About Specific English

I created this blog in June 2009 with one objective: to raise awareness of my books, especially my series, Cambridge English for ...

Of course, I realise that no-one wants to read about me promoting my books, so I have a policy of keeping them in the background (within reason), and trying to provide genuinely useful advice for teachers of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) instead.

A lot of the content of this blog has its origins in a presentation I wrote to launch the series back in 2008. The presentation was called "A wish-list for ESP course design", and I've delivered it about 20 times now, in seven countries. Lots of teachers have said the presentation was really useful, so that's why I've used it as the starting point for many of my blog posts.

I don't claim to be an expert on ESP. Everything I've learnt has been by crashing around, making lots of mistakes, and learning from other people. In fact, I'd even claim to be a proud non-expert - a representative of that brave group of teachers that expose themselves to the risk of humiliation and trauma by teaching the subjects that no-one else wants to teach. And who make the effort to do a good job.

I really appreciate it when people leave comments here. I strongly believe that we teachers can all learn from each other in the small but lonely world of ESP. So keep the comments coming. Forgive me if I'm a bit slow to respond to your comments - I seem to be permanently chasing impossible deadlines, typically three or four at the same time. Since last May I've been snowed under and desperately trying to get back on top of deadlines. Funnily enough, that was around the time I started this blog ...