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Knowledge from Neuroscience is exploding. The more we know about how the brain works, the more we can know about how our students learn better.
Knowledge of how students learn has obviously influenced my teaching and my writing. My interest in connecting ELT (English Language Teaching) to positive psychology is just one example.
Recently, I've begun doing workshops about how to modify textbooks to make them more "brain-friendly", that is, to use them to teach in a way more like how students actually learn.
This page is mainly for people who have attended those sessions but, of course, anyone is welcome to use the resources here.
The Handout I used at Cambodia TESOL 2019 is HERE.
Sets of handouts from recent presentation in Vietnam, ThaiTESOL, and the JALT PAN SIG have moved HERE
New: Your brain on happiness: a chemical story
I recently did a new presentation on what is happening chemically in the brain when we are happy. It is a combination of my interest in brain science and in positive psychology. It comes at the topic more from a neuro-biology point of view than from cognitive psychology. HERE is the handout. HERE is a link the the JALTSendai site where you can download the PowerPoint. HERE is the handout with two emotional stories and the script for eating a tortilla chip with mindfulness.
TESOL 2017 Handouts Curtis Kelly, Robert Murphy and I presented on the topic at TESOL 2017 in Seattle. Click for our WORKSHOP Handout and the related article.
And here's the link to the PowerPoint.
New: Sleep and your brain
How do we convince our students that they really do need more sleep, special when our cultures are always telling them, "work harder/ study more!"? I'm not sure we can. But we can give them some scientific information. I wrote a reading lesson about two "infographics" I found on the internet. Here it is: Sleep and your brain.
And HERE is a good video to introduce the topic of sleep for teens.
New The Brain Science Teach in At FAB9 in Cebu, the Philippines, Dr Curtis Kelly and I did an interesting "Brain Science Teach-in" workshop. Rather than presenting the information ourselves, we divided the group into six smaller groups. Everyone got a short (1-2 page handout), had time to read it and discuss it with people who read the same handout. Then we regrouped and they all taught the content (their own "takeaways -- things they found useful and important" to folks who had a different handout.
Here are the tasksheets: (click to get them)
#1 Learning
#2 Neuromyths
#3 Sleep
#4 Processing information
#5 Positive psychology
#6 Move!
page is mainly for people who have attended those sessions but, of course, anyone is welcome to use the resources here.
Curtis Kelly and I recently updated our "How to modify your textbook for NeuroELT" handout in an article in the SPELT Quarterly. (SPELT = Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers). You can get that article here.
One typo on the second page near the top, where it says, "rate them (the questions) 1-2-3 or J-K-L" the J-K-L should be :-), :-| and :-( emoticons.
Recently I added a series of short "energy breaks" PowerPoints. Each gives a physical activity you can do in the limited space of the classroom, plus a bit of brain science about why movement is important. Click HERE to go to that page.
Video: Toward the bottom of this page, you'll find a youtube video of the presentation I did of this session for JALTSendai. You'll probably want the handouts directly below.
Here is the main handout:
DIY NeuroELT: Ways to make your textbook more brain-friendly.
This page is mainly for people who have attended those sessions but, of course, anyone is welcome to use the resources here.
Video: Toward the bottom of this page, you'll find a youtube video of the presentation I did of this session for JALTSendai. You'll probably want the handouts directly below.
Knowledge of how students learn has obviously influenced my teaching and my writing. My interest in connecting ELT (English Language Teaching) to positive psychology is just one example.
Recently, I've begun doing workshops about how to modify textbooks to make them more "brain-friendly", that is, to use them to teach in a way more like how students actually learn.
This page is mainly for people who have attended those sessions but, of course, anyone is welcome to use the resources here.
The Handout I used at Cambodia TESOL 2019 is HERE.
Sets of handouts from recent presentation in Vietnam, ThaiTESOL, and the JALT PAN SIG have moved HERE
New: Your brain on happiness: a chemical story
I recently did a new presentation on what is happening chemically in the brain when we are happy. It is a combination of my interest in brain science and in positive psychology. It comes at the topic more from a neuro-biology point of view than from cognitive psychology. HERE is the handout. HERE is a link the the JALTSendai site where you can download the PowerPoint. HERE is the handout with two emotional stories and the script for eating a tortilla chip with mindfulness.
TESOL 2017 Handouts Curtis Kelly, Robert Murphy and I presented on the topic at TESOL 2017 in Seattle. Click for our WORKSHOP Handout and the related article.
And here's the link to the PowerPoint.
New: Sleep and your brain
How do we convince our students that they really do need more sleep, special when our cultures are always telling them, "work harder/ study more!"? I'm not sure we can. But we can give them some scientific information. I wrote a reading lesson about two "infographics" I found on the internet. Here it is: Sleep and your brain.
And HERE is a good video to introduce the topic of sleep for teens.
New The Brain Science Teach in At FAB9 in Cebu, the Philippines, Dr Curtis Kelly and I did an interesting "Brain Science Teach-in" workshop. Rather than presenting the information ourselves, we divided the group into six smaller groups. Everyone got a short (1-2 page handout), had time to read it and discuss it with people who read the same handout. Then we regrouped and they all taught the content (their own "takeaways -- things they found useful and important" to folks who had a different handout.
Here are the tasksheets: (click to get them)
#1 Learning
#2 Neuromyths
#3 Sleep
#4 Processing information
#5 Positive psychology
#6 Move!
page is mainly for people who have attended those sessions but, of course, anyone is welcome to use the resources here.
Curtis Kelly and I recently updated our "How to modify your textbook for NeuroELT" handout in an article in the SPELT Quarterly. (SPELT = Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers). You can get that article here.
One typo on the second page near the top, where it says, "rate them (the questions) 1-2-3 or J-K-L" the J-K-L should be :-), :-| and :-( emoticons.
Recently I added a series of short "energy breaks" PowerPoints. Each gives a physical activity you can do in the limited space of the classroom, plus a bit of brain science about why movement is important. Click HERE to go to that page.
Video: Toward the bottom of this page, you'll find a youtube video of the presentation I did of this session for JALTSendai. You'll probably want the handouts directly below.
Here is the main handout:
DIY NeuroELT: Ways to make your textbook more brain-friendly.
This page is mainly for people who have attended those sessions but, of course, anyone is welcome to use the resources here.
Video: Toward the bottom of this page, you'll find a youtube video of the presentation I did of this session for JALTSendai. You'll probably want the handouts directly below.
A new handout showing ways to modify common textbook activities by genre to make them more brain friendly. I wrote this with the Ministry of Education's books in mind.

