Entries by Sharn

Understanding Competence in EFL/ESL Teaching: A Guide for Teachers

When designing an effective EFL/ESL course, teachers must consider multiple aspects of competence beyond just linguistic skills. While linguistic competence is naturally a primary focus, recognizing and fostering other types of competence is crucial for helping learners become confident, effective communicators. Communicative success depends on a range of abilities that work together to help learners […]

Rethinking Academic IELTS: Preparing Students for True University-Level Academic Writing

Many EFL students enter university believing that the “Academic IELTS essay” they practiced is exactly what higher education expects. In reality, IELTS tasks are designed for test-taking—emphasizing speed, opinion, and a formulaic structure—whereas university essays require a more rigorous, research-driven approach. This post outlines the key differences between Academic IELTS essays and true academic essays, […]

Teaching Harry Potter: Designing a Syllabus

I often receive requests for guidance on how to create a syllabus from scratch, particularly for literature-based courses. Most of my courses are tailored to specific contexts—for business students or individual learners—but designing syllabi centered around literature is especially rewarding. The complex worlds that novels offer open up endless opportunities for exploration, making the learning […]

Teaching Harry Potter: Writing Activities

Literature opens the door to entirely new worlds, allowing students to experience life from different perspectives. Harry Potter offers so many creative and purposeful writing activities: descriptive writing, persuasive essays, scripts and newspaper articles, reports etc. Below are 10 example writing activities based on Harry Potter. Each activity is designed to help students strengthen specific […]

Teaching Harry Potter: Vocabulary Activities

For B1-level students, the challenge lies in striking the right balance: ensuring the vocabulary is accessible but still engaging and new. Vocabulary activities should help students make connections between the text and their own language use, while also deepening their understanding of the story. Here are some ideas I’ve used to build vocabulary activities for […]