By Susan Murphy
It's hard to believe but this is the last column I'll write as President of TexTESOL III. So I want to first let everyone know what a tremendous experience it was to be work with such an energetic, enthusiastic, and adventurous Board. Together we accomplished quite a bit over the past year and a half. We held our first "on-the-road" conference last Fall in Belton and sponsored our first ESL Teaching Excellence Awards Brunch. In addition to working with a group of creative, dedicated folks within the Board, I've also met wonderful TexTESOL III members that I wouldn't have met otherwise. Personally, I've come to appreciate what goes into and results from teamwork. I also now have a better understanding of how much work goes into planning for conferences and workshops. As a conference participant, I was focused on the sessions, presenters, and next coffee break. But now having been involved in the process itself, all I can say is there's so much more than meets the eye. The next time you attend a successful conference or workshop, don't be afraid to congratulate the nearest conference planner. They deserve more recognition than they get, especially those that are volunteers such as those on any of the TexTESOL Boards.
Now I'd like to "plug" our upcoming Fall Conference in Austin at the St. Edwards University campus on September 25. The conference will take place in the brand new Ragsdale Conference Center with plenty of parking nearby. You should have all received a flier in the mail. (We mailed out 1900 in order to reach all the school districts and adult education programs within the TexTESOL III region!) The pre-registration deadline is September 10. Not only is the conference fee less expensive for pre-registrants, but this fee includes a to-die-for pasta luncheon.
However, if you miss the September 10 deadline, on-site registration is still an option. For those of you who might decide to hop in the car and join us on that Saturday, on-site registration is $20 for members and $24 for non-members. It won't be possible to buy a lunch ticket as an on-site registrant, but there is a cafeteria in the Ragsdale Conference Center, which is open to the general public.
If you join us, you won't be sorry. We're especially proud to have Dr. Jean Zukowski-Faust as our invited speaker, who was also an invited speaker at the 1999 International TESOL Conference in New York last March. She will be the opening plenary speaker in the morning and will also give an afternoon workshop.
For the first time in many years, our Regional Conference will offer concurrent sessions whose topics cover a wide range of interest areas. We will also have exhibitors set up in their own exhibitors space. The coffee and morning munchies will be located conveniently nearby. If that's not enough for you, we plan to end the conference with a raffle. You won't see Ed MacMahon there, but you might just be a winner of ESL materials or cash vouchers to be used for future TESOL events.
Members who attend the conference will also vote on upcoming board members. Inside this newsletter you will find a list and short biographical sketch of those candidates interested in serving as TexTESOL III Board members. Voting on and welcoming the new Board members will be a brief but important part of the conference.
Apart from all these attractive reasons to come to the Fall Conference, there is perhaps the best one of all--to be with other ESL teachers and administrators. If you've attended TexTESOL or TESOL conferences before, you know how therapeutic it is to "talk shop" and share experiences with other TESOLers and just how much plain fun it is to hang out together. Hope to see you at the conference!
A special note to members who recently renewed your membership. I'd like to apologize to those of you who received a renewal notice after you had just sent in your check for renewal. There was a mistake in entering the data and so some renewed members showed up on the computer as "expired" members. These renewal notices are part of our effort to update our list of active members.
If you are not a current member of TexTESOL III, you will no longer be receiving the regional or state newsletters. The last group of digits on the mailing label indicates the membership expiration date. If you have let your membership expire, now would be a good time to renew-especially if you plan to attend our Fall Regional Conference. The membership form in on the back side of this newsletter.
Having said all that, I'd like to wish you all a wonderful Fall semester and hope to see you at future TexTESOL gatherings!
Voting Ballot: For Members Only
Please bring your voting ballot to the Fall 1999 TexTESOL III Regional Conference, Saturday, Sept. 25, 1999. Ballots will be counted and new board members will be announced at the Business Meeting at the end of the conference.
