TEFL Prague and Abroad

The Language House is offering a 200 Euro discount on our January 7, 2013 course in Prague. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to teach worldwide and save some money getting certified. Contact me for more information chris@thelanguagehouse.net

  TEFL Prague and Abroad is proud to feature guest writer, Jonathan Last,  and his book Teaching With Chopsticks. You can buy a copy of it here Teaching With Chopsticks  Jonathan Last has taught English to adults and children in Europe and Asia. In this extract from his hilarious autobiographical novel Teaching with Chopsticks: TEFL from the Frontline , he identifies the different character types amongst his young students. Now I’ve been teaching here a while, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are eight types of student: The Unblemished ones. Young enough to not be cynical, still unfamiliar with foreigners so fascinated by me. My class with Jenny and Nancy, who are still keen that I don’t break the No Korean rule, is an example of this: their English is pretty good, and they’re easy to please, so are a general delight to teach. The Shy ones. I have this boy, Pat, who never talks above a whisper and sits very still. When the students don’t say much, i...

16 new TEFL teachers graduated from The Language House Prague TEFL yesterday. Congratulations everyone!

 Of course you don't

Take a look at Annie Edwards, graduate of The Language House September 2011 class, on CNN. She currently is working in South Korea and is potentially being featured for her efforts to support and help female education in the region. Take a look ireport CNN Annie Edwards

 I've always thought of teaching as being a collection of skills. To be a good EFL teacher, you need a lot of innate qualities like empathy, charisma, creativity...etc., but you also need a plethora of classroom skills. These can include error correction, eliciting and concept questioning, pace, rapport, lesson formation, and a whole host of others. Often times teachers peak in the skill department while their general knowledge of language teaching increases. Most MA programs in teaching rarely touch on skill development and only focus on increasing your general knowledge of EFL theory.  If you want to get better in the classroom, work on your skills. What I recommend while teaching is to focus on a few of them at a time. Read up on different techniques, let's say error correction for example, and practice them while you are teaching. All good teacher are skilled teachers. You can know everything about EFL methodology, write dozens of books on the subject, but that doesn'...

 Just a quick tip for anyone who is interested in taking a TEFL course. If you are interested in teaching abroad in Prague or elsewhere, make sure to get into contact with recent graduates of the course you are planning on taking. There are good providers out there and there are unfortunately some lackluster ones. There's nothing wrong with a getting a list of past graduates who you can contact to check their experience, and it's not a lot to ask for from the TEFL course provider. The TEFL job market is getting a bit tighter and you need to make sure that graduates of your particular program are working afterwards and were happy with their experience. It's a big investment to make and it's the only clear way of checking the legitimacy of the course. Here's a list of our recent grads. We've provided both emails and Facebook profiles with their consent. (scroll down to the bottom of the page after clicking the link)    Recent Graduate Contacts August 201...

Chris Westergaard TEFL teaching videos. These lessons were all demonstrated on new Czech practice students of The Language House TEFL Prague course.  Two are examples of lexis lessons and one is a grammar lesson. Enjoy!

 A funny video we shot over the weekend with some graduates.

 I'm becoming addicted to writing these...

 Here's a new lesson that I did for the 'Create Your Own Movie' lesson plan. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. It was with a brand new group of students, so I didn't know what to expect from them. Lucky for me, they were a really good group of Czech intermediate students and participation, for the most part, was pretty high. The only main complaint that I have with my teaching from watching the video is that I'm not eliciting the errors from the students as much as I could. If you like the video and what I'm doing with the blog, please follow me, subscribe to my channel on youtube and 'like' my videos. I think it helps me get more exposure.  Take a look     Cheers,    Chris The Language House TEFL

  Here's a great guide to teaching in Korea written by Tom Salmon, one of the trainers at The Language House TEFL Teaching English in South Korea Please read through everything in this brief overview prior to asking any questions about teaching in South Korea. A lot of basic information is covered here and once you’re clear about these things, you’ll probably find you have a much narrower focus of questions to ask than simply “So, what’s it like to teach in Korea?” Table of Contents: 1. Introduction 2. About Living in Korea 3. Teaching in Korea 3.1 Visas 3.2 Types of Schools 3.3 Recruiters 3.4 Applying Directly through EPIK, SMOE, or GEPIK 3.5 Requirements and Basic Overview of the Application Process 3.6 More than just “Base Level” 4. Useful Resources 5. Closing 1. Introduction There are a lot of reasons people decide to pack up and move to the Republic of Korea for work. Foremost in a lot of people’s minds is the possibility of making and saving...

