As well as teaching and (assistant) CELTA tutoring, I am also available for writing work, presentations, seminars and webinars. You can find out more about my employment history on my About me page.
I’ve been the Director of Studies at IH Bydgoszcz, Poland since August 2015, meaning that I need to make sure that any other work I do fits around my commitments there. I am generally available during school holidays, and from the end of June to the end of August each year.
Please contact me to find out when I’m available. You can leave a comment below, or message me through Twitter. I am happy to send you my full CV, including references.
Comments on: "Work with me" (67)
Hi Sandy,
I am doing my PhD in Linguistics. I am happy to contact you regarding the interesting list of CONTRAST you have in your website. I wonder on what criteria you depend on to construct this list?
Thanks
Sadiq Almaged
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I’m afriad I don’t understand what you mean Sadiq. Can you be a bit more specific?
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Hi Sandy
We are looking for an MCT for our CELTA course to run 2nd – 27th February at IELS Malta. Can you contact me by email to let me know if you are interested and available please?
Thank you
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Hi Angie. Thanks for your email – I’ve replied.
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Hello Sandy ,
From Annaba ALGERIA , I have been browsing through your blog lately and it is a gold mine for any EFL teacher to say the least , to which end I dare drop you this message in the hope that you would help me get things move forward on my end .
To be short , I have attended a TESOL certifcation in June 2012 in New York but sadly enough I could not get hired anywhere on earth owing to the fact I am a non-native TESOL teacher. hence , I have taught just 2 months at a private school then got hired at a state-owned company as a Training Coordinator , needless to say that this boring uninspiring dead end job will be the death of me as I am positive I have been cut out to be an English teacher .
On the bright side , two weeks a close friend of mine called me to say some Adult men from all walks of life are looking for a good English teacher to set about English a French has always been the major foreign language in Algeria , as far as I know , their need is to learn English from scratch i.e. the basics , alphabet , verbs , vocabulary … which I never covered actually , to which end , would you possibly direct me on some custom-made sylllaby I could abide by for adult learners then I will work out the lesson plans as I go along with them .
I appreciate your attention to my humble request and have a gorgeous day in your part of th earth SM.
Yours Cordially ,
Adel T
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Dear Adel,
Thank you for the message, and I’m glad you’ve found my blog useful.
If you are a non-native English teacher, there’s no doubt that it can be harder to find a job. However, it doesn’t have to be impossible. You might be interested in the information on the TEFL Equity Advocates blog.
There is also the fact that you’re newly qualified, and whether you’re a native speaker or not, most places are looking for people with at least two years experience. Experience in related fields can also be useful.
I’m not sure if I can help you with custom made syllabi as you know more about what they want. Perhaps you might consider using a coursebook, then supplementing it with more work on the areas they need. Coursebooks I like include English File and Speakout, although you’ll still need to do extra work with the alphabet, spelling and writing to supplement that.
I hope that helps,
Sandy
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HI Adel, have you found any useful references/links since you posted your message? If not, let me know so that I can check in ly long list of ‘favorites’. All the best, A
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Hi, Sandy:
I am happy to have found your blog post from Crimea.
I visited Simferopol in April 2012 when I was on a Fulbright in Ukraine. I had a video camera, but what interests me the most about that time is the posters — Russian iconography on Party of Regions election posters. Do you have any photographs of the “Victory Day” type billboards from before the 2014 Russian incursion, or do you have friends who live/d in Crimea who might have across to photos of such billboards?
I would like the photographs to perform a rhetorical analysis. Further, I would be happy to discuss other ideas for academic article/s with you.
Leanne
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Hi Leanne,
I’m afraid I only have photos from when I was there, starting in September 2013. I hope someone else who finds this blog might be able to help you.
Good luck!
Sandy
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Hi,Sandy!
My name is Alyona. I am a student of the faculty of linguistic. My spoken English is very poor. Do I have a chance to be your student? What is the price of your lesson?
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Dear Alyona,
Thanks for your message. I’m afraid I can’t fit in any more Skype lessons at the moment. Perhaps you could look at http://www.italki.com. You should be able to find a good teacher there.
Sandy
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Thank you very much for your answer. What a pity!
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Hi Sandy! I am Habib from Bangladesh. I passed CELTA admission test twice but I could not manage time to attend the course. Do you know any CELTA equivalent course that may be completed online?