President
Susan Murphy
The University of Texas at Austin, International Teaching Assistant Program
Work: 512/232-1770
1st Vice President
Alex Baez
Southwest Texas State University
Home: 512/479-6475
Interim Second Vice-President
John Duke
The University of Texas at Austin, International Office
Work: 512/471-2480
Secretary
Rochelle Naquin
The University of Texas at Austin, International
Office
Interim Past President and National TESOL Liaison
John Schmidt
Texas Intensive English Program
Work: 512/477-9283
Newsletter Editor
Rebecca Herman
Del Valle ISD
Regional-at-Large/Webmaster
Russell Watson
Dell Computers
Advocacy Representative
Mary Lou Price
The University of Texas at Austin, InternationalOffice
Work: 512/471-2480
Delegate-at-Large
Frank Cronin
Austin Community College
Work: 512/223-4889
Home: 512/451-5217
If you would like to contribute an article to this newsletter, please contact the newsletter editor, Rebecca Herman, at Rherman@del-valle.k12.tx.us. Please send your contributions by e-mail as a text-only document of up to 500 words. If this is not possible, you may send a hard copy to the TexTESOL III office:
Newsletter Editor
TexTESOL III, Dexter Hall
1103 West 24th Street, Austin, TX 78705
You may contribute to any section, including book reviews, research, teaching tips, literature reviews, job announcements, and the calendar. If you would like to volunteer to read books and review them for our newsletter, please contact the editor at the above e-mail address. Our newsletter is published at least four times a year.
If you would like to volunteer to read books and review them for our newsletter, please contact the editor at the above e-mail address. If you would like to contribute a book that you think should be reviewed for publication, you may donate (not loan) a book to be reviewed to the above mailing address, along with your recommendation that it be reviewed for this newsletter.
by Mary Lou Price, International Office, The University of Texas at Austin
The ESL Teacher Connection, Lesson Plans and Activities
http://www-personal.si.umich.edu/~jarmour/etc/lp.html
The ESL Teacher Connection is a web site that provides an open forum in which teachers of English as a Second Language can share successful class activities and lesson plans with other teachers. Teachers who make submissions to The ESL Teacher Connection do so because they are willing to share their ideas with others. Teachers are welcome to print, revise, and use these activities in their classes, as long as they don't use the material for commercial purposes or claim it as their own.
The ESL Teacher Connection is maintained by Joanna Armour. All questions, suggestions, and other correspondence can be mailed to jarmour@si.umich.edu.
by Christine Meloni, EFL Department, The George Washington University
My students resist looking for print materials in the university library. They want to find all of the sources for their research on the Web. I can certainly sympathize with them. In fact, I find myself doing the same thing! When I want information on a topic, I almost always go to the Web first.
If ESL/EFL teachers want to keep up with what's going on in our field, the Web is an appropriate place to go. A wealth of information can be found there. I would like to point out in particular the existence of several excellent electronic journals.
TESL-EJ: Teaching English as a second or foreign language
URL: http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/
TESL-EJ is a fully refereed journal created for teachers of ESL/EFL that has been on-line since the spring of 1994. The editorial board, headed by Maggie Sokolik, is made up of educators from around the world. To date, 10 issues with an impressive selection of articles and reviews of books, software, and Web sites are available.
Not to be overlooked at this site is an interesting article written by Roland Sussex entitled "TESL-EJ: Conception and Potential of an Electronic Journal," in which he addresses the subject of electronic journals in general and TESL-EJ in particular.
The Internet TESL Journal: For teachers of English as a second language
URL: http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/
The Internet TESL Journal is a monthly Web journal launched in 1995 by Charles and Lawrence Kelly. This journal has a very practical bent. In addition to articles and research papers, it includes ongoing student projects including self-study quizzes, crossword puzzles, and treasure hunts. It also offers an amazing collection of more than 3,500 Web links, both for students and teachers.
Charles says that he and his brother have had help from many individuals, both in the form of contributions of articles and in the form of article reviews and that "without the worldwide support we have received, [the journal] would not have evolved into what it is today." They have put a short article on-line that should be of interest: "The Development and Maintenance of The Internet TESL Journal" at http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/Articles/Kelly-ITESLJ.html.
Language Learning and Technology: A journal for second and foreign language educators
URL: http://polyglot.cal.msu.edu/llt/
Mark Warschauer, Lucinda Hart-Gonzalez, and Irene Thompson are the co-editors of Language Learning and Technology, a journal that came on-line in July of 1997. According to Mark, this new electronic journal was created to encourage research on the use of technology in language learning and to make this research available to a broad range of educators throughout the world in a timely fashion.
Article titles include "Computers in Language Testing: Present Research and Some Future Directions," by James Dean Brown; "To Gloss or Not to Gloss: An Investigation of Reading Comprehension Online," by Lara Lomicka; and "The Effects of Electronic Mail on Spanish L2 Discourse," by Manuela Gonzalez-Bueno.
The editors plan to emphasize theme issues in the future. Look for special issues on the role of computer technology in second language acquisition research and on the impact of the Internet in transforming language and literacy. Readers are encouraged to contribute to these theme issues or to suggest new topics for theme issues.
