Idea — Top-down processing means using existing knowledge — of topics, genres, and the world — to predict and interpret incoming language. Schemata drive it. Example — The title ‘A Recipe for Disaster’ activates cooking…
Idea — Reading and listening are receptive skills — learners receive meaning without producing language. That doesn’t make them passive; comprehension requires active mental work. Example — A learner listens to a news report: they…
Idea — This month covered the productive skills toolkit: fluency vs accuracy, information gaps, controlled and free practice, error correction strategies, speaking tasks, writing stages, and the four-stage lesson frame. Example — Quick check: D184…
Idea — A complete productive skills lesson has four stages: lead-in, model and analyse, prepare, produce, feedback. Rushing the prepare stage collapses the quality of production. Example — Lead-in (2 min) → read model and…
Idea — Real communication always integrates skills. Reading sparks speaking; listening generates writing; speaking leads to reading. Design tasks that mirror this rather than isolating skills artificially. Example — Read an article → discuss your…
Idea — A dictogloss is a listening-writing task: the teacher reads a short text at natural speed twice; learners reconstruct it from notes. The reconstruction reveals what they know and what they are missing. Example…
Idea — In the 4-3-2 technique, learners tell the same story three times: four minutes, then three, then two. Repetition forces fluency — they stop translating and start retrieving. Nation developed this. Example — Round…
Idea — Writing for a teacher-examiner is motivationally thin. Writing for a real or imagined audience gives learners a reason to make the text work. Example — Instead of ‘Write a review of a film,’…
Idea — Editing is improving content and structure — does the paragraph make sense, is the argument clear? Proofreading is checking form — spelling, punctuation, grammar. Teach them as separate stages. Example — First pass…
Idea — Peer feedback fails when learners just say ‘it is good.’ It works when they have a specific criterion: ‘Does the first sentence tell you the main idea? Can you find one example?’ Example…