My first IATEFL conference by Emma Herrod on Ken Wilson’s blog

Why texting is good for the English language by Adam Simpson

Can someone ever teach someone else how to teach? by Willy Cardoso

Becoming a teacher trainer by John Hughes

Should TEFLrs have a Back Up Plan? by Leahn Stanhope

Six jobs before becoming a teacher by Lindsay Clandfield

Bloom’s Taxonomy by Mary (English Corner)

E is for Error by Scott Thornbury

There’s nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so by Jeremy Harmer

Watching young learners at work by Marisa Constantinides

What beginners need by Alex Case

Class without a teacher by Darren Elliot

How late is too late to begin lesson planning by Mike Harrison

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General Discussion – Do you lesson plan?

Mexico – Cultural Difference

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ESL & Happiness – The English Corner: for English teachers in China

How are TEFL courses structured? – The TEFL Times: The only online TEFL newspaper

How to present at a conference – One year in the life of an English teacher

Why Grammar is Overrated – Turkish TEFL: Down into the rabbit hole of ELT in Turkey

Dealing with culture shock – TUP

Eight Quick Tips – Talk to the Clouds: Teaching, speaking, reading, pondering English

Dictionaries: Analog vs. Digital – Neil Barker’s ESL & Language Learning Blog

Truthtelling and the global EFL teacher – Kalinago English

The Benefits of Exams for Young Learners – TEFLTastic

If you’ve written something good recently, let me know and I’ll include it in my next roundup.

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Read the full story here.

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I have a class of 10/11 year olds at elementary level. I teach them twice a week for an hour at a time. I find the behaviour management by far the most difficult thing with this class. I have underlined the class rules any number of times but many of the students frequently disregard them, particularly in terms of talking and not listening to instructions. It can get very frustrating having to ask for quiet every 5 minutes, and having to repeat instructions to keep them on task. Their listening skills are pretty poor, and when I speak in English they often seem to switch off, although I do try and modify my language and speak simply and slowly. As a result I often give instructions in Spanish, which some teachers may disagree with as a policy, but actually it has brought some improvement in keeping them on task.

I asked my boss for advice, and she said that most likely the problem comes from boredom, and I think she’s right. I do try and plan a variety of tasks, not be too book based and include lots of visuals and games, although there are times when we have to concentrate on form, and use the exercises in the course book.

I used to start the classes with a game, but now I find it’s better to start with a task, and I can usually keep them occupied for 35-40 minutes, and then move on to a game for the last 20 minutes or so.
I will sometimes use a Simpsons DVD as a final exercise, with a worksheet to go with it, and I try and use this as a kind of carrot, to encourage good behaviour.

I have also changed the seating plan around a couple of times to manage their behaviour – however as your students are 18+ I think it would be difficult to manage their behaviour quite as overtly. But if you can use resources such as films, magazines and music which are of real interest to them as people this might help.

I’ve done a couple of reading classes where I brought in some comics and teen magazines, also some car and music magazines which held their interest fairly well.

I think we also have to note cultural differences. Spanish kids are naturally talkative, and seem to tolerate much higher levels of noise than children in Northern European countries. It has struck me that quite often, my kids don’t realise they’re being unruly. However, notas and test scores seem to be very important to them, so if I really want them to be quiet, then I can usually achieve this by giving them a test, as long as I make it obvious that I’m making a note of their results.

To be honest, with these strategies I would say have made only a marginal difference to their levels of attention… but there are still 2 terms to go Maybe it will get better…

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Intelligent handout matching, where an online database of TEFL/ESL handouts are matched for use with leading English course books, is where TEFL/ESL supplementation is heading in the future. This article highlights the case study of Handout Hub, which matches over one thousand grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation handouts to over fifty prominent course books.

Supplementation of TEFL/ESL lessons has always been a time-consuming process, eating into teachers’ precious planning and preparation time. In many language schools around the world, teachers are faced with two starkly opposite supplementation situations. Either they face re-inventing the wheel every lesson with their own self-made handouts and worksheets, or must stare at a whole wall of supplementary books and resource packs looking for the appropriate worksheet. Schools similarly face challenges in what materials from the plethora available to invest their limited budgets in.

