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| By Joe Snowdon |
06/29/09 |
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You've seen ESLFocus.com's "Might See's". Quirky, unexpected, or just unusual describes our previous foray into ten places to entertain the adventuresome traveler. The following get our nod for round two: See one or see more than one of the next ten if you can. |
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| EFL Overseas |
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| 06/24/09 |
 If you want to teach English abroad and are looking for a culturally diverse experience without sacrificing the creature comforts that life in America offers, then Japan might be a choice worth considering. |
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| 06/15/09 |
 Teach in China, now! If you’re considering a move to the Far East, don’t think too much, go and go now! Adopt some of that, you’ll-figure-out-as-you-go attitude and do it. Everything will fall into place once you’re there, by that time, it kind of has to. My program took me to Shenzhen, Guangdong, C... |
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| 06/14/09 |
| Don’t believe what you hear. Everyone told me I was crazy to teach in the Middle East. Realize that many people’s perception of the region is based on what they see on television. The area is filled with amazing geography, friendly people, and archeological sites that rival anything you’ve seen in ... |
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| 06/11/09 |
 “Miss Candace, Miss Candace!” was the call I’d hear while walking through the plaza in Morne-a-L’eau—my town on the French island of Guadeloupe. I’d turn to see one of my students eagerly waving, pointing me out to a parent and telling them I was their English teacher. |
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| 06/08/09 |
 To the east of Germany, and the southwest of Poland and to the north of Austria and Hungary lies a country (now two) that many in the “west” had nearly forgotten up until 1989—Czechoslovakia, which peacefully separated into its constituent countries in 1993. For people from countries of Anglo-Saxon... |
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| 06/05/09 |
 Teaching English in a foreign country can be one of the most rewarding experiences of a lifetime and is a vital component in helping bring people together from very different cultures. However, before earning a teaching credential, choosing the country where you want to teach, and packing up your li... |
| ESL USA |
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| 04/26/09 |
 This year’s annual CATESOL conference in Pasadena in mid-April hosted two workshops centered on generation 1.5, those students, who, in many cases, have been living in the U.S. since an early age, are not necessarily fluent in their “home” language, yet don’t exhibit English skills commonly thought ... |
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| 04/13/09 |
 The US has an enormous English as a Second Language industry, with language schools in all of the major American cities. Many classes in the U.S. are immersion programs comprised of multilingual groups of adult students, an interesting challenge that can inspire creative teaching. |
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| 04/02/09 |
| Living in the United States with the express purpose of studying English is on the minds of many ESL (English as a Second Language) students around the world. English continues to blossom as the global language of business, academia, and communication, drawing more and more learners to language scho... |
| TESOL |
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| 05/09/09 |
| Warming up the crowd at the 40th annual mid-April annual CATESOL conference with examples of English “bloopers,” from the likes of politicians and newspapers, educator H. Douglas Brown shared a San Francisco Chronicle headline that read, “For molesting kids, man is sentenced to English lessons,” and... |
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| 05/02/09 |
| California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL) www.catesol.org is an organization that offers support to Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages throughout California and Nevada in the USA. It was founded in 1969 and is a nonprofit organization open to anyone conc... |
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| 04/20/09 |
| Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL, or often called English as a Second Language, ESL) can be a highly rewarding career, offering you the opportunity to live and work abroad. There is also a strong industry in English language instruction here in the United States and in other En... |
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| 04/12/09 |
| Incorporated in 1966, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL), is a global association for English language teaching professionals headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, USA. TESOL encompasses a network of approximately 60,000 educators worldwide, consisting of more than 14,... |
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| 04/02/09 |
 E-mail allows us to bridge distances instantly. The cell-phone does the same and adds voice. Add the dimension of image and we have a web-cam. Combine the image and voice into a single device that sits nicely on your desk and you have a device that looks much like a regular telephone with a few addi... |
| Professional Development |
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| 05/31/09 |
| Sometimes with the learner-centered approach to teaching, we teachers may forget that we must still maintain control of the class in order to assure that each student gets his or her fair share of the learning experience. For instance, what to do about the cute couple, young man and young woman, in ... |
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| 05/27/09 |
