Classroom in Central Jakarta, Indonesia Flickr Photo by Shanghai Daddy

This month’s ESL Educators Blog Carnival is an open discussion for our participants. I’m opening this page up to my readers as well, so if you’ve got an interesting ESL article that you’d like to share, please get in touch with me via the Contact Page and I will add your URL, a short blurb about your article and an author box to this post. Don’t forget to check out last month’s carnival, which was published on Go Teach Abroad focused on Engaging Women in the ESL Classroom.

Tax Guide for Overseas Americans

No Plans: Teaching on a Whim and a Dare

When I ‘planned’ my last visit to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, I decided  to arrive without a plan – no itinerary, no specific purpose, and no set  destination. I was just going to fly into Mérida and take the local transportation wherever it would take me. I wasn’t going to teach. I wasn’t going to research. I was just going for a nice visit on a whim and a dare; and I decided I would find places to stay as I traveled the Peninsula. Life had other plans…

Maria Alvarez is the ESL Editor for Wandering Educators. She teaches  ESL/Bilingual Endorsement Courses at Quincy University, and is a tutor  and academic advisor IB/AP English and Spanish, College Prep.

Ten Icebreaker Activities for the ESL Classroom

Icebreaker activities for ESL are a great way to get to know your students on the first day of class. Walking into a room full of new students can be a bit nerve-wracking, especially if you don’t have a lot of ESL teaching experience. Don’t forget that your new students are sure to be a little nervous, too. Whether your students are so energetic that you can barely keep them in their seats, or so shy that getting them to say “Hello” is a challenge, it’s important to find a way to ease their nerves and let them get to know each other and their teacher. The right ESL icebreaker activities can be the perfect way to do it.

Stephanie Long is the Director of Recruiting for Georgia at Reach To Teach Recruiting. In addition to her work with Reach To Teach, Stephanie writes about her travels and adventures on her website, The Wandering Dragon. When she’s not busy writing, Stephanie spends her time playing music and planning her next adventure.

Dealing with Culture Shock

Teaching and living abroad can be the most incredible experience of your life or it can be the worst, depending on how you deal with the difficulties of living and working in a foreign country. Adjusting to a new country and a new culture can be trying, especially when we aren’t willing to adapt or be accepting of a culture that is completely different to our own. This can lead to feelings of depression, loneliness, isolation and complaining.

Originally from Ottawa, Canada, Carrie Kellenberger has kept a home base with her husband in Asia since 2003. She works as a full-time freelance writer, editor, and photographer in Taiwan. Visit www.carriekellenberger.com for more information.

This monthly series is designed for ESL educators in countries all over the globe. As part of a new Blog Carnival called ESL Educators, I will be posting an informative article on English as a Second Language on the 20th of every month. Check back for more articles, and if you’d that would like to contribute to our ESL Blog Carnival, please get in touch with me through the CONTACT page.

Knowledge Flickr Photo by Wiertz Sebastien

The ESL market has changed significantly since I first got my start as an ESL teacher in 2002. Back then I got my start on a career in ESL by taking a 100-hour TESOL course and I quickly learned that there is a huge different between teaching English and being fluent in English. Just because you speak English fluently doesn’t mean you understand the mechanics of how the English language works. A good TEFL course will give you the basics that you need to become a successful and skilled educator. Here’s why you should take a TEFL training course if you want to teach abroad.

In recent years, I’ve noticed that more and more schools are making a TEFL certification a requirement for hiring. Furthermore, the global ESL market is becoming increasingly competitive due to thousands of teachers applying for teaching positions each and every day. People write to me all the time to ask if a TEFL course is really necessary for teaching abroad. My answer is always a resounding yes.

These are my top reasons for become TEFL certified:

1. A TEFL course will prepare you for your year abroad.
2. A TEFL course will help you become a better teacher.
3. A TEFL course will almost always bring you a better rate of pay.
4. A TEFL offers job security. More and more schools are making the decision to take on TEFL qualified teachers.
5. A TEFL course looks great on your CV.
6. Your TEFL is good for life. You can even use your TEFL in your home country.
7. The best schools in the industry require teachers to have a TEFL certification.

The current ESL market has a huge demand for TEFL qualified teachers. Reputable schools within the four world giants of the ESL market – China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan – are all starting to make TEFL certifications a part of their regular hiring criteria. Furthermore, as president of Reach To Teach Recruiting, one of the largest ESL teacher placement agencies in Asia, I can tell you that almost all of the schools and educational organizations that we work with in China, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan all require teachers to have a TEFL certification, even certified teachers.

Our biggest TEFL course provider by far is i-to-i. Their courses are reasonably priced and an i-to-i TEFL certificate is one of the most recognized TEFL certificates in the world.

China

Not surprisingly, the rules for foreign teachers in China change all the time. Simply put, the best schools in China want the best teachers and the governmental agencies that these schools report to are the agencies that set teaching requirements in China.

