5 things to include on your EFL teaching resumes

1. A picture
 Many times, like it or not, we are hired because we look the part. I look like an American. It gets me jobs. I have helped hire replacements and seen them trash anything without a picture, so put a picture on it. Your picture doesn't need to be anything fancy. I think I took mine with a timer against a blank wall. If you normally wear tons of make-up tone it down, but let them know what you will normally look like (so they aren't surprised by the green eyeshadow on the first day). Be sure to smile! Employers want to hire someone who doesn't look miserable all the time and your smile shows that you are someone who they want.

2. Skype
Most of my job interviews abroad have been via Skype, so I make sure to give this in addition to my phone number and e-mail address. I am also sure to always keep my Skype "statuses" appropriate. Nothing about nursing a hangover or wanting to kill a boyfriend.

3. Keep the English simple
Usually the person reading your resume will speak English well, however sometimes I am applying to schools who are google translating my resume. In that case complicated phrases and idioms won't work too well. Keep it succinct without flowery language. Now is not the time to show off your fantastic English; it is the time to show you can communicate clearly with second language speakers without speaking down to them.

4. Content
As far as content goes, I am now blessed enough to have enough experience I don't need to include non-education jobs. However, in the past I would include jobs that weren't education related. I just made sure to point out what skills it gave me that would help. Multi-tasking, Making things simple, Organization etc. For example as Aquatics Manager I trained people, that is a type of teaching so it gets highlighted. I also created a new filing method for the swim lessons to up enrollment and retention. That shows I am organized and for language schools that I understand keeping clients happy.  When I au-paired I focused on the educational aspects: Created activity books, Made TBL activities (which was essentially all we did), etc.

5. Abroad Experience
If you have it PROMOTE it! Even if it was just a Summer in Italy in high school show that you can live in a different culture. So many people take jobs and head back home within a month. This really messes things up for the school and is one of the reasons I am convinced I get as many job offers as I do. I have shown I have no problems living abroad and I am not a flight risk. Before I had my teaching experiences abroad I added it to my education section:

Dec 2007         B.A. Degree in Communications and Minor in Spanish           3.0 G.P.A                                               San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

Also studied through SDSU’s abroad program:

Dec 2005         Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

May 2006        Antonio de Nebrija, Madrid Spain

Summer 2006  Women’s Studies Course Throughout Turkey 

What am I missing? What do you make sure to inlcude on your resumes when you are headed to a new place?

Why grammar comics are amazing...and where to find them

Comics are awesome.

They just are.

They make students laugh (always a plus) help visual learners, and tend to have very succinct summarizations of otherwise complicated grammar topics.

If nothing else, they give examples that grab student's attention.

But where to find these miraculous creatures?

You can always resort to google. Just google the grammar topic and comic and then click on images. If you need help Googling check out this link.

The downside is that you tend to get a lot of stock images and irrelevant pictures.

I tend to read http://xkcd.com/ and http://www.smbc-comics.com/ every day and Pin comics that I know will work well for me, my classes or topics that come up a lot.

I also keep up on http://www.9gag.com/ as they tend to have a lot of good stuff on you vs your, they're vs their and other common mistakes that your students will relate to (and have probably already seen as they love 9gag)

The comic above is from Boggleton, who has grammar comics involving misused words and participial phrases as well as full on grammar explanations.

Otherwise some sites have specific sections for grammar comics. The oatmeal has some nice full on grammar explanations; such as, how to use a semicolon.

I talked about GrammarCat before. There aren't a lot of strips, but the ones that are there are good.

BrightlyWound is no longer updated, but it does have a collection of grammar comics.

This bitstrips comic has some great grammar reviews

My students just used The Yuniversity, which I decided to look up and was super pleased to see that they have some awesome explanations that students would surely find more interesting than a simple list.

More on why I don't like standardized tests

A brief reminder from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal on why I don't like standardized tests.

Punctuation PostSecret

 

I got this from http://www.PostSecret.com/one day. I usually use it as a hook/ brain teaser during the warm up portion of a punctuation lesson.

The Tutor: by Debra A. Boyle M.Ed.

Photo via her LinkedIn profile

I recently had a chance to read, The Tutor by Debra A. Boyle. Debra is a tutor with a Master’s in Education with over 20 years experience tutoring.

Per her own words, "This [book] is not a documentary nor is it a fiction novel. It is also not an autobiography. What this book hopes to accomplish is to provide information for both parents and teachers into the difficulties students face, especially those with disabilities."

As someone who has both tutored and taught I found some of her conclusions interesting, For example, “Only a teacher who is confident of his/her position and skills will welcome outside help from a tutor.” I had never had a teacher who did not welcome my help as a tutor, nor have I ever discouraged tutors from helping my students (with the exception of those who have a “tutor” who writes all their papers for them). Since I had never experienced this on either end news of this shocked me, however... it does make sense. She goes on, “In contrast, a teacher having few years of experience, new to the district, or otherwise lacking success in their own skills... attempt[s] to show their principal, students, and students’ parents that they are fully able to manage their challenging students without other professional help."

At other times she speaks ad nauseum about the smallest details, which I would hope most tutors would overlook. She discusses the horrors of a hungry child, the perils of a messy room, and the nerve of a cat to bathe in front of her. She refers to the increase of diagnosed ADD students, and while I know that is true I also know that many parents encourage their children to be ADD as the extra time on tests helps them academically and the drugs make them easier to parent. Thus I am always wary of anything mentioning ADD.

