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Tom Garside
Feb 38 min read
Slow down, teacher! An argument for less haste in language education
Any teacher working towards assessments or barrier tests experiences the familiar pressure to get through syllabus content so that their stu
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Tom Garside
Jan 164 min read
What is the lexical approach?
Vocabulary is an essential part of language learning at any level. The way in which we learn and remember vocabulary is different from how
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Tom Garside
Jan 35 min read
What is Test Teach Test? An impactful lesson structure for teachers and students
Any initial teacher training qualification in TESOL will rightly stress the importance of clear lesson structure for language lessons.
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Tom Garside
Dec 6, 20245 min read
When did you last see yourself teach? Self-observation as a reflective development tool
Lesson observations are an integral part of most teacher education courses for good reason; we can learn an enormous amount by stepping back
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Tom Garside
Nov 22, 20243 min read
After the TEFL Cert - what next? Teacher Education doesn’t stop with a first certificate
So you’ve finished your teacher training course, and are ready to go out into the world of teaching. Maybe you have a job lined up, maybe
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Tom Garside
Nov 8, 20245 min read
Barrier to bridge: facilitating teachers to take control of their own professional development
In-depth, lasting Continuous Professional Development activity is often seen as either a luxury or a chore for public school teachers, as
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Tom Garside
Oct 25, 20244 min read
Empowering teachers to define their own development pathways
Teacher development in any field can only work if teachers themselves take ownership over how they manage their own development plans. You
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Tom Garside
Oct 11, 20243 min read
Sustaining TESOL teacher development
Teachers rarely have the time to step back and think about what they are, or are not, doing in their classrooms. For real, effective develop
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Tom Garside
Sep 27, 20245 min read
10 simple steps to sustainable TESOL teacher development
TESOL qualifications tend to be seen as discrete products leading to fixed outcomes - a CertTESOL, CELTA or similar level of certificate.
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Tom Garside
Sep 13, 20246 min read
What is connected speech, and why is its pronunciation important for language learners?
Of all the areas in English pronunciation, perhaps the most challenging for learners is the way in which words are connected together in flu
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Tom Garside
Aug 24, 20244 min read
What are prepositions and what do they do?
One reason why English grammar is difficult for many learners is the range of small, grammatical components which are needed to complete phr
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Tom Garside
Aug 7, 20246 min read
Understanding International ESOL Exams - Trinity GESE, ISE, IELTS and the Cambridge Suite
If you are looking to specialise in English Language Teaching, then it is important to become familiar with the international examinations w
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Tom Garside
Aug 2, 20246 min read
Accents, dialects and varieties of English - what’s the difference and why are they important for teachers and learners?
As an international language with a long history in many different parts of the world, English has developed into many different forms.
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Tom Garside
Jul 22, 20244 min read
Your next move in TESOL: How teachers develop through the Trinity CertPT course with Language Point
Most teacher development courses are focused on the teaching that you do: how to teach more effectively, methods and techniques that are suc
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Tom Garside
Jul 15, 20246 min read
Word stress and sentence stress - what is the difference?
The rhythm and pace of words in spoken sentences varies in different languages. The way we add stress or prominence to individual syllables
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Tom Garside
Jun 26, 20245 min read
Teaching quantifiers communicatively with context: few, a few, fewer and less
English quantifiers can be tricky for learners. They depend on a range of factors, from countability, quantity, number and even the personal
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Tom Garside
Jun 14, 20245 min read
What is a modal verb?
Despite their name, modal verbs aren’t really verbs at all. They do form part of verb phrases, and are closely connected to verbs, but...
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Tom Garside
Jun 7, 20246 min read
Four ways to ensure ESOL students use AI ethically
With ongoing developments in generative AI, the nature of English language study is changing. Institutions worldwide are working hard to
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Tom Garside
May 14, 20245 min read
Simple and continuous tenses - what’s the difference?
The English tense system, as with most languages that use different verb forms to communicate the time when they happened, is quite complex.
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Tom Garside
May 4, 20243 min read
Why you don’t need to be a ‘language expert’ to start teaching TESOL
Many would-be language teachers are put off from the job because they assume that it is impossible to become a language educator without
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