Compelling Conversations - Author Biographies

Born in New York City and raised in Indiana, Eric Roth has taught English and Writing in California for the last dozen years. Roth currently teaches undergraduate engineering students and graduate science students the pleasures of writing and public speaking in English at the University of Southern California. A former journalist and Congressional aide, he has also taught numerous ESL courses at Santa Monica College, UCLA Extension, and Cal State , Long Beach’s American Language Institute. Roth also taught the first citizenship class in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and served as the first director of the CES Adult Education Center in 1996. Roth received his MA in Media Studies in 1988. A current member of CATESOL, TESOL and ICA, he has led many workshops on teaching techniques. Eric serves as the faculty advisor for the University of Southern California Conversation Partners Program.

After 35 years of teaching English and supervising English teachers, Toni Aberson (M.A. English; M.A. Psychology and Religion) believes that a lively classroom is the optimal learning environment.  "If people are thinking, sharing, and laughing, then they're learning, The mere fact that those adults are in an ESL classroom attests to their courage and their determination to learn.,” notes Aberson. “ESL adults bring a wealth of interesting experiences with them. They bring the world into the classroom. The challenge for ESL teachers is to put them at ease and encourage them to practice English. What better way than to ask them about their lives? I love teaching ESL to adults."

Compelling Conversations is the first book by Aberson or Roth.

The authors have known each other for more than forty years. Eric Roth calls Toni Aberson “mom.”