No-nonsense, fat-free Online TEFL advice
What is TEFL anyway? TEFL, TESOL, ESOL, ELT, CELTA, EAL, EAP, ESP etc. The list of acronyms (abbreviations consisting of the first letters of each word in the name of something, pronounced as a word, for example IKEA or UNICEF) initialisms (like acronyms but each letter is pronounced separately such as the BBC or the…
Why write things on the board for the students to write in their notebooks when you can dictate them? Dictation gives your students a clear model of pronunciation and allows them to practise their listening and writing skills. Here’s an example: Imagine you have a few topic questions you want your students to discuss. You…
Whatever you might think about using course books in class, most teachers in most teaching contexts are obliged – or strongly encouraged – to use them. In fact, I imagine most of you have succumbed to the temptation of starting a class by saying: Your learners may well be comfortable with this approach. However, after…
Think of a teacher who had a positive effect on you. Maybe this teacher made you think that teaching might be something you would like to try. Maybe this teacher awakened a passion for learning in you that was previously dormant. Maybe this teacher opened a window to a subject that until then had held…
Whoops! You’ve completely forgotten that Valentine’s Day is round the corner and you haven’t planned anything with a romantic theme for your classes. Don’t panic – Here are 3 last-minute love lessons / activities for you to try which require very little preparation. TIP: Not all learners feel comfortable talking about their private lives and relationships….
So, you’ve been accepted onto a TEFL course. How are you feeling? Relaxed because you are a fluent English speaker with a good educational background. Perhaps you feel a little trepidation as one of your friends took the course and said it was one of the toughest months of her life. Maybe you’re worried that…
Somebody asked me the other day if I had a philosophy about TEFL, a manifesto if you like, perhaps a mission statement, a set of general beliefs about teaching English to speakers of other languages. I laughed and said I didn’t really believe in grand statements. Besides, I was watching a football match and didn’t…
The native versus non-native speaker debate rages on…… In a previous post, I discussed native speaker English teachers (NS teachers) and non-native English teachers (NNS). The title of the post ‘Can non-native speakers of English become good TEFL teachers?’ was, as some people pointed out, potentially insulting towards non-native speakers . My reason for choosing…
Over the years, I’ve interviewed about 50 TEFL teachers. Some people walked through the door and I automatically knew they weren’t appropriate for the job: stinking of alcohol, 3 hours late with no explanation, tattoos all over their face when they were applying for an in-company position…..little things like that. Other applicants seemed fairly normal…
This is a source of constant debate in the TEFL world. Here in Spain, many Spaniards (employers and students) request native speaker teachers. They hold beliefs, or prejudices, such as: British speak proper English not like Americans My German / Dutch /Spanish teacher of English knows grammar but speaks with a terrible accent I want…