Teacher Discussion Forums

I've been reading the online preview of the latest version. It's a pretty comprehensive placement test. The Objective Placement Test alone (70 q's) takes 50 min's. Then there's a 20 min Placement Conversation and a 30 minute (optional) Placement Essay. http://books.google.ca/books?id=yhdCdKAbaNEC&pg...

If you're the non-linear type, check out Visual Thesaurus. There's a limited online demo you can use or subscribe to if you wish. It creates a visual map of related words. Type in a work, then click on any one word and it rearranges the entire array with that word as the new central hub. http://www....

Has it ever struck you that most initial placement (level) tests are actually (mid or final) achievement tests--they provide limited information of the overall strengths and weaknesses of prospective students. They just leave them feeling inadequate for not being able to respond to a single question...

Interesting thread. Shame it never caught on given the value of this self-learning method. Perhaps this thread would be pages long if he were to report his (students) learning experiences on the Student Forum.

With the previous version, there was a corresponding activity book of photocopiable pages. I scanned it and have it on my laptop for whenever I need an image or two. With luggage restrictions, I just can't carry as many books as I'd like to and few such books are even now available in digital form.

It's been years since I've used this series and I actually left the older version back home in Canada. As for the paper tests, as I recall, they're not very communicative in scope: blank-filling, multiple choice q's. If anyone has the Placement tests, I'd like to know if they're of much value. I'm s...

As I'd written elsewhere, I've come up an effective revision method involving translation. As it seems I'll continue teaching with the series, I'd be interested in sharing and collaborating on the development of such supplementary resources. PM me or respond to this thread. By the way, I left the Pl...

Sally's right! In my experience, adult students attend class as much for social reasons as for learning--but don't second guess them, they do want to learn something even if they don't put in any extra effort on their own. I know, it sounds contradictory but keep in mind, at the beginner AND advance...

It's not just L1 that interferes in L2 acquisition, but personality as well. I remember teaching a Taiwanese girl with immaculate pronunciation, good vocabulary but atrocious grammar. I read something about syntax vs vocabulary once and how personality affects this but I just don't remember the sour...

By the way, do you realize this is the TEACHER Discussion Forum. You may want to post this topic on the STUDENT Discussion Forum where I'm sure you'll get a lot more feedback. If you do, kindly post a link here.

Many ESL experts are against translation It's not just experts. Many ESL teachers who've never learned another language, ban it entirely from their classroom (at least that's my memory of teaching in Canadian private schools). Could it be a subconscious inferiority complex--the students have more l...

Scruples works for higher levels where they've become friends. They can make their own questions and vote on the outcome--it can become hilarious:
What would student X do if (dilemna)

I used the Fingerprints book here in China 2 yrs ago and thought it was a superb coursebook--very usable and well-crafted songs that the kids could sing along with and a good overall progression. Coming from someone who's highly critical of the most coursebooks, I quite enjoyed using it. PM me and I...

I'm close to the area of China that can't produce an 'R'. What's interesting is that the 'L' rather than the 'R' here (just East of Nanjing) loses clarity in words such as 'well' but is clear in 'Lily'. Last summer I read about palatograms on free online accent reduction software. Palatography is a ...

It's not so much gender, as cultural bias--unexplained cultural references, for example. In addition, here in China it seems, there's more and more ESL texts--our school just received a shipment --that presupposes the students already culturally aware. Sorry. I won't participate in your survey, not ...