ESL etc.

IATEFL’s global issues SIG has a Yahoo email group (with files) that you can join without being a paying member.

KOTESOL’s global issues SIG also has a Yahoo email group that you can join without being a paying member.

World 727 is a global education email list moderated by Professor Merry Merryfield. To join, send her an email at merryfield.1@osu.edu. She also oversees TeachGlobalEd.net, a website with tons of global education resources.

Larry Ferlazzo has a great website full of resources for ESL / social studies teachers. His blog (to which you can subscribe via email) is updated daily with new links, and he also offers a monthly top ten newsletter.

ELT Dogme is a stripped down, learner-centered approach that tries to use the language that the learners themselves bring into the room as the primary material. They stress the importance of content being relevant to students.

Ning isn’t an email list, but it is a site that allows users to create social networks. Each network is made up of individual pages, along with forums, group blogs and file libraries. I recently joined two networks: EFL Classroom 2.0 and Global Education. Both offer materials, links to resources and lots of discussion.

The newest list I’ve joined is GlobalEdNews from the Peace Corps. So far, I haven’t seen anything particularly interesting.

TEFL China - A collection of three listservs dedicated to teaching English in China. One focuses on teaching, one on jobs and one on life in general. I’m a new subscriber, but all I’ve seen so far is a lot of arguing on the “teaching” list.

TESL-L - The main list has over 30,000 subscribers. There are also sublists dedicated to CALL, IEPs, jobs, young learners and ESP. Archives of each list are also available to subscribers. Full disclosure: I don’t subscribe to this one.

For more on ESL / global education professional organizations, please click here.