Redefining Success – and Staying Optimistic
Sometimes we have to redefine success in our English language classrooms. Sometimes we disappoint ourselves, sometimes our ESL students disappoint us – and sometimes school administrators disappoint us. ESL and EFL teachers, often underpaid and overworked, have to deal with high expectations, numerous classroom frustrations, and stay focused on improving student skills. Working with mixed...
Read MoreWhat will I learn today?
Consider me psyched. I’m going to a huge conference of ELT, EFL, and ESL professionals today in Vietnam’s White Palace. The 4th-annual VUS-TESOL conference program is full, and I expect to hear many more teaching tips for working with Vietnamese students who want to learn English, but are often reluctant to speak. I’m particularly interested in hearing about successful...
Read MoreStandardized Exams: Ends or Means?
We Just Want a High TOEFL Score! Students often need solid TOEFL scores to study abroad, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Naturally, this need – and ambition – often makes reaching a certain number on the TOEFL exam as the goal of their English studies. Unfortunately, sometimes these imperfect standardized exams – all attempts to measure...
Read MoreTwo More Steps Forward
Today is a good day. For the first time ever, an English teacher used Compelling Conversations for English Language Learners in Vietnam in an EFL/ESL classroom. Emily, a close friend and fine teacher, used the modified “going beyond hello” chapter with advanced English students with considerable success. Consider me pleased. Second, I had a chance to actually review a physical copy...
Read MoreWhat do you look for in an apartment?
What do you look for in an apartment? How do you turn a physical space into a home? Everybody lives somewhere. Yet, as we know, not all homes are created equal – especially in the developing world with vast inequalities. Since I don’t speak the local language in Ho Chi Minh City, I have become far more reliant on fellow English teachers, co-workers, new friends, and real estate...
Read MoreDo You Really Use Youtube in Your EFL Classes? How?
Do you use You Tube in Your EFL classes? How? Absolutely! Like so many other English teachers, I begin teaching with student interests and habits in mind. Of course, I also want to take them from the old and familiar to new and unfamiliar while improving their English language skills. You Tube remains a powerful classroom tool to achieve that goal. I’ve used YouTube to have students...
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