Making Effective Use of Short Stories in English Language Teaching

A Well-Proven Method of Language Acquisition

One of the most effective long-term methods of learning a language is that of an on-going series of readings. In fact, among the ways native speakers of English, French and other languages continue to improve and grow their first language (L1) skills, reading ranks very high up on the list. Whether or not language learners are able to wade through a complete book or novel, reading short stories is a time-proven method of language learning and acquisition.

Edgar Allan Poe

The “invention” of the short story, then Horror story and the Detective mystery story are all credited to Edgar Allan Poe (pictured) who first began publishing series of less-than-book-length stories in the mid-1830s. Many of his most popular and famous stories have been passed down through the decades and filmed as full-length feature films. Among the more noteworthy of his Horror and Detective / Mystery stories are these, my personal choices:

• The Fall of the House of Usher published September 1839
• William Wilson published in 1839
• The Murders in the Rue Morgue published in April 1841
• A Descent Into the Maelstrom published May 1841
• The Masque of the Red Death published in May 1842
• The Pit and the Pendulum published October 1842
• The Tell – Tale Heart published January 1843
• The Gold Bug published June 21, 1843
• The Black Cat published August 19, 1843
• The Premature Burial published July 31, 1844
• The Purloined Letter published in 1844
• The Cask of Admontillado published November 1846

Detailed information on Edgar Allan Poe, his life and his collected works is available from the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore.

But why are short stories so useful and effective in English language teaching and learning?

Advantages of Short Stories in English Language Teaching and Learning

There are several distinct advantages in using short stories in ELT. The principal advantages include but are not limited to:

• The controlled length of short stories
• The concise writing with carefully selected vocabulary and lexis
• The use of contemporary or colloquial language
• Insertion of authentic, natural dialogue
• Short stories typically maintain high interest and attention levels

With the difficulty normally associated with getting foreign language learners to read, short stories quite readily lend themselves to capturing and holding the often brief attention spans of learners in societies which are predominantly non-reading ones. Get the learners interested in the story’s beginning and leave it from the, Poe will more than likely do the rest with his inimitable, attention-grabbing style and in-depth visual imagery.

Consider this terrifying excerpt from “The Pit and the Pendulum”:

“Down — steadily down it crept. I took a frenzied pleasure in contrasting its downward with its lateral velocity. To the right — to the left — far and wide — with the shriek and the plunge of a damned spirit; to my heart with the stealthy pace of the tiger! I alternately laughed and howled, as the one or the other idea grew predominant. Down — certainly, relentlessly down! It vibrated within three inches of my bosom! I struggled violently, furiously, to free my left arm.”

You can feel and imagine the ravings of a man slowly being tortured to death as he waits to be slowly, methodically sliced in two by the descending cold steel from which, it seems, he has no escape.

Use of Short Stories in English Language Teaching – A Never-Ending Supply

A virtually unending supply of fresh, original short stories is almost always available from a broad range of reference sites and resources such as short story contests online and in print, online and print libraries, both public and private, author and writing websites – and, Public Domain repositories like Gutenburg. English language teachers and learners need never lack for fresh, original short stories to read or use for language teaching or language learning.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Do English Teachers World Wide Remember September 11th?

What Happened in New York City on September 11, 2001?

When I posed this question to my classes of EFL learners today, their responses were swift and pointed. Colombia, the country where I currently live and work, is also a location under the heavy hand of terrorism and repeated terrorist acts. EFL learners here are all too keenly aware of terrorism in its many forms in a number of other countries worldwide. Mexico may lead the world in kidnappings, but Colombia is a not-too-distant second. The Middle East endures its share of car bombings, public explosions and other types of terrorist acts. Colombia too has been experiencing an unwelcomed increase in its already too high kidnapping rate and the quantity of “incidental” bombings of public buildings, shopping centers and military or police-related installations. Support towers for high-tension power transmission fall to explosives, blacking out energy sources for hundreds of thousands of consumers. Here however, it may take days or at times weeks, to restore power to remote communities.

A Quick Recap of Events

As you might well recall, at 8:46 am on the morning of September 11, 2001, two airliners, American Airlines flight 11 crashed into the North tower and United Airlines flight 175 crashed into the South tower of the World Trade Center in New York City seventeen minutes later at 9:03 am. This deliberate act of terrorism officially caused the deaths of some 2749 people. Some of these victims had no remains to be buried and some others may never be identified. In the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, another flight, American Airlines flight 77 was crashed into the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. A fourth suicide mission by Al-Qaeda was attempted with the hijacking of United Airlines flight 93 but that effort was thwarted by courageous actions of the passengers and crew who all died in the ensuing crash at Shanksville, Pennsylvania as heroes in their efforts to avert another major tragedy and massive loss of life. The Twin Towers as they are often referred to, were the tallest buildings in the world from 1972 to 1973.

Two of my friends died in the WTC that day. However, out of my continued respect for their families and to aid in avoiding a reccurance of the pain and sorrow their deaths caused, I will not name them here.

The Effects of Terrorism Locally and Abroad

The ongoing and residual effects of terrorism locally and abroad may not seem to be a relevant EFL topic at first, but many learners find it a cathartic release for discussing many related problems in globalization. If the problem is particularly poignant in your locale, it might be a topic students wish to speak out on. Any act of terrorism or violation of Human Rights, wherever it may occur in the world, should be condemned. Open discussion of this and related topics may not always be pleasant, but are often stimulating and can evoke genuine emotion from learners like few other topics can. I took the time to broach the events of September 11, 2001 with my EFL learners today and during other days this week. Whether or not you choose t do so, you should be aware of the possibilities for expressing opinions and evoking discussions with your learners on controversial topics. Perhaps some of your EFL learners were too young or ill-informed to remember these events. If you feel it would be useful and appropriate, have them investigate and report on these or other related events. They can view videos, read news reports and survivor, eyewitness or family accounts on the internet. You just might be surprised at what a difference it might make to your EFL learners.



Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, prolific writer, author and public speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, "If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Getting to Know Your EFL Learners

English Classes are Beginning

It’s time to start a new round of classes. There are new groups of English as a foreign language learners, new classes and new schedules for the recently-started scholastic year, semester or course period. With that of course, comes the never-ending challenge of getting to know yet anothoer entirely new group of English language learners – essential information if you’re going to successfully motivate them through the rigors of language acquistion.

What You Need to Know About Your Learners

You need to know your learners’ likes, dislikes and preferences as well as their learning styles and characteristics. Why? It’s because these help you to plan and prepare more effective lessons that take full adfvantage of learner traits.

