Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics- An Engaging ESL Textbook for Advanced Students: 1

Eric H. Roth teaches international graduate students the pleasures and perils of academic writing and public speaking in English at the University of Southern California (USC) as a Master Lecturer. He also advises the USC American Language Institute Conversation Group program, consults English language schools on communicative methods, and regularly presentations at CATESOL conferences, and TESOL conventions. Since 1992, Roth has taught English to high school, community college, adult, and university students. Career highlights include: teaching the first Saturday morning citizenship class in Santa Monica (1994); directing the CES Adult Education Center (1995-1998); working with international students in summer IEP programs at UCLA Extension (1997-2000, 2003-2005); teaching advanced writing skills to USC engineering students in Madrid, Spain (2007) and Paris, France (2008); and directing the APU International High School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2009). Roth is also the co-author of Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics, an advanced ESL textbook used in over 50 countries. Easy English Times, an adult literacy newspaper, has published a monthly column "Instant Conversation Activities" based on the book since 2008. Compelling American Conversations for Intermediate American English Language Learners (2012) is the third book in the fluency focused ESL series. A member of the USC faculty since 2003, Roth is a member of numerous professional Organizations including: California Association of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CATESOL); the International Communication Association (ICA); the International Professors Project (IPP); and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Roth has given two USC Faculty Forum presentations on teaching with technology, joined international TESOL panels of English teachers, and led many teacher training workshops in California and Vietnam. Co-author Toni Aberson taught English to adult, university, and high school students for 35 years in a long, satisfying career. She holds two M.A. degrees (English, Comparative Religions). Now retired, Aberson supervised English teachers for 15 years as chair of the Manuel High School English Department. She believes that a lively classroom is the optimal learning environment. In 2012, Aberson authored It’s a Breeze: 42 Lively English Lessons on American Idioms, an intermediate ESL textbook for adult education students.