How to teach… punctuation

The ability to punctuate correctly will help your students avoid embarrassing pitfalls. Photograph: Jamie Carstairs/Alamy

It can be a heartbreaking experience for teachers when students present them with a page of writing which could be brilliant, if only it were punctuated correctly.

These resources offer a ray of hope in the battle to help children cut the chaos in their writing and translate the gems inside their head from a jumbled mess to perfectly manicured prose.

First get your students’ attention with some exciting and catchy tunes from the studio of Mr A, Mr C and Mr D Present, three full-time teachers who write educational songs that pack a punch. Punctuation nation is a classic sing-a-long explaining the use of question marks, exclamation marks and even the impressive ellipsis – you’ll also need the lyrics.

Many children (and adults) find using apostrophes tricky. Learn how to teach them the fun way with the apostrophe song and accompanying lyrics.

Last year Mr D (aka Matthew Dix) wrote the catchy Grammar Dance to help his year 6 students get through their spelling, punctuation and grammar (Spag) tests. Here are the lyrics to learn with your class. If you want to practise for the Spag test, check out this set of questions.

Thanks to teacher Joseph Donovan for sharing his succinct punctuation card. It’s a handy guide to the big 12, including: the full stop, comma, apostrophe, semicolon, exclamation mark, dash, brackets, hyphen, ellipsis, colon, question mark and quotation mark.

Who says having a little play with punctuation can’t be tremendous fun? Cheers to the team at primaryclass.co.uk for this punctuation “I have… who has?…” follow-me style activity and punctuation bingo. Primary teacher and children’s author, Mike Davies, has also shared an amusing activity on punctuating speech using an extract of his book, Lousy Thinking.

Teaching year 1? There’s no better time to get started on your punctuation adventure. This interactive activity on the full stop does a great job of demonstrating the point of this most masterful of punctuation marks. This lesson on reading aloud helps young students to discover the point of punctuation, while Speech marks is a great introduction for year 2 students.

For key stage 2 students, Using punctuation is a really useful interactive and further punctuation-mark practice exercises can be found for semicolons, colons, hyphens and dashes and commas.

Some key stage 3 students still struggle with punctuation, so check out Punctuation for meaning, which neatly explains why it’s needed. The interactive activity will help students use punctuation correctly, particularly at boundaries between sentences and clauses. There’s more advice in Why do we punctuate?, which looks at commas, brackets, inverted commas, the apostrophe, colons and semicolons, hyphens and dashes.

For key stage 4 students who need to brush up, find Grammar trouble spots.

Special educational needs (SEN) specialist Matt Grant, who blogs at HumansNotRobots, has shared a lovely set of resources designed to help SEN students develop basic literacy skills, including punctuation. Find English skillsbuilder guidance for an introduction to the series, then check out stage one, stage two and stage three. There are some great ideas for punctuation activities in the booklets.

Cover your classroom in commas with this punctuation display banner from Twinkl, and check out this poster. It can be frustrating for teachers when students do know how to use punctuation, but fail to check their work. This Keep calm and check your punctution poster is the perfect reminder. The Punctuation pyramid makes another great display to help children with their independent writing.

Filling in the gaps on this Missing punctuation resource is a great way to hammer home the message further.

And finally for teachers wishing to test the strength of their own punctuation skills, do take our Grammar and punctuation quiz.

How to teach… punctuation

Language lessons teach you more than just verb tables

In Germany apprenticeships are a core component of the education program. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Apprenticeships are a large deal in Germany, apparently. Schooling is compulsory until pupils are 15, but if they depart at that age they have to do vocational instruction for another couple of years.

My German instructor told me this when we studying how to say “my favourite subject at school was…” I need to admit it felt fairly useless to be finding out conversation subjects about college, but the insight into the German training method was fascinating.

I did a tiny study and found that the CBI hails Germany the leader in vocational instruction. It truly is estimated that there are much more than half a million apprenticeships offered to youthful Germans, and that they are considered to be the equivalent of an A-degree qualification. Significantly larger standing than how apprenticeships are perceived in the United kingdom.

Recently I got to interview the actor Larry Lamb about his passion for languages. Lamb advised me he firmly believes that he wouldn’t have acquired to exactly where he is if his primary school French teacher hadn’t ignited a curiosity for foreign culture in him.

