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Was your Four-week TEFL Course Worth it?

david — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:41:54 GMT

By David Vincent

The four-week TEFL course, a starting point for so many of us in our careers as English teachers. But is it really worth it?

What do we really gain from these short, intensive courses that can’t possibly hope to adequately prepare us for a career in teaching? A great deal, it would seem, according to the poll that ran on the blog and the forum.

Firstly, and most importantly judging by how many suggested this, the initial teacher training course provides a good foundation on which to build.

I started the ball rolling, stating the following:

‘It didn’t in any way prepare me for a full-time teaching position, but I can’t imagine having had to go into a classroom for the first time without having done it.’

Emma, a forum member currently embroiled in her initial training course, perceptively notes, ‘I imagine it’s like passing your driving test. You only really learn to drive properly afterwards.’ Spiral78 adds, ‘a good course is a pretty essential starter - not that certified teachers are professionals, but that they’ve got a decent idea of how to start. The course got me started on a stronger foot than I’d have had without it.’ Denise further reiterates:

‘It alone would not have gotten me to where I am now, but it was a crucial first step. It taught me the basics and I went on from there. I can’t imagine how my first teaching job would have gone without a certificate (if they would even have hired me without one). I learned a lot about how to plan, organize, and deliver a lesson.’

Canuck is another who shares the notion, ‘that the one month courses offer a foundation to build upon, maybe provide information about what someone currently does in their class now and reinforces good techniques.’ GueroPaz and Mishmumkin further exemplify, GueroPaz noting, ‘it helped me immensely; I would have been lost without it,’ while Mishmumkin adds, ‘I had been teaching a year before doing it, but it really taught me a lot about lesson planning, what to expect, how to talk less/listen more.’ Guy Courchesne reinforces the idea that 4 week courses should be seen as a foundation and that development is required after:

‘I took it without having any serious or immediate expectations of going abroad… I eventually did, about 6 months later. I completed my course in Canada and as it was geared towards teaching in Korea, I found I had to study further and learn ‘on the fly’ when I started teaching in Mexico.

Increased opportunity in the local job market is another advantage that was mentioned. Chimp Guevara asserts that, ‘it opened the door to better jobs for me in Japan, and gave me a good grounding in the basics so that I continue learning when I got back.’

Another potential advantage of the four-week training course is that it will effectively indicate those who are clearly not up to it. spiral78 exemplifies, ‘I think the courses can also be useful for weeding out people who genuinely aren’t cut out for the job - for example, if a trainee can’t show up on time every day, looking reputable, he/she’s going to crash and burn early in a contract anyway.’

It would seem, therefore, that these initial teacher training courses hold a lot of value. Never the less, Jerry was one who, validly, raised issue with an inadequate learning environment as reason for a course not being worth what was paid:

‘I would say it wasn’t worth the money. I say this because the course was delivered on a shoestring in less than acceptable premises with virtually no frills (coffee, water, working computers). The (course provider’s) websites are very misleading with respect to training environment.’

So, certain courses may be lacking in areas outside the experience you’ll gain in terms of teacher training. These are definitely things to consider when choosing a course, an issue we’ll return to later. Despite this feeling of dissatisfaction, Jerry goes on to note, ‘the course content was delivered well by the trainer and was comprehensive so in that respect it was “worthwhile”.’

Another factor relating to whether or not a particular course is worth the investment is related to what you gain from being in a particular location. This particular aspect caused some disagreement, with suggestions made in support of doing the course in an exotic foreign locale or at a location in your home country. Spiral78 led the cry for taking the course in the country where you’re thinking of teaching, listing the following benefits:

-You can get your feet wet in the country/culture while you still have a support system - training centers will usually arrange for your housing during the course, pick you up at the airport, and generally offer you some kind of local orientation. -Your practice teaching students will be representative of those you’ll be working with when you start. -A good training centre can give you invaluable info regarding reputable employers in a region. -You can be sure that your cert will be recognized by regional employers.

Jerry, in contrast, notes the benefits of doing the course in your home country:

-When you set up a course online in the country you will work in can you be sure of the provider? -Is their course moderated? -Can you have your certificate notarized in that country? -What’s the validity of the certificate? -What’s the local reputation of the course provider? -What’s the training environment like? -Will you be picked up at the airport? I wasn’t, a pre-course orientation meeting was convened and conducted by a previous student who felt it was her moral duty to make sure new students were not left out on a limb as she had been. -Long term, is the certificate any use in another country or region?