A number of schools that we work with in China have reported that the Chinese government requires teachers to meet certain criteria before being issued a working Z visa. The general rule of thumb today is that teachers must have two years of work experience post graduation and a TEFL certificate. In some areas, like Shanghai and Beijing, your post-graduate experience must be related to teaching.

If you’re offered a teaching position with a school that doesn’t require a TEFL certificate or a university degree, make sure you do your homework on the school. Most importantly, make sure you find out what kind of visa you will be teaching on. Anything other than a Z visa means you’re teaching illegally in China.

Taiwan

Good schools in Taiwan are now demanding that teachers have a TEFL or teaching experience. Without one or the other, it can be difficult to get in with some of the better paying schools. This is not to say that jobs can’t be found, but more and more schools are asking for qualified teachers each and every day. Furthermore, many schools in Taiwan set restrictions on the type of TEFL a teacher must have, such as accepting no less than a 100+ hour certificate.

South Korea

The Korean government has not yet made a TEFL certificate a requirement for ESL teachers, but it does reward public school teachers with a higher rate of pay. Both public and private schools in Korea give preference to teachers with a TEFL certification.

Japan

Most schools in Japan nowadays will want to see that you have a TEFL certification.

Are TEFL, CELTA, and TESOL certificates all created equal?

TEFL certificates come in all shapes and forms, and some are certainly better than others. This is because there are hundreds of different course providers and each provider generally offers several kinds of courses.

For simplicity’s sake, I refer to all certificates as a TEFL certificate. Course providers have come up with their own names for course certification, but there is no regulatory body that standardizes TEFL courses.

For practical purposes, these acronyms all essentially mean the same thing. Here’s a breakdown of some of the acronyms and courses that you will see floating around the Internet:

• ESL: English as a Second Language
• ESOL: English for Speakers of Other Languages
• EFL: English as a Foreign Language
• ELT: English Language Teaching
• EAL: English as an Additional Language
• CELTA: Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults
• TESL: Teaching English as a Second Language
• TESOL: Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages

Please note that many professionals note a distinction between TEFL and TESL. The same goes for EFL and ESL.

• TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) involves teaching English for business, travel and leisure related purposes within their own countries.
• TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) involves teaching immigrants who have moved to English-speaking countries.

Simply put, the best certification that you can get these days – barring university and college courses – is a certificate with at least 100+ hours, preferably classroom based.

When you are thinking about which course to take, please consider the following criteria:

1. Is the course internationally recognized and accredited by a well-respected agency or authority?
2. Length of the course
3. Course content
4. Which course best suits the country that you are going to?

The Cambridge CELTA course

The Cambridge CELTA course is the granddaddy of all certification courses. This in class course is one of the most widely recognized ESL courses in the world. It takes one month to complete the course work and includes six hours of observed teaching practice. Many teachers choose to take this course at CELTA training centers around the world because it gives them the opportunity to study in an international setting and gain valuable experience abroad at the same time.

TEFL and TESOL Courses

TEFL and TESOL courses don’t really differ from each other except for the fact that they are generally taken by North American citizens.

Deciding on a TEFL course can be overwhelming. TEFL courses vary in length, cost, content, availability; international recognition and in location.

There are many online courses to choose from, but the majority of teachers that we work with recommend the i-to-i TEFL. This course offers a very thorough curriculum, covering everything from classroom management and games to teaching techniques. The i-to-i TEFL course is offered as a 100-hour and as a 120-hour online course. It also offers additional course modules and support for teachers who want to further develop specific teaching skills. i-to-i is certainly one of the best known TEFL courses in the world.

Many courses also offer a classroom component to their certification, so if you can get some hands-on experience along with your coursework, my advice is to go for it!

MA in TESOL

Individuals with an interest in a long-term teaching career in the US usually take an MA in TESOL rather than a TESOL course.

DELTA Course

For those of you who have a CELTA course and several years of teaching experience, a DELTA (Diploma of English Language Teaching to Adults) is highly recommended. This course is specifically designed for teachers that are planning on furthering their career as a TEFL instructor, and it comes highly recommended if you are considering a position as a Director of Studies (DoS) at a language school.

ESP Courses

Teaching English for Special Purposes involves teaching English to professionals in fields like nursing and banking. You must have field experience in order to pursue one of these courses. If you are planning on specializing in areas such as Business English, teaching young learners or teaching English for Special Purposes (ESP), you might want to consider one of the following options:

CELTA and the CELT Young Learner Course

CELTA certificates are geared towards teaching English to adults, but if you’re a teacher that loves working with children, consider getting the CELTA YL extension course.

Business English Courses

Business English teachers are always in high demand. Many Business English teachers find work through companies rather than in a language school.

This monthly series is designed for ESL educators in countries all over the globe. This month’s Blog Carnival is being hosted by TEFL Tips.

Check back for more articles, and if you’d that would like to contribute to our ESL Blog Carnival, please get in touch with me through the CONTACT page.

