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A Conversation with Dave Sperling

Speaker: Dave Sperling
Moderator: Jenny Johnson
Date: Saturday 3 June 2000

Apart from being the creator of Dave's ESL Cafe, one of the most popular ELT sites on the Internet, Dave Sperling is also the author of three Internet books. His passion for teaching began in Asia, where he taught EFL in Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Upon his return to the US in 1993, Dave completed his MA in Applied Linguistics, and began teaching ESL at California State University, Northridge.

MODERATOR> Hi everybody. This is going to be the weirdest chat yet. I'm on the south coast of England, Robert is handling things from Barcelona and Dave Sperling is somewhere in California.

MODERATOR> Where in Caliofornia are you Dave?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> I'm in the Los Angeles area in a place called Woodland Hills, which is located in the San Fernando Valley.

Montse> There must be a link to your café site on practically every Internet site related to teaching and learning English in the world. How did it all start? What made you decide to create the site in the first place?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> Well, I became interested in using the Net in English language teaching as a grad student from 1993-1995. I started teaching again in 1995 and immediately began experimenting with the Net in my classes.

I soon decided to try to create an online community for both students and teachers, and began to experiment with creating interactive web pages. In December of 1995 Dave's ESL Cafe was born!

MODERATOR> How many visits does the site get everyday?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> We get from 7-8 million accessed per month, and about 7000 visitors a day just on the main page at http://www.eslcafe.com

coria> You must be inundated with e-mails from teachers and students. How do you cope? Are you still a one-man operation or is there a Dave Sperling team?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> It's definitely a lot of work running Dave's ESL Cafe. I do much of the work myself, but I do have helpers all around the world including my 'left hand man" (I'm left handed!), Dennis Oliver, from Arizona State University. I travel with a laptop and connect all around the world. Last month I was in Israel, and ran the Cafe from a kibbutz in the northern part of the county, where I could actually hear gun file from Lebanon! Next month I'll be running the Cafe for 4 weeks in a rural village in northern Thailand.

MODERATOR> I have a few more questions for you Dave.

coria> You were there at the beginning. How have things changed and how do you think teachers have adapted to the Internet? Have you found a real change over the last couple of years?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> There are a *lot* more web pages, and certainly a lot more quality sites. It's also become a lot more commercial. I began surfing the Net in 1993, and there wasn't very much quality content, so many teachers were discouraged. Not so today . . . Now we also have audio, video, and telephony, so there is even greater potential for the language learner.

bill> Do you still do face to face teaching or is your time totally taken up by internet work?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> This is my first year of running Dave's ESL Cafe full-time. I am, however still on the faculty of California State University, Northridge and sometimes do substitute teaching.

Gill> People are constantly saying that the Internet offers so much for both language teachers and learners. And yet many teachers feel frustrated when they try using the Net with their classes. What's the secret of using the Net successfully in the language class?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> Lots and lots of patience and flexibility! The technology is still very new, so the teacher has to understand that problems can and will happen . . . problems such as not being able to connect, not being able to access certain web pages, not being able to get into a chatroom (!!!) :) I'm not sure if there is really a secret but creative teachers seem to have the best results with using the Internet in the classroom.

Rita> Hi, Dave! Pleased to meet you online! A question: is there a new edition of your '98 Internet Guide?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> Not yet, but I am hoping to have a new edition published in 2002 which would actually be a complete rewrite.

Gill> Do you spend much time exploring the Internet? If so, which are your favourite sites?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> I don't explore as much as before because maintaining Dave's ESL Cafe consumes so much of my time. However, I love Yahoo, the Lonely Planet travel site, and ESL/EFL sites that are added to my Web Guide at: http://www.eslcafe.com/search

EvaMaria> Do you think that teachers could use only computers and Internet in their teaching for example when they teach English? Do you believe that online learning will replace the traditional classroom?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> It's already happening now that we have complete web-based university programs. A teacher, however, is still needed so I do not see the Web as replacing the teacher. In fact, I see the web as providing more opportunities (and income) for teachers. I've had job ads on my site for teachers to teach online and my brother-in-law teachers online for a local community college.

Rita> Your book here (in Rosario, Argentina) is our bible. I work in a big institute, (Asociacion Rosarina de Cultura Inglesa) with about 70 teachers and we're setting up our multimedia centre with your kind help...Can you tell where we can find the name of the signs other than letters and numbers (eg * asterisk). We do not know their names and how to find them on the keyboard. Thank you very much!

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> Glad that you like my work! I don't have an immediate answer for this one - it's 7:50 am and I'm still on my first cup of coffee! I'm using a Mac, and I do know that there is a little program that helps with this. I'll try to do a search for you o please e-mail me at sperling@eslcafe.com

MODERATOR> It IS very early for you, Dave. We all appreciate your early rising very much!

bill> I think I'm a creative teacher but very new to online teaching. Could you give me an example of a class activity that works well?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> First, go to Dave's ESL Cafe! :) I think I'd suggest setting up keypals for your students which provides the opportunity for the class to make friends, practice their writing, and communicate in with people from around the world. I have a list of keypal sites on my ESL Web Guide at: http://www.eslcafe.com/search

David Shaffer> How much of a role will the internet have to play in ESL instruction in the future? Is the initial euphoria with the internet similar to that of language laboratories of the 1960s - high expectations of the new technology, but quite limited in actual usefulness?

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> Hello Dave .... my favorite ESL Cafe Help Center teacher! :) I think that the Net will play a *major* role in language learning because unlike a language lab, we've got real human beings interacting and communicating with one another from all parts of the world. And the future potential is tremendous, especially with broadband (high speed access) telephony, and video. As an example I'll be going to Thailand next month and I'm brushing up on my Thai by visiting Thai websites (reading in Thai) keypals, and even practicing actual speaking via Internet telephony . . . (dialpad.com). What can I say? It works!

MODERATOR> OK everybody, our hour is up! Thanks for all the questions and a big thank you to Dave Sperling.

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> It's truly been my pleasure and honor to "chat" with all of you today. Always happy to meet new friends from around the world so please feel free to e-mail me at: sperling@eslcafe.com

MODERATOR> Hope you get lots of emails Dave! Bye now.

SPEAKER_Dave Sperling> Have a wonderful summer!