Fluency in World Engagement
I’ve gotten myself in trouble more than once for not engaging in the world into which I’ve been sent. One time happened in Northeast India when a friend and colleague asked … Continue reading
Crossing Streets & Oceans
This post begins a new series on communicating with our students. Over the next few weeks, we’ll talk about speaking their language (literally), the language of technology, the dialects of the psyche, fluency in current events, and more. Here, the focus is on communicating with students across cultural or societal boundaries.
A Taste of Heaven on Earth
Looking for inspiration on how to give the gift of joy to our students, I opened The Valley of Vision and found this under the title “Joy:” There is no joy like … Continue reading
Blessing with Gratitude
This post begins our new series on teaching as a gift. Come back over the next few weeks as we also explore teaching as a gift of love, peace, joy, light, and hope.
LEARNING Activities
When I was teaching intercultural communication here in China, every year on end-of-semester feedback at least one student would say something like: I really liked this class and learned a … Continue reading
Purpose with a "p"
My ideas about teaching greatly changed…I [came] to realize teaching is not a random choice of many activities without purpose. Teaching is like a journey which has its beginning point … Continue reading
Huffing & Puffing
“I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in.” When teaching M.A. TESOL students how to design a course, I like to compare curriculum development to constructing a … Continue reading
When Opportunity Forgets to Knock
What if we changed just one thing about our past—where we were born, for example? I could be exactly the same person with my love of learning but be excluded … Continue reading
When Students Get It Wrong
When learners make mistakes in class, we may have a hard time deciding how to respond. If we come from a culture of self-esteem,[1] we may worry about students’ psyche and … Continue reading
Brought to our Knees
This post begins our new series on different types of students. Check back the next few Wednesdays as we seek wisdom for working with students who lack motivation, act out, give wrong answers, live with disabilities, and more.
Peaceful Night, Holy Night
This post is taken from the commencement address given at LCC International University’s MA TESOL graduation, June 20, 2014.
If the Shoe Doesn’t Fit
Some of my students suffer from a serious disease that could be described as egocentrism. They sometimes get so caught up in Self, are so afraid of looking bad or their … Continue reading
Master Teaching 