Friday 27 January 2012

Words that replace speech marks

by Ken Paterson No comments

A few years ago, I noticed that one of the students in my class would often add little remarks that her friends or family had made into her conversation. She would never turn them into indirect speech by making grammatical changes, but would instead prefix the quotations with the word ‘look’. In other words, she [...]

Friday 6 January 2012

Exaggerated language

by Ken Paterson No comments

Part of the research for ‘A Handbook of Spoken Grammar’ (follow the links ‘Titles’ and ‘Language Practice’ on the DELTA website for details) involved going through pages of the language that we had reformulated for our students on speakings skills courses, highlighting recurring features. One thing that would come up now and again were examples [...]

Wednesday 21 December 2011

The vague use of ‘thing’

by Ken Paterson 1 comment

In writing ‘A Handbook of Spoken Grammar’ (follow the links ‘Titles’ and ‘Language Practice’ on the DELTA website for details), we wanted to include some key aspects of ‘vague language’ (e.g. ‘sort of’, ‘a couple of’, ‘a bit of’ etc.). The word ‘thing’ (and ‘thingy’, ‘thingamajig’, and ‘thingummy’) has a number of uses: - There [...]

Friday 9 December 2011

Lexical bundles

by Ken Paterson 2 comments

When we were deciding on the contents for ‘A Handbook of Spoken Grammar’ (follow the links ‘Titles’ and ‘Language Practice’ on the DELTA website for details) we were fairly sure we wanted to include some spoken English ‘lexical bundles’. These are strings of words that corpus research has shown are particularly frequent in conversation. See the [...]

Thursday 1 December 2011

Teaching spoken grammar

by Ken Paterson No comments

Hello, my name is Ken Paterson and I’m a co-author (with Caroline Caygill and Rebecca Sewell) on Delta’s forthcoming title ‘A Handbook of Spoken Grammar’ (follow the links ‘Titles’ and ‘Language Practice’ on the DELTA website for details). In the book we take 20 items of non-traditional grammar, explain how they work, and offer practice [...]

Saturday 29 October 2011

Model Answers and IELTS Writing – why and how?

by Lewis Richards 4 comments

In his last blog, Richard Brown described the thinking behind how we organised ‘IELTS Advantage Writing Skills’, and in this one I’d like to talk a little bit about the thinking behind one of the key components of each unit of the book – model answers. Our book has nine units, and each unit starts [...]

Monday 24 October 2011

Teaching particle meanings for phrasal verbs

by Liz Walter 2 comments

Is there any value in trying to teach students the meanings of adverbs and prepositions commonly used in phrasal verbs? Could it help them understand phrasal verbs they have never met before? I was thinking about this the other day when a friend told me she was ‘Hoxtoned out’, by which she meant that [...]

Delta Development Blog

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Meet the Bloggers

Louis Rogers (January to March 2012)
Ken Paterson (December 2011 to February 2012)
Richard Brown & Lewis Richards (September to November 2011)
Liz Walter & Kate Woodford (September to October 2011)
Kyle Mawer & Graham Stanley (April to August 2011)
Nik Peachey (from November 2010)
Nicky Hockly (September & October 2010)
Julie Pratten (July & August 2010)
Gill Johnson (April 2010)
Chaz Pugliese (March 2010)
Luke Meddings (August 2009)
Lindsay Clandfield (July 2009)
Duncan Foord (June 2009)
Scott Thornbury (May 2009)

Being Creative

Part of the Delta Teacher Development Series. Being Creative takes you on a journey that reveals how all teachers have the potential to become creative. Whether you are experienced or new to the classroom, Being Creative allows your teaching to take flight.

The Developing Teacher

The Developing Teacher has been awarded the 2009 Duke of Edinburgh/ESU Award for Best Entry for Teachers. The Developing Teacher suggests that teachers themselves are the most powerful agents of change and development in their own professional career.

Teaching Unplugged

Teaching Unplugged has just been awarded the British Council 2010 ELTons UK Award for Innovation. Teaching Unplugged is the first book to deal comprehensively with the approach in English Language Teaching known as Dogme ELT.

Culture in our Classrooms

Part of the Delta Teacher Development Series. Culture in our Classrooms acknowledges the role of culture in the English Language Teaching classroom and provides lesson content which is relevant, useful and engaging for students.

The Business English Teacher

From the award-winning DELTA TEACHER DEVELOPMENT SERIES. The Business English Teacher is a book not only for teachers who are thinking of making a career move into the field of business English teaching but also for those who would like to increase their skills and develop their potential.

The Company Words Keep

FORTHCOMING SPRING 2012. Part of the Delta Teacher Development Series. The Company Words Keep examines how we store language in ready-made chunks that we retrieve and use, rather than elaborately constructing ‘grammar’ each time we speak. The authors provide a wealth of activities which apply their methodology to both the coursebook and to authentic contexts, taking advantage of corpus linguistics. Teachers are also offered suggestions and activities for further development in this exciting field.

The Pronunciation Book

FORTHCOMING SPRING 2012. Part of the Delta Teacher Development Series. The Pronunciation Book considers the significance of pronunciation in teaching and learning, providing a straightforward overview of the elements of English pronunciation. The authors go on to offer a bank of ready-made activities for working on all aspects of pronunciation, followed by both suggestions and activities for practical and professional development in this vital field.

Digital Play

Digital Play is a pioneering book on the use of computer games in language teaching. Authors Kyle and Graham are experts in teaching with technology and training teachers in innovative classroom practice.

Teaching Online

Teaching Online is essential reading for any teacher interested in online teaching and course delivery. It deals comprehensively with both the tools and the techniques necessary for online language instruction.