Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27236 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-02
• Released on: 2007-03-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 164 pages

Review
IWOSC member and USC professor ERIC ROTH has just published his book, "Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics." The innovative book, designed for non-native English speakers with a sophisticated worldview and still evolving language skills, includes 45 thematic chapters, 1,350 questions, and over 500 quotations and proverbs. Alta catalog, the nation's largest distributor of English as a Second Language materials, has picked up the book. Easy English Times, a monthly newspaper for adult education students, will also be running a monthly column with book excerpts for the next year. Toni Aberson, the book's co-author, has known Roth since before he was born. Roth calls his co-author, an English teacher for over 35 years, "mom. -- Independent Writers of Southern California Newsletter (IWOSC) May 2007 newsletter

This outstanding resource (Compelling Conversations) allows teachers to confidently walk into an advanced ESL classroom with self-contained, engaging conversation lessons. The 45 thematic chapters allow you to both evoke student experience with long lists of practical and savvy questions. The inclusion of global proverbs and classic quotations also provides larger cultural contexts to inspire deeper conversations - or writing assignments. Students should also appreciate the generous amount of authentic language. I wish I would have had that book in my old adult/university classes. A great book for adult education teachers, university instructors, and private tutors!" -- Eric Busch, director/founder, Eslhq.com August 2007

From the Back Cover
"A wonderful source of materials triggering authentic (not stilted) communication."
Dr. Sharon Myers
American Language Institute
University of Southern California

"Immigrants need to feel comfortable speaking English, but too often students learn everything except conversation in ESL classrooms. "Compelling Conversations" allows students to learn by speaking. It's a wonderful addition to our curriculum."
Zigmund Vays
President
Community Enhancement Services College

"COMPELLING CONVERSATIONS is tremedously useful and interesting. I use it almost everyday in my ESL class. I prefer to use COMPELLING CONVERSATIONS because my advanced students enjoy the variety of choices they have with the the number of questions in each chapter."
Ronit Farzam,
MA Lingquistics
ESL Instructor

"I just wanted to let you know that I loved using your book, COMPELLING CONVERSATIONS for my adult ESL student. The proverbs and quotations were a wonderful source of additonal conversation and writing."
Regina Pabo
ESL teacher with more than 20 years of experience teaching students from kindergarten to college.

"I wish I had writtten this book! It will provide students with hours of conversation practice."
Nina Ito
Coordinator
American Language Institute
California State University, Long Beach

Customer Reviews

A wholesome learning resource!
When compelling conversations got into my hands I couldn't help but to think: I wish I had this book when I was learning English!

As English as a second language speaker, I can really tell the difference that compelling conversations has with other ESL text books: topics richness that takes learning at a higher level.

Not only you will feel motivated to improve your language skills, but you will have a rich-provoking theme about life to discuss and share with your tutor or classmates. That in turn makes you grow personally and you certainly will remember the discussed matter here when need it to apply into a situation out of the classroom. You will appreciate American culture as well as other's point of view.

The book is very well structured into four sections totaling 45 chapters. Each one of them is organized into conversations starters followed by vocabulary, proverbs and the indispensable quotations. One that really caught my attention was the Arab proverb "he who has health has hope and he who has hope has everything"

I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn while enjoying the process.

Erika Villafane

Outstanding
As an ESL instructor for over 13 years, I have found this book rich with wonderful prompts generating creative and engaging dialogue amongst my ESL students. In my private tutoring groups Compelling Conversations produces lively group discussions that exercise the students' linguistic and cultural muscles.

Michael Cannon ESL Instructor
University of Southern California

Ennobling English. . .
COMPELLING CONVERSATIONS fills a real niche in which I have been teaching for some years now. It suits the needs of advanced-level ESL students and clients as well as native speakers of English who need to improve their communication skills. The book's questions and quotations are just as useful for writing exercises as they are for speaking exercises.

I have found the material in the book to be very accessible to highly accomplished adults without insulting their intelligence. The questions are much more thought-provoking than the ones generally found in standard ESL textbooks. Concrete thinkers can enjoy all the detail while abstract thinkers can go off on tangents inspired by the proverbs and quotations.

The format of COMPELLING CONVERSATIONS is very flexible and readable. The three- and four-page chapters are easily broken down into parts, which can be a godsend when filler material is needed for intensive ESL classes. I am already a big fan of this book, and expect to become an even bigger one the more I use it.