MSI Press Blog

Reissued -- two beloved oldies in the language teaching world. These books have been published continuously since we first published them years back. We transferred them shortly after publication to Villa Magna LLC. Recently, Villa Magna made the decision to focus on the works of Omar Imady (also one of our authors, whose works we will eventually be transferring to Villa Magna) and recently transferred their language books to us. Both books are unique -- and likely foretell the future of language teaching though the focus they suggest is only slowly starting to become part of the profession, on the periphery. We are confident, however, that, in time, they will represent the mainstream of teaching approaches. Communicative Focus   describes in detail the theory and nature of the principles and practices used in his approach to language teaching. He is not afraid to talk about some aspects of language learning and teaching, such as the development of lexical and grammatical accuracy, as

  Communicative Focus  was written through collaboration of Boris Shekhtman, who had left the Foreign Service Institute to open his own highly successful private school, using language teaching techniques that were quite unique but extremely effective, and Dina Kupchanka, a young teacher who taught for him.  The realization of the principles introduced in  Communicative Focus  had appeared earlier as actual classroom exercises in several publications, a book published by Cambridge University Press ( Developing Professional-Level Foreign Language Proficiency ),  How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately  (an immensely popular book published by MSI Press), and articles in the Journal for Distinguished Language Studies. The theory behind these activities had never been spelled quite so explicitly before (lack of room in the previous publications to include theory). Further, it took some time before the profession was ready to move on from teaching language as linguistics and teachi

  Communicative Focus (Shekhtman and Kupchanka) which has been read for language instructors for year is now available as an e-book. At last! Book description: In the current volume, the author describes in detail the theory and nature of the principles and practices used in his approach to language teaching. He is not afraid to talk about some aspects of language learning and teaching, such as the development of lexical and grammatical accuracy, as well as the need for memorization and the development of memory, that have been increasingly omitted from the classroom as a result of the rise in popularity of theories that debase their significance but which are very important, especially if students are to reach the highest level of proficiency. He also discusses some ideas, such as the unique nature of the connection between language and meaning that native speakers experience that non-native speakers must learn to deal with-in differing ways at differing levels of proficiency. His fo

  Recently released - the audiobook for Communicative Focus  by Boris Shekhtman and Dina Kupchanka. In the current volume, the author describes in detail the theory and nature of the principles and practices used in his approach to language teaching. He is not afraid to talk about some aspects of language learning and teaching, such as the development of lexical and grammatical accuracy, as well as the need for memorization and the development of memory, that have been increasingly omitted from the classroom as a result of the rise in popularity of theories that debase their significance but which are very important, especially if students are to reach the highest level of proficiency. He also discusses some ideas, such as the unique nature of the connection between language and meaning that native speakers experience that non-native speakers must learn to deal with-in differing ways at differing levels of proficiency. His focus throughout is on communication and the nature of communic

  Boris Shekhtman has been considered a national authority on teaching students to use foreign languages effectively in communication with native speakers. He has developed a unique set of tools designed to enhance an individual’s communication in a foreign language environment, which he describes in  How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately . Boris Shekhtman presented his communication rules at numerous seminars for a number of U.S. Government agencies including the Library of Congress, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Agriculture and Air Force. His clients included correspondents of major news organizations such as ABC News, CBS News, BBC, NBC News, New York Times , Washington Post , Los Angeles Times , Chicago Tribune , Time Magazine , and Associated Press. The content of the seminars is well described in his books. The most popular of them are:  Developing

  Many MSI Press authors are teachers -- and a number of them write some darn good books for parents, award-winning books, in fact. Here are some of their works that might interest you: Cindy Alder (K-12) 10 Quick Homework Tips   365 Teacher Secrets for Parents Franki Bagdade (K-12)   I Love My Kids, But I Don't Always Like Them TL Brink (university) How to Argue with an Atheist Ekaterina Filatova (university) Understanding the People around You Christina Fisanick (university) The Optimistic Food Addict Tom Garza (university) Practices That Work Julie Gentile (private) 108 Yoga and Self-Care Practices for Busy Mamas How to Stay Calm in Chaos Emily Graves (university) How to Be a Good Mommy When You're Sick Geri Henderson (university) Healing from Incest Noah's New Puppy Darius Husain (K-12) Road Map to Power Muna Imady (private) Damascus amid the War Road Map to Power Omar Imady (university) Erasures  - affiliated The Celeste Experiment  - affiliated The Gospel of Bethany:

  Excerpt from Communicative Focus : Why is the language performance of native and non-native speakers different?       On the face of it the answer to this question is quite easy. The difference in language performance between native and non-native speaker can be explained by the degree of their command of the language. Native speakers have excellent command of the language and non-native speakers, poor command of it. But why is this so?                                                                   In his book The Native Speaker: Myth and Reality, Alan Davies (2003) defines 6 factors which make a person a native speaker. The most important factor is the acquisition of language in childhood. Successful acquisition of language typically happens by the age of four and is   guaranteed for children up to the age of six.   After that, the potential for native   language acquisition is steadily compromised until shortly after puberty and is rare thereafter. Maturational ch

  Excerpt from Communicative Focus - Appendix. Table 2. Teacher’s Guidelines for Working with Student’s Repetitions     REQUIREMENTS     MISTAKES   RECOMMENDATIONS   1.   Set up the assignment clearly and keep your promise.   Instructor changed the assignment and did not inform the student about it, as a result the student did not understand what the instructor wanted him to do Every time a change is made  in the assignment, make the student aware of it, even if the change is seemingly insignificant.   2.   It is their repetition, not yours.   Instructor performs the repetition more times than the student himself or herself Present the expression once, at least twice and then let the student do the job   3.   Make the repetition fun.   Repetition was carried out in a monotonous fashion, b