What to Do and How to Do It

During the course of the first few weeks of class you’ll quite likely develop a detailed knowledge of many learner profile characteristics. You can however, greatly accelerate phases of the process. The fastest, easiest and simplest way to do this is by conducting in-class surveys.

Survey Question Point Ideas

Here are a few ideas you might consider surveying your learners on:

• Favorite activity types
• Hobbies
• Likes and dislikes
• Musical preferences
• Television and movie preferences
• What types of digital equipment they own
• Any preferred websites
• Favorite entertainers
• problem areas in English language learning
• Eating habits and food preferences, etc.


Using the Survey Information

Whether you choose to do one or several simple surveys or more in-depth ones, you might ask, “what can you do with the information you’ve gathered?”

You can use it to:

• Create graphs or charts
• Prepare lesson plans
• Make adjustments to class agenda and curriculum
• Identify a progression of activittes
• Prepare home assignments and online webquests and tasks
• Formulate effective teaching strategies for the class group

Conducting In-class Surveys

A final but all-important idea when conducting in-class surveys is for you NOT to do the work yourself at all. Have your English or other foreign language learners conduct the surveys among themselves – using the target language as much as possible, of course. This could done during a regular class session or for extra work in written and spoken language use or discourse. It’s a series of techniques I quite often use during the beginning of a semester with new EFL class groups. It works very well both for me and for my English language learners. It should be a valuable technique for you to use too.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, prolific writer, author and public speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, "If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Is EFL or ESL English Teaching Practical for Home Schooling?

Home Schooling is Popular
Home schooling is becoming increasingly popular. Why? Because in some areas schools are too dangerous to consider. Parents want to have more control over their child’s learning environment. Schools in some districts lack essential quality in resources and staff to effectively educate children for the challenges of today’s global society. With home schooling, parents are able to expand the learning platform of their children to an almost infinite degree. School districts provide the required curriculum for children so that parents don’t go off on a non-productive tangent. This also helps to ensure that home-schooled children are on track with their peers of the same age and grade level.

What About EFL?
What about those cases in which children have a first language other than English? Though not yet in supremely large numbers, the growing discovery of alarming numbers of children with illegal immigrant status raises the question of English as a Second Language (ESL) home-schooling and literacy. The task of developing fluency in English stretches from the children through the parents and even the grandparents in many cases. Immigrant families are cash-strapped. Often due to low levels of educational achievement, lack of marketable skills or even illiteracy, parents feel they are “trapped”. To earn more they must learn more, but how can this be accomplished without English language fluency?

Using A TBL Approach
One of many possible scenarios is home schooling using a TBL (Tasked-Based Learning) approach. In this approach, learners are taught usable, marketable skills using English as the language of instruction. In-demand skills such as Nursing Aids, Home Health Care Aides, Auto Mechanics, Electrician Helpers, Carpentry and construction trade workers, Cooks and even Teacher Aides could be brought up to marketable standards rather quickly. Certainly most would require less than a year of preparation to begin “giving back” to the economy that many now only abuse to the detriment of tax-payers and home owners who currently carry an over-burdened share of the economy.

Using a TBL approach, several problems would be addressed at the same time.

• Immigrants would learn a marketable skill
• Immigrants would learn English
• Immigrants would regain their personal pride and dignity
• Parents could set a valuable example for their children
• Children could be eased more into mainstream American society
• Children could more easily acquire usable English language skills

There are already quantities of online and low-residency English language and other programs available for both adults and children.

English and Foreign Languages are Practical for Home Schooling
Certainly English taught as a second or foreign language is practical for home schooling. Teachers and tutors must make classes interesting, lively and on occasion even fun if they are to maintain the interest and attendance of these LEP (Limited English Proficiency) learners. In so doing, the problem of non-English speaking or LEP learners of all ages can begin to be addressed in earnest. Over-crowded, cash and resource-strapped schools need our help. Here’s one way we, as concerned TEFL professionals, can give it to them.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, prolific writer, author and public speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE Home-Schooling E-book, "The Home Schooling Guide for Confused Parents" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Poorly Equipped or Untrained English Language Teachers and What We Can Do About Them

Poorly Equipped or Untrained English Teachers

For much too long a time, there was a disturbing tendency among English language institutes in a number of countries, to immediately contract as “English teachers”, anyone who showed up and could communicate in some way in the English language. This included even native English speakers who, although they were unquestionably English speakers, had little or no knowledge of teaching, and no skills or techniques with which to impart their native tongue to others. Simply being able to speak English doesn’t make you an English teacher as an untold number of EFL learners has found out the hard way. There simply are no shortcuts here. Teacher training of basically qualified practitioners is called for. Whether using INSET or external training media, teachers much continually become more professional and qualified to perform in-classroom tasks. Ultimately, responsibility falls on teachers, administration and the learners themselves to resolve issues in this area.

Low-Quality in Learning or Expectations

Another thorn in the side of the English or foreign language teaching and learning “industry” is the proliferation of “language schools” as a “cash cow” or “cottage industry” That is, a “language institute used for the sole purpose of cranking out “profits” from an expansive sea of English or other foreign language learners. Considered to be nothing more than a “side business” in many locales, there is absolutely no regard for quality, standards of teaching / learning or anything else except the collection of tuitions and fees. “Teachers” lacking knowledge or skills of any type are thrown in with learners desperate to acquire foreign language skills result in the detriment of the process to all. This is yet another area where responsibility falls on teachers, administration and the learners themselves to resolve issues. EFL and foreign language learners, don’t waste your time and money. Taking “classes” in a poor, low-quality institution serves none of your interests.

Your Ideas, Suggestions and Comments, Please

While it would be absolutely impossible to provide detailed answers to such critical, world-wide problems in the English language teaching and learning class room here, we can recognize our limitations and constraints, and collectively make an effort to address and overcome them. If you have ideas on any of these problem topics, feel free to share them in comments, e-mails, forums, ELT conferences and teacher meetings. Who knows, your voice may be just the one to break open the problem with a universally workable approach or solution.


For some of my greatest tips, tricks and techniques for quickly and easily learning virtually any of the world's 6912 living languages just go to:
http://www.escapeartist.com/e_Books/Learn_a_Foreign_Language/Learn_a_Foreign_Language.html

Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? Contact the author by e-mail for a prompt response.

Three Critical Problems in English Language Teaching and Learning and What to Do About Them

What Can You Do?
English language students, you can’t live with them, you can’t do without them. What’s a frustrated English as a Foreign or Second language teacher going to do? English language teachers, there are good ones, so-so ones and then there are those that justice would only prevail if they were permanently excused from the classroom. So what’s a near-desperate English as a foreign language learner to do?

