Met Editor

How polite do you come over in your email correspondence? Benjamin Dobbs offers some useful insights into this important communication skill.

How can we encourage our learners to watch videos before and after lessons? Find out why this app is both engaging and motivating.

James Porcaro tells how he learned some useful leadership lessons from a former member of the mafia and explains how these relate to his own experience of academic leadership.

Three teachers describe a two week project for low level adult learners in tertiary education.

Should I be teaching English in isolation or as part of British Culture? David Matthews describes how he tries to show insights of authentic British culture as part of his language teaching.

What useful ways are there of sharing ideas on teaching? Andrew Boon describes a wide range of activities aimed at developing teacher performance.

Mark Trevarton reports on some research into the questioning techniques used by a number of teachers and draws some conclusions.

The activity in this issue, which uses the photocopiable worksheets on pages available as attached PDFs, is part of a series that aims to develop the thinking skills of IELTS candidates. It was prepared by Louis Rogers and Nick Thorner, and focuses on preparing students for Part 2 of the Writing paper.

Christine Jones reviews Conversation Strategies and Communicative Competence

Damian Cunniffe offers a practical approach to teaching those who need a little more help.

In our main feature, Chris Payne reviews the research on testing and finds that as well as being a means of assessing what students have learnt, tests actually enhance and contribute to learning.

Léa Gabay overcomes local difficulties by teaching women online.

Claire Hunter has tips for getting students ready for IELTS.

In our main feature, Scott Thornbury discusses how progress was assessed in the past, and how it is done now.

Clare Maas recommends activities to help EAP students distinguish between fact, opinion and stance in academic texts so that their own academic writing can be improved.