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1. Building and Sustaining a Culture of Belonging

   In: American English Webinars Format(s): Text, Video

   This session, "Building and Sustaining a Culture of Belonging," explores activities to build student-student and teacher-student relationships within a language class setting that affirm students’ identities and improve students’ sense of belonging.

2. Empowering Teachers through Professional Development

   In: English Teaching Forum 2010, Volume 48, Number 1 Format(s): Text

   This article promotes professional development for teachers. Connection to a community of teachers and greater motivation and achievement of students are just a few benefits of learning new skills, resources, and techniques. The author describes low-cost development opportunities, from individual tasks such as reading articles and keeping a journal, to collaborative techniques such as peer mentoring/coaching, forming a teacher support group, or joining a national organization.

3. Options for Teacher Professional Development

   In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This article addresses the relationship of high-quality teacher characteristics to student learning and then presents eight elements of development and six models of teacher training. The eight elements are: voluntary participation, mutual respect, collaboration, action and reflection, organizational setting, choice and change, motivation, and self-direction. The six models are: conference planning (set goals before going), peer coaching, action research (how to improve one’s own practice), collaborative study groups, individual development plan, and dialogue journals.

4. What is English for Specific Purposes?

   In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 2 Format(s): Text

   This article gives examples of the lessons the author learned from years of teaching ESP. She learned to investigate authentic material thoroughly before making assumptions about learner needs. She tells of occasions on which she relied on the input from textbook writers and job supervisors who made errors in analyzing what students most needed in their language classes. She discussed a learner-focused style, which follows the theory that career development and language development follow the same path, from specific and technical to context- and experience-based.

5. The Psychic Rewards of Teaching: An Interview with James E. Alatis

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 2 Format(s): Text

   Dr. James Alatis answers questions about teaching English as a profession, establishing the international association TESOL, and his strong belief that linguistics and language teaching will change the world. The son of Greek immigrants, Alatis shares how his early interest in languages led him to study linguistics. Regarded as "the father of TESOL," Alatis believes the best linguistics is interdisciplinary. According to Alatis, the future of TESOL will involve more audiovisual and online material, all subjects taught by ESL teachers, and more concern for cultures of other countries.

6. Building Consensus on Teacher Assessment

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 3 Format(s): Text

   This article proposes a collaborative workshop for teachers and teacher trainees to identify their preferred methods of Teacher Assessment (TA).TA refers to the evaluation of teachers. Some examples are observation by colleagues or supervisors, videotaping class, and feedback from students. The pros and cons of various TA instruments and formats are discussed, including how threatening they are perceived to be. Participants also consider what should be included in their professional portfolio. It can be rewarding to involve stakeholders in the process.

7. Teacher Resources

   In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 4 Format(s): Text

   “Teacher Resources” includes summaries of two publications. In “Beyond Methods: Macrostrategies for Language Teaching,” B. Kumaravadivelu suggests ten keys to successful practice, called macrostrategies, and describes how to implement them. This is a teacher-training tool and promotes reflective teaching. “Teaching Online” by Susan Ko and Steve Rossen is useful for instructors who have not had training in teaching online classes. It covers developing the course, adapting an existing course to an online course, methods for this new educational environment, and more.

8. Conditions for Teacher Research

   In: English Teaching Forum 2006, Volume 44, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   The article starts by defining teacher research and a summary of its benefits. In reviewing teacher research in the field of ELT, the author points out that such research is not enough. The author then suggests ten conditions that would increase the incidence of teacher research. Additional questions for consideration are suggested at the end that may help promote teacher research.

9. Teacher Development: A Real Need for English Departments in Vietnam

   In: English Teaching Forum 2001, Volume 39, Number 4 Format(s): Text

   This article examines teacher training and teacher development in Vietnam. It suggests ways to promote professional development among EFL teachers. The author understands teacher development to be the process of lifelong learning in the teaching profession and argues that teacher development must be a component in teacher education. The article outlines the history of English language teaching in Vietnam in order to understand its current state. The author suggests that collaboration among teachers and action research are two important ways to promote teacher development.

10. Creating a Positive Classroom Community

    In: American English Webinars Format(s): Text, Video

    This session, "Creating a Positive Classroom Community," explains how to successfully foster relationships among learners to create a sense of purpose and belonging in the classroom, resulting in greater student participation and rapport.

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