



Few notes before you do this activity:


Here’s how I did it:

  7. Members of the group were again swapped.


Past Simple Tense:

  1. Where was Bill Gates born?
  2. When did he found Microsoft?
  3. Did he drop out of school?

Present Simple Tense

  1. What does he do now?
  2. What is the name of his foundation?
  3. Is he a creative person?

Future Simple Tense

  1. What will Bill Gates do in 2014?
  2. Who will replace his position?
  3. Will he go bankrupt?





1. Ladder Race (game)


Illustration of Ladder Race (game)

Illustration of Ladder Race (game)


2. Story Writing



Students' work in story writing using the Past Simple

Students’ work in story writing using the Past Simple


Teaching “Will vs. Going to” with YouTube videos


The steps are as below:








  1. There will …
  2. There is going to …
  3. The clothes will …
  4. The clothes are going to …

Here’s an example made by a group.

Students' work: Will vs. Going to

Students’ work: Will vs. Going to



Do you know this song?




Steps I applied during the practice


Why this activity is good


Tips on using songs for grammar practice



Pages you can use as additional handouts for pre-activity:

The imperative

Modal Verbs

Dear guru bahasa Inggris Indonesia: ini PR kita bersama

Tulisan ini sebenarnya hasil unek-unek yang saya tuangkan di akun Twitter saya, @NenoNeno, pada tanggal 22 Agustus 2013. Niatnya saya chirpify tapi karena lama tidak ngeblog, jadi lebih baik saya pindahkan ke sini saja.

Jika menurut Anda apa yang saya sampaikan di sini mengandung ketidakbenaran, silakan dikoreksi atau tinggalkan. Karena saya tidak ingin mengubah isinya, maka penulisan dan bahasa saya biarkan seperti sebagaimana yang saya tulis di Twitter.

Semoga bermanfaat. Syukur-syukur menjadi bahan renungan.

“Lama-lama risih jg memang lihat guru bahasa Inggris yg banyak salah grammar. Sayangnya bahasa Inggris memang bukan content subject.

@cath_mw: how come? mereka lokal atau native? kata temen yg di jkt, ada juga native yg ga menguasai grammar.

Bukan ‘menguasai’ grammar secara teori, mbak.
Tp menggunakannya dgn baik dan benar dlm speaking/writing. That’s why it’s a skill. @cath_mw

Content subject: mata pelajaran yg dipelajari utk dapat informasi (sejarah, biologi, dsb). Smtr bahasa Inggris = skill (ketrampilan).

Tp kalo misal syarat guru bahasa Inggris nilai TOEFL-nya harus minimal 600 mungkin ada banyak banget guru Indonesia yg bakal ‘terpangkas’.

Plus gosipnya kalo kuliah di jurusan pendidikan bahasa Inggris ga semua perkuliahan pake bahasa Inggris (kalo saya salah tolong dicerahkan).

@tionovita: saya kuliah Pendidkan Bahasa Inggris, dan emang ga semua perkuliahan pake Bahasa Inggris. Parahnya, ada mata kuliah yg ga penting.

Smtr bahasa itu didapat (acquired), bukan cuma dipelajari (learned). Utk mahir prosesnya bisa panjang, biar maksimal biasanya sejak kecil.

Bayangkan.. Calon guru bahasa Inggris masuk kuliah.. Sblmnya ga terekspos bahasa Inggris dan ketrampilan minim. Smtr kuliah cuma 4 tahun..

Jd.. Ini kyk ‘membentuk’ orang utk jd guru bahasa Inggris cuma dlm waktu 4 tahun & stlh itu mereka dilepas utk jd ‘panutan’ murid-muridnya.

@angelaamoy: iya betul mba, 4tahun itu ga cukup. Aku aja ngerasa masih kering ilmu, dan masih sering ikut course buat referensi mengajar. 🙂

Makanya ga heran akhirnya banyak cerita guru ngajar bahasa Inggris pake bahasa Indonesia sepanjang pelajaran atau ngajarin sesuatu yg salah.

Ditambah lagi perilaku guru (biasanya yg udah tua) yg merasa dia tau segalanya jd ga usah belajar lagi. Ilmu dan skill ga pernah ke-upgrade.

Di kurikulum 2013 jam pelajaran bahasa Inggris utk SMP/SMA dikurangi & utk SD ditiadakan (ga wajib). Ini jd kayak lingkaran setan.. Ngerii.

Anak-anak yg kurang terekspos bahasa Inggris ini nanti dewasa jd guru bahasa Inggris dan akhirnya ujung-ujungnya jd guru spt yg td. Ngerii..

Yg lebih ngeri lagi adalah keadaan ini (banyak guru bahasa Inggris dr Indonesia yg ga berkualitas) bikin celah utk guru-guru asing masuk.

