Pete Sharma Associates

The latest In Company business English blog post has been uploaded by Macmillan. It re-visits the e-lesson: The best presentation….. ever?

Users of Prezi pass the five million mark: is this business tool changing the way we deliver presentations?

Last month, the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies announced its list of ‘Top 100 Tools for Learning, 2011′. What made me take notice was that fact that Prezi had risen to number 7. PowerPoint, on the other hand, had slipped down the chart, to number 19.

To read the complete blog entry, simply visit: http://www.businessenglishonline.net/resources/in-company-second-edition-resources/elessons

You can also download the original e-lesson. Enjoy………..

Announcement: coming soon!

Technology and business English: a new series of blog posts written for Linguarama by Pete Sharma

I am delighted to launch a new series of blog posts, starting December 2011, written for the language training organisation marcus evans Linguarama. These posts are available to everyone in the language teaching profession on the Linguarama blog.

Over the coming months, this series of posts will be looking at technology in language teaching, along with other aspects of business English and language teaching.

Here are some of the areas the posts will focus on:

1. Apps to improve your language learning

2. Business English on the move: how mobile devices can help you

3. Storing your new vocabulary electronically

4. Best websites for studying business English

5. Why tweet?

6. Linguarama Connect

7. Sounds: a new pronunciation app to help you

8. What is Blended Learning?

Visit the Linguarama blog to read this exciting new series of blog posts at: http://blog.linguarama.com/ You can also subscribe to the blog.

Learning technologies in language teaching – where are we? Where do we go from here?

[Pete Sharma & Kevin Westbrook]

Our session was scheduled for 9.30 on Sunday morning. Given this deliciously wicked time-slot, we were delighted at the number of attendees.

Pete set the scene by suggesting that the scope of business English is wide, in terms of course types, contexts and content. He presented a mind-map of new technology, similarly wide.

You can download the introductory PPT here. croatia2

Participants assembled into seven groups, by topic:

Is blended best? (two groups)

Teaching on-line (two groups)

M-learning

Interactive whiteboards

Learning Technologies

Groups appointed note-takers; the notes are being collated and will form the basis of the post-report, currently being written by Kevin Westbrook.

The report back from each group was crisp and touched on a number of issues such as: the need to define concepts such as Blended Learning; the confusion arising from the plethora of choices available in terms of programmes.

The open forum started in a positive way, with one participant saying she was made aware of the range of tools around, and felt motivated to learn more.

The workshop was a success. One of the reasons behind the success was the fact that participants were given the opportunity to discuss their ideas, and learn from each other. Networking was optimal. We were absolutely delighted to receive post-workshop praise from Valentina Dodge, doyenne of the Social Media circuit, digital scribe and one of the attendees: thanks, Vale! Thanks also to Duncan Baker for his flow of tweets during the workshop.

We are looking forward to studying the group summaries and writing these up in an article. This should appear in a future edition of BESIG Issues.

Thanks again to everyone who came. This was a participant-led workshop, and we felt inspired.

We are delighted that the next update – the tenth – is available.

The update, which is free, focuses specifically on Interactive Whiteboards.

To download the update, simply visit: http://www.macmillanenglish.com/methodology/books/Blended-Learning.htm

Enjoy!!!

I am sure more will be posted on this subject in a while, but it was for us a very interesting and worthwhile workshop, and seemed to be also for the participants. At the risk of showing my age, I was reminded of the Electric Light Orchestra. On more than one occasion, the word “Confusion” was used, and Mr Blue Sky has certainly been our friend throughout the conference. We are now waiting for the “Last plane to London” because “It’s over”. I hope everybody has had a good trip home and we will be publishing the results of the workshop asap.

We are really looking forward to running our workshop on Learning Technologies next week in Croatia.

We are taking a snap-shot of business English now, using the cross-section of attendees to establish:

Where are we now? Where do we go from here?

We are preparing a list of key topics to discuss.

Pre-workshop task

We would like the participants to discuss areas of  most interest and concern to them.

If YOU are coming along on Sunday morning, 20th November, please send us a short mail with the topic (or topics) which you would like to discuss.

