To be continued . . .

Hi Taka and Shogo!

Thank y0u for coming to see me at the Learning Centre. We had a good time, didn't we? You both want to improve your speaking in English, especially giving presentations. I hope that some of the ideas that I mentioned will be useful to you.

Your visit made me think more about this blog. I started it 4 years ago in 2006. I haven't written a post for a while, but I think that I will resume doing so. It doesn't take me much time, but it could be useful to students like you.

Remember: free information, open questions, listening to people talk about themselves, telling a simple joke, holding something in your hand or moving your body a little.

Please write a comment in reply to this post to let me know that you have read it. Enjoy your holidays, and have a good time ten-pin bowling, enjoying a barbecue, and visiting Alexandra.

A request for reading

It has been a long time since I wrote a post to this blog. At present I don't have a class of my own, but work at the Learning Centre. I see and help students from all over Otago Polytechnic.

A day or so ago I was visited by a student studying English. Although at the Learning Centre we do help students with their English (among other things) we generally don't help with their course content directly. That is why we generally leave the teaching of English to the English teachers!

But I have taught English for many years, so I wasn't about to turn a student away. This post is to help him, maybe his classmates . . . and I'll forward it to his teachers just to let them know what I suggest.

What I suggest is for him to explore this blog for material about 'Reading'. A starting point could be this link that takes you to the British Council IELTS speed reading site.