The ‘other’ in ESOL: Is it really about othering?
ESOL stands for English for Speakers of Other Languages. Some are calling it outdated and ‘othering’, but I there’s more to othering than the word ‘other’!
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Book Review – The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students Through Digital Learning
Title: The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students Through Digital Learning Author: James Paul Gee Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (January 8, 2013) Before we can be convinced of the need to get smart through digital learning, we need to be convinced of our own stupidity. The title implies that the book will explain how digital leaning will create…
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Are MOOCs the future of learning?
With the ongoing discussion of whether MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) is the next revolution in education, I decided to embark on a MOOC myself. My first experience with online courses was not Massive nor Open. It was with the Master of Arts in Teaching program with USC. It was a full-fledged master program conducted…
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Not just another App: 4pics1word for English Learners
Apart from making your waiting (or waking) time less monotonous, 4pics1word is also a great vocabulary game. People around me are hooked on this game – the office lady on the train, someone in the checkout line, my colleague, my boss. The addictive word game available on both iPhone and Android appears simple but forces…
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Only Connect: My Ideological Stance in Content Area Instruction
I present my ideological stance in content area instruction by first providing background information about the students and their goals and challenges regarding attaining proficiency in academic literacy practices. I then briefly summarize my ideological stance regarding teaching students in content area instruction, followed by describing three pedagogical approaches to integrate academic literacy into my…
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The truths about teaching English
In preparation for a new course with the MAT TESOL program, I read the first three chapters of James Crawford’s “Educating English Learners: Language Diversity in the Classroom“. I was at first overwhelmed with the various programs and acronyms for teaching English to immigrants in America, but soon I grew curious about the assumptions and…