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

Thursday 3 May 2012

The Company Words Keep – interview with the authors

by Hania Kryszewska 1 comment

Please take a look at this interview with myself and my co-author Paul Davis to learn more about the inspiration and ideas behind our new title The Company Words Keep. We look forward to blogging here over the coming weeks about lexical chunks in language teaching and answering any questions and comments you may have for [...]

Tuesday 6 March 2012

Specificity Vs Transferability

by Louis Rogers 1 comment

One key question in EAP is the extent to which language training should be specific to each students needs and how much should we focus on transferable language and skills development. Personally when I moved from a General English setting to a Business English classroom I found the transition to be a positive experience. I [...]

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Heads and tails

by Ken Paterson No comments

The last two units in ‘A Handbook of Spoken Grammar’ (follow the links ‘Titles’ and ‘Language Practice’ on the DELTA website for details), deal with ‘heads’ and ‘tails’, both of which involve the repetition of information outside the normal English clause structure. Heads (also called ‘headers’ by Carter and McCarthy in the ‘Cambridge Grammar of [...]

Wednesday 8 February 2012

From EFL to EAP: A shift in skills

by Louis Rogers 1 comment

Many people who teach English in summer schools or evening classes around the world will probably spend little time teaching writing skills. The focus tends to be on communication and writing tasks are kept to a minimum. When students are asked to write it will often be for homework or in an exam and little [...]

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Using synonymous language

by Ken Paterson No comments

For better or worse, we often seem to repeat what the person we’re talking to has just said: - The traffic is awful today. - I know. Terrible, isn’t it? When we were researching ‘A Handbook of Spoken Grammar’ (follow the links ‘Titles’ and ‘Language Practice’ on the DELTA website for details), we noticed three [...]

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 [...]

Delta Development Blog

This blog will be updated at least once a week, so add it to your bookmarks. You can also subscribe to the feed to be notified when it's updated.

Meet the Bloggers

Hania Kryszewska & Paul Davis (April to June 2012)
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)

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 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.

Digital Play

Digital Play has been shortlisted for the 2012 ELTons Innovation in Teacher Resources! 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.