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ELTWeekly Newsletter.
We invite
ELT experts to contribute to this newsletter in the
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Also we
invite YOUR suggestions for the improvement of this
newsletter.
Have a great
week ahead,
Tarun Patel
Bhaskar Pandya
Kaushal Kotadia,
and
Rajesh Bharvad.
Getting students to use English in the classroom is one of the
biggest challenges.
We could motivate them use English by doing following these steps:
- Always present yourself as an English speaker.
-
Don’t be tempted to use students’ language to be more effective at
teaching.
-
If you are not able to get across “just with English”, use
pictures, gesture, facial expression and rephrasing to get your
message across.
-
Assign various role play activities to them and they will enjoy it
“more” 
Also we can encourage them to use English by
- Starting each lesson by asking students about their week,
weekend or previous evening.
- Asking for explanations in English
- Avoiding asking “Do you understand?”
- Playing games where use of the mother tongue loses points for
the team.
I hope this helps. Do you have some more tips? Please send it to eltweekly@gmail.com.
ELTWeekly video of the week: Teaching English with Games
In this video the Bridge-Linguatec Inc. team shows three ways of
incorporating games into your ESL and EFL classes.
I am sure you will find those three tips worth trying.
Watch this video here:
http://eltweekly.com/more/2008/12/20/eltweekly-issue2-video-of-the-week/
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Featured
article: "Developing
Language Skills through e-learning: Everyone’s Duty, Nobody’s
Doing"
by Bhaskar Pandya |
Present article is based on a Poster prepared by Dr. S Arumuga
Perumal, though the focus changes herein. It intends to
present an overview of how language skills can be developed
and / or honed by using e-learning. It also intends to suggest
rather discuss some ideas and necessary changes in the process
of teaching a foreign language, present scenario, and some
ways for getting united for digital content creation. The
article does not address those who are looking for primary
information about e-learning or the issues they might be
involved. It addresses those who are actually involved to some
extent in e-learning/teaching.
With the advent of high speed Networking facilities and
multimedia, it is universally accepted that face to face teaching
is not the only method of teaching in the University Curriculum
Planning and there are also other ways which are much better,
faster, and cheaper than the traditional one. More so over there
is also some craze for developing multimedia (based) courses
amongst the Language Faculty for the students who cannot come to
the classroom and especially for those who pursue education
through distance mode, not necessarily in a Formal Setup.
This is not so difficult to implement in other subjects as it is
in language learning. The reason, as we all know, is language
learning / teaching is more an art based skill-demanding work than
in case of the content based subjects. Because our concern is four
basic skills – LSRW and that too developing them in that order.
At this point in time two aspects can be focused ie Implementation
and Requirements. Though both of them go hand in hand, we will
consider implementation first because: first, it is the
implementation that matters the most in a language classroom and
two, we cannot think of specific requirements without implementing
our ideology.
When we implement e-learning for honing the language skills of our
students, first of all, we need to have strategic graded planning
right from the preliminary courses for the schools to
intermediates ones to the advanced courses for the colleges. Mere
crash courses cannot help us except they are designed for specific
students with specific requirements or for the students enrolled
on Vocational Courses.
For the purpose, we can think of Working (in) Groups, if as a
teacher our aim is quality content and services. We have to have
contact with all contributors involved in e-learning / teaching so
as to have cooperation and harmony through the exchange of ideas
and proper planning. There will also be an urgent requirement of
putting proposals for innovative projects and consultation.
Finally, proper Infrastructure and adequate Equipments with
well-trained teachers at all levels is equally important. One
teacher with some infrastructure, facilities, equipments,
innovative ideas, tech savvy mindset, and some videos, blogs,
websites or educational CDs or their implementation in his/her
classroom in a scattered way or at a not-required time or with no
or very little relevance to the Curriculum cannot help the student
community, though he/she might be admired and congratulated
personally for the work.
To solve the problems, there has to have some initiative from the
Government or Government Agencies, which though seems to be there,
is a little too late. There is also a question: in this era of
privatization and public partnership what role the Government can
play. Then, economically sound Universities and Institutes can
help us change the phenomena but the question again is: why they
should divert their resources for a cause they are not directly
concerned with or responsible for. Thirdly, we can think of the
tech savvy minds who are already working but are unable to change
the scenario; may be because they are too small a number or are
working for personal name and fame. Lastly, the teaching
community, who’s responsible for the predicament, comes who’s in
direct touch with the students and can contribute a lot if they
collaborate.