    If you've been teaching in one country for a while and want to make the move to another country, especially a country where the competition between TEFL teachers is high, I recommend making a demo video of one of your lessons. This is great way for you to showcase your skills in the classroom, and it will even out the negative of you not being able to interview in person.    Most high paying schools want to see you teach. Simply conducting a phone interview can't really achieve this. What usually happens is that the school will hire, if they can, a local teacher instead. If you can make a quick 5-10 minute video of you teaching, you can get around this. To get this done, you'll need one of your current classes that doesn't mind being videoed, a camera man, and a great lesson to show off what you know. Camera work, technology and editing software/options are cheap and accessible today. Most smart phones can even shoot in HD and can be used if you don't have a...

  Great article on Expats.cz that mentions me and one of my previous posts regarding customer service in Prague. I have to say, I'm flattered. Check it out. Service with a frown? You must be in Prague. Why is it that customer service here is so often substandard and what – if anything – can be done about it? Every expat has their favorite customer service horror story, whether the staff they encountered were sour-faced, unwilling to be the least bit proactive, or just downright rude. The venue could have been  a shop , restaurant or government office. The perpetrator might be young or old, male or female. In the Czech Republic, a basic lack of understanding of the minimum level of courtesy required when dealing with the public seems all too widespread – and it’s costing companies dearly. A  survey by telecommunications firm Genesys estimates  that Czech businesses lose 1.08 billion US dollars annually because of substandard customer service.  In an article o...

 Take a look at a video that I just shot for the gradable/ungradable adjective lesson that was posted a few weeks ago. The actual lesson was about 35 minutes long and it was done to intermediate-upper intermediate students. It was my first time meeting them, so I start of the lesson with a bit of an icebreaker. The video is just shy of 10 minutes and it's been edited with labels to show you what part of the lesson we are in. Let me know your thoughts, and if you want your own lesson created, give me a grammar point or topic, and I will be happy to make one for you. Here's the video   Cheers, Chris The Language House TEFL

  Here's a lesson for intermediate students and up that involves the students making a mock movie and pitching it to a movie studio.   Introduction: just a few minutes.  Come in pretending to be a director and mime filming the class. Elicit the concept of movies or film.  Lead in: around 7 minutes. Demo these questions out and put students in groups to answer them. 1. Do you like watching movies? What is your favorite movie? 2. What good movies have you seen this last year? 3. Who is your favorite actor and director? Why? 4. What well known movies have been made in your country? Lexis: around 10 minutes. Elicit and CCQ the following an actor, a star, a lead role, a supporting role a director a producer a plot a cast a setting a genre a thriller a horror movie a comedy, a black comedy, a romantic comedy a drama a documentary to pitch (a movie) a twist Study 1: around 5 minutes. Matching with strips. Students match the definition with...

 I just got a news flash from some graduates working in South Korea that the government has recently put in regulations requiring teachers to have a recognized TEFL certificate if they do not have background in either education or linguistics. This comes directly from EPIK recruiting in Korea, one of the largest and most respected recruiting agencies in the country. Previously, a TEFL certificate was not necessary, but did equate to earning a higher salary. Now, it is needed if you want to find legal work.  If you are thinking of teaching in Korea, you're going to need a TEFL certificate to ensure success these days at a quality school. The Language House TEFL has a great network of graduates who have taught in Korea, and we can help. Contact us if you are interested in taking a TEFL course with us or for more information on these new policies.  Cheers Chris Westergaard The Language House Prague Courses 

Here's a lesson for solid intermediates and up with a language focus on the passive voice and crime lexis. At the end of the lesson, students take the roles of police officers and have to give a press briefing to the media about a crime scene that they witnessed. Ideally, you will need an empty room to set up a crime scene for the activation and a language school that is ok with you trashing things around a bit. There are other ways to get around this, if this is not possible. * I create tailored lesson plans for anyone who wants them. If you want me to create you a lesson from scratch, contact me, and I'll do one for you. Please follow my blog on the right to show your support. Introduction: just a couple of min. Do any of the following. 1. Show a clip from a movie that shows a police officer giving a press briefing to the media 2. Come in and immediately address the class as if they are police officers 3. Have a picture of a police chalk outline and ask students wh...