Critical Problems
Here are the first three of the English language learning classroom’s most critical problems with comments on what might be done in dealing or managing each one. We’ll continue the discussion of the final two critical problems in ELT in a second article.

1. Lack of Learner Motivation
Students skip class, and when they do show up it’s likely due to fear of failure more than anything else. They may lack any semblance of attention during class, chatting with classmates, doodling in their note books or, (gasp!) in their textbooks. What experienced English or other foreign language teaching professional hasn’t faced the problem of reluctant, unmotivated learners? One key to increasing motivation is to use activities matched to the personalities, learning styles and characteristics of the learners as often as practically possible.

2. Insufficient Time, Resources and Materials
You know the old adage, “you can never be too rich, too thin or have enough English or foreign language vocabulary. So what can you do when charged with teaching English or a foreign language in only one or two hours per week? One of the only times that was ever successfully accomplished was with the pouring out of Holy Spirit on the apostles during Pentecost. (Acts 2:1 – 11) Add too little time to a decided lack of resources and virtually zero other resources in many third-world classrooms and you have a critical teaching / learning situation indeed. But there are ways, even on the lowest budget, of producing virtually free or very inexpensive English language teaching and learning aids for use in the EFL or foreign language classroom.

3. Over-Crowded English Classes
The number of learners in a class room can range from one, for those who teach individual private learners, to 15 or twenty learners in a typical classroom up to “multitudes of 35 or forty or even fifty or more learners packed into a language leaning situation. Forget anything even remotely resembling “individual attention”. Either the throng “gets it” or they don’t with little available to the teacher. When I’m faced with over-sized groups I immediately implement strategies using choral, small group and pair work to help in lessening the load on both me and my large group of learners. I also separate out a few of the more “advanced” learners to help me with group work elements. It doesn’t solve all the problems, but it’s a good start.

Your Ideas, Suggestions and Comments, Please
While it would be absolutely impossible to provide detailed answers to such critical, world-wide problems in the English language teaching and learning classroom here, we can recognize our limitations and constraints, and collectively make an effort to address and overcome them. If you have ideas on any of these problem topics, feel free to share them in comments, e-mails, forums, ELT conferences and teacher meetings. Who knows, your voice may be just the one to break open the problem with a universally workable approach or solution.

For some of my greatest tips, tricks and techniques for quickly and easily learning virtually any of the world's 6912 living languages just go to:
http://www.escapeartist.com/e_Books/Learn_a_Foreign_Language/Learn_a_Foreign_Language.html

Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while traveling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? Contact the author by e-mail for a prompt response.

These Additional Four Factors Can Also Negatively Impact English EFL or ESL Teaching and Learning

Additional Critical Impact Factors

Some of the key factors English or Foreign Language teachers face can include the following:

• Large class sizes

• Limited time

• Insufficient resources

• Mixed ability students

• Students with learning disabilities

• Behavioral problems

• Administrative demands

• Personal restrictions


In continuing, let’s consider the last four factors in turn and how they too can negatively impact an English EFL, ESL or foreign language teaching and learning class room setting.

Students with learning disabilities
On occasion, learners with have known or undiagnosed learning disabilities when they come to English class. They may be inadequately prepared or academically unprepared for the rigors and discipline they face when attempting to acquire a foreign language as young learners, teens or adults. This can strongly impact the teacher who may now be expected to compensate for deficiencies of learners while maintaining an “acceptable” pass rate of English or other foreign language acquisition skills.

Behavioral problems
While these can often be linked to external or motivational factors, behavioral problems can be highly disruptive in a foreign language class room setting. If behavioral problems result from learning disabilities, the disruption can be compounded beyond what the teacher may be able to successfully or practically cope with. Violence, inattention, excessive cross-talk with other learners, absenteeism, physically moving around the class room and other distractions are but a scarce few of the problems related to this category.

Administrative demands
“Enough is enough!” Teachers often cry when the necessity for completing numerous forms, surveys, permission slips, highly detailed attendance records or over-zealous “fund-raising” campaigns are required of them. A teacher’s job is to teach and while certainly, some administrative procedures must be maintained, all too often administrative demands wreak havoc in the EFL teacher’s lesson plans.

Personal restrictions
Each of us on occasion needs to attend to personal matters, go for medical or dental appointments. We get sick; catch colds or the flu, sprain an ankle, break a bone or suffer from one or more f a myriad of health or social problems. We suffer from stress, have family problems or even become distraught over the ailments of a loved one or pet. Any or all of these can affect our class room performance, unwilling though we may be to allow it to do so.

These final four factors that we have considered here can also have a substantial impact on the effectiveness of the English EFL or ESL language teacher. As stated earlier, with more and more students in fewer and fewer classes and even those classes are expected to be taught with less and less resources or fewer and fewer hours. The results however, both on the part of learners and the administration, is to produce better and better English language production skills. The need then still, is for solutions to an ever-worsening series of growing problems. This will require the full cooperation of both teachers, administrators and to some extent, the learners themselves.

Good luck to us all. We'll need it.


Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, send for his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”. Send an e-mail with "Free ELT EBook" in the subject line to: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

These Additional Four Factors Can Also Negatively Impact English EFL or ESL Teaching and Learning

Additional Critical Impact Factors

Some of the key factors English or Foreign Language teachers face can include the following:

• Large class sizes

• Limited time

• Insufficient resources

• Mixed ability students

• Students with learning disabilities

• Behavioral problems

• Administrative demands

• Personal restrictions


In continuing, let’s consider the last four factors in turn and how they too can negatively impact an English EFL, ESL or foreign language teaching and learning class room setting.

Students with learning disabilities
On occasion, learners with have known or undiagnosed learning disabilities when they come to English class. They may be inadequately prepared or academically unprepared for the rigors and discipline they face when attempting to acquire a foreign language as young learners, teens or adults. This can strongly impact the teacher who may now be expected to compensate for deficiencies of learners while maintaining an “acceptable” pass rate of English or other foreign language acquisition skills.

Behavioral problems
While these can often be linked to external or motivational factors, behavioral problems can be highly disruptive in a foreign language class room setting. If behavioral problems result from learning disabilities, the disruption can be compounded beyond what the teacher may be able to successfully or practically cope with. Violence, inattention, excessive cross-talk with other learners, absenteeism, physically moving around the class room and other distractions are but a scarce few of the problems related to this category.

Administrative demands
“Enough is enough!” Teachers often cry when the necessity for completing numerous forms, surveys, permission slips, highly detailed attendance records or over-zealous “fund-raising” campaigns are required of them. A teacher’s job is to teach and while certainly, some administrative procedures must be maintained, all too often administrative demands wreak havoc in the EFL teacher’s lesson plans.