Occasions and Means of Collaboration can be many. One of them is
ELTWeekly. Can we not collaborate and work together on this
platform for the development of our students? Can we not
contribute in the digital content creation? If yes, who are we
waiting for?
English teaching tries to get
past ‘how are you?’ - Viet Nam News
HA NOI — Low efficiency in teaching English at universities is a
thorny issue, especially since the State has invested money and
resources in improving courses.
A first-year student at the Ha Noi National University summarised
his English learning process from the sixth grade to university as
a stretch of road where he had to learn to say “How are you?” at
every education level.
He said the present curriculum did not interconnect these levels
well, making teachers and students waste time.
Read
the complete news here: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01EDU171208
7
Staten Island schools get grants to help ‘English Language
Learners’ - Staten Island Advance
Seven Staten Island schools have been awarded grants to help
non-native English speaking students overcome the hurdles of
assimilation.
The six elementary schools and one high school were among 110
public schools citywide to receive a total of $7 million in grants
for so-called “English Language Learners,” Department of Education
officials said.
There are about 150,000 ELL students across city, or about 14
percent of the student population, officials said. About 250
schools applied for the grant, which required detailed plans on
how the school would improve services to ELL students. In choosing
schools, the DOE looked for programs that would expand support for
recent immigrants and students with disabilities, create or
enhance bilingual programs and improve teacher quality.
Read the complete news here:
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/12/7_staten_island_schools_get_gr.html
Learning the Language -
Education Week
Mary Ann Zehr is an assistant editor at Education Week. She has
written about the schooling of English-language learners for more
than eight years and understands through her own experience of
studying Spanish that it takes a long time to learn another
language well. Her blog will tackle difficult policy questions,
explore learning innovations, and share stories about different
cultural groups on her beat.
Arne Duncan and English-Language Learners
I have only one clue to offer about what kind of policies Arne
Duncan, who has been nominated as the secretary of education for
President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet, might favor for
English-language learners. As the superintendent of Chicago Public
Schools, he has argued that English-language learners should have
a separate test other than the state’s regular reading and math
tests for ELLs.
Read the complete news here: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2008/12/arne_duncan_and_englishlanguag.html
English Language Teaching Conference (ELT-Con) 2009 -
Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia
ELT-Con 2009 is the 4th. biennial international English language
teaching conference organised by PELLTA.
The theme is Language Matters: New Ways of Looking at English
Language Teaching & Learning.
Organized by: Penang English Language Learning & Teaching
Association (PELLTA)
Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 15 January 2009
More information available at:
http://www.conferencealerts.com/seeconf.mv?q=ca1xmx80
Third International Wireless Ready Symposium: Digital
Technologies in Language Education
IATEFL Learning Technologies SIG - The International Association
of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language, Learning
Technologies Special Interest Group
Date: Feb 20, 2009 NUCB Graduate School (Fushimi Campus), Nagoya
University of Commerce and Business
More information available at: http://www.eltcalendar.com/events/conferences/
Eighth Annual JALT Pan-SIG Conference
JALT Pan-SIG conference
Annual JALT Pan-SIG Conference
Date: May 23 - 24, 2009
Toyo Gakuen University, Nagareyama Campus, Chiba
More information available at: http://www.eltcalendar.com/events/conferences/
2009 Language and Language Teaching Conference (LLTC)
August 14, 2009, 8.00 a.m.- 4.30 p.m.
At the J.B. Hotel, Hatyai, Songkhla 90110 Thailand
Conference Themes:
The conference focuses on all issues related to language and
language teaching. The followings are some of the possible themes:
• Applied Linguistics
• Assessment and Evaluation
• Discourse and Interaction Analysis
• Foreign Languages and Linguistics
• Language Acquisition
Session Formats:
- Papers (30 min: 25 min for presentation and 5 min for questions
and answers)
- Workshops (60 min)
- Posters (60 min)
Call for Proposal Deadline:
October 15, 2008
Call for Full Paper Deadline:
December 15, 2008
More information available at: http://www.libarts.psu.ac.th/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=620&Itemid=37
“Technology in ELT” Conference, January 29-30, 2009 - Gujarat,
India
The sub-themes for the conference are:
- Technology, ELT & English Education in India
- ELT : Technology + Multilingual Approach
- Management of Online Language Learning
- Audio-Video Aids in ELT
- Social Networking for ELT
- Technology in Teaching Language Skills
- Communities of ELT practice
- Source Mechanisms
- ELT Case Studies
- ICT in ELT
- Technology in the Teaching of Business & Technical
Communication.