Notice: The information provided in this post is based on information given to us by the government agencies and client schools that we work with and are based on the feedback provided by our teachers.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

GoTeachAbroad’s Guide To TEFL Certification

Kids Reading (Flickr photo by GoodNCrazy)

As teachers, we’ve all walked into a classroom with a scheduled reading assignment and had the entire class groan at another boring reading lesson at some point in our careers.

It’s easy to see why kids get bored so easily with reading assignments. Oftentimes, the assignments are boring, too difficult or simply aren’t age and level appropriate. Motivating ESL students to read is a tough business, and many teachers are often stumped as to how to make their reading assignments entertaining. It doesn’t have to be this way, though.

Here are some teaching tips and advice on how you can make your reading assignments more interesting and relevant to the age level that you are teaching.

TEACHING TIPS FOR TEACHING READING IN THE ESL CLASSROOM

1. Ask your students to scan a passage. Have them underline new words or grammatical structures.

2. Ask your students to read through the text once on their own. It’s important that your students are able to understand and isolate the main ideas and significant details of a reading assignment.

3. Talk about cause and effect in the story. It’s important for students to understand the reasons why something happens in a story. Talk about sequencing. Do compare and contrast exercises to strengthen your students’ understanding of what they are reading.

Here are some resources to help with talking about cause and effect:

• Scope and Sequence Ladder
• Break out Topics: A chart for organizing main ideas and supporting details
• Brainstorming, Visual Organizers and Mindmaps

4. Don’t hand out language exercises or comprehension tests for reading assignments. Play a word game or a reading game instead.

5. Don’t be afraid to read parts of the story aloud to your students.

6. Ask your students to read quietly and then play a game that focuses on the story being retold or reenacted in class.

7. Ask your students to have a look at titles, sub titles and pictures or photos. Encourage your students to make predictions about the story they’re about to read.

8. Encourage your students to make predictions about a reading passage wherever possible.

9. The appearance of a reading passage is important. Keep reading passages short and attractive. Pay attention to the attractiveness of a reading layout, the font and the type size.

10. Arrange some warm up and pre-reading activities for the class. Pre-reading activities go hand in hand with teaching reading in the classroom. These activities are designed to help students build their understanding of a reading passage before they actually begin reading it.

Don’t forget to check out this comprehensive list of ESL reading resources!

This monthly series is designed for ESL educators in countries all over the globe. As part of a new Blog Carnival called ESL Educators, I will be posting an informative article on English as a Second Language on the 20th of every month. This month, A Journey in TEFL is hosting the ESL Educators’ Blog Carnival. This month’s education carnival is on Motivating ESL Students to Read.

Check back for more articles, and if you’d that would like to contribute to our ESL Blog Carnival, please get in touch with me through the CONTACT page.

Flickr photo by Tristam Sparks

Today’s ESL article covers some important points for teachers who are considering a career in ESL. What’s the difference in ESL and EFL teaching methodologies is a guest post written by Dorit Sasson, a professional ESL instructor and thought leader for teachers.

As one who has taught both ESL (English as a Second Language) in the States and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) in Israel, there are several important things you need to know before entering an EFL or ESL classroom. Here’s the scoop on ESL and EFL teaching methodologies and why you need to consider them carefully before embarking on a career as an ESL educator.

1. Is there really a difference between ESL/EFL teaching methodologies?

The major difference between ESL and EFL methodologies is the status of English. In such countries like Israel, English is primarily taught as a foreign language. This means that students from primary to high school level study English in a formal school setting for a set number of hours per week. The major language for business, trade, etc. in Israel is Hebrew/Arabic yet Israelis use English to communicate with friends, make business transactions, etc. In India, however, the expectation is to teach English as a second language and that is because English is the language for politics, trade, commerce, etc. In both cultural and social contexts, the expectation to learn English is very different and this has deep implications for teaching.

2. How does this difference play out in day to day teaching?

The primary difference is the motivations for the students. The adult ESL learners I teach in the States have both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for learning English. They study English for an external purpose – to get a job, communicate at the supermarket store, speak to their kids, etc. The stakes are very high as many don’t want to return to their respective countries. They want to thrive in America. Many of these learners also possess intrinsic motivation – which means, they study the language for the sake of learning it and have a real deep desire. This is not to say that teaching ESL learners is a bunch of roses – read here to learn of some of the challenges in teaching this population.

When I taught EFL in Israel for twelve years, I had to constantly unique and interesting ways to keep my language learners on task. Learning English is not a given for these students and I did my best to work with the discipline problems – some of which were culturally influenced. One of the biggest challenges was maintaining their attention for the entire lesson. I also had large heterogenous classes.

Depending on where you teach in the world, class size, cultural attitudes, and expectations can play out in the classroom.

3. What are some things teachers must do to prepare themselves for successfully teaching these learners?

The main thing is to pre-assess your learners on the first day of classes, so you can get a good feeling of who can read, write and speak successfully. A pre-assessment is an organizational tool to help you identify differences between current performance and desired performance. It allows you to determine what the students already know and what they are capable of doing. You can then determine what concepts and/or skills students still need to know, or learn, in order to complete necessary tasks.

