Hey all! I just want to leave a quick blog post on something I’ve heard a lot about lately- internships for TEFL. I have known some reputable companies offering internship opportunities for ESL teaching. These programs usually provide on-location training abroad and ultimately there is the potential of a permanent position with a school. Not all of these companies are out to rip you off and some of them offer new teachers a good way to start their career in ESL.

Last week I ran a training course in Chicago and a young participant told me of his recent ordeal during an internship position in China. As a fresh college graduate, he decided to travel and try out teaching. After browsing on the internet he applied for an internship program which offered a comprehensive 3 months training period and ‘guaranteed’ job offer. The day after he got off the plane, his school threw him straight into 25 hours of teaching  per week, without any training period. They employed him illegally for 3 months on a tourist visa, gave him no support in his general living and paid him just 2,500RMB ($391.30) per month!

When I heard about this person’s experience I did some research and found that there are many similar stories of people being taken advantage of via an ESL internship; all over the world. If you are a jobseeker, I don’t want to discourage you from considering internship programs but please be careful and don’t lead yourself into this kind of position!

As educational technology continues to develop, many ESL language schools are adapting their teaching styles and classroom environments by using Smartboards and various other high-tech gadgets.

Now I’m a complete technophobe. In fact, the thought of having to find my way around an Iphone makes me want to hide under the bed. In terms of teaching style, I have always tended to stick with activities that are simple to set up and don’t require much, if any, use of technology. This is a combination of my personal style and admittedly, me being a little bit too lazy to learn how to use technology properly.

However, the time has come for me to embrace the digital age. I’ve recently had chance to observe some lessons in a school which has Smartboards in every class. Whilst this kind of technology is not essential, it certainly adds a great resource to the class and enables the teacher to engage audio-visual learners on a new level. For example, I’ve seen some great use of flash games to drill vocabulary. By getting the student up and having them use the interactive technology they get a kinetic/visual memory to attach to the new words. The possibilities with the Smartboards are endless. You can design activities, make presentations, use videos and intergrate all kind of visual effects to engage and enthuse your students.

If your school has technology in the classroom but you are like me (the old me) and avoid using it in your classes; embrace the modern era and spend some time learning new ways to use the resources you’ve got to enhance the learning experience for your students!

Some of my teachers have been asking me lately what they can do to make story telling more interesting and student focused. It got me thinking about different ways to approach stories in my higher level classes where the kids are often too mature for the content of the reading materials in front of them. After surfing the net for while I came across a clip of an ESL teacher, Antonio Graceffo, on Youtube…

ESL Picture Stories

The idea is that you simultaneously tell a story whilst drawing the images on the board. When you’re done, you have your students come up and attempt to re-tell it using their spoken English and drawing skills. I’ve tried it out in a couple of my classes since I watched the clip and it really is effective! My students loved to get creative and crazy when attempting to re-tell the stories and the added element of imagery keeps their attention and helps them to add visual stimulus to the language. This kind of activity is great for both auditory and visual learners. It also emphasises creative and unscripted use of the language.

Give it a go in your next story class and let me know how it goes or if you come up with any ideas to develop the activity!

Mike

Good ESL teaching goes hand in hand with creativity in the classroom. Nothing is more boring for students than havingsomeone stood at the front of class flicking through flashcards for 30 minutes whilst they robotically call out the vocabulary. Most schools in the industry have recognised the need to integrate gimmicks into vocabulary drilling activities to distract students from the fact that they are continuously repeating the same set of words. During my time as an ESL teacher I have experimented with tonnes of different gadgets and gimmicks to spice up my classes. I can’t stress enough how useful it is to throw in something different with any age group you teach. Here are some things you can use:

