Friday, May 30, 2008
MEC May newsletter

MEC Marketing Coordinator, Jane Petrie, writes:

 

Macmillan English Campus announces a new contract with English UK

 

Macmillan English Campus is delighted to announce the signing of a new contract with English UK. This is the leading English language teaching association in the UK, with over 350 member schools.

The launch of the 'English UK Campus' makes MEC easily available to all of English UK's member schools, without the need to sign a contract. Schools can instead purchase blocks of user IDs direct from English UK. This means that English UK members, whatever their size, will benefit from being able to ease themselves into offering blended learning programmes - starting small and growing their usage as they become more familiar with MEC.

 

John Murray, Sales and Marketing Director for MEC, said 'We're delighted to be working more closely with English UK and helping English UK members introduce blended learning solutions to their customers.'

 

Adding value

 

This new contract means that English UK members can enjoy the many different benefits offered by MEC, including:

 

Improved results: students can practise anytime and anywhere, using any computer that has an internet connection. Both weaker and stronger students can benefit from exercises which either consolidate or extend their knowledge, through use of the 3,500 exercises in the database.

 

Saves time and resources: MEC is self-marking, removes the need to administer supplementary products such as CD-ROMs and worksheets and is entirely hosted by Macmillan.

 

Valuable exam study resources: MEC provides extensive exam preparation material and facilitates exam success.

 

A unique competitive advantage: Using MEC places an institution at the forefront of learning technology.

 

Strengthening links

 

For English UK, the new contract provides a way to extend the benefits offered by their membership programme - using the combined size of their member schools for the benefit of individual institutions. The new English Campus will be fully branded with the English UK logo, which will further reinforce these links.

 

As for every new customer, training sessions will be held by the MEC training team and all new users can be assured of ongoing support through the MEC support site, blog and MEC clinics.

 

Mark Rendell, Deputy Chief Executive of English UK, said 'We're always looking to expand the services we offer to our members and this new agreement shows one of the benefits of being part of a consortium in this way: improving accessibility for individual members.'

 
Friday, May 30, 2008 3:45:09 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [1]  | 
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Mind mapping

MEC Training Coordinator, Steph Earnshaw, writes:

 

If you sometimes get frustrated with teaching difficult grammar points then this article may be of interest to you.

The grammar point mentioned in the article is Modal verbs. Below are some MEC resources which might help you teach this.

 

Advice/Opinions: Should, Ought to - Grammar Reference Unit

Modals of advice - Language Exercise (Level 3)

What do you think I should do? - Listening Exercise (Level 4)

Modal Verbs - Language Exercise (Level 3)

 

Or if you want to try building mind maps on your computer, you can find free downloads for mind mapping software here.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 11:21:46 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
News item update!

MEC Senior Editor, Jeremy Smith, writes:

 

Electronic wasteland

 

 

This week's news item, adapted for MEC from a news article originally published in the Guardian Weekly, is about the illegal dumping of electronic rubbish which is causing serious health problems in West Africa.

 

Go to the News Items section on your Work Area screen to find out about the problems and consequences of e-waste.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 4:25:40 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Friday, May 23, 2008
Aussie slang

MEC Freelance Trainer, Jo Scellier, writes:

Jo Scellier

Have you ever wanted to teach your students how to speak Australian, or Aussie? Well, here's a fun website which is all about using Aussie slang. On this site you can navigate through a dictionary and find some good slang words and phrases to impress Australians. Try asking your students if they can guess what the italic words means in the following sentence.

 

'Last night at a barbe I had a barney with a rellie.' 

 

barbe: barbeque

barney: argument or fight

rellie:  relative

 

So, this really means: 'Last night at a barbeque I had an argument with a relative.' Australians like to shorten words and add 'ie' or 'ey' so that the word is pronounced 'ee'.

 

The Aussie slang website is at http://www.aussieslang.com/. You can find an Aussie slang dictionary, Australian news and useful links to many other resources related to Australia, from arts and culture to travel. You can also find links to other slang websites for many different languages by going to the Global Slang and Dialect Directory search.

 

To make sure your learners don't forget all the new vocabulary they have learned, get them to enter new words into their word lists, as shown below. It might also be useful to create a category called 'Slang' or 'Aussie slang'.

 

Adding Aussie slang to My Word Lists

 

This website is not only a useful tool for learners in Australia but also a good way to find out the meaning of slang words and phrases in other English speaking countries such as England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, the USA and New Zealand. Why not take a look at the website and see how it can help your learners? You might want to save the most useful page on the site in your Web Links area and then send it to your learners.

Friday, May 23, 2008 4:15:06 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Program Bell training report

MEC Product Trainer, Sarah Milligan, writes:

 

The town square, Poznan

 

On the 10th and 11th May we had the pleasure of training teachers and administrators from Program Bell, Poznan, Poland. There were twenty-five participants in total for two days of MEC Basics and MEC Administration training. Participants came from the Program Bell school in Poznan and also from their partner school 50 miles away in Konin.