Personal restrictions
Each of us on occasion needs to attend to personal matters, go for medical or dental appointments. We get sick; catch colds or the flu, sprain an ankle, break a bone or suffer from one or more f a myriad of health or social problems. We suffer from stress, have family problems or even become distraught over the ailments of a loved one or pet. Any or all of these can affect our class room performance, unwilling though we may be to allow it to do so.

These final four factors that we have considered here can also have a substantial impact on the effectiveness of the English EFL or ESL language teacher. As stated earlier, with more and more students in fewer and fewer classes and even those classes are expected to be taught with less and less resources or fewer and fewer hours. The results however, both on the part of learners and the administration, is to produce better and better English language production skills. The need then still, is for solutions to an ever-worsening series of growing problems. This will require the full cooperation of both teachers, administrators and to some extent, the learners themselves.

Good luck to us all. We'll need it.


Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, send for his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”. Send an e-mail with "Free ELT EBook" in the subject line to: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Four Factors Which Can Negatively Impact English Language Teaching and Learning

Pity The Poor English Language Teacher?

The poor English teacher of today, with so many demands on their time and expectations. At times we hardly know where to turn. There are more and more students in fewer and fewer classes and even those classes are expected to be taught with less and less resources or fewer and fewer hours. The results however, both on the part of learners and the administration, is to produce better and better English language production skills.

Some Critical Impact Factors

Some of the key factors English or Foreign Language teachers face can include the following:

• Large class sizes

• Limited time

• Insufficient resources

• Mixed ability students

• Students with learning disabilities

• Behavioral problems

• Administrative demands

• Personal restrictions


Briefly, let’s consider each one in turn and how its negative impact on English or foreign language teaching and learning is felt.

Large class sizes
How many learners are in your EFL or ESL classes? 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50 or even more? Average class sizes continue to sneak upwards as administrators attempt to extract the maximum profits from gross institute or departmental revenues. The EFL or ESL teacher then is caught in the middle struggling to teach English or foreign language skills to a growing number of learners in each class group.

Limited time
Ouch! According to statistical data from language research institutes, the minimum number of hours for an English EFL, ESL or foreign language class to be successful is around five – that’s the minimum, they say. In an increasing number of universities, language institutes and primary / secondary schools, the class room contact hours are going down. Many such places now pose learners with only three hours or less per week of actual language instruction.

Insufficient resources
“How many of you have all the resources you need to teach your English classes?” When I posed this question to a group of my students in an EFL Teacher training course, none answered to the affirmative. Not only do they lack sufficient contact hours, but are lacking sufficient teaching resources as well.

Mixed ability students
No matter what level you may teach from pre-kinder to kinder, from primary to secondary school or at the university and adult levels, learners within a particular course group will be of varying or mixed ability. There is virtually no such thing as a “homogenous” group of learners in a class. Even when learners come from the same socio-economic background, are from the same country, ethnic or language group there are bound to be vast inequalities in their abilities.

These four factors can have a substantial impact on the effectiveness of the English EFL or ESL language teacher. With more and more students in fewer and fewer classes and even those classes are expected to be taught with less and less resources or fewer and fewer hours. The results however, both on the part of learners and the administration, is to produce better and better English language production skills. The need then is for solutions to an ever-worsening series of problems. This will require the full cooperation of both teachers, administrators and to some extent, the learners themselves. Some additional factors which can negatively impact the EFL or ESL class room, teaching and learning will be addressed in the next part of this series.

Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, send for his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”. Send an e-mail with "Free ELT EBook" in the subject line to: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

How to Explode Your English Language Teaching Online Presence in Less Than 48 Hours

Instant Exposure to Millions of Web Surfers
Whether you’re selling a product or service, job hunting, exploring or just surfing the net for pleasure, teaching English online, providing foreign language learning content on the internet or other reasons, you can explode your online presence and be seen or known by hundreds of thousands or even millions of persons. It needn’t be a lengthy process to do so either. The very nature of the internet allows for views to me made by hundreds of thousands or even millions of people in a matter of days or hours, in many cases. So how can you ramp up your online exposure forthwith without spending your inheritance in the process? Read on.

The Internet’s Top Five
Essentially, you’ll need to get exposure on the internet’s top five websites. This will almost automatically expose you to views from millions of online views from web surfers worldwide. Once exposed on these sites, in a matter of a few hours, you can be seen and on the lips and minds of literally millions of people. How does that sound? Here are the internet’s top five sites and what they offer.

YouTube
www.youtube.com
The internet’s newest online mega-site player, you can post screen captures and videos here for free. Setting up an account takes only a few minutes. Uploading a video can be done within an hour or so and be available to millions of viewers. You can also link to your video’s individual site using hypertext and back links to speed the viewing process along.
Videos are rapidly snatched up by search engines so your video’s presence will be noted sometimes in a matter of minutes.

Blogger
www.blogger.com
Blogs are all the rage from business and technical to personal thoughts and insights on virtually any topic. The top two are Blogger.com and Wordpress with no-cost Blogger being more widespread at the moment. Again you have the potential for millions of viewers almost instantly and they can come fast and furiously too depending on your blogging topic. Since blogs are picked up quickly by the major search engines too, your exposure can skyrocket in a matter of hours.

My Space
www.myspace.com
Another people-to-people biggie, you can create your own personal site here and post to your heart’s consent on any topic or theme of your choosing. Add photos, graphics and sound clips to round out you space, making it more interactive and you can easily wind up with a winner on your hands. Network like crazy to your other online presence sites and you’ll get checked out by hundreds of views per hour if your topic and theme are hot. Even if they’re not, you’ll still have massive exposure potential.

EBay
www.ebay.com
You’ve heard of the mega-site EBay for sure unless you’ve been living on another planet, the ozone layer or a desert island somewhere. So get yourself a posting here to garner at least a piece of the internet’s millions of viewers and surfers. Be it a product, service or information offer, this is a site you need to be on as part of your web presence explosion process. Payments are managed through PayPal which reaches globally to more than one hundred countries. Now you can offer services and products just as easily in Hanoi, Hong Kong or Hoboken.

Craigslist
www.craigslist.com
The place to advertise globally for free, this vast site allows you to reach potential clients, customers and other interested parties in a global market of your choice. You can hawk your wares and information by continent, country, or city area. Want to become known in Mexico, Malaysia, Madagascar or Mongolia? Then this site is definitely the place for you.