4. What types of methodologies work for these groups of language learners?

I would say that it’s more of getting to know the learners than worrying which methodology works better than another.

Here are some of the methodologies I’ve found that work:

1. When teaching grammar, for example, teach more inductively – i.e. give the example and have students elicit the rule.
2. Use open-ended activities as opposed to close-ended activities. Brainstorming for example is a great open-ended activites because it allows for multiple responses to one teacher cue. Also, it appeals to heterogenous classes, because all students are working at their own pace – the stronger students are participating while the slower and more quieter ones are listening, but they are active!
3. Use lots of structured pair and group work to support a teaching point.

Teaching successfully these learners involves much more than just a knowledge of how to teach English; you need to be also culturally sensitive to the challenges these learners face and plan activities that cater to these cultural differences.

Dorit Sasson is a thought leader to teachers who want to empower their students – one step at a time! She helps teachers uplevel their teaching and their success. Her speciality is presenting workshops for teachers of English Language Learners and issues of new teacher support. If you are ready to take your teaching to the next level, you can sign up for a F.R.E.E. ezine and ebook subscription at http://www.DoritSasson.com.

This monthly series is designed for ESL educators in countries all over the globe. As part of a new Blog Carnival called ESL Educators, I will be posting an informative article on English as a Second Language on the 20th of every month. This month, Jenna Makowski is hosting the ESL Educators’ Blog Carnival. This month’s education carnival is on ESL as a Career.

Check back for more articles, and if you’d that would like to contribute to our ESL Blog Carnival, please get in touch with me through the CONTACT page.

Month Three of the ESL Educators Blog Carnival focuses on teaching ESL students how to write. Read up on what some of our favorite ESL educators have to say on the subject and don’t forget to check out last month’s carnival, which focused on Classroom Management Techniques.

Teaching Writing Can Be A Lot Easier Than You Think

Most newbie teachers are afraid to teach writing as they often don’t know where to start and the writing problems of most EFL students can get a bit overwhelming . . . But, in fact, writing can be an easy and productive effort when approached from the right direction.  This post offers you that guidance and even includes two free EFL writing manuscripts to download.

Ted Tucker is a retired TEFL educator and TEFL Teacher Trainer.  With an overseas career that started as a Peace Corps Volunteer in  Botswana in 1989 – he has been abroad ever since working in countries throughout Asia and the Middle East. You can find him at http://www.TEFLnewbie.com and http://www.TEFLteacherTraining.com/

Teaching ESL Writing is Fun!

As an English teacher in Taiwan, I spent the majority of my time teaching basic English to four to six year olds. Besides learning how to write their names, this age group wasn’t ready for more advanced writing exercises. I did, however, teach a group of older students three times a week in the afternoon. Their spoken English was already quite advanced, which allowed me to focus more time on their reading and writing skills.

One of my favorite teaching techniques was to create unique Mad Libs that tied into our classroom material…

Andrew Dunkle studied Chinese and Art History at the University of Colorado, and is now the Senior Editor of GoOverseas.com. He loves to travel, and has so far called Colorado, Australia, Taiwan, and California home. His next adventure? He’s thinking South America. Follow Andrew on Twitter at @AndrewOverseas, and at GoOverseas.com

ESL Tips: How To Motivate Your Students to Write

Do you have students who don’t like to write? Do your students just sit for the entire class without writing a word? Do they tell you they hate writing?

The fact is, every student is like that. It’s a challenge for students to write in their own language, and writing in a second language? Forget it! None of your students will be excited about the prospect. With a little creativity, you can change all of that though.

Here are some ideas to spark your students’ writing pens!

Selina Ferguson is a former ESL instructor and Director of Recruiting, Taiwan and China for Reach To Teach Recruiting, an American recruiting agency that specializes in placing ESL teachers at fine teaching institutions around the globe.

Tips for ESL Educators – The Great Group Writing Experiment

Using group work to accomplish a writing task can have positive outcomes. Here is an analysis of a group writing assignment I’ve used in my classroom: what worked well, what didn’t, and how to make it stronger for your classroom.

ESL Tips: How To Make Writing Assignments More Appealing

I used to dread writing assignments. As a high school student, and even into college, my pre-conceived associations with writing tasks – boredom, time consumption, lack of relativity to everyday life – always seemed to ruin the assignment before it had a chance to breathe. For ESL students, the task of writing in a different language only adds to the challenge. Here are two pre-assignment tips to motivate students to write, and to write well.

Jenna Makowski currently teaches English as a second language in Wroclaw, Poland. She has previous teaching experience in Moscow and Chicago. She thinks that the best lessons are the ones where the students talk more than the teacher, and that the best students are the ones that teach. Follow her blog at http://jennagmakowski.wordpress.com/

How To Encourage Students to Write

Getting students to write can be hard. Students often feel less inhibited when they are speaking because they can make mistakes without fear of repercussion. When they write, their mistakes are there for everyone to see. Fear of making mistakes (and, even worse, being reprimanded) will suck the joy out of even the funnest lesson. So, in order to encourage students to write I often employ two strategies…

Matt Gibson lived and taught in Taiwan for 7 years before quitting to write full time. His writing can be read on the Huffington Post, Transitions Abroad, and his own website Matt-Gibson.org.

