Hub Digests

Hub digest – 1st April, 2024

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Another fabulous month in the Hub, with some great content from our members. I really enjoyed the live sessions in March, chatting to Martin Hajek about his new book, More than a gap year adventure, and Volkan Iner of Teacher Talks. Our Wednesday Questions were:

There was also some great content from Hubsters. There was the next issue of the University Grapevine from Robert and the EduVerse newsletter from Quoc, along with a call for contributions. Kirsten asked about Business English materials and Nicola asked about fees for senior positions in the UK.

Robert shared tips on making videos as part of Jo Gakonga’s VOiCE course and a video on digital literacy competence. There was a special offer for Hubsters for Lara’s circular economy course. Although this course has now started, do get in touch with Lara if you’re interested in any upcoming courses. Rachael ran another Festival of Freelancing – follow her to find out when the next one is for great tips on making your business work for you.

Hub digest – 29th February, 2024

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Happy leap year, Hubsters! Two months in to 2024 and there’s lots of great content to share from the group.
We’ve had three more engaging webinars on a variety of topics, plus Wednesday Questions to get us thinking about ELT:

There were some interesting questions from Hubsters as well. Practice English with News asked about Business English textbooks, Simon asked about online resources for adults to prepare for Cambridge exams and he also shared an Edutopia article on getting feedback from staff.  Jane was looking for advice on how her learners could send voice messages and there are lots of recommendations for different sites and apps on the thread. Kristen was looking for resources (or volunteers!) for peer observations and Robert shared videos on eModeration, mnemonics and AI for language learning. Ben and Shaun both had surveys about the challenges of listening for learners. Bhavna was back with another wonderful video, this time on a book by Katherine Reilly (check out Katherine’s Hub sessions on getting learners writing and adapting your materials). 

Here are some other events which Hubsters shared details of:

Hub digest – 12th January, 2024

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2024 is off to a great start in the Hub, with a fab session on how to earn more in 2024 with Ola Kowalska and a Wednesday Question on getting learners up and moving. Here are the other webinars and Wednesday Questions since our last digest:

Not so many questions from Hubsters over the past couple of months, but Fiona kicked off the year (look ahead!) with a query about summer camps.

There was lots of great content shared by Hubsters:

Erin was back with a podcast episode filled with tips on the lexical approach and videos on dealing with learners’ language queries and learner autonomy, while Jo shared a video with tips for getting an A in CELTA.

Hubsters shared some interesting sessions as well:

Hub digest – 4th October, 2023

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There’s lots to catch up on in the Hub from the past couple of months. We’ve had some great webinars: in August, Tim Warre joined us to talk about Atomic Habits, Tom Liebewitz of the TEFL Workers’ Union chatted about workers’ rights and Kate Bodrova from Amazy shared tips on how to create, publish and monetize digital materials. There was also an opportunity at the end of August for teacher trainers to get together to discuss how developments in ELT feed into their practice. In September, Dr. Amina Douidi shared how to make ELT research more approachable and Lara Mehanna talked about the circular economy and EcoTEFL content.

And there have been weekly Wednesday Questions:

We had some thought-provoking questions from members too. Mike asked about how to get into teacher training, Ri was looking for participants for a survey on CELTA and neurodiversity and Mary asked about practical ideas for the primary classroom for SEL (social-emotional learning) and CLIL (content-language integrated learning). Jack asked about sites or apps for learners to practise spelling and also shared a survey on AI in the classroom. Emma asked about coursebooks for teens at a B2+ level, Blanka started a conversation about bionic reading, and Lisa was looking for fonts to use with the phonemic script. We also had an anonymous post on how to recognise reputable training providers.

As always, there were some fabulous resources shared by Hubsters too. Silvina had lesson plans on dealing with change in the workplace and Kintsugi, whilst Quick and Easy English had a detailed plan on travel. 

Robert shared the latest issue of the University Grapevine and Hubsters shared some other events of interest: Erin of Everything EFL did a webinar on the Lexical Approach and she also shared a fab video on giving learners choice through the lesson. The team at Euro Speak did a session on boosting spoken English skills via interactive and asynchronous learning, ITEACH offered a session on earning more as an online teacher and Leo from Learn Your English did a session with Geoff Jordan on SLA (Second Language Acquisition) and another with Cecilia Nobre on video-based lessons. At the start of September, Fiona from Kids Club English ran an ESL and pre-primary pentathlon and Blessing Epum ran a back-to-school conference for parents and educators. Jane also shared a link for Pearson’s webinar series, which included a few Hub regulars…including Dr Amina Douidi who was speaking about accessibility and diversity. 

