Round Table Discussion on Classroom Management

If you couldn't make it to our Spring Day on May 29th 2010, you can now view the entire Round Table Discussion on Classroom Management in which we discuss discipline issues in young learners, higher education and adults.  It will surely help you get ready for the upcoming semester.

Part 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3hV6Y0RSro
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrzqdQOcTQ4&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QwIhHOcFI4&feature=related
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NraJZb0eGdw&feature=related
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NraJZb0eGdw&feature=related

Panel members include: George Pickering (Chair); Burcu Akyol (via Skype) Bethany Cagnol; Duncan Foord; Linda Vignac

TESOL France has a YouTube Channel!

We're excited to announce that TESOL France has a new YouTube Channel where you can get a taste of the association. Just like a wine tasting, the videos include samples of some of the best speakers and events TESOL France has to offer. http://www.youtube.com/user/tesolfrance

Continue your own professional development all year round and/or use them with your students.  Got questions or comments, simply post them to the video itself.

Happy Viewing!

The Spring Day on Managing Students, Teachers and Yourself

Saturday May 29th 2010, 9:00am to 7:30pm
Télécom ParisTech, 49 rue Vergniaud, 75013 Paris.
Register here:  http://www.tesol-france.org/springday10.php

This Spring Day will include seminars on:

• Managing your own career
• Boosting your salary
• Observing fellow teachers
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Developing Tech-Savvy ESL/EFL Teachers
• Empowering ELT Teachers Through the Arts
• Classical and emerging themes in leadership and management thinking
• The International Diploma in Language Teaching Management (IDLTM)
• Plus: A round table discussion on Classroom Management: The challenges teachers face today

This event is FREE of charge to TESOL France and IATEFL LAMSIG Members and Speakers.

March 20th: Independents' Day Part 2

TESOL France President, Bethany Cagnol, and fellow Executive Committee member, Elaine Henry, team up for "Independents' Day Part 2". This 3-hour workshop is for independents and non-independents.

March 20th 2010 2-5pm
Télécom ParisTech
Elaine and Bethany will be speaking about:

• Getting and maintaining clients,
• Time management,
• Late-payment issues,
• Paperwork,
• URSSAF,
• Excel,
• Autonomously managing one's accounts.

Since this workshop is Part 2 in the series, the speakers won't go into too much detail on how to become a travailleur indépendant.  But for highlights from Part 1 on how to go freelance, Bethany Cagnol has created a handy blog: The Freelance Teacher in France.  The speakers recommend reading the articles before coming to this workshop.   Get your questions in now, by posting them on the blog.  The speakers will then try to incorporate them into the workshop.

Join us in what promises to be a very informative and lively discussion.

Falling salaries and prices!

Falling salaries and prices, increasing competition from web 2.0 technologies and low cost distance learning, a major reform of training law under way: what future for face to face language trainers in France.

Presented by Andrew Wickham

March 6th, 2010

1:00pm to 5:00pm
Venue: Telecom ParisTech

Register here: http://www.tesol-france.org/Wickham10.php
To cover speaker and event costs, there is an exceptional entrance fee for members and non-members: €25

The rise of distance learning and the Blended revolution are having an increasing impact on the traditional language training industry in France, which could be on the eve of a major transformation. Today, face to face training with teachers based in France accounts for 80 to 90% of language training, but if the current trends persist, will distance learning by telephone or visioconference, using "offshore" trainers working in countries where salary costs are much lower, replace face to face training in the coming years? Is e-learning, thanks to Web 2.0 technology and broadband access, finally coming into its own? What are the comparative advantages and disadvantages of distance learning over face to face training? How are traditional training organizations coping? Is the market going to concentrate? What do face to face trainers need to do to stay competitive? With prices and salaries under even greater pressure from the economic crisis, and worsening work conditions, what incentives are there for providing the high level, personalised professional training that many clients say they want today? How will the current reform of training law impact the market in 2010 ? Will the trends currently developing in France spread throughout Europe in the coming years? These are some of the questions that the Linguaid market study set out to find answers to in early 2008. Nearly 2 years later, Andrew Wickham, the writer of the market study report, which was published in Spring 2009, will present the study, which has been updated for 2010, and discuss some of the findings that directly concern trainers. The workshop will be as interactive as possible. This will be followed by an open discussion with participants.