IMPORTANT DATES
- Abstract submission: December 26, 2008
- Acceptance intimation: December 27, 2008
- Submission of full papers: January 16, 2009
- Last date of registration: January 20, 2009.
INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPANTS
International participants can send their papers to "nctelt09@gmail.com"
along with the conference fees of $20. You can pay by PayPal to "tarunjpatel@gmail.com".
Their papers will be read by the NCTELT'09 conference team and
certificates will be issued.
More information about the conference along with the registration
form is available on the NCTELT'09 blog
http://nctelt.wordpress.com.
1st Gujarat Regional ELT@I Conference: ACTIVE LEARNING: MAKING
LEARNING MORE ENJOYABLE AND PRODUCTIVE
Dates: February 6th and 7th 2009
Place: AHMEDABAD MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION, ATIRA Campus, Dr. Vikram
Sarabhai Marg.
Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380015
CALL FOR PAPERS
- Deadline for submission of abstract: January 6th 2009
- Full paper must be submitted no later than: January 20th 2009
For more information, please write to Dr. Dharmendra Sheth at
shethdharmendra@hotmail.com.
Book Details
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (July 7, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0631151524
ISBN-13: 978-0631151524
Book Description
ELT teachers today are faced with a bewildering choice of aims,
methods and materials. How can they design or choose language
curricula best suited to their learners’ needs? What options are
open to them in designing and introducing new Syllabuses and
methods? In answering these questions, the author begins by
reviewing historically the development of ideas on language
teaching and language curriculum.
He describes various types of syllabus, both past and current, and
he highlights the assumptions, principles and aims underlying
them. Proposing curriculum renewal is one matter; introducing it
into an existing system is quite another.
The effective management and implementation of curriculum change
forms the basis of the successful introduction of new syllabuses,
materials and methods, issues about which the author offers
theoretical guidance and practical advice based on evidence
derived form the study of innovation in education.
Reviews
Ken Cripwell, ESOL
“Ron White approaches ELT curriculum issues by making the case
that however desirable curriculum renewal/change within the
financial and administrative constraints of existing educational
systems might be, the reality is frequently problematic. This
book seems particularly aimed at educational administrators and
teachers who want to expand their rudimentary knowledge of the
subject, and ample background is provided via the author’s
thorough historical overview of the development of ideas on
language teaching.” Leslie F. Sheldon, Times Higher Educational
Supplement “It makes fascinating reading … I couldn’t put it
down … The synthesis of the field is excellent and the treatment
is very clear so that it really is the kind of book that our
students need to have. It is going to be one of those
fundamental texts which we will all be referring to in the
future.”
Leslie F. Sheldon, Times Higher Educational Supplement
“Ron White approaches ELT curriculum issues by making the case
that however desirable curriculum renewal/change within the
financial and administrative constraints of existing educational
systems might be, the reality is frequently problematic. This
book seems particularly aimed at educational administrators and
teachers who want to expand their rudimentary knowledge of the
subject, and ample background is provided via the author’s
thorough historical overview of the development of ideas on
language teaching.”
Ken Cripwell, ESOL
“It makes fascinating reading . . . I couldn’t put it down . . .
The synthesis of the field is excellent and the treatment is
very clear so that it really is the kind of book that our
students need to have. It is going to be one of those
fundamental texts which we will all be referring to in the
future.”
1. ESL.About.com
About.com is an online neighborhood of hundreds of helpful
experts, eager to share their wealth of knowledge with visitors.
The ESL.About.com is headed by Kenneth
Beare who
is an ESL Guide at About.com.
ESL.About.com offers free English courses, vocabulary lessons,
ready made lesson plans, grammar tips, and various quizzes.
Key topics on the site include:
This site provides opportunities to educators to make money
online by becoming an ESL.About.com guide.
I am sure you will find ESL.About.com worth bookmarking 
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