Schools Blacklisting Teachers?
Posted on January 5, 2009
Filed Under Blacklists, Teacher blacklists, Uncategorized | 1 Comment
We all know of the practice of teachers warning others about dodgy schools, don’t we? Quite rightly, there is an ever increasing network of sources on the net warning teachers about the places not to go, the TEFL Blacklist being one of the best known, the schools mentioned often making their way onto the ELT World forums. Did you know that in some parts of the world, this practice is reciprocal? That’s right folks, there are teacher blacklists out there, As might Guy Courchesne highlights in a new thread on the forum:
‘Here in Mexico City, school owners share info with each other on select nutjobs that breeze through town. However, there’s one school in Tepic, Mexico (aka Shitsplat, Nowhere) that has gone so far as to post on their webpage the names of said teachers along with their ‘offenses’. This is laughable to say the least.’
You can visit the offending webpage here.
Now, when you’ve been in this profession a while, you stop wanting to give people second chances, especially when you have to work and maybe even live with those who need serious help in managing their lives. Being able to warn a school not to hire a nutjob may indeed be a good thing. the problem of course arises when controlling such blacklists. What I enjoy about the TEFL Blacklist blog is that there is a reasonable degree of balance; schools who have been blacklisted genuinely get the chance to argue their case and are able to respond directly on the blog. Can the same be said of these schools in Mexico? Regardles of the fact that I think it’s funny that Dave’s ESL Cafe members have been banned (how they decide you’re a ‘member’ is beyond me), I still worry about the level of accountability. Who makes it to the list? Can you ever get off such a list?
Things like this ruin people’s careers and we need to be aware that such lists exist. Schools will make use of them despite how accurately they reflect the individual inquestion.
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I can’t compete with this
Posted on January 2, 2009
Filed Under Teaching materials, Video clips | 1 Comment
Happy new year to all of you, wherever you find yourself mired in the life of the professional TEFLer. Now, I’ve never resorted to getting my kit off in order to teach a particular language point and I’m sure my students are very grateful for that. Nevertheless, this particular ‘methodology’ may have something going for it, if used by a particular kind of practitioner, as this clip illustrates.
Is this truly innovative or just plain dodgy? You decide for yourselves, ladies and gentlemen. should you wish to download this for classroom use, you can do so by clicking here.
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Horizons: Your Free Online TEFL Journal
Posted on December 30, 2008
Filed Under Horizons, Journals | Leave a Comment
The latest action packed edition of Horizons ELT Quarterly Journal (issue 6) is now available for free download. The contents of the current issue are as follows.
English teaching in Israel can be immensely rewarding
by Michelle Simmons
Facing financial crisis? Then move your teaching career abroad
by Kelly Blackwell
Things to consider before accepting a job
by Sharon K Couzens de Hinojosa
Teaching in Japan is easier than ever
by Judy Wellsworth
English in Malta
by Thomas West
The advantages and disadvantages of online TEFL courses
by Ajay Shringi
Expat living in Thailand
by Alex Smith
Virtual Classrooms
by Rajesh Rastogi
Where should newbies go to begin their TEFL careers?
by members of the forum (newbie questions)
Exploring task based learning
by Sharon Turner
The American Concept of EFL and its Invisible Visions in the Middle East Region
by Amjad Owais
Click here to view the journal and download. Happy new year to all, hopefully you’ll come back and visit in the new year!
Sphere: Related ContentNew York: Reliable LaGuardia Airport Transportation
Posted on December 30, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I’m an english teacher who’s constantly on the move; I’m sure that many of you in this profession are like me in that you love to travel and see the world as much as you can. An aspect of our profession that allows me to do just that is attending and presenting at international conferences. One thing about traveling to another country which I rarely enjoy, though, is arriving at a major international airport only to face the prospect of having to deal with the irritation of arranging a reliableairport charter service to wherever I happen to be staying.
I have to mention, even when traveling to cities such as New York, where I have the huge benefit of speaking the same language as the people, the LaGuardia airport transportation experience is one that I usually like to get over with as quickly as possible. When I say usually, things are about to change…
I mention from time to time on ELT News and my other blogs about my wish to return to New York some time soon, and although that remains a desire for sometime in the future, at least now I can rest a little easier when it comes to my transport arrangements thanks to the LaGuardia airport transportation service. Not only are you able to benefit from the advantages of being able to make your arrangements in advance, you can also benefit from a discount for booking online and making a group booking, factors well worth thinking about if you’re going that way any time in the near future.
The LaGuardia airport transportation service is really designed to make that awkward bus charter part of the journey far more relaxing than it has been in the past, now offering charter transportation for groups of any size.
