Keeping the Essence in Sight

"I think the discussion questions at the end of each section are a useful way to encourage readers to extrapolate from Sharon's ideas to their own contexts."Sandy Millin, author of ELT Playbook and Director of Studies, IH Bydgoszcz "A very welcome and timely contribution to the growing literature on Reflective Practice in TESOL"—Dr. Jim Askham, Lecturer Applied Linguistics, University of Leicester "Sharon's writing is down to earth and her sense of humour shines through on every page, making the book an entertaining read for any English language teacher."—Anne Parry, English Language Consultant, Penguin Elementary Writing Skills Keeping the Essence in Sight is an invitation to become a better teacher. To remember the essence of teaching, why we go into the classroom in the first place: To teach our students to communicate in the English language. We don't become teachers so that we can grade tests, or fulfill national educational plans, or deal with difficult students, although teachers do all those things and more. We become teachers because we love teaching and we love our students. The book is based on Sharon Hartle's renowned blog comprised of reflections on her teaching experience, and organized into four sections: Learning, Teaching, Testing, and Professional Development. Within each section she addresses key questions in ELT, such as: How can we motivate learners to want to learn and develop learner autonomy? What are the best ways to integrate technology into my lessons? Should we think about blended teaching instead of blended learning? Can we improve our teaching and our assessment if we change our model of English? What are some easy and accessible ways to do professional development? And most importantly, how can we be better teachers.