Many other opinions she mentions however I completely agree with. My thoughts on standardized tests mirror hers. When she refers to Standardized Tests she refers to a student she had who despite improving in class and in their tutoring sessions had received a lower grade on her standardized test. She explains to the father, “Ella may have not felt well; was stressed since state tests are dreaded indicators of what class a student will be in for the next school year; or had rushed herself so that she placed her answers in the wrong spaces. It is difficult to determine just exactly why a student receives an odd grade in comparison to his/her typical grades... Give a student the same test three days in a row and it is likely that you will get three different scores. So which score is the accurate one?”

She discusses the different ways of teaching (since all students learn differently, “For some students, it is necessary to present concepts in extremely visual methods—via videos, drawings, pictures, objects, artifacts, as well as nearly pantomiming every word while speaking, much as like using sign language. For other students, it is essential that auditory methods be accentuated by using a recording of their own voice while reading or speaking; asking them to explain a concept just learned as if they were “the teacher and I was the student”; involving music, singing; or overly enunciating phonemes until they can be repeated with accurate distinction....” this is something I am really a believer in (I am a very audio learner. It is very difficult for me to remember something I read or saw, but if I heard it I can usually remember it verbatim. As such I make conscious efforts to vary the methods I use to teach. (Kinesthetic: (Origami, TPR Audio: Songs  Visual: Drawing Stories, Drawing Sentence And things that combine (songs with TPR or chants with TPR which are both audio and visual etc.)

She goes on to mention her experiences in the class and out of the classroom with special education students where my heart goes out to her. I have rarely worked with them but I know what a challenge it is to use different methods constantly to try and keep their attention and help them learn. She also mentions emotionally and behaviorally disabled (EBD) students of which I have only taught in the lower class levels (preschool) but have always been a test of patience.

Throughout the book she quotes facts about tutors, famous tutors, poems about tutors etc. She also includes various case studies which I felt were more like vignettes, some of which I found very intriguing, others of which I finished reading wondering why she had bothered to include them.

She ends the book with a plea for education to consider changing. Her proposal is learning centers. “Imagine that every public school building in your community was a quality learning center. Any person residing in the vicinity could visit the center so that there would not be a restriction on the number of students—not even a lottery would be necessary. During regular school hours the center would be open for students to work year-round on their graduation requirements. While some students may progress faster than others, the goal would be to assist each student through the basic and advanced knowledge needed to be a 'graduate'.” While there are many things I disagree with I encourage her ability to think outside the box and recognize that there is a lot lacking in the current education system.

Overall the book was something that I learned from and had me thinking. Though I didn't always agree with her, critical thinking to defend my own perspectives is always helpful. If you are a tutor, a teacher whose students use tutors, a parent who has used tutors or really just someone wondering what on earth a tutor could have to write a book about I'd recommend that you check out Debra A Boyle's book The Tutor.

If you are interested in checking out the glamorous (or not-so-glamorous) life of a tutor via Mrs. Debra A. Boyle you can check out more about the book to the left OR the KINDLE version to the right.

You may also be interested in checking out the two children's early readers she has created. After reading The Tutor I have great faith that the books would be helpful for students who need assistance in reading or in tutors and teachers looking for books to help struggling students.

Jobs for experienced teachers

In another post I point out a few good places to check out jobs if you are just getting into the TEFL. There are other places to look when you are already an "established" teacher and looking for jobs.

Now I am at a point in my life where I have experience teaching at multiple levels, a CELTA, and a Masters in a relevant field in addition to my Bachelors. This means that I am looking for other jobs than I did in the past.

I still think you should keep three things in mind when looking for a new job.

1. Is it legal? I always avoided anything that appears to be under the table. First, because I hate breaking the law (yes yes I am a goodie goodie) and second because I planned on spending most of my life living abroad; the last thing I needed was to be blacklisted from visiting some country because of visa violations. It is also safer to have a legal job. At this point in your career you are a professional and should not be sneaking around.

2. Is it verifiable? Google those people! Use your blind date stalking skills for good. Google e-mail addresses, names, the company, etc. Check out their LinkedIn profiles. Check blogs for past employees. Ask to speak to past/current employees. Again, you shouldn't need to take many chances here you aren't a risk so they should be a sure thing.

3. Is it appropriately compensating you? In Mexico I don't make as much as I would in San Diego (assuming I could get a job), but my apartment is much cheaper than what I would be paying in San Diego (as well as other expenses). So even though I am making less I am still able to save, and overall my pay is appropriate for my experience and location. There are other jobs here that pay half of what I make. Those may be great for other people, but at this point in my professional life they aren't for me anymore.


If you are looking into Korea I still recommend  EPIK(rural Korea and Seoul) or GEPIK (involving the doughnut shaped province that surrounds Seoul). Again you must be a "native English Speaker." You do get a pay raise depending on how your level of experience. Salary varies from 2 million won to 2.5 million won depending on your experience and qualifications (2,000-2,500 USD roughly) plus a one time settling fee (to buy pots, pans, etc). If you finish your contract you get a months salary as a bonus. You are given an apartment (which is paid for by the school) and there are often workshops. You work 8 hours a day 5 days a week, but you should only teach 22 hours a week. I believe now GEPIK requires a TEFL.

There's quite a few job search sites that you can find focused on different grades:

• Now, everyone will tell you to check out Dave's Cafe, as it is a pretty good site with jobs worldwide. It is very popular (which means lots of jobs!)  but it doesn't really regulate who posts jobs. Because of this, it is really important to thoroughly check the company.
• HigherEdJobs is available for people looking for jobs in higher education (which normally requires more experience).
• The Chronical of Higher Education has a job forum which also focuses on higher education.
• ESLJobs is a decent job forum as well.

