From Everyone at IH London..

Learning English with self-study websites part two

IH London teacher Caroline's Study Skills class have been looking at the best website for English self-study. Their latest reviews are about TED.

Have you ever heard about TED? I never hesitate for choosing TED.com as the best English learning website.  This website is for everybody who uses English as a mother tongue or a second language. It is a non-profit website which spreads information about every sort of subject. 

IH London makes a song and dance for Children in Need

During November students and teachers at IH London raised money for Children in Need.
 
The fun started with a charity bakesale and ended with the fantastic IH's Got Talent show - with lots of raffles and games inbetween! These events raised £1308.79 for Children in Need - the amount was doubled by IH London to £2617.58. Check out our photos and videos below for some of the highlights.

Fun at the Bakesake

IH London teacher Chris poses with the fantastic Children in Need cakes. The perfect combination - eating cakes and raising money for charity!

A Look Back at Modern Languages Conference 2011

Recently we sat down with Vicens Colomer, Assistant Director of the Modern Language Department at IH London, to talk about the fifth annual Modern Languages Conference (MoLaCo) on 12 November 2011. 

With separate workshops for Arabic, French, Italian and Spanish teachers, this year turned out to MoLaCo's busiest yet. There were nearly 150 delegates, with several from abroad, at IH London's school in Covent Garden for the conference.
 

Can you tell us about the different workshops this year?

This year we had four workshops running simultaneously - one for each language - with the whole programme in the target language. 

The conference programme for each language included both presentations from expert speakers and a chance for discussion. We had some fantastic guests!
 

Learning English with self-study websites

Many students learning English at IH London also spend time after class improving their language skills. This month, we're sharing some reviews of the best websites for self-study all written by teacher Caroline's Study Skills class.

Let's start with their guide to self-study resources from the BBC.

BBC Learning English website

BBC Learning English is a site dedicated to teaching English language on line. The site is for all people that want improve their English without traditional methods. There are a lot of positive aspects about this kind of self-study.

Update from the Hackney Migrant Centre

The International House Trust supports the Hackney Migrant Centre by providing an English teacher to run lessons at the Centre. The Centre is a charity which provides a weekly drop in session for refugees and other migrants offering legal aid and health advice, a free meal and an inclusive, sociable meeting place. 

Ben Darby, a teacher from IH London who runs these classes, has been blogging about some of the differences between his teaching at IH London and at the Hackney Migrant Centre.

In his latest post, Ben discusses the growth of classes at the centre and new opportunities to students to take formal tests.

The Centre's new two hour class on Friday afternoons, running in addition to the Wednesday class, has been running since February 2011. At first the class focused more on literacy and initially had a lower attendance rate than Wednesdays but numbers have steadily risen and the class is currently geared towards OCR English tests. The Wednesday class is often full to capacity (13 students) and the Hackney Migrant Centre has seen an increase in the number of people using its services. This is partly because the reputation of the centre has spread through word of mouth and is also due to government cuts beginning to bite. For example, free ESOL lessons at F.E. colleges are no longer available and several organisations offering legal advice to migrants have folded due to lack of funding.

Lessons on Wednesday focus on language which the students can use in practical situations. Many of them want to get a UK driving license but are struggling with the theory exam so we’ve practised the vocabulary of driving. I’ve introduced grammar presentations to these lessons because ESOL materials, such as Skills for Life, offer little explanation of how grammar is structured. This increased emphasis on structure has gone down well.

In feedback students said they would like to take formal tests which awarded certificates they could show the Home Office so we decided to start running OCR tests on Friday afternoons. OCR is the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA examining board and the test is in three parts; speaking, reading and writing. We started with the level one speaking test and all the candidates passed. These tests are accredited by Crisis, another charity which IH supports. This was arranged by Jagtar Behal of Crisis and I am very grateful for all his support and advice.

Plans for the future are to continue running the Wednesday drop in English class and to use Fridays for lessons which are oriented towards the OCR Esol tests.

Your essential introduction to Wikis and more

There's still time to apply for the Blended Cert ICT course at IH London starting on 15 October. Leading up to the course, we're sharing tips and advice to help you use ICT more effectively in the classroom.

One of the many great things about this course is that each week’s tasks, and the tools you are introduced to, are built on the skills you’ve learned in previous sessions.

In our last post about the Blended Cert ICT course we talked about what’s covered in Module One, which takes up the first five sessions of the face-to-face portion of the course.

Here’s a quick rundown of what you’ll learn how to do during the first half of Module Two, which is also delivered in the F2F classroom:

• How to supercharge your Internet searching skills, allowing you and your students to find the right resources for what you need more quickly
  
• How to make quick and easy podcasts that add value and fun to your teaching
  
• How to make the most of Web 2.0 tools such as social bookmarking, social networking (even if you’re not already using it, your students probably are!)
  
• How to create WebQuests that will have your students practicing their language skills as well as getting valuable “real world” online experience
  
• How to use various types Blogs and Wikis with your learners
  

All about Wikis

Wikis are a great tool for collaborative and process writing, and are easily one of the most popular “I’m so glad I now know how to use them” tools of the course. Not sure what a wiki is?