Jerry also notes that this won’t necessarily help you in getting used to the type of student you’ll be teaching, suggesting, ‘As for getting to know the type of student, the lessons are so heavily teacher orientated and regimented you don’t get near to learning about them or understanding them.’

In terms of it being worthwhile, there was more agreement when it came to the notion of finding out about your course in advance, with spiral78 suggesting the following checklist:

-How long has the course been operating - under current management? -What qualifications do the trainers have? -What support will the centre guarantee? -Will the centre allow you to contact current trainees? -I’d also send a very brief email to several employers in the area asking whether certification from course X is well-looked-upon.

Spiral78 further exemplifies the disparity between courses, noting, ‘there are a couple of 60-hour courses without teaching practice which are given as seminars using classrooms at universities - but which are NOT considered to be basic level certifications in many parts of the world.’ Indeed, deciding on whether or not a course will be worth it, finding out what the course will include seems to be vital, Canuck asserting that, ‘the only 4 week course someone should take is one that is 120 hours with a practical teaching component. The CELTA and 120 hour TEFL have this. I don’t think an online course can measure up. I also believe that the ‘every weekend’ CELTA isn’t as valuable as the one month all at once type.’

So, generally such courses are seen by the majority as being a good thing, providing as good a foundation in teaching as possible in a short space of time. The experience you gain will open doors in terms of job opportunities and will give you a pretty clear indication if you’re not up to the task.

There are also clear benefits to the location at which you take the course, depending on what your needs may be. Having said that, it’s clear that there are major disparities between the quality of such courses and doing some research before hand will pay dividends.

One final thing to consider if you’re thinking of doing such a course is the group you’re likely to end up teaching. For example, in many countries this might end up being primarily children. Leprofdanglais comments, ‘the only thing is it trains you to teach adults, but where I was working in Spain, new staff always got lumbered with kids’ classes.’ GueroPaz reiterates, ‘here in Thailand and in most places in the world, you teach lots of kids. That’s my main complaint against any adult-oriented course.’ So, even at the initial, four-week starter course stage, think about how specifically the course is going to meet your potential needs.

Use and distribution of this article is permitted subject to no changes being made to the content and the original author’s information (About the Author) must be included with appropriate hyperlinks/URL references in place.

About the Author

If you liked this, read more great articles at the free ELT World journal. Keep up to date with the latest TEFL news at ELT World News. Want to learn more about teaching, here’s a great FAQ.

Nintendo Wii in the Classroom | ESL Technology

brepaige246 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:29:30 GMT

This is a site that talks about how the nintendo wii is used for ESL students and average students to help one another with language barriers.

Bookmark this on Delicious - Saved by brepaige246 to nintendo wii ESL Language - More about this bookmark

This item provided by Delicious/tag/wii

School district revises its English Language Learners program �?� - Cape Coral Daily Breeze

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:09:55 GMT

School district revises its English Language Learners program …
Cape Coral Daily Breeze, FL -20 hours ago
By MCKENZIE CASSIDY, mcassidy@breezenewspapers.com It could be more important than ever for Lee County students to learn a foreign language such as Spanish …
School briefs: Theater offers discounts for 'Glass Menagerie'The News-Press
all 2 news articles

more: continued here

If you like this post, please buy me a beer for $3 8-)

Foreign language policy to be implemented in schools - Jamaica Gleaner

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:09:49 GMT

Jamaica Gleaner

Foreign language policy to be implemented in schools
Jamaica Gleaner, Jamaica -Sep 29, 2008
He noted that foreign languages are difficult to learn as one gets older, and the ministry will therefore be focussing on the school level. …

More: continued here

If you like this post, please buy me a beer for $3 8-)

New TEFL articles September 08 Part Two

Alex Case — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:27:17 GMT

As this batch is nowhere near the size of September Part One, let’s start by padding out a little with a link to an interesting newspaper article on speed dating adapted for language learning, shall we?

Right, as that was the only article of interest I could find that was even vaguely connected to TEFL, down to business with links to the more serious stuff I’ve been writing elsewhere when not distracted by attempts at humour on this blog:

15 variations on TEFL boardgames

15 ways of simplifying your classroom language

15 more ways of simplifying your classroom language

Yet another 15 ways to make sure your students understand you

Almost certainly the final 15 ways of avoiding classroom misunderstandings

15 ways to adapt a textbook with too much stuff in it

15 more ways to cope with an overloaded textbook

Yet another 15 ways of dealing with a textbook that is packed full of material

15 ways of coping with a textbook that is too easy

15 more ways of using a textbook that is too low level for your class

That’s all for September, which seems a bit slack I know when everyone else is just getting down to business. If you want more of the same, or even better stuff I was writing before I became obsessed with adapting textbooks, have a look at:

All my stuff on UsingEnglish.com

TEFL.net TEFL articles (that enough TEFL for yer?)