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Unfortunately there isn’t an online only equivalent, because the key part of CELTA is the observed teaching practice, so you have to be in the same room as the tutor. There are blended versions, but not many centres offer it. I’m very sorry that you haven’t been able to take the course yet, and I hope you manage to in the future.
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Are they giving the CELTA in Sebastopol this year? I might be interested in taking it there if so. I find Moscow too hard to get around, but I love Russia and would like to see how Sebastopol has changed since I visited in 2010.
If not Sebastopol, are there any other locations in Russia for the CELTA?
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Yes, there’ll be CELTA in July, and hopefully in August too. I’ll be tutoring on the July course if all goes to plan. As far as I know you can also do it in Moscow and Rostov-on-Don. There may be other places, but you’d have to check the Cambridge website. Good luck with your application.
Sandy
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Hi. Just to say I found your latest post on teaching online/skype very useful. Cheers. Dave (co-author Market Leader and Language Leader)
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Thanks David!
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Hi Sandy,
Love the site, great resources. I was wondering if you could give me any advice about getting into teacher training. I’m taking the DELTA in IH Barcelona part-time from October – April, I have 6 years teaching experience. What would be the next step after that to get into teaching CELTA etc?
Thanks for your time, I’ve put your site on my blogroll.
Tim
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Hi Tim,
Sorry I’ve taken so long to reply to this. Thanks for adding me to the blogroll. I’ve just written a post that might be useful for you: https://www.myetpedia.com/become-teacher-trainer-tips/ Becoming a CELTA trainer is normally a question or being in the right place at the right time – sorry I can’t be more helpful about it! Good luck with the Delta, and enjoy being at IH Barcelona – I’ve just done a course there and it’s a great school.
Sandy
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Hi Sandy
I am contacting you on the off chance that you might be able to assist with the following?
We are looking for host families in the Stafforshire area as we have new students attending several nearby schools. The first homestay requirement would be for the end September / October 2015. Our requirements are for odd weekends and half terms on occasions – at all other times they travel home.
If this is something that you are able to help with then please do get in touch. Alternatively, If you know of anyone who might be interested could you please pass on this message?
Best regards
Andrew
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Hi Sandy, we are looking for bloggers to blog about our website iRevise.com would this be something you would be able to work with us on?
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Thank you for the message, but I’m afraid I’m juggling too many things at the moment to be able to fit more writing work in. I hope you manage to find somebody.
Sandy
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Hi sandy and happy to find someone helpful like you .May i be part of your study group . I working on my delta now .
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Hi Brenda,
Thanks for your message. Which study group do you mean? To join the Quizlet group, follow the link on the Delta page and join so that I can accept you. I don’t have another study group. Good luck with your Delta!
Sandy
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Hi Sandy
I am doing my Module 3 for December 2015 focusing on Exam Classes: IELTS writing. Can you send me a good reading list if you have one and any useful tips would be very helpful.
Thank you
Sujatha
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Hi Sujatha,
Here is the bibliography from my assignment. I hope that helps. Good luck!
Sandy
PS If you’d like to buy any of the books, please consider buying them through my Amazon affiliate link, meaning I’ll get a few pence for each book you buy. Thank you!
