WHESOL is a blog about teaching English to speakers of other languages (ESOL, also known as EAL, ESL, EFL, etc.).
The WH- in WHESOL can stand for WHatever you like. Perhaps, it evokes a critical interrogative, a whowhatwherewhenwhywhence ESOL. The ⟨wh⟩ is pronounced /hw/, which could perhaps be read as an irreverent poke at the hypercorrect top-down, racist, classist, imperial nonsense that is still rife in this godforsaken field.
In all likelihood, however, the proprietor was simply looking for a memorable 5- or 6-letter acronym with an available domain name and figured they could backfit in some meaning when the dust settled.
About Me
My name is Rob Sheppard. I’ve been in the field of ELT for about 15 years, in contexts that include community-based adult ESOL, independent language schools in Boston, cram schools in Taiwan and Korea, and higher ed Intensive English Programs.
WHESOL 