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Professionalization of language teaching means that increasing numbers of instructors at all levels will approach the ideal of a native or near-native speaker with training in applied linguistics or access to appropriate pedagogy. The current reality, however, is that teachers may feel their training needs enhancement, and may be isolated from all but colleagues in languages cognate with English. The following list of resources is intended to encourage instructors to make connections as well as obtain concrete aids.
Membership in a national professional organization is highly recommended, as is investigating the local scene, including your regional AAS. If there is no network of teachers in the area, why not start one? Newsletters, electronic bulletin boards, and listserves circulate information about workshops, job openings, training programs, grants, and conferences well worth tracking. The proliferation of' organizational acronyms (some almost as hard to remember as Chinese characters) is a heartening sign of rapid development in the field. Still, for every teacher the happiest find is a new idea for the classroom, paired with the methodology to integrate it successfully. Using the Internet or traditional channels, an instructor can access a range of materials for and about teaching.
The following list has been compiled with the difficulty of access to Internet resources among some teachers in mind. It barely hints at sites available almost exclusively in target languages, which may present decoding problems for users even within those language areas. Every effort at accuracy has been made, although links may take you, as they did me, to sites that have been "dead for about 1,000 years." The list includes few strictly commercial resources, but there is much evaluation of commercial products at the various sites. Listings give a web site address, mailing address, phone, fax, and email contacts as available, plus brief notice of especially valuable or unique services from each organization.