To a lesser extent, the identical point occurred to me in this week’s class. The lesson was no longer about mundane conversation topics, but about studying about one more culture, from an additional particular person. As trite as it sounds, along with the language itself, you discover far more about the inner workings of a society than any foreign movie or travel article will tell you.

The chance to devote an hour and a half with a person from yet another portion of the globe, learning their language and about their culture is an indulgence I want far more would get to encounter. When I commenced this program, I defaulted into secondary school mode. I saw verb tables and vocabulary lists flash before my eyes and I truly was not hunting forward to it. When I was at school, it was all about getting a excellent grade memorising vocab with the express intent of acquiring total marks in the test. But this time round I’ve shifted my mindset.

This is not about fluency, it really is about performance. I have allow go of my goody-two-shoes impulse to get full marks on a check and instead am a lot more concerned with conversational topics and phrases (although, possibly significantly less about my school days). So when I sooner or later go on this infamous journey to Berlin, I want to chat about items important to Germans, in German. And if that is about their apprenticeship: gut.

Anna Codrea-Rado edits the language finding out series. She is blogging about her experience learning German.

Language lessons teach you more than just verb tables

How to teach… the countdown to Christmas

How many sleeps left till Christmas? Our teaching resources will assist you to design and style lessons about the countdown. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

Many teachers could feel they have been living in Lapland for some weeks, but it is now official. Advent has began and we are on the countdown to Christmas.

We have some wonderful sources to support you and your students rejoice and reflect on the season.

Commence off with these amazing advent calendar interactive PowerPoints from CAFOD which provide a perfect entry stage for musing on the true that means of Christmas as each a religious festival and a time for contemplating about others. Rather than acquiring their hands on a chocolate or a piece of Lego, in this calendar youngsters can uncover a story, reflection, prayer and advised actions for every single day of advent.

The secondary advent calendar is tailormade for tutor time or RE lessons and the main advent calendar will be great for courses across the entire primary age range, or assemblies. There is a slide for each day of advent and college students will get to know Santa (no, not that Santa) who lives in Guatemala with her husband and five kids.

Traidcraft has shared its option advent calendar. The believed-provoking day-to-day reflections will help your pupils investigate fairtrade issues in the run up to Christmas and highlight Traidcraft’s work to combat poverty in the building globe. For any person who hasn’t downloaded it nevertheless, also discover Traidcraft’s great yearly planner for schools to assist uncover a global dimension to lessons all yr round.

The Generate your very own wrapping paper with block printing PowerPoint does specifically what it says on the tin. Also uncover this action thought.

Encourage the budding artists in your class to enter Traidcraft’s layout a Christmas card competitors which encourages children to perform collectively to design a new fairtrade Christmas card. The winning layout will be published following 12 months.

For teachers who look back nostalgically to the days when kids received excited about opening a cardboard window to reveal a image of an inedible shepherd, this cute advent calendar template is for you. A DIY calendar could be just the ticket to bring back the magical time when a bit of glitter triggered raptures of delight.

If you fancy receiving festive in science then firstly get occupied with the Large Bang’s assortment box which characteristics experiments involving generating blizzard ice cream and science-inspired candy canes.

As we go into the darkness of winter, this hilarious and educational song on Light and shadow (plus lyrics) has sleighbells and crunching snow aplenty. It’s from the steady of Mr D of the crazy song-writing trio Mr A, Mr C and Mr D Current.

In maths do not beneath any situations miss Mrs M’s Christmas pub quiz, with a maths concentrate but also also fantastic for tutor time. It really is grow to be something of an institution right here on the Guardian Teacher Network and final year’s edition was one particular of our most well-liked downloads.

Mrs M is none other than Mel Muldowney from Trinity Large School and co-founder of www.justmaths.co.united kingdom who has contributed hundreds of wonderful maths sources to the website. Also check out out Mel’s Christmas-themed Not just an ordinary worksheet in which students match queries and answers top reveal a seasonal ‘ever wondered why?’ statement involving Cinderella and football (we won’t give the punchline away).

The Woodland Trust’s Nature Detectives group has been beavering away on some superb Christmas-themed sources for this 12 months, which will also come in handy on chilly days next term. Uncover actions on snow angels and generating ice lanterns.

