Cambridge
ABSTRACT:
Walking in Carolyn Graham’s footsteps: Using rhythm, repetition, rhyme and mime to make learning memorable, meaningful and fun!
'We do things best if we believe we can succeed.’ - Zoltán Dörnyei
This talk aims to explore the value of incorporating mnemonic stories, chants and songs as a key ingredient in the recipe that shapes our everyday teaching philosophy. We will look at how a series of simple, yet incredibly effective techniques, based around rhythm, repetition, rhyme and mime can not only improve language learning but also make the process much more memorable, meaningful and fun! We will look into how we can add short standalone ‘blast’ activities to existing lesson plans as well as how we can plan whole lessons or chunks of study around them. We will also investigate the methods we can use to set-up, scaffold and support learners with these activities to help give them encouragement and a sense that they can succeed for themselves.
In this practical, hands-on talk, participation is a must!! The examples I provide cover the K-12 topic themes so the session should hopefully (fingers crossed!) provide lots of take-away activities and ideas you can do with your own learners from Monday morning onwards!
BIODATA:
Steven J Ogden: I’m a teacher, teacher educator, consultant, writer and publisher with an insatiable appetite for learning and continuous professional growth. Over the last 25 years, I have been very lucky to have lived and worked in many amazing places! In this time, I have held a variety of roles (teacher, coordinator, trainer) at institutions across the Middle East, Japan, China, Sri Lanka, the UK and Turkey. For the last fifteen years, I have worked in ELT publishing as an examination’s writer, teacher educator, sales manager and academic director. I currently work freelance. At the moment, I manage various publishing projects and write course materials and resources for some of the leading ELT publishers. I also work part-time as a training consultant for a leading petrolchemical company. When time permits, I run bespoke training courses for K-12 teachers nationally and internationally.