Saya ga bilang guru penutur asli itu jelek atau ga perlu. Tp imbasnya ke persaingan tenaga kerja di dlm negeri — yg kadang ga masuk akal.

Gaji guru penutur asli (biasanya dr negara-negara asal bahasa Inggris) di lembaga kursus biasanya 3-4x lipat guru Indonesia utk entry level.

Yg bikin ga masuk akal bukan ketrampilan bahasa Inggrisnya (jelas ‘bule’ takdirnya dr lahir udah pake bahasa Inggris dong ya, pastinya fasih).

Tp kualifikasi mereka di luar ‘bisa bahasa Inggris’. Sama aja spt menjeneralisasi semua orang Indonesia pasti bisa ngajar bahasa Indonesia.

Kenyataannya mengajar itu perlu ketrampilan khusus. Saya banyak contoh kok ‘guru’ penutur asli yg ga suka ngajar, malah asal-asalan banget.

Tapi walo ‘asal-asalan’ gitu gaji mereka 4x di atas saya dong.. Bagi kalangan guru bahasa Inggris di Indonesia ini udah bukan rahasia lagi.

Saya masih respek sama guru penutur asli yg mengajar bahasa Inggris krn dia menikmati itu, punya gelar di bidang yg sesuai, dan kompeten.

Banyak kah guru penutur asli yg kompeten spt ini? Banyak.. Banyak kah guru penutur asli yg ga kompeten dan asal-asalan? Banyak juga..

Jd sama kayak guru Indonesia jg. Jd mentang-mentang ‘bule’ jangan langsung ‘takluk’ (baca: percaya 1.000%). Cari tau/tanya kualifikasinya, pengalamannya, dsb.

Jangan cuma orang dalam negeri, Indonesia, yg terus-terusan dipertanyakan/diragukan kualifikasinya. Kualat banget sama negeri sendiri..

Kalo cuma pengen temen ngobrol penutur asli, mending ke internet, cari temen chatting, jangan ke tempat kursus. Tempat kursus buat belajar.

Jadi apa nih intinya? Intinya apa? Pesan utk para calon & guru bahasa Inggris: PR-mu banyak. Belajar bahasa Inggris, pengajaran, pendidikan.

Bahasa Inggris skrg statusnya lingua franca. Cepat/lambat kualitas guru ga akan lagi dilihat dr warna kulitnya. Kita harus ambil momen itu.”

List of free webinars for English teachers (plus some tips!)

Today while I was chatting on Facebook (I do this a lot, don’t I? Well, isn’t that the whole idea of PLN?) with Qori, a member of Indonesian English Teachers’ Club (IETC), I remembered that I had this idea of putting a list of free webinars for English teachers on this blog. I have shared these links on the group’s Facebook and joined some of them. But before you ask, here’s a little bit on what a webinar is.

What is a webinar?

I believe by now all of you are already familiar with the term ‘webinar’. However, if you haven’t, as you might have guessed it, a webinar is basically a seminar that is held online, on a website.

Webinar = web + seminar.

Thanks to the advancement of technology, thus educational technology, people now can hold seminar, workshop, presentation, lecture online, using website or other forms of online technology as the platform. By making all of these activities available online, knowledge and skills can now be easily transferred or distributed across countries with minimum cost (at least from the point of view of the receiver).

As many economists consider this as a ‘weird’ economic behavior, nowadays more and more high-profile institutions provide and host online classes, including webinars. And why is this weird? Because they provide them for free. If you’re into free online courses, you should go check these websites (though courses are not limited to English teaching): Coursera, Khan Academy.

Why should I attend a webinar (at least once or twice)?

  1. The first thing I would consider is because it’s totally free. However though, you still need to provide yourself a decent computer and internet connection.
  2. It can help with your professional development. I guess one of the most important reasons to be in a webinar is that you can get all the latest trend, knowledge, and skills that you need to teach in your class. That’s surely something you and your institution can benefit from. Also, you can meet other teachers from all around the world (or other cities in your country) and start connecting (remember PLN?).
  3. Even though they are free, the speakers of these webinars are mostly experts in their field. So why waste this chance?
  4. Attending a webinar and basically following the latest trend in education and educational technology in specific will give you a sense on what’s going on in the world out there.

What should I prepare for a webinar?

  1. First and foremost: a computer (or laptop). Some webinars can be accessed through tablet or mobile device, but computer is always the best choice. Some platforms (e.g. Adobe Connect) have limited support on mobile device functionalities, although some might not (e.g. Blackboard).
  2. The second most important thing: a stable internet access. I have followed some webinars and noticed that Adobe Connect has the heaviest load of all other platforms (again, this is based on Indonesian standard modem-based internet connection). I believe this is due to its many features that run at the same time: video, voice, online chat, slides. Before you attend a webinar, you are usually informed on what platform the host will use (but you can read about it in this blogpost), so you can at least prepare yourself with better internet connection.
  3. The third most important thing: your time. Even though it is conducted online and you can sometimes attend a webinar while doing other stuff offline, I am sure you don’t want to miss valuable information delivered in the webinar. And because of its online nature, a webinar can only be held for around a maximum of 2 hours, so things can really go fast while you’re at it.

