Cover Letter:

Date

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Hello. My name is Aiko Oe, and I will be having (student�fs name) in my English classroom this semester. To write a few lines about myself, I have graduated from Western Michigan University in spring of 2002 as an English major in Secondary Education Curriculum. I am originally from Japan and am an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in the United States. I hope I can bring my international background into the classroom for students to understand various perspectives in reading and writing and to appreciate diversity in learning English.

There are five topics I would like to discuss briefly about my teaching style. I was trained to use �eBest Practices�f in teaching English while I was in college, and this means that I am not a �gtraditional�h English teacher. The �eBest Practice�f style of teaching English means new way of teaching English. For example, I believe that writing is a complex activity that takes skill, practice, and support.

1. Audience/Context/Genre in Writing: I believe that students need real audience. Their papers and projects are not written only for me. Their audience can be the community, parents, celebrity, friends, and so on. Having real audience for them in their writings is very effective to motivate them to write and to show them how they can really affect other people with their writings. I also believe that without �gsituations�h of the writing, there is no way to evaluate students in their writings. Students should adjust their writing style according to the assignment. Lastly in this topic, I believe that every audience or context involves with a specific genre. Whether the audience is college administrators or their friend will bring a completely different genre of writing as well as whether the context is for a research paper or for their shopping list does the same.

2. Grammar in Writing: I would like my students to learn an appropriate usage of language according to the situation. Grammar is contextual, and we unconsciously switch grammar types for various audiences in various contexts. Also, grammar is very sensitive, because where you put a comma in a sentence can make a big difference in its meaning. I believe grammar is very important in their resume or business letters, but it is not when they pass notes to their peers or they jot down some ideas for their writings.

3. Response and Evaluation: I believe that only giving students a letter or a number to recognize their performances is impossible. I would like to try my best to be a humane and warm teacher (instead of mechanical and cold one) in term of grading by responding and evaluating students before grading. My job is to help and guide students write, not to finish and correct their writings.

4. Writing Across the Curriculum: I believe that English teachers can bring other subjects easily in their classrooms. I would like to engage history, politics, math, science, physical education, art, music, business, foreign language, and more with English language in my classroom. English teachers should be flexible and open-minded in different areas and perspectives when they are teaching English.

5. Creative Writing: I believe that all writings are, in a way, creative. Whether the writing is a topic assigned or a research writing, it is �gcreated�h from nothing to something. I would like students to develop their own world in their writings. I would like students to enjoy writing for various reasons. Keeping journals/diaries is one way of writing habit I would like to introduce in my classroom.

If there�fs any question or concern about my teaching style, feel free to contact me. I will be glad to talk about it. I would like to have your support for your child�fs learning.

I have a homepage about my English teaching. Please feel free to visit and learn more about myself and what we are doing in class.

[URL] http://www.geocities.com/parasurf22/

I am very lucky to have your child as my student. I hope they enjoy the semester as I do.

Thank you very much for your time for reading.

Aiko Oe

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Absolut English: My Professional Portfolio (11/16/01)

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