Hub Digest – 14th July, 2023

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Time for another catch-up on all the fabulous things that have been happening in the Hub 🤩 Over the past couple of months, we’ve had more interesting live sessions with Meri Maroutian talking to us about native speaker bias, Katherine Reilly sharing tips on making materials more inclusive, Jennifer Murray guiding us into the world of copywriting and Ramy Rashad Abdelreheem with the nuts and bolts of error correction.

Every Wednesday there’s a question to get you thinking and reflecting on different aspects of ELT. Here’s what we’ve discussed over the past couple of months:

There were lots of interesting questions and comments from Hubsters too. Michelle asked if anyone had used the WhatsApp ‘Communities’ feature, Jane was looking for some fun lesson suggestions to help a stressed out learner and Pati asked about posters and display material for the classroom. Eszter was looking for tips on LGBTQIA+ materials for adult learners (Peter shared materials for Pride earlier in the month as well), Bianca asked about teaching young learners online.and Dani asked about online materials for trainee teachers working with adult learners.

For ELT professionals based in Spain, Alan and the ACEIA team were asking for opinions about how the profession has developed in recent years and open to all, but aimed at UK residents past and present, Nicola hosted a Q&A on National Insurance contributions.

There were also some excellent resources: Silvina had lesson plans on time management and career development, Bhavna had a story called Chuchu Manthu’s Jar of Toffees, Un Viaje en Libro shared two posts with tips for summer reading and Jane shared an idea for talking about disastrous holidays. Robert shared the link to Issue 16 of the University Grapevine, We had links to fabulous content from Erin at Better English / Everything EFL podcast on noticing, remembering that our learners are humans first, fixed phrases and chunks and building trust. She also shared details of her new series, Cornerstones of Learning.

Hubsters also shared links to other interesting events: Leo from Learn Your English shared a webinar with Dylan Gates (who you can also see in action in the Hub with his session, Speaking Unplugged: doing more with less) and Cecilia shared details of the BrazTESOL International Conference. Valentina shared details of her upcoming training sessions for edupreneurs and her five-day challenge. Rachael posted about the Second Festival of Freelancing and Nicola was back to share more financial know-how in her Pension Perfect session.

Hub digest – 15th May, 2023

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It’s been an incredibly busy couple of months, so I’m way behind with the digests…last one was 1st March! So get ready for a long post…

There were webinars with Alex Popovski on graphic novels, Bhavna Gupta on storytelling, Nicola Prentis on investing and Jo Gakonga on video production. We had a couple of chats in Trainer Talking Time on engaging colleagues in CPD and incorporating different approaches into our input. And lots of Wednesday Questions!

Some courses and resources for you:

Bhavna shared a link to a Gender in language education course and her latest lesson plans on Stage fright and adopting stray animals. Jo asked whether ChatGPT might replace teachers, shared some tips on getting around research paywalls and ideas on how to adapt your coursebook. On the topic of AI, Charlie shared a video with some tips to incorporate it into your lessons.

Silvina had a lesson plan on the Sounds or Nature, and another on project management. Quick and Easy English shared a lesson plan on Crisis in the Workplace, another on the second conditional. ESL Job Center shared ideas for games with young learners, vocabulary activities, reading activities and speaking activities.

Jane started a thread with some ideas on how to use Canva, following on from Clare Hayward’s webinar on the topic and Greg shared a link to a podcast on teaching literacy to young learners. Nicola shared information on National Insurance contributions for UK nationals or anyone who has worked in the UK for three or more years. Issues 12, 14, and 15 of the University Grapevine came out and there were some great questions from Hubsters…

An anonymous member asked an important question about conditions working with online companies and there was a handy question from Michelle on top tips for using Zoom with young learners. Valentina asked about our reasons for becoming a teacher, the types of students you don’t enjoy working with and what to do if students don’t pay. She also shared a link with the most recent episodes of her podcast, The Edupreneur’s Journey. Erin asked about times when you’ve forgotten something during class and looked for ideas on activities for learners to do with their phones. Rozalia asked about recording learners during online classes and Rachael asked whether working for free is ever a good idea. Practice English with News asked about using foul language in the classroom and using a CRM (and I learnt that CRM stands for customer relationship management). Mike got us chatting about modernising coursebooks and Melissa asked about using sites like Teachers Pay Teachers.

Events that have happened over the past couple of months:
Bhavna shared a link to a British Council session on Equity in the Classroom, Valentina ran a session called PROTECT to chat about terms and conditions and pricing for classes and another on Lead Magnets. Leo shared an event on The Generative Power of Lexical Chunks, Meri has recently set up a membership to her site The Native Speaker Teacher (and she’ll be joining us later this month for a webinar!) and Jo shared a link to the Momentum summit on setting up an online ELT business.