Lesson Download: Terry Fox, Canadian Hero

The road at the bottom of our street has had the signs posted for days: SPECIAL EVENT.

The Terry Fox Run has been a part of my life since the early 80's, running in school runs and then, joining my sons in theirs. Stretching and warming up on the basketball courts at the front of the school—the principal shouting through a microphone that nobody could hear while the kids shook out their sillies and challenged each other to 100 laps. To me, hands down, Terry is the Great Canadian Hero, not least because he continues to inspire and motivate generation after generation of young Canadians.

I almost fell off my chair one spring when a class of Chinese students from the Maple Leaf school network in China out-fact-ed me on Terry Fox. Guess what: these kids have been running for Terry too. For years. For Terry. (For Cancer). In China.

Because the Maple Leaf schools use British Columbia's curriculum (a unique and special partnership), these middle and high school students not only knew about Terry, but deeply respected him. We had some fun that week! To you, Terry. Thank you.

An oldie-but-goodie blog post about Terry can be found here: Fiona's Other Blog and the ESL lesson I developed for that class can be downloaded here:



(Even if you aren't teaching ESL, it's a great blended-learning lesson that incorporates some very moving listenings from CBC and a YouTube video that will have you reaching for your tissue.)

Out of Office Reply

This month marks the four-year anniversary since I stepped foot in an ESL classroom. One day I was a teacher and then. Well, then I wasn't.

I felt sick one Friday afternoon.

So. There I was, not a teacher, but a patient. A scared, medically-illiterate newcomer patient who no one had time to teach. There was no time.

And then I was a recovering patient, in isolation at home for weeks and months, starting to walk again, trying to digest what I'd been through. Angry for what I had and had almost lost. Grateful for my life but mostly angry. Angry because the doctors had failed in their duty. Angry because the life I had known was altered forever. But mine isn't a story of loss or anger. Nor is it a story of new beginnings. It is a story of starting something fresh and different from a familiar foundation—seeing and doing from a new perspective.

When the anger fog cleared and my strength improved, I still wanted to teach, but, more than anything: I wanted to unite my students with their community. The missing link for me as an adult educator in a domestic ESL environment was that the wealth of cultural and global knowledge my students possessed and shared was locked behind the classroom door at the end of day. My students had so much to give to the community and no one was listening—or took the time to listen.

The safe, inspiring, creative space we had built together allowed so much. Confidence. Language acquisition. Skill development. Cross-cultural awareness (if you've never seen a true example of multicultural diplomacy and negotiation, just watch a group of students from 6 different countries/cultures/language groups complete a project together). I've said it before: the ESL classroom is the shiny pearl of the Great Canadian Multiculturalism Project. It is no accident.

But the Project isn't complete and that inspiring space lacking if it doesn't touch the wider community. As I write this, I think: I'm an evangelist. And that's o.k. You see, when the fog cleared, I decided to bring the stories of these gifted, brave, multi-faceted, skilled, educated "ESL students" to the community. I decided to help them speak and write their knowledge and experiences (in English, of course—I'm an ESL instructor for goodness sake!). I decided to take everything I knew and the incredibly massive amount of things I didn't know—graphic design, publishing, marketing, public relations...the list goes on—and create a new space beyond the classroom door. A space where newcomers and immigrants can say: Hey! I'm here, and this is my story, my background, my culture, my knowledge. And a space where those more established in Canada can say: Welcome! Let me tell you a bit about me, what I know, and about our community.

That awesome space is HERE! MAGAZINE* and I'm proud to say that not only has my classroom door burst wide open, but the students are leading the lesson. Just as it should be.

*launched in 2013 from the impossibly beautiful city of Victoria B.C., Canada

Lesson Download: November 11 - Remembrance/Veterans/Armistice Day [RE-POST]

The day is almost upon us and regardless of what you call November the 11th or how you commemorate it, it is an important day of reflection. In the adult ESL classroom, the subject of war can often be considered taboo, as our students have come from such diverse backgrounds. Some of our students have done obligatory military service in Korea, Brazil, Mexico, or elsewhere. Some of our students have been victims of war and endured horrors we can only imagine and that have scarred them and their families forever. Some of our students still bear the pain and, somewhere deep, the grudges of their parents or grandparents who fought in the World Wars. Some students may be reluctant to engage with peers who hail from countries that were once (or may still be) considered bitter enemies of their own country. It is a complicated topic, fraught with landmines of fear, pain, and distrust. Every once in awhile, though, it's important to open the door to discussion, to conflict, to the taboo, if only to take a look and see if we're ready to go there. To grow a little. To understand ourselves and each other a little better. Peace is up to us.

