Hi Anna, like others I'm really glad that you managed to get that glimmer if light from the last post. I agree with you that the support that can be found is one of the truly remarkable things about being connected through twitter and blogs. It seems to me that this is a great example of the reflective teacher in practice. I so admire the way in which you share with us. Please do keep it up =) I agree with David, voluntary work may be a great thing that could help such students. We had a lady come to talk to our students about volunteering just this week. The only thing was that it was mainly aimed at entry 3 upwards... =/ Look forward to hearing more about how you get on with your goals =)

Hey Anna, most welcome re my language garden post as you really inspired me! Naomi's suggestions are great. I'd try to find out if the learners could phone each other as well for extra practice. I find it difficult to feel like I'm doing a good job with learners like this, so I do really doff my cap to you. I always try to remember that there is really noone and no method that 'guarantees' learning. To paraphrase Julian Edge, 'you can teach me, and you can train me, but you can't [learn] me. I [learn]' (Edge's version is develop and to do with teacher training) BeSt of luck with everything =)

Hey Anna, Great to hear about the day, I really love the idea of your blog - really shows the development behind what goes on in your classes and your reflection on it all! I'm so glad the reverse reading comprehension went well - I'd love to know what your questions were, it sounds like the learners took to them in the right way by your comments above. Re the last part of the dogme process - I think you're on the right track (this is something I'm not so good at myself, echoing Alan's comment). I think getting the learners to notice and note down is a big part of it. @Naomi, you could write down the examples of errors in a notebook for future use or, though it might not sit totally with dogme principles, take a photo with a digital camera or smartphone, maybe even the learners themselves could do this? Mike

Whoops, I 'am about to go and plug myself in...' Long day!

Excelente!! Happy to have helped - hope the activity (and the unplugged day) goes well! I can hardly claim to be fully unplugged ever myself, and am not about to go plug myself in to recharge after one loooooooong day! Mike =)

Hi Jason, Just would like to say that I think the ideas you've shared here are great! Even more so coming from a coursebook writer himself. The students I work with are not in a position to buy the books themselves, and neither are we as a college - the budget of a publicly funded languages department at a college just doesn't stretch that far - but we do get copies of coursebooks (and a wide variety) to pick and choose different things from. I have to admit, a couple of years ago I was a little bit lazy as a teacher, and did rely on photocopies. But recently, whenever I've used a coursebook I've always looked to try and make the content my own in some way by picking and choosing what I want to look at, changing the style and pictures if necessary and producing my own version in a Word or Publisher document (or as a basis for a Powerpoint). But I never even thought about using coursebook techniques or layouts for boardwork or as a basis for presenting student work. How uninspired eh? Luckily here you are with a really engaging and practical post on how to do just that. Thanks very much Mike =)