Humanising Language Teaching
Year 1; Issue 8; December 1999

Welcome to Issue 8 of Humanising Language Teaching which , on this particular occasion, comes to you from a language school in Gdansk, Poland.

I would like to thank the colleagues from Poland who created this issue – maybe your school / institution could provide one issue of HLT in 2000?

English Unlimited teachers who have contributed to this issue are creative and caring people with between four to seven years of teaching experience. They have chosen to write about different aspects of their everyday professional experience but there is a common theme in all of their articles. It is , by and large, the theme of : Language Teaching and Personal Identity.

The main article in this number - The Paradox of a Non-native Teacher, deals with teachers' identity in a non-native environment. It is followed up by Beata Krzysztofiak's article on teaching advanced students and called Leading by the Hand or Taking up the Garden Path.

Derek Nolan who has written From Shizuoka to Gdansk shares his ideas on topics that may be taboos in different EFL classrooms due to the cultural/social background of students while Nancy Coles presents her views on Coping with Conflict in the Classroom. Finally, Ela Gusakowska describes her difficulties in dealing with Business English & Cross-Cultural Problems.

Turn to the Joke Page for Jokes from Poland as presented by Derek . After all, who can tell Polish jokes better than the Irish ?

Christine Frank' admirers - Ela and Derek have independently come up with two lesson outlines on different language points which share, nevertheless, a common theme - sharing a flat , while Anna Hyzniak revives An Old Exercise on mutual dictation.

Enjoy reading our issue of HLT and visit us on the Internet. We would like to wish you a Happy and Creative New Year !!!