Research shows that transforming a group of individuals into a community of learners can have a myriad of benefits in the classroom, such as increasing motivation as well as student risk-taking. But making such a transformation happen is not as easy as all that. This presentation will discuss what some of these benefits of community building are, address the external factors that can make it difficult,and suggest strategies on how to meet these challenges.

Often pronunciation is presented in a decontextualized manner and this makes it difficult to provide students with authentic communicative practice for successful interaction outside the classroom. In order to raise students' awareness of pronunciation, they should be provided with real contexts in which they hear and produce elements of correct pronunciation. This presentation will focus on ways to introduce and practice segmentals and suprasegmentals communicatively for pre-academic ESL/EAP students.

Robert Kaplan's seminal 1966 article, "Cultural Thought Patterns in Intercultural Education" showed how different cultures use different rhetorical conventions in writing. Since that time, the field of contrastive rhetoric has expanded and been redefined by linguists worldwide. Informed by the latest research in the field, the presenters will explain cultural reasons behind ESL composition problems and will explore pedagogical implications for ESL writing instructors. The presenters will discuss: culturally-specific text organization strategies; choosing appropriate essay topics for foreign students; plagiarism and what constitutes "evidence" in different cultures; why some students have difficulty expressing opinions in writing; and giving ESL students the language to discuss contrastive rhetoric.

This presentation will look at ways teachers of online courses can adapt assessment methods to this unique environment. The presenter plans to cover issues relating to online testing, assignments (individual and group), and portfolio assessment. Also, the presenter plans to cover current online assessment standards as presented in the literature. In addition, he will discuss how teachers can tailor assessment methods for specific situations and purposes.

News items can provide a wealth of ready-made authentic English texts. But how is a teacher able to provide students with the confidence they need to buy and read English-language news for themselves? In this demonstration, the presenters will show you ways to familiarize students with the news by looking closely at layout, the use of pictures, personal responses to stories, reading, and writing activities, and ideas for project work.

Richly illustrated picture books will be introduced to show some tips on how to use them in a wide range of language learning situations and in the multilevel classroom. Activities and games for developing language skills and use will be demonstrated. The presenters will also share the cultural elements in picture books which provide an opportunity to introduce and discuss cultural differences among students. A bibliography of multicultural picture books will be handed out.

Do your students use on-line articles for their essays or projects? Do they know how to choose reliable and appropriate website sources? This presentation will show you how to make the need for website evaluation clear to the students and share a simple and efficient method that the students use outside of class. The presenter will use a lesson plan to explain each step and to introduce a user-friendly "website evaluation form".

Although unrehearsed communication is the ultimate goal of CLT, beginners often struggle when communicating spontaneously in the classroom. In addition, popular texts for beginners often provide either too much structure or too little, resulting in speaking activities that rarely make it off the page. In this workshop, the presenters will share their tips for creating activities that allow low level students to interact creatively and spontaneously.

The presenter has developed a curriculum for an extra-curriculum English Reading course in a Korean High School. The presentation will examine how extensive reading can attune to the diverse needs of the students and also show how on-line materials and interactive boards (of www.blackboard.com or such) can serve as a good resource and a post-reading/assessment tool.

A mingle is an activity which requires students to walk around and ask their classmates questions. It is a way to practice using new language, to review old language and create a friendly classroom atmosphere. The presenter will provide several examples of how this type of activity can be used and offer guidelines for creating your own mingles.

The speaker will present on how to teach pronunciation with using tools (tactile reinforcement) such as a mouthpiece or rubber band and to demonstrate how to apply them to real class. This kind of teaching technique will be helpful for both teachers and students, especially in Korea where a teacher has to deal with overpopulated classes, to teach and learn intonation and stress of English. This will promote students' accuracy in oral production and fluency as well.

With the increasing number of educational software applications, ESL teachers now have more options when selecting the appropriate software. Unfortunately, they don't always have enough budgets for commercial software. In this presentation, the presenter would like to explore the possibility of adopting freeware programs in ESL class and make suggestions on integrating freeware into ESL curriculum. The application of those suggestions is demonstrated by using authoring shareware "Hot Potatoes" which helps teachers create on-line exercises in easy steps!

[download my powerpoint presentation here, 329k]

Though content-based instruction (CBI) is quickly becoming a hot-topic of discussion in the TESOL community, ES/FL instructors need to be made more aware of the impact it can have on their oppressed students. The presenters will define, discuss, and demonstrate how to use CBI to create lesson plans that will challenge the mindsets of second language learners, and hopefully bring about a process of empowerment for women.

The presenter, David Brooks, will discuss the images and metaphors used in understanding TESOL theory and those commonly used in teaching. A broad range of subjects--language acquisition to classroom management--will be used as discussion material to highlight how we construct TESOL related mental models and meaning.

Many Deaf students, both International and American-born, face challenges mastering written English. The presenter will discuss some of the reasons for this and discuss some differences she has found between working with hearing and Deaf students, including working with an interpreter, the use of group activities and the importance of eye contact.

We can see that even advanced ESL/EFL students often misuse collocations, and we have become aware that teaching collocations is an important issue in the classroom. Therefore, it is necessary for us to raise the students' awareness of collocations. The presenter will introduce an activity focusing on two types of collocations, the combination of verb and noun, as well as the combination of adjective and noun in an advanced class; the activity is developed by the presenter.

In Japan, English teachers tend to find university students unmotivated in class. Are they really unmotivated? What is the main source of their motivation and demotivation in learning English? Do such as age, gender, department have any impact on their motivation? What strategies are effective to motivate them to study English? The presenter will share the results of her research on Japanese students' motivation and teachers' perception of effective motivational strategies.

Questioning is one of the most common teaching techniques used by teachers and plays a crucial role in language acquisition. When used effectively, questioning can provide students with opportunities to interact among themselves and give the instructor feedback about their comprehension and learning. The presenter will give some suggestions for effective classroom questioning and explain the importance of lesson planning before the lesson.