Saturday, December 17, 2011

New Teachers, New Ideas

Welcome! Are you a new ESL teacher looking for some time-saving and effective teaching ideas for your students? Or are you perhaps a seasoned language professional interested in sharing some ways to integrate meaningful dialogue and communicative activities in the ESL classroom? If so, this blog is made just for you!

Before going any further, I'd like to introduce myself. I am native to the sunny state of California and grew up in a bilingual household, speaking both Mandarin Chinese and English. I received a graduate degree in Linguistics, with an emphasis in teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). With three years of teaching experience in the field of Adult Education, I am currently an ESL instructor in Silicon Valley, in constant pursuit of improving my teaching performance (and helping other new teachers) through action research.

Some of my pedagogical interests include: interactive learning, inquiry-based learning, the role of translation in learning habits, and pronunciation techniques for lower level students.

This blog is partly a reflection of what has worked in my teaching adventures with beginning-level ESL students, but it is largely an open resource to share communicative, "real life" ESL activities that will get your students speaking and learning in no time!

The activities, dialogue scripts, and other teaching ideas in this blog can easily be adapted to students at any level, from low-beginner to high-advanced. Educators from all fields are welcome to add their thoughts, comments, and ideas as desired.

Happy Teaching!