Andrew Wickham began as a language trainer then moved to training management, set up and ran a training company, then moved to project management of industrial blended learning systems. He currently works as a consultant. His specialties include: Designing, building and running large-scale integrated training systems, strategic consultancy, managing language and communication training projects, cross-cultural training for business communication, and communication coaching.

"'The Cheese Slid Off Her Cracker" -- Test Yourself

Test your students (B2 and C1)

How many ways can we say ”crazy" in English?
out to l______
he has a s______ loose
not all th_______
not right in one's h_______
out of one's m_______,
L_____y-tunes
lost his mar______s
not pl_____ing with a full deck
s_____ in the head

Test your "lights are on, but nobody's home" idioms.

A taco sh______ ____ ___ combination plate
A few b____s  sh_____ ___ ______ six-pack.
24 co______  ______  ___  ___ quarter.
A few cl____s _____  _____  ____circus.
A few p____s _____ ____  ___ casserole.
A few f__________s ____ ____   __  whole duck.
A few fr___s _______ _____ __ Happy Meal.
He only has one oar in the w______r.
Doesn't have all her corn______s in one box.
The cheese slid off her cr________.
Doesn't have all his d______ on one leash.
Elevator doesn't go all the way to the top f________.
His an______a doesn't pick up all the chan_______.
Missing a few b_________ on his remote control.
Receiver is off the h_____k.
Too much yardage between the goal p_____s.
Not the sharpest k_______ in the drawer.
The wheel's spinning, but the h_______’s dead.
Not the br_______t bulb on the Christmas Tree.
The l________ are on, but ____________’s home.
About as s_____ as a marble.

Answers (and a few more)

out to lunch
he has a screw loose
not all there
not right in one's head
out of one's mind,
looney-tunes
lost his marbles
not playing with a full deck
soft in the head
not all there

A taco short of a combination plate
The lights are on, but no body’s home.
About as sharp as a marble.
A few clowns short of a circus.
Not the brightest bulb on the Christmas Tree.
A few fries short of a Happy Meal.
He only has one oar in the water.
A few beers short of a six-pack.
A few peas short of a casserole.
Doesn't have all her cornflakes in one box.
A few feathers short of a whole duck.
The cheese slid off her cracker.
Doesn't have all his dogs on one leash.
Elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor.
Her sewing machine's out of thread.
His antenna doesn't pick up all the channels.
His belt doesn't go through all the loops.
Missing a few buttons on his remote control.
No grain in the silo.
Receiver is off the hook.
Too much yardage between the goal posts.
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
The lights are on, but nobody's home.
24 cents short of a quarter.
The wheel's spinning, but the hamster's dead.

Extra activity:  Get your students to invent their own idioms.
A few __________  short of a _____________.

Introducing our 2010 Plenary Speakers

We are proud to introduce our 2010 Plenary Speakers (November 26 to 28, 2010 at Télécom ParisTech) 

Further information and our Call for papers:  http://www.tesol-france.org/Colloquium10.php

Professor David Crystal is one of the world's foremost authorities on language. An internationally renowned writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster, he received an OBE in 1995 for his services to the English language. He has authored and edited over 100 books including the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (1987), English as a Global Language (1997), Language Play (1998), Shakespeare's Words (2002, with Ben Crystal), The Stories of English (2004), By Hook or By Crook: a journey in search of English (2008), and Just a Phrase I'm Going Through: my life in language (2009).



David A. Hill is a free-lance teacher trainer and educational materials writer working out of Budapest, Hungary. He has worked for The British Council (18 years), Pilgrims, Canterbury (12 summers) and has been a teacher trainer with NILE, Norwich every summer since 1998. David has worked with many major ELT publishers, writing courses for Italy, Spain, Poland, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Morocco and Bulgaria. He has recently co-written the teacher resource book Writing Stories for Helbling Languages for whom he has also adapted several classics and written original readers. David has held positions of responsibility within IATEFL for nearly 25 years, and is currently the Coordinator of the Literature, Media & Cultural Studies SIG. When not involved with ELT, he plays the blues, writes poetry, studies natural history and photographs art nouveau buildings.

TESOL France workshop: 30 January (2-5pm)

Mix and match – how tagging and playlist-courses can create personalised blended learning paths for BE students. 

