With Academy Award season upon us, ESL teachers may wish to think about how they can use movies in the classroom. Movies provide a wonderful source of language input for students. They can provide valuable exposure to language and also to culture, as well as being an excellent...

As teachers, we oftenwant to use images in our own classrooms. Although the Internet is full of wonderful pictures, it can sometimes be a challenge to find just the right picture that is also free of copyright restrictions. When I was first starting out in the field, about 35...

The TESOL International Association has teamed up with the Wiley publishing company to produce the TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. It’s available now here. This is a comprehensive, multi-volume examination of just about everything you need to know about...

Have you had the experience of attending professional conferences where you experienced death by PowerPoint—a presentation in which the person at the front of the room has too much text on too many slides. Often, the presenter then proceeds to read to the audience everything that...

I’m a candidate in the fall 2017 election for TESOL’s Board of Director’s. I’d love your support. Check out this catchy video, or read my remarks below. [Update: November, 2017. Thanks for your support everyone. I was elected and will serve on the TESOL Board from March...

English language teachers who work with students in the United States know only too well that teaching language by itself is not sufficient. Language learners also need to grasp the culture of the country they are living in, as well as learn how to overcome intercultural...

Are your students challenged by the media of today? Is it hard for them to make sense of what is happening in the world? If you’re free, I hope you’ll join me for a webinar on Empowering Your Students With Media Literacy on October 4th, 2017. The webinar is sponsored by the...

This January, my colleague Bruce Rindler and I will be speaking at the EnglishUSA Professional Development Conference in Monterey, CA. Our talk is on surviving and thriving in the IEP accreditation process. I put together a brief video to give a sense of what we’ll be...

As the leadership of TESOL and NAFSA have pointed out, In the face of challenging times it is important for us to remember why we do what we do and to live up to our ideals of a global professional community. Our society and our world desperately need people who can bridge...

I had the chance to contribute to a recent issue of Modern English Teacher magazine on the subject of reading. Here’s what I said: What is the most important skill for your EAP students? For most, the ability to read well may be the most important second language academic...