So, what’s the deal?
The basic idea of ‘1000 Words Weekly’ comes out of a bit of frustration…and an ensuing challenge I want to set up for myself. You see, I’ve been blogging – a bit on and off, with steadily declining frequency, but just enough to say “I’ve been blogging” yeah? – for a little over a year now. I’ve also been tweeting. And tweeting. And tweeting some more. And finding, over time, that the tweeting slowly but surely supplanted the blogging. Each month a little more. The constant tweeting has become something like over-energetic snacking that eventually just replaces sit down meals. And geez, Louise…I don’t want to never cook, never dine.
What is this website for?
In 2011, a website was started by an overworked, over-ambitious language school manager with one idea: “there must be someone out there who wants to learn languages better.”
There were thousands of you out there, and new ones keep coming. You keep giving me new ideas, new directions to take my work. But the essence is always this: what can help you guys become multilingual – and enjoy every minute of the process?
This has stopped being just a blog long ago. Now 16kinds is a place to find books, courses, links and like-minded people. It’s a good place to start an argument, look for a new resource, or check back to read the bilingual news. For wannabe polyglots out there, this is – and will always remain – free.
What’s in it for me?
If you’re keen to move on, here are some useful links to start your journey:
- Read the blog. This is what most people keep visiting, and will always be 100% free and open. Share it with anyone.
- Sign on to my newsletter. You’ll receive cool PDF gifts in a welcome pack, and sneak previews of my language learning plans. No spam, ever, and the unsubscribe takes 10 seconds.
- Join my course (saving 87% with this code) or buy my book. It makes me super happy to help you learn.
If you still want to know more, get in touch – there are plenty of ways, butTwitter tends to be my favourite.
Have a great, multilingual time here!
Wiktor
I’ve been teaching English for 20 years. I love teaching because it allows me to improve myself. I’m married and have two kids. They are twins. So mostly I engage myself with them. I love reading. If I weren’t a teacher, I’d do something related with comparative literature. Literature makes you grow up, realise and take action… I love music, any kind…as long as it’s good.
I’ve been an English Teacher for almost 20 years now. One might think I have learnt something along the way. Well, I’m not quite sure. I have taught English in Hungary, trained teachers in the Middle East, worked for a publishing company in the UK. I lived in Iraqi Kurdistan for 9 fantastic months. Worked at one of the most exciting airlines in the world in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. I taught in a secondary school and mentored a brilliant group of fantastic English teachers in Sharjah, UAE. In 2010 I came back to Hungary with my wonderful wife and my 4-month-old daughter. Since then we have lived in a small town in 34 kms from Budapest.
I’m an ELT writer, teacher and teacher educator. My main area of interest is in primary education, working with children between the ages of 3-12. For more details, visit my website.
The aim of this blog is to share practical ideas, tips and resources for teaching young learners which I’ve accumulated over the last 25 years or so, as well as occasional illustrative anecdotes from my own teaching experience. In order to give the blog a structure and keep me on track, my plan is to do this in the form of an ABC. I intend to work through the alphabet chronologically, posting an entry every week or so if I can. In theory, this means I should get through the alphabet twice this year. But let’s see! This is early days and I’ve still got a lot to learn! I’m also hoping that the direction the blog takes will be led and informed by you and all contributions, comments and suggestions will be very welcome.
In getting started, I’d specially like to thank Lindsay Clandfield for his encouragement and for suggesting the ABC idea when we were at a conference together in Romania last year, and James Matthews for his patience in teaching me some of the basics of how to go about it.
I am an early-career academic, currently working towards the completion of my PhD in Education at The University of Manchester. In my research, I have used complex systems theory to understand foreign language pedagogy in the “periphery” of the English-speaking world, i.e., those places where the English language is not used natively or officially, but it is nevertheless extensively and intensively taught. Some of my work has been published in journals and edited collections, which are listed here.
In the past, I worked at the Epirus Institute of Technology, where I was responsible for the delivery of courses in English Language and Language Teacher Education. You can find information about the courses I taught in this page. I have also worked in various teaching and managerial capacities in primary and secondary schools in Greece, of which the most recent post was at the University of Ioannina 2nd Model Experimental Primary School.
In this site, I have put together some information about myself and my academic work, which I hope you find of interest. This site also hosts my blog, where I record information that I find interesting, as well as comments on English language pedagogy and research methodology.
Do take a look around, and feel free to contact me for comments or questions.
Actually, it’s about education, training and LEARNing. It’s for educators and teachers who are interested in making a real difference to the lives of their students, their colleagues and their organisations – basically, people who are interested in “doing business” differently in education.
People in education are often divided into two categories – “the thinkers” and “the doers”. We are also grouped into categories based on who we do business with –primary, secondary, tertiary. There are other classifications such as “teachers”, “administrators” and “support staff”. And, then…there’s the various disciplines or sub-sectors – mathematics, engineering, literature, ELT – to name but a few.
Traditionally, many of our discussions have been about “TEACHing”. The problem here is that these “conversations” have been based on a “design flaw” (Barr and Tagg, 1995) and“TEACHing” is still the dominant paradigm that governs our structures, practicesand behaviours (the way we “do business”) – across all the classifications people have for us.
This “design flaw” confuses the means and ends in education – and keeps all of us apart.
What we need is more “thinking doers” who come together – across the lines that have been drawn in the sand (or the “schoolyard”) – to talk about “what really matters” in education.
LEARNing – student LEARNing, educator LEARNing, institutional LEARNing!
Just as artists use charcoal or paints or clay to create an experience, teachers use research, best teaching practice and personal insights to craft the best learning experience for their students. I consider what I do to be an art form. I’ve worked hard to learn my craft, and I’m still learning. I always learn from my experiences…why something worked well or didn’t. And I always learn from my students…what helps move them forward faster in their goals, and what doesn’t.
I’ve lived in Spain since 1981. I worked at ESADE, Barcelona for 28 years, first as a language teacher and then as Director of Studies. With my boss, Pat Mills, I helped to organise and run an MA TESOL programme, run jointly by the Institute Of Education (London University) and ESADE from 1994 to 2003.
Since 2004, I’ve worked freelance, doing English immersion courses at home, working with post-doctoral students at the Universitat Politecnica de Barcelona and as an associate tutor in the Distance Learning MA in AL and TESOL pogramme at Leicester University.
My main academic interests are: theories of SLA, psycholinguistics, teaching practice and computational linguistics.
Hobbies: chess, listening to Dylan, Charlie Parker and Bach, waiting for Pynchon to write another good novel, walking in the forest with dogs and donkies, and watching my wife gardening.