MSI Press Blog

  Today's blog post is the next in the series of book back stories and is the story behind Content-Based Instruction in Foreign Language Education by Stephen Stryker and Betty Lou Leaver. This book is an affiliated (recommended) book by MSI Press and can be purchased through Georgetown University Press or Amazon. From a co-editor: This book was quite a few years in the making. First, CBI was a rare course design back in the 1980s, when Steve brought it into the Spanish classes at the Foreign Service Institute and Betty Lou introduced it into the Russian program there. Rather than write a book about CBI, we wanted to amplify the theory with practical examples of successful CBI in language classes. We never thought it would take from 1989 until 1997 for enough teachers to adopt CBI in their classrooms to have enough examples (roughly a dozen) to comprise a book, but it did.  During the eight years we worked on the book, we sought a publisher. It would be a first-time book for b...

It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic arises indeed from the fact that 'tis the season for book awards...at least, for the opening of accepting 2022 award entries. The question is whether or not to enter, how many, and which ones. After all, they cost. Are they worth it? Here are some reasons they are worth entering: Attention. The more attention your book receives, generally the better it will sell. Awards are a very positive source of attention. Confirmation. You think your book is good. Your publisher through so when accepting it for publication. Winning a competition, especially the difficult ones, provides confirmation that you are ri...

This Sunday, we begin a new Sunday feature: the story behind our books. We will take these one at a time, on Sundays. So, if you like knowing the unknown and little known, come on by on Sundays. This Sunday the book chosen to kick off our series is Task-Based Instruction by Leaver and Willis. This book was published by Georgetown University Press and appears among the affiliated books of MSI Press by virtue of having been co-authored by an MSI Press author (me - Leaver). At the time of the writing of this book, much was available about task-based instruction (TBI) in the English as a Second Language (ESL) field, of which the greatest amount appeared to have been written by Jane Willis of the UK, often together with her husband. For Foreign Language Education/Second Language Acquisition (L2), however, only a small generically oriented spiral-bound sample of essentially one task was available, written by Michael Long, then at the University of Hawaii.  In consulting and in administ...

  Just posted - a new affiliated book: At the age of forty-two, Roberta Rosnik discovers that her heritage is all a lie. Believing her family has German-Italian ancestry, she is shocked when her mother reveals she was adopted. Additionally, she learns that she is half Native American and a member of a tribe located in Washington State. Will she accept this shattering news and attempt to reconnect with her biological family and her tribe? Can she embrace both worlds and accept her new identity? For more posts about affiliated books, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter  here  or on our  home page . Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor...

  MSI Press announces a new, 5-star, affiliated book, Breakout , by Louis Espinola. Purchase the book from Amazon:  Breakout , In the aftermath of a great war on a remote island, a trio of friends make reservations at a vacant country house to rest from their usual daily lifestyle. But the trio finds itself under fire when a recently concealed evil from the war discovers their whereabouts and begins hunting them down with relentless ferocity, aiming to coerce them into their servitude. And yet, when all seems lost, the trio finds help in the most unlikely place. Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow  MSI Press  on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with  MSI Press LLC ? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our  author au pair  services will mentor you through the process. Interested in receiving a free copy of ...

  MSI Press has added to its collection of affiliated books a book coedited by Dr. Stephen Stryker (California State University at Stanislaus) and MSI Press author, Dr. Betty Lou Leaver: Content-Based Instruction in Foreign Language Education. Published by Georgetown University Press "a while back," so to speak, it was an immediate classic and remains so. To purchase this book on Amazon. click  HERE . For more posts about Betty Lou Leaver and her books, click HERE . For more posts on language learning, click  HERE . To see more affiliated books and learn about affiliated status, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC b...

  MSI Press announces a new, 5-star,  affiliated  book,  Certainty , by Mike Mears. Released today, the book is already in the top 100 of Amazon new releases. Book Description: Discover how great leaders draw out the best of human nature. The dilemma .  Our Stone Age brains are hardwired for survival and programmed to fear the unknown, yet the work world demands constant innovation. The enemy of better leadership is uncertainty deeply buried in the minds of your workforce. The solution .  In  Certainty,  Mears offers the answer: understand human nature. Work with it rather than pushing against it. Mears draws on neuroscience and psychology-plus compelling stories from his career-to offer practical leadership advice, including: - Entertaining, science-backed explanations of how our brains think and how our primitive brains are colliding with the demands of the modern workplace - New feedback, change management, and delegation tools to build an envi...

Just added as an affiliated book. Published by Cambridge University Press . Available through CUP or Amazon (and other online stores). Transformative learning has been widely used in the field of adult education for over twenty years, but until recently has received little attention in the field of world languages. Drawing on best practices and the research of distinguished international world language experts, this volume provides theoretical and classroom-tested models of transformative education in world languages at major university, state and governmental programs. Chapters outline theoretical frameworks and detail successful models from cutting-edge programs in a wide range of languages, with plenty of examples included to make the theory accessible to readers not yet familiar with the concepts. Classroom teachers, program administrators and faculty developers at every level of instruction will find support for their courses. With its innovative approach to the teaching and lear...