ELTON sings praises for TEFL website

A new innovative website, TEFLclips.com has won recognition from the ELTons at the 2009 awards ceremony. TEFL teachers are always looking for new ideas and ways to improve lessons in an ever changing industry and videos from youtube have cleverly been made into class lessons, and published as a TEFL teaching resource professionals can use at their own free will. This is the seventh year of the ELTons, the awards ceremony for all aspects of English language teaching, and designed to celebrate those who bring innovation and progress to the industry. Organised by the British Council and sponsored by Cambridge ESOL, there are UK and international categories set out to commend those individuals and organisations dedicated to improving learning resources. The awards were held on 4th March 2009, London and the winners are below: UK Winners: 1. Magazines Plus - Online English Environment – Mary Glasgow Magazines, Sarah Johnson, Sarah Bromley, Peter Mahnke Magazines Plus is an online English environment where 11-18 year-old language learners can use English for real, meaningful communication. Students use social networking to chat with other learners of their age and can share opinions on news stories written at their language level of English. For over fifty years Mary Glasgow has published lively and engaging magazines for teenage language students. Magazines Plus brings their teen-focused language materials up to date for the twenty first century by making use of the collaborative and interactive capabilities of Web 2.0 to allow teenagers to use English for a real and rewarding purpose.2. TEFLclips.com - Interactive resource for teachers - Jamie Keddie Initiated in February 2008 by teacher Jamie Keddie, TEFLclips.com is a non-commercial project that aims to explore the possibilities that YouTube and other video sharing sites offer to language teachers and language learners. Through a series of articles and lesson plans which serve to demonstrate diverse principles of using video in the language classroom, TEFLclips.com has become a popular resource for practicing teachers of English and other languages.The creation and uploading of original video content is now underway. This includes instructional videos and clips of classroom techniques for teachers, as well as self-help and language practice videos for learners. 3. Aviation English - English course for pilots - Macmillan Education, Anna Cowper, Andy Roberts, Henry Emery, James GreenanIn March 2008 the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) introduced legislation requiring all pilots and air traffic controllers working in international airspace to have a standard level of English. Designed to the ICAO descriptors, Aviation English presents language, vocabulary and communication skills around 12 non-routine aviation situations. It coaches students to react fluently, clearly, and, most importantly, intelligibly. The Student’s Book comes with a CD-ROM with unique computer animations, further practice and audio as an mp3 download, and the Macmillan English Dictionary Pronunciation CD-ROM. The Teacher’s Book provides thorough guidance for those less familiar with the aviation industry, and photocopiables. INTERNATIONAL WINNEREnglish Language Textbooks for Mongolian Secondary Schools - Course English Language Teachers’ Association of Mongolia (ELTAM), Mongolia S Ulziijargal and the Curriculum Development and Textbook Writing TeamThe first English language course book series for Mongolian secondary schools, consisting of 18 books (Student’s Books, Activity Books, Teacher’s Books) covering 6 levels, with cassettes and CDs recorded in a UK studio. Produced by a team of 8 Mongolian teachers with a Mongolian publisher, and supported by a UK-based consultant, the project is the culmination of an 8 year curriculum development and textbook writing project, sponsored by the Mongolian Ministry of Education and the Mongolian Foundation for Open Society (Soros Foundation). The materials are currently used for teaching, teacher training and textbook writer development within Mongolia, and were “hard work but fun to write and fun to use!”