New page for my book

The publisher has generously added a page of information about my book to the Lynx Publishing website. Take a look...

The Creative Classroom

New publishing news

I've just got word from my publisher that the first few copies of my book, THE CREATIVE CLASSROOM, have just been printed. She says they look GREAT! She's going to send me a few copies soon, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them.

In the meantime, head over to the Lynx Publishing website, as my book should be on sale in the next few weeks.

...and another...

Yes, that's right, my adoring fans. I've got another article published. This one is in Humanising Language Teaching. Its title is Activities for Boosting Creativity. If you like the activities in the article, look for my new book, THE CREATIVE CLASSROOM, which will be published in a few weeks by Lynx Publishing.

another article published

I wrote a lesson plan about brainstorming that was published last week on The Internet TESL Journal. It's called A Brainstorming Activity for ESL/EFL Students. I am always looking for new ways to get my students brainstorming and doing other kinds of creative work.

Promotion

I'm giving away a copy of my book, along with several other Lynx Publishing titles. If you are interested, send me a copy of your best teaching idea. For more information, go here:

free BOOKS!!!

Late November

We have reached the last few weeks of teaching at City University. Next month we will enter the testing period. Overall, work is starting to slow down, and I will have a bit more free time.

Getting organized

I've been in Hong Kong for over two months. I'm honestly going to start writing in my blog more.

I have a terrific job at City University of Hong Kong. I teach a lot of writing courses, such as Written Language and Writing Academic Essays. Also, I teach Speaking, and something called Independent Learning. There's a lot of other things going on at the university: committee meetings, teacher development sessions, etc. Sometimes I feel incredibly frustrated by all the things I have to keep up with. But I like the job, and I enjoy the challenge.

Published..again...

Humanising Language Teaching webzine has published one of my articles, titled "Brainstorming Activities for Group Discussion". You can see the article here:

http://www.hltmag.co.uk/sep06/teach.htm

Actually, the activities in the article were originally part of the manuscript for my book THE CREATIVE CLASSROOM. My publisher at Lynx Publishing decided not to include them, so I passed them on to Humanising Language Teaching. Look for more of my writing in future issues of HLT.

Alright already!

I've been in Hong Kong for over a week, and I'm just now getting around to adding a post to my blog.

I've been pretty busy, looking at places to live, attending new teacher orientation, and trying to meet people. Overall, I'm very impressed with Hong Kong, and the university I'm going to be working at. There is a lot to learn about this job, so I can tell I will be very busy during the next couple of years.

Book news

For those of you who know me, I'm soon going to be a published author. I have spent over a year writing an editing a teacher's resource book called THE CREATIVE CLASSROOM. It will be published by Lynx Publishing in a few months. Here's the Lynx website:

www.lynxpublishing.com

If you would like to see a preview of part of the book go here --->

http://www.hltmag.co.uk/may05/teach.htm

A little bit more about the book: it's a series of games and activities for language teachers who want to develop their students' creative skills. Most of the activities are for getting students to come up with interesting ideas on a subject. Although the projected audience is language teachers, I think teachers of any subject could use the activities to promote discussion.

preparing to go

I've spent the last few weeks preparing for my move to Hong Kong. I've done this by studying Cantonese (I can speak a few simple phrases, that's it), reading travel guides, and browsing some of the websites for expats in Hong Kong such as www.geoexpat.com, www.hkexpats.com, and www.batgung.com. However, it's hard to know how much this preparation will really help. I'm going to be hit in the face with reality in a few weeks, and this will probably vary quite a bit from the mental model I have created from all this "research". I wonder if it would be better to go with no preparation, no preconceived idea of what to expect.

countdown begins...

It's now less than a month before I leave for Hong Kong. I'm still searching for information about getting settled in. The university I'm going to be teaching at has a well-organized orientation program. I am very impressed so far.

My cousin Sean

I've got a cousin over in Kyoto, Japan. He runs a language school called Choice English.

Go over to his blog at http://360.yahoo.com/ce_inkyoto


I've been at Sam's Town for over a week now. I'm still getting used to working full-time, but everyone has been extremely nice and helpful.

Working as a temp

I'm currently working at a casino in downtown Shreveport. The name of the place is Sam's Town (http://www.samstownshreveport.com/). I've been working through a temp agency called Jean Simpson (http://www.jeansimpson.com/), the best temporary agency in Shreveport. I have worked at Sam's Town several times already.

If you're wondering if I'm dealing cards or serving meals, then you are wrong. I work in the personnel office doing filing. It's a great place to work.

Next post

Right now, I'm busy getting organized for the move to Hong Kong. Tickets, visas, packing, all these things need a lot of preparation. I've also been spending some time on the Internet trying to make some new contacts. I've met 2 teachers at the university I'll be working at, and they seem pretty friendly so far.

Hello there

Greetings. This is my first post on this brand new blog about living and teaching in Hong Kong. I am very fortunate to be offered a job at City University of Hong Kong ( http://www.cityu.edu.hk) teaching ESL. I'll be officially starting the job in about 6 weeks. I'm currently in the U. S. This will be my first experience living in Hong Kong, although I've visited it many times before.

Some other things you might want to know about me:

* I have an M.A. in Foreign Language Education from The University of Texas at Austin.

* I taught ESL at several universities in Taiwan, including National Dong Hua University (http://www.ndhu.edu.tw) in Shoufeng, Taiwan.

* I've studied Mandarin Chinese for over 10 years, although I'm not as fluent as I'd like to be.

* I've done a lot of writing lately. This year, I've had an article published in ESL Magazine (http://www.eslmag.com). More importantly, my first book, The Creative Classroom, will be published by Lynx Publishing (www.lynxpublishing.com) later this year. Go to their website for more information about my book.

Well, I think that's enough for now. Keep checking this space for more about my life in Hong Kong.