Joe McVeigh

ESL consulting, training, writing & editing

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Figuring out the frequency of two word verbs

December 21st, 2011 · No Comments · EFL, Materials development, curriculum development, speaking, teacher-training

The December 2011 TESOL Quarterly contains a wonderful study by Dilin Liu analyzing the frequency of phrasal verbs across several corpora. This is a really useful article for teachers and materials writers, with lots of great information in it and a valuable companion to his 2003 corpus study on the […]

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Class chemistry

September 26th, 2011 · No Comments · Uncategorized

Have you ever taught a class that just never seemed to come together? Or one in which the students all worked together really well? Do you think that classes have their own personalities?
I first learned about the concept of class chemistry as a student teacher. My master teacher, a wonderful woman named Martha Bean, commented […]

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What teachers inspired you?

August 4th, 2011 · No Comments · TESOL, teacher-training

One of my most memorable teachers was a high school English teacher. Thomas Donovan had been teaching for nearly forty years and was in his sixties when I had him as a 14-year-old student. He was what today we would call “old school.” That is, he was very traditional in the way […]

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5 great books for teaching speaking in the English language classroom

July 15th, 2011 · 1 Comment · EFL, Resources, TESOL, curriculum development, language testing, speaking

A recent thread on the TESOL English as a Foreign Language Interest Section e-list discussion group raised the issue of teaching conversation in the EFL classroom. I came up with the following list of useful books for those interested in teaching speaking.
Folse, K. S. (2006) The art of teaching speaking: Research and pedagogy for ESL/EFL […]

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See you in New Orleans!

March 4th, 2011 · No Comments · Culture, Handouts, Materials development, Program Administration, Q: Skills for Success, TESOL, curriculum development

I’m looking forward to the TESOL Conference in New Orleans coming up during the week of March 20th. Hope to see you there! Here are a few topics I’ll be presenting on.  Look here for handouts and PowerPoint slides after the conference.
Authors Wanted Worldwide: Write for TESOL Books!
Friday, March 18,  2:00-3:45 Hilton – Jasperwood Room, […]

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Ten Techniques for Teaching Culture in the Classroom

March 18th, 2010 · No Comments · Culture, Handouts, Resources, TESOL, teacher-training

If you’ll be attending the TESOL Convention in Boston, come and see my presentation with Ann Wintergerst on Ten Techniques for Teaching Culture in the Classroom.  The presentation is on Thursday, March 25th from 10:00-10:45 AM in room 153 B.  We’ll be highlighting some of the activities from our forthcoming Pearson Longman book, Techniques for […]

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See you at TESOL?

March 24th, 2008 · No Comments · Consulting, Editing, Handouts, Materials development, Program Administration, Resources, TESOL

I’m looking forward to the TESOL conference in New York April 2-5th, 2008. It’s always a great time to reconnect with old friends, meet new friends, and get caught up on the latest happenings in the field. If you’ll be there, feel free to join me for the presentations listed below. Handouts and PowerPoints will […]

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