Pete Sharma Associates

As you may know, Macmillan are asking for views on the MED, the Macmillan English Dictionary. If you – or your students – would like to participate, it will take 10 minutes or so. Those answering the on-line questionnaire will be able to get a year’s subscription to the MEDO: the on-line dictionary. Just follow this link. {{link http://www.macmillanenglish.com/survey/survey.aspx?MAC_SURV_ID=91 Macmillan dictionary questionnaire }}

I have just been reviewing a new book, “Teaching English One to One” by Priscilla Osborne (Modern English Publishing). The author mentions our book, “The Internet and Business English”, as a source of ideas for using the Internet (p. 87) and projects for business English students (p. 190). Thanks to Priscilla for these references! {{link http://www.modernenglishpublishing.com/books.html ModernEnglishPublishing}}.

This is a brief description of the training session I mentioned on {{link http://www.psa.eu.com/pages/blog/archives/00000008.htm 6 June}} and the reactions and comments of the participants.

The session was based around a worksheet which can be downloaded {{link http://www.psa.eu.com/PDFs/CD-ROM_dictionary_training.pdf here}}.

Click on “link” below for an introduction to the summary and our conclusions.

The {{link http://www.psa.eu.com/pages/cd/cd_dic_training.htm summary of the session}} can be found in the CD-ROM section.
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As July’s edition of the EL Gazette hits the staffroom shelves, Pete’s Reviews in Brief are, as ever, to be found in the EL Reviews section. This month’s Book of the month is Phrasal Verbs Plus – the new dictionary from Macmillan. Among the other materials reviewed is the pre-Intermediate level of Double Dealing (James Schofield and Evan Frendo: Summertown) and E-mailing (Louise Pile: Delta). See also: {{link http://www.elgazette.com/ElReviews/ViewReviews.asp EL Gazette on-line}}.

The latest “English Teaching Matters” journal has just come out (Summer 2005). Many thanks to the Editor-in-Chief, Karen Richardson, and the team for including a short promotional article: “A new web-site for language teachers” – promoting….this site! It’s a cracking issue, with an article on Multimedia presentations (Cornelia Kreiss-Meyer) and a review of a new telephoning CD-ROM from Delta. I am very much looking forward to seeing everyone at ELTAS later in the year – 1st October to be precise. More details on this Workshop “Controversies in Language Teaching” in…English Teaching Matters! see also: {{link http://www.eltas.de ELTAS web-site}}.

{{link http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/index.cfm Newsmap}} takes its data from {{link http://news.google.com Google News}} to produce a graphic representation of the latest news stories. It can be set to display the results from the various international versions of Google News, eg US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, India etc., and users can also select which categories of stories they wish to display, eg world news, national, business, sport etc. The size of the boxes which represent each news story depends on the number of news reports about that story which Google has found. However, when you click on the box, Newsmap only takes you to the first story on the list.
I am sure there are possibilities for using this with learners as part of a lesson based around finding and exploiting authentic news texts. However, if anyone has any other more original ideas, it would be great to hear about them.

I have put up a list of links in the Materials section to websites around the world which provide {{link http://www.psa.eu.com/pages/mats/mats_web_listening.htm radio business news reports}}. This was originally published in the BESIG newsletter a year or so ago. I have up-dated a couple of the links and cut some others. The list still offers listening with British, American, Australian, New Zealand and Irish accents. Any suggestions of other similar websites would be gratefully accepted and added to keep the list growing and up-to-date.

I am currently thinking of the exact focus of my dissertation, which will be on blended learning. I am scouring the literature for definitions of terms such as E-learning, and reading up on using the Internet for language teaching. My tutor recommended the work of Uschi Felix and I would definitely suggest reading her article on {{link http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet19/felix.html Teaching languages online: deconstructing the myths}}. Researching blended learning will also lead into a forthcoming series of articles – more anon!

At the teaching centre where I work, I have installed all the current CD-ROM versions of the advanced learner’s dictionaries from the main publisherson computers in the self-access room as well as in the teachers’ room. These are the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2nd edition; the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, updated edition; the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 7th edition ({{link http://www.psa.eu.com/pages/cd/cd_oalc.htm see Pete’s review}}); and the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners. The first edition of the Cambridge is currently the favourite amongst my colleagues as the combination of the SmartThesarus and QuickFinder, plus a very clear interface made it easiest to use and demonstrate.
Later this week I’m going to run a training session for my colleagues and show them the updated Cambridge and compare it to the new Longman which has now caught up in terms of the features mentioned above. I hope to encourage them to use both CD-ROMs with their students and in their own lesson preparation in order to find out which they favour.
We would also be interested in anyone else’s experiences with these CD-ROM dictionaries; which ones you use and prefer and why.

I have come to the end of my 4-week course in on-line tutoring. It has been a very enjoyable experience. I would recommend the course book: E-tivities, by Gilly Salmon.