With that, I leave a lesson on November 11, Canadian-style. It's meant to open up discussion and give us all food for thought. I didn't include discussion questions for the song and cloze because I thought it might be nice just to let the students do a private journal reflection after the song. You might get the students to create their own doves at tagxedo.com. Enjoy the lesson - copy it, share it and let me know how it went and what reflections emerged!

If you are curious about the poppy (pic above) and Canadian customs around the poppy, here's my blogpost: "What to Wear - The Poppy (Red is the New Black)"

TOP 3 Lessons on the Blog

Everyone is doing the lists these days! There's even a name for them: LISTICLES!! Seriously. Article + List = Listicle. (For a very funny article about listicles, read this: The 3 Key Types of BuzzFeed Lists To Learn Before You Die) 

Eslenglish-fiona.blogspot.ca and @eslenglish have even been nominated for a list! Bab.la's TOP 100 Language Lovers and TOP 100 Language Twitterers (or something like that). Thank you Bab.la! I will post the voting link when it is available, so you can show me some love.

In the meantime, I've done some digging on my very own blog to create my own list: TOP 3 Lessons on the Blog. These are the three lessons most often viewed and/or downloaded BY YOU, in order of awesome (click to view or download):

#1: To regret or not to regret? 

#2: All About My Family Doctor

#3: At The Gym

Special Mention:

Most Popular New Category: Serious Girl Talk

Not sure what this list might tell us about the state of ESL but glad you're enjoying the lessons! Love to hear how it's going in your classroom—please leave a comment! Off to read more fascinating listicles, like maybe "40 Things That Will Make You Feel Old" or "25 Most Awkward Cat Sleeping Positions"....

Seriously. 

Lesson Download: Advanced Grammar with Definite and Indefinite Articles

Flashback to 2007! One of the first lessons I've created—hard to believe it was eight years ago. How much has changed in the classroom and in the world since then!

The format might be a bit dated, but grammar never goes out of style...Or does it?! A great review of articles to get your students' brains firing first thing. Most of the content is geared for higher levels but some of the speaking activities could be adapted for lower levels. As always, I would love to hear how the lesson worked for you and your learners!

Lesson Download: Sewing and Patterns 101

Designer entrepreneur Meaghan Smith is an amazingly talented woman! I was tickled pink when she agreed to be a word mentor and help me build a lesson introducing the basics of sewing and patterns. An audio interview with Meaghan is also embedded in the QR code and is well worth a listen (thanks to my hubby over at 29erradio.com!).

click on image or here for pdf download with answers!

Lesson Download: Families and Communication

I love this lesson not just because my beautiful mother is the hard-working family mediator introduced below but because it is a good reminder for all of us, English-language learners or otherwise, of the many definitions of "family" and the importance of word choice in fostering good communication and positive relationships. Thanks, Mom!

click here or on the image to view, download, or print the lesson (with answers)

families and communication

Improve Your Global Business English

The Fabulous Functionall Resource Review #3

One of the goals of this blog is to help you sort through the overwhelming number of language resources available to choose the materials that are right for your language learning or teaching journey. Not only is there a plethora of resources, they don't come cheap. Let this old hat do the research and save you time and money. Lord knows, we teachers need more of both! - Fiona 

for more information about my reviewing approach click here

   About 15 years ago, at one of my first teaching jobs, I was given the assignment of teaching a Brazilian businessman "Business English". I'm not sure why I was asked or what his ultimate impressions were but let's just say it was a learning experience all around. I had no business background. I was a geeky linguistics graduate. The small school where I was teaching had few "Business English" resources, all of which were outdated or extremely basic or both. At that time, there was also very little available online. My student and I cobbled our lessons together, based on his particular needs and what was essentially my ability to fake it. 

