LING5301

An excellent resource for teachers who are interested in becoming more familiar with the use of technology in language learning is the online journal Language Learning and Technology, found here. The full text of the articles is available, and the topics range from pronunciation, to blogging, to politeness, to pretty much anything that can be related to technology. Browse through the archives and find an article that might be useful to you as a teacher of English. Give the full citation and an explanation of why you think it might be worth reading. If you decide to read it, also tell a little about whether it lived up to your expectations.

How have you successfully (or not so successfully) used technology in the language learning classroom? What works, what doesn’t, and how do you best deal with it?

The holidays are upon us, with only 2 weeks until Thanksgiving and less than a month after that for Christmas. What fun, interesting, educational holiday activities do you have planned for your ESL class? If you don’t have anything planned, what are you thinking of? Are you looking for anything in particular that you haven’t been able to find?

In class on Monday, we talked about how academic reading is different from non-academic reading, and we discussed targeting non-academic reading in class. We also took a look through a local newspaper and came up with some different reading activities that could be done with different parts of the paper. This post is a place for comments, questions, suggestions, or general information about teaching reading. One place to start would be with Heejung’s recent comment on the general questions post, about teaching reading by teaching vocab. Read her comment, and then let’s discuss thoughts on this take on teaching reading.

Have you tried some cool writing activities that worked well for you, or heard about one that you want to try? Tell us about them! What does the activity consist of and what does it target? What proficiency levels is it appropriate for? In what ways could you extend or modify it for different levels and targets?

Have you tried some cool reading activities that worked well for you, or heard about one that you want to try? Tell us about them! What does the activity consist of and what does it target? What proficiency levels is it appropriate for? In what ways could you extend or modify it for different levels and targets?

Have you tried some cool speaking activities that worked well for you, or heard about one that you want to try? Tell us about them! What does the activity consist of and what does it target? What proficiency levels is it appropriate for? In what ways could you extend or modify it for different levels and targets?

Have you tried some cool listening activities that worked well for you, or heard about one that you want to try? Tell us about them! What does the activity consist of and what does it target? What proficiency levels is it appropriate for? In what ways could you extend or modify it for different levels and targets?

So how’s it going with your service learning? Are things working? Here’s a place to post any general questions and comments that you have, as well as for you to comment on other student’s comments and questions.

Wednesday in class we will be talking about the grades on your first teaching activity, as well as discussing expectations of the second one. Everyone has already chosen the dates for their second teaching, and here they are:

Week 11 Monday: Yizong
Wednesday: Angela, Stacie
Week 12 Monday: Sean
Wednesday: Fernando, Chi
Week 13 Monday: Sharon
Wednesday: Kari, Wei-Fan
Week 14 Monday: Jana
Wednesday: Jill, Lori
Week 15 Monday: Elizabeth, Heejung
Wednesday: Emily