Josef Essberger

Short stories: The Chapel, The Metro, The Winepress

Josef Essberger recommends the Word Up Classroom Pack for teachers and learners.

Quiz-style board game designed for students of English. The game contains thousands of questions graded into five levels--from beginner to advanced--with answers included.

The Importance of Speaking Practice 

Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes describe grammar as the "rules" of a language; but in fact no language has rules. If we use the word "rules", we suggest that somebody created the rules first and then spoke the language, like a new game. But languages did not start like that. Languages started by people making sounds which evolved into words, phrases and sentences. No commonly-spoken language is fixed. All languages change over time. What we call "grammar" is simply a reflection of a language at a particular time.

There are 4 key skills when you learn a language:

• listening
• speaking
• reading
• writing

Which one of these is the "Odd-Man-Out"? Which one of these is different from the other three? The answer is speaking. The other three you can do alone, on your own, without anyone else. You can listen to the radio alone. You can read a book alone. You can write a letter alone. But you can't really speak alone! Speaking to yourself can be 'dangerous' because men in white coats may come and take you away! That is why you should make every effort possible to find somebody to speak with. Where can you find people who can speak English with you? And how can you practise speaking when you are alone. Answers

English Club 

EnglishClub.com is a site to help people learn English or teach English as a second language. Access to all pages is free. Members and visitors can find everything from lessons for students to jobs for teachers, including interactive pages such as forums, games, quizzes, chat, help and penpals.

Excerpt from English Club review by ELT author Rolf Palmberg:

"Once you have learned to navigate the website, you will find increasingly more useful material. A few examples: there are exercises on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, information on different types of technical language (such as Business English) and study opportunities at schools abroad, ready-made lesson plans, a discussion forum for teachers, as well as an archive of both theoretical and practical articles published in the ESL Progress Newsletter, an electronic journal that you can subscribe to free of charge. A great advantage is that the layout of the exercises is planned in such a way that they can be printed out straightaway for use in the classroom."

Member Feedback

"I am so thankful for what you have sent me, the 7 Secrets were really golddust. All the teachers I've had up to now, haven't expressed to me or told me what you have told, or better taught, me in seven mails. The secrets have been of so much use to me that I am convinced right now, that I have to be more self-taught and, as you said in one of the secrets study five words a day, listen, etc. Because of all this I have to say 'Thank you Josef!!'" Mara France Garcia, Learner of English, Argentina

"The Magic site! It is cleverly designed, stimulating, easily viewed. It is the key to a great door into the world of great English civilization and culture. Thank you!" Misha from Belgrade, Learner of English, Serbia

"EnglishClub.com is absolutely fantastic. I have been looking forward to something like this for a long time. All your pieces of advice and teaching tips are all very useful for both the brand new teacher and the senior one. Congratulations and all best wishes from Lima, Peru." Roberto, Teacher, Peru

MyEC
My.EnglishClub.com is a social network for English Club members. Learners and teachers can set up their own web pages, practise English for free, and network with people around the world.

Member feedback

"Learning a foreign language is hard and solitary work if we don’t have friends with whom we can share ideas. Giving and receiving support to encourage each other is very important to make progress. The world is made of good ideas, and this was an excellent one. 'We are all angels in a single wing, we need to embrace each other to take off.' Congratulations!" Suela, Learner of English, Brazil

TEFL Network

TEFL.net is an independent resource site for teachers of English worldwide, who can find everything on the site from the world's largest TEFL course database and ESL job ads to an online help desk, lesson plans and admin tools.

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