The thirty-nine ESL students, dark eyed and dark complexioned, each took their turn telling me their name and their country of origin. Mexico. El Salvador. Honduras. Cuba. Peru. Colombia. Ecuador. Lebanon. India. China. Korea.

More than a third of students in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) are not fluent in English, according to new research from Rice University's Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC) and HISD. The survey found that the best way to help these students learn English involves teaching them in their native tongue.

Studying abroad not only gives you the chance to travel and gain new experiences, but also the opportunity to build a new skill-set that can help your career in the future.

I recently discovered a GENIUS book that offers a new way to teach English. Penned by Lisa Lieberman Doctor (one of our editors here on Wandering Educators!), this book is both simple and complex. Why is it so genius?

Several years ago, while teaching creative writing for three months in a small village in Spain, I was made to feel welcome by a wonderful group of people who were native to the town. Every Saturday night, more than twenty men and women would arrive at the farmhouse my husband and I were renting, each of them carrying a tray of their favorite foods.