ABOUT FRANK

He loves writing, but that wasn’t always the case. His wife, Jackie, finds him writing in his journal every morning and night, which drives her crazy. On a serious note, he loves creating innovative online learning materials.

Previously, he consulted on nine textbook projects, both as course writer and project manager in some cases. He designed, managed and co-authored a two-level series of adult-level ESL textbooks, entitled Canadian Snapshots, published by Pearson Longman ESL.

One of the highlights of his life was co-writing a five-level high-school English-second language Take series, published by ERPi of Montreal…

..It exceeded everyone’s expectations by earning over $27 million in revenues. With the spare change that project gave him, he decided to retire and tour the world. Not really! He went to the UK to do a doctorate in English language teaching. Crazy idea – but a lot of fun.

In earlier days, he taught at several universities: McGill, Concordia, and TELUQ, a centre of distance education. At McGill, he directed the teacher-training program at the Faculty of Education. At TELUQ, he created a series of four university-level distance education courses in English language teaching for teacher training. He now teaches young adults at Cégep Saint-Laurent – a junior college in Montréal, and swears it’s the secret to staying young.

As a business consultant, he was director of an ESL division of Pearson ESL in Montreal. Another highlight of his life was getting fired from that job. When you don’t see eye-to-eye with devious and self-serving bosses, it’s best to move on. A very happy moment indeed, which led to many other opportunities.

In another adventurous move way out of his element, he served as representative of a firm specializing in mergers & acquisitions for small businesses. He was also president of a chapter of Business Network International in Montreal for one year.

Your Instructor

His motto is “Be the best you can be”—in big things as well as small.

 

 

He has been teaching English second language learners all his professional teaching career— which spans more than 30 years. He is a big fan of the hybrid or flipped classroom in which he mixes classroom teaching with online teaching. So he teaches language as well as digital literacy, using tools like Moodle with ESL learners.

 

 

He has taught ESL at the high school, college and university levels. He has been a teacher trainer.

 

He is also a lifelong learner with a passion for learning and sharing new teaching ideas.

Boston College

He received a BA in English and History from Boston College. Later, he earned a MA in Applied Linguistics at Concordia University in Montréal. As a mature learner, he received a PhD in English language teaching at Lancaster University in the UK. Great experience! Three degrees from three different countries —an achievement he is very proud of.

 

In addition, he has been an ESL teacher trainer at McGill University’s Faculty of Education, Concordia University’s TESL Centre, and TELUQ, a distance education university in Montréal.

 

He presently teaches at Cégep de Saint-Laurent in Montréal. He has been an English language materials writer for over 30 years and co-author of 10 ESL textbooks. 

 

His biggest success was co-authoring a five-level high school ESL series—the “Take” series —for grades 7 to 11.

 

The passion to teach and write—to help learners succeed—is stronger than ever!

Our Testimonials

WHAT THEY SAY
Frank has never failed to impress me with his politeness, professionalism, and the pedagogical soundness of his materials.
- Nick Walker, ESL professor, Ahuntsic College
Frank is a true professional, knowledgeable in many areas of study, and especially adept at creating unique training materials and training teachers of ESOL.
- Dr. Toni LaMotta, Adjunct professor in Critical Thinking, Independence University
Nobody knows more about teaching ESL academic writing than Frank Bonkowski. If you’re looking for a teaching resource, look no further: Frank is an ideal mentor, and this course will give you everything you need to teach the subject.
- Chris Rush, English language specialist, Off2Class
I’ve known Frank both as a friend and colleague for the last 13 years. He’s one of those rare individuals who combines passion, enthusiasm and professionalism in his engagements. Lifelong learning and teaching are two of the values that drive him. From first-hand experience, I can say he’s an outstanding teacher.
-Fred Horowitz, Business Coach
As an accomplished writer, teacher and mentor, Frank Bonkowski is truly what I would consider to be professional, thorough, passionate and dedicated. Frank receives great joy in seeing others grow and develop through the learning process.
- Mark Yerbury, President, Qualiteam Inc., A Dale Carnegie Franchise
The course, Teaching Writing to Intermediate and Advanced Learners, is full of practical ideas that I could implement the next day with my students. I loved how the modules had a written outline and a video which appealed to various learning styles. Resources like the WIDA rubrics and the virtual writing tutor were very helpful. I would recommend this course to any teacher looking to make their writing instruction more effective and engaging.
- Marie Cowgill, M.ED., Reading Specialist/ ELL, Newark Charter School