‘Teaching History With Film’ encourages use of film through examples, lesson plans
Photo source: Wikimedia Commons. Gone with the Wind and Birth of a Nation remain prominent examples of how films can capture an era–for better, or for worse. How and when to use film in classrooms, and why “The difference between life and the movies is that a script has to make sense, and life doesn’t.” -Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909-1993) American screenwriter Film remains a powerful, if...
Read MoreJames T. Keating’s “Writing Modern English” tackles the idiomatic, confusing and wrong
Source: Japanese Amazon Japanese English Learners and many English teachers can greatly benefit from this logical guide to clear, modern writing “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” –Mark Twain (1835-1910) American author and humorist How do you know if you’re doing “well” or if you’re doing “good?”...
Read More‘English is Stupid’ spotlights new teaching, learning approach
Source: Busy Teacher Judy Thompson discusses how to overcome English as a crazy language “English is a funny language that explains why we park our car on the driveway and drive our car on the parkway.” ―American saying ESL teacher and pronunciation maven Judy Thompson’s new book boasts a surprising title: English is Stupid. Yet as her introduction and examples unfold, she does make a compelling...
Read More“English in Los Angeles” inspires conversation with splashes of color
Source: Amazon Piera Fumagalli fuses vocabulary, grammar and idioms with LA “People cut themselves off from their ties of the old life when they come to Los Angeles. They are looking for a place where they can be free, where they can do things they couldn’t do anywhere else.” ―Tom Bradley (1917-1998) Former Mayor of Los Angeles Do you have a California dream? What about a Los...
Read MoreSavvy Tips to Score Higher on the TOEFL iBT Speaking Section
What do you do with a problem like the TOEFL iBT test? For worse or for better, the TOEFL test remains the standard assessment of English for international students planning to attend American colleges and universities. As a result, many international ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) students often adopt the TOEFL test scores to self-assess their own ability in English too. Of course,...
Read MoreWhat Three Tips Would You Share with Novice ESL / EFL Teachers?
What three tips would offer new a ESL/EFL teacher? Hall Houston, author of Provoking Thought: Memory and Thought in ELT, posed this question to several prominent English language trainers and teachers last year. Sean Banville, Russell Stannard, Chia Suan Chong, Nik Peachey, Scott Thornbury, and myself replied. (Naturally, I feel grateful to be included with these far more notable and...
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