Skills: Writing | TEFL.net

Review ~ Teaching Spelling to English Language Learners
Reviewed Jan 2012 by Monique Ward

Teaching Spelling to English Language Learners

Teaching spelling has long been deemed a daunting task by ESL instructors. Frequently considered a chore at best, the presentation of orthographic rules and patterns is often sidestepped in the wake of more important class-time affairs. Johanna Stirling aims to shed light on the importance, and perhaps, ease of spelling instruction in Teaching Spelling to English Language Learners.

The text is written for teachers of adult English Language Learners, although the author points out that teachers of young learners and native English speakers would also benefit from the presented methodologies. Divided into sections, this guide deals with the problems associated with teaching spelling, and offers solutions to those problems through pedagogically focused activities.
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Writing to Communicate 2 and 3
Reviewed Jan 2010 by William Peters, Ph.D.

Writing to Communicate

Designed for intermediate level students, these books are plainly written with a lot of sound and timeless good sense about clear writing. Engaging and illustrated with scores of telling examples, these plainspoken how-to books identify those qualities that most typically distinguish good writing from bad and provide practical measures for avoiding common pitfalls.

Some key tips given in the books are: do’s and don’ts for achieving concision, clarity, and flow; pointers on using punctuation; writing gracefully; citing sources; and structuring essay writing. There are tons of lessons and assignments here that you can use in class from the day you get the book as the lessons are very straightforward and easy to use. Each writing strand has its own chapter divided into a set of lessons that help you teach any of the major writing genres, including persuasive essays, literary essay
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