Jeremy Harmer

Teaching is one of the most rewarding and challenging jobs in the world. It requires continuous self-development and hard work to satisfy the students’ needs and pass the valuable knowledge they need. In many cases teachers wonder where and how to get the most up-to-date information and how to keep the ongoing improvement as a professional. In such cases, well-known specialists in the ELT sphere, their face-to-face and online seminars, workshops and teacher training sessions, will be of great help..

Jeremy Harmer is an acclaimed and esteemed ELT expert, author of many books, practitioner, trainer and singer. His input into the English Language teaching is very valuable.

Biography

Jeremy P. H. Harmer was born in 1947. He got his education in the United Kingdom and graduated from the University of East Anglia with a BA Hons in English and American Studies. He then obtained his MA in Applied Linguistics at the University of Reading. He completed his studies with a Teacher Training certification from International House.

Harmer has taught in Mexico and the UK. He has also worked for International House, London, Eurocentre Bournemouth, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, the Bell School, and at the Instituto Anglo Mexicano de Cultura(In mexico DF, Ciudad Satellite and Guadalajara-where he was branch director for four years). As a part of his job he has travelled in many countries and delivered various teacher training sessions bringing light and enthusiasm to the local teachers. I could feel it personally during his visit to Armenia back in 2017, from 10 to 12 November.

Books

Jeremy Harmer is an author of not only books on ELT methodology but also course materials and graded readers. This well-known ELT expert has carried out immense work in the field of communicative language teaching. His books on methodology and great course materials will inspire any teacher to self-develop. His graded readers will be of great help in case students urge to read fiction in English. Below we will present some of his popular books in the field of methodology.

The Practice of English Language Teaching

The book The Practice of English Language Teaching has become a standard for many teachers back in the time when the ELT sphere shifted his focus to the Communicative Language Teaching. Jeremy Harmer is one of the ELT specialists who set the main principles of communicative language teaching. In his talk with Scott Thornbury he explains where the need of communicative language teaching came from. Among the main factors he mentioned the following:

1. It is not only about knowing the language but also knowing how to communicate it
2. It is about the performatives, the function of the language. For example, the sentence “Why don’t you open the window?” expresses suggestion.

You can watch the full version of their talk here, which will highlight the main insights of his activities as an ELT expert. Here you can read more about his vision of communicative language teaching and the future of ELT.

• How to teach writing
• How to teach English

Following this link you can watch a number of great talks on language learning and teaching delivered by Jeremy Harmer.

Jeremy Harmer as a Singer

Jeremy is a great musician as well. Back in 2017, he delivered a great music show in Armenia during his visit as a Teacher Trainer. In his one-man show the singer-songwriter Jeremy Harmer sings (and talks about) various Shakespeare songs (and others) and shows how they are connected to a lively folk music tradition that continues, vibrantly, to this day. Here you can watch the full music show.

He uses songs and poetry a lot while teaching. According to him it will bring a diversity into the classroom atmosphere and shift students’ focus to more creative tasks.