January 30th (2-5pm)

Télécom ParisTech
49 rue Vergniaud
75013 Paris

The first decade of the 21st century has already seen some strong web 2.0 features emerge. Web users can easily create, network, personalise, share and self-organise. So language-learning content also needs to be co-created and not just delivered by 'experts' but by teachers, school staff and learners. With English360, a whole new approach to materials development and course design is now available. This method involves mixing and matching material from learners, their company, authentic web resources, mp3 or pdf files, and other shared resources from teachers worldwide. Teachers can also integrate their own course material seamlessly with 25 Cambridge University Press titles that have recently been repurposed for online/blended delivery within the English360 platform. This new generation of content creation (which is entirely free for educators) moves beyond the traditional book, photocopier or scissors-and-glue approach. It enables teachers to create tailor-made activities that are uniquely relevant (real-world) performance-based.
The workshop will start off with an overview of the web today, and will outline the rapid shifts now occurring in publishing. It will address Business English needs assessment and the issues involved in blended course design, as well as offering advice on materials development. It will illustrate tags and tagging and show how digital tools can make the needs analysis process fast, accurate and ongoing. Tagged material and cross-referenced resources mean teachers can pull content from as wide a range of sources as possible to create individualised 'course' books much as you can shuffle playlists on an mp3 device.
The easy-to-use English360 self-authoring tools, which can be used to create a wide range of activities, will be demonstrated during this hands-on workshop, together with the course management features of the platform. The session will be entirely interactive and involve open discussion with participants. 

AGENDA
The three-hour workshop will be cover:
Trends
· Web 2.0
· Blended learning
· Personalising training programmes
· Shifts in publishing
· The English360 philosophy
Business English
· Needs assessment/analysis
· Existing systems
· English360 tagging
· Finding content – CUP cross-referenced content
Using English360
· Creating courses
· Self-authoring activities
· Mixing & matching CUP content
· Sharing content
· 'Managing' learners

The workshop will be co-run by: 

Cleve Miller
Since 1989 Cleve has designed, managed and taught business English programs in 11 countries to thousands of students in over fifty Global-500 companies. He has been named a 'global expert' by the American Society of Training and Development and, since about 1998, has had a single-minded obsession with effective use of the web for learner-centred language teaching. Originally from Kansas, he is currently based out of Cambridge, UK. 

Valentina Dodge
Valentina is Teacher Community Coordinator for English360, where she helps educators provide personalised Business English learning programmes to meet their student and customer needs. She collaborates with, and supports, Business English language teachers all over the world to help them publish and share lessons and courses for blended or online delivery. She organises training sessions and support forums on instructional design and blended course organisation, to allow educators to combine their own materials and lesson plans with high quality course material from Cambridge University Press.

Test your Nationalities

Here is an exercise you can use to help your students expand their Nationality Vocabulary as well as gain practice putting a capital letter at the beginning of proper nouns.

Common mistakes among French native speakers of English:

In september the american company's stock increased. On monday the french sales team revamped their marketing strategy.


Fill in the information that corresponds to the adjective. If you are not sure, put a (?)

Adjective / the people / the person
Russian / the Russians / a Russian
English / the English / an Englishman -woman
Turkish / the Turks / a Turk

Germany ________ _________ __________
France ________ _________ __________
Greece ________ _________ __________
Britain _________ _________ __________
China _________ _________ __________
Quebec _________ _________ __________
Iraq _________ _________ __________
Thailand _________ _________ __________
Ireland _________ _________ __________
Italy _________ _________ __________
Switzerland _________ _________ __________
Israel _________ _________ __________
Japan ____________ ____________ _____________
Netherlands ____________ ____________ _____________
Finland ____________ ____________ _____________

It's Snow Problem!

It's that time of year again and with almost all of France under the white powdery stuff, we thought you might have a ball (a snowball, that is) using these words and idiomatic expressions with your students.

How many words do YOU know?

Snow
Snowy
Snowball
Snowman
A snow day
A snowdrift
To be snowbound
A snowbunny
Snowflake
To be snowed in
To be snowed under
Skiing
Snowboarding
Snowmobiling
Snowshoeing
Ice hockey
Flurries
Black ice
Slush
Slushy
Sleet
Freezing Rain
Blizzard
Wind Chill
Icicles
Frost
To scrape your windshield
A windshield scraper
Lake Effect Snow (see: http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/winter/lake.html)
Frostbite
Where is the "snowbelt?"
Also: Snow - the black and white display of a t.v. when there is no reception

Fixed expressions
A snowball's chance in hell
To snow someone
It's coming down in buckets
No two snowflakes are the same

Play on words
It's snow problem
It's snow wonder
It's snow joke
It's snow fun
It's snowbody's business
There's snowbody here!

Can you think of any more?

