Macmillan Publishers have just released a new reading series call Essential Reading, of which I had the privilege of being an author of one of the books and the Series Editor. Macmillan Japan has asked me to write a bit about the philosophy of the book series and how we’ve tried to make it an effective book specifically with Asian learners in mind...[Read more]
A homestay can and should be a wonderful experience that gives lifelong memories. As more and more high school and university students are going on homestays, we wanted to bring together some materials that will help you help your students prepare themselves emotionally as well as linguistically for their homestay experience...[Read more]
By Philip Suthons (Nagoya University of Foreign Studies)
This workshop is about learning how to have discussions in English. Mr. Suthons suggests a variety of lessons which not only help students improve their English but also motivate them to express their opinions freely...[Read more]
You know when you go shopping, for say, some tea or butter... and you look at the aisle in the supermarket and you’re faced with fifty varieties of tea, or twenty different types of butter... everywhere you look. It’s really confusing, isn’t it? [Personally, it drives me crazy.] Well, that’s the kind of situation I think we as teachers face these days every time we have to choose a course for our class...[Read more]
Helping engineering students make presentations I really enjoyed talking with the teachers who came to my JALT presentation. We had a packed room (admittedly, it was not a huge room, but still we had a great turnout) and the energy level was tremendous...[Read more]
The author of Looking Back, Moving Forward: An Environmental Course for the Next Generation
Greetings! I have been trying to integrate global and environmental issues into my language classes for as long as I can remember, starting with a stint at a Chinese university in 1983-84 where I asked students to write argumentative essays for or against nuclear weapons or equal rights for men and women. This was in-between my undergraduate years at U.C Davis, California, where...[Read more]
We appreciate the chance to tell you a bit about the development of English Safari 1.
A major goal of Safari is to help you maintain an “all English” classroom environment.In fact, as students open the book, they will see a collection of 16 cartoons that show students and a teacher using English in the classroom.These cartoons present useful classroom English in context and in action...[Read more]
One of the (many) pleasures of teaching businesspeople, engineers and researchers is watching students make the connection between what they learn in class and how they can apply it to their job. An example is when students walk out of a classroom where they have been working on presentations (or meetings, or telephoning, or welcoming a visitor) and later that day they use the language they have practiced in a real business situation...[Read more]
I’ve been learning languages most of my life. Long before I became a teacher and author, I was a language student, starting with a five-year study ofSpanish. From my very first Spanish course, I was hooked. I followed with courses in French, German, Chinese, and Japanese. Even vacations were chances to learn new languages. Before traveling to Greece and Russia, I taught myself their writing systems. Phrase books were my teachers in Italy, Malaysia, and elsewhere...[Read more]
本書は先生方より大変好評を頂いている『Common Errors in English Writing』のSpeaking編です。 Writing編では、文法項目を中心に日本人の英語学習者が間違いやすい誤りを学習していく内容になっていますが、Speaking編では、学生が英語を使用する状況（キャンパスライフや日常生活など）に基づいてUnitを構成しています。[Read more]
My co-authors and I are glad of the opportunity to tell you about the rationale for our textbook Science Reader. We presented the material below at JALT 2008 in Tokyo and hope it will help you find and use materials that your students will find to be interesting and accessible...[Read more]
Mami OHTANI, Kazuyo MURATA, Yasumi MURATA and Yuka SHIGEMITSU
Date: 11/06/2008
This text book focuses on ‘communication strategies’. If you have ever wondered why Japanese learners seem to be unenthusiastic about speaking, or if you find yourself doing the most of the talking in class despite your best intentions not to do so, this textbook is designed to help you...[Read more]
What is your definition of perfection? Would it have something to do with the idea of being flawless, that no mistakes = perfect? This might be a useful definition if you were making some kind of mechanical product or were following a set of strict instructions correctly. But what if you were speaking about the “perfect partner”?...[Read more]
It has been ten years since I first used Speaking of Speech [SoS], and it still hasn’t grown old for me. I have been a speech and communication teacher for close to 30 years now, and when I came across the SoS text the first time, I fell in love with its playfulness, pair work, and emphasis on non-verbal communication (the "physical message")...[Read more]
As an EFL teacher in Japan, I know quite well how important it is to have a textbook that is functional, practical and teacher friendly.When I first started teaching English in Japan (nearly twenty years ago), I had a difficult time finding a textbook that incorporated all the components I felt were necessary in giving students a well-rounded course in English conversation...[Read more]
EXPERIENCE has taught many teachers that one of the most challenging tasks of listening material is to capture student interest and then to actually keep students tuned in to what they are listening to.
Most teachers are familiar with the standard test-style type of listening textbooks. While there is a need and a place for this kind of material, it is usually very difficult to build an entire lesson around it...[Read more]
TEACHERS AND STUDENTS in Japan are often eager to have a better understanding of American culture. One of the best ways to do this is, of course, to see it rather than read about it. After all, a picture is worth a 1,000 words, as they say. Not everyone, however, has the time or finances to take such a trip...[Read more]
Do you have students who are taking the Eiken test? How about college students who are going to have an English interview to enter a company? Or students who want to study overseas and the school requires an interview? Do you know that in the near future the TOEIC test will have an interview component?...[Read more]
