Peadar Callaghan

“The reason most kids don’t like school is not the work is too hard, but that it is utterly boring.”

Seymour Papert

Latest In Teaching

The Decision Tree

16th of November, 2019 No Comments

Sid Meier the creator of the civilization series of games when asked what is a game answered “A game is a series of interesting choices”.

Understanding Roleplay

9th of November, 2019 No Comments

In constructivist fields of education one of the tools that is used frequently is roleplay. In fact Batner (2006) argues that they are the best

The Gorilla in the Classroom

22nd of August, 2015 No Comments

Before reading the following blog please take a look at the video below and follow the instructions it gives. The selective attention test shows how,

Latest In Gamification

The Sawyer Effect and Motivation

15th of August, 2015 No Comments

For those of you who don’t know the story of Tom Sawyer white washing the fence you can read it here. In the story Mark

Are Incentives Enough to Gamify your Life?

1st of August, 2015 No Comments

I recently read a post on Lifehacker about how a guy had “gamified” his life by setting up a points system to incentivize behavior. In

Press Print to Play?

6th of June, 2015 No Comments

How do I gamify an activity? This post is a theoretical case study of how to gamify a simple workplace activity. We will be using

Latest In Books & Comics

Everything I learned from comics: Will Eisner and EFL

13th of June, 2015 No Comments

Will Eisner is recognized as one of the grandfathers of modern comic books. His book comics and sequential are some of the best written introductions to the

The Grasshopper Review

28th of March, 2015 No Comments

“Everyone alive is in fact engaged in playing elaborate games, while at the same time believing themselves to be going about their ordinary affairs…..Whatever occupation

The Long Tail of Education

27th of February, 2015 No Comments

In 2006, Chris Anderson wrote “The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More“. In it, he detailed how the advent

It was great. I got inspired by his workshop, so I tried to apply his idea to my class right away. So satisfied with making a good one, in spite of harder-working to prepare it. Thanks a lot!

I worked with Peadar during the KOTESOL conference in Seoul in October 2010. Peadar has fantastic ideas that he uses in the classroom, comics and magic just being a few. He’s an interesting person to talk to and I’m sure that his students are just as impressed with his ideas as I am.

“Do gapfills really assess listening?” I had never stopped to think about that question before. The gapfill format constantly shows up in my ESL textbooks and materials. I’ve made dozens, thinking the exercise will commit the students to listening attentively. At the May 7th Daegu KOTESOL meeting, Peadar Callaghan proved me (and others) wrong in his excellent seminar, “Active Listening: Moving Beyond Filling in the Blanks.”

My nine-year-old daughter would like to say that she most enjoyed ‘Mr. Pathar’s class’ (Peadar Callaghan’s ‘Graphic Organizers’) because ‘It made her feel good to answer some of the questions’ and it was ‘fun when he said “Even a little girl can understand my class!”…’ (She may have misquoted him slightly there, but the idea came through) Thanks, KOTESOL, for treating everyone there, right down to my nine-year old daughter, like a VIP!

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