A Meaningful Handicraft Project: Collaboration, Learning and So Much More!


Written by - Guest Contributor

The Task at Hand

A handicraft of the alphabet described by the author in the post.
Image source: Suzanne Nicks

Quilting and knitting circles have existed for a long time for the purposes of pleasure and producing a useful final product, but how did a handicraft project for a group of Master of Education students turn into a feel-good, emotional learning journey? It was an assignment for a research methodology course, but it was so much more than that. It was also collaboration, self-discovery and an emotional roller coaster all rolled into some highly memorable academic presentations. At least that was my observation, if not quite my personal experience.

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Is your Time Being Fully Compensated as an ESL/LINC Teacher?


Written by - Stacey Vandenberg
image source: bigstockphoto.com

How much work are you doing for free? Five minutes here and there, hours of PBLA prep time? The employees at our settlement company decided by a vote of 70% that we were going to unionize. I joined the collective bargaining team and found the experience quite an eye opener.

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Bring Book Clubs into the Classroom


Written by - Guest Contributor
Vector cartoon illustration of Reading club. Open books on table with human hands top view, letters and words around. Colorful graphic concept
image source: www.bigstockphoto.com

Do you belong to a book club? My mother-daughter book club is nearing its fourth anniversary! We started it as a way to encourage reading in our daughters, and four years later, not only do we have voracious young readers, but we have also built a neighbourhood community.

I started to wonder if this concept could be applied to my teaching context. I teach LINC online with LINC Home Study. I had attended a few webinars online regarding extensive reading and decided to try it out.

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June is Bike Month – Let’s Get Active


Written by - Guest Contributor
image source: Toronto Public Health

Summer is a great time to get active outdoors, and getting active is something we can all use a lot more of! The World Health Organization has identified a lack of physical activity as the 4th leading risk factor for global mortality. The Government of Canada recommends Canadians should get onto their feet more and sit less during the day to maintain good health. Engaging in physical activity allows you to strengthen your body and improves your overall sense of wellbeing. Getting active is something everyone can take part in.

Our last TESL blog on physical activity looked into ways to stay active in the classroom. We hope that this month’s blog will help you promote an active lifestyle for your students outdoors.

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Effective Feedback in Higher Education


Written by - Sherry Hejazi

What are some ways you choose to provide feedback to students in higher education? How do you think students perceive and react to our feedback? How effective do you think written feedback comments can be? Nicole and Milligan (2006) have identified seven main principles that effective feedback should entail.

1.     Effective feedback helps students identify what good performance is and assists students in grasping a clear understanding of the goals and standards set for their level. Research suggests that there is often a gap between the expected standards set by educators and students’ perception of these standards. Unless students clearly understand the goals and standards set for them, they cannot succeed in self-regulating their learning process.

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The Role of the L1 in the EFL Classroom Part III: Where to Begin? Ideas for Incorporating Cross-linguistic Strategies


Written by - Guest Contributor
Foreign language school persons. International languages people teaching communication translations, men and women foreigners students, vector illustration
image source: www.bigstockphoto.com

Bringing the L1 into the EFL classroom does not need to be an overhaul of current practice in the classroom, nor does it need to be applied to each and every classroom activity. It is something that can be applied strategically and with intent at the teacher’s discretion. The point is not to create a new method, but to understand that cross-linguistic awareness is one of many useful teaching/learning techniques that are available to us as language teachers.

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Spring Reflections


Written by - Eve Mazereeuw
Image source: www.bigstockphoto.com

The cherry blossoms are out! It’s spring and finally warm enough to ride my bike to work.  I do my best thinking on that bike. With a new semester starting, I find myself reflecting on the semester gone by.  Peddling on cold, rainy days tends to cause me to remember my failures, but on warm, sunny mornings, I recall my successes.  For 16 years I have been teaching university prep writing, grammar, reading, speaking, and listening to students from around the world. 

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My ANPC Experience


Written by - Guest Contributor

In early October, I saw a call go out on the TESOL webpage looking for members to join a newly formed committee called the Affiliate Network Professional Council (ANPC).  The call asked for interested parties who had recent previous experience on an affiliate board, as you would be working with other affiliate leaders closely. I thought it sounded interesting, and I quickly discovered that I was right. 

TESOL International has about 100 affiliates from a wide range of places, like Bangladesh, New York state, and Yakutia, Russia. When I first joined TESL Ontario, I was surprised to learn that

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Student Infographics


Written by - John Allan @mrpottz
image source: John Allan

What is an infographic?

Infographics are a contemporary means of transmitting information on media platforms. They appear as printed or digital infographic displays at hospitals, airports, shopping malls and more, and deliver complex information in a visually concise format. The first infographics I remember were positioned in the corners of the USA Today newspaper.  They drew my eyes towards them and informed me about trends, recent events or celebrities in many sections of the newspaper.

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