Social Networking

• Mainly however I find these jobs through networking. My Masters program still e-mails me when jobs are available that would be suited to my major. 
• I am a big LinkedIn fan. Especially if you are active in relevant discussions people are more likely to think of you as a fellow teacher, rather than a stranger. 
• I know that facebook is traditionally a personal site but every year when my school hires new teachers I make a quick announcement on my facebook to let my fellow teachers know that they can apply. If they were to apply then they would have a plus: a teacher working here now who can talk to the director personally. What a leg up! In addition a lot of schools have facebook and will post job openings on their social networks before reaching out to recruiters or job sites. 
• Nowadays Twitter is a pretty easy place to check out jobs. You can keep it like facebook where you just follow schools' tweets and look for hints of jobs. An alternative is to look for relevant hashtags  there's also a twitjobsearch page worth checking out.

 Am I missing any? What programs do you find great for EFL teachers with more experience?

Formal non-formal and informal learning: The case of literacy, essential skills and language learning in Canada

I have had this written for a while and kept forgetting to post it. A while back I snagged a copy of this research by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D. and found it an interesting read.

First off some background on the author Dr. Eaton's PhD is from the University of Calgary in Educational Leadership and a Master of Arts in Spanish. Now we all know my ears perk up when I can identify with someone and with her I identify with the Spanish! She has about 12 years of experience teaching Spanish to adults and young adults. She also gave a workshop in Mexico called “Bilingual Education: Sharing ideas, understanding context: Experiences from Alberta.” Given all that (and some more I skipped over) I was looking forward to reading what her study had found.

Right off the back she explains that this is not an exhaustive study. Rather, this is a study that highlights specific examples for the simple purpose of understanding literacy and language learning.

1 All learning is useful
2 learning happens everywhere
3 Interdisciplinary

First she briefly reviews the different types of learning (KVARK) as well as the different contexts in which learning occurs (formal, non-formal, and informal).

Assuming that literacy is the first step for more advanced language acquisition Dr. Eaton chooses to start there. First she delves into the topic of what is literacy?
adopting the system the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada uses.

Since literacy is defined Dr. Eaton goes on to gives specific examples of acquiring literacy through the different contexts and how they differ from one another as well as looking at it specifically concerning foreign language literacy.

I wouldn´t say the results were surprising, but it was nice to have my beliefs reinforced through reading.

Basic Steps of Teaching any lexis

A big part of the CELTA was a focus on working from Meaning. So the first thing to do when teaching (well OK the FIRST thing to do is grab the students attention) but then whenever going over new vocabulary words there's a road-map of sorts that they give you. I have found it super helpful, so maybe others will find it a nice review. This works with ANY level you are teaching.

Meaning- Tell a story, show pictures, use a song, use smells, bring in realia, bring in movie clips do anything you can to SHOW the meaning of the words you are going to work on (this works best if the words are all grouped somehow). With preschoolers maybe this means you are showing a video of Arthur the aardvark at school. With older students you are asking them about their weekend and hinting at all of the theme of your lesson.

Pre-Teaching Lexis- The words you have selected to teach should be words that you don't think they know, but give them some credit. Start the draw and tell but don't tell them what each thing is, have them guess. "Struggle" with a word and see if they can guess what it is. Play hang man. Scramble the word. Play password. Etc.

Text-  Finally introduce them to the text where they will see the words used. This can be a reading, or audio. They may want to circle the vocab words and see if it matches what they think it means. They can also listen to the story to make sure it makes sense.


Language Focus- Ask some concept check questions to see if they understand the questions. Have them do chants if they are younger or choruses if they are older and need the pronunciation help. If they have a word journal now is a good time to have them add to it.

Controlled Practice- This is when they have a gap fill or word to definition match, TPR, following of directions,  fix mistakes, answer specific questions (adding details), some simple pair games (more complicated ones are free practice), Songs

Free Practice- This is a LOT more fun. Have them draw the picture, make an rhyme,
make them  practice sentences and pictures,  answer open questions etc.

Commonly Mixed Up Words

So in the TOEFL class we go over commonly mixed up words such as Lay vs Lie, Sensitive and Sensible etc. I just came accross Grammar Cat and I LOVE it! In addition to Lay vs Lie

there's also Your vs You're

and Who vs Whom

If you are in need of an appropriate grammar comic (that doesn't use the F word) you may want to check out Grammar Cat

If you areinterested in other grammar comics, check out the post here.

Sweet Little Bunny With a Fly Upon Its Nose

When I was in the Netherlands I picked up a few Dutch kids songs. One was the lief klein konijntje: Children would use hand motions (wohoo TPR) and have a lot of fun (plus it is one of the songs I still remember!)

When I was thrown into a preschool class with no chance to prep I very quickly and super roughly translated this song into English and sang it for the students.

Sweet little bunny with a fly upon its nose

Sweet little bunny with a fly upon its nose

Sweet little bunny with a fly upon its nose

And it flew from here to there

OOOOOH sweet little bunny

OOOOOOOOH sweet little bunny

OOOOOOOOOOH sweet little bunny with a fly upon its nose

That was fun, but it didn't last very long. So on a whim I had the students change the words in a mad libs like activity. So the students changed the animals, body part and adjectives.