Fast forward to Improve Your Global Business English - this resource would have saved my skin 15 years ago. 

Book for Review: 

Improve Your 
Global Business English

Authors: 

Fiona Talbot 
& 
Sudakshina Bhattacharjee

In Depth Resource Review:

Author Fiona Talbot has referred to Improve Your Global Business English as an "office guide" used for "self-development". This is a good description. It is certainly well-suited to independent study and reference but this doesn't exclude it from being a great classroom resource as well. It is smart, thoughtful, practical and relevant. My four favourite things!

¨

The Introduction does a nice job of explaining a) who the book is for b) how to use it and c) the book's terminology and spelling (Mid-Atlantic!) philosophy. It also makes it obvious that only advanced English language learners or native speakers will be able to negotiate the book's meaning and fully engage with its content. 

           ¨

The book addresses important themes including:

• defining global business English within your organization
• understanding cultures, subcultures and approaches to businesses and workplaces
• the changing face of writing in the digital age
• common challenges in business English
• using email efficiently
• writing for impact
• writing agendas, notes, and minutes of meetings
• how to write for Twitter
• offering or requesting support
• using the right words to motivate

           ¨

If some of this doesn't sound like a language learning resource, you're right. It is as much a business resource for native speakers as it is a language guide for business English learners and it strikes a nice balance between the two. I think this is what makes Improve Your Global Business English so relevant and useful. It doesn't look at language in a vacuum but in the context of its purpose. 

           ¨

And rest assured, the content is well-supported with activities and review exercises that would be very adaptable to an ESL/EFL environment:

           ¨
Of course, no resource is perfect - there is a great deal of content crammed into what could have been spread over two or three volumes (which I guess also means you get your money's worth!). I sometimes found the organization odd and confusing (for example, "The purpose of this book" passage really belongs in the introduction, not in Chapter One). 

You know how I love my visual cues and I'm always all about less talk, more action, so I do feel Improve Your Global Business English is text-heavy and that may intimidate some learners and educators. I'd like to see more "check-ins", exercises, images, perhaps even some field activities (a.k.a. 'homework') for self-assessment and practice. 
          ¨

Despite these weaknesses, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend  Improve Your Global Business English to any Business English educator or learner as there is much here to draw upon and expand upon - it's a reference and guide that will be dog-eared in no time! 

All about my friends

So it's that day again. It's the Anti-White Day. Or the who-the-heck-is-Sadie-Hawkins Day. It's HEART day or pink-&-red-shirt day. It's I-wish-he-would-call-me-day or let's-go-have-fun-regardless day. Ok, it's also the day my husband proposed to me on an impromptu night away, rustling through his bag for a hidden ruby & diamond ring before asking me to never leave his side.  He confessed later: "I didn't want it to be on such a predictable day but it just seemed right". There was nothing predictable about his proposal and there hasn't been much predictable since.

Whatever love is in your life this St. Valentine's Day, 2013, there is always the love of our friends, be they our BFFs or partners-in-life. Or if we're lucky, both. Here's a Valentine lesson discussing and celebrating the many types of friendship. All from my words for women & girls, Serious Girl Talk Series. I know, totally awesome. You're welcome. Oh wait, and I stuck some of it on Pinterest too. Don't say I don't love you.

For ESL, intermediate +, reading, writing, grammar, speaking, pronunciation. Great quotations & stimulating discussion. My Valentine to you - hard-working teachers & learners.
 
And here's the issuu version for you ipadders:

An Insue by any other name

An ESL student phenomenon that has never ceased to surprise, dismay, and sometimes amuse me over the years is the student acquisition of the "English Name". 

It probably has its roots in the early communicative and the "when-you-walk-through-this-door-your-every-thought-breath-utterance-will-be-English" approaches, 

but sometimes it smacks of colonialism or something Saidian & "other"-associated. Whatever its beginnings, on some level, for better or for worse, it irks me. 

My class roster is a naturally changeable beast, typically from semester to semester and program to program, but also with the ebb and flow of immigration waves. When I first starting teaching more than 15 years ago, 90% of my adult ESL students were Japanese; now, in my western Canadian classroom, Saudi and Chinese students battle for top billing. I am, of course, thrilled to engage with any culture or language group. However, perhaps not every language group would say the same for me. 