Other tips on attending a webinar

  1. Because there are lots of webinars out there, sometimes we are confused on which to attend. One thing for sure, you do not have to attend them all. What I usually do is register for webinars on topics that I need and specialize. For example: I’m teaching mostly adults and ESP, that is why attending a webinar on teaching young learners is a second priority for me.
  2. Be active in finding information on where to find webinars, Google them, join clubs for English teachers that give information about them, and connect with other teachers who are following the trend and can give you the information.
  3. Always bookmark sites that provide webinars so you will not lose them in the future. If you’re using Diigo, that’s even better, because other teachers will be able to look at your list too.
  4. Note down the schedule of webinars you have registered so you will not miss them. Some automatically send iCal reminder via email. If you miss a webinar, you usually can watch the recording later. However, you will not be able to ask questions directly to the speakers or interact with other participants. Also, since the hosts of these webinars are not in Indonesia, you will need a time converter to convert the time into WIB, WITA, or WIT.

And… Here’s the list of free webinars for English teachers

  1. American TESOL Webinars. You do not have to register to the website if you want to join a webinar. Webinars are presented every Friday at 4 PM EST or New York time with Shelly Terrell. Simply visit the site at the time given and login. Platform: Adobe Connect.
  2. English Language Teaching Webinars by Oxford University Press. You need to register for a webinar before attending it although you do not need to register to the website. Registration is closed one day before the webinar. Certificates of attendance and presentation slides are available after the webinar. Platform: Blackboard.
  3. Teacher Training Webinars by Macmillan English. You need to register for a webinar before attending it. Seats are limited (up to 2,000?) but they are free. Recordings and presentations of previous webinars are available with no registration. Platform: Blackboard.
  4. International Teacher Development Institute (iTDi). iTDi occasionally conducts free webinars for members of the website. You have to register to the website to register for it. The website also provides an online community for English teachers from all over the world. So while you’re not attending webinars, you can still connect with other teachers, experts, and mentors. Platform: Adobe Connect.
  5. IATEFL Webinars. Webinars are free but the recordings are only available for paid members. Make sure you do not miss the date and time to make the most of the webinars provided. Presentation slides are available after the webinar but only for a short while before they are moved to members’ area. Registration is not needed. Platform: Adobe Connect.
  6. Shaping The Way We Teach English Webinars by American English. Here you can find recordings of previous webinars, including the presentations and resources that came with them. No information on upcoming webinars so far. Platform: Adobe Connect.
  7. Webinars for English Teachers by US Embassy in Lima, Peru. You have to visit their Facebook Page or subscribe to their newsletter to get information about upcoming webinars. Meanwhile you can watch the recorded webinars on their YouTube channel. No registration is needed. By far this webinar is the most bandwidth-friendly, most probably because it only provides audio and chat.
  8. TeachingEnglish Webinars by British Council. Recorded webinars are available on the website and no registration is needed. However, too bad there are no new updates on the webinar or other activities on the page. Platform: Adobe Connect.
  9. Cambridge English Teacher. You have to register to the website if you want to register for a webinar. Most of the webinars are provided for paid members. There are only few webinars available for free for non-members.

Last but not least, I hope this blogpost is useful for you and your professional development. Feel free to drop your comment(s). 🙂

7 reasons why you and your students will love LyricsTraining

Have you tried LyricsTraining? I have and I loved it. And so my students.


A small group of students played LyricsTraining (we used TV as the screen)

I bet many of us (English teachers) have tried this method (and your students once in a while would ask you to do that too): teach English through (English) songs by asking them to listen to a song and fill in the gaps of the song’s lyrics. Most of the time we prepared the song, lyrics, and worksheet by ourselves (yep, browsed, copy-pasted, edited, and printed it). With LyricsTraining, you do not need to do all that. Just prepare your computer and internet, and you’re ready to go.

