
In an international school setting, the demand and pressure on students to be proficient in writing is quite high.
The following is taken from the second edition of the book “Effective Reading in a Changing World” by Rose Wassman and Lee Ann Rinsky, 1997.
“There is a widely held belief that in order to be a good writer a student needs to be read a lot”. (Hedge, 1988:11). Harris (1993:81) is also of the same belief as Hedge when he wrote in his book, “Introducing Writing”, that “reading and the consideration of written texts should form an important part of the teaching of writing.”
Writing seems to have taken on different definitions for different groups of people in order to suit their different needs and purposes for writing.
This study could not proceed without an attempt to explore the many and varied definitions of writing. Writing seems to have taken on different definitions for different groups of people in order to suit their different needs and purposes for writing.
Posted on 28 January 2009
In this study, writing will be explored and discussed in the context of ESL, particularly in an international school environment. Continue Reading
Posted on 02 December 2008
“Do we learn Values (in school), just to get an A?” That is how Cheque from grade 11 in the school I teach, opened up his arguments in a debate with other Grade 11 students held last October. Indeed, in this age and time of ipods, network gaming and cyber communities, has Values, as a school subject Continue Reading
Posted on 06 October 2008
I have a class of adult learners of 17. They come from different parts of Asia: Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Korea and Vietnam. They're mostly intermediate level in their English, both written and oral. The course I teach is called Independent Reading. Continue Reading
Posted on 01 October 2008
In his talk here in Bangkok, Thailand last September 20, 2008, Dr. Stephen Krashen (www.sdkrashen.com) talked about the homerun book for every reader, and how crucial it is to jumpstart ALL other reading interests in the future. He says for every lifelong reader, there is that one book or one reading experience that started it all. [...] Continue Reading
Posted on 25 September 2008
Let us begin this conversation by looking back at times in your life when you read books or any printed medium, for that matter, simply because you wanted to. It was not because of some reward, nor was it because you wanted to avoid some kind of negative consequence by not reading. What was it [...] Continue Reading
Posted on 16 January 2008
From experience, collegial sharing and attendance at professional development opportunities in search of what “effective assessment” looks like, here is a combination of principles, experiential anecdotes and actual classroom practice I use to assess students effectively for learning. I refer heavily to materials and discussions from Ken O’ Connor’s workshop on “Classroom Assessment FOR Student Learning” [...] Continue Reading