For example: 

Happy, tall giraffe with an elephant on its elbow

Happy, tall giraffe with an elephant on its elbow

Happy, tall giraffe with an elephant on its elbow

And it flew from here to there

OOOOOH happy tall giraffe

OOOOOOOOH happy tall giraffe

OOOOOOOOOOH happy tall giraffe with an elephant on its elbow

It is perfectly OK if the song doesn't make any sense. The important part is that each word has a matching hand motions and the students have fun! You can make it more practical and change the verb (and it swam from here to there, and it walked from here to there, and it went from here to there) but I think part of the fun is students picture ridiculous animals flying. If you like at the end you can end with the students drawing a picture of their favorite combination.

I have used this is Spanish as well (Cornejito cariñoso con una mosca en la nariz...) when practicing body parts with little ones in the States.

For those of you who love the Dutch version so much you want it on your IPOD to treasure forever and ever I have found a few copies. You can pick from the one on your left or your right.

You lived in Korea, so you speak Korean? How much of a language do you need to know to teach English to the learners?

As a traveller I do think it shows a great amount of disrespect not to learn at least some of the language when you go to a different area. Even if I was spending less than a week in a country, I would always learn: please thank you, where is the, and no. I found it earned me some respect and overall it is just the polite thing to do.

So yes, I picked up some Korean (now I remember very little) and when I lived in the Netherlands I learned some Dutch.

As a teacher however I do not feel you need to know a learner's language in order to teach them. I do think you need to understand their language linguistically to anticipate problems. For example, I did a poetry unit in Korea. I did not know that Korean's do not rhyme. The best translation of the word rhyme is poem, but they aren't familiar with the concept in their L1. If I had known that I would have planned more time on the actual skill of rhyming (which I ended up doing anyways)

When I took my CELTA  we had a copy of Swan's Learner English that I found invaluable for understanding why a student may struggle with a lesson.

I do agree with others who have said that it is very helpful to teachers if they have learned a second or third language as a student. This gives you tons of skills that later help you as a teacher (and you may be able to snag some activities and games!)

So basically no I don't think that English teachers need to be multi-lingual. I do think it helps, but I think most people would benefit from being multi-lingual, not just teachers.

5 easy ways to teach with Movies

 okokOne of my favorite final assignments is to have students make pcik a topic from the semester and teach it to the class. After the TOEFL I also like to have students watch a movie (as a: "wohoo we finished the TOEFL!"). So in an effort to combine the two my students are making teaching part of the class USING a movie that we watched in class.

This time I changed it up so they have to teach something from the class  USING a movie that we watched. So to do this I wanted to give them some examples of how to use movies in class:


1. Use the soundtracks! See my other blog on how to use songs in class. Bands often make music videos that are related to the movie for example with Cruel Intentions (which is probably not appropriate for your class unless you teach college students)

2. Use the characters. Take any reading that you already have and change the names. For example if you were going to do a Dear Abby type activity still do it but make the letter from one of the characters. If you are doing a drill to review a grammar point use the characters. It is more interesting to find the run on if the sentence is something like: Elizabeth Swan is in love with two pirates. She really loves Will Turner, she loves Jack Sparrow too!

3. Use scenes. Take one scene from the movie and use it for students to break down a grammar point. Have them use every adjective they can to describe what is happening. Pick out things happening to objects and write them in the active voice, then have the students switch it to passive. etc.

4. Summarize/Paraphrase Have students make a trailer for the movie (or a short version of the movie) This tests their summarizing skills.

5. Idioms! Either directly find idioms in the movies (they are always there!) or find situations where idioms could apply. Make a gap fill with situation/dialogue or show a scene and have students try to guess.

There are so many more there may be another post coming up. How do you use movies?

A rhyming word game

A co-worker and I were discussing how our students get stuck on paraphrasing sometimes because they can''t think of other ways to say words. So they just move words around but can't put them in their own words. One of my solutions is a game I play with students called Inky Pink. It goes like this:

What's Inky Pinky for a silly rabbit? A funny bunny?

What's Inkity Pinkity for a scary flash of light in a storm? Frightening Lightening

What's Ink Pink for an entertaining religious woman? A fun nun

Can you figure out how to play the game?

Often I don't tell my students the rules I just start giving them clues and seeing if we can come up with answers. Eventually they get the hang of it and then I ask the ones that do to explain it to the class. 

If you haven't guessed yet these are the rules: You describe something (using synonyms or descriptions) that can be answered in two words normally with matching syllables. To tell how many syllables it is you use Ink Pink (one syllable-one syllable: fun nun), Inky Pinky (two syllables-two syllables: funny-bunny), Inkity Pinkity(three syllables-three syllables: frightening lightening).

Traditionally the syllables need to match, but I tend to make it more diverse by allowing each word to have different syllables.
What's Inky Pink for a solitary duplicate (two syllables-one syllable) alone-clone.

You can also do it with pictures:
 What's Ink Pink for: a fat cat

Once students get the hang of it there are tons of applications. Off the top of my head I have used it to fill up some extra time, to practice paraphrasing or to review vocab.

For example these are some vocabulary words I use from Ray Bradbury's All Summer in a Day: Pleading, Tidal, Slacken., Avalanche, Savor, Suspend, Frail, Cluster, Peer, Glance, Whisper, Seize, Stake, Bore, Seek

What's ink pink for a brief look that happened by luck: A Chance Glance
What's ink pink for a weird look: a Queer Peer
What's inky-pinky for asking for something a lot and is losing a lot of blood: a Bleeding Pleading

Students can come up with their own and try to guess other student's ink-pinks.

