ATESL News

Friday November 5th

Lynda Yates
Lynda has taught ESOL in France, Egypt, Armenia and the U.K., and worked with teachers from around the world on practical issues, particularly in the area of pronunciation and pragmatics teaching. 

Her research interests include the teaching and assessment of pronunciation, the nature of generic skills for adult learners of English and pragmatics in intercultural communication. She has both a research and a practical interest in the workplace and study experiences of adult EAL users.

Her current research projects focus on international student experiences and immigrant learners in the Adult Migrant English Program. She is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney.
Topic for sessions: Getting it all to work: Teaching and learning transcultural pragmatics
Lynda Yates keynote session is sponsored by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Central & Northern Alberta Regional office

Saturday November 6th

Tom Cobb
Tom Cobb has designed, taught, or coordinated almost every type of ESL reading and writing course in a career of 20 years and five continents.

He was early convinced that whatever the target skill, there would never be enough time for language learners to get very far with it, but that well instructed computers could increase the effectiveness of the time available.

He now consults in language program development internationally, supplies learning and research tools to the profession through his website Lextutor (www.lextutor.ca), and helps Montreal ESL teachers learn to use computers in their classrooms.

Tom's current project is editing the Language and Technology section of the forthcoming Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics.