Editorial
Andrew G. Scott, IH Journal Editor
Elizabeth Arbuthnott, Administrator
Welcome to the International House Journal of Education and Development.
To celebrate the Issue 25, IHWO is publishing a collection of articles from the first 25 issues. ‘Best Practice in language Teaching: an IH perspective’ features work from writers across the organisation and influential figures from the world of English language teaching. The book will be available before the end of the year and all enquiries should be sent to Ania at ania.ciesla@ihworld.co.uk.
Returning to issue 25, for those interested in the history of International House ‘The Tale of Babel en España’ describes how John Haycraft’s first book was received in Franco’s Spain, and the consequences of this for the Haycrafts. Brita has promised to write about IH’s time on Shaftesbury Avenue, the years between the first school at Covent Garden and 106 Piccadilly, thereby completing her account of IH London.
There are several articles about the language classroom: Gabrielle Bonner and David King’s action research on feedback and Michael Berman’s ‘The Chief and the Wanderer’. For technophobes and technophiles alike, Fiona Thomas offers ideas on how to use Net Languages with your learners and Camilla Mayhew examines corpora and concordances.
If you have Young Learner classes, then go straight to Margaret Horrigan’s piece on ‘The Colour Coded Phonemic Chart as a Pedagogical Tool’. The chart can also be downloaded form our website: http://www.ihworld.com/ihjournal/ . If you missed the YL Conference held in La Spezia, on the eastern coast of Italy, then you can read about it in Diana England’s report.
For those interested in course and syllabus design, Christina Smolder has written a great overview. Robert Buckmaster challenges the current approach to advanced level learners and Mark Forehand discusses an English for Specific Purposes course he has developed for lawyers.
There is a fascinating piece by Mark Lowe in which the parallels between music and language are investigated, while Sulaiman Jenkins provides a keen insight into the importance of student motivation.
For those involved in management and marketing, Jonathan Dykes discusses the success of The Fonix, a regional competition that promoted English language learning and International House.
Most teachers start their careers hoping that language teaching will allow them to work and travel around the world. Indeed, John Haycraft’s autobiography is called ‘Adventures of a Language Traveller’. However, many find themselves making a home in their adopted countries. For the armchair travels among us, Edward Anderson’s journey overland from Australia to Spain allows us to re-live past journeys or dream of future ones. Part one of ‘Travels of an English Teacher’ takes him to Vietnam; the second part will be published in Issue 26.
Finally, Michael Carrier has written his last IHWO news. After eight years as Chief Executive at IHWO, Michael is moving on to new challenges. I would like to thank him for all the invaluable help and patient support he has given the IH Journal team over the years and congratulate him on all his achievements, too numerous to list here, while at IHWO.
