Taiwan Teaching Advice and Resource Web Pages

bogglesworldesl.com/
download the site…avoid any further mishaps.

Thanks SouldragoN.

Verb tenses… they’re really hard to teach. The foundational book I’m using is from Azar Grammar Series published by Longman’s, Understanding and Using Engilsh Grammar. Sometimes I get questions that I need to really think hard about before answering and even then I find my explanations to be lacking most times.

Is there other materials out there that make this a bit more basic/simpler?

TIA,

[quote=“Yellow Cartman”]Verb tenses… they’re really hard to teach. The foundational book I’m using is from Azar Grammar Series published by Longman’s, Understanding and Using Engilsh Grammar. Sometimes I get questions that I need to really think hard about before answering and even then I find my explanations to be lacking most times.

Is there other materials out there that make this a bit more basic/simpler?

TIA,[/quote]“The Grammar Book”, by Marianne Celce-Murcia and Diane Larsen-Freeman, is a very good and well-regarded book. It requires some investment of time to get the most out of it, but it’s well worth it.

English verb tense, time, and aspect are not simple issues, but this book provides several very useful frameworks for looking at them. It also covers many other aspects of grammar and syntax.

It’s written as a reference for teachers, not students, though there are good practical teaching tips at the end of each chapter.

amazon.com/gp/product/083844 … e&n=283155
A review here:
www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej12/r7.html

I think Caves stock it.

Sage advice indeed…

Good forum.

[quote=“joesax”][quote=“Yellow Cartman”]Verb tenses… they’re really hard to teach. The foundational book I’m using is from Azar Grammar Series published by Longman’s, Understanding and Using Engilsh Grammar. Sometimes I get questions that I need to really think hard about before answering and even then I find my explanations to be lacking most times.

Is there other materials out there that make this a bit more basic/simpler?

TIA,[/quote]“The Grammar Book”, by Marianne Celce-Murcia and Diane Larsen-Freeman, is a very good and well-regarded book. It requires some investment of time to get the most out of it, but it’s well worth it.

English verb tense, time, and aspect are not simple issues, but this book provides several very useful frameworks for looking at them. It also covers many other aspects of grammar and syntax. {snip}
[/quote]

Thanks joesax. Haven’t found it yet but found this substitute: Grammar for English Language Teachers: With Exercises and a Key by Martin Parrott

Pretty helpful. Gives different ideas for teaching verb tenses. Terminology a bit different than what I normally use so I need to re-map it but alright for now.

Will keep look out for your recommendation.

Cheers,

Information changes quickly and updated information and resources for NEWBIES
can also be found at
http://www.englishintaiwan.com

Writing using the 6 Traits of Writing with interactive games to help improve students’ writing - writingfix.com … they have a student site as well if you want to suggest it to your students. I am going to try and convince my school owner to buy the 194-page book this site is based on. Happy surfing.

[quote=“ImaniOU”]Writing using the 6 Traits of Writing with interactive games to help improve students’ writing - writingfix.com … they have a student site as well if you want to suggest it to your students. I am going to try and convince my school owner to buy the 194-page book this site is based on. Happy surfing.[/quote]I love the “instant plot creator” about halfway down that page. They’ve picked the various settings, characters, and conflicts well and it really got me thinking about the resulting scenarios.

I look forward to reading the rest of the site.

My web page has been moved to

michaelturton.com/Taiwan/teach_index.html

I am so in love with writingfix.com. It uses the six traits of writing and authentic English reading materials for kids to inspire all sorts of writing projects. I have used the ideas from this website extensively with my 4th and 5th grade classes, but even for intermediate English students, the ideas are adaptable.

Check out: Teacher James (www.teacherjames.com)…you can put up a 15-30 second video description of yourself to attract more students.

Here’s a shameless plug for my site:

stickyball.net

I’ve collected all the worksheets, activities, games, etc. that I’ve developed over the years and put them on this site. I originally created most of these pages because I couldn’t find anything that matched what I needed on the various websites around, so hopefully they’ll fill a small gap in the ESL Teaching Resources world.

great new site with lots of information on teaching in taiwan many job ads
its all free fast and easy to use http://www.classifiedsintaiwan.com :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

For those of you looking for some new teaching ideas, I thought I would share some of my favorite resources.

Jane Willis and Dave Willis have some articles about task based learning along with some sample lessons on their website:

http://www.willis-elt.co.uk/

They also have blogs and articles on the BBC/British Council website. I especially enjoyed these two articles:

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/reading-information-motivating-learners-read-efficiently
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/criteria-identifying-tasks-tbl

Mario Rinvolucri, who has written some of the most innovative books of ESL activities, also has a blog and articles on the same site:

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/mario-rinvolucri

If you’re interested in blogging, wikis, podcasting, and other web based tools for teaching, I highly recommend you look around at the Tech ELT Blog:

http://www.ihes.com/bcn/tt/eltblog/blog/

Another similar blog is Nik Peachey’s excellent Learning Technology blog:

http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/

One of my current favorite ELT writers is Lindsay Clandfield. He has an extremely clever blog containing practical ideas and miscellaneous items related to teaching English:

http://sixthings.net/

Finally, if you’re interested in using video clips in class, James Keddie offers over 30 lessons using video clips at his website TEFLclips.com:

http://www.teflclips.com/

For teachers involved in preparing students for the GEPT tests, there is a Yahoo group set up to disseminate relevant info.

groups.yahoo.com/group/ezgept/

Please visit and join if this is relevant to you.

Please help to make this group the best resource for both students and teachers alike on learning how to succeed with the GEPT exams.

For teachers:

Share teaching tips

Ask questions

Recommend teaching materials

Recommend teaching methods

Encourage your students to join also (or their parents)

For students (of all levels)

Ask questions

Get advice

Share your success story

Find qualified experienced tutors

And much more!

In coming weeks we will add polls, links, useful files etc. and members are encouraged to do the same.

breakingnewsenglish.com/index.html looks useful for the stories alone, though they come with a lot of additional material too.

For those of you looking for some unique teaching material, or teachers who like to discuss taboo topics in class, the new blog [color=#4000FF]this is $trictly 4 my T.E.A.C.H.E.R.Z[/color] is probably your cup of tea.

In the words of the blogger, [quote]I’d say that the idea is to make a different kind of TEFL blog. One that has a little more, I don’t know, flavor. You know, some added extra flavor.

I mean, it’s cool, you know, that the students, like, learn and stuff. But I’m just trying to keep myself entertained in the meantime, you know, with materials that’ll make you laugh or just giggle. Or make you shake your head and say, “Damn.” You know, that kind of flavor.[/quote]

Here are a couple of examples:

the most un-P.C. TEFL lesson ever - “Guilty Conscience” Reported Commands
strictly4myteacherz.wordpress.co … ng-lesson/

Mr. Show “Lie Detector” Video lesson
strictly4myteacherz.wordpress.co … eo-lesson/

I just clicked on Hall Houston’s Geocities website and it’s not available. :frowning:
Does anyone know how to access his website?

Thank you!

hallhouston.com/