Sandy’s Amazon page
Background Reading
Alderson, J. C. 2005 ‘The testing of reading’; in Nuttall, C. 2005 Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language (2nd edition) Macmillan: Oxford
Brown, H. D. 2003 Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices Longman: New York
Burgess, S. and Head, K. 2005 How to Teach for Exams Pearson Longman: Harlow
Graves, K. (ed.) 1996 Teachers as Course Developers Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Graves, K. 2000 Designing Language Courses: A Guide for Teachers Heinle & Heinle: Boston
Gronlund, N. E. 1998 Assessment of Student Achievement, 6th edition Allyn & Bacon: Boston
Harmer, J. 2007 The Practice of English Language Teaching Pearson Longman: Harlow
Harris, M. and McCann, P. 1994 Assessment Macmillan: Oxford
Hedge, T. 2000 Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom Oxford University Press: Oxford
Hughes, A. 2003 Testing for Language Teachers, 2nd edition Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
IELTS.org, undated ‘IELTS | Researchers – Band descriptors, reporting and interpretation’ http://www.ielts.org/researchers/score_processing_and_reporting.aspx, accessed 20 January 2013
May, P. 1996 Exam Classes Oxford University Press: Oxford
Murphy, D. April 2000 ‘Key concepts in ELT: Evaluation’; in ELT Journal, Volume 54/2 April 2000, Oxford University Press: Oxford
Nuttall, C. 2005 Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language (2nd edition) Macmillan: Oxford
Prodromou, L. 1995 ‘The backwash effect: from testing to teaching’; in ELT Journal, Volume 49/1 January 1995, Oxford University Press: Oxford
Puchta, H. November 2005 ‘Making the most of multiple intelligences’; in English Teaching Professional, Issue 41 November 2005
Richards, J. 2001 Curriculum Development in Language Teaching Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Thornbury, S. 2006 An A-Z of ELT Macmillan: Oxford
UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate) 2002 Cambridge IELTS 3 Student’s Book with Answers: Examination Papers (IELTS Practice Tests) Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
Woodward, T. 2001 Planning Lessons and Courses Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
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Hi Sandy
Thank you very much. This is very helpful. If I buy books, will definitely do through your link.
Thank you
Sujatha
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Hi Sandy,
I am the TESOL coordinator in Castilla La Mancha, Spain. Is there any chance you would come to speak at our next conference on 23 April?
Anita.
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Hi Anita,
Thank you so much for the request. I’m afraid I’m probably already going to a conference that weekend. Please do let me know if there are future events and I’ll see what I can do.
Sandy
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Hello Sandy, I read your blog whenever I have time and enjoy your posts. I was really moved by the post on Valentine Day…. I am now writing because I am looking for a teacher trainer who would be free in June/July or end of August/September for a 2-day face to face teacher-training workshop in a private language school in Toulouse.
Thank you.
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Hi Irene,
Thanks for contacting me and for commenting on the post. I’ll get in touch with you by email.
Sandy
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Sandy, first of all thank you for keeping me sane during my Delta, your blog helped me so much! I have a question; I have been tasked with setting up a new 5-year English Teacher Training university degree course in Ecuador, we are very rushed for time as the degree has to be up and running by September. I am currently doing the research on the theoretical foundations of such a degree course. I haven’t found much good material. Could you recommend any books / journals etc. that might help me out? Thank you ever so much in advance for any help and advice. I value your expertise a great deal. Agi
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Hi Agi,
Thank you very much for the lovely comment, and sorry it’s taken a little while for me to reply, especially due to the time pressure you’re under. My computer was out of use for two weeks and it’s put me behind on everything :s At least I have it back now! I’ve sent you an email in reply to your questions – not sure how much help I can be, but I might be able to put you in touch with some people who will be more useful.
Good luck!
Sandy
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I am Albert Munoz, a Mexican English teacher. Once I read about your colour code as a technique for reviewing your own grammar Russian mistakes. I am writing my master degree thesis and I find very interesting the use of a colour code to explain the parts of the speech.
Could you please explain how does your colour code technique work? This time insert an example in English instead of Russian. If possible send information about bibliography references about using colour code to teaching the parts of the speech in English? I would appreciate to send info also to my email.
Thank so much.
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Hi Sandy,
I’m managing a website for ELT teachers, and I’d like to invite you to contribute to our project. Could you please contact me by hsiao_jack@hotmail.com? Look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Jack
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Hi Jack,
Thanks for the invitation. I’m afraid I need a little more information before I can email you. What’s the website? What kind of contribution are you looking for?
Thanks,
Sandy
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Hi Sandy,
Great to receive your reply. This is a newly established website for ELT teachers funded by Paddington International Academy. There’ll be a variety of materials for PD, or classroom teaching. Due to the business confidential, I couldn’t explain the details on a public platform now (hopefully you could understand it). However, we could talk about details via email and Skype, and I’ll send you more information. Thanks for taking your time.
Best,
Jack
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Hi Sandy,
Long time reader first time caller!
I hope you’re well. My name is Kris and I help run a software for ESL teachers called Off2Class.
A couple weeks ago we released the PPT template that we’ve used to build about 550 lessons. So, far it’s been downloaded a couple thousand times and the feedback has been great.
