The Times is looking for new columnists, so head over and start writing for the internet’s only ELT newspaper.

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The ELT Times

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She does some pretty cool stuff, her aims are as follows:

-to increase general knowledge of aromatherapy and show how it can be implemented as part of your wellness routine.

- to look at stress and ways we can manage it naturally.

Please take a look at the website and the free newsletter.

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In this issue there is an important message from Mario Rinvoludicrous. In his article (in the Course outline section) super Mario writes about the contribution Pilgrims trainers have made to the teaching community through their books. He draws our attention to the major writing effort that has brought the words, thoughts, teaching experiences and imaginations of 50 or so Pilgrims trainers/writers to many people around the language teaching globe. Their will to write and share ideas is also an encouragement for very teacher around the globe. Scintillating stuff.

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What were your initial aims when setting up ELT Notebook?

I’d been involved in teacher training for about thirty years (eeek!) and as I never throw anything away, had an enormous amount of material on file. It seemed sensible to put it on-line in order to make it available to other people – and so that I could get rid of some files and make space in my very overcrowded office!

How would you rate the health of the ELT profession in general?

Mixed. Without going into whether or not globalisation is a good thing, it is happening and at the moment means that English is growing exponentially in importance. That means there’s a lot of opportunity, and there are also some really good organisations doing quality work. However, there are also a lot of cowboys who are exploiting both their students and their staff. Sadly, ELT is often still not a profession at all – there are still organisations who convince their customers that as long as the teacher is a native speaker that’s all that’s necessary. And there are even more schools that see an initial qualification like the CELTA as the finishing point in the teacher’s development rather than just the start. Unfortunately, these organisations damage the profession as a whole. If school X employs non-qualified teachers who are paid a pittance, their prices will inevitably undercut those of the professional organisations like school Y who ask for a CELTA and pay more for a DELTA, an MA, and experience. So school Y either goes out of business or ends up paying their qualified teachers a pittance too.

How important do you see sites such as the Rat Race Rebellion, for which you’re a contributing expert?

R3 excited me from the moment Mike Haaren, one of the site’s founders, first contacted me. The site aims to help people take control of their lives by allowing them to control when, where and how they work. I gave up working for other organisations in 1989, and you’d have to pay me an awful lot more money than is usually found in ELT to make me go back. Don’t get me wrong – I worked for some great organisations, was never exploited, and would never have learnt what I did if I’d gone freelance earlier. I’m very, very grateful to all of the colleagues and bosses who I worked with. If I worked 60 hour weeks and ended up with burn-out it was my choice, never imposed. But there came a point when I’d had enough of achieving other people’s objectives. I wanted to achieve my own – and that meant leaving time for things which weren’t EFL related as well as those which were. And that’s where R3 comes in. Their philosophy is that work is important – you should, as they say, be able to lock the office door. But there has to be time for other things too. Not only from a personal point of view, but also because of the impact on families, the environment and society in general. The aim of the site is to provide people with the information and tools to make this possible.

What do you feel have been the major changes in the profession of the course of your years working in ELT?

There have been many. When I took the DTEFLA exam (the precursor of both CELTA and DELTA) we were still in the era of audiolingual methodology. The very last session on the course – you know, the one that is thrown in last because it has no relevance to the exam – was on communicative methodology, which was just starting to emerge. I can still remember it – it was given by Robert O’Neill and was a breath of fresh air. Over the next few years I was privileged to work with and study under people at the cutting edge of the communicative revolution – Alan Maley, Keith Johnson and Keith Morrow, Gill Sturtridge and David Wilkins – and it was probably the most exciting time of my career.

Then there is the way that technology has changed language teaching. When I started, I didn’t even have a tape recorder in the classroom!

What would you like to see happen in the world of ELT?

Three things :

a.. Following on from my answer to question 2, the thing that I would most like to see happen would be for ELT to become a recognised profession, with a clear career progression where qualifications and experience were both essential and well-remunerated, and the cowboys were excluded.

b.. Similarly, I would like to see on-line teaching, which I think is the format of the future, become more professional and more regulated.

c.. Finally, I would like to see a move away from the idea that native speakers are the only valid ELT professionals. Many non-native speakers are far better teachers, and have far more idea of students’ problems, than the average native-speaker teacher. Teachers should be assessed on overall professional competence, not just on their first language.

