Welcome to this issue of TEFL Inspire. This month you'll find news of our weekly Tips for TEFL Teachers. Also in this issue, Laura Austin offers some useful ideas on getting the most out of the Internet, and in the TEFL Help Desk Lucy considers the teaching of visually impaired students. Liz Regan has produced a highly topical lesson plan on the subject of guns and our attitude toward them; while Agata Wasielewska reviews a recent book from Longman designed to activate students' vocabulary. As usual, you'll also find your regular quick quiz, the latest ESL jobs and schools for sale.

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Blind Student! How to deal with this?

Q: Dear Lucy: I supervise teachers in a private adult academy in Korea. Yesterday we had a blind student register in one of our intermediate conversation classes. My teacher is asking me for advice on how to deal with this and I don't know how to advise her, being that I've never done this before. Most classroom activities come directly from our company-written textbook, and if she can't read or see the pictures then I'm at a loss for how she can effectively participate in class. I should also mention that our classes have a maximum of 12 students. Lucy, can you give me some tips? I'd really appreciate anything you might have to help. Seomyunas

A: Dear Seomyunas:  The first thing to do is to find out the student's degree of blindness. How much vision does she have? She might have partial vision and be able see or read things that are in large print. In which case, if the teacher writes things out in large print, the student will be able to follow. Also find out from the student the history of her blindness; was she born with sight? If she was, she will have some visual memory and the teacher will be able to use this when describing objects, etc...

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Talking Point: Going Great Guns
A topical worksheet on a stimulating theme: our attitude to guns. This lesson includes vocabulary in the form of common idioms and phrases with the word "gun". Fluency is practised through thought-provoking discussion questions such as. "To what extent do you think the film and music industries glorify guns?"

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Talking Point worksheets are designed for pre-intermediate and above levels. They are printer-friendly and come with Teaching Suggestions and answers.

 

Which is a Hindu god?

a) Apollo
b) Brahma
c) Neptune

See end of newsletter for answer.

Using Internet
How can students benefit from using the Internet?
by Laura Austin

Most of our students prefer surfing on-line to opening up their English text book. This can be a good thing! We can use this to increase their exposure to authentic material which is also up-to-date and easily accessible.

So what kind of activities can our students do?

Firstly, they can make their own worksheets for class. Teenage students can choose an artist they like and find a biography on the Internet. With this they can produce their own comprehension exercises and activities related to synonyms. They can also make gap-fills for their favourite songs. I did this with a group of 14 year olds and the best activity we used in class. By doing this, you ensure that your material is relevant to your students and the competition element makes them produce a high standard of work.

Another way to use the Internet for homework tasks is to incorporate it into your lesson plan. For example, if you are doing a unit on shopping, they can write shopping lists and go home to see who can find the best priced products. There are two ways of doing this, you either let students explore freely, or you give them a list of websites to search.

Other ideas include booking ideal holidays, exploring a city and finding cheap accomodation etc and looking at passive forms in a variety of newspaper articles.

One activity I did in class was to send students to two websites. One was of a broadsheet newspaper and the other of a tabloid. They had to find the same topic and compare the article in terms of content, grammr and presentation. By choosing their own topic they were motivated to read and they could then feedback their topic to the class.

Finally, there are hundreds of websites created for students of English which have quizzes, grammar practise and forums. You can give your students a list of these sites to explore and to write reviews. They will have fun whilst doing so and will hopefully use them on subsequent occasions.
--
Laura Austin is a TEFL teacher in Sevilla.

Longman Essential Activator
Publisher: Pearson Education Limited

Longman Essential Activator 2nd Edition is a book addressed to those students who want to make their spoken and written language more varied. The definitions and explanations in English, as well as the choice of vocabulary make this book a perfect learning tool for students whose level of English is intermediate. Apart from the introductory part, which explains how to use the book, the dictionary consists of the following sections: The Dictionary A-Z, Word Banks, Essential Communication, Essential Grammar, Index and Writing Coach (on a CD-ROM)....

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Reviewed by Agata Wasielewska

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b) Brahma

This is a level 5 question and answer from Word Up, the ESL board game that's fun to play in class.