Author Blog

  • Dispatch from Russia – Views on culture, personality and Russian education

    Published on 28th April, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    Some insights from Natalie Tokareva, a professor at the University of Linguistics of Moscow. She gave me a copy of her book Do you know Russia, a parallel Russian/English textbook about Russian culture and life (this means that each page has text in Russian and English). A person as a more…

  • Dispatch from Russia: Sightseeing

    Published on 26th April, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    Every time I tell people where I have come from they say “gosh, did you see X?” or “you’re so lucky to see all these places!” Which is true, I admit. But in fact I rarely get to see any sights, shuttled as I am from one school or conference more…

  • Dispatch from Harrogate – In other words…

    Published on 19th April, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    This is the way I usually write or create the posts for Dispatches. While travelling, I take notes or film things. Usually I go over all the video footage and notes I’ve made on the flight or train trip back home. I put it together and write it up on more…

  • Dispatch from Turkey – The Great Turkish Tweet-Up

    Published on 4th April, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    Many of the readers of this blog will be familiar with Twitter, the online microblogging service that allows you to send short messages (called tweets) to people who are following you (your followers). On twitter, I am @lclandfield for example. Over the past year I’ve met a lot of people more…

  • Dispatch from Dubai 2

    Published on 30th March, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    On my second day in Dubai I asked to be taken to visit a school and meet some teachers. Dana, the local rep for Macmillan was only too happy to take me to see University City. In Dubai and other parts of the Emirates, the cities are divided into sections more…

  • Dispatch from Dubai: In-flight entertainment

    Published on 23rd March, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    For those of you who don’t have the opportunity or ordeal of having to get on planes regularly an enormous gulf in comfort has developed between “real” airlines and low-cost airlines. Now I have the distinct misfortune of being far better acquainted with the low-cost variety of flights. I live more…

  • Dispatch from Italy – The quaderno

    Published on 18th March, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    Last week I was in northern Italy for a book tour that took me to Turin, Dolo (just outside Venice) and Bergamo. Aside from giving and attending workshops on speaking skills, culture and blended learning I also had the opportunity to meet several teachers and sit in on some classes. more…

  • Dispatch from Italy – Sleeping with the crocodile

    Published on 12th March, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    It seems like a really good idea for a hotel: have each room designed by artists so they are all original and different. It is a growing trend, at least in Europe. I’ve stayed at them in Denmark and twice in Italy, including the last visit. These “art hotels” offer more…

  • Dispatch from Spain – Pepsi or Pesi?

    Published on 2nd March, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    Here’s a commercial that is running on Spanish television recently. It features the Spanish football (soccer) player Fernando Torres – currently a star striker with Liverpool. What’s interesting about this advertisement is how it shows Torres, who is Spanish, getting irritated by the director’s attempts to correct his pronunciation. Finally more…

  • Dispatch from Ireland – Amazing books, buildings and beer

    Published on 24th February, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    “We have sold the myth of Dublin as a sexy place incredibly well; because it is a dreary little dump most of the time.” Well, this rather nasty quote from Irish author Roddy Doyle is NOT really one I would agree with. This was my second visit to Dublin, and more…

  • Dispatch from the UK – ESOL, EFL, ESL… what’s the difference?

    Published on 18th February, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    Most teachers will be aware of what the three basic acronyms above stand for in our field, but in case you aren’t here they are again: – English for Speakers of Other Languages – English as a Foreign Language – English as a Second Language In the UK the first more…

  • Launch!

    Published on 11th February, 2010 in Author Blog by Lindsay Clandfield

    Books, like ships, are often given a launch after publication to wish them on their way. Last week saw the official “launch” of Global in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Macmillan had events in Bournemouth, Oxford, London and Dublin. They had decided to launch the book at museums, which led more…

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