Category Archives: Uncategorised

Teacher, I write a photograph


Written by - Jacqueline Johnson, Canada

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Introduction

Writers make the blind see. We are talking about readers here. Readers see only what writers show them. I tell my students this, adding that luckily readers can see photographs and it is their job to make good photographs.

Then we get down to business, and I run through a drill that goes something like this.

“Let’s make some pictures: Read these words:  Car—What do you see? Woman—What do you see?  Baby—What do you see?”

“Let’s make some moving pictures. What do you see now? The woman drives the car. The baby smiles.”

I tell them that these are general pictures,  Continue Reading →

Categories:
ESL, Teaching, Uncategorised, Writing
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Diversity, equity, and inclusion: Dialoguing with TESL Ontario members


Written by - By Rebecca Schmor & Nisa Akdemir, Canada

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Abstract

This article reports and comments on findings from a TESL Ontario membership survey and synchronous dialogue session inquiring about challenges and opportunities related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in English Language Teaching classrooms and workplaces. The findings reveal that TESL Ontario members have most frequently experienced ageism and ethnic and cultural discrimination in their interactions with colleagues and students. Member suggestions for enacting DEI principles and practices at work and in class included engaging in self-directed learning activities, linguistically inclusive teaching practices, and formal professional development opportunities.

Introduction

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have become buzzwords within and beyond the field of language education, reflecting the ongoing need for social change,  Continue Reading →

Categories:
culture, DEI, Identity, Uncategorised
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Our Silent Journey: Supporting English language learners to adapt to the classroom 


Written by - Ricardo-Martín Marroquín, Canada

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Introduction  

It is evident that the number of English language learners (ELLs) has increased in the last few years. In Ontario, more than 25% of the student population are learning English as a second language (L2) (Statistics Canada, 2020). Given that numbers are increasing, it is important to know how to support ELLs in the classroom, school community, and in their own communities with the purpose of helping each student become successful. Hence, the core of this message is to provide strategies that may support newcomers to feel positive about their learning, as teachers become more aware about their practices in and outside of the classroom. For this reason, we will focus on the settlement curve and explain it,  Continue Reading →

Categories:
culture, Curriculum, EAL, ESL, Experiential, Uncategorised
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Teaching EFL in the Sultanate of Oman


Written by - Barbara Stasiuk, Canada

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An ESL teacher goes EFL in Salalah, Oman

In mid-December 2021, I embarked on a new odyssey—teaching EFL in a Foundations Program at Dhofar University in Salalah, Oman. The location is described as bucolic as it is cradled between the coast of the Arabian Sea and the Dhofar Mountains, and the weather is usually sunny and warm except for the unique Khareef (fall) season when the monsoon-like weather turns the desert into a verdant green with a constant cloudy drizzle. Coconuts, papayas, and bananas abound here and recently desert farming is expanding the Dhofar region’s agricultural products, which have been heavily based upon camels, cattle, and goats.

Since the EAP market shrunk suddenly in Canada during the pandemic,  Continue Reading →

Categories:
EAL, ESL, Uncategorised
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The benefits of having a little quiet time


Written by - Staci-Anne Nogami, Japan

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Introduction

Class time and the interaction with other students is crucial to learning and developing in any second language. But more importantly, it is important to have the time to reflect and mentally digest information you are learning, your own personal thoughts, and feelings on any given topic, as well as being able to emotionally connect with material. For these reasons, I give my ESL students ample time to simply sit and collect their thoughts because I believe that having quiet moments in class is not only necessary but can be therapeutic for students and the teacher. This paper aims to illustrate the benefits of quiet time for ESL students and how teachers can implement this into their class.  Continue Reading →

Categories:
culture, ESL, Reflection, Uncategorised
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An anthropological approach to diversity in ELT


Written by - By Mostafa Kosari, Canada

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Abstract
This paper presents a discussion of the racial barrier to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the context of English Language Teaching. Although diversity is welcomed in ESL classrooms, giving all the students and teachers equal opportunities to participate and keeping all of them equally engaged is not necessarily an easy task when it comes to a formidable barrier called race. To achieve this aim, one perspective ESL employers, teachers, and students can adopt to reduce racial bias is an anthropological approach, which this paper is attempting to promote.

 

Survival of the fittest
When the sociologist Herbert Spencer coined the phrase survival of the fittest in 1864, he had no idea how his misconception of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution would arouse such a bitter controversy in the 20th century with dire repercussions in our present day.  Continue Reading →

Categories:
culture, ESL, Uncategorised
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Facebook as a tool for enhancing students’ argumentative writing


Written by - By Maria-Lourdes Lira-Gonzales , Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Canada

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For images, refer to the PDF of the article.

