Conversation Tip #1: The right attitude is key

Positive attitudes generate positive experiences Photo by Teresa Ling “In order to carry a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision.” -Tenzin Gyatso (1935- ) the 14th Dalai Lama So often our desire to have meaningful conversations overshadows the reason why we want to have them in the first place: to learn from others. Every time we interact with family, friends, acquaintances and...

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Newsmart: ESL Wall Street Journal

Language learners absorb English, journalism and current events Photo Source: Newsmart ““To look at the paper is to raise a seashell to one’s ear and to be overwhelmed by the roar of humanity.” -Alain de Botton (1969- ) Swiss-British writer The Wall Street Journal remains a popular source of news in the United States, teeming with a variety of breaking and analytical pieces. I first heard...

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Biscuit: mobile app to recall, learn, explore vocabulary words

Innovative technology allows students to absorb new vocabulary “The limits of my language means the limits of my world.” -Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Austrian-British philosopher Have you ever found a word you don’t know, jumped to your dictionary, tried to remember the spelling, typed it in, gotten the definition and promptly forgotten it? For avid language lovers and learners alike, this...

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Homophones Can Confuse: A Minor Mistake in Miner Valley

Why it is so important for English learners to tackle homophones in the classroom “For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.” ―Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), German writer English remains an often confusing and difficult language to learn (and teach!) for many reasons. For instance, the gap between a word’s spelling and its pronunciation often presents a...

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Do Our Students Need to Swim in English or Pass Grammar Tests?

Do our students need to swim in English? Or do they need to focus on avoiding  minor grammar mistakes? Should we encourage our students to speak as much English as possible? Or should we paralyze our students with exaggerated fears? Okay, these are rhetorical questions. Yet our ESL students – even advanced ESL students – don’t have to be perfect; they have to be understood. Alas,...

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