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Find Definitions & Meanings of Words | Britannica Dictionary

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Clear and simple definitions in American English from Britannica's language experts. More usage examples than any other dictionary.

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Cambridge Learner's Dictionary: Definitions & Meanings

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The most popular dictionary and thesaurus. Definitions & meanings of words in Learner English with examples, synonyms, pronunciations and translations.

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Voice of America - Learn American English with VOA Learning English

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Learn American English with English language lessons from Voice of America. VOA Learning English helps you learn English with vocabulary, listening and comprehension lessons through daily news and interactive English learning activities.

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NPR - Breaking News, Analysis, Music, Arts & Podcasts

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Top stories in the U.S. and world news, politics, health, science, business, music, arts and culture. Nonprofit journalism with a mission. This is NPR.

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Breaking News English - Easier News Lessons

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Breaking News English Lessons - 3,369 FREE Easy News English lesson plans. EFL/ESL graded news lessons, news in 7 levels, current events.

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English Pronunciation Skills - Teaching Tips and Resources
Teaching English pronunciation can be a challenging task. Help your English students master those tricky words using our pronunciation resources including teaching tips, apps, interactive phonemic charts, recordings of past webinars and our excellent series of pronunciation videos with Adrian Underhill.

Pronunciation Videos
An exclusive series of short videos about pronunciation, pronunciation learning and how to teach pronunciation. Adrian Underhill offers practical advice to help teachers teach their students to master pronunciation of the English language.
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Our Previous Pronunciation Webinars
Our previous webinars on pronunciation, teaching with phonics and how to help your English students master those difficult sounds. These webinars feature popular authors such as Adrian Underhill, Jill Leighton and Chris Bowen.
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Sounds - The pronunciation App
The ultimate mobile English pronunciation aid, for students and teachers. Based on the best-selling "Sound Foundations" by Adrian Underhill, Sounds helps you study, practise and play with pronunciation wherever you are.
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English Pronunciation Skills - Teaching Tips and Resources Teaching English pronunciation can be a challenging task. Help your English students master those tricky words using our pronunciation resources including teaching tips, apps, interactive phonemic charts, recordings of past webinars and our excellent series of pronunciation videos with Adrian Underhill.

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The most widely used online corpora: guided tour, overview, search types, variation, virtual corpora ( quick overview), BYU .

The links below are for the online interface. But you can also download the corpora for use on your own computer.

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corpora corpus english american iweb movies tv bnc byu coca coha time soap glowbe word frequency

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English Corpora: most widely used online corpora. Billions of words of data: free online access

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The most widely used online corpora: guided tour, overview, search types, variation, virtual corpora ( quick overview), BYU . The links below are for the online interface. But you can also download the corpora for use on your own computer.

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wordle Is a website that combines vocabulary for all types of clouds in both Thai and Thai languages

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HOME - wordle Is a website that combines vocabulary for all types of clouds in both Thai and Thai languages

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Wordle is a wizard. "word cloud" from text as typed by the user The prominence of the cloud depends on the words that appear frequently in the original text. which can customize the characters according to the desired style, such as fonts, layout styles and font color Images created through Wordle can be used in...

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JavaScript required

Unfortunately, you cannot create a word cloud unless you enable JavaScript.

To find some recommended software (a web browser), see our community section on Problems.

A word cloud is an image made of words that together resemble a cloudy shape.
The size of a word shows how important it is e.g. how often it appears in a text - its frequency.

People typically use word clouds to easily produce a summary of large documents (reports, speeches), to create art on a topic (gifts, displays) or to visualise data (tables, surveys).

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Easy to make custom word art. Thousands enjoy every day. Fast & secure. WordItOut, the free word cloud generator online since 2010.

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English Profile helps teachers and educationalists understand what the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) means for English. It describes what aspects of English are typically learned at each CEFR level. This tells teachers, curriculum developers, course-book authors and test writers what is suitable for learning at each level.

This site contains a wealth of information about English Profile, including two innovative online tools: English Vocabulary Profile Online and English Grammar Profile Online. These are searchable databases that give you free access to the research findings on what English vocabulary and grammar is suitable for teaching at each CEFR level.

This work has been carried out as part of a ground-breaking collaborative project - supported by the Council of Europe. It collected data from learners all over the world to inform the research. The research was led by two departments of the University of Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press and Cambridge English Language Assessment. The outcomes of the research are referred to as Reference Level Descriptions (RLDs) for English. Click here for more information on RLDs.