TEFL.net Idea Thinktank

Or if you are a glutton for punishment:

My full list of publications with links

Learning and Teaching Languages Through Content: A counterbalanced Approach

Maria — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:49:31 GMT

From the Preface: This book is intended for graduate courses in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition or for advanced levels of undergraduate teacher education programs. I hope also that practicing teachers will read the book as a source of professional development, as well as other educators, curriculum designers, and administrators working in a variety of second language instructional settings, whether content-based or not. While the book aims to enable educators in immersion and content-based classrooms to consider ways of integrating more focus on language, I hope as well that it will inspire educators in traditional language classrooms to consider integrating more content-based instruction as a means of enriching classroom discourse.

We want to teach English in China | Where do we start?

Jean Chesterton — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:36:30 GMT

Dear Jean,

My husband and I are mature-aged (58 and 60 this year), and both of us are thinking of going over to China next year. We would like to teach conversational English, after my husband finishes his
degree in Naturopathy and Complimentary Medicine.

I finished my degree a couple of years ago, in Mass Communication, majoring in Public Relations. My husband will finish his degree at the end of July 2009.

As I have never been overseas, I wonder about how we would get on over there, as we don’t speak Chinese. I am also wondering about the living conditions, working conditions, how wages for ESL jobs in China compares with Australian wages (to determine whether or not it is worthwhile doing it).

Also, neither of us have teaching qualifications. Does this matter with Conversational English?

Which website/s do you endorse as being completely honest in their advertisements for Australian ESL teachers?

Pam

Jean answers Pam’s question on Ask Jean About China

Dear Pam,

First, congratulations on thinking about teaching in China at your ‘mature’ age. You must have a great spirit of adventure and I hope that you have the chance to come and enjoy this wonderful culture.

Regarding your concern about your lack of Chinese language skills, I would venture to say that the vast majority of teachers who come to teach in China for their first time can barely even say hello in Mandarin. These days, there are plenty of people who speak English in China and if you find a decent place to teach English, the school administration should be able to help you with everything that you need.

When I first taught in China, I had no college degree at all; only a TESOL certificate. If you and your husband have degrees, you should have no problem finding work. Teaching qualifications would be ‘icing on the cake’ but they are not necessary in China.

I would like to make one suggestion. If you come to China to teach, don’t do it for the money because you will probably be dissappointed. While an average foreign teacher’s salary is 5-10 times the local average wage in China, you cannot possibly compare what a foreign teacher makes here to what an Australian makes teaching. In other words, you are not going to get rich teaching English in China but you should be able to live quite comfortably and perhaps even save some money depending on how much you travel and party.

The only website that we endorse is one of our own websites which contains almost everything you need to know about teaching English in China. The address of this website is http://www.EnglishJobsinChina.com. I would suggest that you start there for more detailed answers to all of your questions. In terms of finding a place to teach, you need to do your own due diligence. You can start by checking out our ESL job board. If you find a school that you are interested in, look around on the Internet to find out what others are saying about that school.

In closing, I would like to encourage you by telling you that there are plenty of people your age who are teaching in China. Many schools are even more interested in hiring couples because of increased stability. I hope that you choose to go because you will never regret it.

Sincerely,

Jean

Ask Jean about China is a weekly feature on TeachAbroadChina.com. We welcome any questions related to living and working in China. Feel free to submit your questions by clicking here. We look forward to hearing from you.

Too much English spoken in Europe?

david — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:53:47 GMT

The European Day of Languages on 26th September has prompted some to ask whether we need to re-assess the dominance of the English language in Europe, and in the European economy. Should there be a linguistic tax on English speakers?

Read the full story…

Teaching multiple languages to children in Lebanon: How soon is too soon for little minds?

david — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:11:17 GMT

It is still early in the morning, but the children at the lou&lo preschool in Hamra’s Wardieh district are already very busy. In the school’s various motor, language, art and music centers different groups of girls and boys aged 10 months to 3 years identify the colors of their modeling clay in French and the days of the week in English, and sing songs in both languages.

Read the full story…

What to Pack and How Much to Bring When Going Abroad to Teach

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:00:07 GMT

This advice is for males and females alike, however, females will naturally end up with more in their pack.

Here is a quick list of what to bring:

1) Deodorant: a lot of countries tend not to use this as much as we do in western society and it is therefore sometimes scarce and usually very expensive
2) Shaving cream and razors: if you are going anywhere in Asia, you will have a hard time coming across these items, as Asians are generally not very hairy people
3) Your own towel: towels are generally smaller in Asia for example
4) Your own pillow: for those who are picky about having their own pillow that is. Don�??t pack it in your bag, but bring it as carry on �?? it will be handy when you are on the plane trying to sleep
5) Work clothes: for men: A few pairs of casual/dressy pants and a couple of shirts that you can rotate. For women: skirts, dress pants, and blouses.
6) Clothes for each season: depending on where you go, you might need to pack some warm clothes for the winter, including a jacket, gloves and a tuk (a winter hat for all non- Canadians)
7) Medication: if you need medication, ask your doctor for a year�??s supply or make sure that the country you are going to has what you need
8) A little taste of home: be it Kraft Dinner or your favorite cereal, comfort food from home will make you feel a little less homesick
9) A gift for your new boss: goes a long way �?? great first impressions are always a good way to start a new job

*Remember that if you do forget something, it can most likely be found wherever you are and if not, mailed to you. Also remember that bringing too much stuff is not always a bad thing, as it is usually cheaper (and faster), to send home rather than to send them to wherever you are.

Here is an example of what Korean Air will allow you to bring on the plane:

Dimensions of 55*40*20 (cm)
Total dimension 115cm or less.
Economy Class Total of two pieces per Pax.
Each piece must be under 23kg(50lbs)

(The sum of the dimensions of the two bags should not exceed 273cm)

Toyo Gakuen students and teachers participate in English language conferences

Mr. Stout (noreply@blogger.com) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:41:00 GMT

Autumn is a busy season for language learners and teachers in Japan. Many conferences are held in Autumn. Next Sunday The 3rd JALT Joint Tokyo Conference will be held at Toyo Gakuen's Hongo campus. Last year, the 2nd JALT Joint Tokyo Conference was held at Toyo Gakuen University and some Togaku students attended. They enjoyed it very much. Please read this comment by a Togaku student about last year's conference.

Toyo Gakuen students and teachers are participating in PAC7 at JALT2008 too.

In November, Togaku students and teachers will be participating in the ETJ Tokyo Expo. The ETJ Tokyo Expo will be held at Toyo Gakuen Hongo campus. I will be making a presentation I hope you'll come.

Toyo Gakuen students and teachers are working hard to make learning and teaching English better in Japan!!

Mexican immigrants receive education with funds from Mexico

Donajih- (noreply@blogger.com) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:33:00 GMT

I had never heard of this program and wonder if they have one here in Houston to maybe volunteer. Education is the path to success and it is a worldwide-right and it should not matter if Mexico is funding programs for Mexicans in the US. Kudos to those who have taken advantage of programs like Plaza Comunitaria which help immigrants graduate with an equivalent of a Mexican high school diploma.

I am mostly surprised this story was written in GA, having seen and felt the anti-immigrant sentiment in Georgia, Columbus is south of Atlanta and close to an Army Infantry training camp where I visited to attend an Army graduation of one of my cousins who is currently completing his 12-month "tour"(that's what he calls it) in Irak.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mexico quietly helps emigrants to US learn Spanish