To add focus on wintery walks, examine out the winter wonderland hunt sheet and a winter twig ID sheet is wonderful for people who discover it challenging to inform which tree is which when the leaves fall off. Also locate suggestions on inspiring play outdoors in cold weather in this winter play booklet.

As one year ends and yet another is about to get started, these final few weeks of phrase are a excellent opportunity for reflection on the previous year and also to make some targets and programs for 2014.

Oxfam has shared some powerful suggestions on getting your college students to make New Year’s resolutions that not only influence them, but also those about them locally and globally. Oxfam’s New Year’s resolutions slideshow provides a powerful stimulus to help young children perform collaboratively to choose what alterations they want to see in their personalized, school, regional and worldwide environments.

Here’s some beneficial teachers’ assistance on making use of the slide demonstrate and what it is made up of. A flow chart on the lesson adds further clarity and for these who are struggling with tips on what to resolve, locate tips for outcomes from consuming water rather than fizzy drinks and locating out the UN rights of the young children to not interrupting other individuals in class. A lot more information and Welsh language versions from www.oxfam.org.united kingdom.

Thanks also to Christian Aid for sharing some excellent resources on the that means of Christmas. Locate the Christmas story which focusses on the theme of peace by hunting at the lifestyle of Waleed Badir who lives in the West Bank in the occupied Palestineian territory. Every single day of advent college students get to find out one thing about his existence.

Also download Christian Aid’s advent journey calendar. For some exciting ready-produced Christmas assembly notes, see Existing day for principal and Current day for secondary which investigate another side of Christmas giving. You can locate the associated assembly PowerPoints, as properly as Welsh versions of these sources, on the Christian Assist website. Colleges can also locate out how to hold a Massive winter sing and here’s the accompanying songsheet .

And ultimately, locate the photo news quiz 2013 from the British Red Cross’s Newsthink. It truly is the the ideal discussion trigger to get students pondering about the most important information stories of the yr as images jog their memory.

How to teach… the countdown to Christmas

How to teach… the countdown to Christmas

How numerous sleeps left until Christmas? Our educating sources will help you to count. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

Several teachers may really feel they have been residing in Lapland for some weeks, but it really is now official. Advent has started and we are on the countdown to Christmas.

We have some great assets to assist you and your students rejoice and reflect on the season.

Start off off with these amazing advent calendar interactive PowerPoints from CAFOD which offer a perfect entry point for musing on the true meaning of Christmas as the two a religious festival and a time for pondering about others. Rather than obtaining their hands on a chocolate or a piece of Lego, in this calendar youngsters can uncover a story, reflection, prayer and advised actions for each and every day of advent. The secondary advent calendar is tailormade for tutor time or RE lessons and the primary advent calendar will be great for courses across the complete major age variety, or assemblies. There is a slide for every single day of advent and college students will get to know Santa (no, not that Santa…) who lives in Guatemala with her husband and 5 youngsters.

Traidcraft has shared the Alternative advent calendar. The believed-provoking every day reflections will support your pupils investigate fairtrade issues in the run up to Christmas and highlight Traidcraft’s perform to fight poverty in the building world. For any individual who hasn’t downloaded it but, also locate Traidcraft’s wonderful annual planner for colleges to assist you find a global dimension to lessons all yr round.

The Generate your personal wrapping paper with block printing PowerPoint does specifically what it says on the tin, and also find this activity thought.

Encourage the budding artists in your class to enter Traidcraft’s Layout a Christmas card completition which encourages young children to work together to design and style a new fair trade Christmas card. The winning style will be published subsequent 12 months.

For teachers who appear back nostalgically to the days when kids acquired fired up about opening an advent window onto a picture of an inedible shepherd, this cute advent calendar template is for you. A DIY calendar could be just the ticket to carry back the magical time when a bit of glitter triggered raptures of delight.

If you fancy receiving festive in science then firstly get busy with the Huge Bang’s variety box which features experiments involving creating blizzard ice cream and science-inspired candy canes. As we go into the darkness of winter, this hilarious and educational song on Light and shadow (plus lyrics) has sleighbells and crunching snow aplenty. It is from the secure of Mr D of the crazy song-writing trio Mr A, Mr C and Mr D Existing.

