Online translators and their possible place in the language classroom

I am not familiar with online translators so I will merely give my initial reaction and reserve a more thorough answer for later.

• I don't think they would be useful for translating text as they are unable to fine-tune the meaning of a sentence.
• They are fine for a quick translation of a word when a student is engaged is a task and needs to know a word
• Translators' "place" or use in the language classroom would, as usual. depend on context, teaching approach, curriculum requirement, learning goal, and student need.
• Should be used with CAUTION

Devil's Dictionary

According to http://dictionary.cambridge.org this person's job consists in correcting mistakes in books or articles before they are printed.

In the Devil's Dictionary, this person is defined as a "malefactor who atones for making your writing nonsense by permitting the compositor to make it unintelligible".

Fun short video about Technology in our lives

There, I managed to embed my first video in my first blog. Thank you Anne!

Professional background

I have been teaching English for the past 18 years. I hold a BSc in Psychology from the University of Washington (Seattle) as well as an MA-TESOL from the Institute of Education, University of London.

I started teaching English in Mexico at the University of Guadalajara, where I also developed courses for both the French- and the English medium curricula in Psycholinguistics, Methodology and Pragmatics. I spent two wonderful years there and loved the culture and the people!

In Switzerland, I taught general English in various language schools and companies before coming to the Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne where I have been teaching business English for the past eight years.

About me...

I grew up in Switzerland but have lived in England, the USA, and Mexico, countries which have greatly contributed to my personality and outlook on life.

Languages have always been part of my life, from Swiss German as the first language I heard and spoke, to French as the language I grew up with and which shaped my school years in Switzerland. I then adopted English in my teens and let it shape my thinking and writing as I made my way through university. Somewhere along the way, I also learned Spanish in order to read Pablo Neruda's poems and to be able to communicate during my two years in Mexico.

My experience as a language learner has been invaluable in order to understand the difficulties and frustrations that my students feel and to find ways to help them overcome some of the obstacles to becoming competent and confident communicators.

Besides languages, I also love philosophy, art, and travel. If I had time, I would have lots of hobbies and activities, but for the moment, I am discovering how to use ICT tools, which is a source of great frustration to me, but very rewarding when I manage to create something new, such as this blog.

Welcome!

Welcome to what I hope will become an exciting tool to share, question, react to, and innovate in all areas dealing with English as a Business Language, whether for local or global purposes. What more can we add to such a common topic you might ask?

Whether we wish to reach new, yet unexplored heights or simply question what we have done so far, the quest is endless and so are the experiences that we have all had.

We are simply part of an ongoing historical movement to search for the best method or approach to teaching, finding and using new tools on the way. Meanwhile learners have and continue to acquire languages all over the world no matter how these are presented. Today, however, the global presence of English forces us to reconsider some of the assumptions on which we have based our teaching and our perception of language learning.

It is to encourage this type of reflection among teachers of business English that this blog was created.