Edward Mills

Category: Teaching

  • Teaching, Part Two (and Gilbert & Sullivan)

    Teaching, Part Two (and Gilbert & Sullivan)

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    Edward Mills
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    It probably won’t come as a surprise to regular readers of this blog (all one of you – hello, mum …) that I’ve been keeping myself fairly busy over the past few weeks. In fact, I’m currently writing this during an orchestra rehearsal for Exeter University Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s production of Ruddigore – book your…

  • Learning / teaching

    Learning / teaching

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    Edward Mills
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    The arrival of the Freshers over the weekend has certainly brought some life back to the Streatham campus here at Exeter. As I’ve said several times over the past few days, this year is technically my fifth ‘Fresher’s Week’, so I’m used to the noise and commotion as every single one of the university societies…

  • Drawing Conclusions

    Drawing Conclusions

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    Edward Mills
    in

    Today’s blog post is a little different from the usual fare: it comes to you (largely) in picture form.[1] I thought that today I’d share one of the more unique opportunities that teaching English to French students over the summer has given to me: the chance to indulge my unique drawing skills. Alright, I can’t…

  • Academic Diaries: 2016-17

    Academic Diaries: 2016-17

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    Edward Mills
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    My own academic diary for the upcoming academic year is an old favourite: the Palgrave student planner, modelled in last week’s close-up shot. While in France I like to use a French planner – it just makes the whole living-in-France thing a little more authentic – but in the UK I struggle to resist the old…

  • Academic Diaries: Les Back

    Academic Diaries: Les Back

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    Edward Mills
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    A fair chunk of the Sunday before last was spent reading. Much to my shame, this is something that I can’t say nearly as often as I’d like – the flashy lights of the Internet have definitely had some kind of effect on my cerebral cortex in this respect – but I was relieved to…

  • Spare me the ‘lecteur’ – Part 4

    Spare me the ‘lecteur’ – Part 4

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    Edward Mills
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    We finished last week’s blog, in time-honoured fashion, with a classic French-style problématique. As the start of the academic year drew nearer, I was facing the tricky question of how to engage students who were taking my medievalism course, as well as asking myself whether it was even possible to teach modern English using medieval…

  • Spare me the ‘lecteur’ – Part 3

    Spare me the ‘lecteur’ – Part 3

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    Edward Mills
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    If you’ve been following this blog from the outset (thank you!), you’ll likely know there things about me: (a) I like second-person asides; (b) I have an irrational attachment to colons and semicolons; and (c) I never stop talking about my time spent this year working as a lecteur d’anglais at the ENS de Lyon. Today,…

  • Spare me the ‘lecteur’ – Part 2

    Spare me the ‘lecteur’ – Part 2

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    by

    Edward Mills
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    If you joined me in my last post for my introduction to lecteur-ing, you’ll be aware that I promised to talk today about the specific modules that I taught at the ENS. A caveat: I certainly don’t claim to be an expert in English language teaching, nor was I the most effective at this task…

  • Spare me the ‘lecteur’ – Part 1

    Spare me the ‘lecteur’ – Part 1

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    Edward Mills
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    I’m writing this on the bus into Oxford, as I get ready to start work once again. I’m very fortunate to have a summer job tutoring French students who are undertaking classes préparatoires, preparing for the concours to get into the grandes écoles such as the ENS and polytechnique. Having started this work last year…