In maths will not beneath any situations miss Mrs M’s Christmas pubs quiz, with a maths concentrate but also also excellent for tutor time. It really is turn into something of an institution right here on the Guardian Teacher Network http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network and last year’s model was one of our most common downloads. Mrs M is none other than Mel Muldowney from Trinity High School and co-founder of www.justmaths.co.united kingdom who has contributed hundreds of wonderful maths resources to the internet site. Also verify out Mel’s Christmas themed Not just an ordinary worksheet in which college students match inquiries and answers top reveal a seasonal ‘ever wondered why?’ statement involving Cinderella and football (we won’t give the punchline away).

The Woodland Trust’s Nature Detectives crew has been beavering away on some great Christmas-themed resources for this 12 months, which will also come in handy on chilly days subsequent term. Uncover pursuits on Snow Angels and generating ice lanterns. To add target on wintery walks, examine out the Winter wonderland hunt sheet and a winter twig ID sheet is wonderful for individuals who uncover it hard to inform which tree is which when the leaves fall off. Also discover guidelines on inspiring play outside in cold climate in this winter play booklet.

As one yr ends and one more is about to begin, these final couple of weeks of term are a excellent opportunity for reflection on the past 12 months and also to make some objectives and plans for 2014.

Oxfam has shared some effective tips on obtaining your students to make New Year’s resolutions that not only impact them, but also people all around them locally and globally. (here http://www.oxfam.org.uk/training/assets/new-years-resolutions-with-a-variation) Oxfam’s New Year’s resolutions slideshow offers a strong stimulus to assist children work collaboratively to decide what changes they want to see in their individual, school, regional and international environments. Here is some helpful teachers’ help on using the slide display and what it consists of. A flow chart on the lesson adds more clarity and for individuals who are struggling with tips on what to resolve discover suggestions for outcomes from drinking water rather than fizzy drinks to finding out the UN rights of the children to not interrupting other individuals in class. More info and Welsh language versions from www.oxfam.org.uk/schooling.

Thanks also to Christian Support for sharing some outstanding assets on the meaning of Christmas. Uncover The Christmas story which focusses on the theme of peace through seeking at the existence of Waleed Badir who lives in the West Bank in the occupied Palestineian territory. Each and every day of advent college students get to find out one thing about his lifestyle. Also download Christian Aid’s advent journey calendar. Find some fascinating prepared created Christmas assembly notes see Present day for main and Current day for secondary which investigate one more side of Christmas offering. You can find the related assemply PowerPoints, as effectively as Welsh versions of these assets, on the Christian Assist website. Colleges can also uncover out how to hold a Huge winter sing and here’s the accompanying songsheet .

How to teach… the countdown to Christmas

How to teach… engineering

If your college students are genuinely going to be the subsequent Tony Stark AKA Iron Guy, they need to have to hone their engineering abilities. Photograph: Allstar/MARVEL/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar

Iron Guy and Tv celebrities are assisting to glam it up, but engineering nonetheless struggles to be noticed as anything beyond repairing autos and boilers and 78% students in a latest poll said they have not obtained sufficient careers suggestions on engineering.

At the moment the United kingdom only homegrows around 50% of the certified engineers required by market – and as there are a projected 1.86 million jobs for skilled engineers up for grabs this decade, now is the time to get clued up. Also really worth retaining in thoughts is Vince Cable’s warning that Britain’s lack of female engineers is a actual difficulty (the United kingdom has the lowest price in Europe).

We have some excellent teaching sources to assist students create their aptitude for engineering in the classroom as nicely as science, technologies, engineering and maths (STEM) clubs – and to check out a myriad of choices for their long term.

Let us start with some truly exciting resources from Tomorrow’s Engineers, who are on a jet-powered mission to help teachers and students get informed.

1st download the Tomorrow’s Engineers resource pack – it does a wonderful occupation at answering the query: what is engineering?

Tomorrow’s Engineers has developed a series of data-packed postcards about different and thrilling regions exactly where engineers are producing a difference. Locate electronics, manufacturing, power, computing, room and medicine. Uncover this informative job route map which sets out entry factors for careers in engineers, more and increased training and skilled qualifications. Younger individuals can uncover out more about distinct routes engineering by taking the Whose crew are you? quiz.

Save the day is an interactive workshop designed to introduce crucial stage three pupils to coding and computer software engineering – it includes a futuristic product style challenge and sstudents get to use their STEM knowledge and difficulty solving talents to crack codes.

