Ben McMurry

I got back from TESOL today! It was a great conference. I have lots to post about; I'll be back on Monday with lots of great stuff!

I recently recieved and email from a former student. He is taking a class that is helping students explore various careers. One of the assignments is to interview someone in a profession you might be interested in. He asked me a few questions, and I thought it might make for an interesting post. 1. What do you do? I teach English as a Second Language, develop ESL Curriculum, and train student teachers. 2. How did you get interested in this type of work? Get started in this job? I have always been interested in language. I have always known that I wanted a job that would require langauge skills. When I came home from my mission, I took a Spanish class. The teacher was also and ESL teacher and told good stories. That got me interested. Later, I met my wife who was an ESL teacher. I observed her class, and I was hooked! 3. How long have you been doing this kind of work? 5+ years 4. What are 3-5 of the most common activities you do on a typical day? teach, grade, write curriculum, email, t...

I've been taking a class for fun this semester. We've talked about Flash & ActionScript, and now we are talking about JavaScript & html. I was interested in developing a good and easy tool for my students to record video where I could give them feedback. When I was talking about the idea, Peter Rich , a professor in the IP&T department here at BYU , suggested I look into Viddler . I did, and I love it. For the last three weeks I have been using Viddler in my Listening & Speaking classes. We went to our wonderful computer lab and I helped them all set up accounts. We made a group for the class and did some practice recordings. I have had them do three assignments so far. Our current curriculum for Listening & Speaking has task-based objectives. The assignments so far have been to record an invitation to a party, talk about your future plans and goals, and talk about a past experience. After the students have recorded their video, they give themselves feedba...