Compelling Conversations: Questions & Quotations for Advanced Vietnamese English Language Learners

This special edition of Compelling Conversations is designed to assist advanced Vietnamese English Language Learners in their desire to improve their speaking skills. Through open-ended questions, exercises and Vietnamese proverbs, English students will find a wealth of opportunities to practice their fluency and improve their confidence in speaking English out loud. This EFL textbook helps students to prepare for standardized exams with speaking sections such as TOEFL and TOEIC tests. Based on the author’s experience running an English high school in Vietnam and his highly successful English as a Second Language (ESL) textbook, Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics (2006), this unique book includes thematic chapters to create quality conversations, interview questions, paraphrasing exercises, classic quotations, and tradition proverbs to create hours of English conversation and class discussions. Can be used independently or, ideally, with a conversation partner. Compelling Conversations is also great for starting fun conversations with family members. This version includes Vietnamese cultural touchstones and photographs, that makes conversation practice enjoyable and effective for Vietnamese English Language Learners.

This innovative English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbook focuses on building speaking skills of Vietnamese English Language Learners. Based on the highly successful English as a Second Language (ESL) textbook, Compelling Conversations, this unique book includes thematic chapters to create quality conversations, interview questions, paraphrasing exercises, classic quotations, and tradition proverbs to create hours of English conversation and class discussions. It also uses many photographs from Vietnam, highlights Vietnamese culture, and has been adopted by a Vietnamese university for their English classes. This culturally sensitive textbook encourages Vietnamese English Language Learners to speak about their experiences, their families, and their lives in Vietnam. With dozens of practical speaking exercises, this book improves the fluency of Advanced Vietnamese English Language Learners and provides practice giving reasons to support opinions, build critical thinking skills, and prepare for standardized exams with speaking sections such as TOEFL and TOEIC tests. It also builds authentic conversation skills in English. This special version is a wonderful addition to English programs, conversation clubs, and English classrooms.

Eric H. Roth teaches international graduate students the pleasures and perils of academic writing and public speaking in English at the University of Southern California (USC). He also consults English language schools on communicative methods to effectively teach English and leads workshops for ESL and ELL teachers. In 2009, Roth was director of the APU International High School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A Lilly Scholar, Roth studied philosophy and American history at Wabash College and received his M.A. in Media Studies from the New School. Since 1992, Roth has taught English to high school, community college, adult, and university students. Highlights of his career include: teaching high school English language learners in Los Angeles (1991-1992) teaching the first Saturday morning citizenship class in Santa Monica (1994); directing the CES Adult Education Center (1995-1998); teaching international students at UCLA Extension (1997–2000, 2003–2005) and teaching USC engineering students in Madrid (2007) and Paris (2008). and directing the APU International High School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2009). Roth co-authored Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics in 2006 to help English language learners increase their fluency. Recommended by English Teaching Professional magazine, Compelling Conversations has found its way into EFL classrooms in more than 50 countries. Since 2008, excerpts from Compelling Conversations have appeared regularly in Easy English Times, an ESL and adult literacy newspaper. An adaptation of Compelling Conversations, tailored to the needs of English language learners of a specific country, Vietnam, was released in March 2011 and adopted by American Vietnam University. In 2012, Chimayo Press released, Compelling American Conversations: Questions and Quotations for Intermediate American English Language Learners. Roth is a member of numerous professional organizations including: California Association of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL); the International Communication Association (ICA); the International Professors Project (IPP); and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The USC Center for Scholarly Technology awarded Roth two teaching with technology grants in 2011. He has given several CATESOL and TESOL conference presentations and shares his teaching experiences on the blog www.CompellingConversations.com/blog.