The James Dyson Basis is a hub of activity to inspire the engineers and designers of the future. Find engineering challenges on developing spaghetti bridges, producing geodesic domes andmarble runs, developing a crumple zone for a toy vehicle to absorb the vitality of a crash and how to pierce a raw potato with a straw in this most fantastic engineering challenge resource pack.

Principal college teachers can request a Dyson suggestions box kit to help even youthful students nurture engineering capabilities. The box is loaned to school for 4 weeks at a time and includes a Dyson fan and a teachers’ pack with lesson programs and directions – all accessible for a non professional. The box will be shipped and collected for free.

The secondary college model is the Engineering box which provides college students a likelihood to actually take apart a Dyson machine and understand much more about thorough style engineering.

Thanks to the Royal Nationwide Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) for Conserving lives at sea via STEM, the resource employs an exciting true-daily life context for students as they discover the engineering behind the RNLI’s most current lifeboat. Genuine test video presentations are also accessible.

The Royal Academy of Engineering has shared some excellent one hour projects which have been created for STEM clubs but can be adapted for lessons, such as Moving house where college students investigate the reinforcing of developing resources by creating and testing jelly, Maintaining it great which seems to be at how engineers make sure satellites are not broken by radiation and the Correct switch.

Wise muscle investigates employing shape memory and the Total package deal investigates thermochromic pigments.

There are some fascinating ideas on teaching electronic textiles and Athlete or machine investigates the sport of bob skeleton.

Find a excellent set of sources on how engineers conserve lives in the aftermath of a organic disaster: discover the disaster response teacher booklet, a resource for students and an exercise pack, excellent for curriculum enrichment and STEM clubs etc to use in excess of a series of weeks. Also uncover these teachers’ notes for Winning medals, which investigates the STEM in wheelchairs for sport and the variation manufactured by engineering design, here’s the student version.

The Royal Academy of Engineering also run a connectioning teachers venture to supply help and connect teachers all above the nation.

Younger Engineers has developed some great resources developed to assist younger people develop the abilities and qualities of a specialist engineer, which are generally only obtainable to their members (membership is cost-free, well really worth joining). Locate Balloon rockets for a great introduction to engineering input into rockets and area travel written by Carolyn Bryan from Uplands Junior College. More engineering enjoyable can be had with the Excellent wind-powered ping pong race. Civil engineering – water purification contains stage-by-phase directions and real world catastrophe situation and this resource on utilizing smart material in engineering investigates the extraodinary versatile polymer quantum tunnelling composites (QTC).

Thanks so much for Dr Jo Heaton for sharing actually exciting undertaking coming out of the University of Central Lancashire aimed at inspiring engineers of the future at an early age. Check out the Herolab comic which presents superheroes with superpowers grounded in genuine lifestyle engineering and science. This prologue issue sets the scene, introducing Mecha-man, and invites young children to aid style new heroes (and villains), with superpowers inspired by genuine-lifestyle investigation. The full edition of the comic will function a number of of these characters, backed up by an on-line resource at www.herolab.co.uk which will will give comprehensive information on the research featured, via brief video profiles delivered by United kingdom engineers.

The Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) has some exciting assets aimed at kids and teachers. Discover What is civil engineering? a PowerPoint exploring the diversity civil engineering and how it can virtually form the planet in which we dwell. The minor book of civilisation is a truly fantastic resource exploring how civil engineering is behind the infrastructure that supports our every day daily life – from roads to railways to hospitals to colleges, to accessibility to drinking water and shelter from the climate – and how we typically only realise its worth when components of it fail or are taken away. Here’s a fascinating little film which genuinely demonstrates that on engineering the London Underground, fantastic for the whiteboard.

Also see this leaflet on Engineering your long term which involves a situation study of a female civil engineer and some info on monetary support although your examine.

And ultimately, for some festive STEM experiments check out out the Huge Bang assortment box with excellent concepts for STEM experiments employing every day merchandise from the Large Bang Fair staff. Registration is now open for the Big Bang Honest 2014, a celebration of science and engineering from 13-16 March at Birmingham’s NEC. Tickets are free and offered out on first come initial served basis so certainly worth reserving asap.

