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Moving from Massachusetts to Arizona has been an eye-opener in many ways! Of course, the weather is different—while my former town was shoveling out from under eight feet of snow, I was walking around in T-shirts and sandals in Tucson. It also takes a lot longer to get from one
Do you feel like you’re in one of Rodney Dangerfield’s jokes: Teachers don’t get no respect? Well, it isn’t a joke. All the teachers I know feel under attack and overwhelmed by the demands placed upon them. Many have told me they don’t know how they can hold out until
The third reason why I enjoy teaching English Language Learners is because of the curriculum. Or rather, the lack of one. None of the places where I taught had an actual ESL curriculum and it was up to me to design all my courses and lessons myself. The first thing
A lot of education reformers seem to think that a young teacher is better than an older one. But as this quotation reminds us, an older teacher is a more experienced teacher and has lots to offer more novice colleagues. Certainly, when I was new to public school teaching, the
Coming from teaching adults at universities in Asia and businesspeople and older students who were in the U.S. on their own, dealing with the parents of my ELL students was a new experience for me when I first started teaching in a public school. But it was truly a pleasure
More than many other subjects, learning a new language involves taking risks. To be successful, students must practice using the language. That means both speaking it and writing it. And when you are in the process of learning a language, it is inevitable that you will make mistakes. ELLs who
I love working with people who are learning English as an additional language! One of the aspects I most enjoy is learning about their cultures and countries. Most of the ELLs I taught in public school were born in the U.S. and only a small percentage were immigrants. But their
I wonder what Eleanor Roosevelt would think of the current state of education in the United States. From 1927 – 1938, she was a co-owner and teacher at the Todhunter School for Girls in New York City, where she taught courses in English and history. (The school later merged with
Yesterday, I wrote about Hannibal and how teachers of ELLs share some similar personality traits. One trait is perseverance and another is creativity. Several years ago, I read an article about how iPods were used in a class to help students improve their reading skills. I was intrigued and wanted
Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, was based in Cartagena in Iberia and from there, set out to conquer Rome. In 218 B.C., he crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps with his army and 37 war elephants. Crossing the snow-covered mountains with elephants had never been done before and the army met
I was thinking about perspective last night. It’s easy to forget that in the great scheme of things, teachers and students in the United States don’t have it so bad. On a day to day basis, it often can feel like teachers work under very negative conditions. But despite the
I am fascinated by Chinese history and culture, but also because teaching ancient, world and American history to my middle school students in content-based ESL classes was loads of fun and some of my most enjoyable moments of teaching happened in those classes. Confucius; source: Wikimedia Commons So many students
