Last spring, Maissa and Bushra were discussing fall courses, and Bushra casually mentioned that she was not planning to take grammar. “It’s all online.” She said, “I don’t need it.” Bushra has a point. Youtube has made it possible for anyone with a cell phone to post a […]
Being able to speak effortlessly is a great luxury. Expert speakers can assume that their messages and the intentions behind their words are coming across in exactly the way they intend. If they do think about sounds, confident speakers generally focus on the […]
In recent conferences there has been a call for instruction in the “hidden” language of pragmatics, but the field is only just beginning to figure out how to create classroom materials. What if the materials are already out there? What if we could use plays? Most course book […]
At a drama presentation given by Kathleen McGovern at the Chicago TESOL last week, participants created and performed skits that were meant to advocate for a change we’d like to see at the TESOL convention. Many of the groups did skits about the long walking distances. Others advocated […]
Irving is an older student who has the confidence of a former car salesman. I could hear him from across the room as I gave feedback to a different group. He seemed to enjoy the role of a parent trying to get his child to eat vegetables, and […]
Why do English learners still travel to physical classrooms? After all, they can get plenty of information, practice grammar drills and even listen to graded lectures online. Perhaps the answer lies in something that computers cannot provide: a safe space to learn and practice conversation. Conversation is actually […]
English Endeavors 