Lyric Lineup is a fun game for young learners. It's useful to practice listening in TEFL. Preparation First choose a song suitable for the class. This means it needs to be the correct level in terms of vocabulary and grammar and also suitable subject matter. For...
Fake TEFL Certificates
Fake TEFL or TESOL Certificates are a fact of life. This article explores why they exist, where they come from, ways in which they are being used and methods by which legitimate companies are combating their use. (PS click here if you need to get a genuine TEFL...
Shane English School
Shane English School (SES) is a chain of schools operating in Asia. The school originally started in Japan and came about after an English teacher, Shane Lipscombe found he had too many private students and thus set up a school to deal with them all. Since then it has...
Among vs Amongst
There is no difference in meaning between among and amongst - these two words can be used interchangeably. However, amongst is less common in everyday use than among and is considered slightly more educated. In spoken American English among tends to be used almost...
Materials & Materials Writing
Materials is a general term to describe the TEFL coursebooks and exercises used in teaching English. The author of such is known as a Materials Writer. Materials can include: exercise books grammar books videos various exercises & activities listening tapes...
Find the Comparative
Find the Comparative is a good activity for your class to practice making comparative sentences. It's best used as an activity for pairs or small groups. Preparation Begin by making a series of cards. On each one write a pair of words which are related somehow; they...
Vowels to Bosnia (TEFAL)
During the war in the Balkans (1992-1995), much was made of the spelling and pronunciation of placenames in Serbia and so on. This satirical news item was popular at the time. {AF}Before an emergency joint session of Congress yesterday, President Clinton announced US...
The 7 Commandments of Effective TEFL Teaching
TEFL Commandments are simply basic teaching rules which TEFL teachers follow in the classroom. Some call them maxims, others call them aphorisms, others still call them sayings. But whatever you call them, they are useful to read over and think about every so often...
Teaching English in Sudan
Sudan is in north-east Africa with the Nile river dividing it east to west. It is an ancient country with a population of about 45 million. Note that In 2011 the southern part of the country gained independence as South Sudan which is now a separate country. In recent...
Irregular Threes
Irregular Threes is a quick game to practice and remember Irregular Verbs- it's ideal for a younger class: it's noisy, chaotic, energetic and great fun, too! (There are some quieter versions of this game at the bottom of the page, however!) Running the Game Firstly go...