Summary
Yes, you can certainly explode your online presence in 48 hours or less by posting to these top five internet websites with your information, voice, videos, products and services, among other options. Only you can set the limits as to what you can achieve. Think up your campaign and get your posts and materials ready. Then set up your accounts at each of these massive exposure web site mega-sites and then just watch as your online presence soars through the roof.


Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? E-mail the author for a prompt response.

Using Games to Make Language Learning Interesting, Innovative, and Fun

Games are Useful in Language Learning
We can successfully use games in the language learning classroom to teach and practice numerous skills including:

• Vocabulary
• Spelling
• Grammar and structure
• Idioms and expressions
• Pronunciation
• Listening and speaking



Factors Affecting Choice of Games
What kinds of games we can use will depend on their intended purpose. Whether it’s to introduce a topic, practice a particular skill or aspect, or reinforce previous learning topics games help by providing much-valued practice while effectively lowering the affective filter of the students (Krashen and Terrell, 1993).

Other factors which can impact our choice of games are:

• The number of students
• The size of the classroom
• Classroom environmental aspects
• Length of time
• Materials, realia or aids available


Kinds of Games

We can vary the kinds of games considerably to help our students to make learning interesting, innovative and more fun. Useful and commonly-practiced games available for almost all teaching and learning venues consist of:

• Board games
• TPR and physical movement games
• Inter-active games
• Strategy games
• Online and computer games


Create Good Language Learners
By using a wide variety of language learning games in the EFL or ESL classroom the teacher is able to promote a number of qualities which positively contribute to a lowered affective filter and improved language acquisition. You should include games among your strategies to promote these qualities that make for a good language learner (Rubin, 1975)

• Willing and accurate guessing
• Language related risk-taking
• Uninhibited communication
• Spontaneous language practice
• Self-monitoring of speech
• Attention to language meaning


Where and How
Where you can get an ongoing variety of pre-produced games, how to use them creatively in the EFL or ESL classroom and techniques for creating your own games customized to meet the needs of your students will depend on your learners’ location.
If you'd like some samples to try out on your learners just e-mail me with "ELT game samples" as the subject.

Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? E-mail the author for a prompt response.

Thanksgiving Day

It’s the Thanksgiving Holiday Today

In the U.S.A., it’s the Thanksgiving holiday today. The day is traditionally celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November with an emphasis on home and family. In Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October. Usually in the U.S. there’s a huge dinner served for all the extended family to enjoy together. The first official declaration of a national observance was in York, Pennsylvania (which is my hometown and where Mom still is) on November 1, 1777. The first national Thanksgiving holiday was celebrated on Thursday, December 18th of 1777.

Photo: Plaque in downtown York, PA on the first national Thanksgiving

During the American Civil War from1861 to 1865, American President Abraham Lincoln declared the observance of Thanksgiving to be held on the last Thursday of November.

And did you know that today, November 22, 2007, is the 44th anniversary of the assassination of American President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963?

But Wait, There’s More
Today also happens to be my Mother’s birthday, and every few years it falls exactly on Thanksgiving Day. You can be sure that I’ll try to call and talk to her later today.

Here in Colombia, South America
Here in Colombia, the holiday isn’t officially celebrated. I still have to work so I’m giving two final exams at the Santiago de Cali University. Later this evening I have an important meeting to attend.

Thanksgiving is the one traditional holiday that I miss by living as an ex-pat English language teaching professional in Colombia. The weather today is sunny and 80 plus degrees – quite typical for much of the year here in the city of Cali.

Although turkey is in fact available here, it’s horrendously expensive, with a large bird costing more than a day’s pay. Other traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner ingredients may or may not be available, like cranberry sauce or even cranberries for that matter.

For those of you with your family enjoying a traditional dinner of roast turkey with cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes, greens, cornbread, with other scrumptious goodies and pumpkin pie for dessert, my jealous best wishes for a memorable day today. And I also wish you many more. And for those of you in other lands who have never experienced a traditional Thanksgiving holiday dinner, well, you just don’t know what you’re missing!


Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? E-mail the author for a prompt response. And by the way, Happy Thanksgiving!

English Language Teaching Professionals: Don’t Spend Your Time Abroad on the Toilet!

Getting and Treating "Monteczuma's Revenge"
Walking past the row of vendors cooking meat, sausages, French fries and small yellow potatoes was tempting. Sporting a fedora and a Grand Canyon smile, Charlie Martinez fronted his cart offerings of fresh-squeezed orange juice and fresh-strained carrot juice. We ordered one each. I opted for a fried sausage with some yellow potatoes. The potatoes were fine. “Don’t eat that sausage”, my wife Doris warned. I heeded not - even when I noticed it was slightly undercooked. That night I paid the price. Bathroom trips came every 20 minutes or so. The smell alone could kill. I swallowed Gatorade like an Olympic athlete in training to help prevent my growing dehydration. Finally, in the wee hours we headed for the emergency room. I had Giardiasis.

Giardiasis
Giardia is a microscopic parasite which moves around using a pair of whiskers called flagella and lives in the small intestines. It is a common cause of diarrhea. Symptoms can include yellow, foul-smelling diarrhea with bubbles or froth but without blood or mucus, an uncomfortable, swollen abdomen, and mild cramps with lots of gas. The diarrhea may come and go from day to day. There is usually no fever. One symptom that is fairly specific to Giardiasis is passing stools which stink and are difficult to flush away because they float.

Recommended treatments are fairly straightforward. You could try 24 hours on clear fluids and a bland, fat-free diet with lots of rest before starting antibiotics. Giardia infections can often clear up by themselves. “Flagyl” (metronidazole) 2 grams per day for 3 days or Tinidazole (not available in the USA) are common. The drug Quinacrine (Mepacrine) works well too but can cause some side effects. Do not drink alcohol during treatment or you will feel ill. Competent medical treatment by a physician should always be sought for symptoms of any illness while in any foreign country.

An Unwelcome Guest
Untreated Giardiasis normally does little harm except make you an unwelcome guest and cause some loss of weight. My case was treated with Tetracycline tablets for three days. The organism is transmitted through improper hygiene, especially fecal-oral transmission.

Remember: Always observe proper hygiene – wash your hands before you eat anything. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT eat raw, uncooked or partially-cooked foods. Take NO foods or drinks with ice in them. Be wary of eating garden salads washed with local water. If the water used to clean that lettuce or those tomatoes was bad – Bingo! You’ll have the “Turkey trots” before the evening news airs. Use treated or bottled water only at all times. Hotels in the mid-range and up often can recommend a physician or treatment for minor infirmities while you are abroad. Pricey hotels often have a doctor on call for guests. Before traveling it’s also a good idea to see your doctor for travel medications, recommendations and advice. Protect your health. Protect yourself.