| What is Concept Checking? Concept checking is a technique used by the teacher during the lesson that involves the language learner in the process of discovering and understanding language. It often follows on from eliciting (see Eliciting), but can also be used whenever new words/ terms/ concepts h... |
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| 05/21/09 |
| What is Eliciting? Synonyms: searching, drawing out, discovering, realizing, understanding. Eliciting is a technique used by the teacher during the lesson that involves the language learner in the process of discovering and understanding language. Anything in the lesson can be elicited: vocabulary... |
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| 04/24/09 |
| You’ve got what you think is a great activity for your ESL students. You prepare them to do it. You’re enthusiastic and motivated about your class. And then—your students don’t take to it. |
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| 04/16/09 |
| A common issue that teachers have to deal with is how to correct student errors. No-one likes being corrected; however, the school and the parents often demand it, and students themselves will complain that a teacher doesn’t correct them enough. So how can you create a win-win situation? |
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| 04/08/09 |
| There are many ways to give feedback on your learners’ written work. The most important guideline, however, is to consider just how much to correct. Low-level learners may become demoralized by over-correction. Using a red pen to excessively mark up a paper that the learner has struggled to produce,... |
| News |
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| 04/23/09 |
 Despite its great influence on the energy that drives all of Western life, Saudi Arabia remains something of an enigma. The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), named after its benefactor, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, is an ambitious, multi-billion dollar, 36,000,000 square... |
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| 04/20/09 |
 Instigating a debate sure to raise partisan hackles in a time of immigration rights controversy and immigration reform, Arizona now finds itself about to receive a ruling on the general issue of State's rights versus the federal mandate that state education must include English language training. A... |
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| 04/17/09 |
| On April 15th of this year, Rosetta Stone went public with an IPO of some $115M. Today the Wall Street Journal reports that with a rise in price of 40%, the offering has become the second most successful such offering of the year. |
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| 04/15/09 |
| ESL leader Rosetta Stone has filed an initial public offering (IPO) for nearly $115M. Rosetta Stone (NYSE: RST) filed with the SEC for 6.25 million of common stock at $18.00 per share. |
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| 04/01/09 |
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| Travel |
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| 06/19/09 |
 Top-Ten, "must-see" articles abound so we ventured off the beaten path for ten "might-sees". For something just a little bit different, something a little further from the crowds and tourist attractions, we've compiled a list of ten places, some harder than others to get, that just might deserve yo... |
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| 05/28/09 |
 If you've ever wondered where the most weird and wonderful places in the world are, we have them. These are places where Soviet style communism still exists or where you can visit an indoor ski resort...in the desert! Read on for a number of places that might (or might not) deserve a visit! |
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| 04/13/09 |
 The combination of global economic slowdown and regional political protest spells dim prospects for Thailand's tourism industry. |
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| 04/13/09 |
 The Carribean island nation of Cuba's checkered political past and controversial human rights record has made it off-limits for US travelers for decades, while it's own off-limits domestic policy -- for example, citizens are punished with five years prison time for unathorized use of the Internet --... |
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| 04/12/09 |
 Arrive at a bus station in a foreign city at midnight and no one understands English, where do you go? |
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| 04/10/09 |
| Ever find yourself in that situation where you are travelling overseas and you wish someone would tell you exactly what to take with you; do, see and say while there; and the best things to buy to bring home after? Well here's that list if you're going to Japan. |
| Arts |
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| 05/22/09 |
 A three-year-old girl sits on a window-ledge at the battery-recycling shop where she works. Her eyes stare blankly at the camera, showing no hope or happiness. This is just one of the dozens of startling images in David Elliot Cohen’s new book “What Matters.” |
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| 03/28/09 |
 Tinariwen -- meaning “Empty Spaces" in the Saharan Language of Tamashek -- hold the honor of being the first band of the Tuareg people to use electric guitars in their music and in their music they seek to stand up as the champions of their people against the injustices of the Malian government. |
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| 03/23/09 |
 Very few folk bands have the raw energy and power in their music or the ability to make people dance like an Ibiza nightclub than the Hungarian band Besh o droM, meaning, "ride the road" - just like horses in the Lovari gypsy dialect of Central Europe. |
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| 03/04/09 |
 To combine the music of the many different cultures in Los Angeles might not be the easiest job for musicians. Gaining their respect -- while performing political activism -- isn't either.
