In September, 2016 a brand new, fun English learning book hit Amazon. It's called "Have Fun Talking: 101 Informal Conversations in English".

My role was as editor & contributor to the book, the e-book (on Kindle), and as the creator of the related website http://www.havefuntalking.com. The publication contains dialogues dealing with a wide variety of life situations including Chinese translations of each conversation, as well as exercises to expand knowledge and vocabulary. It includes jokes on each page, idioms, and words of wisdom to promote thinking skills. The dialogues are also available on audio and CD formats.

That’s right, jokes! HUNDREDS of jokes! And why not? The name is HAVE FUN TALKING!, and we want you to have hundreds of laughs while you learn. There are jokes about cats, dogs, cars, banks, luggage, cheese, fish, teachers, monkeys, chickens, phones, motorcycles, airports, railroads and artists. You name it, we have probably included a joke about it.

What do you call an alligator in a vest? An investigator.

The e-Book version of “Have Fun Talking” is now available for purchase on Amazon!!!  It features all of the same content as the actual book, but has a few extras.
You can make notes of anything you’d like to remember or practice.
You can build a set of your own flashcards for any vocabulary you would like to recall.
Our testing has shown that the e-Book will work on a wide variety of devices, including:
– Windows PC’s
– Apple computers
– iPads
– Android tablets
– iPhones
– Android phones
So, you can take the e-book with you everywhere and spend any spare moments dipping into the dialogues and exercises, or just enjoying the jokes.

More recently, all 101 Have Fun Talking conversations are now available to purchase and download in .mp3 audio format. Each conversation is numbered and listed in the table of contents, so you can easily find the ones you are interested in studying. Listen to native English speakers while reading along in the book or e-book, practice your pronunciation with them, or just listen for fun. Whatever you decide, these audio files will be a great addition to your English language learning.

Please check out the website and have a look inside the books on Amazon at http://amzn.to/2k3MKge.

​(That's me on the right, by the way.)

June 5, 2010 at 1:29 am

Good on you, Rick. You are a great example of what dedicated teaching is all about.

I liked your comment on “assumptions” about teachers working with PLN’s so students aren’t short-changed in their learning, particularly in using technology.

Although I’ve just had my 56th birthday, I only came to teaching just over 6 years ago mostly in the EFL field, currently in Taiwan. I was a middle level federal government public servant before this, but grew increasingly dissatisfied with that life. I did a Music degree first, as I’ve always been into performing, then an Education degree. After completing English language studies I’m now able to teach Music or Business or EFL/ESL in Australian schools (where I’m from). However EFL/ESL is what I’ve been doing – in Australia, Brunei, China, South Korea and Taiwan.

Like you, I’ve found the provision of hardware and the support & PD for using new programs has been poor to non-existent. Due to our low status and the language/cultural barriers in non-English speaking countries, it’s very hard to change this, but I try and, as you say, the PLN’s I’m developing are a rich source of ideas to help.

So, I wish you well in your endeavours and encourage you to keep up the good fight for our kids’ futures.

Greg.

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