Other Featured Titles

Clearly we have a love-on for Garnet books this month.

But what can we say?

These are fantastic resources and we want everyone to know about them!

The Transferable Academic Skills Kit (TASK) is an innovative and flexible learning resource that develops key skills to help students navigate university life.

Well...the academic side of university life...

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This series is excellent for continuing the development of language proficiency for high-level learners as well as the skills needed to meet the academic demands of a post-secondary environment.

Focuses we loved:

self-assessment of skills and work/study expectations
culture and interaction patterns' impact on teamwork
the importance of objectivity and creativity
the benefits of and ways to facilitate teamwork
communication strategies to avoid misunderstandings
understanding lecturer expectations
logical sequencing in writing tasks impact of correct and incorrect register
recognition of sound or faulty argumentation
avoiding plagiarism
organizational skills and time management

...just to name a few!

Transitioning into a higher education environment is tricky enough - but with a wider awareness of how things really work and what is expected of them, our EAP students stand a much better chance of success.

Cool Websites
Teach around the world with Transitions Abroad

Dust off those memories or future ambitions of travelling and dive into a wonderful pool of cultural and employment information from around the world.

Transitions Abroad started as a traveller's resource over 30 years ago and they now have a free online webzine.

If you would like to see:

how the ESL world works in countries around the world
fantastic links page for great ESL resources
insightful information on living in many countries around the world
volunteering opportunities around the globe
lots more related to employment

Who is the site for?

For teachers new to our industry

For experienced teachers looking to explore other employment outside their current borders

For temporarily 'grounded' teachers dreaming of a future adventure

Think of Lonely Planet meets Dave's ESL Cafe (sans cockroach info or rants from disgruntled folks)

Teaching Tips

How Critical is your Students' Thinking?

For anyone already teaching in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) context, the importance of developing critical thinking skills is not a new concept.

However, we believe that even if your students aren't destined for the undergrad lecture hall, critical thinking is another one of these wonderful work literacy skills - and frankly an all around life skill - that should be encouraged in all of our students.

Want to see just how much critical thinking goes on in your lessons?

Check out the following tips to encourage critical thinking skills - how many are you already aware of and consciously already do?

Have a clearer idea of which activities demand critical thinking

According to the authors of EAP Essentials: a teacher's guide to principles and practice, the main components of critical thinking include:

taking a stance (giving opinions)
evaluating (being critical)
making connections (being original).

OK...but do you know what this means on a practical activity level?

Take this little test.

Which of the following activities involve critical thinking skills?

identifying what is wrong with an argument
using examples based on personal experience to clarify an idea
discussing reasons for a change in a trend
deciding how to group ideas in an essay
understanding metaphor
guessing what will happen next
giving another student feedback on their writing, using a checklist

ANSWER

Consider your lesson framework carefully

Without going into the specific details of each framework, the issue here is that the Present - Practice - Produce (PPP) framework for teaching language seems to be the least likely to help develop critical thinking skills.

With alternative frameworks like Task-based learning (TBL) and guided discovery, students are more personally engaged, less passive and more likely to develop confidence in:

expressing opinions
suggesting reasons
applying criteria to evaluate and make connections between concepts

...all good critical thinking skills.

Have students critique each others' work more often

With one of the cornerstones of critical thinking being 'giving one's opinion', having students critique each others' work (e.g. written assignments, oral presentations), according to evaluative criteria is beneficial in many ways.

The benefits of critiquing are:

practicing the skill of expressing an opinion supported by evidence and criteria
allowing the peer feedback process to become less criticizing and more evaluative
facilitating a supportive and more transparent relationship between students who may have difficulty receiving feedback from their peers.

The more questioning, processing and evaluating that happens, the more likely you are to have a class of engaged minds - and an engaged mind is never a bored mind!

* some information and test taken from EAP Essentials: A teacher's guide to principles and practice (excellent resource for anyone teaching in the EAP context)

Link to our blog for more ramblings on this an interview with one of the authors of EAP Essentials

Educator's Quote

Always be a first rate version
of yourself
instead of a second rate version
of someone else.

~Judy Garland