My educational background is in Organizational Behavior from Northwestern University. Contrary to popular belief, Organizational Behavior is the psychology of behavior in organizations, NOT in being organized!
I started out in ESL as a volunteer tutor in a multilevel classroom. I was priviledged to work with many outstanding ESL teachers and I learned countless tips and creative ideas.
Now I teach ESL professionally. I love teaching ESL, but during my first year teaching I was shocked to learn how much the average teacher spends out of pocket on classroom materials.
I started shopping at thrift stores and garage sales and discovered creative classroom uses for the trash to treasure stuff I found. I took computer classes and made my own games using Word and Clip Art.
One day my supervisor told me I had to do a presentation for other teachers in order to justify the cost of always sending me to seminars and conferences. I combined the best of the best of ideas I've learned over the years with some practical, thrifty, and organizational advice and called it Nifty Thrifty Ideas for the Adult ESL Classroom. Great ideas kept coming leading to a second presentation called Bright Ideas for Beginners.
This website was orginally created as a sidekick to the Nifty Thrifty presentation to allow ESL teachers access to some of the activities and games I demonstrated without having to pay for the cost of copying handouts or worrying about not having enough handouts to go around.
After seeing the Nifty Thrifty presentation someone wrote, "Knowledge Shared is Power Squared" on the evaluation sheet. I like that thought. I hope you found this website useful and I'd love to hear your nifty thrifty ideas. I promise to pass them on!