By Laura Wides Munoz

The Ledger Enquirer (Columbus, GA),

September 24, 2008

For more than a decade, as the immigration debate has swelled on both sides of the border, the Mexican government has been quietly providing money, materials and even teachers to American schools, colleges and nonprofit organizations.
The programs aren't substitutes for U.S. curricula, but educators familiar with them say they provide a lifeline for adult students with little formal education by helping them become literate in Spanish - and by extension, English.
Yet many educators are wary of even talking about the programs, fearing they might stoke an anti-immigrant backlash.
The Mexican government, which spends more than $1 million annually on the programs, has many reasons to provide the aid to the immigrants and their children. The programs allow it to give back to the growing number of Mexicans living legally and illegally in the U.S. Behind oil, remittances from these individuals are the second-largest source of foreign income for the Mexican economy - almost $24 billion last year.
'We don't want the Mexicans in the exterior to feel like milk cows being expressed for the resources they were sending back,' said Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, head of the Mexican government's Institute for Mexicans Abroad, which oversees most of the programs.
Mexicans abroad need an education to represent the country well, he said.
'The image and prestige of Mexico is inextricably linked to the image and prestige of these communities in the U.S.,' Gonzalez said.
He also acknowledged that many of the adult participants are likely illegal immigrants, a group the U.S. government doesn't want to allow to stay, let alone have to support.
'Mexican involvement in American public education is another symptom of how things are different than the Ellis Island era,' said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks to limit immigration. 'With technology, distance doesn't really matter. You never really leave the old country behind.'
Krikorian said the U.S. shouldn't rely on Mexico to help integrate immigrants.
'Both the public and a lot of lawmakers want immigration on the cheap,' he said. 'Contracting out to the Mexican government is a cop-out.'
Such responses are exactly what educators fear might take the few educational opportunities away from people like Alfredo Ortiz, 43, of Chattanooga, Tenn., who came to the U.S. from the state of Chiapas with a third-grade education in 1992 and began picking cucumbers before becoming a landscaper. For years, he says, he didn't have time to study, but more than that, the thought of re-entering school terrified him.
Then he heard about a new program called 'Plaza Comunitaria,' or Community Plaza, at Chattanooga State Technical College, where he could study Mexican elementary and middle school subjects online, with assistance from volunteers who receive stipends from Mexico. That seemed less daunting than jumping directly into English, and he quickly enrolled.
Much to his surprise, he was soon confident enough to study an hour a night in Spanish and an hour a night in English, earning his middle school diploma from Mexico along the way.
'When I achieved understanding of the Spanish and how to conjugate those verbs, it was so much easier to understand how to conjugate in English,' he said. 'It also sets an example for my kids. They see I struggled, so they should reach even farther.'
Plaza Comunitaria is the Mexican government's biggest educational export program. It began in 2002 in San Diego and now operates at 370 sites in 35 states from Oregon to Florida, providing $1 million in grants. But it's not the only one. Mexico also donates nearly 10,000 Spanish-language school books a year to U.S. academic institutions and community centers, sends more than 100 teachers to the U.S. to teach summer classes and has a pilot program with the University of Texas to help immigrant students receive U.S. credit for classes they took in Mexico, among other programs. Gonzalez said the costs of most of those programs were mostly in-kind and did not have the numbers.
Sonia Jaramillo, who has helped coordinate Plaza Comunitaria programs through California's Monterey County Office of Education, says experiences like Ortiz's are common. Many of her adult students come in for the Mexican classes because they feel more comfortable, but they quickly move on to English, or even courses in parenting and computers.
In western Oregon, the Estacada School District is using the online classes not just for adults but to help immigrant teens keep up with other subjects as they learn English.
'There's all this curriculum online. It's interactive, it's pretty cool, and it's free,' said Joni Tabler, a former ESL teacher turned charter school principal. 'A lot of their curriculum is a lot higher level than what we teach.'
In St. Lucie County, along Florida's eastern coast, public school superintendent Michael Landon said the district was thrilled to receive crates of free textbooks from Mexico. They aren't part of the curriculum, but students can use them while they learn English or Spanish.
Across the state in Clearwater, near Tampa, the Mexican government has paid for several teachers to offer the young children of immigrants summer enrichment classes at a community center. On a hot summer day, the students skipped to the tune of traditional Mexican jigs before learning Spanish stories.
Juan Carlos Baldizar, 10, of Clearwater, was born in the U.S. but has shuttled between the two countries with his parents, both indigenous Mayans. He said the classes are cool because he learns 'new stuff about Mexico,' things his parents tried to tell him but he never really paid attention to, like the Mayan calendar.
Juan Carlos said being able to practice his written Spanish also helped him feel more comfortable at home and at school.
'If your mom was born in Mexico, and like the children are born in the United States, you have to learn two cultures,' he said. 'It's confusing sometimes.'
The Mexican government is not the only foreign government to provide educational assistance in the U.S. France, for instance, has provided resources for years, and Japan offers books and other materials through the Japanese Foundation.
But neither country supplies anywhere near the number of immigrants Mexico sends to the U.S. each year, and their target populations tend to be more affluent and better educated, making them far less likely targets for anti-immigration sentiment.
In St. Lucie, angry e-mails and letters to the editor bombarded the school following reports of the donated Mexican texts after some local media mistakenly reported the books were replacing standard Florida texts. The controversy eventually died down.
Tabler faced a similar backlash in Oregon, at least at first.
'We don't want to get into political issues. We just want to educate kids,' she said. 'And if the curriculum from Mexico is a good tool for us to be successful, then we're going to use it.'