Here's another quick game that I created, but I'm sure another teacher probably created before me, that I use on the TEFL course. You can use this with intermediate and advanced students in groups of threes. Set up:  Two students face each other with a meter apart between them. One student is blindfolded, and the other student strikes a convoluted pose. The more intricate and complex the pose is, the better. Now, a third student instructs the blindfolded student to copy and mirror the pose. It sounds basic, but the language can get really complex. Think 'twist your wrist so it's facing you and extend your first and second finger....Tilt your head back and shrug your shoulder close to your neck' See what I mean? You can have a lot of fun with this, and it's a quick activity to teach and jump into. To make it more engaging, make it a competition, where one person from each team strikes a pose for the other team to solve. This will make the posing students re...

Good lessons are lessons that have a brisk pace. Not only will your lessons be more engaging, but you'll obviously be able to accomplish more with the extra time. Lag in the classroom is a dreadful thing. Why settle for it? Here are some tips to improve your overall pace and flow in the classroom. 1. Cut out your Extra Language : You don't need it and it's not beneficial most of the time. You don't need to explain everything you are doing to your class. You don't even need to speak in complete sentences. Work on limiting your own TTT so that your commands/directions are clear and concise. 2. Avoid the Echo: New teachers tend to want to repeat everything their students say back to them. Why do this? Unless you are error correcting, it serves little to no purpose and just slows things down. Instead, just say "good" or "next" or even just nod and move on. It's a common thing that practically everyone does to reaffirm what their studen...

  Here's a lesson requested by Mike R. that deals with students creating and talking about a made up country using a variety of different lexis. If you want your own lesson personally made for you, just let me know, and I'm happy to do it.    Introduction: Just a few minutes   1. Have pictures or drawings of various things that are special for your home country. For example, US teachers could use the Statue of Liberty, NYC, Hollywood...etc Elicit these various things out and ask students what country you are talking about. Lead In (around 7 minutes) Demo these questions out and have students discuss them in groups 1. What are 3 things that you like about your country? 2. What are three things that you dislike about your country? 3. If you had to live in another country what country would it be and why? 4. What 2 things would you change with your country to make it better? Tip: Pull one of your students up from the class and have them draw a ro...

Language student or Private Eye?     Here’s a really fun lesson that I would often do with young adults (18-24 year olds) for longer classes (2 hours or more). The target language is physical characteristics and personality traits. This lesson can be used for  pre-intermediate and above as long as you adjust the target language accordingly to their level. This lesson involves students leaving the classroom, so make sure you are able to do this where you are working. Intro (just a few minutes)   Use one of these 1. Pretend to be a private investigator and elicit this out from students 2. Come in looking physically different (change 5 things about your appearance) and get students to notice them.  Lead in (around 7 minutes)  1. What is a physical characteristic?  2. What is a personality trait?  3.  What are some different ways that you can describe/identify a person?  4. How would you describe your...

   Here's a reported speech lesson that you can do with Intermediates and up that deals with celebrity gossip. At the end of the lesson, students will use reported speech by taking the roles of journalists to describe the events of a crazy hollywood party. Introduction: (just a few minutes) Here are some possibilities and any of them will work. 1. Come in whispering various things in students' ears 2. Come in roleplaying being a reporter 3. Show different tabloids of celebrities 4. Show a clip of a TMZ-like show With all of these you want to try and elicit the concept of gossip (especially celebrity gossip) Lead in: (around 7 minutes) Demo these questions out and then have students answer them in groups or pairs. 1. What is gossip? 2. Where can you hear about celebrity gossip? 4 different ways/sources. 3. Any interesting celebrity gossip currently happening now? Name 3.  Target Language: (under 10 minutes)  Tip: In general with reported speec...