English, Fun & Living in HK, Japan and Taiwan

New Materials: Business Venture

LaoShr — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:00:35 +0000

Dear Teacher,
We’re delighted to announce the launch of the third edition of Business Venture, a short course for professionals who need to use and understand American and International English. Business Venture helps students to communicate confidently in everyday business situations, across countries and cultures. To learn more and request your sample copy, please see below.
Best regards,
The OUP Taiwan team

Watch the interactive presentation

Free inspection copy

Find out how Business Venture:

makes planning your lessons simple
ensures lessons are easy to follow
prepares your students for the TOEIC® test

Request an inspection copy of Business Venture

Offer closes 12/11/2009

Choose Business Venture and download these tools:

course presentation for your customers
pedagogical seminar to introduce teachers to the series
course planning document to create tailored syllabi

Conference: ETA-ROC 2009

LaoShr — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:30:13 +0000

1. 欲參加本次研討會者一律上網登錄報名，均採用郵政劃撥繳費。
2. 請先到郵局以郵政劃撥方式付費。
3. 郵政劃撥帳號：16370721戶名：中華民國英語文教師學會

新會員：今年11月06日前繳費，新台幣1,200元。
新會員：今年11月06日後繳費，新台幣1,500元。
舊會員：今年11月06日前繳費，新台幣1,000元。
舊會員：今年11月06日後繳費，新台幣1,200元。

※會籍資料保留兩年，兩年內(2007年或2008年)註冊者視同舊會員。
※現場註冊報名新會員新台幣1,500元、舊會員新台幣1,200元。

ETA is the annual conference for English Teaching Professionals in Taiwan. It’s probably the biggest conference in the Industry in Taiwan, and was the most important one. Unfortunately, their website management is pitiful, and the site isn’t even in the Google index at all. This means that most foreign experts will not be able to find it! Wonder what gives.

Quotation: ice raven

LaoShr — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:40:28 +0000

When we teach TOEFL or other advanced English, we run into students who don’t want to learn. They don’t want to do quality, and don’t seem to realize that the Western system is quality based, and the TOEFL test is quality based. They just want to learn the bare minimum – the words and questions that will enable them to scrape through.

by ice raven in Tutoring English, agencies, etc.

Taiwan ESL Conferences in 2010: April ~ May

LaoShr — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:51:17 +0000

The Asian EFL Journal International Annual Conference
April 9 – 10, 2010
Providence University
Taichung, Taiwan
http://www.Asian-efl-journal.com/Taiwan-schedule.php

The 27th Conference of English Teaching and Learning in R.O.C.
May 1st – 2nd, 2010
National Kaohsiung Normal University
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
http://teach.nknu.edu.tw/roc-tefl/index-eng.html

2010 International Conference on ELT Technological Industry
May 7, 2010
National Pingdong University of Science and Technology
Neipu, Pingdong County, Taiwan
http://140.127.5.210/hcsnpust04/main.php

2010 Taiwan TESOL Conference
May 8, 2010
National Formosa University
Huwei, Yunlin County, Taiwan
http://afl.nfu.edu.tw/main.php?mod=custom_page&site_id=32&page_id=65

2010 The 3rd International Conference on Applied Linguistics
Nov. 27-28, 2010
National Jiayi University
Minhsiung, Jiayi County, Taiwan
http://sites.google.com/site/ical2010/Home/call-for-papers

List of Conferences for September ~ December: TESOL in Taiwan

LaoShr — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:56:28 +0000

If you know of any more conferences, do drop me an email in my contacts box.

Technology Enhanced Learning Conference 2009
October 6-8, 2009
Academia Sinica
Taipei, Taiwan
http://telearn2009.cl.ncu.edu.tw/

The Thirteenth International Conference on Multimedia Language Education of ROCMELIA
October 30 – November 1, 2009
National Kaohsiung Normal University
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
http://sz.allbest.org/rocmelia/conferences/2009/

The 18th International Symposium and Book Fair on English Teaching
November 13-15, 2009
Chientan Youth Activity Center
Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.eta.org.tw/en/index.html

Re-Orienting English: Paradigms in /of Crisis International Conference
December 5, 2009
National Taiwan University
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.forex.ntu.edu.tw/act/news.php?Sn=46

International Conference for TESOL and Translation
December 11, 2009
Da Yeh University
Changhua, Taiwan
http://www.zephyr.nsysu.edu.tw/flal/e1_0.php?d_id=1297

Unfortunately, most of the abstract submission dates have passed now for these, so you’ll have to start looking at 2010 conferences if you want to do some papers!

2009 edition of The International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching

LaoShr — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:29:12 +0000

Quick note:

The Summer, 2009 edition of The International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching is now available for download. IJFLT is a free on-line, peer-reviewed scholarly journal that advances theory and practice in foreign and second language teaching. We are dedicated to communicating research, articles and helpful information regarding language acquisition to support teachers as they endeavor to create fluent, multilingual students.

www.ijflt.com

Is English a mania? Could this be why everyone wants to learn it?

LaoShr — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:43:33 +0000

Worth reading the comments.

Is this what teaching is really like in Taiwan? I don’t think so!

LaoShr — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:39:52 +0000

Youtube: Wanna join the grammar police?

LaoShr — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:27:00 +0000

Teaching one-to-one can be difficult and frustrating!

LaoShr — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:22:22 +0000

Sometimes, our students make us laugh, sometimes they make us cry!

But one frustrated teacher went so far as to write:

It reads:

Description: I charge 1000nt per hour, and I am only available from 8 to 10 am on a Wednesday or Friday. You should have some actual kind of desire to learn and improve your English. I am not looking for a student who intends to not study, or who signs on a whim, or to use me as childcare, to cancel lessons when they are busy, or who just wants to argue with a foreigner. You must sign up for the whole year. Any cancelled lessons on your behalf will be charged at double rate. Any children you bring with you to the lesson cost 2000nt extra. We study exclusively in your home, where I will expect a fried breakfast. Sausages are best for the English. …To read the rest.

Adult students can be a real challenge if you find them. They are easy to motivate in some ways, but very difficult to direct. They have definite ideas about what they want teachers to do for them, even though they don’t necessarily want to take that advice.

One of my students claimed to be a really conscientious guy. He was a businessman who seemed to have an awful lot of free time. He always wanted me to correct his grammar and help him on his speaking. As a cooperative teacher, I provided that and more. In the end, he was unwilling to follow through on improvements he wanted to make, uncooperative on my own suggestions, and didn’t like my providing him with reading matter, feedback or activities. In the end, this rude fellow texted me with a message saying he didn’t want to continue class after he was ill-mannered enough to leave me waiting for him for an hour or more.

However, there are many great adult students… if you’re careful enough to select them, demanding enough to make sure they show progress, and charge enough to ward off the time-wasters…