Author Archives: Tom Godfrey
Speech Bubbles 30th Anniversary Celebrations
Saturday 7th September and Sunday 8th September Interested? Click here The two-day celebration aims to bring together participants on ITI training courses, tutors, TP students and members of Speech Bubbles to a ‘get together’ to share experiences through a series … Continue reading
ITI 30th anniversary celebrations and awards re-uniting friends and colleagues
The two-day celebration aims to bring together participants on ITI training courses, tutors, TP students and members of Speech Bubbles to a ‘get together’ to share experiences through a series of presentations, workshops, discussions, party games and many other fun … Continue reading
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Tagged Anniversary, Celebration, CELTA, DELTA, ELT, ELT Conference, ELT Forum, ITI, ITI Awards, ITI Istanbul, Sharing ideas, Tom Godfrey
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Are learners today awake or Sleeping Beauties?
Who is going to kiss the Princess? One of my favourite drama based lessons (attached below) is based on the story of the Sleeping Beauty. The story can be seen as an allegory of the human condition and raises awareness … Continue reading
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Tagged awareness raising, consciousness, drama, lesson plan, order and chaos, Sleeping Beauty
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Transformative Teaching: Channeling Energy in the classroom.
What is exceptional teaching? This is a question that, as a teacher trainer, has preoccupied me for the last 40 years. What makes an exceptional teacher? Traditionally education is perceived as a process similar to the production of a … Continue reading
Developing Writing Skills: The Genre Approach
Development Plans for my favourite holiday destination Everybody is talking about the new development plans. It is the hottest topic in all the cafes, like the one in the picture. I wonder what is your opinion! The Genre Approach to … Continue reading
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Tom’s Drama Workshop Tour to Ukraine and Russia
I am travelling to Kiev, Ukraine to do a workshops focussing on how to encourage holistic learning by exploiting drama techniques that use our learners’ minds, bodies and emotions to enhance the language experience. The workshop in Kiev is on … Continue reading
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Forum Theatre in ELT: The Story of Peter Black Role Play.
A Tragic Story of the Financial Crisis. Introduction. This is one of my favourite lessons. ‘The Tragic Story of Peter Black is about a middle-aged man who is made redundant during a financial recession and the tragic consequences that follow. … Continue reading
Posted in My favourite lessons
Tagged Boal, breaking bad news, drama, ELT, Forum Theatre, Freire, integrated skills, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, role play
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A Challenge to Education
We need to reform education to meet the needs of children in the new millennium. The current system involves placing children in boxes (called schools) for most of the daylight hours; and once inside these boxes they are divided into … Continue reading
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What is TEFL?
‘I am an EFL teacher and trainer’. A typical retort to this comment is: ‘What’s that?’ For the uninitiated EFL means English as a Foreign Language. EFL therefore describes the situation where learners are learning English in a context where … Continue reading
Posted in TEFL, Uncategorized
Tagged CELTA, EFL, EFL jobs, ELT, ITI, Teaching English, TEFL, TEFL course, TEFL qualifications, TP
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Cheating Lale: A Psychological Dilemma.
Using ‘Storydrama’ in ELT. Introduction. This is one of my favourite lesson plans. ‘Cheating Lale is about a young girl who cheats in her University final examinations and the lesson explores learners’ reactions and interpretations of the events and characters that … Continue reading
Posted in My favourite lessons
Tagged Cheating, Cheating Lale, collaborative learning, creativity, discussion, human greed, integrated skills, learner - centred, learner focussed, moral dilemma, oral fluency, oral skills, psychological test, speaking skills, story, story drama, turn-taking, whole person learning
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Teaching Artistry 