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Tried and tested routines for teaching grammar
Grammar is an integral part of language education, but is often seen as a boring necessity rather than a focus which can engage and

Tom Garside
Nov 10, 20236 min read


How to make in-class reading more engaging
As one of the four language skills, reading is an essential part of second language study. However, it is commonly misunderstood by teachers

Tom Garside
Nov 1, 20236 min read


How to build speaking confidence with quiet ESOL classes
In first-language education, a common problem for teachers is how to deal with noisy or disruptive students. However, in the second

Tom Garside
Oct 22, 20234 min read


The Trinity Certificate for Practising Teachers (CertPT) course for success in your classroom
Most teacher development courses are focused on the teaching that you do: how to teach more effectively, methods and techniques that are

Tom Garside
Oct 11, 20234 min read


For language teachers: Why it’s not all about you!
Traditionally, in most classroom settings, the teacher takes centre stage. They are the expert, and what they say goes. This is also a

Tom Garside
Sep 27, 20234 min read


How to plan your teacher talk for more focused language teaching
Teacher talk has something of a bad name in ESOL. On initial training courses we are warned about avoiding high levels of Teacher Talk Time

Tom Garside
Sep 16, 20234 min read


What is ESOL teaching, and what does it take to become an English Language Teacher?
Becoming a teacher of English and a Foreign Language is becoming a more and more popular way to generate flexible income, to diversify into

Tom Garside
Sep 5, 20235 min read


Action verbs and state verbs - what’s the difference?
From a young age, students are often introduced to verbs as ‘doing words’, implying that all verbs represent actions that can be performed

Tom Garside
Aug 22, 20234 min read


What's the difference between face to face and online teacher training courses?
English Language Teacher Training has developed in many ways over the last few years. There is now a wider range of course options than ever

Tom Garside
Aug 7, 20233 min read


3 reasons why language teachers should never ask the question ‘do you understand?’
One of the most basic aspects of a language teacher’s job is to help students to understand and communicate more things at the end of a less

Tom Garside
Jul 19, 20235 min read


Choose your words: Two easy ways to simplify your teacher talk
Teacher talk is an important part of the language learning environment. However, it often gets a bad name. A common issue among training and

Tom Garside
Jul 10, 20233 min read


Any questions? How to use the quantifiers ‘some’ and ‘any’
English quantifiers are more complex than they look. They have different aspects of meaning which connect to the nouns that they work with

Tom Garside
Jun 25, 20233 min read


Tips on teaching ESOL beginner classes
A lot of what we do as ESOL teachers relies on our students’ prior knowledge, building on their current level of vocabulary and grammar

Tom Garside
Jun 18, 20235 min read


Is AI changing how we need to assess student writing?
In a recent article in the EL Gazette, a form of AI bias was revealed, showing that second-language writers may be unfairly penalised as

Tom Garside
Jun 11, 20234 min read


Teaching English as a Second Language - more than just a job
Training as an English language teacher can be a rewarding experience in many ways. As an entry point into the industry, an initial

Tom Garside
Jun 6, 20233 min read


Present participles and past participles - what’s the difference?
When teaching grammar, a lot of focus tends to be put onto past participles. These forms of verbs appear in many structures such as present

Tom Garside
May 21, 20233 min read


What is a gerund?
In English, -ing is one of the most common verb endings. There are several different reasons why verbs might end in -ing, and this can be a

Tom Garside
May 7, 20232 min read


Modal auxiliaries and auxiliary verbs… What’s the difference?
Auxiliaries are a major part of English grammar constructions. They appear in tenses, questions, negative forms and other functional

Tom Garside
Apr 30, 20234 min read


Time and tense - what’s the difference?
When we talk about English grammar in general terms, it is common to hear people talking about ‘the past tense’. However, when we are

Tom Garside
Apr 23, 20233 min read


Possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives - what’s the difference?
At school, I remember being taught about possessive pronouns showing ownership of a thing, for example ‘that’s my bag’ or ‘it’s his car’.

Tom Garside
Apr 16, 20233 min read
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