ESL etc. » professional organizations

Journals and Professional Organizations

Dave — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:02:38 +0000

I just went through the journals and professional organizations pages to update them and fix all the broken links. I found some great stuff while poking around in there. For one thing, JALT’s GISIG has huge portion of their newsletter archives up on their website. I also added a link to the collection of ESL and environmental education resources on George Jacobs’ website. As far as professional organizations, I added the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, a group I recently joined myself.

So check out the updated pages on journals and professional organizations and let me know (either in the comments or by email) if I’m missing something good.

talkin ’bout… teacher organizing (April 13 and 14)

Dave — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:59:58 +0000

talkin ’bout is an occasional online discussion series by the Education for Liberation Network. On April 13 and 14, they’re going to have one featuring members of Teacher Activist Groups, a national coalition of teacher activist organizations. The discussion will take place on their website, and all visitors to the site will be able to participate. In addition, their How Did They Do That section offers how-to kits for teachers looking to replicate their social justice education projects. To be honest, I’m not really familiar with either of these groups, but I’m certainly curious about the role of teachers as activists.

IATEFL Global Issues Social Network

Dave — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:44:17 +0000

IATEFL’s Global Issues special interest group just launched a social network (using Ning). I have found this group’s email list to be a tremendous resource, and I look forward to seeing how this site develops. Thanks to Nik Peachey for setting it up!

Greening an Intensive English Programme

Dave — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:05:37 +0000

An article I co-wrote was recently published in IATEFL’s GISIG newsletter. I’m not entirely sure how one gets a copy of the newsletter (joining the email list might be a good place to start) but here is the article. The article details the project we undertook to make an intensive English program more environmentally responsible. I also talked about the project on podcasts five and six.

Here’s the citation information:
Royal, D. & Davis, K. (2008). Greening an Intensive English Programme. IATEFL GISIG Newsletter, 22, 18-21.

Reminder: TESOL EVO 2008 starts January 14th

Dave — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:43:54 +0000

I mentioned this before and I wanted to remind you that from January 14 to February 24, TESOL is offering a free, online conference. The session are open to non-TESOL members, and are conducted through Yahoo email groups. The Electronic Village Online is run by TESOL’s computer assisted language learning (CALL) interest section, so the sessions are mostly technology-focused.

I’m planning to participate in the session on effective lesson planning, although I’ll be traveling during the first week.

Global Issues, Everyday Actions

Dave — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 15:27:59 +0000

Several months ago I wrote a paper discussing the how and why behind bringing global issues and activism into the language classroom. It gives a little bit of theory, and then explains my individual activism project in detail. Since JALT’s Global Issues in Language Education newsletter is mailed to my parents’ house, I never actually knew if it had been published. Turns out it was!

Here it is as a PDF and here’s the bibliographic info:

Royal, D. (2007). Global Issues, Everyday Actions. Global Issues in Language Education, 65, 15-17.

TESOL Electronic Village Online 2008

Dave — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 23:23:40 +0000

From January 14 to February 24, TESOL is offering a free, online conference. In addition to being free, the session are open to non-TESOL members. The Electronic Village Online is run by TESOL’s computer assisted language learning (CALL) interest section, so the sessions are mostly technology-focused. To participate in a session, you simply join the associated Yahoo! group. Participants are advised to join no more than two sessions. Registration begins January 1.

For full descriptions of each session, click below. In addition to an outline of the content broken down by week, you can also find the intended audience and the required tools. The sessions that have caught my eye are the ones on lesson planning, drama, and music.

Sessions for TESOL Electronic Village 2008

ELT Dogme

Dave — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 06:00:16 +0000

I realize that I’m late to the party on this one, but I just became aware of the dogme approach to English language teaching. It’s a stripped down, learner-centered approach that seems to mirror my own classes in a lot of ways. A few highlights:

The content most likely to engage learners and to trigger learning processes is that which is already there, supplied by the “people in the room.”

Learning is a social and dialogic process, where knowledge is co-constructed rather than “transmitted” or “imported” from teacher/coursebook to learner.

Rather than being acquired, language (including grammar) emerges: it is an organic process that occurs given the right conditions.

Providing space for the learner’s voice means accepting that the learner’s beliefs, knowledge, experiences, concerns and desires are valid content in the language classroom.

Texts, when used, should have relevance for the learner, in both their learning and using contexts.

Teachers and learners need to unpack the ideological baggage associated with EFL materials – to become critical users of such texts.

Those quotes all come from this article in Humanising Language Teaching. If you’re interested, there’s a Yahoo group dedicated to ELT Dogme that’s worth checking out.

ESL World News Report / ESL Chatterbox #3

Dave — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:25:27 +0000

Larry Ferlazzo posted today about ESL World News Report, a free site offering an “unbiased and objective” 4-page electronic newspaper every Monday of the school year. The paper attempts to help keep adult ESL students informed about important global events, and prepare them for responsible citizenship. I haven’t looked at it in much detail yet, but one very nice feature of the paper is that it is advertising-free. Each issue includes a new vocabulary and idioms section and the website also features an ESL lesson ideas page.

Also, the third issue of KOTESOL’s Global Issues newsletter ESL Chatterbox came out today. Check it out!

Podcast #20 – K12 Online Conference and Issues in Chinese Education

Dave — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:51:42 +0000

mp3

This week, I talk about the K12 Online Conference, primarily giving some of my thoughts on the pre-conference keynote. Keynote speaker David Warlick talks about how Web 2.0-type technology is changing how we should approach our students, and I reflect on how this applies to language teaching. I also make some comments about the state of education in China in light of the points mentioned in the keynote speech.