CENTRE for ACADEMIC LANGUAGE and DEVELOPMENT (CALD)
by Deb Catavello and Grant Hartley
When we set out to research teachers’ feedback practices, we had a very vague idea of how to go about it. What we knew was what we did not want to do: we didn’t want to end up making qualitative judgements on what individual teachers do when giving feedback. Instead, we wanted to 1. find out what influences our (like the participants in our study, we’re first and foremost teachers) practices and 2. avoid oversimplifying things. (more…)
by Maxine Gillway
Director, Centre for Academic Language and Development,
University of Bristol
As a Centre we review our policy and practice on teaching observations annually, when we attempt to standardise the behaviour of those who will be going into classrooms as ‘formal’ observers, and their interpretations of our observation criteria. Everyone who teaches in the Centre is observed annually – including me as the Director – as we see it as an important part of our ongoing development as teachers. We have also invited professional services colleagues into our classrooms so that they are more aware of what is going on in our Centre. (more…)
by Claire Brett
‘The color, the grace and levitation, the structural pattern in motion, the quick interplay of live beings, suspended like fitful lightning in a cloud, these things are the play, not words on paper, nor thoughts and ideas of an author…’
Tennesse Williams
by Ryan Simpson
In this reflection from the ten-week pre-sessional 2018, I discuss creating a worksheet for a Listening Circles lesson and also show how, by introducing such an innovation for our class, this can yield robust C1 evidence for our TEAP portfolio. (more…)
by Diana Scott
Deputy Head of Pre-sessional Programmes, Durham University
I’m writing to all who share the mission of helping students respond effectively to their academic demands. You know who you are!
I want to flag up a category of HE student you may not have reached yet. There are multiple initiatives to bring higher education into prisons (see https://www.prisonerseducation.org.uk/pupil). A popular model involves delivering a UG/PG module inside prison to a ‘mixed’ class of prisoners and run-of-the-mill university students.
by Steve Peters
The Away Day at CELFS this year, at its heart, was an exploration of how each of us can enhance well-being for ourselves, our colleagues and our students. This included a look at creating opportunities for Cognitive Breathing Space (CBS). The fact that this phrase could represent a variety of practices and meanings for individuals is apparent in the conversation maps and recordings created and collected during the event. On the Ashton Court Estate it took the form of a walk and talk activity with subsequent reflective conversation mapping. Thanks to Donna MacLean who suggested the focus for the away day and introduced the away day planning team to the concept of CBS for the day. (more…)
by Nick Roll
As part of my own research investigating student and teacher attitudes towards the use of L1 in multilingual EAP classes, I recently interviewed Maxine Gillway, the current Director of The Centre for English Language and Foundation Studies (CELFS) at the University of Bristol. (more…)
There’s a suddenness to the arrival of review week on the PS10: one minute you’re shifting uncomfortably in your seat during induction week and the next you’re puzzling over the blank space where a scheme of work would normally be. There is of course a Week 5 folder on the W Drive full of shared materials, which teachers are free to add to and draw from as they please. While this bank varies in appropriacy (e.g. in terms of student level), it certainly has something to offer anyone with a lesson or two to fill, though not the full week.
by Wendy Denton
This blog post focuses on the following three areas:
Our CELFS intensive TEAP course has just finished for this year, and whilst reading through the participant feedback I was interested to note several comments to the effect that we should have defined EAP (English for Academic Purposes) at the start of the course. This raised several questions for me: