Tag Archives: English as a second or foreign language

(authentic) resources for an HR English course

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Svetlana Urisman

I’ve recently finished teaching a one-to-one HR English course (which lasted, on and off, about 18 months), and I feel it would be good to share some materials I’ve been choosing, using and sometimes creating. The situation The course started … Continue reading →

Posted in authentic materials, Business English, HR, materials writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Used to, get used to, be used to and would – an activity to train, revise and speak

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Svetlana Urisman

A couple of days ago I felt there wasn’t a good material on would, be used to, be used to used to and get used to that would meet all the requirements for my student. And so I decidecd to … Continue reading →

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a more personalised approach to ING and TO

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

The gerund vs infinitive grammar has always seemed quite tricky for teaching to me: I have always felt there wasn’t enough really good materials, especially for the one-to-one situation.  Of course there are all kinds of gap-fills and contextualised gap-fills (like … Continue reading →

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How to ask questions to encourage more fluency in class?

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

How to ask the right questions to provoke more speaking&discussion in class? You might have heard that to be good at (Business) English teaching, you don’t have to know all the specifics of our students’ business, you have to ask … Continue reading →

Posted in Business English, lists, teaching higher levels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

end-of-unit experiment (with a lot of information in brackets)

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Svetlana Urisman

I’ve experimented with it a couple of times already, but not always has it been very successful – due to the lack of time, apparently. As this experiment is somehow in line with the ideas and attitudes proposed by “from … Continue reading →

Posted in lesson plans, materials writing, Professional development, teaching higher levels, teaching lower levels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

multiple uses of newspapers & magazines for ELT

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Svetlana Urisman

I love using real things for teaching English. By “real things” I mean something from real life – and not something specially developed for learning or teaching. That’s why I prefer usual movies (and not educational ones – they are … Continue reading →

Posted in authentic materials, Business English, intermediate, lesson plans, lesson starters, lists, materials writing, Professional development, teaching higher levels | Tagged , , , , , , , | 32 Comments

Macmillan Online Conference, Business Section, mobility of BE

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Svetlana Urisman

#MOC2013 Enjoying the Online Macmillan Conference (Business Section) at the comfort of home, with my baby sleeping by. Mike Hogan’s session on mobility of Business English was great, very inspiring and very much up-to-the-minute. all about how mobile our business … Continue reading →

Posted in Business English, Professional development, teaching higher levels, teaching lower levels, useful links | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

students: we love them and we hate them…?

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Svetlana Urisman

when recalling my past experience with the bank executive and the leadership course, I caught myself thinking if I’d like to come back to that student one day, if that student was my “red carpet student”, and mostly, how  we … Continue reading →

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