Guest Writers

Miriam Lavi

Miriam Lavi has been kind enough to give esl-lounge.com permission to publish the following four articles in Word format. Each of the articles is around 35-50k in size and should take no longer than 5-10 seconds to download onto your own PC, where you can print off if you like.

The Latest Trend: Personal ESL Trainers
The field of ESL for adults is booming. Even so, it is barely able to keep pace with the ever-growing needs of today's world. Registration for English courses at international language institutes is at an all-time high. Locally owned language schools and chains are mushrooming all over the globe. Alongside all of this, ESL for adults is witnessing an exciting trend: The rise of the personal trainer......Read On

Graded Materials - A Perspective
Not long ago, a (non ESL) teacher/friend noticed the term 'graded material' in an article and asked me: ' What? Are ESL teachers expected to grade (mark) their material as well as their students?' Graded material, as any ESL teacher knows, is material arranged in order of difficulty - progressing from the simple to the more complex. Carefully graded materials are important in most areas of teaching, and in language teaching, they are essential. What is the criterion for determining difficulty?......Read On

The Medium is the Message Common Sense Approaches to Teaching ESP
Language teaching and language learning focus on four skills: Reading comprehension, Aural Comprehension, Writing and Speaking. Most course books authors organize their materials so as to teach these skills in an integrated way. This seems eminently reasonable, but is it?.....Read On

ELT Materials
Selecting appropriate material is one of the crucial factors in the success of a course. Note that I said 'appropriate', not 'good'. Almost all of the material being produced nowadays is of high quality; the question is how to determine which EFL material is most suitable for your student/s. To best accomplish this, let me suggest the following:....Read On

Miriam Lavi (B.A. American Literature/Education, City University of New York, January,'65) is a certified teacher and has been working in the field of ESL - both in NYC and abroad - for 40 years. She is LLICEB certified to teach ESL to professionals (1995), owns and operates an English language institute and is author of the e-guide: How to Become a Personal ESL Trainer.

To view these reviews and other articles by Miriam Lavi, please visit her site: esltrainers.com