The future of supplementation in English classes surely lies online. This is primarily for three reasons. Firstly, the budgets of language schools are being squeezed owing to the high costs of paper-based supplementary resources. A single copy of a grammar resource book containing photocopiable materials is usually between 20-50 US dollars. Secondly, more and more schools have access to computers, the Internet, printers and photocopiers, opening up the online sphere for quality TEFL/ESL handouts. Thirdly, one site, handouthub.com has piloted intelligent handout matching, whereby the site matches the chapter numbers and pages of common TEFL/ESL course books with handouts on its large database, cutting teacher planning time massively.

This is a huge step for the online market for downloadable supplementary TEFL/ESL resources. There can be no denying that this sphere has been severely underdeveloped until this. Simply searching ‘tefl handouts’ on any search engine reveals the flaws in the much of the current market. For one, many sights promise free resources such as grammar activities, which turn out not to be downloadable. Online grammar activities embedded in websites offer little to no benefit to classroom teachers who need paper handouts. Furthermore, the market for subscription handouts is nascent, and arguably cornered by the publishers – providing limited supplementation to their own printed books. What subscription sites that have existed either do not contain enough handouts, offer poor quality handouts in relation to their paper competitors, or offer handouts that do not supplement, but in fact replace course book material.

The way forward is undeniably intelligent handout matching, pioneered by Handout Hub. After many months of research and development, I, the founder, came upon the idea that most major TEFL/ESL language chains operate with the same course books, and in most institutions, teachers need worksheets targeted to these books. For a fee competitive to paper-resource books, schools and teachers can therefore subscribe to download handouts matched exactly to the lesson/grammar they want to teach. For example, browsing Cutting Edge Intermediate on handouthub.com and clicking on chapter 9 ‘Future Society’, the website returns eleven different handouts teachers can use depending on what page they are teaching; from language for future predictions to phrases with ‘make’.

The question of why is intelligent handout matching so beneficial to teachers of English must be asked. Quite simply, every school dreams of having a resource bank where handouts can be accessed that are relevant and targeted to the language focus at hand. The unique selling point of Handout Hub is that it matches handouts from its database of over one thousand to a wide range of leading TEFL/ESL course books such as New English File, New Cutting Edge, New Headway etc. All teachers must do is browse the book lists for the chapter/page they are teaching and download the applicable handouts. The benefits of saved time, pedagogically-sound supplementation, and intuitive resource planning for entry-level professionals who are inexperienced are obvious.

The benefits to schools are equally impressive. Schools primarily cut costs in these challenging economic times where students, concerned with their personal finances, may cut back on English classes. Schools also obtain access to a large database of TEFL/ESL worksheets which they do not have to devote time to managing. The hegemony of a number of English course books that the majority of schools use also results in successful intelligent matching, as teachers are using books indexed to handouts in the Handout Hub.

In conclusion, it is clear from the increasing global supply and demand for English that greater quality and innovation is required in the realm of downloadable supplementary TEFL/ESL resources. The inevitability of purse-string tightening experienced during the recession has brought online supplementation forward through the launch of Handout Hub. Its revolutionary, intuitive, and cost-effective approach to TEFL/ESL handout supplementation gives online handouts a bright future in the world of teaching English as a foreign language.

About the Author

Having been an English teacher for three years in various destinations such as Russia, the UK and Singapore, I developed a keen interest in TEFL/ESL resource development and management. I’ve established and run my own TEFL/ESL supplementary handouts website handouthub.com, an Internet database of over 1000 downloadable supplementary handouts.

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Personally, I never feel the need to lie, although I am surprised by the perception of the job among certain sections of society. Am I still naive after all these years?

I remember one conversation with a ‘real’ teacher back in england that went along the lines of…

Real teacher: ‘What do you do for a living?’
Me: ‘I’m a teacher?’
RT: ‘What do you teach?’
Me: ‘TEFL.’
RT: ‘Oh, I’m a real teacher.’
Me: ‘How much do you earn?’
RT: ‘A lot less than you.’
Me: ‘When did you last get research published?’
RT: ‘I have never had anything published.’
Me: ‘When did you last attend a conference?’
RT: ‘I have never been to a conference.’
Me: When did you last contribute to a course book or course material?’
RT: ‘I have never…’

You get my drift.

See what others have to say about this.

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