Two widely available, recommendable health references for travelers are:

“Bugs, Bites and Bowels” by Dr. Jane Wilson Howarth
“Staying Healthy in Asia, Africa and Latin America” by Dirk G. Schroeder

Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? E-mail the author for a prompt response.

Creating a "Smart" English Language Teaching and Learning Classroom

The Advance of Education Technology

With education technology advancing at what sometimes seems to be an alarming rate, it’s application to the English language learning classroom seems almost imminent. What is even more intriguing is our learners’ ready acceptance of and adaptation to the incorporation of new technologies into their everyday lives. In many cultures worldwide, most youth above the age of 15 or so have their own personal cell phone or ipod, palm C’s or multi-use mini-memory stick combo of electronics. Indeed, it seems that it’s the “old fuddy-duds” who don’t have cell phones and pocket-sized electronics as part of their lives. So what’s a savvy Educational Administrator to do? Find ways to incorporate and take advantage of these new technologies in the English language learning classroom, that’s what.

The Rub

Ah, but the expense, the confusion, the hassle and did I mention the expense – of doing so. What about that? Growth hurts. If we are to maintain the field of language education in the forefront to which it belongs in this day and age of global communications, international business and global economies involving multiple countries, we must address the changing face of global commerce and communications, technology and its increasing impact on education.

A “Smart” Classroom

But just what is a “smart” classroom? Opinions as to what education technology elements exist in such an entity, of course vary, but some key aspects are generally agreed upon. Let’s examine some of them and their respective purposes.

• A smart whiteboard
• Laser / digital pointer
• Printer
• Computers with multi-media software
• internet access
• CD / DVD player / recorder
• Video beam
• VHS player / recorder
• Multi-band AM / FM radio receiver
• Wide screen TV with cable station feeds
• Interface device(s) for digital feeds from Teacher to Learners
• Portable PCs, Palm Pilots or ipod devices for each language learner
• Direct server access and storage capability

Okay, so by now you should be getting the picture. While many or even all of these devices can significantly impact the English language teaching and learning process, it is ultimately the teacher who must negotiate their application to the needs of the learners to complete curriculum requirements. More education technology doesn’t necessarily make for a better English language teacher or even better English language teaching, but it very well could if strategically applied.

English Language Teachers Must Be Better Equipped

Initially, many of our English language learners would be better equipped to manage these new, developing technologies than a number of their language teachers. Foremost then, is to equip English language teachers with the essential knowledge and skills to cope with an infusion of high technology. Many language learners too would need to be brought up to speed on application of new technologies to English language learning. Although by no means do these new education technologies affect only English language teaching and learning classrooms. As conditions (and budgets) permit, educational administrators can and should upgrade classrooms and language teacher knowledge on the application of new education technologies.
While virtually no classrooms will likely ever contain all of the aforementioned equipment, we, as English language teaching professionals, can still learn, grow – and dream.


Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, send for his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”. Immediate delivery by sending an e-mail with "Free ELT Ebook" in the heading to lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Cuautla, Mexico

Traveling around Mexico as an English language teacher, are you?

Have you ever eaten chicken feet? How about barbequed chicken necks?

What?

I thought not.

So, while you’re in Cuautla you’ll have your chance.

Don’t miss it!

photo credit: http://www.cnsm.csulb.edu/departments/geology/people/bperry/China%202004/ChinaWebSite.htm

Now here’s what you need to do:

Hotel Colon

Cuautla Main Plaza

Phone: 352 - 2186

The premiere place for people-watching smack dab on the Zocalo. Meals are of local fare and modestly priced. The day’s offerings are written on a standing menu posted right out front on the sidewalk complete with prices. The wall-less dining area is just an extension of the Zocalo sidewalk, so you could spend hours here just sippin’ “Jamaica” and winkin’ at the passers-by. And there’ll be plenty. It’s an excellent “first stop” on your Cuautla tour. While you’re at it, pick up a copy of “THE NEWS”, Mexico’s premiere English language newspaper or, in Spanish, “El Sol de Cuautla”, both on sale just a few steps away at the news stand in front of the restaurant.

The Plaza Galeana

At the corner of Los Bravos and Estrada Bollas

At this shopping plaza and gallery, there are a number of little eateries at budget prices featuring everything from pizza to fried chicken and roast turkey. There are juice bars, ice cream shops and a couple of discos for the teeny-boppers (called “coca-colos” in Spanish). If you’re not sure what you want to eat, or it’s late, just drop by here and stroll around until you find something you like. (to EAT, that is!)

On Los Bravos, the street leading north from the Zocalo to the Plaza Galeana, there are likewise several shops and a couple of fairly good restaurants to tempt your palette.

Rosticero de Pollos

Calle 2 de Mayo and Zemano(half a block up the street from the Hotel España and one block from the Hotel Colon)

If you’ve never eaten chicken feet or roast chicken necks, here’s the place you can correct that fault. Served piping hot right off the rotisserie, bursting with flavor and CHEAP at 10 pesos for a dozen, it’s an experience you’ll never forget. It’ll make a great story to tell your grandchildren!

“Did I ever tell you about the time I ate chicken feet in Cuautla? Zapata’s rebel forces were headquartered just down the road you see, and …”

Jugos Y Tortas Alameda

Galeano at the corner of Ferraro

A veggies-only restaurant that serves such delicious specialties as “Omelet Huitlacoche” and platters of Chilaquiles, nopales (cactus) and an assortment of “tortas” for 7 to 26 pesos. Servings are plentiful and tasty even for non-vegetarians like me. A selection of juices in combinations having medicinal properties are also offered. The juice combinations and their specific benefits are written up on plaques hung around the restaurant walls.

EL Oasis

Galeano between Ramirez and Ferrano

This restaurant is open late for party-goers and the late-night crowd and serves tempting meals at reasonable prices. There’s internet service at a bank of six computers in the rear of the restaurant. Rates are 10 pesos per hour or 6 pesos for 30 minutes. Try their fresh-whipped hot chocolate on a cool Cuautla night for a zesty pick-me-up.

A great perk of teaching EFL, that is, English as a foreign language in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina or abroad in almost any foreign country is the opportunity to sample first-hand, the food, language and culture.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Why You Should Use More Technology in Your English Language Teaching

The Situation

Think about your English as a foreign language learners for a moment. After school, what do they do? What occupies them evenings, weekends and holidays? Where do they go? What activities do they enjoy? How? Are they in a traditional classroom or receiving home schooling?