The Language Teacher Online
URL: http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/
This site contains excerpts from The Language Teacher, the monthly publication of JALT (the Japan Association for Language Teaching). Recent articles found on-line are "Student Evaluation of Teachers," by Stephen M. Ryan; "Conferencing: An Interactive Way to Teach Writing," by Alan Brender; and "Using Oral Interviews at a Junior College," by Ann Smith and Wilma Nederend.
Warning: The URLs were alive and well at press time, but Web sites do have a tendency to move or disappear.
Christine Meloni welcomes comments and suggestions from readers. You can reach her at meloni@gwu.edu or at the EFL Department, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052.
This article was reprinted from TESOL Matter Online, Dec. 19998-January 1999.
by Charles Wukasch, Austin Community College
Why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?
Why do we plug in an appliance, but then unplug it? Shouldn't we plug it out?
Saturday, September 25, 1999
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Ragsdale Conference Center, St. Edward's University
3001 S. Congress Ave., Austin, Texas
Featured Keynote Speaker:
Professor of Applied Linguistics, Northern Arizona University
Dr. Zukowski-Faust , a presenter at the 1999 TESOL International Conference in New York City, began her career as a language teacher with the Peace Corps in Turkey, and was associate director of the language program in Poland. She has written ESL materials and has been a workshop presenter and trainer of teachers in elementary, secondary, and university ESL programs for many years. Dr. Zukowski-Faust is the former editor of TESOL Newsletter, and has served on the TESOL Serial Publications Committee. She is currently focusing on curriculum and coordination of an ESL master's degree program, as well as ESL endorsement programs.
Come to the conference and enjoy:
 | Workshops and Presentations for Everyone! (K-12, Adult, Intensive, Workplace ESL, etc.) |
| Exhibitors' Hall-see the latest in ESL materials!! |
| Catered lunch: Pasta buffet of Fettucini Alfredo, Tortellini with spinach, pesto, pine nuts and chicken; Smoked Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna; sautÈed zucchini and mushrooms, Caesar salad, French bread with garlic sauce, and classic Italian Tiramisu for dessert! |
| Raffle-Win cash vouchers for future TESOL Conferences worth hundreds of dollars! |
| The Ragsdale Conference Center-St. Edward's beautiful NEW facility!! |
FOR PRE-REGISTRATION
| Student Members $12, Members $16 |
| Student Non-Members $16, Non-members $20 |
| Your pre-registration fee includes the luncheon ticket. |
| Parking is free. |
Send your name, address and fee, made payable to TexTESOL III, by Sept. 10, 1999, to
TexTESOL III, Dexter Hall, 1103 West 24th St., Austin, TX 78705
or contact President Susan Murphy: slm@mail.utexas.edu
by Mary Lou Price, International Office, The University of Texas at Austin
Master, P. and Brinton, D.M. (ed.) 1998. New Ways in English for Specific Purposes. Alexandria, VA: TESOL. (337 pp., ISBN 0-939791-49-8. $29.95 (TESOL member $24.95))
This is one of the latest entries in the "New Ways" series published by TESOL. Like other books in the series, it is a collection of activities for the classroom sent in by teachers and researchers around the world. The focus of this volume is English for Specific Purposes, a term that refers to English for students with academic or professional goals.
The book is divided into seven sections:
| General (i.e., ideas that can be useful in a variety of fields) |
| English for Academic Purposes |
| English for Art and Design |
| English for Business and Economics |
| English for Legal Purposes |
| English for Science and Technology |
| English for Vocational Purpose |
Each section is composed of a series of activity descriptions, each of which includes the following information:
| A summary and step-by-step description of the activity |
| Brief notes on appropriate levels, instructional goals, class time required, preparation time involved, and resources needed |
| References and further reading for additional ideas |
| A brief description of the contributor |
Notes or suggestions from the author of the activity and appendices containing possible handouts are included with many of the activities.
One particularly useful feature of the book is that there are three Tables of Contents, allowing the reader to find activities according to any of three different criteria:
| subject area (e.g., art, business, science) |
| form of communication (e.g., legal case, meeting, vocational manual) |
| focus (e.g., games, note-taking, skimming and scanning) |
Like the other books in this series, this book promises to be enormously useful to teachers looking for ideas for classroom activities. One of its strengths is that each activity is so concisely presented. Only the information needed by the instructor attempting to select or use the activities is included, nothing more. Furthermore, the format is reader-friendly, with plenty of white space and well-organized, clearly written activity descriptions.
