Technology for Business English
Thanks to vereyone who came to my session! I really enjoyed it.
I have put together a one-page Handout with the web-site adresses which came up in the session – enjoy!
If you need any other references, please just mail me!
Best wishes from Pete
Understandably excited about the arrival of our latest book – Networking in English – we have made a video of Pete explaining the benefits and the thinking behind the syllabus.
If you haven’t already seen it head straight for the homepage of te4be and take a look.
The 3D version will be available as soon as James Cameron calls us from Hollywood!
The latest CALL Review has just been uploaded to the IATEFL learning technologies SIG website.
It has an article from PSA Director, Byron Russell and the creator of this very site, Barney Barrett. Here are the contents:
Enjoy!!
Need a 3-D lesson to spice-up a cold grey day? Look no further than through those chunky specs and download the latest business e-lesson on Avatar. Love it or loathe it, it’s a must-see movie and this lesson is designed to get your student’s celluloid juices flowing….. enjoy another Titanic class.
Yow-eeeeeee. Just looked at the E-lesson warehouse and it’s brimming with off-the shelf lessons. Nice one, Macmillan.
Our latest book will soon be in a shop near you.
For more information, please visit the Macmillan website.
If you can’t wait until your local book seller can provide you with a copy, you can also pre-order from Amazon.
Enjoy it!!
Two very different articles are published this month, on the same subject by the same author (Pete Sharma)
Article 1
The rise and rise of interactive whiteboards
“I love my interactive whiteboard (IWB) and my students love it too”
“What’s the point of spending our budget on interactive whiteboards? Can you prove they make learning better?”
Once again, a battle rages in the world of language teaching. Although the IWB has come to symbolise and typify the ‘digital divide’, this is more than just a battle between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’,’
For the rest of this article, see: English Teaching Professional Issue 66 January 2010
Article 2
Ten things to do with an interactive whiteboard
As the virtual dust settles in the latest battle about interactive whiteboards (IWBs), – “to use or not to use?”- played out on on-line forums by passionate supporters and equally passionate detractors, Pete Sharma looks at ten things to do with….an IWB.
1 Don’t buy one
For the rest of this article, see: Modern English Teacher Volume 19 Number 1 January 2010
Enjoy….
We very much hope you like our ‘new look’ front page. We aim to change the photo monthly to show somewhere one of us is presenting – so February’s difficult – Cologne and Barcelona / Cologne OR Barcelona?
The video is our first experiment. Video clips are something we will be working on this year – we are intending to try our hand at video editing later this month. The results will be posted on the ‘Subscription’ part of our site.
I am sitting at home and typing this rather than attending the BETT exhibition – a trip too far after the light snow flurries which send my front wheels spinning….oh, to be in a country which grinds to halt when it snows….from a man who used to live in Finland.
I am currently editing the Winter 2009 – 2010 CALL Review. It’s a cracking edition!
PSA’s very own Byron Russell kicks off with a look at the future for ELT publishers. Valentina Dodge has contributed an exhilarating article on English 360. Maurice Claypole has sunmitted a fascinating article of particular interest to ESP and CLIL teachers. Then there’s Wordle…Facebook….and much more…..
Will you read it? It’s as easy as ABC – it will soon be available to download from the IATEFL Learning Technologies SIG website. Not a SIG member? now that’s a different story….I guess you could, er, borrow a pals…? Beg, steal or borrow a virtual copy? Or, simply, eat your heart out and, er, join IATEFL 
Wishing all our readers a Happy and successful New Year….from a snowy Stratford-upon-Avon.
Wishing all our readers a Merry Christmas! 2009 was a good year and 2010 looks like it will be even better! We have lots of plans for this site, so watch this space!
Huge thanks to Carl Dowse for his recent posting on BESIG.
You can see the recording of the panel discussion on the future of language learning, which inspired the business English e-lesson of 2009. There’s a ton of great photos up there.
One of my favourite conferences – why was it so great? I love Poland for a start, got to see some great sessions and had a thoroughly good time….Jo Grieg gave a short, moving speech accepting the David Riley Award on behalf of Macmillan…..catching up with ex-colleagues from Poland and elsewhere…
Heard about Wordle? What about TED.com?
We are delighted that the latest (free!) update - Blended Learning Update number 7 – is ready to download as a .pdf from the Macmillan website!
Enjoy it!
What is the difference between Moodle, the Macmillan English Campus, MyLab and English 360?
Have you ever tried a Mimio?
There are still a few spaces left on the last Blended Learning course of 2009 next month in Stratford – mail PSA immediately if you are interested…………
Hovering around the Macmillan stand at BESIG last weekend, I was asked: “What’s your favourite thing about your new book?”
Without thinking, I said: “the unique ‘Social planner’ at the back.” This is where students can combine the power of print with the fixed sentence head (“I was born in…”), and the power of the pen, writing in their unique personalised ending (“… Pune / Rio / Vladivostock”). The students finish the book with a checklist of key utterances to review before being thrust into their next social encounter.
I also like the subtle message of the needs analysis circle, suggesting that when all pieces of the jig-saw puzzle are in place, you are a good socialiser.
Barney saw the book for the first time last night, and no doubt has his own favourite bits! Don’t worry, it won’t be long before it hits the bookshelves……
Enjoying this great conference – maybe because the sessions I’ve chosen have all delivered, maybe because you can get water and coffee whenever you need it…or just catching up with old friends – anyway, a great day…..and congrats to PSA’s Paul East on being voted joint BESIG co-ordinator with Marjorie Rosenberg…..
Hope you all received our Winter 2009 Newsletter.
If you have recently subscribed and you haven’t received it, it may be that your mail did not get through – I sent confirmation to a few addresses which were unsuccessful. Please mail us again! Alternatively, it may be caught in your spam mail.
Best wishes: the man who put the ‘Man’ in Oman.
Advance copies of our new book are OUT!! Watch this space…
A short note to say thank you to everyone who attended the PSA Blended Learning course at The London School in Thiene in Italy last weekend and, of course, a special thanks to Julie for organising it. We had a great time and were challenged by a dynamic group of teachers to present our information and opinions as clearly as possible and then to help them realise some of their ideas and plans using the technologies and tools covered on the course.
We were royally looked after with endless cups of tea and wonderful cheese sandwiches which kept us from flagging during our demos and discussions of blogs, podcasts, IWBs, Moodles and all the other things that the course covers.
There were many questions we were not able to answer due to time and, sometimes, the fact that we had not thought about those issues ourselves. The answers to questions should start to trickle through very soon.
Our latest newsletter is now available for subscribers to te4be to download. It contains articles about Pete’s trips to south America and what he found out about how they are using technology in their classrooms. There are also up-dates on the progress of Pete Sharma Associates.
If you would like to receive the newsletter please sign up as a subscriber. If you are a subscriber and have had any difficulties in downloading the newsletter please feel free to get in touch and we’ll make sure you are able to read it.
I enjoyed doing the session on Interactive Whiteboards last Sunday!