Some of My Favourite Sites and Groups for Professional Development
By Tory Thorkelson According to edglossarry.org, “[i]n education, the term professional development may be used in reference to a wide variety of specialized training, formal education, or advanced professional learning […]
Media Bias and Critically Evaluating Information
By Tory Thorkelson In 2016, Vanessa Otero created a chart showing how biased various media sources available in the US were (see: http://www.allgeneralizationsarefalse.com/). While there was some disagreement about how […]
Where I Teach: South Korea
By Tory Thorkelson Where do you teach? A private University in Seoul, South Korea. According to the Complete University Guide, “[there are 43 national and almost 180 private universities and […]
ESL Teacher Observation and Reflective Practice in Teaching
ESL Teacher Observation and Reflective Practice in Teaching A few years ago Dr. Thomas Farrell gave a plenary talk at the KOTESOL International Conference. Among the many wonderful parts of […]
The Dvolver Phenomenon
By Charles McKinney, IV When I started my English-teaching career in South Korea, my Korean co-teacher discovered an interesting website from a teacher-training workshop she attended. The website is called […]
Teaching the Article to EFL Learners with No Article in their L1
Teaching the Article to EFL Learners with No L1 Articles occur more frequently than any other word in the English language (“Word Frequency Data”). Unfortunately, however, they remain a persistent […]
Implementing Extensive Reading in the Classroom
Implementing Extensive Reading in the Classroom South Korea has become a hub for EFL in the past 20 or so years. Despite recent indications that this pulsating industry is on […]
Pronunciation and Accent: A Teacher’s Perspective
Pronunciation and Accent: A Teacher’s Perspective Although it is perhaps less common than it used to be, every year a number of students approach me with concerns about their pronunciation […]
Teaching in Korean Universities
Teaching in Korean Universities As I end my 20th year in Korea, and my 18th as a Professor at a University in Seoul, I have been reflecting on what life […]