Teaching English Literacy in Asia

These are but a couple of the hundreds upon hundreds of videos available out there, which teachers could make good use of. What I find about these clips is that they never fail to catch students’ attention. In the beginning of class, when students are dragging their feet into your classroom, looking like they would rather be somewhere else other than in the school, learning, turn to these clips for some inspiration. After a few minutes of being transported into the world youtube, most of the time, they will be ready to listen. By then, you would have gotten their full attention.

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.

Writing seems to have taken on different definitions for different groups of people in order to suit their different needs and purposes for writing.

In this study, writing will be explored and discussed in the context of ESL, particularly in an international school environment.

“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

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.

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

I have been teaching teenagers for almost 5 years now, and I find this group of students both challenging and rewarding to work with. The kids are challenging because they are at the beginning of that stage in life dreaded by most parents and teachers alike. You guessed it right – PUBERTY!