 

Teachers during the training session

 

Program Bell is based in the centre of Poznan and is one of the largest schools in the city. The school will be using MEC as part of an EU funded project designed to provide people in full-time employment in the Poznan region with the opportunity to improve their English language skills.

The Program Bell schools in Poznan and Konin plan to use MEC for homework activities alongside their current course books, and also for extra English practice in class.

We were really impressed with the participants' dedication during the session and wish them all good luck with the project!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:35:23 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
News item update!

MEC Senior Editor, Jeremy Smith, writes:

 

Neighbourhood nightmare


 

This week's news item, adapted for MEC from a news article originally published in the Guardian Weekly, is about the suburbs surrounding US cities and predictions that they are in decline.

 

Go to the News Items section on your Work Area screen to find out why this decline might be happening and the impact it could have on the US.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 2:27:41 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Friday, May 16, 2008
Onestopenglish newsletter

Onestopenglish Web Editor, Lucy Williams, writes:

In May we're showing off a huge selection of listening materials! Check out our audio and podcasts section for authentic interviews in 'Live from London'; the onestopenglish soap opera, The Road Less Travelled and serialized Macmillan Readers, the latest of which is The Well. For new subscribers there is also the chance to win an iPod nano, making it even easier to listen to podcasts when and wherever you want!

May also welcomes the latest characters from the Onestop Phonics series for young learners, Gertie Grape and Harry Hamburger. Keep your eyes peeled for letters Ii to Ll, which will also be published this month.

 

If you teach English to adults at beginner level, we'd really appreciate your help with our latest research. Click here to take part.

 

There's lots of other great content, so please take time to explore and enjoy another packed edition of onestopenglish.

 
Friday, May 16, 2008 3:46:13 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
May MEC clinic

Hurry up and register for May's MEC clinic!

          

Join us for our next MEC clinic presented by Ann Foreman. This clinic will include tips on:

  • Using www.Voki.com with the Syllabus Item Identity in the Macmillan English Campus Inside Out Advanced Course
  • Using www.voki.com with MEC pronunciation exercises on sentence stress.
  • Using www.voicethread.com with MEC exam practice exercises, focusing on: Speaking in PET, FCE and CAE exams.

MEC clinics are short sessions (maximum 90 minutes) involving small groups of no more than 10. They are on a first-come, first-served basis to any teachers who use MEC.

 

There is no cost involved: we will set up and host the sessions. Those attending simply need their web-linked computer and a separate phone line to dial a freephone number. 

 

Our next clinic will be held on Thursday 29th May 2008, 12.30pm GMT (to be confirmed)

Presenter: Ann Foreman, British Council ICT Coordinator and Teacher Trainer

Subject: Tips and ideas on how to use MEC resources with Voki and Voicethread.

 

If you are interested in attending this event or you require any further information, please let us know through the 'contact us' section of this site or by emailing s.milligan@macmillan.com.

 

 

 

 
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 1:15:20 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
MEC training

 

MEC Product Trainer, Sarah Milligan, writes:

 

We'd like to remind you about the Macmillan English Campus training sessions we can offer you to help your teachers and administrators develop their confidence, knowledge and skills with MEC.

 

 

Before you decide on what type of content you'd like in your next training session it's worth knowing that there are two ways we can deliver training to you:

  
1) Face to face training - In this case a Campus trainer will come to your school or organisation to train a group of your teachers and/or administrators. Training sessions are usually 4-5 hours and taken over a day but timings can be flexible according to your needs.


2) Online training - In this case a Campus trainer will demonstrate a particular aspect of Campus using an online meeting and conference call facility. Online training sessions last a maximum of 90 minutes. Content can be of your choice.

 

Once you've decided on how you want your training delivered you'll need to choose from the wide variety of content we offer for training sessions:

 

Content - Listed below are some of the training sessions we can offer either face to face or online. However, if you require something more specific then we would be more than happy to organise this with you.

 

  • Macmillan English Campus overview - how to use the tools in the student and teacher area
  • Administration - how to use the administration area; user management, class management, course building, exporting data from Campus
  • Advanced course building - tips for experienced course builders
  • Distance learning - tips on how to use Campus in a distance learning programme
  • Low-level learners - tips for using Campus with low-level learners
  • Campus in class - including demonstration lessons (face to face training) and ideas for creating your own lessons using a variety of Campus resources
  • Searching on Campus and in the Macmillan English Dictionary Online (MEDO) - helping teachers find the resources they need

 

The final step is to get in contact with us here (training-campus@mec.helpserve.com) specifying what training you'd like. We look forward to hearing from you!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 9:23:46 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Friday, May 09, 2008
SpellingCity

MEC Marketing Assistant, Julian Chant, writes:

Want to improve your students’ spelling? Then try out SpellingCity, a new educational site that can help children improve their spelling skills and expand their vocabulary. It can also be used by teachers and parents to teach their students how to spell properly with their own spelling lists.

