We are proud to announce the Hands-on English Advisory Board!

These wonderful people are helping to guide Hands-on English in its mission to assist teachers and tutors of adult ESL in a practical way. Their wealth of experience and ideas is a benefit to Hands-on English, and to our readers!

Meet our advisors!

• Lety Banks, in Livermore, California. (98)
  She has an M.A. in TESOL, and has taught ESL for 5 years; she came from Mexico originally and has a B.A. in Translation/Interpretation. She has also taught Spanish at all levels. She prefers teaching adults! She has developed lessons on American culture for ESL, has co-authored a book on Spanish instruction, and is currently venturing into workplace English which she finds challenging. Lety says: "One of the reasons I like HOE is because it is very practical. I use the lessons in my English and Spanish classes...I read [HOE] from cover to cover as soon as I get it."
  
  
• Karen Bordonaro, in Buffalo, New York. (99)
  
• Lynette Bowen in Plainview, Texas. (99)
  
• Sandy Campbell in Bothell, Washington. (99)
  
• Janet Christensen in Salem, Oregon. (99)
  
• Dana Cole, in Chicago, Illinois. (98)
  She is a PhD candidate and is pursuing dissertation work in TESOL. She has been teaching ESL for 7 years, the majority with a multi-level Latino population. She teaches at three sites and now has a beginning class of Vietnamese refugees. She is interested in student centered learning as well as issues of culture and context. Dana says that when she discovered HOE, "It made me feel optimistic and excited about what I had not yet found, a developing community working around important ESL issues."
  
  
• Paula Cosko, in Seattle, Washington. (98)
  She has been a teacher for 29 years, including over 3 years in Nome, Alaska where 80% of the students were Eskimo. She also taught African-American students in primary school for 14 years, and now teaches adults at North Seattle Community College where she enjoys meeting students from many cultures. Paula said "The strength of Hands-on English is that it has items that can be used now...My hope for the publication is that it continue to be diverse in the levels of the activities."
  
  
• Lorraine Dutton in Omaha, Nebraska. (99)
  
• Cheryl Ernst, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (98)
  She comes from Alaska, has her M.A. in TESOL from Northern Arizona University, did a teaching practicum in Japan and taught for a year in Finland. Now she teaches at the IELP (Intensive English Language Program) at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Cheryl says, "I see the role of HOE as an activity sharing device. . . a teaching tool to help share activity ideas."
  
  
• Elise Geither, in Cleveland, Ohio. (98)
  She comes from a long line of teachers and has herself taught in high school, junior high school, advanced student programs and ESL. Most recently she has taught at the American Language Academy at Baldwin-Wallace College for 6 years, where her ESL students are academically bound. She has done some traveling with student groups and has worked on curriculum development. She has also taught immigrant students in a state program. Elise says: ". . . my interest in ESL is wide-spread. I am in the classroom most of the time and am looking for ideas, teaching methods, etc that can work for a diverse group. Hands-on English seems to work."
  
  
• Jean Hanslin, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (98)
  She lived in Sweden where she first taught English to adult students. In the U.S. she has taught in a refugee program, has done workplace ESL, tutored private students and coordinated ESL programs. She has also presented cultural trainings and methods workshops. She teaches TESOL methods and freshman composition at Bethel College. She is also instructional coordinator for the Lao Family Program. Jean says, "What I appreciate most about HOE is its accessibility. Everyone who reads it, sees and understands its practical potential."
  
  
• Jill Kramer, in Columbus, Ohio. (98)
  She is currently an ESL instructor at the Columbus Literacy Council, where she teaches beginning and intermediate English, citizenship and workplace ESL. She came from New Zealand, where she received her Diploma in ESL at Massey University. She previously taught English to adults in New Zealand and in Tonga. Currently she is interested in developing and adapting materials for the lowest level ESL students. Jill says, "I have used HOE for five years now and appreciate the fact that most articles can be put to immediate use. Often I have received my copy in the mail and within a week used several of the activities."
  
  
• Janice Langland in Granger, Indiana. (99)
  
• Sally O'Dwyer in Falls Church, Virginia. (99)
  
• Linda Phipps in Midwest City, Oklahoma. (00)
  
• Dianne E. Scott, in Nashville, Tennessee. (98)
  She currently teaches part time for Catholic Charities, where her students include Hispanics, Kurds, Sudanese, Somalis and Iraquis. She is a two-time Hands-on English Minigrant award winner and develops a lot of her own materials together with her students. She has suggested "hand-me-down ideas" as something that many ESL teachers can benefit from!
  

Each summer we will add new members to our Advisory Board, and we are looking for "idea people." If you are a HOE subscriber and think you might like to serve on the Board in the future, please feel free to send the editor an email: Thank you!

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