I have a packet for All Summer in a Day at Teachers Pay Teachers that includes some ink pink worksheets. It is only $1.50! If you aren't a member of TPT yet you can sign up for free here

I learned that these were ink-pinks, but others have called them hink-pinks or hinky-pinkys If you are slow to make your own there are some books and games to help you out:

Do you remember playing this game when you were younger? What's your favorite ink-pink? How would you use this in the classroom? Or why not?

My favorite websites as a teacher

A lot of these sites are awesome for any teacher, some are better for EFL (ESL, EFL, ELT, Language Arts, English etc), but most are great sites for any teacher to rock in their classes.
 
Tools for teachers/students to use for presentations:

• www.pinterest.com I use this to keep track of all those random awesome teaching sites/ideas I find before I create a presentation 
• http://prezi.com/ is a great alternative to powerpoint. A great way to make lessons interactive.
• http://edu.glogster.com/ A good way for students to organize fast visuals of what they learned
• http://www.wordle.net/ An easy way to have students visualize a text 
• http://www.online-stopwatch.com An easy site with stop watch or count down timers
• http://www.ted.com/ Find inspirational talks with their texts! 
• http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/PPT-games/ Games to help review topics 

 Sites for teachers to plan lessons/track grades:

• https://www.engrade.com/ I have a big crush on this online gradebook site. I LOVE it.
• http://www.busyteacher.org/ is a great way to check what other teachers are doing and snag some free worksheets/ideas
• http://www.teacherspayteachers.com another great site to join to snag ideas from other teachers. Some things are free though others are at cost (if you have not signed up yet you can do so for free here).
• http://eslcarissa.blogspot.mx/2012/05/reading.html A whole buncha reading sites (to find e-books etc)
• http://saradavila.com/  A bunch of helpful materials
• http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Tons of useful videos regardless of the topic you teach
• http://www.snagfilms.com/ Lots of free films!
• http://openclipart.org/ Royalty free clip art for worksheets or websites
• http://byrdseed.com/respondo/ Easily make involved higher level thinking questions
• http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/  Find lessons based on current news events
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/wordsinthenews/ Similar to breaking news, but with a big emphasis on vocabulary 
• http://tweentribune.com/teen A good place to find news articles for teenagers
  
• http://www.idiomizer.com/idioms/ A must for anyone using idioms

Sites to get a class to work together:  

• http://wallwisher.com/ An visually pleasing way for an online class to share ideas 
• http://primarypad.com/ An easy way for students to collaborate without signing up anywhere
• http://www.dropbox.com An fast way to have students turn in assignments and pass out assignments without killing any trees! YAY!
  

A site to do things with sentence structure/words:

• http://www.manythings.org/rs/ A fun website to randomly generate sentences per the sentence structure you select
• http://www.wordspy.com/ This is a site which spots new words in the English dictionary and keeps you updated.
• http://www.wordsmyth.net A quick way to make a vocab quiz
• http://www.discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker/ You can make free word puzzles here
• http://www.easydefine.com/ Define multiple words at one time here
• http://www.visualthesaurus.com/vocabgrabber/ Pick out vocab words from a text
• http://www.siclist.blogspot.mx Bad examples. Find real examples of grammar gone bad and have students fix it.
• http://lnytimes.com/word-of-the-day/ There are TONS of word of the day sites, but this is one of my favorites
• http://www.wordreference.com/ More accurate than googletranslate for words or word chunks. The forum discussions are especially useful.
• http://www.urbandictionary.com/ I use a lot of songs and clips in my classes so this is good for students who ask me things like, "Teacher, what does it mean to do something like a Boss?"

(Youtube video not necessarily appropriate for work, just keep in mind it is what your students are probably watching in their spare time and what they will be asking you questions about)

But HOW do you teach abroad?

The famous fortress of my first city I lived in teaching abroad, Suwon-si Korea.

The second most commonly asked question I get is, "But Carissa, HOW do you teach all these places?"

There are TONS of programs out there you just need to use common sense when you are looking at them and find the best one for you. I have different standards when I look for jobs now, but now I have years of different levels of experience, certificates, and a Masters. When I was just starting off I would look at jobs and think:

1. Is it legal? I always avoided anything that appears to be under the table. First, because I hate breaking the law (yes yes I am a goodie goodie) and second because I planned on spending most of my life living abroad; the last thing I needed was to be blacklisted from visiting some country because of visa violations. It is also safer if you have a legal job with a legal visa.

2. Is it verifiable? Google those people! Use your blind date stalking skills for good. Google e-mail addresses, names, the company, etc.. Check out their LinkedIn profiles. Check blogs for past employees. Ask to speak to past/current employees.

3. Is it survivable? A lot of the programs I am going to mention don't pay tons of money, but they do give you enough based on what you are doing. If you are working 80 hours a week with a homestay and may still struggle to make ends meet, I wouldn't recommend it.

So, what kind of programs are out there and appropriate for someone without a lot of experience?

Some of my best times in Korea were spent in the rural Korea.

TALK is a program that I never did, but I want to mention it because it does not require a Bachelors degree. You have to be a "native English speaker" meaning that you are a citizen of : Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK or USA. You also need to have an associates degree OR be enrolled in your Bachelors with 2 years of schooling completed.  You teach for 15 hours a week (normally in rural areas of Korea) Monday through Friday. Perks? Free outings, your accommodation is provided (either an apartment or a homestay) and you earn about 1.5million won a month (this is about $1,500 US but it depends on the exchange rate). This program is encouraged for those 35 and under (though they accept people up to 55).

