Anna Phillips

It’s quite a while since I last wrote anything; we went on holiday for a week and since we got back I’ve been (a) busy and (b) having lots of problems with my computer. It seems I need to get a new one.

Anyway we are still trying to write amidst the chaos of building work. We do have hot water and heating now but no bathrooms. The kitchen is half working - there is a useable sink but no electricity or cooking facilities. There is also no heating in the kitchen and as the temperature dropped to about 2C yesterday it is pretty much unusable.  Our home office is covered in quite a thick film of dust and there is still lots of banging and drilling so it’s quite difficult to concentrate.

However we have now finished the listening, speaking reading and writing sections for Theme 1 of level 1 for the 3rd edition of SIE.  Today we will be looking at the grammar section.

People often ask us how we organise the work. With this particular project it is going something like this; we have a general discussion about the lesson. We decide what was good about the old version and what we would like to change. Terry then rewrites the material according to what we have discussed. We then have another meeting and look at the new version. I will check it carefully to make sure there is a ‘flow’ through the lesson and also to make sure that the main objective is achieved. I also look at making sure we have achieved consistency of level. I usually suggest changing the order of activities or adding a new activity for example. Probably we will need to rewrite 3 or 4 times before we are happy with it. Another major consideration is always whether the lesson is interesting and enjoyable for the students.

Terry is now ready to look at the grammar pages with me so I will sign off now - more soon!Â