My Offline Work

• In Print

 Vocabulary Power 1: Practicing Essential Words.  Pearson Longman, 2007.

Vocabulary Power 2: Practicing Essential Words. Co-authored with Kate Dingle. Pearson Longman, 2007.

 New Password 1 and 4: A Reading and Vocabulary Text.   Pearson Longman, 2009. The author, Linda Butler, has updated and expanded her series. It now has five levels. I had the privilege and pleasure of contributing to Books 1 and 4 as an assistant test writer. I wrote four out of five tests for each Teacher’s Manual.

• Out of Print

My first published work was a short story in a Russian children’s magazine. It was a fun piece about some unhappy creatures at a pond wanting to look like the people and animals at a nearby castle. (I think there was a fish that got glasses and a frog that grew a mustache. The rest I can’t remember!) The two-page story presented reflexive pronouns in context for young English langauge learners. The story also came with a moral: Just be yourself.

 ”A Lesson at the Pond.” January/ February 2000 issue of Speak Out by Glossa.

Within my first three years of teaching English, I had created a sizable amount of classroom material. I had a strong desire to share my ideas with the English language learners and teachers in Russia. It was not an easy task trying to convince someone to publish my books: I was young and unknown. With my own persistence and the kind support from a couple of instructors at the Russian State University of Humanities, I found a publisher willing to work with me. Three of my four proposed ideas went into press. They did not hit the stores until 2001, shortly after my return to the U.S. I harbor the hope that the fourth book, a collection of short stories for young English language learners, will make it into print some day.

Brainstorming: A Handbook for the English Language Teacher. Manager, 2001.   (This is a large collection of communicative activities. I have shared a few of my favorites on this site.)

Footsteps: Short Stories for Intermediate and Advanced Students of English. Manager, 2001. (This is a collection of original short stories. Each one is accompanied by a glossary, language notes, and exercises. I definitely wish I could improve my explanations and fine-tune my writing in this book, but I still enjoy the stories to this day. A couple have been reprinted and used in my YouTube videos with the publisher’s permission.)

Top Ten Reasons for Learning a Foreign Language. Manager, 2001. (This is a small collection of activities based on top-ten lists that target conversation and vocabulary skills.)

Back in 2007, I had my first opportunity to submit an article for an international conference. A former student of mine, now a dean, presented my paper in my absence as I was due to have my second child.

 ”Practical Concerns in the Mulitcultural Classroom: An American’s Perspective.” Kaliningrad, Russia. 2007. Originally presented in absentia in April 2007 at the international conference “Developing Professional Competence in Education” held at the Kaliningrad State College of Urban Planning.