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| 06/15/09 |
| The past few days have provided a wealth of news and opinion about Iran's recent presidential election, when incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won reelection, defeating challenger Mirhossein Mousavi. |
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| 06/11/09 |
 Jake Tapper reports that the Obama Administration has engaged the island nation of Palau in negotiations aimed at resettling up to 17 Uyghurs in the remote country. Palau lies triangulated approximately equidistant between the Philippines, the island of Guam, and Papau New Guinea.
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| 06/05/09 |
 The Organization of American States, on the heels of US talk to normalize relations with Cuba after over 45 years, has lifted its ban on the island nation in anticipation of its return to the group.
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| 06/01/09 |
 It’s Saturday evening and I’ve just returned from a short walk to get some dinner – a slice of pizza and some ice cream. There’s a spring rain falling and the air is warm. |
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| 04/29/09 |
 The visionary founder of the Grameen Bank, Professor Muhammad Yunus leads a global network aimed at ending poverty around the world. Recognized alongside the bank "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below" with the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, his ideas couple capitalism wit... |
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| 04/21/09 |
 The island nation of Sri Lanka lies in the Indian Ocean just southeast of India. Ancient Sri Lanka was a center of Buddhist religion and culture. Today, the country is a melting pot of religions and cultures. The Sinhalese form the majority of the population and the Tamils are largest ethnic minori... |
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| 04/15/09 |
 Travel to coastal Brazil isn't complete without taking in the waterfront. The Guardian's Gavin McOwan takes us on a picture tour of the Top 10 Beaches in Brazil. "With more beaches than you can shake your bikini at, we enrolled some expert help to cherry pick Brazil's best, for golden sands, azure... |
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| 04/12/09 |
| Yesterday another rainstorm went through. The city, dusty from all the construction, was washed by the rain and swept clean by the wind. Today it’s sunny; the trees on campus are blossoming pink and red, and the green water in the canal is high but calm. While doing taiji I watched the rushes shake ... |
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| 04/11/09 |
 San Francisco de Quito is the capital of Ecuador. Once a seedy backwater, the old town is becoming a trendy place to live and visit. True, it was exciting before, but now you are much less likely to be relieved of your wallet. Two years ago, it wasn't safe to stay in the old town; today it would be... |
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| 03/28/09 |
 Over ten percent of the world's species inhabit the Amazon Rainforest, making it the largest collection of living plants and animals in the world. The region houses well over two million insect species, tens of thousands of plants, and some 2,000 birds and mammal species. Thousands of travelers an... |
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| 02/25/09 |
| As reported by Korea Beat, the Korean government has explicitly stated that it wants to strengthen English education in Korea: Back on Hangul Day, in November, the then-presidential candidate said it might be a good idea to teach Korean history and language classes in English and got himself roundly... |
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| 02/13/09 |
| The night before my departure I went outside and gazed up the full moon. I thought about Western and Eastern myths - rabbits and Cháng'é. And yet I knew I was looking at a place that was distant and real, not a myth. In China, where it’s now tomorrow, they've already seen tonight's moon. And China i... |
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| 01/07/09 |
 FOXNews reports on the multiphase global online competition for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, an event hosted by the organizers of the previous 2007 The New Seven Wonders of the World. |
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| 01/06/09 |
| From Michigan comes an article about the special demands for English language education in the state. |
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| 01/06/09 |
 With his death in Idaho in 1961, American author Earnest Hemingway left behind a bibliography attributed at ten novels, ten collections of stories, and some fifteen works of non fiction that spanned a continent and a world. |
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| 01/06/09 |
 From the World Wildlife Federation of the Philippines comes a story of a stranded "sea cow" -- or dugong in Filipino. |
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| 11/08/08 |
| A whopping 43% increase in solar cell efficiency plus a major improvement to off-axis light gathering ability makes a new solar panel technology exciting. |
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| 11/02/08 |
 NASA's Cassini orbiter has been circling Saturn for much of its four year mission. For most of this time the 22 foot-long, 4,700 pound (2,100kg) unmanned spacecraft has returned remarkable photographs, all of them the most detailed ever seen of this remarkable world. |
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