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Featured New Titles

Fabulous New Addition to DELTA Business Skills


If you've been frustrated by some of the limitations of your current business English course book, The Business Communication Skills series from DELTA Publishing might be something you should check out.

Negotiating, Socializing, Presenting, Emailing, Telephoning and now Meetings are the eponymous titles of this fab collection of business communication skills resources.

Our favourite things about these books:
  • needs analysis at beginning
  • clear and effective use of contexts
  • culture tips
  • engaging consolodation tasks at the end of each unit
  • strong focus on learner training
  • autonomous learning strategies highlighted
  • highly personalized exercises
  • useful tips and study suggestions
  • realistic recordings
  • answer key and audio CD included

There's a lot to love here, and based on how fast these books get snapped up at conferences, we recommend you have a look too.

To view the table of contents of Meetings , click here.

To view a 3-page sample unit on 'Opening Meetings' click here.

To have a look at other titles in this series, click on the covers.











ELTon Awards
(the Oscars for English Language Teaching Resources and Services)

Creative, innovative, useful and engaging.

These are qualities employers want in us as educators, of course, but also what we want in the materials and resources we use.

One way to quickly sift the goodies from the mediocre in the plethora of new resources created in print and online every year is to look at what gets noticed in the ELTon Awards.

Created in 2003 by The British Council, these awards are offered to innovative and outstanding products, services and research that:
  • help learners
  • have clear practical benefits for teaching


Past Winner (2008)

Bookworms Clubs Reading Circles

A resource hailed as one of the best ways to get your students communicating in English, this Oxford University Press has created stories to suit every level, and provided clear individual roles to facilitate each discussion.

To view the contents page of Bookworms Club Gold, click here.

To view sample material from this book, click here.

To download the free photocopiable role sheets and role descriptions, click here.



Current Nominees

www.TEFLclips.com

This is an innovative site that provides lesson plans and teaching ideas which are connected to Youtube videos.

Seriously cool - check it out.



The Language Teacher's Survival Handbook

The quintessential guide to surviving both inside and outside the classroom.

Written by our own Canadian boy, Lindsay Clandfield, this is the resource to go to for help on:

  • how to survive staffrooms, observations & technology
  • grammar, body langauge and use of L1
  • ideas and universal activities for the classroom

Isn't it great to be appreciated?



What's New Nights

Speaking of what's new in the ELTons, we have our own 'new stuff' to celebrate too!


New name...


46 St. Clair Ave. E - same building just street level now!


              New location...



and now What's New Nights too!

Our first one will be on Wednesday, February 25th from 6 - 7pm.

Come help celebrate our new beginning as English Central and dive into the coolest and newest resources.

Who doesn't love a cool glitter ball?And that's not all...
  • Win textbooks in our raffle
  • Meet and mingle with other ESL/EFL professionals
  • Drink, eat and be merry
More information will be sent in a dedicated email closer to the date.

If you have any questions or requests to see a specific resource, please contact Akua by clicking here.


Erratum

Some of you experienced difficulty in linking to one of last month's books, English for...Media.

We apologize for this annoyance - always a nasty shock when you don't get to where you expect to go!

Click here and your heels together 3 times (that's a zeugma, don't 'cha know!) to see table of contents and sample units.
 

Other New Titles

Excellent New EAP Resource

Learn, unlearn and relearn.

A wonderful life mission statement...

But it's
challenging when you need to search different resources, journals and websites to do it!

EAP instuctors - count yourself among the lucky ones!

Written by highly experienced professors from Heriot-Watt University, EAP Essentials is an excellent resource for:
  • teachers new to EAP
AND
  • experienced teachers who desire to broaden their insight and add new ideas and materials to their current teaching strategies.
 Knowledge shared is a very good thing!


 Essentially a modern-day "how to" guide, this book features:

summaries of current research and practice in EAP
  • theory grounded in practical application to classroom
  • case studies of real teacher and student experiences
  • trialled materials and fresh ideas
  • course design ideas
  • practical guidance for greater learner autonomy
  • audio included

This book makes it easy to stay up-to-date and energize your EAP teaching.

To view sample pages, units and testimonials and click here.

To read a review written by an EAP professor click here.


Cool Websites

A great site for English language teachers!

A definite contender for a busy teacher's top 10 websites,  www.teachitworld.com has got a lot to offer and certainly deserves a look!

The landing page is clear and crisp, and the site is very user friendly and easy to navigate (a blessing in itself!).

Most impressive things:
  • huge library of lesson plans
  • downloadable worksheets
  • ideas and activities
  • audio library
  • image bank
  • specially designed computer-based interactive activites and programs for teaching and learning (endearingly called 'Whizzy Things')

And for those who have always seen themselves as material creators, this site offers you a chance to add to their lesson plans by submitting your own materials

...and get paid for them!

What's not to like about that!

Teaching Tips 101

Teaching one-to-one

Hello...?? Hello..? Anyone there?




Love it or hate it, teaching one-to-one is a definite departure from classroom teaching.

For those in favour of it, (and don't mind being in a room with one person for an hour or so at a time) it can be a fine way to provide a bit of extra income (to help pay those December bills...).

To help you decide if this is for you, consider the following the advantages and seasoned advice.

Advantages
  • Being able to please one person at a time
  • More relaxed, personal engagement
  • More rewarding progress
  • Setting your own time and place





Advice
  • Make all your expectations clear from the beginning - e.g. punctuality, homework & respecting personal privacy
  • Focus on your student's specific, day-to-day goals
  • Keep a record of new language and highlighted errors
  • Negotiate how much error correction your student wants
  • Accept silences - even one-to-one students need time to process and think!
  • If you don't like the way a student is behaving, be honest and up front about it

And at the end of the day, always work within your own comfort zone.

Avoid future stress by simply not taking on a student that you strongly dislike.

For a downloadable language record sheet perfect for one-to-one lessons, click here.

For more expert advice and tips on one-to-one teaching from www.onestopenglish.com,  click here.


Educator's Quote

The mind is not a vessel
to be filled,
but a fire to be ignited

~Plutarch
 

Copyright (C) 2008 English Central. All rights reserved.

English Central 46 St. Clair Ave., E. Toronto, ON M4T 1M9.  416-850-0833

www.englishcentral.net

 

 
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