My blog
I will post regularly on an assortment of grammar topics, which are categorized for quick searches. The posts will initially depend on what I think is relevant and a common 'grammar stammer'. However, I have provided you with several venues for feedback.
- Feel free to comment on my blogs. Providing insight or further examples is helpful to everyone.
- If I have not yet written about an area of concern for you, please contact me with your suggestion and I will address it right away.
- I have suggested some valuable must reads that I used when starting out and still refer to today. They helped me understand concepts and put together course material for a variety of students' needs. I'm sure that everyone will find these books useful, too.
My story
I wouldn't normally describe myself as someone who is anal and a perfectionist, but when it comes to writing and grammar, I think I am. If I don't know the answer -- and yes, this happens -- then the question troubles me until I do.
I graduated from Trent University with a double major in English and Anthropology. I then attended Humber College to obtain my certificate in Teachers of English as a Second Language. After graduating, I taught adult students in Toronto part-time until I decided I wanted to try teaching full-time. My students persuaded me to go to South Korea, where I taught kids and teachers alike. Returning to Canada after a year, I started working at a school targeted specifically for international students. Here I taught the High-Intermediate and Advanced classes, as well as Testing of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). TOEFL is an advanced test to measure the English proficiency of non-native speakers.
I later moved on to another school where I was not only a teacher, but the Language Training Consultant. The target audience here were employees of the federal government. In Canada, and more specifically the national capital region, bilingualism in both English and French is considered more than just an asset. As a result, the training the students received was geared towards their obtaining their language levels for the government in three areas -- Comprehension, Writing, and Oral Communication. I am proud to say that all my students achieved their desired levels.
And now to the present. I work in the Strategic Communications Directorate for the federal government. Although I like my job, I lost that same feeling I had teaching and seeing amazing payoffs when students achieve their goals. It is for this reason that I want to start something online that would allow me to regain the sense of satisfaction I had when teaching. I want to provide free information to teachers, non-native, and yes, native speakers of English.
I think we can all agree that we all need a little help when trying to get things right in this complicated language called English.
Yours truly,
Bonnie Whelan
I graduated from Trent University with a double major in English and Anthropology. I then attended Humber College to obtain my certificate in Teachers of English as a Second Language. After graduating, I taught adult students in Toronto part-time until I decided I wanted to try teaching full-time. My students persuaded me to go to South Korea, where I taught kids and teachers alike. Returning to Canada after a year, I started working at a school targeted specifically for international students. Here I taught the High-Intermediate and Advanced classes, as well as Testing of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). TOEFL is an advanced test to measure the English proficiency of non-native speakers.
I later moved on to another school where I was not only a teacher, but the Language Training Consultant. The target audience here were employees of the federal government. In Canada, and more specifically the national capital region, bilingualism in both English and French is considered more than just an asset. As a result, the training the students received was geared towards their obtaining their language levels for the government in three areas -- Comprehension, Writing, and Oral Communication. I am proud to say that all my students achieved their desired levels.
And now to the present. I work in the Strategic Communications Directorate for the federal government. Although I like my job, I lost that same feeling I had teaching and seeing amazing payoffs when students achieve their goals. It is for this reason that I want to start something online that would allow me to regain the sense of satisfaction I had when teaching. I want to provide free information to teachers, non-native, and yes, native speakers of English.
I think we can all agree that we all need a little help when trying to get things right in this complicated language called English.
Yours truly,
Bonnie Whelan