Full disclosure: I S-U-C-K at pronouncing some of my students' names. My Chinese pronunciation in particular is shockingly mutilative. (hundreds of my former students are furiously nodding their heads up and down right now)

In the early days, I never questioned the Kings, Dragons, Roses, Jets, Felicias, Chastitys, Moons, or Suns but over the last few years I've made a point of trying to get to the origins of "the English name". Sometimes I'm told that their English teacher back home "assigned" it, or that it sounds like their 'real' name, or that it's their Christian name, 

(totally get it, Sister Rosa; one half of my Korean nun-pair one fabulous year. p.s. was sweating that dating & marriage unit until you told me you'd tried marijuana.)

or that they just wanted to switch it up in a new country. Sometimes it's obvious why when they cringe as I audibly butcher their names during the first roll call. 

But let me say this: your 'real' name is YOU! I want to know that you and what that name means in your language and what it meant to your parents and what you like or don't like about it. I want you to teach me and your classmates how to say it properly. 

I hate when a classmate of yours quietly asks me your name 8 weeks into the semester when I'm partnering you together for an activity. 

I want to hear your name in our classroom because I believe it makes you heard and seen in this new place and this new language in which you have so bravely chosen to learn, love, and succeed. 

So, my fellow educators and learners, let's make sure we build our classroom community from the ground up, starting with learning each other's names inside and out. Name collages? Name games? Red rover, red rover, I call Zhi Qiang over? Love to hear what you do to celebrate names in the classroom.

This is dedicated to Insue and to Jesse (which sounds nothing like Dae Kyeong, does it?)

Good name-changing advice from 'Philip "do-not-be-creative" Guo': How to choose an English name

Aw, hell, pick a random name with BarryfunEnglish: English Name Maker

Or ask yourself those deep name-changing questions @ English Gateway: What's In A Name?

Lesson Download: "Canadian Languages"

Although I'm still crying from laughter, thanks to @SSavides' tweeting of "Learn English with Ricky Gervais", here's a new, fabulous project-based, blended-learning lesson on "Canadian Languages" that helps explore the Canadian census findings on our official languages and the growth of the allophone! Sounds complicated but it's great fun, I promise. Free for you to use and share, courtesy of yours truly and Camosun International.

Pin to Learn - Learn to Pin

It's true. I joined Pinterest about a month ago. I don't know why exactly. I don't bake and, while I like traveling and shopping, I don't seem to actually get to do either very often. But something about Pinterest seems like a natural fit for education and educational materials and well, I do both of those quite often. I have my "pin it" on my toolbar and am tickled when a cool infographic or resource crosses my web-path and *poof*, I can pin it to my board! Unfortunately, I've discovered my flash-based website coughs up not a single pin and yup, you guessed it, neither does my box.com-embedded lesson download on blogger. So, without further ado, I have converted my latest lesson to jpg, just so I can pin it for your viewing pleasure.  Oh, and you probably guessed this as well: It's a Pinterest project-based lesson. Happy pinning!

p.s. You are more than welcome to print and use but if you want the original copy, just email me and ask nicely! Oh, and of course, check my pinning-progress out on Pinterest. And...I love comments, so please do.

Your going to be mad, but Team Grammar may have lost this one

When it first started, we linguists and teachers were pretty smug. It's just the teenagers, we may have snickered. And then, those lazy texters. And then perhaps we started to sweat a little and tug at our collars because suddenly it was on Facebook, Twitter, our students' essays, and egads, even work emails. From colleagues!


Yes, we too made the occasional error. Worse: sometimes we didn't catch it in time before it was *poofed* out into cyberspace. But the very, VERY worst of all?


Nobody noticed. 


I do not admit defeat easily, but the ubiquitous use of the possessive adjective "your" when and where "you are" or its contraction "you're" is required is as common as, well, the use of the word "ubiquitous".  At what point, my prescriptivist friends, do we wave the white flag and stop snickering? Doesn't usage trump all? The people have chosen. After all, it's only a teeny 'be' verb we've disappeared. We disappear it in newspaper headlines all the time. 


