Magazines for teachers
In this article we take a look at other magazines for teachers that are available internationally. It might seem strange to be reviewing the competition, but every magazine has its own characteristics and will appeal to a different type of teacher.
When
we first published iT's for Teachers in 1990 we wanted to create
a magazine that was different and that filled a gap in the market by
providing topical activities for teachers to use in the classroom. Here
are some of the other magazines out there that have been filling other
gaps in the market.
English Teaching Professional, or ETp as it is also known, has been around for several years and neatly filled the gap left by Practical English Teacher, which Mary Glasgow published and which older readers will fondly remember.
ETp is published six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September and November. The main part of the magazine is dedicated to articles, covering practical aspects of teaching. The good thing about these articles is that they are written by people from a variety of backgrounds including academics and working teachers. ETp is very much an international magazine and it is interesting to find out what teachers are doing in other parts of the world. The publishers say they have subscribers in over 110 countries!
In
each issue there's a main feature followed by the articles. In the current
issue the main feature has been written by our friend Mario Rinvolucri,
who considers what prevents teachers from trying new exercises. Other
articles in this issue include "Reading in Phases", "Marking
Written Assignments", "Making Culture Real" and "Jurassic
English". There are also regular sections dedicated to Business
English, teacher development, and technology. Then there are book reviews
and activity sections. The format can occasionally feel repetitive,
but it also makes the magazine easy to use.
The magazine is now available in two formats. A subscription to the print magazine includes access to the online edition, where subscribers can access archive editions. For a small saving it is also possible to subscribe to the digital edition only.
ETp is published by Keyways Publishing, which recently acquired three of the magazine titles formerly published by Modern English Publishing. These include Modern English Teacher, a quarterly publication originally published by Pearson/Longman.
The
first thing you notice when you open Modern English Teacher is
that there's a lot of text. The only images in the current issue are
the book covers that feature in the mammoth 20-page review section.
The magazine's website says that Modern English Teacher offers
authoritative and informative coverage of all aspects of English language
teaching, including classroom theory, language development, and the
latest ideas and tends in teaching theory.
The word authoritative might put some teachers off, but the magazine has been around for more than 30 years so it must be doing something right. The issue we looked at included articles on a variety of topics from "Targeting Errors in Consonant Doubling" to "Using Pop Songs in the Classroom".
For more dedicated teachers there's the ELT Journal published by Oxford Journals in association with IATEFL.
ELT
Journal is a quarterly publication that "seeks to bridge the
gap between the everyday practical concerns of ELT professionals and
related disciplines such as education, linguistics, psychology, and
sociology that may offer significant insights".
As with Modern English Teacher, this is a magazine that values academic articles and boasts "an Editorial Advisory Panel whose members referee submissions".
The journal is a nice compact size and while the layout is basic, it is clearly labelled and reader-friendly. Articles in the issue we looked at included "Teaching New Tendencies in Gender Usage in Modern English", "Learning to Learn: The Impact of Strategy Training", and "Young Learners' Functional Use of the L2 in a Low-Immersion EFL Context". The ELT Journal also has a 20-page book review section.
New
Standpoints is published by Nathan in France and by Mary Glasgow
Publications in the rest of the world. There are articles in the first
half of the magazine followed by 20 pages of photocopiable resources
in the second half. There's also an audio CD with listening activities.
The activities are grouped by theme and there are usually two or three activities per theme. The activity themes in the current issue are "Britishness", "Crime Fiction", "The Beat Generation" and "Writing Skills". In the "Britishness" section there are activities at three levels: Discovering Britishness (Beginners/A1), a Webquest on British icons (Lower-Intermediate/A2) and interviews with British teenagers on national identity (Intermediate/B1). The activities are almost all text-based, so the material isn't very appealing visually, but there's a lot of it and the audio is a big plus.
Apart from the activities, each issue of the magazine has 12 articles designed to help keep teachers up-to-date with current English teaching trends. The articles in the current issue include "Using the Interactive Whiteboard", "Writing in Primary School", "Developing Cultural Awareness", "Dating - American Style" and "Teacher Training in Chile".
New Standpoints doesn't seem to have its own dedicated website, so it's very much a print magazine. Its design and two-colour format give it a slightly old-fashioned feel, but it's good to see Mary Glasgow Magazines publishing a teacher's magazine again. After all, they were there at the beginning.
There
are two magazines for American English language teachers. First published
in 1997, Language Magazine (formerly American Language Review)
is published 12 times a year, which makes one feel that there's a demand
for a teacher's magazine in the United States. In fact, the magazine
is mostly dedicated to local teaching issues so whereas it is relevant
for teachers working in the United States, it doesn't have as much of
an international appeal as the other magazines we've looked at.
Articles in the current issue include "Creating a New and Improved No Child Left Behind Act", "Facets of Spain" and "English Irregular Verbs".
ESL
Magazine is another title published by Keyways. With just 32 pages,
it's a slim magazine, but it does manage to fit a lot into the space
and feels more international than Language Magazine. In the current
issue there are articles on work in the field of adolescent literacy
development for English language learners, strategies for teachers who
want to help their students achieve success in English grammar acquisition,
how to help immigrants learn about the law and their rights, and the
versatility of Moodle, the online course management system. The magazine
is published six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September
and November.
Finally, we couldn't write about magazines for teachers without mentioning the EL Gazette. It's more of a newspaper than a magazine and it's really for the teacher who wants to know what's making news in the ELT world rather than the teacher looking for articles to read or classroom activities. It's a good place to find out what conferences are coming up, what jobs are out there, and it's often simply fun to read.
In
the April issue the front-page stories include the British Council Moscow
teaching centre being forced to close, unemployed immigrants in the
United Kingdom being told to study English to claim benefits, and the
effects of text messaging on the way American teenagers write essays
at school.
British newspapers are famous for their attention-grabbing headlines, and the EL Gazette keeps up the tradition with headlines such as "TEFLers Exit Stage Right", "Student Arrest in UK College", "TEFL Mafia Mamma Flees", "Pilot Scheme Takes Off" and "New School for Scott". Wait a minute ... here's a story by another old friend, Scott Thornbury, writing about his experience at the New School in New York. There's always something to read in the EL Gazette.
You can find out more about all the publications mentioned in this article by following the links below. All subscription prices listed are for a one-year period and are correct for 2007.
English Teaching Professional
Issues per year: 6
Personal subscription: £25 / €40 / $40
Institutional subscription: £45 / €75 / $75
Website: www.etprofessional.com
Modern English Teacher
Issues per year: 4
Personal subscription: £25 / €40 / $40
Institutional subscription: £45 / €75 / $75
Website: www.onlinemet.com
The ELT Journal
Issues per year: 4
Personal subscription: £44 / €66 / $81
Institutional subscription: £110 / €165 / $193
Website: http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org
New Standpoints
Issues per year: 4
Subscription: £23 / €35 / $43
Website: www.link2english.com
ESL Magazine
Issues per year: 6
Subscription: £19 / €30 / $19.95
Website: www.eslmag.com
Language Magazine
Issues per year: 12
Subscription: $26.95 (U.S./Canada) / $59.95 (rest of the world)
Website: www.languagemagazine.com
EL Gazette
Issues per year: 12
Subscription: £33 / €49 (Europe) or £44 / €79
(rest of the world)
Website: www.elgazette.com