Writing Tasks

Eva Büyüksimkesyan is an EFL teacher and freelance teacher trainer working in the same high school where she graduated from, and it was her dream. Blog: A Journey in TEFL
Twitter: @evab2001

This monthly series is designed for ESL educators in countries all over the globe. As part of a new Blog Carnival called ESL Educators, I will be posting an informative article on English as a Second Language on the 20th of every month.

Check back for more articles, and if you’d that would like to contribute to our ESL Blog Carnival, please get in touch with me through the CONTACT page.

Flickr photo by mbeo

Classroom management is a key component to being a successful teacher, and it has everything to do with your attitude in the classroom and how you deal with your students in general.

Every new teacher struggles with classroom management in the beginning because they don’t focus enough on establishing their role as ‘boss’ in the classroom. If you don’t take control of your classroom, your students most certainly will. We often worry that our students won’t like us if we’re too strict with them, but you can still be friendly and fun with your students without relinquishing control of your classroom.

If your students like and respect you, they will behave well in class and pay attention to you.

Try to understand why your students are misbehaving.

Students misbehave for a number of reasons. Ask yourself the following questions and be honest with your answers:

• Are your students bored?
• Are your lessons age- and level appropriate?
• Do they have behavioral issues that are related to ADD or ADHD?
• Do your students understand what’s happening in class?
• Do your students think that you care about them?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you probably need to learn a few lessons in classroom management. Here are a few techniques for good classroom management:

Don’t be critical of your students.

Criticism, unless you know how to dole it out accordingly, can be tough on any person at any age. Even adults have problems dealing with criticism, so it’s best to leave criticism at the front door of your classroom. Don’t ever criticize a child or make them feel stupid.

Increase your students’ self-esteem with praise and encouragement.

It’s a known fact that people respond better to praise than criticism. Encourage and praise good behavior in class and you will find that your students will respond to your encouragement by wanting to please you.

You could also try telling a student what s/he does well and give them some advice on what they need to improve on.

Make a big show of openly praising students that are well behaved in class. Reward those students by allowing them to do small tasks for you, such as handing out homework books or cleaning the whiteboard. You could even assign a ‘little helper’ each day and let everyone in class know that the people who are on their best behavior will have a chance at being the teacher’s ‘little helper’.

Employing a reward system is almost always more effective than doling out punishments. All students respond to rewards, but offering things like toys or stickers for good behavior will only serve to backfire in the end. Instead of bribing your students’ into good behavior, try one of the following techniques as a reward:

• Give a student verbal or written praise
• Give them a star on their homework
• Create a special board for your classroom and include everyone’s name on it. Reward good behavior with a star and bad behavior with a worm
• Display their work in a prominent place in the classroom
• Allow them to sit in a place of honor
• Give them a special hat
• Allow them to help the teacher
• Give them a special note to take home to their parents
• Allow them to lead a group activity
• Allow them to help or tutor another student

Teenagers, of course, are not going to respond to being rewarded with the title of Little Helper, but they are very protective of their free time. You could try punishing bad behavior by asking students to stay after class. If staying after class isn’t an option, tell them that they have to work next to you during the break. Another effective technique in dealing with teenagers is telling them that you are going to speak with their parents. Most of them will want to avoid you doing that at all costs.

Show your students that you care about them.

Find opportunities to talk to your students outside of class. When you show an interest in a person outside of class, it makes them feel special. Make sure you make eye contact with your students and smile at them. Don’t make it a habit of sitting behind your desk or standing in front of the board all the time. Get up and walk around the classroom. Check your students’ work, and don’t be afraid to sit down and help them when they need it.

Don’t be a friend, be a mentor.

Don’t try to be friends with your students. Instead, be a role model for them to copy, especially in terms of how you expect them to behave. Let your students know that you are someone that you can trust and come to if they need help.

Be fair, firm and consistent when you are establishing rules, and be consistent in following through on them. Establish rules from the very beginning and don’t back down from them. Additionally, you should be a bit strict in the beginning as it is harder to become strict after you’ve been lenient. If your rules change from day to day, your students won’t know what to expect from you.

Be a role model.

Your actions speak volumes, so treat your students the same way you want to be treated. Be kind, courteous, enthusiastic, patient and organized and you will be setting an example for your students to follow. You can’t gain respect from your students for yelling, losing your cool, punishing a student unexpectedly, putting students down, being sarcastic or embarrassing them. If you can’t control your behavior, why should they?

Change it up.

Don’t use the same old boring teaching techniques in class. Try using a variety of activities, games, and teaching methods that appeal to different learning styles.

Make sure you have everyone’s attention before you start teaching.

