Don't miss any English Central newsletters...add info@englishcentral.net to your address book!
English Central newsletter
Hi <<First Name>>,
Welcome to your July newsletter!


Featured New Titles

Idiomatic Vocabulary Practice

Teaching Chunks of LanguageTeaching Chunks of Language - From noticing to remembering is an excellent new resource from Helbling Languages.

Aimed at intermediate - advanced students, this book takes a very practical view to applying the lexical approach and learner training in our everyday classes.

This book is essentially a lifeline to those teachers and students lost in the proverbial sea of expressions, idioms, collocations and phrasal verbs. The cry of, "So much to memorize and how to go about doing this!?" is clearly being answered by this text.

Thanks Helbling!Why is Teaching Chunks of Language so great?

Besides the clear and comprehensive review of why and how English 'chunks' as it does, the activities (which make up 90% of the book) are:
  • engaging
  • fun
  • communicative
  • student-centred
  • memorable
and...

an excellent challenge for higher-level learners due to the focus on learner autonomy and the rich level of mental processing required.

The book is split into 5 sections:
  • How to use this book (VERY helpful in outlining what chunks are and how to highlight them to our students)
  • Activities showing effective ways of memorization
  • Activities focusing on remembering
  • Activities for reviewing and testing
  • Photocopiable materials
Good stuff is one click away!
To view and download sample activities click the button.



Industry News

New Employment Specific Courses

Enhanced Language Training (ELT) first came on the scene as a government sponsored course aimed at CLB 7 - 9+ students to help bridge the gap between language ability and employability.

In a bid to allow greater employment access for newcomers with a lower language ability, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) piloted this program last fall.

Now officially offered at some colleges in Ontario, the Occupation Specific Language Training Program (OSLT) begins fall 2009.

These courses are free for permanent residents, protected persons and those whose resident applications have passed the first stage.

How is it different from ESL Programs?

In addition to continued language instruction, these programs include a focus on:
  • sociocultural skills
  • effective interaction with peers, clients and supervisors
  • workplace writing skills
  • occupation specific terminology
  • assistance in finding job placements

Let's hope the lower level of language ability doesn't make all the employment skills... less useful.


Q & A

The 'Must-Have's on Our Shelves

What do you call experienced teachers who are:
  • still engaged in their job and their students
  • involved in their staffroom/community
  • still interested in new resources and industry updates
  • always on the lookout for new ideas and activities
You call yourself "Me!", but we call ourselves "EduGeeks" - and we (and your students, no doubt) appreciate you!

To celebrate the EduGeek status, we have compiled a fresh list of great titles to keep your teaching path awash with new goodies around every corner.

Click here view our best of the bunch list and descriptions.

Good to know:
If you purchase any 3 from the list, you will receive a 20% discount!

Want to find out more about these resources? Join our webinar series, beginning on July 16th!

A veritable cornucopia of great resources!






Webinars

Bouncing from the successful webinar we held a couple of weeks ago with Duncan Foord, we've decided to hold another one...well, a series of them in fact!

We've decided to focus on the topics and ideas presented in each of our EduGeeks books.

We recognize that many of you wish you lived next door to us, just so you could get a closer look at these books we keep praising. 

Wish no longer - if you join our webinars, you'll get exactly that...without the hassle of getting a new postal code.

Part radio show, part discussion, we'll review the approaches and theories of these authors, show you a few of the activities and invite you to share your opinions.

Our first one will be held Thursday, July 16th at 6:30pm. We will be discussing Teaching Chunks of Language, and so reviewing the challenges and benefits associated with the lexical approach and autonomous learner training.

To register, click here.

On July 30th, we will be discussing The Minimax Teacher. Through this text, we will explore the ideas of personalization and how we can best achieve this in our classes without spending hours doing prep.

To register, click here.


Subscriber Spotlight

No doubt you're interested in more than just us folks who work at English Central.

We're thinking you might want to know some of the other inspirational people who subscribe to this newsletter and are doing cool things in our industry.

Want your profile in our newsletter?

Want to send in your friend or colleague's profile to show your appreciation for the work they do?

Send us a brief bio and tell us what you and/or your colleague(s) are doing. Remember to include a picture, your contact information and any website links you might have!

And in return, we promise to:
  • shamelessly appreciate anyone doing good in our industry
  • spread the word to all of our 1,000+ subscribers
  • and embarrass you (in a good way) in front of your colleagues

...pinky swear.

To give someone (like you!) the recognition they deserve, click here.




Other New Titles

Great Pronunciation Resources

The third edition of Well Said, written by Linda Grant, hit our shelves this month.

A popular resource, this text and CD package has shown its worth by providing a communicative and guided discovery approach to pronunciation work.

What's new and improved?
  • Focus on thought groups comes earlier in the text
  • Vocabulary, phrasal verbs and high-frequency stress patterns are taken from corpus sources
  • New "You Choose!" sections, integrating consonant and vowel practice with stress, rhythm and intonation
  • New exercises linking pronunciation to sample TOEFL iBT tasks
  • Audio CDs are now indexed to each exercise and include authentic speech samples

Activities Ahoy!

Currently in its 5th printing, Pronunciation Practice Activities is another gem that everyone should know about.

This book earns its status on the top shelf by providing a comprehensive overview of phonology coupled with almost 100 activities to practice everything from sounds to intonation.

Words to describe this book?


For a detailed review, click here.

To view the table of contents, introduction and sample activities click here (once at the site, click on 'Contents').

To type in IPA, click here for free software (no download needed)!


Cool Websites for...


Who says Business English is dry and uninspired?

Not us and certainly not the folks at Cambridge University Press.



Great support through activities and resources are available on their Professional English Online site.

Check out their:
  • podcasts
  • vodcasts
  • authentic materials
  • excellent articles
  • current activities
  • informative blog

Market Leader Supplementals

For other resources, check out the companion site to the Market Leader series.

Although the lesson plans are accessible through paid subscription only, there are lots of other useful materials and links (including new case study resources) available for free.

Click here for a peruse.


Teaching Tips 101

Motivating the Unmotivated
Part I

The Spice of Life is...

that's right...


In simplest terms, the more variety you incorporate into your classes, the more interesting they can be.

By variety, we mean materials, pacing, media use, activity type and use of your classroom space.

Not only will you have more chance of tapping into a fuller range of learning styles and intelligences, but you will also keep your students curious...and therefore engaged.

To see how unpredictable YOUR classes are, have a look at the following lists - how many can you tick...per day?...per week?

Interaction:
buzz groups
discussion panels
project-based tasks
individual presentations
class to class

Activities:
role plays
guided discovery
storytelling
problem-solving
case studies
assignments
dialogues
student-generated content

Hardware and software:
music
film
pictures
realia
guests
charts
overhead transparencies
flashcards
whiteboard work

If you ticked fewer than half per list, try a few more out and see if you get perkier students!


Educator's Quote

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Knowledge is limited.

Imagination encircles the world.

~Albert Einstein

Copyright (C) 2009 English Central. All rights reserved.

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

www.englishcentral.net