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Papers by Christine Stevceva

The practice of English language teaching provides an excellent guidance and a theoretical backgr... more The practice of English language teaching provides an excellent guidance and a theoretical background of the English language and the process of teaching and learning. The reason why this book was taken for a review its because I think that it consists all the information and activities that a good English teacher should be aware of. Jeremy Harper who is the author of all published editions of this book is an ELT writer, teacher, trainer and presenter. He is currently an occasional lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University. As a writer of books in the field of English language teaching, he is a seminar leader, frequent presenter and a teacher inside UK and all around the world. All the books he has written include methodology titles, course materials and learner's literature that are of great use for a lot of English teachers around the world, no matter if they have just started their carriers or that have been working in this field for a long period of time. As I already mentioned, this is the 4th edition of this book and its previous editions as well as this one have been used by teachers working on their own, teachers working with colleagues or by students who are training to be a good English teachers. The previous editions of this book are known as very useful and consistent of a large number of practical activities and theoretical background of the English teaching process, but as the 4th edition is the one I have lately read, I will concentrate of the positive and a few negative parts of this book.

Drafts by Christine Stevceva

Our daily routine cannot be imagined without the use of computers and smart devices in our privat... more Our daily routine cannot be imagined without the use of computers and smart devices in our private and professional lives. The use of the information technology in teaching English is no novelty because technology has been around us for a long time. With the development of the ICT, a vast number of educational platforms and software that can be used in education have been created. Technology in the classroom is present today within the educational centres and using technology in language learning has become the perfect complement in reaching proficiency and fluency, and English courses accompanied by technological support are the most effective and attractive for students who want to be successful in their learning. Even for students who are spending time on their computers playing video games, using computers during the lesson will attract their attention and they will try to be successful and compete with the others. The ICT is one of the most important tools for the improvement of the teaching and studying at the same time. For teachers, it is a professional resource, a way to share their knowledge and as a source of useful texts that can be used during a lesson. On the other hand, for the student who is studying English as a foreign language, the use of ICT guarantees a lot of possibilities for effective communication and it is a type of virtual community that allows him or her to exchange information, ideas, and experience with other students. As well, it helps them make projects and exchange materials. The use of technology in English teaching, helps students develop and use their skills, knowledge, and understandings by making and presenting the curriculum. All of this is possible because of the interactive and dynamic nature of the ICT. As, Jeremy Harmer wrote " a word innovation means something new, which means new ideas to change things for better " , the ICT is new and closer to the generations of students nowadays and all the teaching methods should be made according to their interest in order to be successful in teaching the language. But, we should be aware of the fact that all methods are not 100% successful, as Harmer claims in his book " if we look at all the language teaching methods which are used all over the world by different teachers at different levels, we cannot say that all of them are 100% successful. Therefore, it is very important to keep looking and searching to find ways to make teaching and learning better. " In the past decade, many analyses have been made based on the use of ICT in teaching and according to most of them, we can conclude that there are more advantages than disadvantages. The use of technology in English teaching, as some analysis show, can contribute in: improving reading and writing abilities, develop listening and speaking abilities, supporting student collaboration, their creativity, individual learning, as well as the repetition of already acquired knowledge. As Dudney and Hockly (2007) have stated, the ICT is, in fact, an interactive and collaborative medium that allows the creation of text and activities that can easily be shared in public which helps students discover the language they are learning and its use. Many English teachers might disagree with these advantages and they usually have doubts that the ICT might not be useful in the process of teaching English since they think computers may only distract student's attention during the lesson. But, there are educational platforms and software which are created in order to avoid this happening and teachers should be informed that there a software such as Net Nanny (www.netnanny.com) which limits and controls students' access to other content during the lesson. (Dudeney and Hockly, 2007, pg. 42)