Announcing our upcoming Plenary Sessions!

Come see them at our 28th Annual Colloquium on November 6th and 7th!

Plenary: English as a Lingua Franca

It is estimated that there are now in the world over two billion English speakers of whom the majority speak it as a second or foreign language. Indeed, English is now used more as a lingua franca for various functions of international communication (business, research, diplomacy etc.) than it is used intra-nationally for communication with each other by its native speakers. And most educated people in the world today (at least outside the English-speaking countries) are "English-knowing bilinguals": they speak their own language(s) for home use, and English for international communication.

There are various interesting implications of this development for English teachers which will be discussed this talk. I shall address questions such as: Is there such a thing as an ELF standard of language use in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation? How does the development of ELF change our teaching goals? Does it make any difference to the function and prestige of the 'native' or 'non-native' English speaking teacher? What is the place of the culture of the English-speaking peoples in the teaching of ELF?

Workshop: Teaching Large Heterogeneous Classes

What is a large class? What is a heterogeneous class? What are the problems we encounter when we have to teach classes that are both large and heterogeneous?

In this talk I will begin by attempting to define what is meant by 'large' and 'heterogeneous', and then go on to list some of the main problems -- but also the advantages! -- that we encounter when trying to teach them.

As with many educational problems, there are no easy solutions. We could, perhaps largely solve them by preparing different tasks to suit different groups within the class; or by preparing several texts at varying levels of difficulty, as suggested by some methodologists. But most of us have neither the time nor the money to invest in such elaborate preparation, let alone the time to check the results later.

In this talk, I shall be proposing and discussing a series of practical teaching principles, illustrated by practical procedures, that involve very little (or no) extra preparation, that can make our job teaching large heterogeneous classes easier, and that go some way towards bringing about more effective learning.

Penny Ur's Bio

Penny Ur was educated at the universities of Oxford (MA), Cambridge (PGCE) and Reading (MATEFL). She emigrated to Israel in 1967, where she still lives today. She is married with four children and five grandchildren. Penny Ur has thirty years' experience as an English teacher in primary and secondary schools in Israel. She has recently retired from the headship of the M.Ed program in foreign-language teaching at Oranim Academic College of Education, but continues to teach M.A. courses at Oranim and Haifa University. She is interested in all aspects of language-teaching methodology, but in particular issues of fluency and accuracy in language teaching, language-learning activity design and the implications for teachers of the development of English as a lingua franca. She has published a number of articles, and was for ten years the editor of the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers series. Her books include Discussions that Work (1981), Five Minute Activities (co-authored with Andrew Wright) (1992), A Course in Language Teaching (1996), and Grammar Practice Activities (2nd Edition) (2009), all published by Cambridge University Press.

Plenary & Associated Workshop by Jamie Keddie

Plenary: Materials World

In an ELT context, what does the word materials mean to you? In this highly practical talk, I will be examining the richness of resources that are available to the modern language teacher. By dissecting six of my favourite lesson plans, I would like to share some thoughts on some essential lesson-planning skills which are often overlooked.

Workshop: Grammar Drawings

When a learner draws a piece of language, that language is suddenly brought to life and made memorable. In this workshop, which will be useful for teachers of all levels and ages, we will see some original grammar-based activities which exploit a fantastic piece of classroom technology - the pencil.

Jamie Keddie's Bio:

Jamie Keddie is a teacher, teacher trainer and writer who has taught in Spain and Germany. In 2008 he set up TEFLclips.com, a site dedicated to the possibilities for YouTube and other video-sharing sites in the classroom. He has written many articles on a number of subjects including grammar, image and the use of corpora in language learning. He is the author of Images in the Resource Books for Teachers series published by Oxford university Press. Jamie blogs at www.jamiekeddie.com.

Call for Papers!

Come join our plenary speakers: Penny Ur and Jamie Keddie!

Have something to share? Submit an abstract for the TESOL France Call for Papers!

This year TESOL France is stretching its wings! For our 28th Annual Colloquium held in Paris, France at Télécom ParisTech on November 6th and 7th 2009, we are welcoming talks and Poster Sessions from all English Language Teaching fields including proposals concerning the present and future of the ELT profession and philosophy. We encourage presentations on learning and using interactive formats that engage the audience and focus on practical classroom practices. In this Call for Papers we welcome proposals that include suggestions, models, or "success stories" from today's classroom. Not only do we wish to explore ELT in France but also the world of ELT as a whole. Our goal is to open the way for in-depth discussions, debates, and classroom enlightenment.

