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“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” –Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), British author Sometimes students ask simple, direct questions that I can’t immediately answer. For instance, an ESL student wondered, “What are the 1000 most common...

“Job-hunting is always mysterious. Sometimes mind-bogglingly mysterious. You may never understand why things sometimes work, and sometimes do not.” –Richard Nelson Bolles (1927-2017), Author of “What Color is Your Parachute“ By Samantha Jungheim and Eric H. Roth...

By Samantha Jungheim & Eric H. Roth “Any story hits you harder if the person delivering it doesn’t sound like some news robot, but in fact sounds like a real person having the reactions a real person would.” –Ira Glass (1959- ), American radio personality and host ...

“We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American human rights leader By Samantha Jungheim & Eric H. Roth How do we know what our students already know about edtech tools? Should we, perhaps, ask...

  “What we know is a drop; what we don’t know is an ocean.” —Isaac Newton (1643-1727), English physicist    Do you teach new American immigrants, refugees and international students of English? Are you seeking fresh English as a second language (ESL) book...

“To modernize is to adopt and to adapt, but it is also to recreate.” Octavio Paz, (1914-1998), Mexican writer and diplomat.   Holidays and anniversaries often prompt personal reflections. As a new year beckons, millions of English language learners and thousands...

As both lecturer and master lecturer, respectively, in the Engineering Writing Program and American Language Institute, I have worked with many international engineering students at USC (home of award-winning engineering publication, Illumin). To my knowledge, engineers sometimes...

“In business for yourself, not by yourself.” ~Ray Kroc (1902-1984), McDonald’s founder How do people get jobs in the United States? Internship season is almost upon us, and finding work is not always an easy thing – particularly in an uncertain economy....

  “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” ~Marie Curie (1867-1934), Polish physicist and chemistry pioneer   How do people learn their first languages? What are some barriers to learning a second? Finally, how can we, as ESL...

“People have one thing in common: they are all different.” ~Robert Zend (1929-1985), American writer   Compelling American Conversations provides an invaluable resource for teachers in the common situation of teaching multilevel adult ESL classes with ongoing enrollment. ESL...