This is going to seem almost like a troll post, but really it's not. I have recently been asked to write an article regarding Teaching English abroad for a travel magazine. I have taught on a few continents, but obviously it's impossible to have been everywhere. I was wondering if the community out there wouldn't mind posting a few ideas regarding questions teachers should ask empolyers before accepting that wonderful sounding job abroad. I have already thought of a few:

-How much you are going to be paid, in which currency and when

-If accommodation is offered, what exactly is being offered

-How many contact hours you are going to be expected to teach

-Will you have any duties other than teaching

-Who your learners will be (age, background etc)

Any more ideas would be very welcome indeed.

Thanks in advance

Might be an idea if everyone posted their fave sites that they use when looking for material?

I recently came across Just The Word, a site for finding collocations for given words:

http://193.133.140.102/JustTheWord/index.html

 

 

 

 

We'd like to put up some material on Developing Teachers.com to help teachers with lower levels.

What kind of things do you think might be useful?

James sent me some Tommy Cooper jokes:

Two Aerials meet on a roof - fall in love - get married

The ceremony was rubbish but the Reception was Brilliant.

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Man goes to the docs, with a strawberry growing out of his head.

Doc says, "I'll give you some cream to put on it."

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"Doc, I can't stop singing the green green grass of home."

"That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome."

"Is it common?"

"It's not unusual."

-----------------------

A man takes his Rottweiler to the vet.

"My dog's cross-eyed, is there anything you can do for him?"

"Well," says the vet, "let's have a look at him"

So he picks the dog up and examines his eyes, then checks his teeth.

Finally, he says, "I'm going to have to put him down."

"What? Because he's cross-eyed? "

"No, because he's really heavy"

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"Doctor, I can't pronounce my F's, T's and H's."

"Well you can't say fairer than that then"

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Two elephants walk off a cliff...... boom boom!

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So I went to the dentist.

He said "Say Aaah."

I said "Why?"

He said "My dog's died."

-----------------------

So I got home, and the phone was ringing. I picked it up, and said
'Who's speaking please?'

And a voice said "You are."

-----------------------

So I rang up my local swimming baths.
I said 'Is that the local swimming baths?'

He said 'It depends where you're calling from..'

-----------------------

So I rang up a local building firm,
I said 'I want a skip outside my house.'

He said 'I'm not stopping you.'

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Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. And there are 5
people in my family, so it must be one of them.

It's either my mum or my dad.
Or my older brother Colin.
Or my younger brother Ho-Cha-Chu.

But I think it's Colin.

-----------------------

So I was in my car, and I was driving along, and my boss rang up, and he
said 'You've been promoted.'

And I swerved.

And then he rang up a second time and said 'You've been promoted again.'

And I swerved again.

He rang up a third time and said 'You're managing director.'

And I went into a tree.

And a policeman came up and said

'What happened to you?'
And I said 'I careered off the road.'

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Now, most dentists' chairs go up and down, don't they?
The one I was in went back and forwards.

I thought 'This is unusual'.
And the dentist said to me
'Mr. Cooper, get out of the filing cabinet.'

-----------------------

So I was getting into my car, and this bloke says to me "Can you give
me a lift?"

I said "Sure, you look great, the world's your oyster, go for it."

-----------------------

Two cannibals eating a clown. One says to the other

"Does this taste funny to you?"

-----------------------

Police arrested two kids yesterday, one was drinking battery acid, and
the other was eating fireworks.

They charged one and let the other one off.

-----------------------

You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today.
They left a little note on the windscreen; it said 'Parking Fine.'

So that was nice.

-----------------------

A man walked into the doctors,
The doctor said "I haven't seen you in a long time"
The man replied, "I know I've been ill"

-----------------------

A man walked into the doctors,
he said "I've hurt my arm in several places"

The doctor said, "well don't go to those places"

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I had a ploughman's lunch the other day.
He wasn't very happy.

-----------------------

I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I
couldn't find any.

-----------------------

I bought some HP sauce the other day.
It's costing me 6p a month for the next 2 years.

-----------------------

Two blondes walk into a building..........you'd think at least one
of them would have seen it.

-----------------------

Phone answering machine message -

"...If you want to buy marijuana.............press the hash key..."

-----------------------

I went to the butchers the other day and I bet him 50 quid that he
couldn't reach the meat off the top shelf.

He said, "No, the steaks are too high."

-----------------------

My friend drowned in a bowl of muesli.

A strong currant pulled him in.

-----------------------

A man came round in hospital after a serious accident.

He shouted, "Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!"

The doctor replied, "I know you can't, I've cut your arms off".

-----------------------

I went to a seafood disco last week...and pulled a mussel.

-----------------------

Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly.

They lit a fire in the craft, it sank, proving once and for all
that you can't have your kayak and heat it.

-----------------------

Our ice cream man was found lying on the floor of his van covered
with hundreds and thousands.

Police say that he topped himself.

-----------------------

Two fat blokes in a pub, one says to the other "Your round."

The other one says "So are you, you fat slob!"

An ethical question for those teaching very young learners. As English teaching professionals, we are very quick to differentiate ourselves from the simple native teacher with no training whatsoever. Why is it that this ethical stance does not transfer to the teaching of very young learners or young learners for that matter? Would I be wrong in thinking that someone who holds even a CELTA has very little idea as to how very young learners learn and their cognitive capabilities? Why is it OK for the teacher with no training whatsoever to be placed in a classroom full of 3-4yr olds, yet not OK for them to be teaching adults, whom they certainly understand better? This is terribly common practice here in Spain and from what I hear in Japan, but do parents care so little elsewhere?

I'm going to be running a 3 hour a day summer school in July & it's going to be activity-based.

Does anyone know of useful links, timetables, activities etc that would help in planning the course?

It's for a mix of primary & secondary kids.

 

Click on the title to this post & then you'll see a place to reply. 

The best way is to get involved is in-service training at the school you work at. And if all goes well & you find you want to contiue you can move on to Certificate-level training such as with the Cambridge ESOL CELTA courses.

What kinds of course are you using Moodle for?

Hi - I haven't done any teacher training but see it is an option in the future. What do you need to do to become a teacher trainer?

This was on the biz wall - I'll put it in the blog for all to comment:

Hi all in the Biz community. A question - what coursebooks do you use, if at all? I'm quite fond of Market Leader but am always on the lookout for others.

 

Natasha's reply on my wall: 

Hello dear all I have been using MARKET LEADER for several years now all the levels /advanced level to a lesser extent though because the demand was normally up to the upperintermediate level. But I ve recently started THE BUSINESS by MacMillan which I wholeheartedly recommend. The DVD is an amazing resource for both Ss and Ts. Check it out on www.macmillaneducation.com Natasha

 

Any more ideas from Biz comm members?