Pete Sharma Associates

It’s been a slow week here in Stratford so I’ve been installing RSS reader software on the student computers. My thinking is that, so often we ask our students to search the Web to find a story or text to read and discuss and, so often, the majority of their time is spent searching and very little choosing something useful or worthwhile. Asking them to use an RSS reader with subscriptions to a limited number of websites or blogs is a way of guiding them towards places with good quality English and saving time.

My preferred RSS reader for some time now has been GreatNews from CurioStudios. However, after spending a little time at Download.com, I eventually settled on a program called RSS Bandit for my colleagues and our students.

Despite it’s slightly off-putting name and rather laborious installation procedure, RSS Bandit is a fully-featured RSS reader with a clear, friendly user interface. Like most similar programs, you can subscribe to feeds on one computer then export those as a single file which can be imported into the program on another computer. This saves a lot of time if you want several computers all set up with the same RSS feeds.

The next stage, of course, is training for my colleagues and to see how it gets used in the classroom.

The latest up-date for Blended Learning: Using technology in and beyond the language classroom is now available to download from Macmillan’s website.

This is the last few days to catch the ‘Early bird’ registration for the Blended Learning course in Markdorf, Germany.

You can download a sample programme for the course.

Thanks to those booked on the course and the interest from others – just mail Paul East at Pyramid if you are interested!

Hope to see you soon – both f2f and on the Moodle support platform for the course!!

Pete

January – the time of year when businesses report on the previous year’s sales…and draw up their sales forecasts for the year to come.

Use the latest intermediate e-lesson from Macmillan – ‘The Reporting month’ - to practise these language activities, reporting and predicting, with your business English students.

We predict that they’ll enjoy the lesson – if not, report us!

Pete and Barney are delighted to announce the launch of their free Newsletter service, for all teachers and Directors of Studies interested in using technology in language teaching.

The newsletter will contain news about forthcoming courses and workshops; and news about teaching materials and practical ideas posted to our blog.

Subscription is free. Watch this space for further details!

The third update to our title ‘Blended Learning: using technology in and beyond the language classroom’ is due out shortly from Macmillan.

The update focuses on a new piece of software, New Inside Out Digital, and includes a glossary of terms for interactive whiteboards.

The download will be available from the Macmillan website. Happy reading!

You can now download a sample programme for the Blended Learning course in Markdorf, 31 March – 4 April.

 Visit the Pyramid website.

I am just reviewing a new book in the Professional English in Use series: ICT For Computers and the Internet (Esteras and Fabre, CUP)

One interesting feature is the use of the web to deliver a bank of exercises referred to throughout the book. Visit the website to see these exercises.

 The review will appear in the EL Gazette later this year.

OLL (Online language learning) have developed an online communication platform allowing schools and teachers to offer face-to-face lessons online using web conferencing technology. Their virtual classroom offers two-way audio and video with shared interactive whiteboard and text chat.

Visit their demonstration website at englishlab.

Participants taking the next Blended Learning Course (Markdorf, 31 March) will be able to learn more during the session on online tutoring.

The latest EL Gazette describes the ‘birth’ of Summertown Publishing. Melanie Butler interviews Louis. Here is one intriguing extract (adapted):

It was business English that inspired Garnade ..(to) take up yet another new career: book publishing. It is all Pete Sharma’s fault. Sharma, a well-known business English guru (as well as the editor of the Gazette’s reviews in brief) asked Louis to read a manuscript he had written on CD-ROM. ‘I’d value your opinion,’ said Sharma. ‘If you like it I’m going to send it to one of the major ELT publishers.’ Louis didn’t just like it, he loved it. ‘Tell you what Pete,’ he said. ‘If the majors don’t like it, I’ll publish it myself.’ ‘Why don’t you do that anyway?’ said Sharma. And the next thing you know the flying Dutchman had done just that.

To read the complete interview, see the latest Gazette or visit: An interview with Louis Garnade.