About Sarah Lynn
I started my career in teaching as a volunteer in an intensive ESL program for refugees in New York City. Almost immediately I realized I had found my calling and enrolled to get a Masters degree in TESOL at Teacher’s College, Columbia University.
After several years of teaching in Spain, I relocated to Boston and started teaching in local universities and adult education programs. Currently, I teach part-time at the Bridge Program at the Center for Workplace Development at Harvard University. I teach low-level ESOL classes and an occasional GED class. My driving passion is teaching adult immigrants with limited education and unlimited aspirations.
Over the past 15 years I have complemented my part-time teaching schedule with writing teacher resource books and student textbooks. The quiet work of designing and writing curricula is a great antidote to the rigor and buzz of classroom teaching. Writing is also a way for me to share my love of teaching with teachers and students far from home.
Recently I have added another element to my working life. I provide professional development workshops for ESOL teachers all around the country. This work has been generously supported by Pearson Longman in their effort to connect with and support teachers in adult education.
PUBLICATIONS
- Future Literacy Workbook
- Future United States Citizens
- Future: English for Results Level 1
- Future: English for Results Level 2
- Future Skills for Success: Multilevel Communicative Activities Book 1
- Future Skills for Success: Multilevel Communicative Activities Book 2
- Q: Skills for Success Level 1: Oxford University Press
- Side by Side Teacher Resource Books levels 1 – 4
- Side by Side Plus Levels 1 – 3
- Foundations Teacher’s Manual
- Word by Word and
- Word by Word Basic Teacher Resource Books
- Business Across Cultures, co-authored with Laura English
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS
- Collaborative Learning
- Connecting Phonics and Pronunciation Instruction
- Creating a Sustained Silent Reading Component
- Developing Critical Thinking
- Fostering Learner Independence
- Learning Vocabulary
- Enhancing Listening and Speaking Skills in the ESOL Classroom
- Managing a Class with Unpredictable Attendance
- Reading Instruction for Low-level Learners
- Professional Development Workshops
- Strengthening Student Persistence
- Teaching in the Multilevel Classroom
- Teaching Study Skills
- Using Kinesthetic Techniques in the Classroom
Sarah,
Congrats on the blog. Looking forward to seeing what other teachers have to share and of course getting insights from others.
Chor,
Thanks. I look forward to hearing your ideas too!
Sarah
Sarah,
Just saw the blog. It’s very good and has so much to offer to people working in ESL programs. I found the rubrics on Drivers of Persistence in World Education: Adults section to be a very useful resource for teacher evaluation and assessment. Looking forward to reading more next time.
Kavita
I’m glad to hear you found their website useful. I think it is terrific. I’ll be adding to that list of links soon.
Sarah,
Your insights and ideas are carefully chosen and written. The summary of the brain research and spelling ideas will be helpful here.
I’d like to share this blog with adult ed ESL teachers in NJ through the NJTESOL-NJBE e-mail list.
Marilyn
Sarah,
I’m a teacher in one of village, exactly in a small town in indonesia …just i saw your website, n I attracted with your experiences and insight in world education…if you don’t mind to share the effective teaching learning in the classroom for us here, exactly for the English class in Junior High school.
What a great idea!
This really answered my problem, thanks!
Dear Sarah,
My daughter is an International Relations major and just finished her Freshman year of college. She is volunteering this summer to teach English at a school in rural Thailand. Her students will be middle and high school students with some basic knowledge of English. My daughter is to come up with a curriculum for her 8 week stint teaching, and since her Dad and I are career educators, we volunteered to help do some “leg work” to help her find a program that could guide her as she prepares her lessons. We assume the lessons will have to be fun and interactive, since she will have very little access to educational “props” like DVD’s, CD’s, even handouts…..we would love to have your suggestions for steering us in the path of a program or any resources you thought would be helpful to my daughter — Thanks so much for your time and expertise!