When I came to Kansai Gaidai last month, I had to start teaching TOEFL again, which I hadn't taught since prior to joining USC, and when my director raised the question of adapting the curriculum to a hybrid class that also includes "structure," I questioned whether the TOEFL still limited its scope to English. Of…
MEXTESOL 2019: Santiago de Querétaro, Estado de Querétaro, México
MEXTESOL marked my last conference of the 2019 calendar year. Somehow I pulled off three presentations of various mediums in the middle of the fall semester. I chose practical topics this time around--a demonstration on various styles of written corrective feedback, a poster session on computer assisted language teaching (CAPT) with MS Class Notebooks, and…
An informal introduction to American allophonic variation
This makes for a narrative introduction to the North American pronunciation of the intervocalic /ɾ/. she also touches on the difference between the Spanish and English varieties. As I began hearing Beto's name said by a variety of acquaintances and the national media, I noticed that often the pronunciation sounded just slightly off.Read more: What's…
Creative Writing in a Second Language — TESOL Blog
This is a topic that's near and dear to my heart, as someone who practices creative writing as a hobby. Another thing to consider is that poetry offers additional avenues for vocabulary learning. Poets employ a larger repertoire of words than writers of prose. Either way, it's something to consider in the EAP classroom. Many…
Discussion Boards in the Higher-Ed TESOL Classroom
... for the English-focused higher education classroom, discussion boards present a number of language-focused possibilities.
Call for Proposals: Southeast Regional TESOL Conference 2019
Sunshine State TESOL of Florida (SSTESOL), a state affiliate of TESOL International Association, is hosting the Southeast Regional TESOL Conference 2019 in Orlando, Florida on November 5-9 at the DoubleTree by Hilton (across from the Universal Studios).[...]The strands to which the proposals are being submitted are: K-12, adult education/ESL, EAP/IEP, teacher education, technology, advocacy/policy, or…
International Phonetic Alphabet on GBoard
This should expedite transcription exercises in pronunciation lessons. Goodbye copy/paste online keyboards. https://www.reddit.com/r/linguistics/comments/beh6v4/gboard_now_supports_ipa/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x
English Speaking and Presenting: How to stop using filler words like ‘um’ and ‘uh’ in your speech — BroadyELT
Running through several practice runs is the best way to eliminate filler words from a presentation, but if you're someone who suffers from severe performance anxiety, that might not be enough. https://youtu.be/P9FBMNOxLHo This topic is relevant for almost all language users, especially when we present and speak in front of groups. [...]My additional personal tip:…
New Mexico will pass bill requiring TESOL training for teachers
Rebecca Blum Martinez, the director of the bilingual and ESL program at the University of New Mexico, said having every educator qualified to teach English learners makes sense in New Mexico. It’s the same requirement California has because of its large number of immigrant students. What’s more, she believes PED is undercounting the number of…
Punctuating “So”
https://www.reddit.com/r/grammar/comments/bc7a2y/should_there_be_a_comma_after_overnight/ The distinction between "so" to mean "therefore" and "so" to mean "in order that" often goes unmentioned in ESL books, yet the two words require different punctuation. "So" the conjunction that expresses an expected result is a coordinating conjunction (one of the words comprising the mnemonic FANBOYS), and requires a comma to precede it,…
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