Charlie Ellis

One of the realities of the ELT sector is the difficulty of finding permanent positions. Teachers who are job hunting often need to do a little bit extra to get their 'foot in the door'. This can include cover work at very short notice. This article suggests that teachers should prepare themselves to grasp these opportunities by having lessons up their sleeves. In addition, having these ready to deploy may help get you through some tight moments in your teaching career. A lesson in 15 minutes The need to have lessons up my sleeve came home to me early in my...

Humans have already changed the world several times by changing the way they have had conversations. Theodore Zeldin, Conversation (1999) Conversation classes are usually considered a way to supplement ‘proper’ language lessons and improve fluency. But surely we are all aiming to create meaningful conversations in all of our classes? When new students arrive in a class we usually try and integrate them through asking a few questions about where they are from. Ideally, this evolves into a meaningful exchange between students: a conversation. We promote and facilitate conversation in class as we feel this gives the students an incentive to improve...

Charlie Ellis argues that by reusing materials at different levels you can grade appropriate tasks and save time on the search for resources to use.

The author shares his teaching and learning experiences.

The author describes writing as a way of changing the pace of lessons into a more reflective stage where learners organise their thoughts and redraft their writing.