The young woman stood before me speaking English clearly with an accent that rounded out sounds. Her eyes lit with joy as her tight curls framed her face. She struggled with her writing, she said, and wondered if she could join our ESL classes. When she told me she spoke Arabic, I understood the trouble. Most of… Read more
grammar
A wise teacher once laid out all of the English tenses in a way that made sense to me. I am sorry to say that I don’t remember her name. She was a guest lecturer in a class I took through Seattle University. I remember, for some reason, that we were at Seattle Pacific University… Read more
When I was in Germany, I interviewed to teach English as a second language long before I had credentials. This was in (pause for effect) 1992. I had helped in a few EFL classrooms but never studied English grammar the way a second language teacher would. The young beautiful woman interviewing smiled as she asked… Read more