TESL Ontario’s Magazine for Language Teachers
Best practices for supporting rapid language acquisition
Introduction
Rapid progress in additional or foreign language learning, especially among adult learners, is often portrayed as rare or even accidental (Birdsong, 1999; Lengyel & Singleton, 1995). Some individuals appear to acquire a new language with surprising ease, while others struggle despite equal or greater effort. From a teaching perspective, however, this phenomenon is neither mysterious nor dependent…
The linguistic competition and other sports
Fencing
The linguistic competition is what I like to refer to as fencing. The first round of fencing commences, and you are speared by the sword of your competitor. That sword is the primary language and the secondary language. In this case, English represents your sword that failed to draw in time. Your opponent…
The language I love or my love language?
कोस-कोस पर बदले पानी, चार कोस पर वाणी (Kos-kos par badle paani, chaar kos par vaani). The English translation of this famous Hindi idiom is: In India, the taste of water changes after every mile & language after every four miles. This rhyming poetic aphorism reflects the diversity of languages and dialects in India (Narayan,…
Spotlight — Shahriar Mirshahidi
Congratulations! You received the OCAD University Employee Equity Award. Talk to us a bit about that award and what it means to you.
I am deeply honored to receive the 2023 Employee Equity Award for my work as an English Language Learning Specialist at OCAD University’s English for Art & Design Program and the Writing…
An ESL immigrant teacher’s insight into languages
As a recent immigrant to Canada, I involuntarily find myself in between-situations, driven by a set of choices that diverge me away while preserving bits and pieces of my natural habitus (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977). As a native speaker of Arabic and an ESL teacher who mainly spoke English and French back home, I never realized how…