Argumentative writing is one of the most difficult written genres in higher education for both English as a second language (ESL) and English as foreign language (EFL) learners. These learners often face difficulties using complex syntactic forms and appropriate elements of argumentation (Ka-kan-dee & Kaur, 2014). Hence, there is an imperative need to explore the use of effective strategies to improve ESL/EFL students’ argumentative writing ability at the tertiary level.
Corrective feedback, referred to as utterances that indicate to a learner that their output is erroneous in some way (Nassaji & Kartchava, 2017), may be a particularly effective method of giving individual and specific guidance for the improvement of argumentation.  Continue Reading →

Categories:
Assessment, EAP, ESL, Online teaching, Uncategorised, Writing
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Identity in undergraduate L2 writing: A juxtapositionof academic voice and internal voices


Written by - By Gulnigar Baham, Humber College (Kansai Foreign Languages University), Canada

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Abstract
Despite mounting research on the potential that cultivating self-identity affords students, it is often forgotten in most academic contexts, whether in instruction or assessment, that L2 writers have an L1 identity. In all avenues of higher education, researchers agree that multiple, complex, and simultaneous identities of students are advantageous for their advancement in academic writing (Cohen, 2011; Cummins, 2001; Leki, 2008); however, institutional practices, persisting social conventions, and student-teacher relationships (or lack thereof) place a greater pressure for L2 undergraduate students specifically. International and immigrant/generation 1.5 undergraduate students arrive in their new settings with their L1 knowledge base and are often expected to forego rhetorical strategies of their L1, as well as their linguistic and cultural repertoire,  Continue Reading →

Categories:
Curriculum, EAP, ESL, Identity, Language, Uncategorised, Writing
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English as a lingua franca: Reverting the school system back to a monolingual ideology—Why it’s dangerous and how to move toward a plurilingual ideology


Written by - By Ivana Stanisavljevic, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, Canada

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Introduction
English is the most widely spoken language in the world. It is the most commonly taught, learned, and used L2 worldwide. English is sought out as a valuable commodity. Parents want their children to learn it because of potential job and personal gains, and people worldwide seek to learn it for these exact reasons. It reigns supreme within the seemingly invisible pyramid of languages. English is king. As a lingua franca, it is the dominant language of international business, science, and technology (Lüdi et al., 2010, p. 57). Whatever the context, the rule of thumb seems to be, “When in doubt or when in a communicative bind, resort to speaking English.” Tourists who visit foreign countries can rest assured that they will be understood if they have knowledge of English.  Continue Reading →

Categories:
ESL, lingua franca, Plurilingualism, Uncategorised
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Quick tips for teaching literacy


Written by - By Zainab Almutawali, Canada

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These tips and guidelines are meant for instructors and volunteers who are new to the field of literacy and intend to work with adult literacy learners. I have come up with these tips based on my experience with literacy students, other teachers’ experiences and observations, and also my learners’ feedback that I always consider when planning my lessons. This is based on experience teaching literacy students from diverse backgrounds and various levels of literacy.

Background
Understanding the background of literacy learners and their needs is the first step to a fruitful learning experience. Many of our literacy learners are individuals who have never been to school before, have had limited education (one to two years of schooling) in their home countries,  Continue Reading →

Categories:
ESL, Language, Literacy, Teaching, Uncategorised
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Teaching the pronunciation of consonsants to ESL students


Written by - By Mike Tiittanen, Toronto District School Board, Canada

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Abstract
In this article, an experienced ESL pronunciation teacher explains the typical pronunciation problems many ESL students have with selected consonants. The author explains how these consonants are pronounced, and there are video links to demonstrate the pronunciation of these consonants. In addition, for each of the selected consonants within the article, the author gives practical suggestions as to how these consonants may be taught within the context of task-based and communicative lessons. This is important as such meaningful activities allow the students to apply their pronunciation of these consonants within classroom situations that mimic real life. The demonstrations of the pronunciation of the target consonants and the classroom practice activities are applicable for ESL lessons conducted on an online video-based synchronous platform,  Continue Reading →

Categories:
Pronunciation, Uncategorised
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The role of grammar in ESL and EFL courses


Written by - By Orestes Vega, Miami Dade College, USA

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Abstract
The teaching of grammar has been a controversial issue in second and foreign languages. On the one side, one can find those who oppose teaching grammar in language courses, and on the other side, one can also find many language teachers and applied linguists who favor teaching grammar in the same said courses. This paper deals with some issues related to the teaching of grammar, how teachers should teach, and when is the best time to introduce it in second and foreign language courses. While many language courses focus on grammatical forms, other courses, such as those adhering to the communicative language teaching approach, try to exclude the explicit treatment of form from the syllabi. It is known that native speakers of any language acquire their native language without grammar explanations;  Continue Reading →

Categories:
Grammar, Teaching, Uncategorised
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