Suwon, where I taught, is the capital of Gyeonggi-Do

If you are looking into Korea and you have more experience and want more money. Check out EPIK(rural Korea and Seoul) or GEPIK (involving the doughnut shaped province that surrounds Seoul). Again you must be a "native English Speaker." Salary varies from 2 million won to 2.5 million won depending on your experience and qualifications (2,000-2,500 USD roughly) plus a one time settling fee (to buy pots, pans, etc). If you finish your contract you get a months salary as a bonus. You are given an apartment (which is paid for by the school) and there are often workshops. You work 8 hours a day 5 days a week, but you should only teach 22 hours a week.
EDITED TO ADD As of March 2012 a 100 hour TOEFL course was a new basic requirement.

You can also work at hagwons (private academies) but since these are not government backed jobs you REALLY need to do your research.

A bunch of fellow English teachers at the El Escorial

What if you have no desire to go to Korea? OK. What about Europe?

BEDA is a program for the Catholic schools in Madrid. It does NOT require a Bachelors (but you need to be in at least you second year of college). Technically you are not a teacher (you are an assistant). You work 16-24 hours a week and your pay varies based on the hours you work. You must be a native English speaker, older than 20 and competent in Spanish. You can read more here

Catholicism isn't your thing? OK, then just work for the government. People from the United States or Canada can apply to become an Auxiliare de conversación. You could end up teaching anywhere in Spain in schools ranging from Kindergarten through 12th grade. You get at least 700 Euros a month (depending on the hours this could increase) and you pay nothing to apply. It is designed for Junior and Senior College students (so no Bachelors needed) or recent graduates.

Crazy wild Carnivalle party in Dunkirk France!

You have no desire to be in Spain. France rocks a similar program. You need to be a United States citizen (or have a greencard) . You must be between 20 and 30 with at least 2 years of college experience, and you must be proficient in French. You make about 780 Euros a month. There is a small fee to apply. You can read more here.

These are all programs that help new teachers get the experience they need to decide if teaching is really what they want, or to become desirable to hire.

Am I missing any? What programs do you find great for budding EFL teachers who want to get their feet wet?

Bad case of alphabet soup? TEFL / TESOL / TOEFL

I quite often get asked by a lot of people, "What certificate do I need to teach in Mexico" (or any other country I have been).

Before I say anything else I want to make it clear that my advice is usually on how to get legal jobs (it's safer!)and that's what I recommend. However this does not consist of legal advice. ALWAYS check with a country's rules before going.

Quite often you don't NEED any certificate. If you are a native speaker with a college degree this will already get you several job opportunities.

Alright, to start if you aren't a "native" speaker(From England, South Africa, The United States of America, New Zealand, Australia etc), you will want to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The TOEFL IBT (Internet Based Test) is the most known now as it includes speaking and writing, though the Paper Based Test is still accepted in some places. Be sure to check before you take the test to know what scores you need and what test is preferred. This is to prove your English level to your school. While it doesn't always substitute for being a native speaker (especially if it is a visa requirement), sometimes it does.

So that's the TOEFL (different than a TEFL)

Sometimes schools want more than just a native speaker; they want someone who has shown some commitment to teaching and has a certificate. That's when you'll see them ask for a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).

Two of the more well known (and thus more valued) are the Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) and the Trinity College London Certificate in TESOL (Trinity). There are a lot of different courses out there, but the CELTA and Trinity are by far the two best known; that doesn't necessarily mean they are the best but they are reputable. They have hours of in class teaching and hands on time with the moderators. While the CELTA is technically focused on adults, I rarely see problems with this if you apply for younger learner jobs.

I think it is easiest to think of the whole thing and compare it to shoes.

The TEFL and TESOL certificates are shoes, and you need a pair to get where you are going. The CELTA and the Trinity are like Nike and Adidas; if you tell people you have them, they know you have "good" shoes.

Now there are a lot of online certificates; I wouldn't encourage these as many schools won't take them, BUT if you already have a job and you'll get a pay raise or you are just looking at jobs that take online ones then this is great.

CELTA has started to offer an online version, but it still requires you to to some in person time as well.


My advice: Look for a school you would want to work at that is hiring right now. It is too early to actually look for a job for you, but you can see what requirements they want. These are the requirements you should shoot to have. If they say, "minimum 100 hour certificate" then that is what you want. "No online certificates" then you need to do one in person. "TEFL with classroom observation" means that most online certificates are out. "CELTA or equivalent" tends to mean Trinity or CELTA.

I recently came accross a free basic TEFL course here: http://www.udemy.com/basic-tefl-certificate-course/ I wouldn't suggest it as the ONLY course you take, but it does seem like it has a nice background. If you don't have time to do anything else, or you really have no money (and can't get a scholarship) please at least check out the course at Udemy or CCPED Something is better than nothing after all!

Thoughts? What certificate do you have? Is it enough? Do you wish you had a different certificate?

Not another Cloze! How else to use songs in EFL classes

Songs are awesome! And I have seen SO many gap fill assignments (which are nice) but let's look at how else to use songs.

For the sake of continuity I am going to use one song for this entire post (though other songs will be mentioned). Let's look at It is a music video mixed from two K-op music videos (Fantastic Baby by Big Bang and Scream by) 2NE1 the song is actually by Regina Spektor and it is called, "All the Rowboats." I like to use videos students haven't seen, so this works well because even if they know the song my Mexican students won't know the K-Pop visuals, and if my Korean students recognized the bands they won't know the lyrics.

