Welcome to Reflections of an English Language Teacher!
To help you find your way around, here is a map of what you can find on this website. To visit each page, click on the picture or the link provided.
1.
Reflections! – the blog.
Reflections:
The blog – regularly updated with new posts about anything and everything ELT-related.
2.
Materials – made, tried and tested, by me.
Materials:
A (growing) collection of materials that I have made.
3.
Research – the research projects/write-ups
Research:
Information about the research projects that I have carried out and am working on.
4.
Presentations – conferences/workshops/webinars etc a la Lizzie.
Presentations:
Details of conference presentations, workshops, webinars etc. (past and forthcoming), with links to extra information and related recordings.
5.
M.A. ELT/Delta – the Delta corner.
M.A. ELT / Delta:
A categorised map of posts related to the M.A. in ELT with integrated Delta that I did at Leeds Metropolitan University.
6.
Learner Autonomy – the L.A./metacognition corner.
Learner Autonomy
A categorised map of posts relating to learner autonomy, motivation and metacognition – an area of great interest to me.
7.
Classroom Activities – the inspiration corner.
Classroom Activities
A categorised map of posts describing activities for use in the classroom.
8.
About Lizzie – the bio
About Lizzie
A bit about who I am and what I do.
Lizzie Pinard 
Ho Lizzy,
I ‘m a non native English teacher who’s been reading your blog with interest because I ‘ve found useful advice on the DELTA, one of my goals in the near future.
I am considering moving to Palermo but my visit to the city 2 months ago has given me the impression that the English teaching market is quite reduced and there is a strong preference for native speakers. Could you give me some advice on how to become more “attractive” in this market? Would you say that the DELTA could make a difference? or would it help to do, afterwards, a master?.
THANKS!
Jenny
Hi Jenny,
Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you. I would find it very difficult to answer your question with any authority, as I’m only familiar with my school and I’ve only been working in Palermo since October. However, I’m sure that regardless of where you work, the Delta makes you a more attractive candidate, as fewer people hold a Delta than hold an entry-level qualification. With regards to Delta v Masters, I think it depends on the institute you apply to. Some view entry-level qualification plus a relevant Masters as equivalent to Delta, some would probably prefer the Delta as it is supposed to be more practical than an M.A. (this perhaps depends on the M.A. in question though!)
Best wishes in reaching your goals,
Lizzie.
Hi! I am a 6th grade teacher. I was hoping to take a look at your Edmodo slide show but it won’t allow me to open it. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks! Geri S
If you are using an older version of Microsoft PowerPoint, that uses *.ppt files, then you won’t be able to open this *.pptx file using that version, since the Edmodo presentation has been produced using a later version. However the slideshow opens just fine in LibreOffice Impress. You can download LibreOffice, which is free and open source, from:
http://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh/
Make sure you pick the correct download for your operating system.
LibreOffice can do everything MS Office can do, and more, and is completely free and open source. As well as using the world standard Open Document formats, it can also deal with proprietary Microsoft formats including their most recent ones.
Hi. I commented on this, but didn’t get any confirmation that the comment had been accepted – but basically I said to download and install LibreOffice (http://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh/). It reads the presentation just fine.
Please ignore this if my previous comment is just awaiting moderation.
Congratulations Lizzie on your nomination for an ELTON award. I was nominated twice but never won it, so hope you do better than that! Do let me know how you get on with it – Dawn Leggott, School of Languages, Leeds Metropolitan University –
d.leggott@leedsmet.ac.uk
Hi Dawn! I hope you’re well. Thanks for the congratulations – suspect I won’t win but it’s cool to have been nominated! Expect I’ll blog about it either way, and Heather will also be able to fill you in on what happens! 🙂 Lizzie
As you say, it’s an interesting experience, whether you win or not. You never know! Dawn
…And I did! I won! (As you no doubt know by now…) Was a super cool evening and lovely to have Heather there with me too. 🙂 What did you get nominated for? Lizzie.
Very well done Lizzie. You deserved it. One year I was nominated for a 5-year longitudinal study I carried out into undergraduate language students’ perceptions of independent learning and its effect on their employability. Another time it was for a course I ran via video-conferencing to students in Japan in the days, when webconferencing still didn’t exist!
Thanks 🙂
Your projects sound very interesting. Congrats on your nominations! And perhaps see you over the “summer”. I shall be up for graduation, and possibly another time outside that, just for visiting. (I’m back in the UK now – as of yesterday!)
Hi Lizzie! Would you have any suggestions for practical strategies and accommodations for ELLs? At the secondary level, my students get little support. When I show teachers practical applications, they are very willing to use them, but they are often hard to find- especially for beginners in a history class!
Hi,
I’ve been after some resources for my ESL class when I found your blog. It’s awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Glad it’s helpful! 🙂
Hello, I recently wrote an article about studying the IELTS for this site: http://englishteacherfred.com/ – if you want me to write one free for your site about studying and/or teaching the IELTS, please let me know – thank you, Philip
Sounds good! Drop me a line – lizzie.pinard@gmail.com – and we can discuss further… 🙂 Lizzie.
Thanks for share with us!!! I love your blog!!!
Hi Lizzie. I have just received my Module 2 results and I have to repeat the external observation which I will be doing in December. Have you any tips on how I can guarantee a pass the second time around. I did a Systems essay on Vocabulary. Many thanks
Hi Carole. Bad luck. I would suggest applying to Cambridge for feedback. Not having seen your essay, plan or lesson, I have absolutely no idea, sorry…
Thanks for coming back to me Lizzie. I have the Cambridge report now and it is a valiuable source of information going forward to December