EF reports decline of French EPI
Declining EPI attributable to lack of exposure Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons “French students report lower levels of exposure to English in everyday life than any other Europeans polled. Exposure to a foreign language has been found repeatedly to be one of the strongest contributors to increased fluency.” -EF Report Education First (EF), an international education company, compiled its third...
Read MoreProceed with Caution: Gender-Neutral and Plural Pronouns
How to approach pronouns in English class “The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it.” ―Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) American journalist How unfortunate it is that English has no gender-neutral pronoun, one to use when saying “he or she” is either too tedious or ambiguous. John McWhorter of the New Republic argues in this article that in fact...
Read MoreVietnam Embraces English Classes – and Looks for Communicative English Teachers
My recent trip to Vietnam to meet English teachers and lead a professional development seminar at the American-Pacific University, Vietnam lead to many wonderful moments and a few surprising conversations. Teaching English in developing countries always poses challenges, and Vietnam falls into that category. Lt me share a few selective details to provide a brief introduction to education...
Read MoreHow Many American Adults Can Not Read This Blog? Can Not Read?
Illiteracy, the inability to turn abstract symbols called letters into meaningful words, should be a vanishing problem. Unfortunately, in the United States, adult illiteracy remains quite widespread. How many American adults can’t even read this blog? How many American adults can’t read a simple newspaper article, understand warning labels, or write an effective complaint letter?...
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