1. Make your own songs: So for this one instead of: "All the rowboats in the paintings they keep trying to row away, and the captains' worried faces stay contorted and staring at the waves." you could change it so something to review parts of speech, "All the nouns stay in the paintings they are objects or things. Without verbs they have no action there is no moving." or whatever. Songs are a great way to review concepts you have learned or just give students something to humm during tests.

2. Use songs to describe grammar points: This would be an easy song to use for prepositions (and you could follow up by asking about the people in the video: they are on the table, under the fence etc).

3. Practice Punctuation Lyrics are hardly ever punctuated properly as they are arranged by rhythm and rhyme rather than syntax. Have your students avoid comma splices and run ons by punctuating a song,

 "First there's lights out, then there's lock up
Masterpieces serving maximum sentences
It's their own fault for being timeless
There's a price you pay and a consequence
All the galleries, the museums
Here's your ticket, welcome to the tombs"

"First there's lights out, then there's lock up: masterpieces serving maximum sentences. It's their own fault for being timeless; there's a price you pay and a consequence. All the galleries, the museums, here's your ticket; welcome to the tombs."

4. Describe music videos! I LOVE music videos.

• Write ten sentences describing the video. Have five of the sentences be incorrect. This can be any grammar point. Participle phrases, appositives, tense, proper modifiers, etc. Examples:
• The owls eyes, looked right at you, are scary.
• The people attacks the fence trying to destroy it.
• There are much people dancing at the party
• Students should correct the five wrong sentences 
• The owls eyes, looking right at you, are scary.
  
• The people attack the fence trying to destroy it.
  
• There are many people dancing at the party.
• Use the  grammar point. Tell students that they need to write ten sentences using participle phrases / adjectives / adverbial clauses / whatever to describe what is happening. They get really specific and sometimes funny!

5. Mess up the lyrics Write the lyrics incorrectly and have students try to fix them.

• You can mess up the words for minimal pairs/homophones "Thirst their's lights out," instead out "First there's lights out." Depending on the level on your students you can either have them do it without listening (and then let them listen to check), have them listen without the paper and then pass out the paper and have them work from memory, or have them do it while listening.
• Mess with the tenses:  "First there's lights out, then there are lock up" have students read messed up lyrics and fix the verbs. Then listen to the song to check. To differentiate tell some students how many mistakes are in each column, and don't tell others. Or, give one student a worksheet with more/more difficult mistakes.

6. Work the Paragraph Have students find a Topic Sentence in the song. It can be literal (Tequila makes her clothes fall off) or deeper "This song discusses immigration policies" "This song is about how people don't appreciate art" "This song is about a holocaust museum" Then have them find support in the lyrics. This really makes students follow paragraph structure using evidence from the song and then explaining it in their own words.

7. Spice up a song Take lyrics out of a song and have students make them better

• Remind them to use synonyms. She says, "all the rowboats" a lot, what else could she say?
• Have them add adjectives or clauses to make better sentences.
• Underline phrases that could be changed to phrasal verbs or phrasal verbs that they have to change to phrases "First there's lights out, then there's lock up" --> First everyone has to make the rooms dark, then everything gets locked

8. Make it active! TPR doesn't have to just be for kids! Give each group a chunk of the song and have them make up a quick dance/collection of hand movements WHICH MAKES SENSE with the lyrics. This really means they have to focus on meaning and think outside of the box to prove comprehension.

There we have 8 easy ways to get songs into the classroom. How do you like to incorporate music? How else would you use this song?

Summer Vacation: A great time for Webinars

To be honest I am not sure I'll make all of these as many are when I have my short stint at home in San Diego, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't attend one or two. There are many more out there, but these are the ones that interested me:

Thursday June 28th the British Council has a webinar on how to make every lesson great! It takes place at noon UK time (which means I am getting up early down here in Mexico) but it should be fun! The speaker is an Anthony Gaughan (veteran teacher of 17+ years in the UK and Germany). He is a Dogme fan so we can probably expect some unplugged thinking. No need to registeer just click here when the time is right.

I have Shelly Terrell's webinars booked (every Friday at 1p.m. for LA) but I never manage to make them. I also hardly know what the topic will be before which I think makes me less likely to show up, but here's a link for anyone interested.

The ASCD is offering a webinar on "Reading for Meaning: How to Build Students’ Comprehension, Reasoning, and Problem-Solving Skills." Harry Silver will be the presenter. It takes place: Thursday, July 12, 2012, 12:00p.m. ET. The intention is to teach stduents to read for meaning, and draw conclusions that they can defend with evidence. You can register here.

EdWeek.org offers a webinar of Enhancing Teacher's Effectiveness. You can register here

This event takes place on Thursday, July 12, 2012, 2 to 3p.m. ET. And is basically about, The research that talkes about the impact of teacher effectiveness on student achievement. And the best strategies to achieve that.  Presenters: Dr. Jack Parish, executive director, 
Georgia Association of Educational Leaders 
Kirk Vandersall, founder and managing director, Arroyo Research Services 
Christina Mills, 2010 Wyoming Teacher of the Year 
Dr. Becky L. Shermis, executive director of program design, Product Development Group, Laureate Education, Inc. 
Moderator: Dr. Christine Jax, associate dean of Ph.D., Ed.D., and Ed.S. programs, The Riley College of Education and Leadership

 Connie Moss is the presenter for another ASCD webinar, "Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim  for Understanding" Tuesday, July 17, 2012 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT The goal is to improve student's learning by "creating learning targets to help teachers create daily lessons and learning experiences that amount to something enduring and meaningful over time." This looks like something that would encourage autonomous learning which I am a big fan of! You can register here.

