Raising Expectations, Measuring Results

It was a great honour to be asked to present on student learning outcomes by OUP. I seized the chance to talk about how important expectations are, how raising expectations (of students, teachers, and institutions) is likely to be the key to improving English education in Japan, and how important effective assessment is. Of course I also talked about student learning outcomes and how useful the CEFR can be when thinking about our courses.

101121 OUP Q presentation

I had a great audience for this and thoroughly enjoyed the presentation.

Tweaking Extensive Reading

Here is my presentation from the Extensive Reading SIG Forum at JALT 2010. It was a five-minute description of a seemingly cosmetic change I made to my ER class that resulted in hugely improved results. I encouraged everyone to play with how they ran their programs, as the next breakthrough could be just around the corner.

101120_tweaking ER_shearon

Got some great advice from Eleanor K. who suggested a topic for me to present at the pan-SIG conference next year.

Thanks Eleanor, I’ll be taking that idea and running with it!

JALT 2010 in Nagoya

I will be presenting three times this year at the JALT National Conference in Nagoya, details as follows:

All You Can Read: the Extensive Reading Colloquium
Saturday 20th: 17:15 in room 1203 (sponsored by the  Extensive Reading SIG)

Raising Expectations: Measuring Results
Sunday 21st: 13:00 in room 1102 (sponsored by OUP)

Phonics-based Reading Practice for Children
Sunday 21st:  17:05 in room 1103 (sponsored by englishbooks.jp)

Hope to see a lot of friends there!

New English Teachers episode

The great English Teachers online series continues with episode 5: Showdown.

Check it out here.

Niigata Teacher Seminar

I just got back from Niigata, where I was invited to present to a great group of teachers from local junior and senior high schools.

My topic was teaching reading and writing to junior and senior high school students, and you can see my presentation slides and notes below:

101111 Niigata Intro
101111 Niigata Reading for JSHS
101111 Niigata Writing for JSHS
101111 Niigata Notes

Thanks for a great day and good luck with your teaching!

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