Learning Teaching by Jim Scrivener is a teacher development book that is aimed at the ELT market but as an EAL specialist, I have gained a great deal of knowledge and experience from reading ELT development books. Learning Teaching is no different. It has been in my library for 17 years and I still sometimes refer to it when I want to develop an activity that develops language in my mainstream classrooms.
12 chapters cover a wide range of topics that include: activities and lessons, teaching vocabulary and speaking, planning, and working with language, to name but a few.
Each chapter includes readings, tasks that make you apply readings to classroom situations, and feedback on the tasks in the form of commentaries. This format allows you to think carefully about how you would apply concepts, tasks, activities to enhance your own teaching practice from the readings you have done. I’ve gained some great ideas for my classroom practice through reading and reflecting on what I have read.
I like Chapter 9 ‘Working with Language’ because I’ve gained a great deal of knowledge from the approaches to grammar that Scrivener highlights. For my own practice as an EAL specialist it is important to have some understanding of grammar to support language development alongside content development. ‘Working with Language’ has given me some top tips on how to use grammar teaching effectively in my own practice.
Packed full of ideas, activities and resources that you can use in your own teaching practice, Learning Teaching is a worthy addition to a teachers library.
In the UK, you can buy the book by clicking on this link.
EAL in the Daylight 