Category Archives: General

How to Keep Students Motivated

20 January 2017GeneralBritish Council, methodology, motivationCristina Cabal

Difficult task, isn’t it?

Check out my latest blog post on this subject for the Bitish Council magazine “Voices” .

How to keep your students motivated

Spicing up my Lessons: Talking about Holidays in a more Visual Way.

16 January 2017Generalholidays, listening, onlinetools, speakingCristina Cabal

Spark Adobe is my new addiction. I’m hooked on it, and I am not ashamed to admit it.

It’s soooo easy to use, and the result is amazing. Only last week, I was running a workshop, and I was behind schedule, but I just couldn’t leave without showing the bunch of dedicated teachers attending a Saturday workshop, a glimpse of how Spark Adobe could be used in the classroom. So, in five minutes, I briefly explained how to use it. After thanking the teachers for their attention, a Portuguese teacher came up to me and asked me to have a look at what he had created for his next class. Pity I can’t share it with you, but I can assure you that his students are going to be very pleased this Monday.

Embedded below, you’ll see the speaking/listening activity I have designed for my B2 students on the topic of Travelling, created with the Page feature. And make sure you don’t forget to try the Video option, with lots of potential for language learners.

By the way, have I mentioned that it’s free?

Hope you enjoy it and don’t forget to visit the three sections on the blog dedicated to speaking activities

Winner of the British Council Blog of the Month Award

24 December 2016GeneralawardCristina Cabal

I am very pleased to share with you that I am the winner of this month’s British Council’s Teaching English blog award. This is the third time that I have been honoured with this award and I couldn’t be happier.

I’m sure most of my readers know about this prestigious organisation, but for those of my students who have just started learning English know that the British Council, funded by British government, can be considered UK’s international cultural body. It works in more than 100 countries worldwide and reaches 20 million people face to face and more than 652 million people online.
The goal of this blog has always been to provide my students with useful material to help them improve their learning skills and strategies, but as the blog grew into something bigger I have also aimed to provide teachers with hand-on practical ideas, tips, tricks and resources to use in their classes. Being a technology enthusiast, I have also tried to help teachers integrate technology in their teaching and I am pleased that the number of visitors to the blog has increased dramatically in the last years. Over 1 million hits this month.

This award is dedicated to my students who are the source of my inspiration. Here’s the link to the post that was chosen as representative of my blog.