EAP and New Technologies

Hi all,

Sorry that I'm a bit tardy in getting this out- have just spent 4 soggy days in a field in Shropshire. The bliss of an English summer!

Actually, it's been quite good to read the other posts first to put myself a bit more in the picture. Am I right in thinking that all of you teach at/ have taught at CELE?

Enough sidetracking: a ramble through my past....

I spent most my twenties and early thirties in various EFL jobs in Spain, the UK and Italy, plus a year's voluntary work in Indonesia (Klaus, I'm fascinated by your SE Asian connections).

Mid-thirties moved to the Midlands with my partner- I did an MA in Language and Lexicography at Birmingham University and started to have children. The twins put paid to any serious thought of pursuing the interest in dictionaries further!

Whilst the children were tiny I did some part-time literacy and ESOL work in local prisons, but was then offered term-time EAP teaching at Harper Adams University College, an agricultural college in Shropshire. The college has a joint programme with Beijing College of Agriculture and I work predominantly with Chinese undergraduates teaching subject specific EAP. I enjoy the work hugely, recently visited Beijing for the first time and am rapidly becoming in thrall to the country's complexities- language, history, possible future developments (and food, of course).

My reasons for doing the PGCTEAP....whilst I enjoy my work greatly, I feel as though I'm operating in a vacuum in terms of the ideas and theory of EAP and also have little contact with a wider EAP community. Basically, I'm sure I could be doing this all so much better if I could engage with it at a deeper level! I'm very excited at the prospect of studying with the rest of you, but, like Anne feel it will be a steep learning curve in some areas and a great deal of hard work. Onwards and upwards, eh?

Spare time and hobbies- not much of it with 3 small children, but growing vegetables (great pumpkin, Alex!), cycling and reading help restore the equilibrium.