The leadership component in a teacher certification course for teaching English as a second language (ESL), adapted from an administrator development course, was designed to encourage teachers to think of themselves as leaders within their present classroom roles. Techniques include such activities as introductions and the sharing of varied…

A well-designed college course syllabus can serve a variety of purposes: as an agreement between teacher and student; as a device for communicating intent, seriousness, and expectations; as an overall plan of action for the course; and as a cognitive map of the course to share with students. This article identifies the major components of a good…

A La Guardia Community College (New York) course in developmental writing for deaf students features small class size and teachers fluent in American Sign Language. Teaching practices include reading of model essays on topics of interest to deaf students, peer feedback on the first two drafts of writing assignments, and student "reading…

This paper advocates oral communication as one of the most effective methods of improving classroom instruction in all subjects. It focuses on the teaching of mathematics and science, where the grasping of concepts is essential to student learning. The paper provides a rationale for oral communication across the curriculum. Further, the paper…

Four issues of a University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) newsletter by and for teaching assistants (TAs) are presented, with focus on course syllabi, sexism, teacher evaluation, and foreign TAs. Consideration is given to: a positive classroom atmosphere; myths of college instruction; use of classroom tests; lecture methods; the "abused…

A one-week, five-hour course in survival Spanish taught at an Elderhostel at Winthrop College included in its content the process of introductions and courtesy expressions, numbers and counting, telling time, days of the week, months, seasons, colors, cognates for describing people, talking about jobs and hobbies, verb forms for questions and…

Techniques developed to improve student participation and student evaluation in a large-group college course in advertising include role playing in talk-show-style discussions of controversial issues, breaks in lectures to play a trivia game, a three-minute writing assignment, teacher movement among students, and changes in testing policies and…

Selected papers from the 1984 and 1985 meetings of the Southern Conference on Language Teaching include: "Perspectives on Proficiency: 1985"; "Developmental Stages in Functional Language Proficiency"; "Cultural Understanding, Oral Proficiency, and Study Abroad: Getting It All Together"; "Developing Functional…

The 76 case studies presented here describe how teachers of English as a second language (ESL) respond to problems they encounter in teaching. Each case study describes the context in which the teacher is working, the problem, and the teacher's response. Following each case study is a brief commentary by a teacher educator who reflects that type…