Teacher Discussion Forums

Is it possible she has some kind of a learning disability? If so, perhaps there are some special methods that could be used that we ESL/EFL teachers don't usually know about.

Heh two dozen isn't a large class to me. That's what we usually have.

I guess my view of adult conversation may be different than yours. While I might be pleased to hear students speaking with no errors, the chances of that happening are slim. My goal is for students to be comfortable speaking English, and not to be afraid of trying to make themselves understood. If t...

Things are probably contradictory because every state (and country) and school probably has their own idea. There are many programs in Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. I know there is one by me, at San Francisco State University, but there are programs in many places.

It will be noisy, but the best way to get the students talking is to have them work in pairs or groups of 3. They can have some questions to ask each other, or different kinds of information gap exercises (where one person has some information and the others have to ask to find out what it is.) You ...

I think you have to teach phonics if you want kids to learn to read in English. All the recent articles have gone back to more of a phonics approach, although with meaning attached, as far as I can tell. However, I certainly don't teach phonics letter by letter. For example, you can teach the /ae/ s...

I think you should check out the Korea Forum on this website, instead of the Teacher Forum under TOEFL. They might be able to help.

I've taught in an open-entry open-exit program for almost forty years. I guess you can say I'm used to it! Since our program is non-credit and free, students can leave at any time with no consequences. Having students come in during the semester can often add a spark, although there is the flip side...

It looks like a nice blog, Karenne. I moved it to the Adult Education Forum. It seemed to fit better there. Hope you don't mind.

I think it all depends on your class and your situation. If you are supposed to complete a certain book in a set amount of time, then adding a lot of your own material may give you a problem. On the other hand, if you are allowed to choose your own material, or if you are not required to complete a ...

Looks interesting. By the way, on the demo info you spelled "enroll" as "enrol" once.

I don't understand what you consider "heavier" grammar, and how you teach it. If you are teaching "my, your, his, her" etc, you can have students ask questions: Is this my/your/his/her hat? etc. or add "No, it's mine/his/yours, etc. In other words, if you teach the grammar by using it, it's a lot ea...

Me too. I thought they were fighting against each other.

Moved to "Applied Linguistics" where more of our grammar questions are discussed.

My goodness, had I realized the furor my vocabulary selection would have engendered, I might have been reticent to use it.

Anyway, some of the dictionaries accept that usage, and some don't I guess.