David Weller's Blog, page 6

Use AI to Create Classroom Stories

Great stories engage, inspire and educate.

So it makes sense to use them in our teaching, as stories can bring language learning to life. Another dull coursebook exercise or a juicy story - which would you find more interesting?

Unfortunately, finding a story that’s at the right level, practices the target language, and engages your students is challenging and time consuming.

That’s why today we’ll look at how to use AI to create (or adapt) a great story in two minutes. I’ll also share the prompts...

When Should You Abandon Your Lesson Plan?

The most magical learning moments are often unplanned.

I’m sure all teachers have experienced this. The lesson takes on a life of own, goes off-plan, but the students have an amazing learning experience.

Of course, the opposite happens too - a plan goes off the rails and is a complete disaster.

Why do these occurrences happen? How can we encourage more of the positive and less of the negative experiences?

Today we’ll look at what we can learn about abandoning our lesson plans, when we should do it,...

Social-Emotional Learning for Young Learners

There are so many approaches to teaching, it can feel overwhelming.

Which methodology do you use? Do you go with present, practice, produce, or task-based learning? But once you’ve decided on how to teach, and develop proficiency, you start to wonder if there’s more to learning and teaching.

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For the first few years I taught, I only focused on the basics - classroom and behaviour management and making sure learners met the ‘can do’ statements.

As I developed more tools for teaching, i...

What is Project-Based Learning?

What is project-based learning (or PBL)?

It's a teaching method where students gain knowledge and skills by investigating and responding to real-world problems or challenges.

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Students actively engage in their learning instead of sitting back and trying to absorb information passively. They're not just learning facts; they're learning how to think, solve problems, and apply their knowledge.

The Principles of Project-Based Learning

So, you may wonder, what's at ...

50% off on ALL ebooks - my birthday treat! 🎉

Hello!

It was my birthday this week, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate another year around the sun than by sharing the joy of learning and teaching.

So for the next three days, all of my ebooks will be half-price.

They usually sell for $6.99, but will now be $3.49 each. Click here to see them all!

Normal prices will be resumed from midnight GMT on Monday 12th June.

There are five books altogether:

Lesson Planning for Language Teachers: Evidence-Based Techniques for Busy Teachers

Essentia...

The Next Three Years: AI & Education

Two days ago, I was honoured to present at a webinar, ‘Kids Deserve Education’. My talk was called “The AI Education Revolution: Navigating the Next Three Years”.

In this newsletter, I want to expand my thoughts and discuss how AI will (and has started to) affect education and language teaching.

Thanks for reading Barefoot TEFL Teacher! Subscribe for free:

If you want to watch the webinar (you’ll also get to see Ross Thorburn’s presentation on Storytelling!), you can watch it here (my presentation ...

ChatGPT for Language Teachers

Just a quick newsletter this week, to announce my new book: ChatGPT for Language Teachers: The Ultimate Prompt Handbook for AI Productivity.

As someone who has been using ChatGPT since November last year, I’ve seen firsthand the incredible potential this technology holds for language teaching and learning.

Since then, I've been experimenting with ChatGPT to see what works and what doesn't for language teaching. I’ve written about it as well, about how AI can write your lesson plans, how language...

Free eBook - ChatGPT for Language Teachers

Just a quick newsletter this week, to announce my new book: ChatGPT for Language Teachers: The Ultimate Prompt Handbook for AI Productivity.

As someone who has been using ChatGPT since November last year, I’ve seen firsthand the incredible potential this technology holds for language teaching and learning.

Since then, I've been experimenting with ChatGPT to see what works and what doesn't for language teaching. I’ve written about it as well, about how AI can write your lesson plans, how language...

Webinar Replay: AI in Language Teaching (& New AI Newsletter!)

I presented a webinar on 19th May, with Trinity College London.

If you attended, many thanks. If you missed it, you can watch it here (and look below to download the slides!).

Quick announcement!

I have a new weekly AI newsletter - called ‘The AI Educator’. It’s full of news about AI in education, plus AI tips and tools for teachers. Check it out now!

The AI EducatorThe latest AI news, tools and training for educators. Delivered on Fridays.By David Weller

Right, onto the webinar replay:

00:00 Introduc...

Storytelling book launch! (50-80% off for 48 hours)📚✨

Hi all,

Just a short email this week, as I’m excited to release my new book!

It’s called ‘Storytelling for Language Teachers: Story frameworks, techniques and activities’, 🐉

Here’s what you can expect:

A quick story-planning method to design story-based lessons in minutes.

Twenty adaptable story activities for almost any lesson aim.

Strategies to motivate and engage students through stories and story activities (based on the latest research).

Tips on finding, adapting, and creating better stories for y...