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english profile cefr common european framework reference level descriptions

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English Profile helps teachers and educationalists understand what the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) means for English. It describes what aspects of English are typically learned at each CEFR level. This tells teachers, curriculum developers, course-book authors and test writers what is suitable for learning at each level.

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September 23, 2019 · 11:12 am
This is a guest post by Gabriella Lawson, Teacher Developer for Monash College English Language Centre. Gaby is responsible for helping to develop teachers' classroom delivery through designing and running professional development and observing and feeding back on teaching practice.
Our main focus is always on teaching and helping our students, so it is sometimes easy to forget that in order to get the best out of our students, we need to get the best out of ourselves. Professor John Hattie has said that one of the reasons Growth Mindset may not have made an impact on student results was a lack of teacher training. It becomes a bit like 'do as I say but not as I do' if the school has a Growth Mindset policy, but the teacher hasn't fully understood how that works in practice yet.

Growth Mindset could give us some much needed answers about why our students are not motivated. In English language teaching, we see some students giving up who believe they are not good at English. We see students avoiding speaking in class due to a fear of mistakes. Other examples are students who avoid going to free extra workshops even though they need help. That's why we need to train teachers to develop a growth mindset about their own teaching. After all, what teachers believe about learning has a big influence on what students believe about learning.

Mistakes are how we learn. Brain plasticity means that as we form new neural pathways there will be misfires; recent research tells us that our brains are more likely to remember and correct a mistake if we have positive feelings about the lesson. Similarly, teachers are more likely to take feedback if they have positive feelings about their observation. If teachers aren't worried about losing face, they are more likely to take risks in the classroom or ask for help when they face a challenge instead of suffering in silence until the complaints roll in.

The first step is to see observations as professional development, so the aim is for teachers to choose something they'd like to get better at. The second is to stop thinking of observations as 'teacher observations' but to think of them as 'lesson observations'. If teachers feel they are being evaluated as a person, research supporting Growth Mindset suggests that any negative feedback could result in a crisis of confidence. I think a lesson is a piece of work, like an essay draft, we often teach the same lesson again and again, course after course: it is in a constant process of refinement and development. When the lesson is observed, it is under construction, so there will be parts that are working well and parts that could work better. Observation feedback needs to focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the lesson not the teacher.

Debate about what is good or bad teaching is very subjective, you can avoid this by looking at strengths and weaknesses against a set of criteria. This is why it is important to use something like the BALEAP Competency Framework for Teachers of Academic English to give feedback with e.g. No.7. Student autonomy - has the lesson demonstrated that the teacher has integrated tasks which develop learner autonomy? To what extent did it work? How could it have worked better?

Lesson observations are a great opportunity for learning what growth mindset means in practice. When teachers can separate their sense of self from their teaching, they can reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the lesson more objectively. If we apply Growth Mindset to the process of developing teachers, it is more likely that 'sticky' Growth Mindset behaviours will be passed on to our students, also as a bonus, observations will be much less stressful and more productive for everyone.
Gabriella Lawson
September 16, 2019 · 10:30 am

Growth mindset has become something of a buzzword over the last few years. While you would have to have been living under a rock not to have heard the term, you may well not be entirely sure what it means (and you wouldn't be the only one, as we shall see).

What exactly is growth mindset?

It all started to hit the public consciousness with a piece of research done in 1998 by Carol Dweck and Claudia Mueller, who divided a group of 10-12 year olds into two groups. Both groups were told that they had done well on a test, but the first group were praised for their intelligence, while the second group were praised for the effort they had put in. Dweck and Mueller subsequently found that the first group didn't want to take any risks that might make them look less intelligent, while the second group kept trying hard and therefore actually did better. The second group had more of a growth mindset.

If you decide that you are naturally bad at something, you may feel this is fixed, and therefore not even try, whereas in most cases you could improve through effort. Equally, if you are told you are naturally bright, you may shy away from trying anything difficult in case you show yourself up by failing. Therefore it is important to praise students for effort rather than for intelligence.

For a more in depth explanation, take a look at this video of Carol Dweck.

I think most teachers would recognise the truth in this, and the idea has been pretty enthusiastically received. However, more recently there have been a number of articles and research studies stating that growth mindset 'doesn't actually work.'

Why might people think it doesn't work?

First of all, the key ideas are not always very well understood. Sometimes teachers have interpreted it as ' if you believe you can do it, you can'- which is self-evidently nonsense. Or 'everyone can do everything brilliantly if they just try hard enough'- also rubbish. Everyone can get better at something through practice, but that doesn't mean they'll necessarily ever be great at it. Growth mindset isn't about wishful thinking.