Sphere: Related ContentGuesing vocab from context…
Posted on December 29, 2008
Filed Under Discussion, Guessing vocab from context | Leave a Comment
…is a really bad way to acquire new words, at least that’s what I rather provocatively suggested on a thread over on the ELT World forums.
Of course, it’s not an impossible skill, as many noted: ‘It’s possible,’ suggetsts Golightly, ‘but it depends on factors such as how concrete or abtract it is if it’s a noun, and relative similarity of the language to L1 - although that can also be a hindrance (false friends etc).’
‘Will probably depend on age and general literacy ability of your learners,’ adds Emma. ‘What I mean is an 18 year old will have a much broader L1 vocabulary than an 8 year old and will be better placed to infer meaning from context.’
Read the rest of the somewhat heated discussion here.
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A Race Against the Clock
Posted on December 23, 2008
Filed Under ELL, United States | Leave a Comment
Time is of the essence for children learning English, notes Melissa Lazarín in an article for the somewhat imressively named ‘Center for American Progress’.
‘Kindergarten English language learners enter school with a vocabulary of 5,000 English words fewer than their native English-speaking peers,’ suggests Melissa, ‘ELLs must not only learn a new language; they must keep pace with their English-proficient classmates who are continuing to rapidly grow their vocabulary and further develop their already advanced literacy skills. More than two-thirds (69 percent) of English language learners are citizens by birth or naturalization and begin their education in U.S. schools, but for those newcomers who enter the U.S. school system in later grades, time and the constraints of the traditional school day pose a particularly serious challenge.’
‘Expanded learning time,’ she adds, is ‘a schoolwide strategy that entails redesigning and lengthening the school day and/or year to help support teaching and learning for all students, can be particularly beneficial for ELLs. Current efforts to promote the expansion of learning time suggest increasing the school day by two hours or lengthening the year by 360 hours—the equivalent of at least 30 percent more learning time. This additional time can be pivotal in closing both the academic and language gap for ELLs.’
This article, entitled A Race Against the Clock: The Value of Expanded Learning Time for English Language Learners, is accompanied by a downloadable report.
Teachers of ‘Other English(es)’?
Posted on December 14, 2008
Filed Under Asia, South Korea | 1 Comment
English is now a global language, keeping us all in work lest we forget, shared not by only the British, N. Americans and Australians, but South Africans, Singaporeans, Filipinos, Indians, Jamaicans, and many others. In this state of affairs, we can truly say that English is “owned” by no one. Or everyone… Including Koreans.
The world is marching in the “World English(es)” direction, and Korea can’t afford to be a late-comer. The Korean educational authorities and immigration officials are starting to realize the need to include teachers from other English communities.
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Can Obama’s New Requirements Keep Pace with English Language Learner Student Needs?
Posted on December 8, 2008
Filed Under Americas, No Child Left Behind Act, United States | Leave a Comment
United States: As President-Elect Obama transitions into the White House, one major area of focus is the state of education in the United States. While many changes are planned with respect to the No Child Left Behind Act, a key focus area is the graduation rates of English Language Learners. In his comprehensive plan to reform education, Obama believes that schools should be held accountable for the success of their ELLs.
Read the full Obamatastic story…
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Police pay £900 per day for translation
Posted on November 29, 2008
Filed Under Alternative careers, Discussion | Leave a Comment
Good news for any of you who’ve spent some time abroad as a poor and destitute TEFL, only to make the move back to Britain to find yourself even poorer and more destitute. If you managed to pick up the local lingo to a decent level of proficiency, why not offer your services to the local constabulary, who are currently forking out a fortune in translation services, if this BBC story is to be believed.
‘Lincolnshire Police force has been spending more than £300,000 a year on translation services covering 49 different languages. The force must provide translation services to anyone arrested or questioned who either cannot speak or needs helping understanding English. Some of the languages services offered include Bulgarian and Vietnamese. Translations have cost the force more than £190,000 since April this year - an average of £900 a day. The force spent a total of £317,421 between April 2007 and 2008.’
So, all those of you panicking about being out on the streets should you ever return to Britain, get out of the bar next to the language school and start mixing with the locals, it could pay off big time.
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Obama’s Use of Language Stirs Controversy
Posted on November 26, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I’m not sure of the source of this but I received it via email and it made me laugh:
Stunning Break with Last Eight Years
Nov 18 - In the two weeks since the election, US President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.
Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama’s appearance on CBS’ “Sixty Minutes” on Sunday witnessed the president-elect’s unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.
But Mr. Obama’s decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.
According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it “alienating” to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.
“Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement,” says Mr. Logsdon. “If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist.”
The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, “Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off.”
The President-elect’s stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.
“Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can’t really do there, I think needing to do that isn’t tapping into what Americans are needing also,” she said.
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