Another ASCD webinar is on Tuesday July 24, 2012 4:00p.m. - 5:00p.m. EDT  Mike Fisher presents as he discusses some of the web tools he has found useful for educators. I am always hesitant about these as I don't know how much will be repeat, but since the webinar includes specific tasks and appropriate tool choices, with real classroom applications it should be one to check out. You can register here

One of my first Webinars was done through San Diego State's Language Lab. They still do a version of it every Summer. It is Social Media Workshop and can be done via the internet OR on campus if you are in San Diego. The workshop is July 30-August 30 and you can register here. 


There's another Technology Webinar this time with Howard Pitler. The ASCD gives on Tuesday, August 7, 2012 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT This one specifically discusses how to integrate technology into clasrooms effectively to get the most out of student. Feel frree to register here
Do you know about any webinars coming up this Summer? Share your knowledge in the comments!

End of the TOEFL Course

Well, my Summer TOEFL Course has just about ended. It was... FAST Trying to cram the entire English language that the TOEFL tests on into one class was hard, teaching for a solid month was harder! I give the students their TOEFL exam in 6 hours. They all have the ability to pass...though I am not sure they will. Some of them get very nervous during the TOEFL; and forget to just breathe and guess. Overall I think the class went well, I used a lot of supplemental material. They listened to songs, watch clips, and did lots of lots of TOEFL worksheets. I can see where I would try to change the class in the future, but for now I feel that I did a pretty good job. How do you teach the TOEFL? Any tips?

Battleship the game differentiated for EFL

We aren't talking about the movie!

So much of my teaching I steal from teachers I had when I was in high school. I remember a go to game for my Spanish class in high school was battleship. The first day playing the game normally takes a while, but since students aren't always familiar with the game, but after that it is a breeze!

The best part is you can personalize this however you want! You just need a worksheet with two grids on it (one will be your ocean and the other one is the partner's ocean.

If you are unsure on the rules of battleship you can check out this simple video:


The difference is instead of saying "B-3" you would practice the target language.

If we were studying past participles it would be, "You called him Susie?" Or, "You called the pizza place." or whatever. You can make the Subjects famous people, teachers in the school, or just generic.

You can make the game easier by using pictures instead of words (have the rows be pictures of clothing and the collumns be colors)

If you don't feel comfortable making your own there are many templates available online. A search in Teachers Pay Teachers yields multiple teachers offering their templates for free (if you haven't signed up yet it is free just click here) .You can also find teachers willing to share their battleship games on busyteacher
Remember that these are provided for free but teachers REALLY appreciate comments/reviews.

Now, how can you differentiate the game?
You can make the game itself more difficult by having them play with more than one player, or by having the games altered a bit (each ship gets so many shots, if a ship sinks, it can't shoot anymore) This video explains altered rules pretty well


You can make the grammar more difficult by making them change the type of grammar with each shot (so if they are reviewing appositives the first shot has to have the appositive for the subject, the second for the object, etc.)

To make the game easier provide prompts and models on the target language (or a cheat sheet with conjugations of verbs you are reviewing, words you are using etc.)

Even though technology is giving us possibilities in the classroom it is important to remember the old stuff too!

Let me know if you can you think of any other ways to differentiate this game? Or feel free to contact me if you need a template and are having problems with the other sites.

That major means what? Helping out with TOEFL

Often, at the end of the reading or listening section on the TOEFL they will ask the students, "In what type of class would this text/lecture be?" Whiich is a good question, except that many of my stduents don't know the difference between astrophysics and astrology...making it a pure guessing game.

I LOVE xkcd and there is a fantastic comic over there about all of the majors (and how they are terrible. You can view it here: http://xkcd.com/1052/

It can be hard to print out (because of the size) but if you copy and paste it into paint and make two collumns you can make it work on a horizontal page in word.

This awesome comic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. This means you're free to copy and share it (but not to sell it). More details.

I am not an artist (my class and their troubles with my visuals)

The other day a student asked which "shit" we were going over.

Recognizing this as a chance to review some minimal pairs (and correct an embarrassing mistake) I said, "We are going over the homework shEEt, remember that shit means something else." I grabbed my marker as some students laughed and explained what shit meant to those who didn't get it.

Then I made my way over to the board, "It's like ship or sheep"

And I draw a ship (to which all students nod and I even get a few murmers or "barco"): I repeat the English word and sound: "Ship"

Then I draw the beautiful sheep, to which one student says, "Sheep means like cloudy?"

Everyone laughs at my sheep as I try to defend it, "It isn't a cloud it has a head...and legs"

To which the student replied, "I thought it was raining"

At this point I just have to conceed my art is not the best. "Fine. OK. I am no artist, but just remember a shIp is not shEEp and a shIt is NOT a shEEt."

There is lots of stuff online to help you help your class with minimal pairs. When we studied minimal pairs earlier to help with the TOEFL. We used this worksheet which worked well.

ESL handouts also offers a worksheet which makes students listen carefully to George Michael's, "Careless Whispers"

If your students still struggle with minimal pairs there are lots of fun activities to do in class. My favorite website for home study is: http://www.shiporsheep.com/

If you prefer books then you're lucky. When I took my CELTA and were my go to books for minimal pair and overall pronunciation help!