Welcomed themes are related, but not limited, to the following ELT fields: Adult Learners, Young Learners, Higher Education, Language Testing, Global Issues, Business English, English for Specific Purposes, Learning Technologies, Corpus in the Classroom, Teacher Training and Development, ELT Management, Bilingual Education, The Four Skills, Research, Grammar and Vocabulary Development, Tried and Tested Classroom Techniques, Materials Design and Publishing, Ethics in the Classroom, Pronunciation/intonation, Learner styles, Intercultural issues.

Speakers and Poster Session Presenters can participate by making either a commercial or a professional presentation. A commercial presentation is designed to promote a particular product or service, such as a (course)book, publisher, author, school, examination, etc. Professional presentations should not be used for such a purpose and thus are non-commercial. Participants at TESOL France conferences are particularly sensitive to the distinction between these types of presentations and tend to prefer the latter.

To submit and abstract go to: http://www.tesol-france.org/Colloquium09-callforpapers.php

Penny Ur is Coming to Paris!

We're thrilled to announce that Penny Ur has just accepted TESOL France's invitation to be the Plenary Speaker at our 28th Annual Colloquium!!!

This year TESOL France is stretching its wings! We are welcoming speakers from all English Language Teaching fields including the present and future of the English Language Teaching profession and philosophy. Not only do we wish to explore ELT in France but also the world of ELT as a whole. Our goal is to open the way for in-depth discussions, debates, and classroom enlightenment.

The two-day event will take place on 6 and 7 November 2009. So, mark your calendars!

Ms. Ur is well-known for her books on activities for the classroom (Five-Minute Activities: A Resource Book of Short Activities) as well as her extensive list of publications for every field in ELT. Perfect for TESOL France members!

More info will be available in the coming weeks on the blog and website. So, stay tuned everybody!

Jeremy Harmer's Coming to Paris!

We're thrilled to announce that Jeremy Harmer has just accepted TESOL France's invitation to be the Plenary Speaker at our June Day. We will be devoting the entire event to Teacher Development (the before, during, and after of being a teacher).

The all-day event will take place on June 20th. So, mark your calendars!

Check out Harmer's website: http://www.jeremy-harmer.com
Harmer's well-known for his books on teaching English (The Practice of English Language Teaching) as well as his insightful and interactive seminars on teacher development.

More info will be available in the coming weeks on the blog and website. So, stay tuned everybody!

Compagnie OZ Draw First Blood

I attended a marvelous 'Dracula' yesterday, masterfully produced and executed by Compagnie OZ who featured in the last edition of Teaching Times.

Produced specially for school-age learners of English, the cast were wonderful, the audience of teachers loved it and I saw bookings galore being made at the end of the performance.

There were only three actors, but they swapped roles at the drop of a fang and their enthusiasm and ingenuity were contagious.

My next step will be to persuade them to work with me on some of my Mega Minute videos, but in the meantime I really recommend you book them for your school (I heard figures of 150 pupils minimum and €9 per pupil being mentioned for Paris and suburbs but you'd have to contact them directly to confirm that).

The contact details are:

Michèle Mathieu

20 rue des Thermopyles

75014 Paris

01 45 43 05 26

compagnie-oz@wanadoo.fr

Have fun and do let us know what you and your students thought after the performance!

Teaching Wishes for 2009

Hi Everyone and a friendly wish for happiness and success in 2009.

Here is a personal list of seven goals I have for the year...

1) Lots more members joining TESOL France
2) Four even better issues of Teaching Times
3) A thriving teaching forum on the TESOL France blog
4) Lots of dynamic workshops on exciting new subjects
5) A real international exchange of ideas with other organisations
6) Easier communication and sharing of experience for members
7) Professional advancement for everyone through TESOL France!

What about yours?

Happy new year,
Sab

New fiscal setup starting in January called, "L'Auto Entrepreneur"

Dear TESOLers and future entrepreneurs,

I know that many of us have side jobs like consultants, writers, translators, etc. Many of you are considering going independent.

There is a new fiscal opportunity starting in this month: www.lautoentrepreneur.fr
I've been told the paperwork is considerably simpler, and the fees are considerably lower, than UR$$AF.
Check it out. I know I will.

Installing Hot Potatoes on a Windows PC

If you are planning to come to the workshop on using Hot Potatoes, and you have a laptop, we'd be really grateful if you could install the program beforehand on your computer and bring it along. That way, you'll be able to learn it by using it (Task-based learning, anyone?), which is a far better way of learning how to use a program than simply watching someone else and trying to remember.

