I just made my two books (1998 & 2002) available for free. They are both written in Portuguese.


NetAprendizagem was my Master's thesis and O Email na Sala de Aula was a sabbatical project. Both were published by Porto Editora, the major publishing house in Portugal.

Though they are a few years old, they're still current in many aspects. You can get great ideas and adapt them to the Web-based communication tools of today. Imagination is the limit!!! (Click the images to start reading.)

Enjoy!  :-)

Thanks to the post about Jason West below, which led me to an ebook of his that referred this video, I just watched a fabulously interesting TED Talk by Deb Joy from MIT. He "wanted to understand how his infant son learned language". The research he did, what it led to and the amazing way in which data is shown is so very interesting!
Do watch it! (Click the image.) I hope you'll be as fascinated as I was.  :-)
And take a look at some of the discussions on that page, where you'll find other links of interest.

I met Jason West on LinkedIn a few years ago when he absolutely blew me away with his refreshing and highly successful approach to teaching people to speak English comfortably in a very short span of time. Essentially, Jason takes away the elements that stop learners from speaking English in a well-engineered series of lessons, then prepares them for a successful experience at their worst nightmare - talking to strangers in public.

Jason's company www.EnglishOutThere.com is based outside of London, England, Jason arranges home-stays for his students' visits and inside of a week he sets them loose in Trafalgar Square where they put his coaching to the test. Once learners experience success at the one thing they were sure they could never do, their confidence soars. Expressing themselves anywhere, at any time to anyone is suddenly child's play.

I noticed a link to an offer of Jason's to teach his method to ESL/EFL teachers and I am so enamored with Jason's system I'm posting it for you.  http://englishoutthere.com/home-page/speak-english-challenge

Watch this blog for more ideas from Radical Teachers where ever we find them.

Judy Thompson

The Roundtable discussion was good we tentatively touched on really serious topics without starting a cat fight. They were looking for agreement and at the end they got very broad agreement that a standard test for English used globally would be useful.

1.     The panel didn't really identify that Modern English is no longer relevant to teach as the international lingua franca. Mercedes from S America introduced Jennifer Jenkins' work. Ms Jenkins has identified a core for Global English. Teaching or testing anything besides that core is a step backwards as far as I'm concerned. The panel didn't get this far into the present never mind the future lol.

2.     There was brief mention that native speakers have to modify their speaking and English is no longer their language that everyone else has to learn. That was a bold whisper and progressive.

3.     There was tiny mention of written English and Spoken English as separate with separate standards and testing. We were not clear on this - how could we be we were not clear on point #1

4.     There was a tiny foray into the difference between accent and intelligibility. The panel had no idea about this distinction therefore none on how to manage/test/resolve it.  

The panel had no idea about most of these points so everyone was pretty gentle with their contributions. The fact that Pearson Roundtable invited out-spoken radicals like me really showed they were interested in a frank conversation and they got it.

Good on them. Lots more work to be done.

Judy Thompson

An hour and a half is a long time for a Youtube video but it is a short time to learn a proven method for teaching pronunciation. It was my first time presenting in a Google Hangout. Thanks to Vance Stevens and all participants for making it such a positive experience. With participants from Iran, Argentina, Canada, The Philippines, UAE, Portugal... it was easy to sense the international reach of the Webheads and this wonderful group of exciting, progressive educators. Thanks for the opportunity.
Grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable you are in for an electronic, educational adventure!
http://goo.gl/06HyIe

Judy Thompson