ELT World » TESOL Your local friendly TEFL blog Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:32:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Russia: Kicked out of school? /2009/08/russia-kicked-out-of-school/ /2009/08/russia-kicked-out-of-school/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:03:56 +0000 david /news/?p=457 Moscow’s City Duma has suggested an amendment to a new law that would require all teachers to apply for work permits… in addition to the work visas which currently allow them to teach here. Also, according to the amendment’s author, Tatyana Potyayeva, the deputy head of the City Duma’s Science and Education committee, the move is necessary after some foreign teachers were responsible for “inciting ethnic and religious strife” in educational centres.

In practical terms, notes NM Weekly, the proposal means that schools and colleges have to spend up to three months processing the paperwork for new recruits, compared with about one month at present. English language schools, which have enjoyed years of growth, often recruit staff with either the Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) or the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certificate, which might now become insufficient for would-be teachers in Russia.

Read the full story…

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]]> /2009/08/russia-kicked-out-of-school/feed/ 0 Successes and Challenges in Meeting the Needs of Young Learners /2008/11/successes-and-challenges-in-meeting-the-needs-of-young-learners/ /2008/11/successes-and-challenges-in-meeting-the-needs-of-young-learners/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:50:20 +0000 david /news/?p=202 The TESOL Online Discussions on Key Issues in ELT series is currently raising the issue of ‘Successes and Challenges in Meeting the Needs of Young Learners’. The rapid growth of English language learning worldwide has created opportunities as well as serious challenges regarding language policy, teacher training, and lack of resources in effectively meeting the needs of school-age (K-12) learners.

What has been your experience? What are the successes and/or challenges in your country (or local context) in meeting the needs of young learners? Share your stories, questions, effective practices, and resources with your colleagues worldwide. This online discussion is open to TESOL and TESOL affiliate members and other professionals in the ELT community worldwide. Although this discussion is primarily focused on meeting the needs of school-age learners in EFL contexts, educators working in ESL contexts are also welcome to participate.

Learn more…

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]]> /2008/11/successes-and-challenges-in-meeting-the-needs-of-young-learners/feed/ 0 Will TEFL Survive the 21st Century? /2007/11/will-tefl-survive-the-21st-century/ /2007/11/will-tefl-survive-the-21st-century/#comments Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:12:00 +0000 david /2007/11/will-tefl-survive-the-21st-century/ After receiving a stunning 61 replies both here and over on the forum, the ‘Will TEFL Survive the 21st Century’ poll is now closed. I have to admit I was a little surprised at how many of you answered in the affirmative, an impressive 70% of you think we’ll still be able to find work in the nearish future.

The topic drew very little in the way of comments, although these are among the few incisive statements made by the lovely forum members. ‘I expect there will still be a demand for English, but I think the demand for native speakers will go away,’ suggests Justme. Bindair Dundat, meanwhile, notes that ‘there will always be a need for talking monkeys.’ TheLongWayHome echoes these sentiments: ‘Hopefully the rest of the world will catch on to what they do in Scandinavia and this sorry profession will die on its arse. Dancing monkeys will be on the dole. Sheikh Inal Ovar, most poignantly offers the following summation: ‘Regardless of the state of the TEFL industry elsewhere, there’ll be no TEFLers in the Gulf when the oil runs out.’

A new poll will be along to pique your interest as soon as I can think of a topic worthy enough to follow this epic.

I’d really love it if you join David’s ELT World Facebook Group, by the way!

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]]> /2007/11/will-tefl-survive-the-21st-century/feed/ 0 Call for submissions: Issue 2 of Horizons Journal /2007/10/call-for-submissions-issue-2-of-horizons-journal/ /2007/10/call-for-submissions-issue-2-of-horizons-journal/#comments Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:25:00 +0000 david /2007/10/call-for-submissions-issue-2-of-horizons-journal/ The second issue of the astoundingly popular Horizons Journal will be published in the first week of December, so if you feel like contributing now’s the time to get writing.

If you’re not sure what sort of things we’re looking for, I suggest you download the first issue to get some ideas. Basically, though, feel free to contribute anything you want relating to the field of TEFL, TESOL and teaching English by any other acronym.
 

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]]> /2007/10/call-for-submissions-issue-2-of-horizons-journal/feed/ 2 Five jobs that let you see the world /2007/10/five-jobs-that-let-you-see-the-world/ /2007/10/five-jobs-that-let-you-see-the-world/#comments Wed, 03 Oct 2007 07:24:00 +0000 david /2007/10/five-jobs-that-let-you-see-the-world/ The CNN website recently published a list of five jobs that are great for getting out there and seeing the world.


Finding a career that allows you to travel is not always an easy task, but if you’re a college grad looking to make an adventure of your gap year, a professional looking for a change of pace or anyone looking for cultural exposure, a job abroad may be the right choice for you.

This article is worth a quick look, if only to see the other career paths which are deemed comparable to teaching English.

Read the article here.

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]]> /2007/10/five-jobs-that-let-you-see-the-world/feed/ 0 Teach English Abroad: Good advice for all /2007/09/teach-english-abroad-good-advice-for-all/ /2007/09/teach-english-abroad-good-advice-for-all/#comments Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:07:00 +0000 david /2007/09/teach-english-abroad-good-advice-for-all/
If you’re thinking about become an English teacher, a great place to start researching is at the Teaching English Abroad website. On the website, you can easily access information relating to TEFL Certificates, the myths & realities of teaching abroad, country profiles (mainly for Sout East Asia, useful teaching Links and info about distance masters courses.

Teach English Abroad

All of the information is easy to follow and the site is easy to navigate. This really is a good place to start if you’re thinking of moving into the profession, or if you looking for useful information in general.

Gordon, who runs the site, is also a regular contributor to the ELT World forums, so take the chance to contact him directly.

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]]> /2007/09/teach-english-abroad-good-advice-for-all/feed/ 1 Australia: Juggling Work, Travel and Play /2007/09/australia-juggling-work-travel-and-play/ /2007/09/australia-juggling-work-travel-and-play/#comments Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:46:00 +0000 david /2007/09/australia-juggling-work-travel-and-play/
One of the most popular and destinations for new TEFL teachers from the UK is Australia, for obvious reasons. In an article over on the Australia & New Zealand blog, originally published in the OneStopEnglish online magazine, Steve White describes his experiences:

I really enjoyed teaching English in Australia and found it a great way to experience a truly massive and amazing country. I’d recommend it to anyone who (like me) can’t afford to fund an extended trip around the place but is willing to juggle work and play over the course of a year.

Work can be found in private language schools, teaching a mix of Asian, European, South American, and occasionally African students. These schools are similar to those operating in other English speaking countries, and generally consist of young adult students hoping to improve their English whilst having a good time in Oz. This means that motivation levels can vary widely. Classes range from hard working Cambridge groups and IELTS/EAP students desperate to get into Australian colleges, right through to easy going general English groups with more interest in surf reports than reported speech.

Read the rest of the article over at the Australia & New Zealand blog.

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]]> /2007/09/australia-juggling-work-travel-and-play/feed/ 0 Argentina: teaching English in a public school /2007/09/argentina-teaching-english-in-a-public-school/ /2007/09/argentina-teaching-english-in-a-public-school/#comments Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:06:00 +0000 david /2007/09/argentina-teaching-english-in-a-public-school/ South America is the one continent that has so far eluded me. I’m full of admiration for anyone who choses to go and teach English there. In this description of her teaching experiences, originally published in full at the OneStopEnglish Magazine, Eugenia Pozo explains, in a way that was a real eye-opener for me, what it’s like to teach in an Argentinian school:

The Republic of Argentina Republic is situated in South America. It has a population of 37 million: about 17 million of the people are poor. at the time of writing every day more people become poor.

While reading this, you may think that Argentina is a country without natural resources. You think wrong! It has 4 very well-differentiated climates. It has more cows than citizens. It can grow any type of agricultural produce. Argentina has rivers, lakes, beaches, a wide variety of animals, mountains, hills and what is more important, plains. You may wonder why we are suffering from famine or other diseases? The answer is that the government is more preoccupied with how to “steal” money from its citizens than how to solve these great social and economical problems.

Read the full article and learn more about teaching English teaching in Argentina at the ELT in Argentina blog.

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]]> /2007/09/argentina-teaching-english-in-a-public-school/feed/ 0 Valuable advice from TEFL Daddy /2007/09/valuable-advice-from-tefl-daddy/ /2007/09/valuable-advice-from-tefl-daddy/#comments Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:08:00 +0000 david /2007/09/valuable-advice-from-tefl-daddy/ We’re in a fairly unique position as English teachers in that in many cases we take jobs in different parts of the world without knowing a great deal about our prospective employers. Too often, sadly, this can end in disaster. TEFL Daddy’s website has a great deal of useful advice for those of us starting out in the profession and he has kindly agreed to let me share some of this with you here at David’s English Teaching World. In the first extract, he discusses tactics we can use to check out how reputable our future employers are.

Read on at the TEFL Daddy column.

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]]> /2007/09/valuable-advice-from-tefl-daddy/feed/ 0 How not to hate the natives by Alex Case /2007/08/how-not-to-hate-the-natives-by-alex-case/ /2007/08/how-not-to-hate-the-natives-by-alex-case/#comments Mon, 27 Aug 2007 08:29:00 +0000 david /2007/08/how-not-to-hate-the-natives-by-alex-case/ Living in foreign countries for extended periods of time, we’re bound to come up against aspects of other cultures which go beyond merely irritating us. For example, I’m constantly baffled as to how no one out of the estimated 15 million people living in Istanbul ever shows the slightest inclination towards driving properly. Alex Case also encounters such problems over in Japan, and suggests one way of overcoming this and how not to hate the natives:

When I said it was a quiet news day yesterday, of course I was forgetting the daily litany of stories about the Japanese ruling classes ripping off the general public for all they can while telling the average Jo Tanaka in the street to tighten their belts and do their best for their country. There’s one story about yet another embezzlement scandal in Shinzo Abe’s cabinet and one about bones of Japanese troops still lying on beaches in SE Asia while Japanese politicians score cheap political points by turning up as Yasukuni Jinja shrine to “honour our boys”.

The fact that the Japanese ruling classes are such an unmitigated bunch of scum suckers has helped me come up with one theory of how to cope with a symptom of culture shock. If you are not careful, there will be times when little frustrations in a country will make the words “bloody (Spanish), why can’t they just (do their jobs properly)?” or such like pop up in your head or even out of your mouth. It might be because you are having a bad day, it might be because you are just in the wrong country, but it is very unlikely that you have come out with a comment which is true for 100% of the people in said country.

Find out how Alex gets over this problem at his website, TEFLTastic with Alex Case.

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