The Modern English Teacher Spotlight Series

The MET Spotlight Series shines a light on key topics we’ve explored in Modern English Teacher. In these webinars, our fantastic MET contributors will explore their chosen topic in more detail, and share their expertise alongside practical tips, useful ideas and more. Anyone can sign up to these webinars for free, and can join us live for the session or watch the recording for up to two weeks after the webinar. After that, each webinar will become exclusively available for MET subscribers.

“I read it on the Internet, so it must be true!”

A spotlight on integrating Critical Thinking into the Language Classroom

Andrew Boon | Wednesday 27th November 2024 | 12.00 – 13.00 (London time)

In today’s multimedia landscape, the rise of fallacious arguments, “fake news,” and unreliable sources makes critical thinking skills essential not only in one’s native language but also when learning new languages. This webinar will explore the vital role of critical thinking in language education, with a focus on practical applications.

During this interactive webinar, Andrew will:

• Define critical thinking and its importance in the language classroom.
• Introduce a cyclical process for incorporating critical thinking into teaching.
• Demonstrate several classroom activities that encourage critical thinking.
• Share insights on embedding critical thinking into the curriculum.
• Provide an overview of a critical thinking course taught to 4th-year Japanese university students.

For additional reading, participants are encouraged to explore Andy Boon and Gregory Hadley’s article in the July/August 2023 issue of MET, “Designing a Book on Critical Thinking”. In the article, they reflect on the theoretical and practical considerations that shaped their co-authored book, Critical Thinking (Hadley & Boon, 2023).

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“Do, Be, Have – they’re all we need!”

A spotlight on the Three Operator Model

Christopher Walker | Tuesday 28th January 2025 | 16.00 – 17:00 (London time)

We’ve all experienced the same thing – our students throw up their hands and say, “How can I learn all 36 tenses in English?!” From past perfect continuous to the passive voice, there’s a lot to cover, and it can feel overwhelming for both teachers and students.

In an article in Modern English Teacher in November 2023, Christopher Walker explained how you can take a completely different approach, and look at the English verb system in terms of its three principle operators – do, be, and have.

In this interactive webinar, we’ll look at the Three Operator Model, and we’ll compare it to the way that course books treat troublesome areas of grammar such as a short past simple action interrupting a long past continuous action. If we embrace the Three Operator Model, we might never have to hear our students complain about the weight of English grammar again! 

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