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‘I’ve been teaching for a while now and try as often as possible to help out people new to TEFL or new to Latin America. Below are some articles that may help you make the transition to living in Latin America.’

Getting Started

● What’s the Best Country to Teach English In?
● Choosing a TEFL Course
● Writing a Teaching Cover Letter
● Writing a Teaching CV
● Using Connections to Get a Great Job
● The Interview and Demo Lesson
● Things to Consider Before Accepting a Job
● Know Before You Go
● What To Do Upon Arrival

Teacher Training

● Choosing a TEFL Training Programme
● Why You Should Attend Conferences
● Making a Career Out of TEFLing

Teaching Tips

● Learning about TEFL and Teaching
● Teaching Tips in General
● Living in a Foreign Country
● Sites for Lesson Planning
● Teaching Beginners
● Teaching Young Students

Money Matters

● Using the Internet to Make Money Online
● Ideas for Supplementing Your Teaching Salary (private classes, translations, etc)
● Teaching Online

TEFLing in Latin America

●Interview: The Latin America Job list and TEFL Tips in ELT World Horizons Journal, Issue 3, page 37
● The LA Job Guru in Movers and Shakers in TEFL News
● Finding Cheap Flights to Latin America
● Teach in Latin America

Guides to Peru

● The Ultimate Guide to Teaching in Peru in Transitions Abroad.
● A Country Guide to TEFLing in Peru.
● Breaking into the TEFL Market in Peru
● The Little Black Book of English Institutes in Peru
● Destination Peru in TEFL News
● Contributed to The Peru Guide Book in Vive Travel Guides
● Virtually Expats: Forums about Peru
● Living off of 500 USD a month in Lima
● Lima on 500 dollars a month – Peru, South America in Boots N All
● Peruvian Food and Drinks

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I’m not sure who the chap in the ad is but he dosen’t look like a TEFL teacher, does he? In case you forgot that this is a TEFL related site (based in the same part of California as dear old Dave Sperling as I discovered from my extensive research), register now and be in with a chance to win a whopping great big $10 (!) prize as the person who refers the most new site members.

Let’s give it a chance and see what happens.

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The websites will be open on the days indicated below from midnight to midnight EST.

May 5: ReadingA-Z.com: Thousands of printable books and lessons

May 6: Raz-Kids.com: Interactive leveled reading library

May 7: WritingA-Z.com: Leveled writing lessons

May 8: VocabularyA-Z.com: Customized vocabulary lessons

May 9: Reading-Tutors.com: Reading skills packets

May 12: ScienceA-Z.com: Multi-leveled science units

Tell your co-workers, friends, neighbors, or even put a posting on your website about Teacher Appreciation Week at LearningA-Z.com.

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If you’re pondering taking the plunge, the first thing you’ll be thinking about is, ‘how the hell do I even get started?’ and a close second will be, ‘how much is it going to cost me to get things started?’

Once you’ve given your web project a lot of thought, the first thing you need to do is to find the best web hosting company for your needs. Put simply, a web hosting service is an internet hosting service that enables individuals and organisations to provide their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Depending on your needs, be it cost or functionality, you’ll be looking for a web host that meets your requirements; the best web hosting for you.

Kaushal Sheth’s website is probably best known for his templates for wordpress blogs. However, he has recently put together a list of the best web hosting companies. If like me, you’re no computer geek, you’d probably be advised to think about a web host with Cpanel, athough Kaushal’s best web hosting list also explains other options too.

Stop thinking about the day when you have your own site and get to work! Good luck to all those TEFLers about to embark on their website journey…

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Wouldn’t it be useful, we thought, if there was a wiki devoted to ELT terminology? That way anyone, teacher, trainer or trainee could have access to a useful glossary – and (and this is the BIG THING about Wikis) they could amend or change what they find there if they don’t think the explanation they are presented with is ‘quite right’.

Wikis, by the way, are easy to navigate. All you need to do is go to any page, any entry, and use the edit button. If you can’t find an entry there, you go to the letter, open up the list of terms for that letter and then edit it in order to add your new term. Or whatever. Like all effective software, wikis get easier the more you use them!
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Words of wisdom from the big man. Now, I’ve checked out the Pearson Longman Wiki and it hasn’t really expanded, in fact, I feel that the ELT Wiki has already gone further in creating a useful resource for us TEFLers, for which I already have to thank those who’ve contributed. Please don’t be shy in wading in and adding your contributions. Together, we really can maket he world of TEFL a better place.

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