I just wanted to send a note your way to see if you wanted to feature the freebie to your readers. Anyone is welcome to download the template here:
https://www.off2class.com/ppt-lesson-plan-template/
Kind Regards,
Kris
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Thanks for the comment. Good luck with promoting the software. I don’t tend to share things that I haven’t used myself at some point, but I’ll leave the comment here.
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Hi Sandy,
I’ve just completed my DELTA in August, 2016 at IH London and recently set up a language school in my hometown, Tamil Nadu, Southern India.
I have been getting a lot of enquiries to teach young children (6-12). However, I have never taught kids before. I’ve also been asked to teach at some international schools in my hometown. Since I’m only used to teaching adults, I don’t feel confident about teaching kids as it’s completely a different kettle of fish. So could you please recommend me any sort of books or websites where I could get some ideas to plan the lessons for young learners?
I am also planning to start a teacher training program at my school. I therefore think it would be great if we could keep in touch via email so we could discuss things further. So please send me an email to kesh.teacher@gmail.com when you could. I look forward to hearing from you soon, thank you.
Kind regards,
Kesh
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Hi Kesh,
Thanks for the message. I’m afraid I’m currently employed full-time in Poland so I’ll be unable to help you much with the teacher training programme. However, I can offer you some links to help you out with young learners. The IH Journal has a Young Learners column in it every issue: http://www.ihjournal.com. You can also find help on any of the following blogs:
http://klokanomil.wordpress.com
http://thebestticher.wordpress.com
https://carolread.wordpress.com/
https://careymicaela.wordpress.com/
You may also benefit from the help and support of the IATEFL YLTSIG – the Young Learners and Teenagers Special Interest Group. They have a facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/iateflyl/
Finally, you should be able to find a lot of resources by exploring the bookmarks I save onto Diigo. Here’s how: http://ihjournal.com/why-diigo-could-be-your-new-best-friend-by-sandy-millin Good luck with setting up the language school and the teacher training program. I hope those things help and I look forward to hearing how it goes. Sorry I can’t help you more at the moment!
Sandy
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Hi Sandy,
Thanks a lot for the quick reply, it’s very kind of you.
I’d still like to keep in touch with you via email. So please drop me an email to kesh.teacher@gmail.com when you find time.
Once again thanks very much for your help, I really appreciate it.
Regards,
Kesh
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Dear Sandy,
I find your blog really interesting. I wanted to ask what are the procedure stages for a vocabulary lesson which also includes speaking?
Thanks,
Laura
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Thank you for the comment Laura. I’m not sure that there’s just one answer to that question. This blog post might help with common lesson frameworks: https://eltplanning.com/2016/04/08/celta-lesson-frameworks/ Any structure you use with grammar can be used with vocabulary too.
Hope that helps,
Sandy
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Dear Sandy,
Thank you for your blog, it is amazing!
Would you be available for online consultancy? I am a teacher and I am looking for professional help with planning exam courses (and not only exam courses) and other rather basic ELT issues. If you are not available, could you please recommend a teacher trainer/ELT expert who would be interested in helping a struggling English teacher?
Thank you!
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Dear Tamia,
Thank you very much for your compliment and your request. I’m afraid it’s difficult for me to fit anything extra in at the moment. I would recommend asking your question on the #ELTchat hashtag on Twitter, or in the ELTchat group on facebook – hopefully somebody there should be able to help you. You could also ask questions in both of those places – even if nobody can help you on a permanent basis, those are both very supportive communities, full of helpful people.
Sorry not to be able to help you more. Good luck!
Sandy
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Hi Sandy. Great blog. Thanks for your creative ideas. My name’s Daniel Martin and I host a blog for English teachers, Keep It Simple (Zero or Minimal Preparation Activities for the English Classroom), which you might consider adding to your blogroll. Here’s the link: http://www.kisactivities.com Thanks!
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Hello, Sandy. Your enthusiasm is contagious! Don’t lose it.Thank you for being you. I’ll definitely get in touch with you as soon as I’m finished with my Delta.
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Thank you!
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Hi Sandy. I am Mijochrist from Cameroon. I really impressed with the bibliography you gave to Sujatha. That greatly helped me in my undergraduate studies. Thank you!
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Hello Sandy, I’m trying to follow your page, but I can’t find the “follow” button.
Anyway, we have a blog called ExamSeekers, which we talk about courses and examinations (including CELTA), and we would like to know if you would like to trade likes and shares.
