ESL etc.

Now, I’m no great fan of Microsoft. I still (reluctantly) use Windows but I’ve long been a supporter of OpenOffice and other open source alternatives. I have also found that Microsoft Word’s grammar check does more harm than good for my students. That said, their new ESL Assistant looks promising. It’s simple to use. Just [...]

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mp3 I start right off talking about my teaching. I discuss how last week’s classes went, and then I describe what I’m doing this week. I explain the headline activity (see below) and talk about how my new approach focuses more on doing a variety of tasks than covering a lot of content. Check out [...]

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mp3 First, I answer a listener’s request for ideas on getting larger classes to speak. Specifically, I talk about a pronunciation activity, pair/groupwork and roleplays. Next, I talk about week two of my sophomore English for Tourism conversation classes. I’m trying to improve students acquisition of vocabulary and sentence patterns by covering the same content [...]

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Each episode of Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing addresses one problematic grammatical issue. As an English teacher, grammar instruction is a weak area for me, and Grammar Girl explains things very clearly and concisely. There are extensive archives, and each show is short (5 minutes or so) and easily digestible. Past [...]

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