by Jarek Krajka
jkrajka@batory.plo.lublin.pl

It is my pleasure as the editor of Teaching English with Technology to present you with the fourth issue of this free electronic journal for EFL/ESL teachers interested in using computers and the Internet in their teaching. The idea of the editorial board of TEwT is to make the Journal as practical and useful for teachers as possible, therefore emphasis is laid on submissions immediately relating to and applicable in classrooms. This line is maintained when choosing articles for publication, as well as other columns such as Lesson Plans, Website Reviews, A Word from a Techie, etc. It is hoped that thanks to that Teaching English with Technology manages to fill the gap on the market of ELT journals and serves as exhaustive and reliable resource for teachers.

The Journal is growing with every issue: this time, I am proud to announce that it reaches over 500 subscribers, including 100 from Poland and the rest from a number of countries all over the world. The Journal website, http://www.iatefl.org.pl/call/callnl.htm, where the current issue as well as all the previous issues can be found, has been visited over 1600 times since its launch in January. The editorial board receives more and more submissions, and new columns are added.

This month we can see the start of a new column, The Internet for ESP. The widespread availability of information through the Internet offers great possibilities for ESP teachers, and students can benefit a lot from incorporating Web-assisted learning and teaching in their regular courses. The new column has been introduced to account for that and equip ESP teachers with tools for their work. In the introduction to the column, Maria Jose Luzon Marco from the University of Zaragoza, Spain, presents the basic assumptions lying behind using the Internet in ESP, as well as the direction of the column for the next few issues. In the column, different activity structures that could be used in teaching ESP are going to be covered in detail, and this month the focus is on treasure hunts.

The article, "Basic Web Design and the World Wide Web: A Content-Based Instruction Course," written by Kevin Schoepp from Sabanci University, Instanbul, Turkey, touches upon the issue of how to combine effectively teaching English and teaching basic computer skills, here simple HTML. The author presents an EFL course developed around Web design and the WWW using the method of Content-Based Instruction, showing how to teach students English and at the same time develop their basic webdesigning skills.

Two lesson plans are different from each other: the first one, "Searching Online Reference Books" by Shiao-Chuan Kung from Taiwan demonstrates how to use online reference databases (here Bartleby.com) to improve students' reading skills, searching skills, and introduce literature into teaching. The second one, "The Royal Family" by Joanna Czarniakowska-Filipek from Poland, is a culture-based lesson, exploiting the potential of the Web and focusing on increasing students' cultural awareness.

As for Website Reviews, this month I have decided to have a closer look at Portals for Children, as teachers of Young Learners often complain that they are unable to find teaching materials suitable for lower-level students and kids. A Word from a Techie is a detailed account on what to do in order to start using chat in the classroom, and various possibilities of doing that are investigated with detailed step-by-step instruction, advantages and drawbacks. In Software Reviews, Fang Ying from China evaluates Canadian Scenes, a Chinese computer software aiming at providing cultural information about Canada. Finally, Reports from Past Events section features a report from EastEuropean IATEFL Poland Computer SIG conference, a highly successful event organised for the first time by IATEFL PL Computer SIG.

I hope that you will find this issue of the Journal useful and that it will provide some answers to your teaching problems.

I wish you good reading.