Do they have a TV at home? Of course they do. If they’re part of the world's population that doesn’t, they’ll surely have access to one somewhere. At a friend’s or neighbor’s, a local store or shop – somewhere they can watch TV at least on regular occasions.

How about movies? Do your learners like and watch movies with any regularity? In most of the developing world that’s another big time YES. While the kinds of movies different learners may watch and like can vary widely, surely they’ll have preferences that stir their emotions and get their “juices” flowing.

Then there’s the telephone. Can you even imagine how much time your daily charges spend yakking away about this or that to their friends, classmates and whoever else? Perhaps where you are your learners even have their own cellular phones. Even if not, whether it’s their family landline or a community telephone, you can just bet that they’re on it every chance they get.

Now there’s music. Do they use cassette players, CD players, MP3 / MP4 devices, DVD’s or even a phonograph? Almost certainly they do. One or more of these devices are likely a regular fixture in the daily lives of your learners. They often live and breathe music whether it’s a genre you like, one you can at least “tolerate” or one of those “oh my god, you listen to that!”

Your learners (and you too for that matter) are constantly bombarded by visuals and graphics in the form of signs, logos, billboards, notices, photos, pictures and images of virtually every description. From scratchings in the sand to chalkboard talk to the slickest of online and televised video “infomercials”, visuals too are an integral of your learners everyday life.

And oh yes, there’s the culture-pervading PC computer. Where would you have to be to get away from them? At the high end of the spectrum, there are video games, ipods, e-mail, RSS feeds, blogs, vlogs and the multiple facets of the internet. Lower tech applications might include using word processing software, spreadsheets or databases for routine applications. Although typewriters still exist, countless minions use computers to do homework and prepare basic letters, writing and reports.

Some Considerations

So where am I going with all of this? Simply to remind you that if your classes aren’t regularly enhanced by more aspects the learners are used to, use and experience in their everyday lives outside of the classroom, how do you think they feel about your classes where they might just sit and do “exercises” or listen to you talk and / or explain? The answer is simple. They’ll think, “This class is B-O-R-I-N-G”. Their capable young minds will drift and their attention will be lost. In a worst-case-classroom scenario, pandemonium could ensue. And it’s all YOUR fault.

Some Suggestions

But hold on there. What might be done to circumvent such a dire scenario?

There’s plenty, that’s what. And, NO – it won’t cost a fortune to upgrade your skills, activities, equipment and teaching. Adapt your class tools to include some of the following high and low tech aids to help boost the attention, participation and learning that takes place in your hallowed classroom. You’ll likely note a dramatic difference in the learners’ attitude and class participation almost immediately. Here are some tools you might want to consider.

Twenty-First Century Tools

TV / VCR / DVD Player

You can use these for showing documentaries and relevant video clips either in the classroom or other common area reserved for this purpose.

Audio-cassette / DVD Player

Here you’ll have recorded materials from radio, TV and / or cable as well as commercially available materials from ELT or educational publishing houses. These can include stories, fairy tales, narratives, news, reviews, commentary and even commercials.

Video Beam

Prepared Power Point presentations of your own, from colleagues or from commercial sources can be incorporated into your lesson planning and classroom repertoire using this now more commonly available resource in an auditorium or other common area.

Over Head Projector (OHP)

As far as I’m concerned, this is one piece of equipment that is a mainstay of the language classroom. It’s often available, but grossly under-utilized. Acetate sheet transparencies are quick and inexpensive to produce, often costing mere pennies a piece. Shadow figures and freely available materials from teacher download sites like www.enchantedlearning.com make using this resource almost “child’s play” as Chucky would say.

PC Computers

If your school facilities include a computer room, you’re virtually “home free”. An expanding list of teacher / ELT websites can provide you with more lesson plans, handouts, games, puzzles, quizzes, graphics and ideas than you could ever use. Learners can play free, online educational games or take surveys or challenging quizzes on sites like:

• http://www.daveseslcafe.com/
• http://www.eslbase.com/
• http://www.onestopenglish.com/
• http://www.englishclub.com/

There’s a host of others to boot. Teachers too can boost their skills, develop new ones and expand their horizons at sites including:

• http://www.tefl.com/
• http://www.etprofessional.com/
• http://www.quia.com/
• http://www.eslmag.com/

So for the next school sessions, don’t have the learners say, “This class is B-O-R-I-N-G”, get the jump on them with some twenty-first century tools you can start using almost right away If all else fails, or you just need a little extra guidance; e-mail me at the address below. I’ll be happy to help.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Moving to Mexico? Here’s where to Get Information in English

Questions From Readers

If you’re thinking of moving to Mexico, here’s where to get information online in English. These questions were sent in by some of my readers, who wrote:

We, as a family, have an interest in potentially moving to Mexico. First, we are looking for a southern California type climate; low humidity without the scorching heat. Secondly, we are looking for lower crime rate as we come from a small mid-west town. Finally, we are looking for a site(s) with an all around knowledge of Mexico and her weather.


Photo: the Parrish church of San Miguel at the Parque del Castillo in Orizaba



My Response

Having spent four years researching and writing about living and English language teaching employment opportunities in Mexico, I found the country to be interesting, climatically quite varied, culturally diverse and exceptionally livable. Although individual (and family) preferences will vary, with thousands of cities and towns, and almost every imaginable climate represented across a population of more than 100 million people, there are certainly a considerable number of choices available to you not matter what.

Briefly, there are three main sites in English you should try first.

If you read Spanish there are many more interesting sites searchable on Google which will allow you to listen to as well as watch local documentaries, radio and news.

First check out these three available in English:

http://www.visitmexico.com/wb/Visitmexico/Visi_Home?show=regions
http://esp.mexico.com/eng/index.html

http://www.enjoymexico.net/

The Heat and Humidity

If you're concerned about the heat and humidity (and who wouldn’t be?), then northern Mexico and cities such as Monterrey and Hermosillo are likely not for you. Cities and towns in or near desert areas like the cities of Chihuahua or Torreon will also not likely make your list. Perhaps you'd find mountain and / or mountain valley locations like mid-sized Xalapa (also sometimes spelled Jalapa), the mountain vista town of Orizaba, at the base of Mexico’s highest peak, Pico de Orizaba, or the city-in-the-clouds, San Cristobal de las Casas, more suitable. Even if you choose a smaller town like colonial Tlaxcala or mystic Tepoztlan, you should try to be near enough to a large city for a least a day or weekend trip. Central Mexican colonial towns like Morelia, Queretaro or Irapuato may lack sufficient entertainment, shopping or technological resources for you, but that would be up to you.