The site contains a bank of over 25,000 words including plurals, contractions and 3rd person tenses, as well as three main practice features:

- Test Me: which uses a real human voice that says both the word and the word in a sentence;
- Teach Me: which spells out the word; and
- Play a Game: where you can select from a number of useful applications including HangMouse (an animated equivalent of hangman) and Word Matching (the objective of the game being to pair cards based on the words and sounds).

Teachers and parents can enter their very own spelling lists to test their students/children on specific topics. The List of the Month feature ensures that the most popular lists are highlighted. Click here to try out a one of this month’s winning lists.

This would be a useful site to save in your My Web Links area of MEC and recommend as a homework activity to supplement in-class material. Teachers will need to create an account in order to upload new spelling lists and students can start using it right away!

Friday, May 09, 2008 4:24:27 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
English, baby!


MEC Training Coordinator, Steph Earnshaw, writes:

 

If you're looking for some fun and inspirational material for teaching American English, then take a look at English, baby!

 

This is a great website where you can find ready made English lessons, English speaking penpals, chat rooms and forums to help your learners practise their English.

 

There's a new ready made English lesson every day and each one is based on a short video, podcast or written text. You can search for a lesson by key word, title, category and content. You'll also find grammar and language tips, discussion questions or a vocabulary quiz at the end of every lesson.

 

The language is authentic and full of idiomatic expressions, making it an ideal way for you to teach your learners new vocabulary that they might not come across in a book. Ebaby! videos come complete with a transcript and subtitles, and for some really fun material, check out Ebaby! TV - here you'll find the Ebaby! soap opera and links to all the video lessons.

 

This would be a useful site to save in your My Web Links area of MEC and use in class as a video listening activity. You could then do related MEC resources as extra class work or for homework. You must be a member to access the lessons but it's free to join, just click here.  If you get your learners to sign up you can even assign them some Ebaby! lessons as a homework activity to reinforce what they learnt in class.

 

There are lots of interesting articles for both learners and teachers in the Fun Stuff section of Ebaby! You can access this area once you are a registered member. An example of the kind of information you can find is in the video below, where Graham Stanley, an English teacher in Barcelona, Spain, explains how English teachers can use Web 2.0 internet tools and resources to make their lessons more dynamic and interesting. 

 

 

To read more from Graham on his blog, click here.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008 1:01:15 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
News item and word games update!

MEC Senior Editor Jeremy Smith writes:

 

Mugabe’s party intimidate voters

 

 

This week's news item, adapted for MEC from a news article originally published in the Guardian Weekly, is about Zimbabwe's recent presidential and parliamentary elections and reports that Robert Mugabe’s party have tried to intimidate voters before an election runoff.

 

Go to the News Items section on your Work Area screen to find out more about the reported intimidation of voters and the possible outcomes of the election in Zimbabwe.

 

May word games

 

This month’s Witch's Pot topics are 'vegetables' (Easy), 'materials' (Average) and 'nouns connected with happiness' (Difficult).

 

The Swamp Disaster topics are 'How many legs?' (Easy), 'sports and games' (Average) and 'government and politics' (Difficult).

 

The Wordsearch topics are 'fruit' (Easy), 'musical instruments' (Average) and 'verbs related to light' (Difficult).

 

There are new Crosswords and Bridge Builders at all levels too.

 

Visit the Word Games area to find them all.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008 8:47:35 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Friday, May 02, 2008
IATEFL Exeter

MEC Marketing Assistant, Julian Chant, writes:

Last month the MEC team attended the very enjoyable and highly informative 42nd Annual IATEFL Conference in Exeter, UK. IATEFL holds its International Annual Conference & Exhibition every spring, which is attended by around 1,500 ELT professionals from over 70 countries around the world.



Throughout the conference there was lots of interest in blended learning and the interactive whiteboards on the new Macmillan stand brought Campus to life! Many thanks to everyone who came up to the stand to talk to us – I hope you were lucky enough to grab a box of onestopenglish mints, they went like hotcakes.

The team made four successful presentations at the conference including Jenny Lovel and Mario Oesterreicher’s talk, Blended learning: Meeting the challenges of university language teaching. Mario showed how integrated blended learning can help personalize learning, increase motivation and improve teaching efficiency, while Jenny introduced a flexible bank of EAP materials for MEC, commissioned specifically to meet university users' needs.

The British Council Exeter Online website provides a variety of useful resources from the event including video and audio recordings of selected sessions, moderated special interest discussion forums, blogs and photo albums. All you need to do is create your account and off you go!

As always the Macmillan party was a great way to thank everyone for their support throughout the conference and the Back to School theme went down like a treat. Please come and join us next year for what will surely be another memorable outing.

 
Friday, May 02, 2008 4:28:59 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0]  |