I've just added a comprehensive set of websites useful to learners outside of class. While chosen to assist adult students at the pre-intermediate level, a number would also be valuable to use with younger learners.
The sites cover all macro-skills, activities, quizzes, flashcards and other vocabulary resources, self assessment, typing practice, and text-to-voice assistance.
To access this set of sites and previous suggestions listed for younger learners, go to "Learn" then "Learning Help".

It's been a tumultuous few months for me, so I apologise for not writing sooner.
As time is short, here are the highlights:
(1) After many broken promises and unreasonable treatment by my employer, I left Malaysia in disgust in April and returned home to Toowoomba in Queensland.
(2) I spent time catching up with my family - all of whom I'm very proud of - and looking for work. After a few non-events, I managed to snare an English teaching job at my local university - the same one at which I was studying. Unfortunately their positions are very short term (10 week sessions) with no guarantees of re-employment unless there are sufficient enrolments. While I enjoyed teaching there, I wanted something more secure.
(3) After spending several months looking for work, I decided to accept a teaching job back in Hsinchu with the same government school at which I'd worked the first time. At least this was a guaranteed 12 months with renewal options.
(4) The other productive (and satisfying) thing I managed to do, was to complete my Master of Applied Linguistics program, from which I've now graduated.
So now I'm comfortably back in a familiar city, making some new teaching friends and catching up with earlier ones, enjoying a lovely new apartment, riding a scooter again, and longing for some cooler weather now autumn is here.
If you go to this link Photos June to September 2011 you'll see some of the places I've been both back home and now here in Taiwan.
My next trip will be a long weekend in Toowoomba in mid-November to attend (Anthony) my son's wedding. It will pass very quickly, but I want to be there to wish him well.

Abstract: Online learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) face many unique issues in choosing which program to study. The present paper begins with a review of criteria developed previously, and reassesses these based on subsequent pedagogical and technological innovations, particularly the evolution of Web 2.0 tools and “communicative language teaching” approaches. A new set of criteria were then applied to programs reviewed previously and to newer courses. These exposed ongoing problems of providers failing to adopt newer approaches despite most being available at no cost, a lack of standards, best practice models and external accreditation, and neglect in establishing a sense of community through enhanced student-teacher and student-student communication, which in turn impacts student motivation and the sense of isolation. The author suggests that more research effort it needed to encourage industry players to move forward, and to reassure learners of the quality and value for money of programs they may choose to complete.

The videos by Nik Peachey and George Siemens will not play in a Slidecast, so if you would like to view them you will need to go here:
Web 1.0 http://db.tt/U6kEP7L
Web 2.0 http://db.tt/nZfnlZz
Connectivism http://db.tt/9eCA2ds
Sorry for any inconvenience. Greg Q.

Asked by James Cook | 11 hours ago in Education and Schools | Open

Your public answer: “Hi James, I'd like to suggest that taking a college degree should be an option, but not the only option, for people. Other responses have focussed on the link between education and employment, which is certainly undeniable. But I feel they have overlooked other possible outcomes of having a better education - such as better citizens, musicians, artists, philosophers, designers, healthy minds, etc - all of which are also important for society to flourish. In other words, self development and self improvement are also very important. One other point often overlooked, is the demand for skilled labour. It's great pumping out thousands of lawyers, accountants, doctors etc. every year, but if there's no work for them is that a good investment for society or is it simply raising individuals' expectations only to leave them "high and dry" after so much effort. Finally, not everyone has either the need or the ability to complete such programs. Most of my children have not, and they are working and living happy lives after qualifying in shorter courses. Employers ought to be more realistic as well regarding what essential background is required of their employees - particularly things like parenting, life experience, travel, languages are often overlooked.”

Asked by Pedro Pereira | 7 hours ago in Mentoring | Open

Your public answer: “I agree with Renjit. A good master will expose his/her pupils to the skills and ideas needed for them to progress further in that field. As a musician and teacher myself, I can think of many cases throughout the history of Western music in which composers took proteges under their wings and the latter were only ever considered worthy if they took their mentors' ideas and developed them further. In fact, the progress of all Western music can be put down to this basic principle. However, there are some areas where this is less likely. For example, I also teach English as a second language. It would be fairly unlikely for many of my ESL/EFL students to become better at English than myself. Still, it's possible they could in some aspect of it. For example, I'm not a good creative writer, but a student of mine could become one I suppose.”