This item provided by DREAM ACT - TEXAS

Teaching Kids to Spell For Dummies

stovokor — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:50:12 GMT

Filled with enjoyable spelling activities and exercises. The fun and easy way to help your K-5th grader become an A+ speller. If you want to make spelling easier for your child or boost spelling skills and confidence, you've come to the right place. Veteran reading specialist Tracey Wood gives you tips, games, exercises, word lists, and memory aids to help your child build solid spelling know-how. Her techniques are fun, fast, and effective, and best of all, they're not boring! Discover how to: - A Mix spelling practice with reading and writing - Spell short and long vowel words - Make spelling easier with word families - Gain insight into "sight" words Break spelling into syllable chunks Although this book is aimed at parents, it is a quick and easy tool for teachers as well. I have seen several ideas that can be used in my kindergarten classroom and shared with parents to use at home. The book also covers severl levels from beginning spellers to higher levels. If you want your child to win the national spelling bee this probably isnt the book you need but if you want simple explanations of fairly hard spellings this is a great book. You get lists of words with tricky sounds in them and a lot of word families and its all explained in easy terms. I have taught my child many of the lists and will keep going.

President Lacks Specific Steps to Promote Wider Use of English

John Segota — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:43:55 GMT

South Korea: A professor said Wednesday that President Lee Myung-bak's initiative to promote wider use of practical English is a step in the right direction but it lacked specifics in achieving that goal. Myongji University Professor Ahn Young-sup made this point in a seminar Wednesday to celebrate the launch of the English Newspapers in Education Society of Korea (ENIES) at the Kwanhun Club for senior journalists in Seoul.

Read the full story

Filipinos �??more able�?? operators of ESL schools

John Segota — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:46:48 GMT

Philippines: If a foreign linguist will have his way, schools offering English as Second Language (ESL) courses in the Philippines should be run by Filipinos. Dr. Paul Robertson, chief executive officer of Asian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Journal, noted the proliferation of ESL schools in Cebu, a development that occurred with the increasing number of Korean nationals in the province.

Read the full story

Too much English spoken in Europe?

Tomiko Chapman — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:36:12 GMT

Europe: The European Day of Languages on 26 September has prompted some to ask whether we need to re-assess the dominance of the English language in Europe, and in the European economy. Should there be a linguistic tax on English speakers?

Read the full story

Teaching multiple languages to children in Lebanon: How soon is too soon for little minds?

Tomiko Chapman — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:37:49 GMT

Lebanon: It is still early in the morning, but the children at the lou&lo preschool in Hamra's Wardieh district are already very busy. In the school's various motor, language, art and music centers different groups of girls and boys aged 10 months to 3 years identify the colors of their modeling clay in French and the days of the week in English, and sing songs in both languages.

Read the full story

English in Urban Classrooms: A Multimodal Perspective on Teaching and Learning

englishcology — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:42:01 GMT

In this ground breaking text, the authors span a range of issues central to contemporary school English. They collectively examine how English is shaped by policy, by institutions, and by the social relations of the classroom. By connecting policy and social context, the book provides a detailed account of factors such as the characteristics of urban multi-cultural schools, teacher formation and tradition, the ethos of School English departments, and the institutional changes that have shaped school English in urban classrooms and students' experiences of learning.

Advice for a New ESL Teacher?

David (david@eltworld.net) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:11:00 GMT

'When you first arrive in your assigned country, the first few minutes can be shocking. The air smells different, the people surging around you are likely different, the looks of buildings and storefronts and wares for sale may all be different' notes Douglas Anderson in his article 'Advice for a New ESL Teacher' over on the ELT Times online TEFL newspaper. R ead on...

Iraq and United States: Strike Brigade Delivers English School Books

david — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:48:51 GMT

With a new school year approaching, Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), are reaching out to the schools in northwest Baghdad as part of a School Partnership Program. The Strike Brigade began the program as part of a way to build educational capacity within northwest Baghdad through communication and donations of English school books and supplies. They gathered more than 10,000 English language teaching aids and supplies as donations to the Ministry of Education in northwest Baghdad.

Read the full story…