You must demand your students’ attention from the very beginning so that they know that it is time to work. Most students will not quiet down just because the teacher has started teaching. Don’t try to talk over the sound of students chattering away in the background. One effective technique for gaining your students’ attention is being completely still and quiet. Students will notice that the teacher is ready and they will let their classmates know that they need to be quiet as well.

Emphasize your point.

Use non-verbal cues like ringing a cow bell to gain your students’ attention. All you have to do is ring the bell to let your students know that you want them to listen. You can also try flicking the lights on and off, singing, or keeping a clicker in your pocket.

Be interesting in the classroom.

Standing and talking to a group of students is boring for everyone involved. Don’t be afraid to be animated in class and never underestimate the power of facial expressions, hand signals, and body language. Play games with your students and provide auditory and visual activities from them to learn from. Engage your students in as many different ways as you can. In the end, students who are enjoying the learning process, no matter what their age is, are far more apt to pay attention when they are having fun.

Understand your students.

This rule in particular applies to older students. Having a good understanding of your students’ country, culture, and educational systems will allow you to adopt different training styles, topics and activities that are relevant to your students. Imagine trying to teach an entirely new concept and then expecting your students to both understand the concept and speak about it intelligently. You’re fighting a losing battle on that end. Your students will be far more comfortable speaking and writing about topics that they can relate to.

Finally, here are a few techniques that don’t work well in the classroom:

• yelling
• being sarcastic
• insulting or embarrassing your students
• using tense or angry body language
• using physical force
• asking your students to follow a rule and not follow it yourself
• preaching
• throwing a temper tantrum
• mimicking the student
• comparing your students with their siblings or other students
• making assumptions about your students
• insisting that you are right
• not admitting to when you are wrong
• making generalizations about your students
• saying things like, “I’m the boss.”

Learning how to manage your classroom is one of the most effective skills that you will learn as a teacher. At the end of the day, everyone wins when both you and your students are in a happy and nurturing learning environment.

This monthly series is designed for ESL educators in countries all over the globe. As part of a new Blog Carnival called ESL Educators, I will be posting an informative article on English as a Second Language on the 20th of every month. This month, Go Teach Abroad is hosting our ESL Educators Blog Carnival. This month’s education carnival is on Classroom Management Techniques.

Check back for more articles, and if you’d that would like to contribute to our ESL Blog Carnival, please get in touch with me through the CONTACT page.

The ESL Educators’ Guide Part One: Teaching Grammar Effectively

Teaching Grammar is a Tricky Business

Teaching grammar, especially for first-time ESL teachers and even for experienced ESL teachers, can often be a tricky business. In fact, it is one of the most difficult aspects of a language to teach.

When we think of grammar, we think of a set of word forms and rules of usage that govern how we speak and write. Some teachers tend to focus on these rules and forms in their classroom, believing that their students learn best through rote memorization. While it is imperative that ESL students learn the rules and forms of grammar, this is not an effective method of teaching grammar. It tends to result in a classroom full of bored and uninterested students who know how to produce excellent results in exercises and on tests, but fail badly at using the language in contextual situations.

On the other hand, there are teachers who teach grammar through osmosis. Teaching methods tend to revolve around the assumption that students will absorb grammar rules in communication activities or they believe that children learn their first language without grammar instruction; therefore learning a second language should be learned the same way.

Think back, for example, to what you learned about grammar in elementary school and high school. Your grammar lessons most likely focused on identifying the basic parts of a sentence, but you probably didn’t learn much about specific grammar forms. This is because we learn these forms naturally as native English speakers. Thus, many first-time ESL teachers and even long-term ESL teachers never really learn how to teach grammar effectively to ESL students because they themselves never learned grammar in that manner. How then, can an ESL teacher teach grammar effectively when the teacher never learned grammar as part of learning a second language?

The trick is to take examples from both teaching styles.

Here are a few tips to help you make the best of your ESL grammar lessons:

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

To teach grammar, you have to understand grammar.  Generally speaking, I meet a lot of first-time ESL teachers that are able to identify different parts of a sentence, but don’t have a clue about grammar tenses and specific grammar rules beyond the basics taught in high school. All too often, I see teachers go into a classroom and wing it by simply going through a bunch of exercises and answers. Moreover, there’s no way to make grammar fun if you don’t have a clear understanding of what you are teaching.

Your active understanding of what grammar is and how it works will allow you to better understand the errors and challenges that your students face. ESL students don’t learn grammar the same way that native English speakers do. It’s not enough to look at something that a student has written and say that you can’t explain why it’s wrong. Your job is to help students understand where they’ve made mistakes, when to use specific grammar forms, and the difference between written grammar and spoken grammar.

Learn How to Give Overt Grammar Instruction

Overt grammar instruction helps students acquire the target language more efficiently, but you should also incorporate as many communicative activities into your lesson plan as possible to strengthen what you are teaching. Remember: Most people learn from learning, observation, and practice.