The Top Three

Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey are very large metropolitan areas and do not offer anything even remotely close to a “small town” living atmosphere. You may however, want to consider a nearby smaller suburban community. The Lake Chapala region near Guadalajara supports a 50,000 plus population of English-speaking ex-pats. The cities of Puebla and Toluca are commuting distance from Mexico City and allow for a slower pace of colonial life while being in proximity to the world-class facilities offerings of Mexico’s largest metropolis.

I hope this information is sufficient to get you started in your possible Mexico relocation plans. Also, detailed city and cultural information on Mexico is occasionally posted here at my English language teaching and learning blog.

Please let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

English Language Teaching: Countries with English as the Official or First Language

The Question

On occasion, my opening question at an English Language Teaching (ELT) conference is, “How many countries have English as a first or official language?” To twist the screw just a bit more I add,

“You’ll all English teachers, so you should know where the language is spoken, right?”

They agree that they should and for the next few minutes set about fathoming the English as a first or official language list.

More squirming, a few shouted out queries and I let the pressure off.

“How many do you have on your list?”

Rarely does the number exceed ten or fifteen.

Take a moment; how many can YOU list?


The Response

“Would you like to see my list?” I ask.

You know what the response unanimously is.

“Do you think that is something that might be useful for an English teacher to know?”

A resounding “Yes!” always follows.


The List

In truth, at this writing there are at least thirty-five countries that have English as a first or official language!

Surprised? Most English teachers are. And my current list might not even be an all-inclusive one by now. At any rate, here is the current list:

- United States, Trinidad & Tobago, Belize

- Barbados, Canada, U.S. Virgin Islands

- Guyana, British Virgin Islands, Australia

- Falkland Islands, England, Grenada

- St. Nevis / St. Kitts, Jamaica, India, Bermuda

- South Africa, Bahamas, New Zealand

- Cayman Islands, St. Vincent, Grenadines

- Samoa, St. Lucia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone

- Singapore, Liberia, Ghana, Ireland

- Hong Kong, Zimbabwe


To Do Suggestions

Why not check out the official country websites for these and other countries for some eye-opening information on the impact of English on their respective cultures? Many foreign country websites include news, local current events, audio, radio and streaming video as well. If you need even more information? Just “Google” the country name to get a trainload or two of related websites.

So what’s the point? Just that it’s helpful to provide practical aspects to learning English. World travel and commerce are just two of the many reasons to be cited for the practicality of English-language learning. The internet, e-mails, chats and forums all contribute to a preponderance of English-language use online.

A plethora of English teacher resource websites and a growing cadre of English language learner websites help contribute to the usefulness of knowledge of the English language.



Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. For more information on entering into or advancing in the fascinating field of ELT send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, send an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

How to Improve English Language Listening Skills in EFL Learners

There are four principal venues that are frequently used in order to develop listening comprehension skills in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. By integrating these resources, the EFL teaching professional can effectively aid learners not only in listening comprehension skills development but also in multiple aspects of connected speech production. Understanding a listening passage can be made all the more difficult by four key influence factors including: the number of speakers in the passage, the technical difficulty and level of the spoken material in the passage, the speed of the speech and the accent(s) of the speakers in the passage and whether or not there is any external support provided for the listening passage. (i.e., photos, illustrations, graphics, vocabulary review or pre-listening activities, etc.) ref. Brown and Yule, 1983


Speech and Language Modeling by the Teacher

If the EFL teacher is a native or near native English speaker, then the dialogues can be modeled in addition to modeling pronunciation and connected speech examples. If the EFL or ESL teacher is not a native (or near native) English speaker, and this teacher does not have sufficient speech and pronunciation in English to model these aspects for the learners, then other English speech modeling and input sources can be used. Besides, we must not limit learners by thinking they can only learn and improve in a particular way. (M. Spratt, 2005)


Audio-Visual Resources

A valuable audio-visual aspect is provided to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners by native-speaker-produced CDs and DVDs. Speech and cultural elements can be illustrated or demonstrated using authentic audio-visual materials such as movie clips and documentaries, student-produced recordings and TV programs or commercials, among many others.


Audio cassettes or CD – ROMs

A wide range of CDs and DVDs exist to provide native speech modeling of different speaking, pronunciation, national and regional English accents. Multiple varieties of English are commonly used throughout the world and having examples of these by which learners can be exposed to the differences in spoken English will be helpful in demonstrating pronunciation variables. Online, over-the-air and cable radio broadcasts can be especially effective and are readily available in much of the world.

Three examples of excellent online radio broadcast sites are:

http://www.live365.com/
http://www.archive.org/
http://www.multilingualbooks.com/online-radio.html


Online Audio and Video

Increasingly, institutes of higher learning are making integrated online materials available to learners. These may consist of spoken dialogues, video dialogues, short stories, interactive games, poems, rhymes and riddles, spoken grammar, connected speech examples, movie clips, interviews, documentaries and even pronunciation lists. Learners can log into the website at their institution to receive extended practice materials to complement in-class learning. Many large, well-established universities, institutes and ELT materials publishers are making such materials available online to both clients and the general public. In addition, specialized websites for English language teaching have cropped up in abundance and offer a plethora of materials and didactic assistance for the ELT professional.

Some examples of available materials online include:

Penguin http://www.penguinenglish.com/
Pearson – Longman http://www.longman.com/
Heinemann http://www.heinemann.com/
Oxford University Press http://www.oup.com/
Cambridge University Press http://www.cup.org/
Heinle and Heinle http://www.heinle.com/esl_d/
McGraw – Hill educational resources http://mcgraw-hill.co.uk/kingscourt/
Harvard University – Open Courseware
http://oedb.org/library/features/236-open-courseware-collections

A web search using “online English language teaching materials” will yield a virtual bonanza of materials, planning and resources for the time-strapped English teacher.

Although listening comprehension skills of themselves cannot be “taught”, the English (EFL) teacher can guide the learner’s practice in listening and increment their intensity of study and practice to aid in the development of listening comprehension skills in EFL learners. This can be especially effective when the learners live in one Braj Kashru’s “outer circle” countries (B. Kashru, 1980) where there may well be a quite limited exposure to spoken English available for the English language learners. English teachers should be resourceful in identifying and acquiring materials to augment their classes in proving as broad a variety of listening comprehension materials as possible for their classes. Thus, by integrating any and all available resources, any English language teaching professional can effectively aid learners not only in developing their listening comprehension skills but also in the demonstration of multiple aspects of connected speech in worldwide Englishes.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. For more information on entering into or advancing in the fascinating field of ELT send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, send an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com