Of course, it's not just a tiny 'be' verb left behind, but entire grammatical constructs abandoned hastily on the side of the road. That 'be' verb is part and parcel of its continuous or passive form, or (excuse me while I dry my eyes) of its participle partner.  How lonely those other halves must be, with their -ing's and -ed's hanging out there for the world to see.


I envision children in 2025 asking their teachers (um, I mean devices) why we write They are walking down the street and She is walking down the street but Your walking down the street. I envision myself waiting for the second part of a text after I receive: your awesome. Oh, wait. I already do that.  


I suspect it will become just another weird English anomaly that we geeky teachers get to explain to new language learners as they struggle with grammar and context. One day, though, we'll forget how it all started and have to refer to our OED app, which might read something like this: 


Your (yor, yər) n. + v.  Contraction of "you" and "are"  
[Forms: You're Obs. rare 2009 Fiona's phone. "You're such a good friend"]

Email & laser tag: edtech baby steps to team-building

When Jax* told me her students didn't have her email address, I think my mouth dropped open a little. I might have spluttered something about maintaining boundaries and then went back to my marking. In the back of my mind, though, I was musing about dinosaurs and rotary phones.

Jax is an engaged, smart, witty, and hard working teacher. She's well-read, well-travelled, well-spoken and totally dedicated to her students. So why isn't she in email contact with them?

I have to confess I only started communicating with my students electronically about 2 and half years ago but I could never go back to the way it was before. For one, my students find it helpful - they can ask a quick question, send in their homework, or share something personal that they might not be able to say in class. For another, I find it helpful - it helps me stay organized, is easier for marking written assignments, and most of all, helps me get and keep my finger on the pulse of my class.

In an adult multicultural ESL classroom, one of the most difficult challenges is team-building, getting the students to work together in a way that benefits them all. By starting a term off with a collective, connective email, you set the stage for communication and collaboration. Mid-term? Laser tag. Trust me. You'll never use a rotary phone again.

No excuses - debunking email/DM myths:

I'm worried about protecting my privacy and my students' privacy!
There are many platforms and programs that conceal email addresses and other sensitive information.   You never have to use your personal email and your students sure won't use theirs.

It's not very professional to send emails to my students.
Almost every single communication is now acceptable via email. If you conduct yourself in writing as you would in the classroom, then it's up to you how professional you are.

It's so time-consuming. 
Limit the tasks and correspondence to what you can handle. Alert: students have lives too and don't spend every waking moment wanting to email or DM their teacher.

If email is your edtech-baby step, then it's time to take it.


*might be her real name, might not

Cheating: not just for students!

A few weeks ago in the Canadian media, there was much ado about the so-called disproportionate number of international students in Canadian universities caught cheating and plagiarising. The headlines were typically sensational and smacking of the Us vs. Them isolationist rhetoric that is being spewed in certain quarters in the U.S. and Canada.

However uncomfortable I am with the rhetoric, as an ESL teacher, I cannot deny that some of my students and yes, some cultures (how can I say this delicately?) seem more accepting of the concept of cheating than I ever was when an undergraduate student. Below is a summary of a U.K. survey by the Higher Education Academy detailing various reasons for cheating and plagiarism. The summary and larger report are both interesting and unsurprising. I recommend anyone in ELT read the report, if only to reflect on the issue and perhaps develop your own, informed approach to managing cheaters.

As for me? Well, the article was well-timed. Turns out I have my very own cheater in my midst. Trouble is, it's not a student, but a colleague. Worse, the colleague is plagiarising ME! Worst, the colleague is also a friend. I know, I know, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...blah blah blah. It doesn't feel like flattery though, it feels like betrayal.

In our tech-age, so much is available at our fingertips and even I admit that many of the faceless contributions online seem almost anonymous. Note to World: they are not! Someone has worked hard and spent time to research, source, write, and contribute whatever bit of information it is that you are cutting and pasting in a millisecond. Credit him. Tweet her. Remember this old-fashioned word: CITE! Second note to World: it is a small world.

