Fresh insights, new ideas and original classroom materials for all teachers of English

PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVES

An original series of practical methodology books

DEALING WITH DIFFICULTIES - over 150 techniques and activities to help deal with everyday difficulties and challenges of teaching.

CHALLENGING CHILDREN - Activities to challenge pupils to awaken their dormant linguistic abilities, to activate vocabulary which is often already there and to arouse interest for the learning process.

CREATING CONVERSATION IN CLASS - Activities designed to get full student participation in classroom conversation.

THE MINIMAX TEACHER - Over 80 activities with an approach that helps teachers both reduce their workload and do a better job.

HUMANISING YOUR COURSEBOOK - Activities to bring your classroom to life - and life to your classroom!

USING THE MOTHER TONGUE - Ways of using the mother tongue not just for convenience but as a real, living and vital resource for our learners.

TALKING BUSINESS IN CLASS - Speaking activities for professional students.

SPONTANEOUS SPEAKING - Drama activities for confidence and fluency.  Available April 2005.

UNLOCKING SELF-EXPRESSION THROUGH NLP - Integrated skills activities for intermediate and advanced students.  Available April 2005.

THE RESOURCEFUL ENGLISH TEACHER - Over 200 activities to fully exploit a wide range of classroom resources.

SAFETY AND CHALLENGE for Japanese learners of English - An essential read for any teacher of English to Japanese students.

Click on the cover to see Contents
pages, Introduction and sample pages.

DEALING WITH DIFFICULTIES
Solutions, strategies and suggestions for successful teaching
By Luke Prodromou and Lindsay Clandfield

Dealing with Difficulties is packed with ideas for dealing with everyday difficulties and challenges of teaching, including:
• Large classes
• Mixed levels
• Different learning styles
• Discipline
• Homework
• Or, just getting through the beginning, middle and end of day-to-day teaching

The activities require minimum preparation and are aimed at producing maximum speaking and interaction in the classroom.

"If your classes sometimes prove to be difficult, this book should make your life a bit easier."

Luke Prodromou and Lindsay Clandfield.

CHALLENGING CHILDREN
Activities to challenge pupils to awaken their dormant linguistic abilities.
By Henk van Oort

Teaching young learners is both rewarding and challenging activity. Primary teachers are challenged because young learners demand extra special attention and whenever we want to teach something we must be able to wrap up our lessons in such a way that our pupils hardly notice that they are learning. In all the activities language is offered in a playful way. Pupils should forget that they are learning a new language.

• The main aims of the book are to challenge pupils to activate their dormant linguistic abilities, to activate vocabulary which is often already there and to arouse interest for the learning process
• Challenging Children offers a series of activities that represent this well-balanced proportion of real brain work and imagination.
• Challenging Children incorporates activities for pupils from five to twelve years, this being the age range in which teaching of English takes place at most primary schools throughout the world.
• Many of the activities have a format that can be adapted perfectly to your particular classroom situation. Levels of proficiency vary widely from country to country, even from area to area in the same country. For this reason, a general level is stated for each activity in the shape of one, two or three little owls.
• For both teachers and their pupils, these activities are easily adaptable. Even in a simplified form, an activity will be effective and will give impetus and pleasure to the lesson.
• It provides the teacher with ideas that can be carried out on the spur of the moment. It is easily accessible and the descriptions are concise and clear.
• Whether you use a course book or not, these activities will find a very definite place in your lessons. There are activities that can serve as either the beginning or the end of your lesson. Others take more time and can make up a whole lesson by itself. Use them as warmers, fillers or main lessons,
• Little or no preparation is needed for these activities. Any classroom will probably have the simple props that are sometimes indicated under these headings. There is nothing complicated or difficult.
• All the activities are clearly described step by step. But how exactly you do them will depend on you and your class.

Henk van Oort trained as a Primary Teacher before taking a Masters Degree in English from the University of Amsterdam. His forty years’ teaching in Primary Education comprises work as general teacher, teacher of English and headmaster. He has run classes for highly gifted children. He also teaches on the Primary Methodology Courses run by PILGRIMS on the University Campus of the University of Kent at Canterbury, England. He is married, the father of three grown-up children, and is based at Bergen in The Netherlands

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CREATING CONVERSATION IN CLASS
Student-centred speaking activities
by Chris Sion

Creating Conversation in Class provides a fresh, imaginative approach that guarantees full student participation in classroom conversation.

The student-centred activities:

• stimulate immediate interest
• provoke genuine interaction
• build learner confidence

Varied teaching strategies and clear instructions create a framework that can be used flexibly and effectively with learners, both adult and secondary, from elementary onwards.

"The teacher's task is to find the key that creates and unlocks the students' need to communicate"

ISBN 0 953 30988 696 pages

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THE MINIMAX TEACHER
Minimise teacher input and maximise student output
by Jon Taylor

The Minimax Teacher shows teachers how to increase learning efficiency by:

• reducing teacher input
• encouraging greater student involvement
• freeing teachers to focus on key areas such as monitoring and feedback

The book provides teachers with both a general approach to good learning management and a wealth of ready-to-use activities.

"This book should make life easier for you, more productive for your students... and much more fun for you both!"