Break your class time down into manageable sections, and make sure that you are introducing and explaining the grammar lesson, demonstrate how it is used in contextual situations, put it to practical use in the classroom, and play an engaging game that reinforces your lesson.

Try the following ideas in this order during your next grammar lesson and see what happens. The following should take no more than 15 minutes to accomplish in class. I cannot stress the importance of planning your grammar lesson and the examples you will use to reinforce your lessons in advance. Winging it in class can often lead to examples with exceptions, and believe me, you don’t want to introduce an example and then realize that there is an exception to the rule.

1. Write the target grammar rule on the whiteboard.
2. Introduce your target grammar rule/tense and explain when to use the grammar point and why.
3. Go over the rule again. Present the grammar point in written and oral examples to bring the lesson into context and to address the needs of students with different learning styles.
4. Providing examples is an important part of grammar instruction. Plan your examples around two basic principles: a) Examples must be accurate and appropriate. They must present the language appropriately and be culturally appropriate for the setting in which they are used. b)Use the examples as teaching tools. Focus examples on a particular theme or topic so that students have more contact with specific information and vocabulary.
5. Once you’ve run through your examples, ask your students if they can come up with some simple ideas or sentences that match the rule you are teaching.
6. Conclude this portion of the lesson by teaching any exceptions to the rule.

How To Reinforce Your Lesson

Now you’re ready to move on to guided oral practice. I like to do this by handing out a simple question and answer lesson that the class completes together as a class. The focus here is not to provide the answers for students to write down. Therefore, I suggest telling your students that no writing is allowed during this portion of class. I like to make sure that the questions on the activity sheet are similar to what I assign for homework.

Go through all of the answers on the paper together as a class, or if you think your students can handle it, have a student answer a question and have the class repeat after the student.

• Don’t focus on making sure that your students have mastered every aspect of each grammar point that you teach. Instead, focus on the points that are relevant to immediate communication tasks.
• Don’t focus too much on error correction.

Don’t Bore Your Students to Death

Grammar involves a lot of rules and forms, but there are ways to make teaching grammar fun. Your goal in class is to enable your students to carry out the grammar point that you are teaching for communicative purposes.

Start the game off by using a few questions and answers from the textbook or from the guided oral practice section that I talked about in the last section. Once students understand how the game works, you can move start introducing different examples for the grammar point or have the students come up with their own examples.

Here are some links to a few grammar games that I’ve used in my classroom to reinforce my lesson. I’ve adapted both games to suit lessons plans based on grammar points, vocabulary, and simple review lessons.

Survivor for Grammar Lessons

Dead Dice for Grammar Review

Interested in learning more about teaching abroad?  I got my jump on the ESL industry with Reach To Teach Recruiting.

This monthly series is designed for ESL educators in countries all over the globe. As part of a new Blog Carnival called ESL Educators, I will be posting an informative article on English as a Second Language on the 20th of every month.

Check back for more articles, and if you’d that would like to contribute to our ESL Blog Carnival, please get in touch with me through the CONTACT page.

Today’s guest post is written by Mark Bragi – social media blogger and a lover of travel, photography, and food.

Mark Bragi grew up in Southern California where he developed a love for foreign languages, travel, and food, through an interaction with students from different parts of the world. Mark spent a year living abroad, taking up an internship in St. Petersburg and backpacking through Europe, Africa, and Central Asia. Mark speaks Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.

When teaching English in foreign countries, teachers often unknowingly make mistakes that undermine their position with students. Teaching English as a second language in different countries is an involved process.

As an English teacher, you mustn’t only adjust to the foreign environment, food, music, TV, etc. but also to students themselves. Breaking down the language barrier is the least of your concerns, avoiding a classroom culture clash should be your top priority.

Below is a list of common mistakes made by English teachers abroad and some tips on how to avoid them. By no means is this an all inclusive list that accounts for every possible scenario that may arise. However one way to avoid most awkward situations is to accept the folly of assumption. In other words, by accepting the universal principal of “never assume anything”, you are more likely to avoid cultural dissonance.

1.    Don’t make the mistake of avoiding the dress etiquette

Many teachers make the mistake of not paying too much attention to the dress etiquette. In the U.S. we take many liberties for granted, dressing comfortably may not seem like a big deal, but in most parts of the world a neat appearance goes a long way.

Make sure to research the appropriate dress etiquette before your first day. In most Asian countries, teachers should generally avoid wearing bright colors. In most Muslim countries, teachers should avoid wearing sleeveless blouses and short skirts.

2.    Don’t make the mistake of underestimating the value of formality

Seeming authoritative and presenting yourself in like manner is often overlooked by English teachers abroad. Formality is very important to foreign students, especially in Asian countries. In the U.S. teachers often transgress the bounds of formality by treating their students as equals, without losing authority. Students in different parts of the world expect their teacher to command authority in the classroom.

