Hi all, thanks for dropping by. To make things easier, I've decided to merge some of my blogs, which, including this one, can now be found at ELT World. I've been getting off my backsides and writing recently, so come over to the new URL and leave lots of lovely comments.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Friday, March 14, 2008
Guardian TEFL News Latest
Here are a selection of the latest stories from the Education Guardian:
UAE college teacher wins innovation award for English course
A "ground breaking" vocabulary course for female students in the United Arab Emirates was named the winner of the new international category of this year's British Council English language teaching innovation awards.
UAE college teacher wins innovation award for English course
A "ground breaking" vocabulary course for female students in the United Arab Emirates was named the winner of the new international category of this year's British Council English language teaching innovation awards.
Emma Pathare, who works at the Dubai Women's College, won her "Elton" for developing the vocabulary course, which helps elementary English language students with Arabic as their first language get a better understanding of targeted words.
Read on…
What will 'free' conversation cost?
Students have been enthusiastic adopters of technology that offers cheap and easy online language practice, but teachers are still to be convinced about its commercial promise.
In January the British Council went on to YouTube, the popular video sharing website, to announce its plans to develop a web-based English language teaching site for young people that will harness "VoIP" technology.
Few of the council's target audience will need VoIP explained to them, but for those who are less computer-literate "voice over internet protocol" is the technology that allows users to communicate simultaneously - or synchronously - by voice and video via the internet.
Read on…
What will 'free' conversation cost?
Students have been enthusiastic adopters of technology that offers cheap and easy online language practice, but teachers are still to be convinced about its commercial promise.
In January the British Council went on to YouTube, the popular video sharing website, to announce its plans to develop a web-based English language teaching site for young people that will harness "VoIP" technology.
Few of the council's target audience will need VoIP explained to them, but for those who are less computer-literate "voice over internet protocol" is the technology that allows users to communicate simultaneously - or synchronously - by voice and video via the internet.
Read on…
Language school run by Italian fascist leader
A popular language college in London is controlled by the leader of an Italian neo-fascist party who has links to the British National party, the Guardian has learned.
CL English Language, a college in west London that teaches hundreds of foreign students each year, is controlled by Roberto Fiore, leader of Forza Nuova, an extreme right-wing party.
Fiore, who once said he was happy to be described as a neo-fascist and who is an old friend and mentor of Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, was appointed as a director of the college more than two years ago and became sole director in August last year.
Fiore, who once said he was happy to be described as a neo-fascist and who is an old friend and mentor of Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, was appointed as a director of the college more than two years ago and became sole director in August last year.
Read on…
Shock education tactics split South Korea
The incoming president wants all school subjects to be taught in English and to bring back emigrants to help take a nation to fluency by 2013.
A far-reaching overhaul of South Korea's English education system announced last week by Lee Myung-bak, the country's newly elected president, has caused consternation among teachers and provoked a major political challenge even before his official inauguration.
The incoming president wants all school subjects to be taught in English and to bring back emigrants to help take a nation to fluency by 2013.
A far-reaching overhaul of South Korea's English education system announced last week by Lee Myung-bak, the country's newly elected president, has caused consternation among teachers and provoked a major political challenge even before his official inauguration.
The five-year plan to radically change the way English is taught in schools, including a call for all subjects to be taught in English, is being backed by a $4.2bn budget. But even the offer to shift the cost of teaching children from increasingly burdened families to the state-school system has been met with scepticism from parents who see it as increasing competitiveness in the education system.
Read on…
Read on…
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The Free ELT World Journal
Here are highlights of what you'll find in the new, action packed edition of Horizons:
What Would Motivate you to Take a New Job?
What do we want from our jobs? There must surely be a reason for us to move on to bigger and better things at one time or another. So, what are our motivations? What are those bigger and better things? Why do we make the decision to up and move to a new school? The poll that ran on the blog and the forum during December shed some light on to why we move from one job to the next… read on
Interview: Teacher Reflections, Global Connections
Last month on the ELT World Blog I highlighted the excellent Teaching without Borders blog: Teacher Reflections, Global Connections, explaining what a great idea I thought it was to reflect on the different teaching experiences of the different countries of the contributors. I’m delighted that Jennifer Uhler and Jeff Mattison have taken the time and considerable effort to tell Horizons about their blog… read on
Teaching Collocations
Whilst learners often focus on the acquisition of new grammatical structures as a guideline to their progress in learning English, the same cannot always be said of an English learner’s regard for the importance of progressive vocabulary acquisition. Whilst it is true that language structures form the basic skeleton of a language , vocabulary provides the flesh to these bones. Without words, what do we have?… read on
Was your Initial Training Course Worth it?
