Adding Resources to your Teaching Arsenal – Part 1

Teaching truly is a learning curve. Your knowledge of the ins and outs of the English language will improve dramatically the longer you teach. Your students will ask many questions to which you will need to search for an answer. You will pore over grammar texts, Internet ESL websites and discuss many points with colleagues. 

All in all, this will make you a much better teacher.

A really good grammar text is indispensable. There are countless texts out there. Betty Azar’s Fundamentals of the English Language is a very good American English set – Student Book, Workbook and Teachers Book. Get them all. Be prepared to spend a little money on these resource texts. Don’t think of it as a one-time expense. These books will stay with you for years and you will refer to them often. Similarly, spend the money and get a good, big dictionary such as Oxford Advanced Learners. Advise your students to do the same. 

A good dictionary is a language learner’s best friend!

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New Advanced TESOL Diploma

Teachers abroad generally find themselves teaching in one of four categories:

-      Teaching in a regular school or tutoring

-      Teaching Kindergarten

-      Teaching adults, tutoring

-      Teaching in a business setting

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) is the first course you should take. This gives you a broad range of methodologies and techniques to apply in most teaching situations.

Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) is specifically aimed at people who want to teach kindergarten or early primary. It takes a certain ability to do this and teaching strategies are quite different.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults (TEFLA) is aimed at teaching in post-secondary students. It may be Conversational English, Grammar for University Entrance, Essay Writing or basic business English.

Teaching Business English (TBE) is aimed at teaching in a business situation. Many businesses need English to converse with overseas customers, suppliers, head office or subsidiary managers and can be for supervisory level, management and senior management. (Link coming soon!)

Sunbridge has introduced a new Advanced TESOL Diploma that covers all four critical areas. This is an opportunity for anyone who wants to teach overseas and wants to get well prepared for all situations. 

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Want to teach but don’t have a degree?

We regularly receive enquiries from people who would like to teach overseas but who have not completed a bachelor's degree. In the past it was quite easy to teach in many countries without a degree, however that is changing and it is becoming more and more difficult. It is not only a school requirement. Immigration authorities require a degree in order to grant you a visa to remain in their country for the duration of your contract with a school. In some countries, such as Thailand, you need to pass through three government ministries: 

- Immigration grants a visa for the duration of your contract,

- Labour grants a work permit, and

- Education reviews your education documents and authorizes the other two ministries to proceed.

Your school will facilitate this, but you do have to have all your documents, including a degree and a TESOL certificate to ensure you meet the requirements of most countries.

Sunbridge Institute of English has teamed up with Interfaith Academy to assist those people who want to teach overseas but are hampered by not having completed a bachelor's degree. 

Thanks to our agreement with Interfaith Academy, you can now have your Sunbridge Advanced TESOL Diploma credited towards their Bachelor Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language. Assuming you meet their other requirements, they will confer a Bachelor Degree. InterFaith Academy is a non-profit, educational ministry and academy, incorporated in the State of Delaware, USA.

This is exciting news!

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Teaching Jobs of the Week

Current Database Status (country/jobs) as of February 21, 2011:

This is only the tip of the iceberg, but just look at the wide assortment of countries where schools are actively seeking ESL teachers:

Afghanistan[1], Belgium[1], China[29], Cyprus[1], Czech Republic[1],

Georgia[2], Germany[2], Greece[1], Hong Kong[1], Indonesia[8], Iraq[2],

Ireland[1], Italy[5], Japan[2], Kazakhstan[2], Kyrgyzstan[1], Libyan Arab

Jamahiriya[1], Malaysia[2], Malta[1], Oman[3], Poland[1], Portugal[1],

Qatar[1], Russian Federation[4], Saudi Arabia[16], Singapore[1], South

Korea[7], Spain[13], Switzerland[1], Thailand[3], Turkey[4], United Arab

Emirates[4], United Kingdom[107], Vietnam[3], Worldwide[5]

All it takes is a degree and a TESOL certificate. Most schools will even reimburse your airfare! 

Robert

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Benefiting from Local Experience

As a new teacher in an overseas school, here are some things you need to find out:

-      What classes will you be teaching?

-      What is the level of comprehension of the students?

-      What textbooks will you be using?

-      Is there a Teacher’s Book with the text?

-      What support equipment does the school have? CD/DVD Player? TV? LCD projector and large screen? Computer access? Internet access?

-      Additional resources?

-      Will the school pay for some additional material if needed? They may not but it’s worth asking when you get there.

Also, see if you can get a copy of last year’s lesson plan.

Speak with another English teacher if there is one. 

Where can you find additional, local resources? Book store that carry English books?

Is there a local English newspaper?

How about a special newspaper for students? Some cities have them. Bangkok has at least two plus two English newspapers!

This will give you a lot of information. You may not use it all right away but it will be helpful once you have had a chance to get to know the classes and figure out what else you could use to teach.

Got your TESOL certification?

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Using local names and events

I have found that unless an ESL textbook was developed locally, it will usually be for children who have moved to an English country so all of the names will be Billy, Susie, Mary, Joey, etc. Similarly, places such as London and New York mean very little to an eight year old in Thailand of China.

Unfortunately, texts that are made locally are often dreadful. Bad spelling and grammar make them unusable and the problem is often compounded when local teachers who have never been outside the country attempt to teach English using those books.

The internet is full of great ESL websites. I like to take these articles, exercises and quizzes and adapt them for local children. It’s easy enough to change children’s names in stories to march local names (or even children in your class) and local money, local, holiday, local places…you get the idea.

This helps children to relate to your topic. If it is not relevant to the children, it won’t make sense. They won’t understand it and will tune out. When that happens, they stop listening and look for something more interesting to do – such as playing with a Rubix Cube under their desk!

Got your TESOL certification? 

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Love Working at Home!

Coffee with Bob

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Using a ‘class’ book’

I like to use a spiral bound notebook to keep information I need about all my classes. It gets added to daily and should have a good, plastic-protected hard cover. It needs enough pages for the full school year divided into each semester and term. Our year has two terms per semester. 

 

I allow several pages per class. If you only have one class it’s a piece of cake (easy!) but if you have multiple classes, the book will be invaluable to you. I’ve had up to 22 classes with over 900 students I saw each week!

If you teach the same subject to different classes, you will find that, with holidays, etc. some classes get ahead or behind the others. So, you need to keep track of where you are with each class. 

Page 1 – Class 1

I set up a table using Word or Excel. I list each student by name and class/student number. When I take attendance, I call out the name and slowly get to remember more name and correlate names and faces.

There are columns for each lesson date so I can mark attendance. I also use these columns to add in project marks. There is a total column far right to total up missed days and marks given. 

I also use the book as noted in previous posts to knock off marks for misbehaving students. They all know I have the book and see me record attendance – and not down any unruliness or other misbehavior. 

This notebook can get pretty ratty looking by the end of the year which is why you need a good, sturdy one. Believe me, it is worth it’s weight in gold.

You can also use it if you meet with parents to show if their son or daughter missed days or assignments and how their grades stack up aghinst the rest of the class.

I then transfer marks earned into the first column after the student’s name for the next term so I can quickly refer to them during class if need be.

Got your TESOL certification yet? 

Return to Sunbridge Institute of English website

Visit my other blogs:

Love Working at Home!

Coffee with Bob

My Business English Club

Trim the Fat