How to teach… engineering

International students: how to teach them alongside native speakers

What is the greatest way to assist overseas college students in their understanding knowledge? Photograph: Neil McAllister / Alamy/Alamy

As I stood with a professorial colleague outdoors a coffee store on our London campus 1 November morning, a group of Chinese students spotted me and ran in our course. Each and every took off 1 glove and threw it at my feet. They then picked them up and ran away waving and giggling. They had each and every ‘thrown down the gauntlet’.

In their 1st term at an English university, these students had been beginning to comprehend Shakespearean English. The preceding day I had taught them approaches of understanding English idioms and metaphors, like the casting off of a single ‘gauntlet’. Useful demonstrations, I have identified, operate properly when explaining unfamiliar phrases.

Overseas students face a variety of issues when they arrive in the Uk, not least in the knowing of English idioms. In distinct, the prevalence of continual assessment and student presentations can put them underneath considerable pressure to execute as nicely as native speakers.

They have all undergone tests to assess their capabilities prior to arrival, and most acquire added assist with the language following they arrive, but occasionally the language – just like the environment – can be quite specialised and new to them. A little added encouragement and tailored support on our part, as lecturers, can go a prolonged way.

College students coming to the Uk to research English literature are, of program, only a little number of those who arrive in the country. But the query of how greatest to aid overseas college students in their understanding experience, how to educate them alongside native speakers, is the two an essential and a timely one particular.

According to the Higher Training Statistics Agency’s most recent figures, international college students are steadily on the rise in the Uk: numbering 435,230 in 2011-twelve (an increase of 2% on the previous year).

In 2012, China topped the ten non EU nations sending the highest amount of college students to the Uk, with 78,715 college students studying at British universities at graduate and postgraduate level (compared with India, in second spot, sending 29,900 college students).

By far the most popular subjects studied by international college students in the United kingdom are enterprise and administrative scientific studies (36% of complete student numbers) and engineering and technology (32%). The general increase in numbers can be observed on both sides of the Atlantic.

In excess of the previous few years I have been studying at Harvard University and observed the increase in college students arriving from China.

My time here has enabled me to discuss pedagogy with non-Uk lecturers, including these from other countries outdoors of North America. Comprehending how students are taught prior to their arrival in the Uk has proved invaluable and enabled me to see more plainly the teaching approaches and culturally-grounded modes of discussion with which they are acquainted.

Prof Huiawei Kan is a going to fellow at Harvard, from Shanghai University, exactly where she teaches English. Our mutual educating interests have led to some fruitful discussions about pedagogical approaches to teaching students for whom English is a second language.

“When I educate undergraduates in China (including those preparing for research abroad), we generally discover from textbooks with various components reflecting distinct variations of written English (formal and informal),” says Huiawei Kan. “They also get to read periodicals, newspapers, magazines, and even some novels and poetry.”

Kan adds: “For listening and speaking, by way of example, I motivate them to listen to the BBC, and to record themselves speaking the exact same phrases, in buy to assess their model with the authentic and, in the long run, to increase their pronunciation and intonation.”

She also lays wonderful emphasis on conversational discussion in class: “They will inevitably have to examine their function with English-speaking peers during their time abroad. It is important that they have each the resources and the self-confidence to do this.”

Our analysis demonstrates how self-confidence can falter on arrival, because, till that moment, speaking English has been minor more than an academic workout. Suddenly it is their entire planet. It is essential that lecturers assist in this transition period.

Teaching students for whom English is a 2nd language can be a hugely rewarding expertise, resulting in a cultural finding out exchange. Harvard is able to select students whose skills are at the quite apex of candidates, but not all universities can entice students of such a large linguistic and academic caliber. Some college students will want much more help with the linguistic challenges faced in the course of their degree, notably during their initial 12 months. As a consequence, lecturers need help also, to ensure that they are conscious of prospective problems and how to recognize them.

In the Uk, support requirements to be highlighted as accessible the two to students and lecturers. As numbers of global students improve, so need to the entry to – and emphasis on – this kind of sources. A lot of universities presently offer you personnel improvement courses on teaching overseas students, and attendance need to be encouraged.

It is also critical that lecturers are encouraged to supply feedback on their experiences, in the knowledge that their observations are listened to, acted on, and examples of great practice promoted. It is only when the two students and university employees are completely supported that we can allow worldwide students to flourish inside our greater education program.

Elizabeth Evenden is a Marie Curie Global Outgoing Fellow in the history division at Harvard University and senior lecturer in English literature at Brunel University – stick to her on Twitter @codexhistoria.

