Thomas Baker is, by his own account, a globetrotter. He's traveled to Europe, Africa, the Antarctic, and North America. He's visited 40 of the 50 states in the USA. The Luxora, Arkansas native currently lives at the end of the world, in Santiago de Chile, South America. He's been here for the past 11 years, he says.
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What made him finally stay in one place? Why didn't he keep moving? The answer, he says, is his wife, Gabriela. When he met her, he was home. In fact, wherever she is, is where he will be. Soon it will be Valentine's day again, but with Thomas and Gaby, maybe every day is Valentine's Day...
What does he do in free time?
When not writing, he enjoys spending time with his lovely wife, Gaby, and of course, indulging in his passion, teaching English as a Foreign Language. Being a teacher gives him so much pleasure that he knows he would do it for nothing because it is so personally rewarding. He considers himself lucky to be able to teach English and get paid for doing something he loves so much.
He fits in time for organizing conferences for teachers, such as the recent Edcamp Santiago 2012. He was also one of the conference organizers for the 2010 IATEFL-TESOL Bicentennial Conference, which was held at Universidad San Sebastian.
In 2010, Thomas was the President of TESOL Chile. TESOL stands for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. It is a professional organization of teachers of English dedicated to raising the standard of English teaching in Chile.
Also, he manages to write a very successful blog, "A Bit of Everything". Often, he confesses, he will be working on multiple projects simultaneously.
Where does he get the time and the energy?
Priorities, perseverancia, and passion, he answers. The P-P-P approach to individual success in reaching your goals. He explains:
"There's always time to do the things we feel are important. Once you begin to do something, you only arrive at your goals by taking a constant series of small steps. When all this becomes repetitive, your enthusiasm, which is transformed into passion for what you are doing, drives you forwards, especially when things aren't going well.
Does he read books?
His mother, Annette, and brother, Charlie, instilled in him a love of reading at an early age. He could read by the time he was four years old.
After pushing his dreams of becoming a published author aside for thirty years, he has finally jumped in with both feet. In the past six years, he has published several major articles in ELT journals before turning his attention to his creative storytelling abilities.
All of his previous story writing was for free, as he wanted his students and fellow teachers to have access to his early work. After seeing thousands of readers reading his stories, it finally dawned on him that he had the talent necessary to be a published author.
He is currently working on his first novel, Celestial Games. The foundation for the novel is put in place with his recent short story, Celestial Games: The First Gold. In that short story, which serves as the backdrop for the upcoming novel, he creates the world in which Celestial Games takes place, the rebirth and repopulation of Earth.
The two main protagonists are a wise old Storyteller and his young son, who is also destined to be a Storyteller. Through their eyes we see the events of Celestial Games take form.
You can find out more about Thomas at the links below:
"An international education must go well beyond the provision of information and is involved in the development of attitudes and values which transcend barriers of race, class, religion, gender or politics." -International Baccalaureate Organization Subject Guide (1996).
It is my authorial belief that any education that does not unite the nations of the world in a common endeavour is a relic of the past century. A common sense of sharing the responsibility, equally, for the welfare of the planet, globally, is needed more than ever today.
Finally, I can only say one thing: The IB program is a positive way forward for any education system in crisis, any education system that desires quality, any education system that aspires to excellence, any education system that wishes to educate its citizens in the image of the twenty-first century, rather than the past century...
The International Baccalaureate
by Thomas Jerome Baker
This book contains all you need to know to successfully coach a debate team. First, you may need to convince your students that debate is a good thing:
1. Debating ability is a valuable skill.
2. Debate utilizes useful English.
3. It is a unique way to teach grammar.
4. It develops critical thinking skills.
5. It introduces global issues.
6. It develops research skills.
This book will give you insights into how to coach a successful debate team, and equally important, have a lot of fun while doing it...
Click this link: 
This book contains all you need to know to successfully coach a debate team. You may need to convince students that debate is a good idea, though. Here are six reasons:
1. Debating ability is a valuable skill.
2. Debate utilizes useful English.
3. It is a unique way to teach grammar.
4. It develops critical thinking skills.
5. It introduces global issues.
6. It develops research skills.
A more powerful reason to coach a debate team is given to us by Dr. Martin Luther King: "“Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace... If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation...” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – 1964 Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
As seen from the Earth, a Solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun.
This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth.