I posted this today on English Classroom 2.0 in response to a teacher who was having trouble tutoring a boy who only wanted to talk about his favourite cartoon character in Chinese. Perhaps something in my reply might be helpful to others having similar problems.
"Hello Cynthia,

It seems there is a more fundamental issue here - WHY are you tutoring him? If he doesn't want it, then you should speak to his parents and determine whether they are the ones that want him to learn rather than the boy himself. As they say "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

If you really do want to persist with him, and assuming what you are offering meets his needs and is of interest to him, then I'd suggest you start pretending you don't speak Chinese, and refuse to talk to him in anything other than English. Since he is in Grade 6, there's no reason he shouldn't be able to follow you if he's already had a few years of lessons at school.

You could use the cartoon as a talking point - but only in English. Ask him questions about what happens, the names of characters, what they look like, their personalities/interests/friends etc, some of the stories. Once you have some answers from him, you can use these to build up his vocabulary e.g. feelings, colours, hobbies, actions, etc. You may be able to put together some basic stories using the characters for him to read and, in time, he might be able to write his own stories. Later it may be possible to introduce other cartoons or folk tales etc. that have similar story lines. He could subsequently write to an English-speaking friend (pen pal) about his interests and build a broader range of conversations from there. If you have Internet access there are lots of resources to create your own cartoons or better, for him to do so.

Good luck with this challenging student,"

When reading a recent post by Karenne Sylvester called "Which came first: time or tenses?" (at http://kalinago.blogspot.com/2010/11/which-came-first-time-or-tenses.html) I thought it would be fun to see what sentences looked like without changing the form of the verb, but simply using modifiers or qualifiers to suggest the tense.
The table seen on the left (with some inspiration from http://www.athabascau.ca/courses/engl/155/support/verb_tenses.htm) is my attempt to answer that question.
What I'd like to know from readers is: when you look at these sentences, can you understand what is being said? In other words, ignoring the verb form, does the sentence communicate the intended time reference?
Having written them myself perhaps I'm too close to tell, but it seems to me that simply using the basic form of the verb (infinitive without the "to") does work. In each case the reader or listener, after getting over the initial shock, ought to be able to determine when the events were taking place relative to time.
When it comes to fluency and comprehension, it begs the question of whether we are sometimes too hard on our English learners who produce utterances like these, when we actually DO know what they mean.

Hi Jason,
The idea I got from this was that unplugged approaches work with beginners as well as with those having more language.
I also found it interesting as a potential approach with EFL beginners overseas, if only we could convince schools to give up their precious (badly written) student books & workbooks.
Where it is more difficult for you is not having a common L2 among your learners, making a co-teacher arrangement useless. Where it is simpler for you is being in an English-speaking country where students are exposed to the language outside of class.
It sounds to me that you are definitely on the right track with these students, offering them what they need and want. You've also got me thinking about how a similar approach might work here in Taiwan elementary schools. Are there more sample sheets that you have developed under the "English Trees" concept?
You don't mention many specific ways of eliciting language from students. I assume, though, you might have considered student art, gesture, facial expressions, acting out, bringing in photos or realia as other possibilities.
Please keep up the action research, as good ideas are always welcome.
Thanks,
Greg.
Posted today at http://jasonrenshaw.typepad.com/jason_renshaws_web_log/2010/11/a-simple-approach-to-trees-in-the-beginners-section-of-the-orchard.html

Today I posted the following comment on http://kalinago.blogspot.com/2010/10/running.html which talked about why some of us become TEFL teachers overseas instead of staying in our home countries, particularly some of the common misperceptions about it.

Teacher Greg said...Some stay for the drudgery of an office life.

Some stay for their mortgages.

Some stay for fear of new things and new ideas.

Some stay to avoid challenges and growth.

Some stay because it's just easier.

Some just stay!

October 13, 2010