Huiawei Kan is a visiting fellow in the classics department at Harvard University and associate professor of English at Shanghai University

This articles is brought to you by Guardian Skilled. Searching for your next university position? Browse Guardian jobs for hundreds of the most current academic, administrative and investigation posts

International students: how to teach them alongside native speakers

How to teach… music

From now until the end of term the singing isn’t going to cease, these resources will support you make the ideal of music in college. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/Alamy

Like it or not, Christmas spirit comes early to colleges – so this is the time of 12 months when even non-professional teachers locate themselves devoting inordinate quantity of times to music and festive singing.

We have some inspiring music teaching sources to share which will uplift non-experts and experienced music teachers alike.

We start off off with some exceptional assets shared by Jackie Schneider, a teacher on a mission to aid fellow major teachers educate music. Find Jackie’s valuable presentation on teaching main music as a non-specialist dealing with such desperate concerns as: “But I’m not musical, how can I teach music?” There are lots of generous music teachers who like practically nothing greater than to share if you know in which to look: I need to have some support to educate music is a handy guide to on-line inspiration.

Are you sitting comfortably? investigates children’s listening and here are some great and simple tips of utilizing ICT to teach music. Also see Jackie’s effortless-to-use workshop on Djembe drumming. Jackie’s weblog Mrs Schneider’s music day, has more intriguing suggestions and examples of class work.

Sing Up’s festive pack is a genuine deal with, packed with fabulous concepts including producing an interactive Twelve Days of Christmas as a wonderful finale to your college concert.

This resource on making Winter soundscapes need to produce atmospheric wonder in your classroom, youngsters efficiently turn into an orchestra with one maestro directing the sounds, also observe the Winter soundtrack webinar to discover out much more about putting movement and drama to your songs. Locate Sing it out and shake it all about for practical ideas involving bottle tops to harness the energy of music generating in primary school.

How to lead a singing session consists of lively ideas and suggestions for educating SEN and older important stage two youngsters. Teachers who have not had any specialist instruction in music can often discover they strain their very own voices, these voice warm up exercise routines must aid and also discover Inside the voice for an explanation of why teachers are impacted by vocal overall health issues and tips on protecting your voice. Teachers will find loads of songs from conventional carols to pop classics in Sing Up’s songbank.

Roger Clarkson, director of the National Children’s Orchestra explains why he thinks the greatest resource has acquired to be the young children themselves.

Thank you to National Deaf Society for sharing a amazing resource on how to make music pursuits accessible for deaf children and younger individuals, which aids display teachers how youngsters with hearing reduction can take pleasure in music, like sensible guidelines and how to teach deaf young children to perform music and sing in person tuition and group function.

Jolly Music has shared some inspiration on how the Early Many years and Basis Stage (EYFS) targets for music teaching can be attained, addressing the difficulties skilled by primary college teachers who have no musical background themselves and packed with songs and rhymes to develop confidence in music for all pupils like people with SEN.

Thank you so significantly to Anna Gower, star music instructor and head of community music at Monk’s Stroll school for sharing some considered-provoking music sources which must inspire even expert music teachers to reevaluate their practice. First of all study Anna’s story of how she received involved in the Musical Futures programme – which turned every little thing she believed she knew about music teaching upside down and inside out.

Uncover a fascinating PowerPoint on what can make excellent music educating which contains a discussion of what Ofsted want and motives why only seven% of young children consider up music at key stage 4. These 7 actions to exceptional music lessons give genuine meals for considered.

Here’s a truly exciting presentation on Anna’s Music and Inclusion venture 2013-2014 which seems at the position of the instrumental tutor in mentoring and coaching students (you can go through much more about that project on the music for everyone weblog) and here’s a fascinating situation review on setting up a music and transition initiative with feeder primary colleges. Music teachers wanting to witness exceptional music teaching in action must see mrsgowersclasses.wordpress.com. Will not miss the Musical Futures sharing wall packed with a multitude of excellent suggestions from passionate music teachers.

And finally, if this festive target on music has acquired your college students all fired up about songwriting then then why not enter Amnesty International’s Younger Human Rights Songwriter and Performer competition? Right here is a thrilling pack searching at protest music and the lyrics of social modify, which includes a lesson by rapper and songwriter Kate Tempest. Listen to this Radio 1 Make Some Noise clip featuring last year’s protest song winners and their songs. Teachers and younger individuals can locate out more on the Amnesty site.