You can use the COMMENT box below, or use the mail link on this website. Click here for mail link.

Please include your name. Please mail us before end of Tuesday 15th November!

Thanks very much in advance for contacting us – it will help us include YOUR ideas and ensure that the session is of most use and relevance to participants.

(Note: we will be announcing this pre-session task on a number of forums. Apologies for cross-posting).

Results

Kevin and Pete will be writing up the results of the workshop for distribution afterwards through channels such as the BESIG newsletter and our website.

Enjoy your trip to the conference!

I’m just about to review Sounds – the Pronunciation app from Macmillan for the ELTJ.

It is for iPhone and iPad, and adds a new dimension to Adrian Underhill’s well-known Sound Foundations chart. It is easy to use: simply tap a symbol to hear a sound, tap and hold to hear a word with that sound. It is best to rotate the screen to see the chart in a whole page view.

Students can gain practise in four skills. The app contains 340 useful words they can listen to, practise copying / repeating (i.e. speaking) and compare their effort with an original. They can read a word and then type it in phonemic script (writing); listen to a word and type it; or read a phonemic transcript and type the word itself. A nice feature allows you to import writing in phonemic script into programmes like Notes.

Looks like great value for students and teachers alike! I’m enjoying putting it through the paces for the full review. So far, ‘app-iness

Here’s all the LINKS  and MATERIALS from my conference talk:

Download Barney Barrett’s fantastic lesson using Google Earth – Directions directions

Watch the authors of 400 Ideas on Macmillan ELT’s YouTube channel

Download a template for generating ideas for use with an IWB template

Read Wayne Trottman’ brain-melting review of our sumptuous tome http://www.waynetrotman.com/wp/?p=643

Download free updates to Blended Learning http://www.macmillanenglish.com/methodology/books/Blended-Learning.htm Update 10 on IWBs – coming SOON!

Find out about the IATEFL Learning Technology webinars http://ltsig.org.uk/

Find out about the English UK training day on IWBs in London next February http://www.englishuk.com/en/training/training-days

Find out 1 and 2-day training courses in IWBs for ELT from PSA aka acronym city http://www.psa.eu.com/training/courses/three-hour-modules

PSA one

PSA two

Visit iTILT Interactive Technologies in Language Teaching http://itilt.eu/

Read a version of the article ’10 things to do with an IWB’ published in Modern English Teacher Vol 19 Number 1 January 2010 IWB

STOP PRESS!!!!

How does YOUR country score of Hofstede’s Uncertainty avoidance dimension? Find out here Hofstede

Definitely not flawless but great insights for a lesson on cultural awareness……

What would be in YOUR list of ’10 favourite apps for language learning’? I decided to put a list together in order to run a session on M-learning last week.

In fact, it was a great trip  – driving down through the beautiful Cotswolds in autumn to Linguarama’s residential centre. I couldn’t remember the last time I was there!

It was lovely to see so many familiar faces – thanks to everyone who forgave my ‘memory lapse’ when it comes to names! Folk from days in Finland, Prague, Berlin…..

My list includes an ELT dictionary, Sounds The pronunciation app, Google Goggles and more….I expect the list to change dramatically in the next few weeks as I go to BESIG in Croatia and learn more about the fast-moving world of M-learning….

So, here is the 2-page handout constructed for the session – my current ‘Top 10′: The wonderful world of Apps

Look forward to meeting everyone at Cheney Court again…..soon!

Once again, the Macmillan business English website invites teachers to revisit an e-lesson from the past. This time, the lesson is: Salaries

Salaries Revisited

FTSE directors’ earnings rise by nearly 50%

Once again, directors’ pay is back in the news. A new report from a research company, the IDS (Incomes Data Services), has revealed that last year the earnings of UK directors of the top 100 FTSE companies rose by nearly 50%. The average increase in CEO salaries was 43%. What’s more, directors’ bonuses have reportedly risen by 23%, making the average bonus a staggering £900,000!

To read the rest of this blog post,  as well as to download the orginal e-lesson and Teachers’ notes, please visit:

http://www.businessenglishonline.net/resources/in-company-second-edition-resources/elessons