And the references I used during the workshops in early 2015.
And here's a version of the PowerPoint Curtis Kelly and Marc Helgesen used at TESOL2014. Click below:
Click for Part one. Click for Part two.
Note that the files are large. The downloads take a while. (It's a good time to have a cup of coffee or tea).
Teachers are free to use it or parts of it with your students or with teachers as long as it is a non-commercial session (i.e., you are not promoting products for sale or charging for the session).
And here's a version of the PowerPoint Curtis Kelly and Marc Helgesen used at TESOL2014. Click below:
Click for Part one. Click for Part two.
Note that the files are large. The downloads take a while. (It's a good time to have a cup of coffee or tea).
Teachers are free to use it or parts of it with your students or with teachers as long as it is a non-commercial session (i.e., you are not promoting products for sale or charging for the session).
Other handouts/resources:

During the workshop, I mention a few other handouts you might find useful.
Click here for: Multi-modality Teaching: Modify your textbook to include all the senses, an article from English Teaching Professional about how to teach across the senses.
Also, for ways to do multi-sensory pronunciation practice, download Language Models and the Senses.
If you are interested in using the senses in teaching languages, see the related page on this website: Language Learning & the Senses.
Click here for: Multi-modality Teaching: Modify your textbook to include all the senses, an article from English Teaching Professional about how to teach across the senses.
Also, for ways to do multi-sensory pronunciation practice, download Language Models and the Senses.
If you are interested in using the senses in teaching languages, see the related page on this website: Language Learning & the Senses.