How to teach… music

How to teach… music

From now until finally the finish of phrase the singing isn’t going to cease, these assets will support you make the ideal of music in school. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/Alamy

Like it or not, Christmas spirit comes early to schools – so this is the time of year when even non-expert teachers find themselves devoting inordinate quantity of occasions to music and festive singing.

We have some inspiring music educating assets to share which will uplift non-experts and skilled music teachers alike.

We commence off with some exceptional resources shared by Jackie Schneider, a teacher on a mission to aid fellow main teachers teach music. Uncover Jackie’s useful presentation on educating primary music as a non-professional dealing with this kind of desperate concerns as: “But I am not musical, how can I teach music?” There are tons of generous music teachers who like practically nothing much better than to share if you know the place to search: I need some aid to educate music is a useful guidebook to on the internet inspiration.

Are you sitting comfortably? investigates children’s listening and right here are some fantastic and straightforward suggestions of employing ICT to teach music. Also see Jackie’s simple-to-use workshop on Djembe drumming. Jackie’s weblog Mrs Schneider’s music day, has much more intriguing concepts and examples of class function.

Sing Up’s festive pack is a true treat, packed with fantastic concepts including creating an interactive Twelve Days of Christmas as a amazing finale to your school concert.

This resource on making Winter soundscapes must develop atmospheric wonder in your classroom, children efficiently turn out to be an orchestra with one particular maestro directing the sounds, also watch the Winter soundtrack webinar to find out far more about putting motion and drama to your songs. Discover Sing it out and shake it all about for useful ideas involving bottle tops to harness the power of music producing in principal school.

How to lead a singing session involves lively tips and ideas for educating SEN and older crucial stage two youngsters. Teachers who haven’t had any expert instruction in music can frequently uncover they strain their very own voices, these voice warm up exercise routines should assist and also find Within the voice for an explanation of why teachers are impacted by vocal well being issues and suggestions on guarding your voice. Teachers will discover loads of songs from conventional carols to pop classics in Sing Up’s songbank.

Roger Clarkson, director of the Nationwide Children’s Orchestra explains why he thinks the ideal resource has got to be the children themselves.

Thank you to National Deaf Society for sharing a amazing resource on how to make music pursuits available for deaf children and younger people, which assists present teachers how kids with hearing loss can enjoy music, including useful suggestions and how to educate deaf kids to perform music and sing in personal tuition and group perform.

Jolly Music has shared some inspiration on how the Early Many years and Foundation Stage (EYFS) ambitions for music teaching can be achieved, addressing the problems knowledgeable by principal school teachers who have no musical background themselves and packed with songs and rhymes to construct self confidence in music for all pupils such as those with SEN.

Thank you so significantly to Anna Gower, star music instructor and head of neighborhood music at Monk’s Stroll college for sharing some imagined-provoking music resources which ought to inspire even expert music teachers to reevaluate their practice. 1st of all read Anna’s story of how she acquired involved in the Musical Futures programme – which turned every little thing she considered she knew about music educating upside down and within out.

Discover a fascinating PowerPoint on what can make exceptional music teaching which contains a discussion of what Ofsted want and factors why only 7% of kids take up music at important stage four. These 7 actions to excellent music lessons give actual meals for considered.

Here is a actually intriguing presentation on Anna’s Music and Inclusion project 2013-2014 which appears at the function of the instrumental tutor in mentoring and coaching students (you can study more about that undertaking on the music for everybody website) and here is a fascinating situation review on setting up a music and transition initiative with feeder major colleges. Music teachers wanting to witness excellent music educating in action should see mrsgowersclasses.wordpress.com. Do not miss the Musical Futures sharing wall packed with a multitude of wonderful suggestions from passionate music teachers.

And finally, if this festive concentrate on music has acquired your college students all excited about songwriting then then why not enter Amnesty International’s Young Human Rights Songwriter and Performer competition? Here is a thrilling pack searching at protest music and the lyrics of social alter, which includes a lesson by rapper and songwriter Kate Tempest. Pay attention to this Radio one Make Some Noise clip featuring final year’s protest song winners and their songs. Teachers and young people can find out more on the Amnesty web site.

How to teach… music