About
A bit about the guy whose head this stuff comes from:
Father of the most wonderful two children in the world, husband to the best wife in the world, British, Master’s (distinction) in TEFL/TESL, Apple iMac lover, Arsenal Football Club supporter, gardener, visitor to 45 countries, early riser, long-distance swimmer, kayaker and cyclist.
Also… Newbie blogger, keen tryer-outerer of Web 2.0 in the EFL classroom, keen on using Twitter as a PLN (Personal Learning Network), trying to keep up with my students’ knowledge & awareness of social media, trying to keep up with my kids, trying to keep up with my diet and exercise schedule, trying to keep up with cool, new stuff on the web…
The story of how I got here is here: Part I, Part II and Part III.
Plus…
Webmaster of the sites you see on the right. There are lots more to come.
(But not the ones in the Blogroll – that’s real cool stuff from real cool bloggers.
Plus…
ISTEK 2010 – Istanbul, Turkey
Here are my Powerpoint presentations on “What’s News? Current Events in the Classroom” and “Making Recordings to Help You and Your Students in the Classroom“.
(Thank you to everyone who attended these sessions)
Plus…
My Dissertation (From a real long time ago, way back in 2003)
If you are interested in communicative language teaching and pronunciation, you might like to take a look at my dissertation (downloadable as PDF):
“What is meant by communicativeness in EFL teaching? An evaluation of the pronunciation component in a sample of elementary level course materials, with proposals for improvement incorporating a Discourse Intonation approach.” – 2003, The University of Birmingham, U.K.
Plus…
An Article
You might also want to read an article of mine on creating news lessons:
“Creating ESL/EFL Lessons Based on News and Current Events”
The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XI, No. 9, September 2005.
Plus…
Teaching the News
A few thoughts from presentations I have given about bringing news / current events into the classroom.
Plus…
My Book
You can also download a free sample PDF showing various parts of my book:
“1,000 Ideas & Activities for Language Teachers”
Plus…
More to come…
Sean–
Why did you delete the wonderful article dated 26 May 2010 on “Ex-Husband’s Wedding Dress Revenge”? Thank god I downloaded it this morning before you “disappeared it.” I’m planning to use it in my classes tonight & tomorrow, and I’m sure my students will enjoy it! Anyway, thank you for posting it at least for a while.
Oh, and p.s.–I love your work & your help; I downloaded your 1,000 teaching ideas about ten years ago, and it’s a terrific teaching resource!
Janiced Weiss,
ESL teacher, Chicago
Hello Janice
Thank you for your comment and feedback. The wedding dress lesson was never taken down – it’s here: http://www.newsenglishlessons.com/1005/100526-wedding_dress.html
I have two news sites: http://www.newsenglishlessons.com (pre-int) and http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ (int and above) – perhaps you looked at the latter?
Anyway, hope your students enjoy the lesson.
Best wishes,
Sean
Hey Sean,
Wow! I discovered your Breaking News site through a FB friend. We are so thrilled with it that we are going to incorporate it into our speech classes in Taiwan.
I’m also going to incorporate it into the new writing program for our Jr High students.
Next step will be to buy your book, but not until I get back from my vacation in Canada.
Thanks for all you do.
Hi Sean, I’ve often used Breakingnewsenglish.com but I must say I always thought Mexico was primarily a Spanish-speaking country (in contrast to your most recent instalment!).
Suggestion: from the reader’s perspective,
famouspeoplelessons.com is a great domain name
famouspeoplelessons.com/wolfgang_mozart.html would be a great URL
famouspeoplelessons.com/w/wolfgang_mozart.html however is redundant with the /w/
A separate /x/ directories for each letter of the alphabet looks organized in the webmaster’s file manager. The reader however is not reading this great content that way even if he tries to: http://famouspeoplelessons.com/w/ goes no where. You _could_ make it go somewhere if you had a reason to, but why?
Why not loose the extra /w/?
Great domain names and great content deserve great URLs. You have some great domain names and content!
Cheers!
Hi Sean and thanks a ton for your great work and your enthusiasm. I use your Break news lessons often in my adult group lessons in France.
I’ve just one suggestion. My students are quite used to your accent, do you think you could get hold of some other people with wierd accents or not to do the text reading?
I wish you the best of luck and yes, I can identify myself when I ready “your Twenty questions a teacher asks himself or herself” …. thanks for the posts and keep up the good work!
Best..
Gayatri
Hi Lisa – I think you’ll find my article did not say Mexico was an English-speaking country:
“Six of the seven countries with the highest obesity rates are English-speaking nations. This is according to a new report from the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development). The country at the top of the list is the USA. This is followed by Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland.”
The one in this list of seven that isn’t English-speaking is Mexico.
Best wishes,
Sean
Thanks Roger.
I have a to z folders for all the files I create so my root folder isn’t clogged up with 750+ files (155 lessons x 5 files per lesson). It makes organizing things easier for me.
Hello Gayatri
The most common request I get is for other voices/accents. It’s pretty hard to get people on a regular basis to make and send me mp3 files exactly when I want them. I have tried in the past with several wonderful volunteers but it I was difficult to get the timing right.
Perhaps if my site ever makes enough money for me to hire someone. Until then, I’m on my own in the spare room
Best wishes,
Sean
Dear Sean,
I am writing to thank you profusely for all of your dedication and diligence! Your website is an invaluable resource for ESL educators and students. It is much appreciated.
Thank you Sheena – really appreciate your comment
Hi Sean, I was recently made redundant from my company after being employed for 19 years (5 of which were travellingaround Europe). I have now decided to stay in Poland and teach English as a Native Speaker. I have work in two schools and also private tuition thanks mostly to your resorces. I just spent the last almost 24 hours downloading and updating my resource files. Making thanks for giving me hope and inspiration.
Keep publihing please
Mike B
Thanks Mike – I will keep publishing – I have a new site coming soon
Thanks for your message,
Sean
I‘m a student from China,I love your blog!!
Hi Sean,
Many thanks for the sites – I use them a lot and my students enjoy the current affairs themes. I’ve just ordered the book and look forward to getting my news lessons really interesting and active.
It’s refreshing to be able to work in real English on real themes – in France the students often have lots of vocabulary but not much speech or ability to use their vocabulary…the news sites give a real world context that works really well with both my evening class students and my university groups.
Keep up the excellent work.
Bev
Hello, Sean,
I’m sure that you’ve been told the thing millions of times, but let me just repeat that –
YOUR SITE RULES!!!
As do the other five, which I’ve discovered only today. Somehow, before I just didn’t spot the obvious redirectors… You’ve really humoured my crackedest whim:)
Best regards, best wishes, and in general all the best.
Hi Bev,
Many thanks for writing and giving me feedback – truly appreciate it. Hope you liked the book
Thank you Ewa for your totally lovely comment. I’m glad I humoured your crackedest whim:)
Dear Sean,
I’m an avid fan of your site http://www.breaking news.com and use this site as my teaching materials in my class with Korean Online Students in the Philippines. I am currently pursuing my thesis writing and would like to ask permission to use some of your articles in my thesis entitled ” PROPOSED LEARNING MODULES IN READING COMPREHENSION TO KOREAN ONLINE STUDENTS”. I just hope to hear from you soon about my request. In addition, I would like to acknowledge and thank you personally for having a big heart in teaching profession, sharing your ideas makes me inspired to be like you. It’s like reaching a star from above. Thanks a lot for being such an inspiration.
Thanks Connie. You have my permission to use my articles in your thesis – Good luck with it