• Sticky balls: Classic must have item for ESL teachers. Stick flashcards to the board, get the students into teams and have them try to throw the sticky ball at the vocabulary whilst performing some kind of drilling activity.
• Mirrors: You can use mirrors to do all kinds of things with written English in particular.
• Fake money: For teenagers, team points can seem a little bit immature and pointless. Bring out the fake cash and give them something they can relate to.
• Puppets: Kindergartens love puppets and even with juniors it can be a great way to make role-play activities more interesting.
• Ping pong balls: If you want a quick and easy repetition exercise, throw a ping pong ball into the air and have students shout out the word every time it hits the floor.
• Chopsticks: Teaching in Asia you won’t run out of supply. I saw a colleague recently use chopsticks and a pile of small elastic bands to create a great language activity. Get students in small groups, equipped with a pair of chopsticks and a plastic cup each. Put a pile of bands in the middle and tell them to race to get as many bands into their cups as they can- each time saying a relevant piece of vocabulary.
• Flashlights: Another great activity someone told me about recently involved flashlights. Stick your flashcards on the board, turn off the lights, shine your light on the vocabulary and have your students call them out.

Always remember when teaching young children that a minor addition to the class will feel like a completely new adventure for your students!

Like any industry of world-wide scale, there are certain myths and untruths out there about ESL teaching abroad. For my first blog on this site I want to give my opinion about some of the ideas that, for whatever reason, have been perpetuated by certain people. Here are a few of the negative misconceptions about ESL…

1. ESL teachers are not real teachers: What do you call a ‘real teacher’ nowadays? Some say that people who teach English as a foreign language are unqualified and have jobs that are in no way similar to mainstream state school teachers back home. Okay, so most ESL teachers don’t have a Masters degree in Education and their role is much different to an elementary or high school teacher in the U.S.A, U.K or wherever. On the other hand though, most of us complete recognised, intensive training course before beginning our careers, prepare detailed lesson plans and carry out teaching duties under the same basic principles as any teacher in, any subject, anywhere in the world. ESL teaching presents a whole range of challenges that are unique to this area of education. The job is often hard work and professional development in the industry is a long, bumpy road. If people don’t consider this job to be ‘real teaching’ they should talk to the millions of students in the language schools across the world and ask them what they have gained from attending and ESL school.

2. English language schools only care about making money: Around the world, particularly in Asia, language or ‘training’ schools are often private enterprises- offering extra-curricular education in English to local children and adults. Is there money involved? Yes. Does that mean that employers don’t care about their staff? Not necessarily. Obviously there are some organisations that are keen to make a quick buck at the cost of low paid and overworked teachers, but like any business, the people who start it usually have some interest in the well-being of their clients and staff. It’s easy to generalise from the horror stories that appear on forums and it’s easy to forget about the thousands of reliable, trustworthy and highly professional organisations that operate in every country!

3. You can’t earn big money from ESL teaching: This misconception usually comes from people who have looked at the salary amount on job ads and noticed that, compared to equivalent wages back home the monthly earning figures are small. What people need to bear in mind is that English teaching jobs abroad usually involve bonuses such as free or subsidised housing, air fare allowance, contract completion bonuses, regular pay increases and most importantly; MUCH cheaper costs of living in your new country of residence. Add all this up and compare the amount of money you can save every month to how much you would have to earn back home to bank that same amount after all your monthly outgoings! Probably the best way to debunk this myth though is to read a job ad for ESL teachers in Saudi Arabia…

4. Many teachers find themselves alone and without any support: Again there will be instances of this happening but if prospective teachers do their research beforehand and make back up plans for the worst case scenario they should be fine. If teachers feel like they don’t have the support network they need or feel trapped and alone, they can always leave to go back home or find a job elsewhere at any point in time. In fact, if your employer is not providing you with the basic support you require, you should probably think about working elsewhere anyway!

So I suppose on a final note, the thing to say is that despite some of the negative reputation the ESL industry has picked up in recent years, the industry on the whole is incredibly dynamic and I believe it’s gaining more credibility as time passes. Jobseekers are right to read some of the more negative opinions before they reach a decision on their future, but I would strongly urge them to consider the misconceptions that often results from these views.

Mike