Now, in my case, it wasn't a simple act of plagiarism but complete and exact copies of sections of a copyrighted and isbn'd textbook I authored stuffed into the template of "new" curriculum designed for a local college. It was by pure chance that it came across my desk. A last-minute contract. Imagine my surprise.

Perhaps cheating and plagiarising is less cultural than individual. Perhaps we all are guilty of some measure of intellectual theft. Perhaps sometimes the dance at the photocopier in the morning is less than legit.

Perhaps students and teachers are not so far apart.

Oh, and, ok,um, I'm a little bit flattered. BUY THE AMAZING ESL BOOK THAT IS WORTH PLAGIARISING right HERE (it's actually legally reproducible too - just don't say you wrote it!)

Stuff to read and share on cheating and plagiarising (extremely well-cited of course!) - your students will thank you for sharing it with them:

from "Overcoming the cultural issues associated with plagiarism for International students"

Authors: Dr. Charles Juwah, Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen; Dr David Lal, Dept. of Business and Management, Aberdeen Business School, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen; Ahmed Beloucif, Dept. of Marketing, Aberdeen Business School, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen

What cultural factors impact how students understand the concept of plagiarism?

Respect for authority	25.6 %
Language problem	20.9 %
Previous educational experience on referencing conventions	27.9 %
Cultural misconception (Plagiarism does not matter)	20.9 %
Individual values (Personality trait)	4.7 %

Why do students plagiarise?

Lack of awareness of referencing conventions	19.61 %
Cheating	17.65 %
Lack of awareness of plagiarism	15.69 %
Time	9.8 %
Lack of confidence/self-worth	7.84 %
Language problem	7.84 %
Laziness	7.84 %
Lack of subject knowledge	5.88 %
Carelessness: forgetting to reference	5.88 %
Pressure to write to academic standard	1.96 %

from the Globe and Mail: Why many international students get a failing grade in academic integrity

Being Yourself

It’s usually a quick one hour lecture out of the hundreds budding teachers endure. Um, I mean enjoy. The lecture is a platform for rule-setting – for the teachers, that is. Don’t do this. Don’t say this. Don’t wear this. Sometimes Power Point images of stick figures with low-cut blouses and g-string underwear are involved. A few giggles. A few women (and the men beside them) quickly glance down their necklines to make sure they are “classroom-worthy”. Giggles and surreptitious looks aside, there is always a serious undertone and understanding that, particularly in the hyper-culturally-sensitive environment of an ESL classroom, PROFESSIONALISM is the word of the day. However, while professional dress codes may seem, ahem, clear cut, professional conduct falls under a far more arbitrary umbrella.

Let’s face it, only in the last decade or so have TESL/TEFL and TESOL (Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) members and institutions acquired any semblance of academic or “official” recognition as true educators. There are still locales that will take any EFL teacher, biology degree and all, but for the most part, we’re finally bona fide! That said, there is a grand grey area where professional boundaries are concerned.

Student-teacher relations, for example, and particularly those in an adult learning environment, may be bound by a strict zero-contact policy. Yet, just as likely, some institutions may encourage extra-curricular involvement such as pub trips, potluck parties, and sports activities. Regardless of the “rules”, most adults are aware of what crosses the ever-shifting line and behave accordingly. But what about what teachers believe? What about what teachers say about their beliefs in the classroom?

Oh sure, we teach all “the skills”: grammar, listening, reading, writing, etc…but in what context, under which cultural or political influence? Well, SURPRISE! Our own. Just as writers write what they know best, teachers teach from their own experience. What else would we do? Ironically, teachers are often considered community leaders, wise and influential, yet we are cautioned in our initial training and further PD to be culturally, politically, every-ally neutral in the name of professionalism. In some cases, it seems teachers are trusted only to regurgitate the curriculum, not truly educate from a position of knowledge and experience.

I certainly agree that in order to be respectful to all students and colleagues, one should be thoughtful and diplomatic when expressing personal opinions but I believe it imperative that teachers show their true colours. Recall your favourite or most influential teacher. Unbiased, dispassionate, and predictable are likely not the words that best describe your memories. An impartial, “neutral” educator is not the stuff from which inspiration blossoms. Share your passions. Be yourself. Wear full-bottomed underwear. The learning and growing will follow.