If you don't have a laptop, or would rather not bring it to the session, you are, of course, still more than welcome to attend!

So if you can bring a laptop along, here's how you go about installing Hot Potatoes on a Windows computer:

Part I: Installation:

1) Go to http://hotpot.uvic.ca/
2) Look for the "Downloads" section around halfway down the page and click on Hot Potatoes 6.2 installer. A dialogue box will open; click on "Run".
3) After a couple of minutes, another dialogue box will pop up with the question "The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?". Click on "Run".
4) Choose the language you want to use and click "OK".
5) A new box will open saying "Welcome to the Hot Potatoes 6 Setup Wizard". Click "Next" to continue.
6) You will be asked to accept the License Agreement. Basically it says that Hot Potatoes is free if you work in an educational institution and make anything you create using the software generally available by putting it up on the Internet (don't worry, we'll show you how to do that!). Click on "I accept the agreement" and click "Next".
7) Another box will appear with information about Hot Potatoes. This is purely for information; you don't have to agree to anything so you can just click "Next".
8) A new box ("Select Destination Location") will tell you where on your hard drive Hot Potatoes will be installed. Again, this is for information only so just click "Next".
9) The next box ("Select Start Menu Folder") tells you where it's going to place the shortcut. Again, you can leave that alone and just click "Next".
10) The next box ("Select Additional Tasks") will give you the option of creating a desktop icon and a quick launch icon. These will save you having to go to Start > Programs to start Hot Potatoes, so whether you have them or not is up to you. If you think you're going to use the programs a lot, you should leave "Create a desktop icon" clicked. If you expect to use it most of the time, click on "Create a Quick Launch icon", which will make the program start more quickly, but at the expense of making other programs run more slowly. Once you've chosen, click "Next".
11) Click "Install" and wait.
12) Click "Finish". Congratulations! You've installed Hot Potatoes! Now you'll need to register to get the full benefits of the programs.

Part II: Registering.

1) Start Hot Potatoes.
2) Click on Help > Register
3) A new box will open. Click on the button "Get a Key". Your web browser will open automatically.
4) You'll see a set of instructions for getting a key. First, click on the link that says "Please read the license terms".
5) Read the terms and click the box under the agreement that says "I have read the license agreement"
6) Complete the form at the bottom of the page (your name, email address and country of residence). If you don't want to receive emails from them, uncheck the box. Click "Submit".
7) Now check your email. You should have a message from hotpot@uvic.ca, which will tell you your user name and key.
8) Go back to the box that opened when you said you wanted to register Hot Potatoes. Enter your user name and key. Ignore the box that says "I am a network administrator" and click "OK".
9) A box will pop up to confirm registration is completed. Click "OK".

Congratulations! You've installed and registered Hot Potatoes, and you're now ready to start creating your own web exercises.

TESOL France workshop Dec 13 - Creating web-based activities with Hot Potatoes

Dear TESOL France member/supporter

Creating web-based activities with Hot Potatoes

December 13th 2008
2pm - 5pm (followed by the Annual General Assembly)
Télécom ParisTech

Led by Laurence Whiteside, and Sab Will, Editor of The Teaching Times and Blogmaster

Hot Potatoes is a suite of programs for PCs and Macs, to allow you you to create interactive exercises, including multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fills, for the World Wide Web. In this workshop, Laurence Whiteside and Sab Will will show you how to:

* create simple, interactive exercises with no technical knowledge,
* create more complicated exercises including images, sound and video files,
* put your exercises on the Internet.

We would like this workshop to be as "hands on" as possible. Therefore, we ask those of you who have laptops to install Hot Potatoes beforehand and bring them to the session. You can download Hot Potatoes from hotpot.uvic.ca. If you'd like some help doing that, email Laurence at lolwhites@gmail.com or Sab at grimfarmer@yahoo.com.

This workshop is FREE to current TESOL France members or 8 euros to nonmembers. To register, go to http://www.tesol-france.org/hotpotatoes.php .

Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible there.

David Crystal's Insight on Obama's Speech

Hey all you TESOLers,

Someone sent me this link of linguist David Crystal's dissection of Obama's acceptance speech. It's a very interesting read. Good insight for any speech writer (and teacher) to bear in mind.
http://david-crystal.blogspot.com/2008/11/on-obamas-victory-style.html