I mean, would you care to check out our WordPress and see if the content is interesting and useful for you? And if you do find it interesting, would you care to share? We can share ours as well, a friend of mine started the CELTA this week and she found your blog and shared, I liked the posts especially because they are aligned to our ideas that we’d like to follow 🙂
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Thank you for the comment – there’s a subscribe button in the right-hand bar if you’re using a computer. I’m not sure about on a smartphone. Thank you for the kind words too. I’ll take a look at your blog, but I’m afraid I won’t necessarily promise to trade likes and shares – I always share things which I think are useful, but I prefer not to promise anything in case I can’t fulfil those promises. Good luck!
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Sandy, it was great to see you at IH Teacher Training Day in Toruń! Thank you for the tips on personal development. Very useful!
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Good to see you too, and sorry I couldn’t actually speak to you properly!
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Hi Sandy, I was interested in the topic of you talk at IATEFL yesterday but couldn’t make the session. I’d be interested in talking to you more about this. Would you mind emailing me so we can discuss further? Thanks
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Hi Nicola,
I’ll be writing up the whole talk on my blog in the next couple of weeks, but please feel free to comment on there if you’d like to ask any extra questions about it.
Sandy
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Hi! I’m a CELTA trainee. Well…. I was one in week 2 until Monday, when my CELTA course had to be cancelled….. No idea when the next course will be able to start, but I’m thinking about working for it in advance as much as I can so that the actual course might not be as overwhelming any more then. I would imagine especially preparing writing lesson plans might take a big pressure of me.
If you’d like to get in touch, I look forward to your message!
Best, Kristin
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Good luck Kristin. Hopefully the Useful links for CELTA page on my blog can help you find things to read and watch to help you with your preparation. I hope you manage to complete the course when this has all gone away.
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Thanks for your comment! The most recent news is that is might be possible to finish the course online. To be honest, I can’t really imagine sitting alone in my flat all day long for 3 weeks working in front of my laptop…. Well, actually, I was thinking, maybe you would like to act as my background coach for questions regarding assignments and lesson plans…? If you’re interested, please send me an email.
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Hello Sandy,
Tarun Patel here from India. I am an English language teacher in a state university.
We are hosting an online conference ELT Summit 2020 for the teachers of English. There will be around 200 participants from India and other countries. (The site is under construction – http://eltsummit.com).
I would like to invite you to deliver a talk on during this event if possible.
Please let me know if it is possible so that I can provide more details.
Thank you,
Tarun
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Hello Tarun,
Thank you for getting in touch. I’ll email you.
Sandy
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Dear Sandy,
My name is Lisa Dold and I am writing as the speakers’ coordinator for the annual ACEIA conference. ACEIA is the association of private language schools in Andalucia, Spain (www.aceia.es) and we are organizing our virtual conference for 2020. We offer a range of talks for DOSes and I would love to talk further with you in relation to being a speaker at our event. I can be reached at speakerscoordinator@aceia.es.
Many thanks.
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Thank you Lisa. I’ll send you an email.
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Dear Sandy,
My name is Zhijun Liu, and I am a postgraduate student from IOE(Institute of Education). I am now conducting research about native English teacher’s attitudes on and actual acts about English as a Lingua Franca, and I am writing to you to invite you to participate in my postgraduate research. As an experienced English teacher and a CELTA tutor, you must have encountered English learners and CELTA trainees from different L1s, thus, your attitudes towards English as Lingua Franca and your teaching acts will be greatly valuable. The research includes a questionnaire, and a focus group with another CELTA tutor (may be changed in to an interview if focus group is not the best option) that will at most last 90 mins, and all of these will be conducted in the next two weeks (15th June – 29th June).
Looking forward to seeing your reply!
Many thanks
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Dear Zhijin,
Thank you for contacting me about your research. While this is a topic I’m very interested in, I’m afraid I’m still working full time for the next two weeks and am unlikely to be able to participate. How many participants are you looking for? I may be able to put you in touch with other trainers who can take part.
Sandy
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Hi Sandy,
Thanks for your response. I’m now looking for 5 more participants for this study, and I will conduct the focus group online using zoom or Microsoft Team. I’d really appreciate it if you could introduce other trainers who could possibly take part to me.
Many thanks
ZHIJUN
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