Here’s 7 reasons why you and your students will love LyricsTraining:

  1. The website provides the latest songs and lyrics, things your students (or maybe yourself if you love (pop) music!) would love. You can search for your (or your students’) favorite songs, singers, bands, or lyrics in the Search box on top of the site.
  2. Songs and lyrics are categorized into 3 levels of difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard. It makes it easier for students to choose what level they want to play. I guess lyrics levels are made based on the song tempo and vocabulary in the lyrics. The faster the tempo and the more advanced the vocabulary, the higher the level is.
  3. Aside from point 2, there are also 3 game modes you can choose for each song: Beginner, Intermediate, Expert. In Beginner mode, players only need to fill in 10% of the blanks, while in Intermediate they have to fill in 25% of the blanks. Expert mode means players have to fill in all the lyrics by themselves (no clues given).
  4. Just like karaoke, scores are provided at the end of the game. How do we get high scores? Type as fast as you can and choose the highest level and mode! This feature is great if you want to make students compete against each other.
  5. Here’s another interesting feature of this site. If you stop and can’t listen to the lyrics, the lyrics bar (the green highlight with arrows pointing down) will also stop and wait for you!
  6. Also, if you’re stuck and want to give up, you can choose to skip a word by pressing the Tab button on your keyboard. For more shortcuts you can click ‘Help’ at the bottom right of the video.
  7. Don’t feel like typing the lyrics? Go for a karaoke instead! Choose ‘Karaoke’ when you open a video and you can watch it with its full lyrics. You and your students can sing the song together.

Skills practiced and tips for maximizing LyricsTraining:

  1. Students can practice listening in a more challenging way.
  2. They can also practice (or test?) their vocabulary.
  3. Besides listening and vocabulary, we can also use LyricsTraining to teach grammar, idiomatic expressions, and slang. Before we play a song, it’s much better to prepare points students are about to practice in the song, choose the right song to do that, and prepare a follow-up activity afterwards. It gives them a sense of purpose and the practice will be more efficient and systematic.

P!nk’s Raise Your Glass – as innocent as the song might be, it does contain some ‘bad’ words you don’t want your students to pick up

Some cautions!

However, though, I have some concerns and teachers need to be cautious before using LyricsTraining in their class, especially because of these reasons:

  1. Be very careful in choosing songs. Many of them use inappropriate language that might not be suitable for younger learners (or in fact, all learners). Other issue is although the lyrics might not be blatantly inappropriate, some (or many?) contain sexual implication.
  2. Even if the lyrics are fine, you still need to check the music videos, especially if they contain sexual imagery and nudity.

Well, I hope this post is useful. Ready to sing along? Happy playing!

Like this blogpost? If yes, please consider sharing it with your friends and colleagues by using the sharing buttons below. Thank you!

Finally, my first Prezi!

I am currently teaching a 4 month course of business English at a travel company and have this idea of asking my students to present English tenses and other grammar points in front of the class, instead of having me doing that (a little bit tricky? No. I believe many have done that, and the idea of flipped classroom that has been a hype lately has inspired me in doing this).

But first, before I ask them to prepare their own presentations, I have to make one myself as an example (only as an example – sometimes it’s difficult to ask students [especially Indonesians] to make or create something without an example. So before they ask me to give an example and I come unprepared, I’m making one for them now). Since the topic of their first presentation session is tenses, I will have to start with the first tense: the Present Simple Tense. Here it is the Prezi I made, a very simple presentation and you can make ones that are more complicated.

If you’re having trouble viewing this presentation, you can also view it on Prezi site here The Present Simple Tense.

My impressions on Prezi:

  1. It’s fun.
  2. Very easy to make.
  3. Very visual and attractive – think about increasing your students’ attention span.
  4. Very simple and clean.
  5. Although it needs internet connection, it doesn’t really require large bandwidth to view.
  6. Downloading portable Prezi is not recommendable as it takes years (not literally) – applies in Indonesia with regular modem-based internet access only.

I’m assuming that many people (read: my business English students) haven’t tried Prezi, so there are 2 main tasks that I will have to do. The first would be to guide my students’ presentations on tenses. The second would be to guide them on using Prezi.

If you’re interested in using Prezi and haven’t tried it yet, feel free to sign up here Prezi Sign Up.

Links to downloadable English Language Teaching (ELT) books and ebooks

A member of Indonesian English Teachers’ Club (IETC) asked me if we could have all the links of the downloadable books or ebooks that were posted on the club’s Facebook group in one page. So, here it is now. Happy downloading!

Continuing Professional Development – An Annotated Bibliography by Amol Padwad and Krishna Dixit.

Online books and articles by Stephen D Krashen.

Principles of Language Learning and Teaching by H. Douglas Brown, 4th edition.

A Course in Language Teaching by Penny Ur.

The Practice of English Language Teaching by Jeremy Harmer, 3rd edition.

Conversations in the Classroom by Chris Cotter.

Innovations in learning technologies for English language teaching edited by Gary Motteram.

Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation edited by Edited by Brian Tomlinson and Claire Whittaker.

Some other books on English for tourism and Project Based Learning (PBL) are also available on IETC Facebook group. Please have a visit and search for them there.

This blogpost will always be updated once a new link is found (or broken). Have other links? Feel free to share them by leaving your comment(s). Thank you. :)