May 20, 2007

"Writing for the ESL markets"

"If you are a writer, you are a storyteller. If you are a storyteller, you can be a marketing expert."

In 1972, Karen Batchelor joined the Peace Corps and for the next two years, lived and worked in a small town in South Korea. This experience was a major milestone in her life. It was here that she stumbled on her true calling.

After returning to San Francisco, Karen earned an M.A. and began teaching English as a Second Language at City College of San Francisco. From there, she was invited to do teacher training at UC Berkeley Extension, and later at other local universities. In 1991, Karen was tapped by the U.S. government to serve as an English Language Specialist in various developing countries (for example: Bulgaria, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Czech Republic) to conduct teacher training workshops for English teachers.

Karen has received many teaching honors, including a profile in the Bay Guardian as one of ten outstanding Bay Area educators (1987), and twice nominated and listed in Who’s Who Among American Teachers by honor students who named Karen as the teacher who influenced them most.

Karen has published poetry, professional articles and co-authored eight ESL textbooks. She has also won an Honorable Mention in the annual Writer's Digest competition, short story division. In March of 2006, Murder at Ocean View College was published by Houghton Mifflin.