Fossilisation, ‘the long term persistence of plateaus of non-target-like structures in the interlanguage of nonnative speakers’ (Selinker and Lakshmanan, 1992, p.197) refers to the idea that a learner’s interlanguage system reaches a point where the development of some or all of their interlanguage forms ceases, without having reached a native-like state. As I said in […]
First online workshop of 2021 – Fighting Fossilisation with Reflection and Strategy training
Written by: Nicole Heusser I can’t believe it’s the end of January already! We’re in the middle of the second lockdown, which means we still can’t meet in person, but thankfully, there are brilliant online workshops to be had! Thank you, Laura Edwards for a great, inspiring workshop! It was a good mix of […]
BESIG CONFERENCE – 2020
Written by: Andrea Vogt-Nas Like many other events, the BESIG 2020 conference had to face challenge and change. Unfortunately, it could only take place online. But was it really so unfortunate? I don’t think so! It has been a challenging year for the BE teaching community with many changes in our teaching lives – amongst them […]
Reviews – 1st Inter-ELTA Members’ Day on 29 Nov. 2020
Written by: Rebecca Sprengel When so many aspects of life are being reduced, it is hard to find something really new. Well, the first inter-ELTA online conference was, if I’m not mistaken, a world premiere! 7 ELTAs, 8 speakers and over 60 participants spent a whole Saturday listening, talking and chatting about a huge variety […]
Teaching and Technology
Written By: Tanja Delgorge-Engelhardt How are you teaching nowadays? Face-to-face? Online? Or perhaps both at the same time (that is, in a hybrid class)? It hasn’t been easy to move classes suddenly from a room in a building to a room in the cloud. The “downtime” since March has brought challenges to us […]
Online Workshop Review: „Creative Speaking for Effective Communication“ with Jon Wright
Written by: Karin Scheffold-Mokler This long-awaited workshop in cooperation with ELTAU on 17th October 2020 was a very interesting and entertaining experience for all of us. After a short introduction about the importance of creativity in foreign language teaching, Jon Wright stimulated our own creativity by asking us which was our individual colour of the […]
Book Review: Brain Friendly Grammar by Rachel Paling
Written by: Vera Tillner How to fall in love with grammar Photo: Brain Friendly Grammar (Source: Pikrepo) Following last month’s featured article about Neurolanguage Coaching, this month we highlight an exciting book about brain friendly grammar conversations. There are many reasons why a teacher might feel negative about teaching grammar. Insecurity is one of them […]
First Inter-ELTA members’ day (online)
Written by: Nicole Heusser As we slowly come to the end of a year that has gone by with lightning speed, we look back at a year no one of us could have expected nor predicted. We think back on how 21st Century Skill catchphrases like creativity, flexibility and adaptability, and media and technology literacy […]
Each Brain is Unique
Written by: Vera Tillner A new perspective on language teaching Coaching entered the world of language teaching a few years ago. I came across it only in April of 2019 because I had that growing feeling something was missing from my lessons. I was looking for ways to give all my learners the opportunity to […]
Reflections on Audience and Purpose with Michelle Hunter
Our latest event on September 19, Audience and Purpose, with Michelle Hunter was a welcome back of sorts in these strange and restrictive Covid-19 times. Though with a reduced number of attendees, we were able to enjoy an insightful gathering and learning experience. Michelle Hunter’s workshop focused on some of the things we as language […]
LEARNING STYLES ONLINE 2: how can we allow for different learner types?
Written by Rebecca Sprengel In my first article on learning styles, I mentioned the Honey and Mumford learning styles questionnaire which I would like to present. H & M distinguish between four learning styles. Pragmatist (plan) – a learner who will pick up new ideas and immediately seeks to find a practical application […]
Summer – Time to Recharge
Written by: Vera Tillner 5 Things to do this summer to boost your creativity. After a spring filled with the Covid-19 pandemic and worries and changes connected with it, we are definitely craving for a summer which is more like the summers we have known. Summer is the season to relax, take a break from […]
Essentials of Teaching Legal English workshop on August 1st
Our sister organization HELTA in Hamburg is offering an online workshop covering essentials of teaching legal English on August 1st from 2:00 – 5:15 p.m. As an extra perk of your Eltas membership, you can attend this workshop free of charge. To sign up contact registration@helta.de.
LEARNING STYLES ONLINE: how can we allow for different learner types?
Written by: Rebecca Sprengel As online learning has largely taken over from face to face classes, we can rely on even less information on how our students learn, especially in a one-to-one situation. Do some students benefit more than others from on-line learning? In this two-part article, I would like to look at learning […]
Jason Chan – China to Go (intercultural communication)
Written by: Nicole Heusser Last Saturday, our second online workshop took place via Zoom. The workshop was aptly named China to Go: What do we know about China? How do we perceive the Chinese and how do they perceive us? How respected are teachers in China, compared to teachers in Germany? What are our own […]
All good things come in threes – Third online committee meeting
Written by: Nicole Heusser A lot has happened since our last committee meeting at the end of March. Somehow it seems that amidst all the chaos of the last three months, the members of ELTAS found their feet and adapted to the new situation! The committee has used the last few months to improve and […]
Sign up for ELTAU & OUP Webinair on June 19th!
Eltas members are invited to attend ELTAU & OUP’s two-part webinar on Friday, June 19th from 15:30 – 18:00. See attached description for more details & sign up at Events@eltau.de
Marketing yourself in times of COVID-19 (and beyond)
Written by: Nicole Heusser In Saturday’s online workshop with Dale Coulter we looked at different ideas on how to market our teaching services. A few days before the workshop, we were sent a pre-task consisting of a range of questions relating to our teaching businesses. Developing a marketing strategy as a small business can be […]
Zoom – Easy to use. Easy to hack?
Written by: Vera Tillner With social distancing, more and more companies, institutions and private households have moved their work and lives online over the past few weeks. So have we English trainers! But which tool should we use? In the following article, I will explain why I think Zoom is an excellent option for online […]
Upcoming webinar – Your Legal Rights and Options
Written by: Nicole Heusser It’s a bit short notice, but Patrick Mustu, lawyer and language trainer in Düsseldorf will present an online presentation on Thursday April 16 about the current situation for freelance language teachers. In this webinar, the focus will be on your rights as workers, as well as an overview of the various […]
Online committee meeting…we’re getting the hang of it!
Written by: Nicole Heusser Last Friday, our committee met for the second time this year. This was held online, as was our Inter-ELTA meeting two weeks ago. We agreed on postponing Michelle Jagger’s May workshop to September. But we could still have a webinar in May, although with another speaker. More info to follow as […]