Secondly, telling students about growth mindset or that they should have a growth mindset, is not the same as actually changing their mindset. Read this great article about that (thanks Gaby Lawson for sharing it with me). People can definitely change, but not because someone else tells them to. Beliefs about ourselves are usually very deeply engrained, even in children, and they don't change overnight or because other people want them to. We also have to take into account the messages our students are likely to be getting at home, such as the parent who says, 'Oh, you get being bad at maths from me.'

And a recent survey of teachers in the USA found that while 98% of teachers felt that growth mindset was a good thing, only 50% knew any strategies aimed at encouraging it. So, clearly we need to think more about how to help students (and teachers) develop it, rather than just exhorting them to put in more effort or think positive.

For the next blog post on ELT Resourceful I have invited Gaby Lawson, Teacher Developer at Monash College, to talk about her work on applying Carol Dweck's research to teacher development.

April 16, 2019 · 12:39 pm

In this lesson plan designed for the British Council Teaching English site, we explore the topic of creativity and innovation. This lesson was devised to mark World Creativity and Innovation Day on 21st April. However, it could be used at any time of year as this is not specifically mentioned.

The lesson begins by looking at what is involved in being creative, trying to expand this beyond the usual areas of art or creative writing.

The students then do a reading activity where they match the headings to each section. They then identify the synonyms which will have enabled them to do this task and focus on the idea of avoiding repetition. They read the text again and discuss which ideas they personally find most useful.

The lesson finishes with a creativity task, followed up by a final discussion.

Aims:

Encourage students to think about their own creativity and how they could develop it further

Expand students' vocabulary and ability to avoid repetition using a range of synonyms

Provide reading and speaking practice around the topic of creativity and innovation

Age/Level:
Teenage learners at CEF level B2

Time:

50-60 minutes

Materials:

The lesson plan and student worksheets can be downloaded here

January 14, 2019 · 10:58 am

A free downloadable lesson about Sophie Scholl, a young German girl who took the brave decision to stand up to the Nazis, during World War II. The lesson could be used to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th, or at any other time of the year.

The lesson starts with a couple of lead-in discussion questions and then students watch a short trailer for a film about Sophie Scholl. Note that the film is in German with English subtitles. In this lesson the video is only used as a lead-in, the main input is in a reading text.

After watching the video, the students read the text to check their ideas. They then carry out an exam style note completion task, before matching some possibly unknown words in the text with their definitions.

The lesson is aimed at B2/C1 students.

To round up there is a final discussion task.
Download lesson plan PDF here: elt resourceful - Sophie Scholl and The White Rose
Filed under Exploiting authentic reading materials, Exploiting authentic recordings and videos, Vocabulary

October 22, 2018 · 1:47 pm

In this lesson plan designed for the British Council Teaching English site, students read a first-person account by a person who stammers, about how he would prefer people to respond when he does so. After some discussion about the topic, the lesson goes on to focus on some different grammatical structures to express preference and sometimes annoyance: would rather/sooner, would prefer, wish. There is some practice using sentence transformation (as found in FCE) and then some more personalised practice.

Aims:

To help students understand more about stammering and how (not) to respond when someone stammers

To practise reading for specific information

To be able to use a range of structures for expressing preference and/or annoyance: would prefer, would sooner, would rather, wish.

Age:

Adults and older teenagers

Level:

CEF level B1+/B2 (especially useful for Cambridge First Certificate preparation)

Time:

45 minutes

Materials:

The lesson plan and student worksheets can be found and downloaded here

Filed under classroom ideas, Downloadable lesson materials, FCE, Uncategorized

October 2, 2018 · 10:36 am

Considering that our brains are the key tool for learning, it is surprising how rarely teacher education focuses on neuroscience. Education is full of vague statements about only using 10% of our brains, or using the right or left brain, or being a kinaesthetic learner, but are these really based in science?

Friday 5th October 2018 is World Teacher's Day and to celebrate I presented a free webinar as part of the British Council's 5 on 5. In my session we looked at what recent research has to tell us about learning, looking specifically at motivation and memory, and how to apply these findings in the classroom to help students learn more easily and effectively.

You can watch a recording of the webinar here

In this lesson plan designed for the British Council Teaching English site, we explore the topic of vitiligo, an autoimmune condition which causes some people to lose pigment in their skin, and look at how attitudes are changing towards what does or does not make someone attractive.

This lesson was devised to mark World Vitiligo Day on 25 June. However, it could be used at any time of year as this is not specifically mentioned.

