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It’s that time once again! I’m looking forward to seeing friends old and new at the TESOL Convention in Tampa. I’ll be giving a brief talk as part of the CEA Accreditation Workshop preceding the conference on Wednesday. After that I’ll be around for the rest of the week. Will you...

From time to time in my Intro to TESOL Course at Middlebury College, I invite students to go out over the weekend and collect contemporary slang terms that might be challenging for second language learners and newly arrived international students. When I’m lucky, a few students...

In January I had the pleasure of once again teaching an Intro to TESOL course at Middlebury College. It is always amazing to work with these bright, young students and to remind myself again of what it was like back when I didn’t know anything at all about language teaching.  On...

Have you had the experience of attending professional conferences where you experienced death by PowerPoint—a presentation in which the person at the front of the room has too much text on too many slides. Often, the presenter then proceeds to read to the audience everything that...

I’m a candidate in the fall 2017 election for TESOL’s Board of Director’s. I’d love your support. Check out this catchy video, or read my remarks below. [Update: November, 2017. Thanks for your support everyone. I was elected and will serve on the TESOL Board from March...

English language teachers who work with students in the United States know only too well that teaching language by itself is not sufficient. Language learners also need to grasp the culture of the country they are living in, as well as learn how to overcome intercultural...

Are your students challenged by the media of today? Is it hard for them to make sense of what is happening in the world? If you’re free, I hope you’ll join me for a webinar on Empowering Your Students With Media Literacy on October 4th, 2017. The webinar is sponsored by the...

This January, my colleague Bruce Rindler and I will be speaking at the EnglishUSA Professional Development Conference in Monterey, CA. Our talk is on surviving and thriving in the IEP accreditation process. I put together a brief video to give a sense of what we’ll be...

As the leadership of TESOL and NAFSA have pointed out, In the face of challenging times it is important for us to remember why we do what we do and to live up to our ideals of a global professional community. Our society and our world desperately need people who can bridge...

I had the chance to contribute to a recent issue of Modern English Teacher magazine on the subject of reading. Here’s what I said: What is the most important skill for your EAP students? For most, the ability to read well may be the most important second language academic...