With the new year under way, it's given me time to think about some of my goals for the upcoming year--mainly, how I can improve  the quality of my teaching. In teaching an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing course, I find myself always wondering if there are other ways that I can use to prepare my Chinese students for academic life in the U.S. The following list are some of my ambitious goal for the new year to strengthen the quality of my teaching and the program I teach for:

1. Learn more about web 2.0 tools and other technological resources for teaching writing. This past semester I experimented with using wikis in my class with mixed success. Wikis are often praised by educators for their ability to engage students in collaborative coursework, yet I feel I've yet to realize their full potential in connecting them to meaningful writing assignments. Many of the online tools I've used in the U.S. are blocked in China, so I need to research more about using other lesser known ones that the government does not censor access to. For instance, when I took a English course in college, we used google docs for collaborative writing projects, which, sad to say, is unblocked here only on rare occasions. 
2. Begin writing detailed descriptions of my own second language acquisition experiences of learning Chinese. Though I take a Mandarin class three times a week focusing on grammar, writing, speaking and reading, my written accounts of these experiences are often neglected. I believe that in reflecting on what it is like to be in my students shoes,  can compliment the theory and advice I have received from research, textbooks and mentors. 
3. Write a handbook for the courses I am teaching. One of my biggest complaints with institutions offering ESL programs is that for new teachers there is often very little in the way of orientation. Instead, you are handed a book with very little preparation and told, "Go teach this class." Throughout the course of my first semester of teaching in China, I often found myself wishing that if only the teachers before me had set something up to pass on their experiences and knowledge, then my life would have been made much easier. At least if I set up a handbook using a wiki, I can pass it onto future teachers to add to and develop. 
4. Research genre and second language writing. Genre theory is an area of research that I still feel I know little about. Although it has become widely written about in academic journals, my understanding of how to apply it to my course instruction is still a little vague. Hopefully after reading Ken Hyland's book on the topic I'll better understand it. 
5. Find ways to contribute more to my teacher development group. Shortly after I started teaching I read Graham Crookes' A Practicum in TESOL: Professional Development through Teaching Practice. In his book Crookes discussed how forming teacher development groups helps teachers to avoid burnout, build community support and foster better teaching practices. A group of teachers at the university I teach at began organizing teacher development meetings along the lines Crookes mentions. Being that I'm one of the few teachers in the group with previous ESL teaching experience, I feel that I need to do more to familiarize the group with current practices and methods within ESL instruction.