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ESL Discipline and Classroom Management for Children in Environments Where No Punishment Is Allowed
In this article I will define what an "environment where no punishment is allowed" really is, where can this type of environment be found, and why do such environments even exist. Then we can analyze what kind of problems this can present for ESL teachers working with children. And finally I present some guidelines as to what can the teachers do in these situations to minimize or solve discipline issues and maintain a good learning environment. All the information presented in this article is the product personal experience and observation performed by myself in the course of two years. I hope it can be useful to the reader as it was to me.
First things first, "punishment" is a harsh word and often invokes concepts like physical punishment in the mind of the listener. Sadly many parts of the world still use physical punishment as means of instruction. But I believe most proper schools ...

A lot of research has been done to discover if there is any truth to the idea that there are actually "learning styles." The studies have found that there is no scientific basis for learning styles. Instead, they found that people were able to effectively learn using either visual, auditory and/or kinesthetic sensory modalities.
It may be a fact that there is not a scientific basis for learning styles, but any trainer can tell you in truth that there are certainly learning preferences. If you ask a group of participants how they learn best, you will get a wide range of answers that fall neatly into existing "learning style" categories.
For example, participants identified the following learning preferences in a recent train-the-trainer session: group discussion (interactive learning), role play (kinesthetic), games (haptic), stories (aural), videos (visual), and case studies (print). .
Closer to home, I know that I do not learn by listening- to lecture, to audio books, to stories, or ...

Many students who aspire to learn English, often concentrate on accent instead of concepts in the language. But, concentrating on accent makes it difficult to learn and follow the language. Therefore, they are either adapting the wrong ways to learn the language or moving away from learning it.
This trend of focusing on the accent rather than focusing on the language, is becoming common among young graduates. This shift in focus from language to accent is creating a wrong impression on the language (good accent means good English) and is misleading students on the way of learning English (getting right accent is enough to learn).
Good accent does not mean good English Students aspiring to learn the language assume that having a good accent means speaking good English - even an illiterate person in an English-speaking country, who may not have the skills of the language can speak in his native accent. While, the intelligent and educated native speakers, though good at accent, will ...

English is a language that inspires. Every English learner should know that only developing speaking English skills will fetch you barely any polish. A well-polished speaker is someone who knows and understands the in and out of the language. It should be 'a piece of cake' for you. Confused? Well, 'a piece of cake' is a famous idiom in the English language. It is used to state that 'it is that simple/ easy'. This article will help you learn and understand the ten most common idioms along with their meaning to simplify it further for you.
Ten common idioms used in English:
1. Piece of cake- As mentioned above 'a piece of cake' is referring to something that is very easy or doable. You use it when you find something extremely light and distressful.
Usage- That class test was a piece of cake for me.
2. Break a leg- It might sound funny yet it isn't the literal meaning. Break a leg means good luck or do well. It's used as a well wish in situations that need it.
Usage- Oh! You've got an ...

Effective classroom management strategies can ensure a pleasant teaching environment for the entire year. Conversely, poor classroom management may lead to a difficult class and a year that drags on. These tips will get you well on your way to creating a positive environment in your classroom.
Post class rules
Students need to know what is expected of them from the very beginning. It is also useful to have visuals of the rules so that you can redirect small misbehavior problems by pointing at the appropriate rule poster. Since I have very little artistic talent I had my students create the posters for me. We went over the rules the first day of class and I had students each create a poster for two rules. We displayed all the posters for the first week. I later had the students vote on a single poster for each rule to leave up.
Post consequences
Students may occasionally break a rule. It is important that you have established a procedure for dealing with infractions. The consequences ...

A decade ago when I was in graduate school, I could hardly contain my excitement when the time came for taking remedial reading courses. I just couldn't wait to find the answers to questions that had plagued me about why seemingly bright children struggled to learn to read. Imagine my chagrin when I found that the class was preparing me to test, detect learning differences, track reading rates, classify text as to reading level, in short to do everything but successfully teach reading to a non-reader.
Over the past ten years, I have learned about a whole array of classifications for disabilities. There are so many! The impression one could get is that children are becoming more and more broken, and we are developing more and more detailed labels for describing them. What I have not seen, however, is more and more evolved solutions to accompany this highly classified collection of labels. The solutions are what have always interested me!
If we continue to scrutinize the child instead ...

The IELTS speaking questions often repeat and hence it is a good idea to go through the question papers of recent IELTS tests. This will help you get a basic idea about the kind of questions asked. And if you are lucky you might be asked the same set of questions. You can find sample answers for speaking questions at many websites. However, while preparing for the test don't memorise long answers. Remember that the examiners are trained to distinguish learned answers from spontaneous ones. If they suspect that you are saying answers that have been memorized, you will not get any marks.
No right or wrong answers
The IELTS speaking test is not an assessment of your general knowledge. The examiner is only interested in testing your English speaking skills. That means there are no right or wrong answers for the questions. All answers will earn marks as long as they are in good English.
Use varied and advanced vocabulary
While discussing non-personal topics, you should demonstrate your ...

The IELTS reading module takes about 60 minutes. You will have to answer 40 questions based on three reading passages containing between 2000 and 2750 words.
Both the passages and the questions appear on the same question paper. You can write on the question paper, but you can't take it home. All answers have to be transferred to the answer sheet during the 60 minutes itself. No extra time is given for transferring answers.
Types of questions
A variety of questions are asked in the reading module. Here is an overview.
 
Multiple choice questions
Short answer questions
Sentence completion
Summary / flow chart / table completion
Labelling a diagram
Choosing headings for paragraphs
Locating information
True, false or not given
Matching lists / phrases
Multiple matching
 
Multiple choice questions
These questions are usually followed by four answer choices labeled A, B, C and D. You have to choose the best answer. If option A is the correct answer, then you have to write A on the answer ...

In this globalised world, it is essential to be fluent in English, the global medium of communication. Being proficient in English will open doors for your education, career and social life. It is not enough that you just string together two words to be an expert in English speaking. You should also know how to frame grammatically correct English sentences. The study of grammar is one of the most tedious aspects of any language. Many candidates give up as they feel English grammar is boring. However, if you are aiming to be well-versed in English speaking, you need to know the special rules of grammar for English speaking
The special rules:
1. Subject
The subject is the main content in any sentence. It usually refers to 'who' or 'what' in a sentence. For people to understand the meaning of a sentence said by you, a subject should be present in a sentence. Unlike other languages, it is compulsory to include the subject.
For example:
'My sister is very smart'. 'The building is very big'. ...

I have taken several courses and workshops for teachers, but only few online. Four years ago I took my first one. I took it mainly to experiment and I paid for it. It was offered by TESOL. It was a course to learn how to teach young learners. Our online instructor was Annie Hughes a very experienced teacher and teacher trainer as well as book writer.
We learnt how young learners learn, how to implement activities for reading, writing, listening and speaking skills as well as techniques for using stories, songs and rhymes, games and role-play in the classroom. We also considered the role of assessment and evaluation in teaching English to young learners.
It was really good course I learnt that some of the activities for young learners can also be used for teenagers in high school and young adults at university level, we just need to adapt or adjust a bit.
Annie was an excellent facilitator. She always gave us great feedback and guided us through the topic in very friendly non-stressing ...