Last year, we piloted the first Writing for Research Scholars course at H. M. Patel Institute of English Training & … Read on →

I’ve written a lot of activities lately for primary level. In my work with the Gujarat State Board of School … Read on →

In an earlier post last year, I introduced some teachers in Nepal to the first 1000 words of English in … Read on →

In the first post on this topic, we introduced the students to wikis to promote the idea of neutral, collaborative … Read on →

At my post, H.M. Patel Institute of English Training and Research, I’m currently working with a group of pre-service ELT … Read on →

In the last post on materials design, I introduced a new textbook pattern that aims to provide teachers who may … Read on →

One of my favorite projects in Gujarat has been consulting with teachers of English-medium primary schools in the design and … Read on →

This is another post for ELF wannabees, purely about the experience of being an ELF. Long ago, seven weeks into … Read on →

We all know that much traditional teaching has been very teacher-centered. In India, students of the past have been taught … Read on →

This week and next, I’m in Pune leading a Skills Update workshop for teachers who work in madrassas in southwestern … Read on →

We all want to believe that our students are learning something when we teach. When some beginning teachers write learning … Read on →

In the first post introducing my 7Sentences template, you’ll find a written explanation of the seven sentences. Here I’m providing … Read on →

I don’t do a lot of posts on grammar teaching, mostly because I don’t do a lot of grammar teaching. … Read on →

In an earlier post, I wrote about how important it is to incorporate research into student assignments. Here’s an excerpt … Read on →

Today we launched the first session of Writing for Research Scholars at H. M. Patel Institute of English Training & … Read on →

Creative writing can inspire new vocabulary production and enjoyable language practice for learners of all ages and levels. I’ve used … Read on →

The audio presentation here is one that I’ve been asked to do a number of times. The first part is … Read on →

I’ve already written about the need for teaching critical thinking along with English language proficiency. I’ve done a good many … Read on →

Pre-service teachers hear a lot of terms for describing lesson planning. They might be told to divide lesson plans by … Read on →

This week I had to make a trip to Nepal. The visa I have in India requires that we leave … Read on →

Earlier, in Hyderabad, at the British Council’s International Teacher Educator Conference on assessment and evaluation, I did a short presentation … Read on →

As I said in the last post on learning Gujarati, I’ve been trying to learn the script because I need … Read on →

In the the last post in my series on teaching vocabulary, I wrote that the graduate students I’ve tested in … Read on →

When I arrived in India, it was winter, which means every day felt the way southern Californians say San Diego … Read on →

It’s Gujarat Day and I had a chance to spend some time learning the language. I can’t say I’ve made … Read on →

I’ve been asked a number of times to offer training on assessment. One thing I’ve attempted to do is boil … Read on →

It’s been a while since I started this series, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working in this area. … Read on →

I presented a full-day workshop at the American Center in Delhi for secondary teachers today. (For westerners, that’s “sorta like … Read on →

Periodically, I like to post something for the ELF-wannabes. I thought about applying for this program for a number of … Read on →

I’ve been in India about 7 weeks now. From past experience, this is the week I had scheduled for homesickness. … Read on →

In part 4 of the Teaching Citation posts, we discussed one of the aspects of APA that students find most … Read on →

One of the issues I’m learning about in India is that some employers feel there is a gap between the … Read on →

It’s said that communication in English is a gatekeeper skill. Certainly academic writing in English is. But who, exactly, the … Read on →

I’m in Hyderabad at the British Council’s International Teacher Educator Conference on assessment and evaluation. The conference is quite large. … Read on →

On my way to a conference, I need to fly from Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat. It’s home to … Read on →

Tonight, I’m finally at home. I haven’t had my own place since I left Idaho in early August, assuming I’d … Read on →

We’ve identified my accommodations for the year, though there are still some things to work out. There are no furnished … Read on →

It’s been quite a while since I was a true beginner at learning a language. I think it’s an experience … Read on →

I arrived in India on February 15th, 2012, after a very long wait for another post that never materialized. I’m … Read on →

This audio is from a lecture I’ve recorded for the online class I announced earlier, Research Writing for International Students. … Read on →

If you learned a secondary language after childhood, you may remember learning new words every day… at first. But, if, … Read on →

This audio is from a lecture I’ve recorded for the online class I announced earlier, Research Writing for International Students. … Read on →

English language learners are often confused about whether to use the present or the past participle. Here are some ways … Read on →

I first started creating my own crossword puzzles for students when I noticed one day that my class of beginning … Read on →

One of the best students I ever had was Rosie… not her real name… because she’s not a real person… … Read on →

In 2008, I taught low level speaking and pronunciation classes to a wonderful group of Korean military men. They were … Read on →

Post 1 and Post 2 in this series discussed the need for secondary language users to acquire vocabulary efficiently. But … Read on →

The first post in this series talked about how important it is for academic-bound adult second language students to learn … Read on →

In another post, I mention that it’s a good idea to help students notice signal phrases in authentic sources. Of … Read on →

In the third post on teaching citation, I mention signal phrases. Signal phrases don’t usually pose many problems for native-speakers, … Read on →

In part 1, we talked about the principles of citation, in part 2, the differences in manuscript styles between APA … Read on →

In part 1 we talked about the principles of citation, and in part 2, the differences in manuscript styles between … Read on →

As promised in the first part of this series, this is the second part of my presentation that introduces the … Read on →

This presentation excerpt is for teachers, but it shows the first part of the PowerPoint I use on the day … Read on →

This is a series about teaching vocabulary. I’ll write about the traditional view of vocabulary teaching, that comes largely from … Read on →

This presentation excerpt shows the graphic that I use along with the “What’s the BIG IDEA?” article to put all … Read on →

Students are often confused by the terms for academic writing that professors assume they’ll understand. Even my graduate students don’t … Read on →

Although I’m a huge proponent of Jenkin’s Lingua Franca Core ideas and a view of English as a World English … Read on →

English 102 at the University of Idaho is very much like required composition courses all over the U.S. These ubiquitous … Read on →

I subscribe to the academic-writing-as-academic-discourse model. It just makes sense to me that academia exists, contrary to what most students … Read on →