ISBN 0 953 309 89 496 pages

Winner of the Frank Bell Prize 2003

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HUMANISING YOUR COURSEBOOK
Activities to bring your classroom to life - and life to your classroom!
by Mario Rinvolucri

Humanising Your Coursebook provides a wide range of original, imaginative, humanistic activities and techniques designed to give new life to any coursebook.

Designed to appeal to teachers wishing to diversify or experiment, and students in need of variety, motivation and change, Humanising Your Coursebook is packed with practical activities that

• encourage innovation and require minimal preparation
  
• put the student 'centre stage'
  
• recognise the importance of different learning styles

"With Gattegno, Gardner and NLP as my thinking guides, I have no excuse for not bringing together a rich swarm of activities for you to use in tandem with your coursebook." Mario Rinvolucri

ISBN 0 954198 60 396 pages

 

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USING THE MOTHER TONGUE
Activities to optimise a major classroom resource
by Sheelagh Deller and Mario Rinvolucri

The use of the mother tongue in the foreign language classroom has often been officially discouraged; however, many teachers have recognised that in practice using one's own language to learn a foreign language is natural, necessary and efficient.

Using the Mother Tongue offers a variety of practical ways to make use of what is a very valuable resource by

• providing ideas and guidelines on when and how to use the mother tongue
• encouraging teachers to use the mother tongue selectively and effectively
• raising awareness of the similarities and differences between languages
• building links between the mother tongue and the foreign language through comparison and translation

"The purpose of this book is to think about ways of using the mother tongue not just for convenience but as a real, living and vital resource for our learners." Sheelagh Dellar and Mario Rinvolucri

ISBN 0 954198 61 196 pages

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 Contents Page.

TALKING BUSINESS IN CLASS
Speaking activities for professional students
by Chris Sion

Talking Business in Class provides teachers with a wealth of activities and suggestions for student-centred conversation classes. It is designed for use with students:

• who need conversation as part of an ESP course
• who want to talk about their occupation and work-related issues
• who want general conversation practice to supplement their professional conversation skills

"Like swimmers, learners of business English need to take the plunge and start authentic conversation in English" Chris Sion

ISBN 1 900783 64 996 pages

Spontaneous Speaking gives teachers a wide variety of drama activities, all of which have been designed to maximise student interaction. A range of different, true-to-life situations are used, to generate meaningful communication, increase fluency and build up students' confidence.

Key features:

• Students have no option but to speak and listen to each other. Written prompts such as rolecards are not used, so the students' focus is always 100% on each other. As well as language, students' bodies, minds, emotions and interpersonal skills are involved.
• The activities provide frameworks but creative content always comes from the students. They generate a lot of energy, fun and laughter, as recently-learnt language is put into practice.
• Clear aims and some suggested variations minimise the teacher's input and maximise students' output. They are ideal for mixed-level teaching: less confident speakers find positive role models, while the more self-assured can get a boost from sometimes giving support to those who need it.

David Heathfield: "The activities in this book will promote positive classroom dynamics, build confidence and lead to improved fluency."

ISBN 1 900783 92 4

UNLOCKING SELF-EXPRESSION THROUGH NLP
Integrated skills activities for intermediate and advanced students
by Judith Baker and Mario Rinvolucri

Judith Baker: “The idea of our choice of language being guided by our sensory perceptions immediately makes the teaching of language as a means of self expression and communication much more exciting.  I feel that learning can draw almost infinitely from NLP and it has given new shapes and depths to the way I teach.”

Mario Rinvolucri: “I use NLP for these four things:  increasing my own enjoyment; dealing with students and colleagues; as a self-management tool; as a touchstone for activities that get my students speaking and writing spontaneously.”

Unlocking self-expression through NLP offers you over a hundred activities that create the need and the desire in the students to express themselves, be it in speech or in writing.  They are divided up into sections that go from Warmers to Exam Preparation, from Vocabulary work to Integrated Skills practice, through strategies such as Introspection, Questionnaires, Roleplay and Storytelling.

ISBN 1 900783 88 65

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THE RESOURCEFUL ENGLISH TEACHER
A complete teaching companion
by John Chandler and Mark Stone

The resourceful English teacher provides a repertoire of more than 200 classroom activities for use in a wide range of teaching solutions.

• Practical
• Accessible
• Concise
• Comprehensive

The resourceful English teacher is the essential companion for both the less experienced teacher looking for guidance and ideas, and the more experienced professional in search of fresh insights and renewed inspiration.

"A very useful treasure trove of ideas for new teachers and an excellent memory aid for experienced teachers"

Helen Naylor, teacher, teacher-trainer, author.

ISBN 0 953 30981 996 pages

SAFETY AND CHALLENGE
for Japanese learners of English
A complete teaching companion
by Peta Gray and Sue Leather

Safety and Challenge is essential reading for non Japanese teachers of English working with Japanese students in both multilingual and monolingual classrooms, in English-speaking countries and in Japan

This book helps the teacher to understand the expectations of Japanese students and to bridge the culture gap which so often leads to misunderstanding, confusion and underachievement.

Safety and Challenge provides:

• a wide range of imaginative and successful classroom activities, specifically designed for Japanese students
• an approach to teaching based on the opposing but complementary concepts of safety and challenge
• 'culturally-safe' activities, integrated with high-risk 'counter-cultural' activities that involve individual student participation

"Our aim is to 'unlock' the undoubted joys of teaching Japanese learners"

Peta Gray and Sue Leather

ISBN 0 953 30982 748 pages