I’ve been planning a conversation lesson around the 2008 US presidential election and I thought I would share some resources I found.
With any conversation class, you want to make sure you have lots of background information. When dealing with something as complicated as the US election for president, the class is going to have a lot of questions. So you either need to read up and bring materials to look up anything you didn’t memorize. Or you need resources that the students can read and research themselves.
Here is some great …Continue

I occasionally get asked by my fellow teachers how I organize my teaching materials and what kinds of tools I use. I’m not sure I am the perfect organizer but for what it’s worth, I’m putting down my method here.
First, I keep big folders of material sorted by kind of lesson. Every Xerox, every print-out, every article I clip from the newspaper is in a 3-hole punch binder and organized into the following categories:Conversation LessonVocab LessonGrammarListeningReadingTOEFLGRESAT
You may have your own categories or organizational system.
I also have seperators in with the …Continue

Valentine’s Day was the 14th of February as it is every year and I had meant to post something about it in terms of learning English and American culture. But it was a crazy time for me. Oh well, at least I’m early for next year.
First, some cultural information in case you end up in the US wondering what the heck is going on:
Cultural Notes
Valentine’s Day is a day we celebrate romantic love. It falls on the 14th every year and typically couples celebrate it by going out to dinner …Continue

You may or may not realize that you need health insurance if you plan to study in the US, the UK, or most other Western countries. It’s the law. At the same time, if you’re an American planning to study abroad your program or host university will probably want you to have insurance too.
Already have insurance? Or you’re on your parent’s plan? Chances are that’s not going to help you when you leave the country. And being sick is much worse in a foreign country–the language may be a …Continue

Just a couple of funny news items that caught my eye from the Chronicle of Higher Education news feed.

First off, How Not to Sell Marijuana. Namely, do not shout out your window, “If you’re looking for weed, my roommate Ferrante has some for sale.” That might attract the attention of nearby policemen who might then search your room and arrest you. You might get kicked out of school as well for that.

Or your wardrobe may get you in trouble. As the busy holiday travel season begins, take a look at …Continue

Although I assumed this blog would be read mainly by students from Kazakhstan and the former Soviet republics, in fact my biggest readers are from the US, Malaysia and India (in that order). So it might be interesting for you guys to read about life around these here parts. It’s definitely an interesting part of the world: former USSR, nomadic history, culturally Muslim but not religious. If you want to see what this country looks like through the eyes of a genius Brit living here in Astana, check out Kazakhstan …Continue