The Week in English Language Teaching: Fun Phonics, Teaching Workshops, Free Tests, Free Ads...

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Fun Phonics for Free
ELTBOOKS.com announced that while stocks last, their customers can get 1 free copy of Fun Phonics Readers for each 5 copies ordered. Greg Crawford's Fun Phonics Readers support the syllabus of Finding Out and other phonics-based courses.

Oxford Teaching Workshops
OUP Japan announced that its series of Teaching Workshops would begin on Sunday, February 5th in Sendai and invited teachers of children to pre-register. The Workshops will be held in 11 cities around the country.

Free English Tests for Some Students
The Japanese education ministry announced that it will pick up the tab for students at selected publich high schoools to take Eiken and other English proficiency tests. Japanese students have not done well on international tests with Japan ranking 27th out of 30 Asian countries on the TOEFL. The Daily Yomiuri has the full story. Any bets on how successful this new plan by those brilliant minds at the ministry will be?

English Camp Becomes God Camp in Mexico
The New York Times reported on American university students being duped into volunteering for what they thought was an English teaching camp in Mexico only to find themselves part of "a much different and larger agenda centered on the religious theories of Ock Soo Park, a Korean preacher and founder of Good News Corps, with 300 churches in Korea and 120 churches in 43 other countries. The gullibility of these teachers leads us to suspect they may well be signing up for some "TEFL Certificate" training courses soon...

Cambridge Boss to Step Down
Another big change at the top for CUP. Last week, Dr. Richard Ziemacki stepped down as managing director of its US operation after 37 years at the press. This week the Chief Executive, Stephen Bourne (pictured above), announced he's leaving at the end of April. Bourne, a Chartered Accountant, joined the Press in 1997, and became Chief Executive in 2002. The Press Syndicate, made up of 18 senior academics from the University of Cambridge has begun the process of selecting Bourne’s successor.

Bits and Bobs
Abax moved to bigger offices -- across the hall. iEnglish (sister company of ELT Services Japan, which owns ELTNEWS.com) annouced it would offer services to support those wishing to publish textbooks using Apple's iBook Author. We announced that our jobs page is now completely free to advertise on for schools and publishers in Japan. Lars Martinson released the third installment of his "Kameoka Diaries", his take on the life of JET in Japan.

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