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December 25, 2005
Teaching Spots – Athens, Greece
"Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts / And eloquence." - John Milton, Paradise Regained
Dear Fellow-teachers and Blog-Readers,
With the end of the year approaching, and all the talk about teaching in a foreign location lately, I thought I'd highlight one of the most discussed locations for teaching ESL of 2005.
Think tiny, flavorful cups of coffee. Think seaside cafes, and passionate, friendly debates at every small, checkered-cloth covered table. Think of lazy afternoons where every place closes down for a good meal followed by an afternoon nap. Think History. Think . . .
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Posted by msimmons at 02:56 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack (2)
December 23, 2005
Tips & Tricks - Troublesome Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal, Shmasal. Is this the reaction you get when you try to teach verb usage?
Hi all,
I've mentioned this probem on this forum once before but since I got such little feedback on it, I thought I'd bring it up for review once again.
Do your ESL students have a difficult time grasping the concept of phrasal verbs? If so, here’s a great exercise to get them past that “mind block.” I have found that my ESL students hate the idea when I propose it, but are always thankful afterwards because they finally “get it!” . . .
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Posted by msimmons at 10:02 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (1)
December 21, 2005
Recommended Resources - The English Blog
Hi Everyone, it's me Michelle Simmons. Guess you've been wondering where I've been huh?
Hello All,
Remember Me? Me Miss You Long Time!
Well, I can't get into it right now but I've been out in the "field" let me put it that way. I needed some extra time to do a little job-advancement opportunities.
But, enough about me. I first want to say a big "thank you" to our friend and colleague, professor Lee Hobbs, for the wonderful job he's done with the ESL-Lesson-Plan web log while I've been away. If all of you were here in person with me I'd say, "Let's give him a big round of applause please."
Well, the sad news is that . . .
Continue reading "Recommended Resources - The English Blog"
Posted by msimmons at 08:47 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (2)
December 19, 2005
ESL Surveys - Teaching Prerequisites
"What office is there which involves more responsibility, which requires more qualifications, and which ought, therefore, to be more honorable, than that of teaching?" ~Harriet Martineau
Blog folk,
ESL qualification prerequisites anyone?
There's a lot of talk going on now on the ESL-School blog and in the various ESL-Job-Forums out there about what kind of academic degrees you might (or might not) need to qualify for employment at a respectable ESL school abroad (or, just get legal working papers) . . .
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Posted by lhobbs at 12:19 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (4)
December 17, 2005
Recommended Resources - Get Posts from this Blog on "My Yahoo!" or "My Msn"
What is all this RSS business anyway? Read on:
Hi there Internet Explorers!
"RSS" is just an acronym for "Really Simple Syndication" and it's a type of information feed that can be used in some really helpful ways. Don't worry, it's easy!
Do you use the MyYahoo! service as your web browser's homepage? How about My Msn ? Even AOL has a My AOL option.
I just so happen to use the MyYahoo! one, but they're all about the same, really. What they let you do is . . .
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Posted by lhobbs at 04:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (3)
December 15, 2005
Industry Event - ESL [Friendly] Conferences
"Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man." ~Sir Francis Bacon
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Posted by lhobbs at 07:35 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (2)
December 13, 2005
Recommended Resources - ESL Textbook Suggestions
"The greater part of the world's troubles are due to questions of grammar" ~Michel de Montaigne
Hello There ESL-Textbook Hunters!
This semester, based on a trusted recommendation, I tried the following grammar book (also covers punctuation and style) which (don't laugh!) is designed for North American eight-graders. I'd like to report, though, that I had a tremendous success with it.
The funny thing is, the rules for English don't change according to your age, and this friendly, unthreatening and very approachable guide to grammar worked well in my language writing class of twentysomethings. Plus, it was considerably cheap when compared to similar products (under $6.00 USD second-hand). The downside is that . . .
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Posted by lhobbs at 03:48 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (8)
December 11, 2005
Teaching ESL WITHOUT An Employer
"Early to bed, early to rise. Work like hell and advertise." ~Ted Turner
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Posted by lhobbs at 11:06 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (2)
December 09, 2005
Workplace Issues - The Problem with Private ESL Classes
"They're called lessons because they lessen from day to day." ~Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
How are your private lessons going this semester? I hope that they’re not anything like mine! Speaking of which, the topic of this entry is private ESL classes. I have talked to many ESL teachers about this topic, and it’s surprising to see how quickly the conversation can become heated. It seems that everyone has a strong opinion about whether or not a teacher can make a decent living giving them.
In the places I've taught ESL, salaries aren’t necessarily known to be top rate. After trying to live on the school’s salary, I eventually decided . . .
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Posted by lhobbs at 11:57 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack (2)
December 07, 2005
Comments on "ESL Instruct" - November
"If you have no critics you'll likely have no success." ~ Malcolm X
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Posted by lhobbs at 12:04 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (3)
December 06, 2005
ESL Job of the Week: Deadline Approaching
University of Arkansas has openings for a full-time TESL faculty position
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Posted by lhobbs at 08:35 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (1)
December 05, 2005
Industry Event - FYI: Upcoming Language Symposium
Symposium About Language and Society 2006 - Austin, Texas
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Posted by lhobbs at 11:03 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (5)
December 01, 2005
Workplace Issues - What Do You Do About Missed ESL Classes?
"The joys of meeting pay the pags of absence / Else who could bear it?" ~ Nicholas Rowe
Dear Readers,
Private lesson no-shows
Has this ever happened to you? You spent an hour preparing for a private class, then rush to get to it on time. You set up your props or whatever you will be using, then sit back and wait for your students to arrive. Ten minutes later, you're still waiting, but you have faith. After all, they've been late before. Twenty minutes later, you begin to get that "feeling," but decide to stick it out. Forty minutes later, which is exactly twenty minutes before the class is scheduled to end, you begin to pack up to go home.
If you work in a school, you may be silently cheering your luck. (Extra time to goof off!) But if this happens in a private class, you have . . .
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Posted by lhobbs at 08:13 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (3)
