This year Try something that makes you feel foolish. Something that guarantees you’ll make mistakes. Something that frustrates and overwhelms you. In other words, do something that helps you remember what it feels like to be a beginner.
Posts under ‘Professional Development’
My first guest post!
I’ve written my first guest post It’s called Goldilocks and the three answers and it’s over on the OUP English Language Teaching Global Blog. The post is about the challenge of finding a balance between natural and productive language when teaching young learners. If you have a chance, please drop by and let me know [...]
Very Cool Events: Free Online Conferences for Language Teachers
In the time I’ve been exploring online opportunities for teachers, I’ve come across a number of incredibly cool people who organize workshops and conferences, create tools, nurture groups, and try to make the world (both virtual and real) a better place for us all. Just in case you haven’t already met these people or heard [...]
Long Ago Lessons in a Japanese High School
Part of the series: Lessons Learned from Students Back with the ink was barely dry on my MATESOL, I had a group of students from whom I learned many, many lessons. This post is about three of those lessons… The setting: A once-a-week English class at a high school in Japan, in the mid 1980s. [...]
High Tech Ideas for Low Tech Classrooms: VoiceThread
Some time back, Anita Kwiatkowska encouraged me to start a new series. I’ve actually been thinking of this idea for a few months, when OUP asked me to do a series of presentations about using technology in teaching young EFL learners.
How to Create a Jazz Chant by Carolyn Graham
Part of the series: Stuff All EFL Teachers Should Know Last November, Carolyn Graham did a workshop at the JALT National Conference in Shizuoka, Japan, on how to make a Jazz Chant. I taped her workshop, and with her permission am sharing the part of it where she demonstrates her technique. One of the many [...]
21 days, 5 cities, 1000 teachers, and 20 computers
In February, I talked with approximately 1000 teachers in Fukuoka, Okayama, Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo as part of the OUP Teaching Workshop Series. Workshop titles were assigned to fit an acronym. I was the “I” in K.I.D.S.—Interactive Ideas for Keeping your English Classes Relevant for the 21st century. The challenge for me was how to [...]
An invitation to participate in academic publication (by Theron Muller)
I fell into the world of academic publishing a bit accidentally. After finishing my MA in TEFL/TESL I was interested in maintaining familiarity with what I had learned and was worried that if I didn’t actively maintain my participation in the discourse of the profession, then the MA would become little more than another piece [...]
The Difference a Year Makes
Almost exactly one year ago, I signed up for two sessions through TESOL’s Electronic Village Online–Becoming a Webhead (BAW) and Virtual Worlds and Language Learning (VWLL). I signed up just before deadline, so if you’re still wondering whether or not to give these, or another of the many EVO workshops a try, there’s still time!
Recognizing the Worthy
“Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.” Abraham Lincoln I started blogging to explore a belief that “we are stronger, better teachers when we work together, share our knowledge, and connect with others.” I’m only marginally better at the tech stuff now than I was at the start, [...]
