Tag: English teaching

Feedback In An Online Teaching Environment

/ Martin Sketchley / 1 Comment

Today’s blog follows on eight hours of online lessons over the course of a day – probably one of the longest stretches of teaching remotely – so apologies for the lack of readability or stating the obvious. Anyhow, in this post, I thought that it would be best to focus on the aspects of feedback provision within an online environment, after previous posts on dealing with first lessons with private students and another with online activities to get students speaking.

When one is not within the constraints of a physical classroom, an English teacher may find the online distance further enhances the separation to provide feedback in a prompt and candid manner. Most students that book private lessons, explain that they have received little feedback from previous teachers, and the main reason for finding another tutor is due to this. Thus, it is crucial for all online private tutors to provide a level of feedback that is expected by students.

Top Tips for Non-Native English Teachers

/ Martin Sketchley / 0 Comments

I had the pleasure to invite Marek for a quick interview regarding advice he would recommend newly qualified and certified teachers of English who second language is English. Fortunately he agreed and we created this video answered questions regarding recruitment, the CELTA and various other elements of teaching.

If you don’t know Marek Kiczkowiak, he is the founder of TEFL Equity Advocates and TEFL Equity Academy. He has been involved in English language teaching since 2007 and is originally from Poland. He is now working in Belgium and is involved in preparing students for their academic studies in English. Marek is also writing material for National Geographic.

Episode 4: Five ESL Word Games with No Material

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In this episode of TEFL Tips, I share my five favourite word games that I like to incorporate in my classes at those final ten or fifteen minutes of the lesson when you don’t know what to do. It is an essential skill to know at least five games that you can start using with minimal preparation or planning required.

A Day in the Life of an English Language Teacher

/ Martin Sketchley / 0 Comments

In today’s post, I wanted to share my vlog which looks at the day in the life of an English Language Teacher. I have been thinking about doing this type of video for quite a while and I had been putting it off, but after the weekend, I decided that I would persevere and film.

In this video, I shall a typical day for me as an English teacher with a new group of Chinese students. During the day, I share common difficulties that I face on a day-to-day basis, such as encouraging students to communicate in English, juggling between planning and delivering lessons as well as the general commute to and from work.

Top 10 Tips for Teaching in South Korea

/ Martin Sketchley / 1 Comment

Our last blog contribution was from Kim Ooi about teaching in China, but in this blog post we are now looking at teaching in South Korea. Jackie Bolen has taught English in South Korea and she is offering 10 top tips for surviving as a teacher in this country. She offers advice with regards to understanding the culture more and also provides some invaluable insights to living and working in this wonderful country. So, if you are considering teaching in South Korea, look no further and read more about it here.

Teaching Ideas for Word Stress

/ Martin Sketchley / 7 Comments

“Pronunciation Practice Activities” by Martin Hewings

So the past few months, I have been focusing more and more on pronunciation for all levels of learners, no matter whether they are young learners or adult learners of English. Anyhow, I tried out a new lesson idea today which was partly inspired from the wonderful book, “Pronunciation Practice Activities“, written by Martin Hewings. I would recommend any teacher worth their salt to purchase this book, as it offers some great pronunciation lesson ideas which could be incorporated into class immediately.

Most teachers would identify word stress with the teaching of new vocabulary or as a technique to support pronunciation for problematic lexical items. This is all well and good but it reminds me of a teacher reacting to issues rather than proactively focusing on areas of language learning. Personally, if a teacher is able to develop a lesson based around pronunciation and developing learners’ awareness of pronunciation, so much the better. There is by no means anything wrong by reacting to pronunciation issues as they arise but I think it would be a nice change of focus when we remind learners that there are some basic principles that they can learn no matter how large or small the lexical item. Nevertheless, lets look at one lesson idea which is published in “Pronunciation Practice Activities“.

Real English Lesson: Functional Language

/ Martin Sketchley / 8 Comments

I recorded this lesson at my work of a fellow teacher preparing learners with functional language for debates and expressing points of view. It was a great lesson and I was so grateful being able to observe and record such a valuable lesson. I now thought that I will share this lesson with you all to see how my colleague is able to engage, motivate and support learners during a lesson. Enjoy!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvqf1_Wa2BE?ecver=2]

Feedback In An Online Teaching Environment

Top Tips for Non-Native English Teachers

Episode 4: Five ESL Word Games with No Material

A Day in the Life of an English Language Teacher

Top 10 Tips for Teaching in South Korea

Teaching Ideas for Word Stress

Real English Lesson: Functional Language

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