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Two blog anthologies taking shape

For a while now I have been thinking about putting together a selection of posts from this blog to create a low-cost book for teachers. For the last few weeks I've been collating what I think are the most useful and interesting posts. After producing around 300 pages' worth of material, I realised that I had lots more to share - enough in fact to make a second volume of around the same length.

Why even do this, when the posts are all available online? Well, to start with there are a huge number of posts on my blog, dating back to 2010. Although there is a useful search function, it may not take readers to the specific post they want. In addition, there is no organisation to the posts - no kind of narrative thread, if you like.  For the books I have organised the posts by theme, not date. Themes I have used are: second language learning theory, methods, research insights, lesson planning, classroom pedagogy, listening, reading, speaking, writing, advanced level teaching, curriculum and assessment. Furthermore, in putting together these posts I've realised that I can add further useful narrative to put the posts into context, so there is plenty more than just the posts.

Ovrall, the two books offer a good introduction to second language learning from a teacher's perspective, combining the best findings from research, some history of the field, but mainly masses of practical lesson ideas fro the classrroom. Not suprisingly, some of the material can be found in books I have published, or ones I have written with Gianfranco Conti and, more recently, Steve Glover. You will find that the book is eclectic, reasonably rich in citations and a bit more personal in tone that the average book on second language acquisition.

So currently I have two books of around 300 words in final proofing, the first to be published on KDP/Amazon later this month (August 2025). The titles are Thinking About Language Teaching (Volumes 1 and 2). The title THINKING About language Teaching reflects the fact that I spend a LOT of time thinking about language teaching and that the book contains a good deal of the most important thinking about langauge teaching. Thinking as verb, thinking as noun. See what I did?

I'll let you know when the first book comes out.

I'll finish with a lovely quotation from Harold E. Palmer, a British teacher-researcher from the first half of the 20th century.

“We use each and every method, process, exercises, drill, or device which may further us in our immediate purpose and bring us nearer to our ultimate goal; we adopt every good idea and leave the door open for all future developments; we reject nothing except useless and harmful forms of work. The multiple line of approach embodies the eclectic principle..., for it enjoins us to select judiciously and without prejudice all that is likely to help us in our work."

— Harold E. Palmer (1921), The Principles of Language Study.


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