Experiences of an English Language Teacher
Getting your first EFL job can be quite a challenge but needn’t be. In this post, we look at how to get your first EFL job after the CELTA and what resources are available. There is also a YouTube video which accompanies this post.
One of the biggest challenges is seeking a position as a newly certified EFL teacher. There are some opportunities available in certain countries which allow new teachers to flourish.
One thing that can trouble teachers is how to teach reading skills in an engaging and interesting way. When I was learning French or German at school, my teachers would give us a block of text – not all that I could understand – some comprehension questions and let us get on with it. Fast forward 25 years, and I have created some techniques to ensure that reading is dynamic and exciting.
One of the benefits of being an English language teacher or involved in TEFL is the opportunity to travel around the world. Not many other jobs offer the opportunity for people to travel, learn about a culture or learn more about the language. One country which is very popular for many EFL teachers is Turkey with its rich and immersive culture. In this post, Emre gives his top ten tips for working in Turkey.
Those dreaded first lessons do not have to be stressful. Watch the video below for some ideas on five icebreakers in the EFL classroom.
What activities or techniques do you incorporate in your first lessons? Have you tried any ideas in the video?
It has been over a year since I last recorded a video for my YouTube Channel – I cannot believe how quick fast time flies. Nevertheless, I have now focused today on recording and editing a video based upon getting students moving around the classroom with five practical tips and techniques. The video is available to watch below.
Do not forget to leave a comment or a Like. If you have not subscribed to my YouTube Channel and you enjoyed this video, please do.
I leave this question for you: How do you normally get students moving around the classroom? What do you do to keep learners on their toes?
A teacher training session looked at 20 ways to make your lessons more exciting and engaging. Please find below a video of the training session, the PowerPoint slides as well as a Handout which was provided to each of the attendees.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTCGGujRe2A&w=560&h=315]
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]
Hello all. It is almost the Lunar New Year, so a huge congratulations to those readers from China and the Far East who will be commencing their celebrations soon. Today, we are looking at how to improve spelling with elementary or low-level learners, particularly if they are from an Arabic background.
It is notoriously difficult to improve or develop an Arabic learners. There are some important things you could consider incorporating in class such as unscrabbling letters to make the words, removing the vowels from words and students have to write them in words and, one of my favourite activities, using Scrabble tiles in class. Watch the video below to see how I use them in class by getting learners to review spelling and vocabulary.
The latest article published in Modern English Teacher focuses more on the latest filming that I have focused more in the past few months. Have a read to find out a bit more how teachers could film their classes for their own personal CPD as well as sharing ideas with out English teaching professionals from around the world.
Perhaps I should focus on a future article about how to edit and upload a video to a website which promotes video sharing such as YouTube. For example, I have to spend hours editing the video, rendering it, upload it to YouTube and then finally add effects and thumbnails. It takes a lot longer than you think but it is rewarding to see so many people deciding on watching some of the videos.
Last Friday, I was fortunate enough to observe one of my colleagues teach her Intermediate class with no material what so ever. She told me that she was going to get her students debating in class. I have always had difficulty getting my students to communicate and I thought it would be a great chance to see how another senior teacher encourages learners to communicate and debate naturally. It was the first time that I had been able to take away some ideas for teaching for next time. What made it even more valuable was that I recorded the lesson with my video camera – with her consent.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Mc0rcKb_M&w=560&h=315]
What I really found useful was the fact that the teacher did not use any worksheets or handouts and used all the students in class to elicit possible pros and cons for the debate. Here are the stages for preparing learners to debate and follow a similar lesson structure.
This is a great activity for Pre-Intermediate learners and above. Try it out next time and see whether you got your students speaking. A huge thank you to Lisa for allowing me to record her lesson.
© 2023 ELT Experiences
Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑
Hello Amandeep. Thank you for your comment. If you are looking to get into EAP, I would recommend the following…
Hi Martin it was great to hear about your experiences and evolution as an English teacher, especially how you bounced…
Thanks a lot for the tips! As it is mentioned in the article; if you don't specialise your teaching, you'll…
Thank very much you help me a lot ,I'm teaching grade 1 english medium school so I need a of…
loved your suggestions as I work for preply myself and have many suggestions or things they could definitely improve. Thank…