Thor's ESL Sitemap
This
is a master index to a great deal of language learning material for
both students and teachers. You will find lesson content here, as well
as advice for teachers and other analysis. The links page will give you
access to some of the thousands of sites online devoted to teaching
English as a Second or Foreign Language. When you are tired of all
this, feel free to visit other sections of The Passionate Skeptic site !
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Thor's Language Learning Discussion Questions
Currently (2015 on) Thor runs an English language conversation practice meetup, Adelaide English as a Second Language Group in South Australia (AESL at https://www.meetup.com/ESL-English-practice-meet-up-group/). This meetup is not so much for teaching, but a place where people newly arrived in Australia can meet new friends and practice their English language skills. The best format for this has turned out to be sitting people in 2s or 3s and encouraging them to talk about a topic. The topic is just a starting point. They can even tell lies - this is not a court of law! To help imagination along, a list of questions about the topic is provided each time. An index of past topics and questions can be seen here: http://thormay.net/lxesl/Discussion%20Topics/Adelaide%20ESL%20Meetup.htm
Topics in Public Speaking for English Learners
This page contains some links to notes, videos and recordings which anyone wishing to acquire public speaking skills might find useful. (The practice meetup referenced on the page is not active at the moment since it became impossible to find a suitable free meetup space in Adelaide, one where I was allowed to accept a $2 donation to cover the 6 monthly charges from meetup.com of about A$120. Crazy. Looking at you State Library of South Australia, and others ... )
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Thor's Language and Teaching Notes
This is a new Wordpress blog where Thor is (slowly!) transferring some
stuff from http://thormay.net, as well as adding new content. The idea
is to open up relevant content to others for comment etc as well as
providing a specialized ESL venue.
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TESOL Lectures in SLA and Resources
developed by Thor to train graduate teachers in ESL/EFL
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Thor's big ESL links page
Links to useful other ESL sites, jobs, resources, materials etc.
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Barebones Index
This index page has the bare bones of ESL/EFL teaching content that
Thor developed and used in South Korea from September 2000 to
2007. Most of it was for tertiary students with only basic
English skills. It contains many original dialogues and activities, as
well as some advice for teachers.
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Discussion Topics - Adelaide English as a Second Language Meetup (from 2016)
Classes in China
2007 to 2010 at ZRVTC / Holmes Institute
(Chinese/Australian joint venture, Zhengzhou city, Henan, China)
=>
It was a requirement of this particular program in China to use a text
book - a mixed blessing - so much (not all) of the Zhengzhou material
is simply text book based lesson planning..
Year1 Nursing & Logistics Students [September 2010 to January 2011] Preparatory English for IELTS
Year 1 Nursing & Logistics Students [March 2010 to July 2010] Preparatory English for IELTS
Critical Thinking & Study Skills Program [March 2010 to July 2010]
Years 1 & 2 Nursing and Logistics Students : [September 2009 to January 2010]
Preparatory English for IELTS
Nursing and Logistics Students : [March to July 2009] Preparatory English for IELTS
Year 1 Nursing and Logistics Students : [September 2008 to January 2009]
Preparatory English for IELTS
Year 2 Nursing Students : [from September 2008] Preparatory English for IELTS
Year 1 Nursing and Logistics Students : [September 2007 to July 2008] Preparatory English for IELTS
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Startup English Dialogues
A new project of dialogues mostly yet to be written!
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Last Message to Friends
Spoken language group projects for smart minds -- developed in China, 1998-2000 to challenge postgraduate university students
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Aesop's Fables in Easy English
[ the sample collection available on this website has been been
extracted from a book project which includes a range of extra
activities. The book version is in the process of being developed as a
commercial publication. When it is ready revised sample pages will be
available].
A small collection of Aesop's fables, rewritten for second language learners, with some suggestions for activities
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English for Mechanics
Over 90 short texts for learning the English of automotive mechanics.
This material has been sold and used successfully in a number of
industrial locations.
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Short Texts from Oz
[ this book length project was first written and extensively trialled
in the 1990s. It is in the process of being redeveloped as a commercial
publication. When it is ready sample pages will be available]
A volume of short texts for learning English, written in Australia
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Bus to Heaven
A story for learning English
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Mr Dog Looks for Breakfast
A children's story for learning English - based on the Total Physical Response method
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Industrial Dialogues for English Conversation
Written for immigrants in Australia
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"Evaluating Linguistic Difficulty"
A long article explaining traps for wannabe ESL writers. It is old, but still very relevant.
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Talk to Eliza !
So you want to use English, huh? Here is a link to the famous Eliza AI "therapist". Type in your problems or dreams and Eliza will talk back
all day...
+ Google "ESL Talk Bot" for links to other chatter bots, such as
1500 Conversations , or
Dave ESL Bot (not only ESL, but a talk engine with links to hundreds of talk bots in many fields, and in many countries)
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Articles and critiques by Thor on language teaching methodology and policy
This is a whole other section of the website
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Research papers by Thor on formal linguistics, sociolinguistics etc.
This is a whole other section of the website
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Academia.edu
Thor's repository with over 110 of his articles, papers, books and his doctoral dissertation (on language teaching productivity)
