Hub Digests

Hub digest – 10th December, 2021

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On the countdown to the end of term here in Spain, but we’ve stll been busy in the Hub with a webinar sharing some revision activities, a lesson plan on a popular Christmas song and a Wednesday Question about your go-to festive lesson ideas. Last week’s Wednesday Question about what you call the people you work with got a lot of interesting responses as well.

There were also questions around how flexible we can and should be in adpating the in-class experience to different learners’ needs and a request for ideas to help B2 learners who are hesitant in speaking.

Coming up next week, we’ll be hosting an open webinar on inclusivity with Simon Pearlman. See you there!

Hub digest – 26th November, 2021

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Happy Friday all! Starting off with an announcement about a small change to the Hub: we won’t be running events on Tuesday mornings in December as we haven’t had any takers to the last couple of events! However, there’s still lots going on in the Hub and we’ve had a couple of interesting chats over hte past couple of weeks with Wednesday Questions on device use during lessons and project-based learning. There was also an interesting post from one of our members about machine learning and how that might affect the future of ELT.

We also had a demo of a lesson planning and management resource platform in last week’s webinar – you can read the notes and check out the recording here. In next week’s webinar, I’ll be sharing some ideas for review activities.

Hub digest – 12th November, 2021

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We had an interesting Trainer Talking Time in the Hub where we chatted about changes we’d like to see in initial qualifications, although we went a little off-piste as well to discuss other aspect such as when TP starts and how the number of trainees on a course can affect the sort of support they receive. And we had a really interesting webinar from the team at iDialogue, a platform which encourages cross-cultural understanding through digital penpal schemes, virtual tours and other opportunities to interact with students from around the world.

In the last couple of Wednesday Questions, people have shared some interesting thoughts around exam prep classes and using graphic organisers. And questions from Hubsters about the most important turning point in ELT history, how students can use translation sites effectively (and if they should) and some chat around Trinity’s Teach English Online course. There were also videos shared by SpongeELT and Charlie’s Lessons – two great channels with lots of CPD resources.

Hub digest – 29th October, 2021

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We’re moving to fortnightly digests for a couple of reasons, but the main one is that I can kill two birds with one stone and prep the questions for the Coffee Break as I write the digest!

It’s been a very CPD-filled fortnight in the Hub. In the Monthly Management Meet Up, we talked about balancing a teacher’s development with quality control in observations. Later that week, we had a fascinating talk from Mark Carver about how to identify quality in teacher development programmes, which also led on to this week’s Wednesday Question about our own next steps in development.

The previous week’s Wednesday Question looked at using different senses in the classroom and there were some ideas shared on using visualisations, a lesson on eating bugs and a fun, reflective task for what makes our students happy.

In the monthly Speakers’ Corner event, we chatted about queer identity in education, with Jordan Putman sharing some thought-provoking questions for teachers and centre managers.

Other questions from Hubsters have included suggestions for a C1 self-study grammar resource, a query about how you store materials you create digitally and a question about the digital resources you use – which in itself is a great list of handy sites!

Hub digest – 15th October, 2021

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There was no live event on Tuesday this week as it was a national holiday in Spain, so we took the opportunity to remind everyone that they can catch up on all the webinars through the Facebook group and read summaries of the live events here on the website.

We did a bit of crowdsourcing on Wednesday to help a Hubber with some ideas for YL routines for an upcoming training session and there was also a question on storing resources. And there was a flurry of questions in the coffee breaks on Thursday, including how to say no and what type of background you have online.

Coming up next week, there’s a Monthly Management Meet Up on Tuesday and on Thursday, we’ll be joined by Mark Carver to talk about how to recognise quality teacher development in ELT.

Hub digest – 8th October, 2021

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We had a fabulous start to October in the Hub, with a Focused Forum looking at teaching writing skills, followed by a thought-provoking webinar with Michelle Worgan on the future of the primary classroom. 

There were also some interesting questions in the Facebook group, alongside the Wednesday Question on how teachers are viewed around the world. One Hubber was looking for advice for their first time proposal writing, there was a query on helping fast finisher listeners, a lesson to kick off Black History month here in Europe and another Hubster was on hand to offer advice if you’re looking to boost your social media business profile.

Coming up next week, it’s a national holiday in Spain on Tuesday, so no live event then, but we’ll be back with a double coffee break on Thursday. Have a great weekend!