This book is not for the general English teacher nor for teachers in workplace ESL programs. The focus is on academic and professional fields, and the majority of the activities are designed for intermediate to advanced students. It should also be mentioned that, since the collection of activities reflects those activities that were submitted by teachers and researchers, some fields have received more attention than others. For example, there are numerous activities related to business and economics, while English for art and design has fewer entries. Nevertheless, teachers working with students who have professional or academic goals will find a wealth of ideas presented in a concise, clear manner.
by Mary Lou Price
International Office, The University of Texas at Austin
TESOL's New Ways book series consists of collections of teaching ideas submitted by teachers and researchers around the world. The books are extraordinarily teacher-friendly: concise, clear, and stuffed with classroom activities presented with step-by-step directions . Below is a list of the books currently available in this series:
New Ways in Content-Based Instruction
ISBN 0-939791-67-6. $25.95 (member $22.95)
New Ways in English for Specific Purposes (See the review in this newsletter)
ISBN 0-939791-49-8. $29.95 (member $24.95)
New Ways in Teacher Education
ISBN 0-939791-46-3. $22.95 (member $19.95)
New Ways in Teaching Adults
ISBN 0-939791-68-4. $24.95 (member $21.95)
New Ways in Teaching Culture
ISBN 0-939791-70-6. $24.95 (member $21.95)
New Ways in Teaching English at the Secondary Level
ISBN 0-939791-77-3. $29.95 (member $25.95)
New Ways in Teaching Grammar
ISBN 0-939791-56-0. $22.95 (member $19.95)
New Ways in Teaching Listening
ISBN 0-939791-58-7. $24.95 (member $21.95)
New Ways in Teaching Reading
ISBN 0-939791-45-5. $22.95 (member $19.95)
New Ways in Teaching Speaking
ISBN 0-939791-54-4. $22.95 (member $19.95)
New Ways in Teaching Vocabulary
ISBN 0939791-51-X. $22.95 (member $19.95)
New Ways in Teaching Writing
ISBN 0-939791-57-9. $25.95 (member $22.95)
New Ways in Teaching Young Children
ISBN 0-939791-63-3. $25.95 (member $22.95)
New Ways of Classroom Assessment
ISBN 0-939791-72-2. $27.95 (member $24.95)
New Ways of Using Computers in Language Teaching
ISBN 0-939791-69-2. $27.95 (member $24.95)
New Ways of Using Drama and Literature in Language Teaching
ISBN 0-939791-66-8. $21.95 (member $18.95)
For information on ordering any of these texts, call toll-free 1-888-891-0041, go to the TESOL web site (http://www.tesol.edu), or send an e-mail to: tesolpubs@tasco1.com.
Saturday, Sept. 25, 1999 at the Ragsdale Conference Center at St. Edward's University, 3001 S. Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78704-6489. Contact Susan Murphy, TexTESOL III President, at slm@mail.utexas.edu
Sept. 23-26, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Contact 19th Annual Second Language Research Forum, c/o Department of Spanish and Portuguese, 34 Folwell Hall, 9 Pleasant St. S.E., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455. Tel. 612-625-5858. Fax 612-625-3549.
E-mail slrf@tc.umn.edu
http://languagecenter.cla.umn.edu/esl/slrf99/
Friday and Saturday, Oct. 8-9; University of Houston Hilton, Conrad H. Hilton College Building, 4800 Calhoun, Houston, Texas 77004. Contact: DyAnne Phillips; 12519 Mill Hedge Dr., Houston, Texas 77070.
Email: dyannephillips@yahoo.com
Phone: 281-955-5064
November 5-6, 1999 at the Camino Real Hotel, 101 S. El Paso St., El Paso, Texas. Contact Eliza Simental, Program Chair, TexTESOL I, PO Box 61, El Paso, TX 79968;
E-mail exsiment@episd.elpaso.k12.tx.us
Ph. (915) 779-4272.
TESOL Instructors in Seoul, Korea
Our Ivy International Group is an institution where trained teachers are teaching English at college level in Korea. We are starting a new program, TESOL, to teach English for all levels.
Required: M.A. in TESOL; experience preferred
Compensation:
Contact: Ms. Margaret Han, Director of Academic Affairs
FAX: 82-2-2269-5114
PHONE: 82-2-2268-5147
E-mail: ivyeige@thrunet.com
(Print this form out and mail it with your dues to the address below.)
Name:
Phone and/or Fax nos.:
Street address:
(city, state, zip code)
Affiliation:
E-Mail address:
Please tell us what you would like to see TexTESOL III do for you! Suggestions are always welcome!
Annual membership dues:
Regular $12 _____ Student $8 _____ Joint $18 _____
Please make check payable to TexTESOL III Membership and mail with registration form to:
TexTESOL III, 1103 West 24th Street, Austin, TX 78705