Thanks to everyone who came to my talk at the American Space at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid on February 26th. I spoke about intercultural communication and language teaching and shared some ideas for how to help students deal with other cultures in the classroom.  Remember, if you...

Using movies or films in class is a great way to help student both learn more about language and also about culture and cultural differences.  These days there are tons of films available that deal with interesting intercultural issues. Here are some thoughts on how to use film...

At TESOL in Portland in March 2014, I was part of a panel that discussed issues of raising intercultural awareness for young learners. A synthesis of my talk is now available as an article from the newsletter of TESOL’s Applied Linguistics Interest Section. Here’s the...

The eyes of many around the world are focused on Brazil for the World Cup. Interest is high, even in the United States, where the sport is not one of the popular big four professional sports (American football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey.) But whenever people from the U.S....

Will you be at the TESOL Convention in Portland. If, so, I hope to see you there. Come and find me at one of the following presentations.   The Next Generation of Challenges in Authoring Thursday  3/27   1:00pm   CC B113 Christina Cavage, Nick Robinson, Lynn Bonesteel, Sarah...

Here are a few words of advice on helping students write essays. It’s part of a series from Oxford University Press in which students are invited to ask questions of the authors of Q: Skills for Success.  You can watch in in the YouTube version below, or go to the OUP ELT...

What do you think about having students use smartphones and tablets in class? Is it a help or a hindrance? Here are a few thoughts on how to make the most of them.

The authors of OUP’s Q: Skills for Success series have been answering questions from teachers. I was given a question about how to encourage students to speak more English in class.  You can watch the video directly using the link below, or visit the Oxford University Press...

Oxford University Press has started asking users of Q:Skills for success what they would like to know about the books and how to use them better.  Watch this video to get instructions on how to submit your questions.  

In preparing our textbooks in the Q: Skills for Success series, my co-author Jenny Bixby and I have done a lot of research into effective methods of teaching reading. We’ve developed a few conference presentations on the subject. (You can download some slides here, or some...