3.    Don’t make the mistake of assuming students are willing to participate

Teachers in the U.S. are very much accustomed to student-teacher interaction. Students in the U.S. are expected to participate in class discussions and group activities. In other parts of the world students are often taught to be passive listeners. Therefore promoting class participation and eliciting student involvement right off the bat may undermine your ability to build trust with the students. Make sure to avoid activities centered on class participation at least for the first few days.

4.    Don’t make the mistake of being too democratic

Amongst all the liberties we take for granted is liberty itself. Teachers in the U.S. are not particularly accustomed to censure, therefore class discussions may range anywhere from capital punishment to euthanasia. In other parts of the world, especially those with a history of authoritative control, students are not accustomed to public debate especially on socially sensitive issues. English teachers abroad should exercise prudence when it comes to class discussions and choose topics carefully so as not to offend or upset anybody.

5.    Don’t make the mistake of assuming students understand

Much too often, English teachers abroad mistakenly attribute various signs of agreement to students’ comprehension. In most parts of the world, especially in Asian countries, students often nod their heads not necessarily because they understand but out of respect or simply because they don’t want to be embarrassed in front of their peers. Teachers should often check for real signs of understanding. Make sure to try and recognize signs of boredom which often means that students are not engaged because they don’t understand you.

By no means does this list try and account for every possible mistake or ever y possible situation which may arise when teaching English abroad. Teaching English to speakers of other languages does not necessarily have to be a daunting or complicated task. It can be an extremely fun and a rewarding experience. There is a lot of helpful information and resources available online as well as various TESOL online courses, certifications, and degrees.

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Thinking of teaching in China? The ESL industry in China is booming and the demand for qualified English teachers is going up every day. If you’re one of the thousands of ESL teachers who have decided to make the leap to life in the Middle Kingdom, you’re in for an incredible adventure of a lifetime. Here are 12 tips to keep in mind during your first few weeks abroad in China. These tips should be second nature in no time!

Visit Reach To Teach Recruiting and ask their team of experts for more information on teaching in China!

1. Westerners stand out in China, and they can be easy prey.  Be careful when you’re out and about.
2. It’s OK to go out alone, but for your first few weeks in China, it’s better to hook up with friends or ask them to meet you before you head out.
3. Keep a business card for the school you work for and a name card with your address so you can remember how to get home.
4. Be wary of over-anxious English speakers you haven’t been introduced to.  There are scam artists everywhere and some of them speak English quite well.
5. Expect to pay more at markets than the locals do. If you’re not sure how to make purchases at the local markets, try standing behind someone and watching what they’re buying. Try offering the same amount as the previous buyer, but don’t get upset if you’re asked to pay more. Paying a ‘foreigner’ price is a fact of life in China.
6. Most taxi drivers are honest and fair, but sometimes you’ll meet one who wants to take you on the scenic route.  If you can’t express that you know you are being cheated, and you don’t want to pay the few extra RMB he is scamming you for, just shout out, “TING, TING, TING”, and the driver will stop.
7. Never carry more money on you than you can afford to lose. As in most cities, pickpockets are everywhere.
8. Don’t drink the tap water.
9. During eat street food during your first few weeks in China. Wait until your system has had time to adjust properly.
10. Markets are best in the morning, especially for things like meat and fresh produce. It’s ok to bargain when you shop.
11. Always take tissue or toilet paper with you when you go out.  Most public facilities do not have toilet paper.
12. It isn’t necessary to carry your passport and residence card with you.  Make photocopies and leave the originals at home.

Eva Fuh

I’m sad to say that this is the final post for my Super Writers creative writing series on My Several Worlds.

To SW9: I’ll miss all of you. You filled these three years with fun and laughter. Continue to leave your dreams to the fullest and never be afraid to write.

SUPER WRITER: EVA FUH

Writing Style: Fable

Every Thanksgiving, Tinity the turkey can hear strange noises coming from the big beautiful house next door. It sounds like there is a turkey screaming or crying. Finally, he asked his mother what the noise was.

“Oh, Thanksgiving is coming,” his old mother said. “Every Thanksgiving, people eat a turkey to help celebrate.”

“Thanksgiving? They have to eat a turkey? What about you, Mom? Will you leave me?” Tinity asked.

“Oh, kid. I am too old. Don’t worry. I won’t go. But kid, I’m worried about you,” Tinity’s mom said sadly.

“Mom…”

That night, Tinity couldn’t sleep well. He dreamed that he became a fat, healthy turkey. A man woke him up in the middle of the night.

“Hey, little turkey. You look very delicious. It’s your turn this year. Are you ready to lie on the table?” the man laughed. “No!” Tinity shouted, and he woke up.

The next day, he was very worried about himself. He was thinking about that dream all day. “I was a fat, healthy turkey in the dream. Therefore, if I become a thin, weak turkey, then the man won’t eat me!” he thought. From that day on, Tinity only ate enough food to stay alive. He became thinner and thinner. The next year, his brother was killed, and his mom cried for a long time.

“I am still too fat,” he thought. So, he stopped eating completely. A few days later, Tinity died, too. Why? Did someone eat him? No. He died because he was too thin, too weak, and he worried too much.