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Sophisticated English for Global Souls
1-855-375-2665 - U.S./Canada
1-310-390-0131 - Outside U.S.
27
OCT
2008

How democratic is your ESL classroom?

Who gets to speak in class? Whose ideas count? Who chooses the assignments? How do students receive feedback? Do students have a chance to conference with their instructors? Can YouTube be a valuable source for homework assignment? Do you want your students to become...
21
OCT
2008

Small blessings during a stressful work week

Keeping perspective remains a challenge, especially during stressful times.It’s easy to feel discouraged as we disappoint ourselves. Yet sometimes we reap benefits from our prior work that can remind us of small successes. This week, a very awkard and difficult work week,...
30
SEP
2008

CATESOL Conference Highlights Practical ESL Teaching Techniques

Are you looking to share practical techniques with your fellow English teachers? What works in your ESL classroom? What tends to work in other ESL classrooms? Why? The Los Angeles Regional CATESOL conference, titled “WWW. What Works and Why” at Biola University on October 25...
27
SEP
2008

Compelling Conversations Moves Up Amazon Ratings

Amazon lists over 5 million books on its website – and continues to overlook many fine self-published books. Naturally, as a self-publisher, Amazon represents an important outlet for my ESL conversation textbook, Compelling Conversations – Vietnam: Speaking Exercises for...
25
SEP
2008

California Immigrants are Learning English – and Want to Learn More!

Do American immigrants want to learn English? Are the children of Spanish-speaking adult immigrants learning English? What are the recent trends in California and Los Angeles? A recently released Census Bureau report, based on the 2007 Census information, shows that – shock,...
19
AUG
2008

Playing and Watching Sports

Have you been watching the Olympics? What has surprised you the most? Why? Who has inspired you? How? The Olympics reminds us of heroism, sacrifice, excellence, and beauty. It can also spark many conversations. Although I have not had the pleasure of teaching a conversation class...
27
JUL
2008

Conversation tip #12: Nice truck!

Sometimes a simple comment leads to a delightful conversation. Today I noticed a very, very old truck parked on the street while walking my dog. “She’s as old as I am,” replied the owner from his frontyard. He soon came to the sidewalk. “Made in...
02
JUL
2008

Enjoying Easy English Times and Exploring the EET Website

“In every curving beach, in every grain of sand, there is the story of the earth.” Rachel Carson (1907-1964), biologist and environmentalist The mailman brought the “Summer Fun” issue of Easy English Times yesterday, and it made me smile. It’s another wonderful issue...
17
JUN
2008

Compelling Conversations site is up and running again!

Sometimes you don’t appreciate something until you lose it. My website, down and out for almost a week of tech turmoil as I changed server, host, and webmaster, demonstrates this point. The site, www.compellingconversations.com , has been restored and even slightly...