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Awesome academic experts that want to help desperate writers like you get their work done.
We answer your writing questions in our Ask an Expert section
Our guides show you how to write any essay, paper, or report
We provide tons of examples of what you are writing
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Show you how to get those crazy essays, papers, and reports finished!
Through our Ask an Expert section, you can ask any question about your assignment that you are confused about
Our samples and guides will show you how to get through your assignments step by step
About the Blog
We’ve both been teaching advanced learners and sharing material with each other for quite a while now. We’ve also been inspired by the variety and quality of ELT blogs out there, and this blog is our contribution to the blogosphere.
The idea is to provide lesson plans to go for teachers of advanced learners ( C1 and C2 ). The lessons will focus on helping learners to improve their listening and speaking skills, and we hope, at the same time, that these resources are stimulating, fun, and effective.
Everything that appears here has been tried, tested and tweaked in the classroom.
We hope you enjoy it.
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!
About autoenglish.org
This is a hobby site and all the exercises are written by me, Bob Wilson, except the junior worksheets. I'm an English teacher working in Valencia, Spain. My aim is to provide a free resource for students and teachers of English. Why? Eeer, I'm not really sure. Maybe someone will offer me a fantastic job one day. Maybe that person is you!
My brother Jim is also an English teacher. He works in Hat Yai, Thailand and loves Thailand as much as I love Spain. He writes the junior worksheets.
The lessons are free.
There are 7 levels, from elementary to advanced.
Lessons have up to 26 pages of printable activities / handouts.
There is a new lesson every two days.
All lessons are based on stories currently in the news - as the world's news breaks, teach it.
All lessons are also downloadable PDF format.
There are 30+ online quizzes for each lesson.
Listening files in British and North American English can be downloaded in mp3 format or subscribed to via a podcast.
Classroom handouts are readily reproducible.
There are graded listenings with each lesson.
Thousands of teachers and students say they love using the news lessons.
I also have thousands of other lessons on my other websites.
My name is Anna Costikoglou and I live in Athens, Greece. I have been teaching English since 1993 (and in public schools since 2003). This personal blog started as a personal archive at the end of June in 2011 but it has been enriched and developed ever since thanks to my readers’ support. It is mainly designed for English teachers and students in Greek public schools and for those who are interested in video-based lessons. I love technology integration in the classroom whenever or wherever it is possible. My interests besides blogging are my family, music, photography and cooking. Thank you for visiting my blog.
Welcome to Collocation of the Week - a site for advanced students of English. Each week I take a common word and look at five collocations of it, one a day. At the end of the week there is a short test where you can see what you have remembered.
What is Compelling Conversations?
Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics is an engaging conversation textbook for advanced English language learners.
Who can use Compelling Conversations?
Compelling Conversations is an ideal text for conversation classes at community colleges, adult schools, libraries, and intensive English programs. It can also be used as a supplemental text for high intermediate and advanced ESL/EFL classes. Conversation clubs have found the textbook makes their sessions easier to organize and more popular. It’s also a welcome guide for anyone seeking to generate new conversations with family members and friends.
How is Compelling Conversations different from other conversation textbooks?
Compelling Conversations offers a far larger range of topics, includes hundreds of proverbs and quotations, and treats students as sophisticated adults. We believe that adult students come to English class to improve their speaking skills and share life experiences, not be lectured on their health habits or lifestyle choices.
Can you give an example?
Many of our students smoke, gamble, and occasionally dislike their jobs. Compelling Conversationsencourages students to talk about their actual feelings and opinions, and doesn't judge them. We ask both "why do you think people find smoking satisfying?" and "What are some of the dangers of smoking cigarettes?" We also include quotations from a range of well-known figures from differing perspectives so a student will find validation for their own personal choices.
Aren’t you afraid to have students talk about controversial subjects?
Why should we just talk about the weather and become bored when we could explore our lives, times, passions, and challenges? Discussing controversial subjects and engaging students in practical issues of their lives also encourages critical thinking.
Why do you use quotations?
The dueling quotations also allow students to join conversations that have continued across cultures and centuries. As a result, students can deepen their conversations, see models of excellent communication, and become more familiar with classic thinkers from ancient world to modern times. Take a look at the sample chapters and see how Compelling Conversations can help students improve their speaking skills.
Can I make copies for myself, other teachers, students or friends?
Photocopying rights are granted to the individual teacher purchasing the materials. A school or department may purchase this book for one teacher’s use. In a department, one original copy should be purchased for each teacher using the book. To be entitled to copy this book, the teacher using the book in the school or the school itself must own an original copy. Please respect our intellectual property (and sweat equity!) and copyright laws.