Come with us now to the first day of class to teach English in China. Both students and teacher's hearts pound with anticipation as students file into the room, chatting and pretending not to notice the foreign teacher standing behind his desk. But they can't help glancing at him anyway for a first look. Laughter mingles with the sound of books and chairs clanking together. A buzzer sounds in the hall, and Bill Burkett, affectionately known in China by his students as "Mr. Bill," begins. A Manual for Teaching English in China takes us from the first day's buzzer through the first weeks, months, and semesters of teaching English in China, sharing numerous stories, laughs, interesting facts, and many effective ways of teaching ESL. A Manual for Teaching English in China is packed with Bill Burkett's practical ideas, methods, and teaching techniques that can actually be used to teach ESL anywhere. Bill Burkett recently returned from a seven year stint of teaching English in the universities and training schools of Henan, China. An internationally renowned public speaker, Burkett has lived in 46 nations in the last 43 years. He developed a strong interest in linguistics which was fueled by his close association with interpreters. In Chinese classrooms where he taught English, he conducted active research, experimenting and taking student polls. He concentrated on eliminating speech impediments and strong accents. His education, experiences, and research shaped his philosophy of teaching English as a Second Language and formed the basis of his first ESL book, A Manual for Teaching English in China. Following the manual is Secrets to Better English which reveals a proven method of teaching ESL without accent. Although Burkett's doctorate is in philosophy, his love is making a difference in his students' lives by teaching diction and the skills of speech.

If the essential acts of teaching are the same for schoolteachers and professors, why are they seen as members of quite separate professions? Would the nation's schools be better served if teachers shared more of the authority that professors have long enjoyed? Will a slow revolution be completed that enables schoolteachers to take charge of their practice--to shoulder more responsibility for hiring, mentoring, promoting, and, if necessary, firing their peers? This book explores these questions by analyzing the essential acts of teaching in a way that will help all teachers become more thoughtful practitioners. It presents portraits of teachers (most of them women) struggling to take control of their practice in a system dominated by an administrative elite (mostly male). The educational system, Gerald Grant and Christine Murray argue, will be saved not by better managers but by better teachers. And the only way to secure them is by attracting talented recruits, developing their skills, and instituting better means of assessing teachers' performance. Grant and Murray describe the evolution of the teaching profession over the last hundred years, and then focus in depth on recent experiments that gave teachers the power to shape their schools and mentor young educators. The authors conclude by analyzing three equally possible scenarios depicting the role of teachers in 2020.

Current rates of autism diagnoses have been cause for concern and research as well as rumor and misinformation. Important questions surround the condition: how early can an accurate diagnosis be made? At what age should intervention start? How can parents recognize warning signs? And what causes autism in the first place? There are no easy answers, but the Handbook of Early Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders gives researchers, practitioners, and academics the science and guidance to better understand and intervene. Background chapters survey the history of professional understanding of the disorders and the ongoing debate over autism as a single entity or a continuum. Chapters on best methods in screening, assessment, and diagnosis reflect the transition between the DSM-V and older diagnostic criteria. And at the heart of the book, the intervention section ranges from evidence-based strategies for developing core skills to ethical concerns, cultural considerations, and controversial treatments. Included in the Handbook's broad-based coverage: Designing curriculum programs for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Mainstream education for children with ASD. Teaching independent living skills to children with ASD. Social skills and play. Behavioral and mental health disorders in children with ASD. Training and supporting caregivers in evidence-based practices. Teaching cognitive skills to children with ASD. The Handbook of Early Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders is a comprehensive reference for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians and other scientist-practitioners in clinical child and school psychology, child and adolescent psychiatry, social work, rehabilitation, special education, and pediatric medicine.