The problem with novelty, of course, is habituation. Everything, now mater how new and interesting is was, gets old. We need to keep coming up with fresh ideas. Here are two handouts that will help you give learns a chance to practice in new ways. One size fits all is a set of 11 activities that you can use with nearly any grammar point. Bringing task recycling back into the classroom introduces 5 "fluency frames" that let learners continue to practice in interesting ways. You can use activities from both handouts to keep the language practice from your textbook fresh.
There are also several series of books that have activities -- many photocopiable -- that are great for supplementing your textbook. The include Jill Hadfield's Communication Games series (Pearson), the Cambridge Handbooks (I especially like Memory Activities by Nick Bilbrough and Grammar Practice Activities by Penny Ur), Helbling Resourceful Teacher series, the DELTA Professional Perspectives series, and the Oxford Resource Books for teachers. At some workshops recently, JHS and HS teachers in Japan have asked about resources to supplement the officially approved textbooks. The books suggested here will do that. For a list of activities by teachers on the Japanese JET program, click here.
There are also several series of books that have activities -- many photocopiable -- that are great for supplementing your textbook. The include Jill Hadfield's Communication Games series (Pearson), the Cambridge Handbooks (I especially like Memory Activities by Nick Bilbrough and Grammar Practice Activities by Penny Ur), Helbling Resourceful Teacher series, the DELTA Professional Perspectives series, and the Oxford Resource Books for teachers. At some workshops recently, JHS and HS teachers in Japan have asked about resources to supplement the officially approved textbooks. The books suggested here will do that. For a list of activities by teachers on the Japanese JET program, click here.

I also mentioned a handout that suggests ways to adjust the focus of an activity to have more of a focus on accuracy (make the activity more challenging) or on fluency (move the level down so learners can focus mainly on communicating meaning). The handout out Fluency & Accuracy: Choose your focus is here.

In the section of the talk on increasing learner creativity, I suggested using simple drama techniques during dialog practice to help the learners "get more into" (and out of) their parts. Here's a handout of Dialog Physical & Voice Variations.
We also talked about mind maps which is a great way for student to do notemaking/task planning. There is a Mind Maps page on this website.
We also talked about mind maps which is a great way for student to do notemaking/task planning. There is a Mind Maps page on this website.
More resources

Here's an article from the BBC suggesting brain-friendly ways to revise (review) before tests:
How your brain likes to be treated at revision time.
I have been, along with (left to right) Tim Murphey, Robert Murphy (the main organizer), and Curtis Kelly (and me), part of a project called FAB (Firsthand Annual Brain Days) which has put on conferences in Kitakyushu, Kobe, Sendai and Nagoya, Japan as well as doing sessions at the JALT International Conferences. There are some wonderful resources at the FAB website: fab-efl.com
There is a great set of suggested books. There are also some very interesting videos on the site. To get started, here are 3 great books.
Brain Rules by John Medina. Also see his website for great videos.
Research-based strategies to IGNITE student learning by Judy Willis.
How the brain learns by David A. Sousa
How your brain likes to be treated at revision time.
I have been, along with (left to right) Tim Murphey, Robert Murphy (the main organizer), and Curtis Kelly (and me), part of a project called FAB (Firsthand Annual Brain Days) which has put on conferences in Kitakyushu, Kobe, Sendai and Nagoya, Japan as well as doing sessions at the JALT International Conferences. There are some wonderful resources at the FAB website: fab-efl.com
There is a great set of suggested books. There are also some very interesting videos on the site. To get started, here are 3 great books.
Brain Rules by John Medina. Also see his website for great videos.
Research-based strategies to IGNITE student learning by Judy Willis.
How the brain learns by David A. Sousa