Here’s an essential overview …



Wikis are easy to set up, a doddle to administer, and are arguably one of the most versatile tools that you’ll end up with in your ICT toolbox. They end up being a one-stop shopping place where teachers can collaborate with students: delivering information and having learners produce (and hone) their own language, keeping a record of first drafts, edits and corrections (from the teacher and/or peer correction).

How to join the course

Learn more about Blended Cert ICT or contact Colin Paton our head of eLearning, with any questions.

Spaces are filling up for the course starting on 15 October. Book now to get your spot!

Missed our Blended Cert ICT taster session? Here's a quick catch up!

In case you didn't make it along to our session taster this week, here are some of the essential facts we learned about the upcoming Blended Cert ICT course at IH London:

• It's currently the only teaching with technology course certified by Trinity College.
• Teachers who take the course range from recent CELTA grads looking to continue their education to Directors of Studies who want to implement more technology in their schools. There is truly something for everyone on this course.
• You don't need any previous technical knowledge, and even IT wizards who take it have always ended up with some new tricks up their sleeves.
• There are three modules to the course, the first of which is taught completely face-to-face. Module One includes:
• Keeping your computers safe (nobody likes a virus)
• Understanding different kinds of file formats (do you know your MP4s from your WMVs? your JPGs from your GIFs?)
• Working with images (how do you get that high-res picture off your digital camera to fit on a web page?)
• Using audio (hey, that might come in handy for pron practice ... hmmmm)
• Video (can I really use free, low-tech tools to teach in my classroom? -- Yes! See below)

Get your teaching toolbox ready!

The above animation is just one of the many free, easily accessible tools you'll have in your "teaching toolbox" at the end of the course, and that toolbox gets a little more full after every session. One of the best things about the Blended Cert ICT is that it's very practical and very hands on. Every week you'll have new ways to quickly and easily add a little technology to your teaching, whether it be to spice up an existing lesson or keep a running online record with your students of what they've covered over the duration of the course.

More tips and examples from the course coming over the next few weeks.

How to join the next course

Learn more about the Blended Cert ICT course and apply online or contact Colin Paton, our Head of eLearning, with your questions.

The next course starts on 15 October and spaces are filling up. Book now to make sure you don't miss out.

Learn new skills for the classroom with Blended Cert ICT

Our Blended Cert ICT course begins on 15 October and applications are open now. Over the next few weeks we'll be posting tips and advice about using ICT in the classroom to give you an idea of what the course involves.

If you're thinking of applying, don't miss the free taster session tomorrow, Tuesday 6 September at IH London, when you'll have an opportunity to find out more about the Blended Cert ICT course and qualification and ask your questions.

Your introduction to the course

Check out the Voki below to find out some more about the course and what's happening over the next few weeks:



The course will introduce you to blogs, wikis and podcasting while you also learn how to use other simple, easily accessible, and FREE technology tools (eg, WebQuests, electronic assessments, videos, social media) that you will be able to immediately incorporate into your lessons.

The course is designed for both the novices and those with a more technical know-how who want to add to their toolboxes of classroom tips and tricks.

What to do next

Find out more about the taster session on 6 September.

Get full details about the Blended Cert ICT course and how to apply.

London Spanish Film Festival comes to IH London

This September, IH London is sponsoring the London Spanish Film Festival. During the festival we'll be hosting exclusive free screenings of Spanish language films where you can see the best of recent cinema from Spain.


We're excited to be part of the festival again following the success of our screenings during the festival's Spring Weekend in April this year. The selection of films screening at the school and at Ciné lumière during the festival covers all genres with special selections from Catalan and Basque cinema. And don't worry if your Spanish isn't up to scratch - all the films are subtitled in English.

Start exploring everything Spanish cinema has to offer: check details of screenings at IH London and see the full festival programme.

Charity bakesale for Save the Children's East Africa Appeal

This week IH London teachers and students organised a bakesale to raise money for Save the Children's East Africa appeal. Together we raised an incredible £461 - that's a lot of cakes.

Check out our photos of students and staff stuffing their faces!

Meet the ih-hi magazine team

Some of our English language students - and their teacher Caroline - have launched ih-hi a new student magazine for IH London. All the articles are written by students from study advice to tips on places to see in London to horoscopes.

Watch this space for an online edition of the first issue of ih-hi and details of how IH London English language students can get involved.

For now check out this great video for an introduction to the magazine team:

How IH London raised £2390.40 for the Japanese Red Cross!

Here's IH London student Tomoko outside the Japanese Embassy yesterday. Tomoko and Nobuyuki from Student Services were at the Embassy to present a cheque for £2390.40 to the Japanese Red Cross relief appeal.


To raise the money IH London students and staff got together for a special Help Japan event at the school. It was a chance to try out our origami and calligraphy skills, to play games (picking up beads with chopsticks is as hard as you'd think), to sing karaoke and to eat sushi and specially decorated cupcakes.


Check out the IH London photostream for more photos of the afternoon. There was also a raffle with some impressive prizes that went a long way to helping us raise £1465.20 on the day. Then IH London matched that amount bringing us to our grand total.

All around the event, students and staff displayed pictures and videos to show how Japan was affected by the disaster. The images were a reminder of why raising money was so important - and a worthwhile reason to buy more cupcakes.