The four-week TEFL course, a starting point for so many of us in our careers as English teachers. But is it really worth it? What do we really gain from these short, intensive courses that can’t possibly hope to adequately prepare us for a career in teaching? A great deal, it would seem, according to the poll that ran on the blog and the forum… read on
The EnglishUK Teachers Conference
Anyone who’s ever attended a TEFL conference will tell you it can be something of a mixed experience in terms of what you gain from it. It’s not unlike gold mining: you have to sift through a lot of stuff to get to anything even remotely of use to you. Presenting at a conference is, on the other hand, a whole different experience. Anyone thinking of venturing into the conference circuit would be well advised to read the following article… read on
Academicus Electronicus
For this edition of the journal, I offer you, my dear friends, two websites dedicated to the development of TEFL professionals… read on
Teaching English in New Zealand
The situation regarding English language teaching in New Zealand is pretty similar to Australia and not so different from the UK in many respects. As in those countries, there is a private language school sector in addition to state provision through various ESOL programmes… read on
My Favourite Waste of Time
At a certain point, we all get fed up with certain aspects of living in another country. The little things suddenly become big problems in your life. Some of these things, however, bug everyone, and not just us poor expat teachers. Facebook, for all its sins, seems to be becoming a way in which we are able to find kindred sufferers, as M. le Prof d’Anglais explains… read on
Politically Correct Revisited
Last issue’s article on political correctness was well received by many of you, who were able to relate to the ideas being explored. Luckily for Horizons, Istanbul’s Stranger has decided to follow up on the previous article, exploring further the linguistic barriers to the cross-culturalization of the notion of political correctness… read on
The Ideal English Teacher through the Eyes of ELT Trainees
Do you remember what you thought about teachers when you started out as a trainee? How much have your perceptions changed? This article explores the way that trainee teachers in Argentina perceive those already in the profession… read on
Interview: The Latin America Job list and TEFL Tips
What Would Motivate you to Take a New Job?
What do we want from our jobs? There must surely be a reason for us to move on to bigger and better things at one time or another. So, what are our motivations? What are those bigger and better things? Why do we make the decision to up and move to a new school? The poll that ran on the blog and the forum during December shed some light on to why we move from one job to the next… read on
Interview: Teacher Reflections, Global Connections
Last month on the ELT World Blog I highlighted the excellent Teaching without Borders blog: Teacher Reflections, Global Connections, explaining what a great idea I thought it was to reflect on the different teaching experiences of the different countries of the contributors. I’m delighted that Jennifer Uhler and Jeff Mattison have taken the time and considerable effort to tell Horizons about their blog… read on
Teaching Collocations
Whilst learners often focus on the acquisition of new grammatical structures as a guideline to their progress in learning English, the same cannot always be said of an English learner’s regard for the importance of progressive vocabulary acquisition. Whilst it is true that language structures form the basic skeleton of a language , vocabulary provides the flesh to these bones. Without words, what do we have?… read on
Was your Initial Training Course Worth it?
The four-week TEFL course, a starting point for so many of us in our careers as English teachers. But is it really worth it? What do we really gain from these short, intensive courses that can’t possibly hope to adequately prepare us for a career in teaching? A great deal, it would seem, according to the poll that ran on the blog and the forum… read on
The EnglishUK Teachers Conference
Anyone who’s ever attended a TEFL conference will tell you it can be something of a mixed experience in terms of what you gain from it. It’s not unlike gold mining: you have to sift through a lot of stuff to get to anything even remotely of use to you. Presenting at a conference is, on the other hand, a whole different experience. Anyone thinking of venturing into the conference circuit would be well advised to read the following article… read on
Academicus Electronicus
For this edition of the journal, I offer you, my dear friends, two websites dedicated to the development of TEFL professionals… read on
Teaching English in New Zealand
The situation regarding English language teaching in New Zealand is pretty similar to Australia and not so different from the UK in many respects. As in those countries, there is a private language school sector in addition to state provision through various ESOL programmes… read on
My Favourite Waste of Time
At a certain point, we all get fed up with certain aspects of living in another country. The little things suddenly become big problems in your life. Some of these things, however, bug everyone, and not just us poor expat teachers. Facebook, for all its sins, seems to be becoming a way in which we are able to find kindred sufferers, as M. le Prof d’Anglais explains… read on
Politically Correct Revisited
Last issue’s article on political correctness was well received by many of you, who were able to relate to the ideas being explored. Luckily for Horizons, Istanbul’s Stranger has decided to follow up on the previous article, exploring further the linguistic barriers to the cross-culturalization of the notion of political correctness… read on
The Ideal English Teacher through the Eyes of ELT Trainees
Do you remember what you thought about teachers when you started out as a trainee? How much have your perceptions changed? This article explores the way that trainee teachers in Argentina perceive those already in the profession… read on
Interview: The Latin America Job list and TEFL Tips
Sharon de Hinojosa, whom members of the ELT World forums know better as Naturegirl321, has been kind enough to answer a few of my questions about her internet projects. After years of gathering information about teaching on the South American continent, she has decided to make this knowledge available to others via her excellent websites… read on
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Bad jobs in Italy: The Forum
Over on the Italy forum TEFLTrader has started a thread listing bad TEFL jobs in Italy. This will be worth a look for anyone thinking of teaching English in this country in the future.
Take a look at the Italy forum for more information and details of people's experiences of teaching in the country. Feel free to sign up and share your views.
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