The lesson begins with students looking at a photo of a young woman with vitiligo and discussing their reactions to the photo. They then go on to read about a model with vitiligo, Chantelle Brown-Young (also known as Winnie Harlow- pictured above), and discover what makes her special. The lesson reviews a range of tenses that might be used in a biography of a living person and looks at how to organise such a text, before the students go on to write their own.

Aims:

To encourage students to question their perception of what is beautiful and become more tolerant of difference

To practise reading for specific information (true/false)

To revise a range of tenses that students should know at B1 level

To help students structure and write a biography-type text

Age:

Adults/older teenagers

Level:

CEF Level B1 (intermediate) or strong A2 (pre-intermediate)

Time:

45-60 minutes

Materials:

Teachers notes and student worksheets can be downloaded here.

Filed under Downloadable lesson materials, Reading, Writing

Speaking in English is something that many students find stressful or anxiety provoking. They can fear making mistakes, failing to understand the person they're speaking too, or simply drying up. So shouldn't we try to make speaking activities as stress free as possible?

There are certainly benefits to making sure students are well prepared, that they have the necessary language, that they have a clear idea of what the task demands. However, there are also some good arguments for not trying to remove all stress, and even adding some pressure at times
Read the rest of the article here
Filed under classroom management, motivation, neuroscience, Speaking, Teaching methodology

March 28, 2018 · 10:50 am

Most spiders have four pairs of eyes, which enable them to see what is happening all around them. And most teachers can only wish they had the same ability.

Good teachers do appear to have 'eyes in the back of their heads' though. They seem able to sense not just when a student is confused or off task, but even the moment before they are about to go off-task. This ability is sometimes referred to as 'with-it-ness', a term coined by the educationalist, Jacob Kounin (1977). Through observing many different classes, Kounin came to the conclusion that the most effective teachers were able to pick up on quite subtle changes in their students' emotions and behaviour and respond quickly and effectively.

More recently, Robert Marzano (2003) wrote a summary of more than 100 experiments designed to find out which classroom management techniques caused the biggest decrease in disruptions. He looked at explaining and negotiating rules, relationships between teachers and students, rewards and punishments and what he called 'mental set'. This last was a combination of awareness, or with-it-ness, and a conscious control over how the teacher responded to a disruption.

He found that, by quite some margin, mental set had the biggest positive effect, reducing the number of disruptions by 40%.

What Marzano refers to as mental set could equally well be called mindful awareness, meaning that a more mindful teacher can expect a considerably less disruptive classroom, and by extension, his or her students can expect to do better overall.

Kounin, Jacob S. (1977) Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms. Huntington, N. Y

Marzano, R (2003) What works in schools: translating research into action, ASCD

If you're interested in mindfulness, check out my new site www.life-resourceful.com

Filed under mental set, Teaching methodology, Uncategorized, Working with groups

March 26, 2018 · 11:40 am

Every teacher recognises the concept of the intermediate plateau.

Students at intermediate, or upper intermediate level start to feel that they aren't making real progress anymore. They just don't feel as if they're getting significantly better, despite putting in plenty of hard work.

Feeling this way can be pretty de-motivating and it's one of the key reasons why learners often give up at this stage.

In this post for the British Council Teaching English site, I explore how recent findings in neuroscience can help us motivate our learners to go beyond the plateau.

Click here to read more.

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World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

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Cambridge Dictionary +Plus is a new, personalized vocabulary practice app with access to the Cambridge Dictionary-the world's favourite online dictionary for learners and teachers of English.

Find out more

Jade Blue is an English language teacher, trainer, researcher and materials developer. Her primary research interests focus on learner-generated visuals in ELT, learner autonomy, and integrating life skills into classroom practice.

Jade works closely with the Language Research team at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, and regularly creates academic training content for major ELT publishers. She has authored a wide range of ELT articles, Teacher Guides and Research Guides, as well as writing frontmatter for several teacher's books.

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Home - World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

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Cambridge Dictionary +Plus is a new, personalized vocabulary practice app with access to the Cambridge Dictionary-the world's favourite online dictionary for learners and teachers of English. Find out more Jade Blue is an English language teacher, trainer, researcher and materials developer.

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TED-Ed celebrates the ideas of teachers and students around the world. Discover hundreds of animated lessons, create customized lessons, and share your big ideas.

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Here you can find a wide range of practical resources to use in your primary classroom.

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Free Storyboarding Software — Online Storyboard Creator

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Storyboard That: Easy online storyboard creation! Perfect for filmmakers, teachers, and students. Create storyboards and comics with Storyboard That today!

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Online OXFORD Collocation Dictionary of English

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Free Online Oxford Collocation Dictionary for Advanced English Learners