Most teachers are old in comparison to their students. And because most teachers choose materials for their class, this often means that the materials they use are old. And by old, I mean stuck in the past and out of date. When a TEFL teacher decides to use music in...
Affect vs Effect
Learners of English (and native English speakers too) often confuse these two words: Affect vs Effect. They also confuse forms of these words: Affectively vs Effectively; Affective vs Effective and so on. Part of the problem is that they are pronounced almost the...
Wall Street Institute
The Wall Street Institute is a massive global group of schools. It was founded in Italy in 1972 by Luigi Tiziano Peccenini and now operates over 400 schools in 27 countries around the world. WSI are currently owned by Pearson. They report teaching of 1.5 million...
Inductive vs Deductive Methods in TEFL
In the TEFL classroom, inductive and deductive teaching methods are two different approaches used in teaching grammar. Inductive teaching (sometimes known as inquiry or discovery teaching) involves giving the students examples of language and working with them to...
Coco Juku
Coco Juku is an English conversation school (eikaiwa) in Japan. The company was founded in 2012 by Nichii Gakkan, which also owns Gaba Corporation. In April 2012 is opened 6 locations and by October there were 62 locations. They plan to open further locations over the...
Instant Gratification & TEFL
Prof. Goodnight is the pen name of a senior ESL trainer working at a major North American university. Here he discusses the rise of technology in the classroom and how bad it is. The NY Times reported earlier this week on two recent studies which suggest that...
Well Travelled TEFL Teachers are Sexier
Well travelled TEFL teachers are sexier- it's true! Well sort of. In a recent survey by an Australian online dating survey it was found that those who traveled were sexier than those who stayed at home. Perhaps it was the idea of someone with independence and...
Teaching with Chopsticks
Guest blogger Jonathan Last presents an extract from his autobiographical book, Teaching with Chopsticks, an honest, funny, and insightful account of a year spent teaching English in South Korea. Lunchtime. I’m trying to hide my growing weariness at rice every day,...
How to Speak to English Language Students
New teachers often have problems trying to decide how to speak to students so they understand them best. Should they keep their grammar really simple? Should they avoid unusual words? Should they slow down? Should they speak to students as though they were...
Preparing to Go Abroad & Teach English
So, you've got your qualifications, had your interview and now you've been offered a job teaching abroad. And you suddenly realize that in just a very short time you'll be climbing aboard an airplane and heading off into the unknown and suddenly you're thinking, What...