1. David Fay’s Greetings
Dear Sisterhood of English teachers,
Congratulations on Women’s day. I could have started with, “Dear female half of English teachers,” but you are far more than half. In fact, I think you make up more than 90% of the profession. I can’t remember who told me the joke:
Why do they call it the ‘mother tongue’?
Because dads can hardly get a word in edgewise.
I disagree. I think it is because women and language are inextricably bound: one gives us life, the other a reason for living.
Some clever, unknown person said, “Sure God created man before woman. But then you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece.” I’m certainly glad there is somewhere we can turn for perfection in these difficult days.
Thank you, and may your fingers not touch a scrap of work this weekend. You deserve it.
Sincerely,
David
2. What is the Best Gift?
Professor Marklen Konurbayev believes that the best present is sharing emotions. Not gifts… and sends these exquisite greetings.
3. HTTP://WWW.ELTRUSSIA.RU is Your Site!
• The information on the http://www.eltrussia.ru site is updated regularly. Please have a look at the updated EFL Events Calendar and submit information about your conferences well ahead of time – your colleagues in your city, in Russia and abroad will be able to participate if they know about the event ahead of time.
• TEA is Back! This is the chance for excellent EFL secondary school teachers to take part in the competition. The winners will spend 6 weeks in the USA. http://moscow.usembassy.gov/
http://moscow.usembassy.gov/elo.html
The deadline is April 27th
• 11th Graders are welcome to take part in the on-line MSU Olympiad. (section Olympiads)
• A new idea in the Useful Links section- Tatiana Kuznetsova has shared great links: TEFLclips, a site dedicated to the possibilities for YouTube and other video sharing sites in the classroom. Every week a new lesson plan is uploaded http://www.teflclips.com and http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com You will find lots of EFL / ESL English Lesson Plans for Teaching Current Events
• Teachers’ Associations have started to share their website addresses and post their news themselves – bravo to Tomsk, Komi, Ivanovo EFL Teachers’ Association!
• Time to think about next NATE Conference! Please visit their site http://www.kazannate2009.ru – registration and speaker proposal forms are available.
4. Do You Recognize Yourself?!
Elena Borovikova from the British Council has shared this wonderful clip – don’t you think it can be turned into an excellent lesson plan?
5. Karaoke + English + … Van Gogh
Irina Rozina from Rostov-on-Dom has shared this PPP – a little bit sad but so beautiful! It might be a great tool for EFL teachers in Arts’ Schools
6. 2009 Oscar-nominated short films
Sally Barret, our former EFL Fellow in St.Petersburg, found this link http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/movies/06shor.html. She noticed that there was one from Russia so she looked it up and found it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FlCW7Gup-0. It's SO cute!!! And she thought it would be a great tool for English teachers. The students can make up their own dialogues or write stories about what happened before/after, etc
7. New Call for “E-Teacher” Courses
ELO announces the offering of "E-Teacher" courses that train foreign English language professionals in the latest U.S. methods of English language teaching via distance education. Courses will begin in the fall of 2009.
A. Assessment for EFL, offered by Indiana University. Instructor: Dr. Larry Mikulecky
This course is designed to familiarize EFL teachers with a wide variety of formal and informal English language assessment tools and help them become competent in evaluating assessment information as well as selecting and developing appropriate English assessments for their own teaching situations and goals. Online discussion will deal with participant questions and ways that participants have dealt with teaching and testing problems in their own countries. The syllabus will cover forms of assessment and their use, a close examination of high stakes assessment, assessment tools ranging from informal classroom assessments to portfolios, teacher use of assessment information, and future trends in assessment. This is a 12-week course.
B. Teaching Critical Thinking, offered by the University of Oregon, American English Institute. Instructor: Cynthia Kieffer
This course is designed to develop critical thinking skills among English teachers and demonstrate how the techniques and materials of critical thinking might be applied to English classrooms in the host country. Participants will learn how to: (1) identify and compare different elements of critical thinking, and apply this knowledge to classroom teaching and materials development, (2) design, develop, and implement critical thinking instructional units and activities to reach course goals, (3) analyze teaching techniques and materials for evidence of critical thinking teaching and student learning, and (4) identify relevant resources for developing and incorporating critical thinking activities in their respective teaching environments. This is a 10-week course.
C. English for Business, offered by the University of South Carolina, English Programs for Internationals. Principal Instructor: Dr. Alexandra Rowe (with Dr. William E. Rivers, guest instructor)
This course will provide an overview of the English used in international business settings and give participants techniques and skills that can be used in their classrooms. The course is divided into several segments along the following topics: an introduction to the courseware and methods used in the course, needs assessments for business English learners, classroom strategies to create a learner-centered environment, business English resources, written communication and document design, business oral skills, and making business presentations. These topics will provide participants with significant resources to utilize in their classrooms following completion of the course. This course is approximately 12 weeks long.
D. English for Law, offered by Nashville State Community College and the University of Memphis. Instructors: Debra Lee
This course will provide participants with an extensive overview of the concepts behind the legal system in the United States and give a framework for teaching English to professionals in the legal field by introducing the best current practices in the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) field. Participants will: (1) increase their understanding of current ESP methodology, (2) improve their legal analysis skills in American English, (3) better understand the basis of the U.S. legal system, (4) increase their understanding and basic use of concordances for classroom learning, enhance both their general and legal vocabulary, (5) have the opportunity to network and share views with local, regional, and international colleagues on a variety of legal and ESP issues through e-mail, synchronous, asynchronous discussions
E. Teaching English to Young Learners, offered by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Instructor: Joan Shin; Program coordinator: Dr. Silvio Avendano
This course is designed to provide an overview of the latest research on TEYL and demonstrate effective classroom techniques to teachers by specifically addressing the needs of learners aged 7 to 12. The course will investigate approaches for teaching language within a meaningful context as well as different techniques for making language input comprehensible and encouraging student participation. Participants will study both traditional and modern instructional strategies and techniques for teaching EFL and look specifically at their application to young learners. Through individual learner-centered activities, virtual collaborations with a mentor, and group activities with learning teams, participants in this course will explore various aspects, from theory to practice, of teaching EFL to young learners. This is a 10-week course. Participants will take part in an orientation prior to the start of the course.
Candidates for "E-Teacher" course should be teacher trainers or teachers who are working, or plan to work, with one of the five subjects covered by the courses. They should be highly motivated individuals who are dedicated both to their own professional development and to sharing the knowledge gained with colleagues through workshops or professional presentations. In addition, candidates should meet the following criteria:
English language skills:
- an advanced level of reading and writing, roughly equivalent to a minimum TOEFL score of 525;
--general understanding of technical terms in English relating to computers and the Internet;
--good command of the necessary vocabulary for each of the five topics.
Computer fundamentals:
--regular access to e-mail and the Internet;
--ability to navigate in Windows and create a Word document;
--basic familiarity with the Internet and web browsers;
--ability to type in English well enough to perform on-line tasks in real-time and to submit written assignments in a timely manner.
If you meet the above-mentioned criteria and would like to apply for the course, please submit the following information:
First name
Last name
Institution name
City
Mailing address
E-mail address
Contact phone number
Course choice (first choice, second choice, third choice)
Why are you interested in taking this course? How it will help you and your ELT community?
Are you willing to share the knowledge and skills acquired as a result of the course? How are you going to do this?
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