“Official” Definitions of Culture, The Deviations of Reality, and Linguistic Imperialism (In and Out of the ESL Classroom)

Apologies for the title. Sometimes you just cannot do better. You know, it’s funny how I came to think about all of this. Chapter Three of the textbook I’m teaching to the majority of my students is about living situations—where people live, landmarks near their homes, who they live with, how they like it. Really […]

Test #1

I’m off to give a test to my class. It’s the first test for this Freshman screen English class where nobody speaks more than few words of English, it takes a team effort to translate a phrase like “Next week,” and the students have trouble following the video. The test is fair, but I suspect […]

New Banners Added

Well, I’ve been shooting mainly black & white images for a month or more, now, and I’ve gotten some shots which I actually like. So I decided to do a little sprucing up around here, and I’ve uploaded 20 new banners. Though I’ve put them on high rotation, they may not all show up for […]

Gaaaargh.

It’s freezing cold, which has put me in a so-so mood. The last few weeks, I’ve carefully told each class, at the beginning of class, that their number-one homework was to practice English together. Two hours of practice are absolutely crucial homework, and necessary for them to do if they want to get better than […]