TEFL Prague and Abroad

I've got a new demonstration video with a group of A1 (beginner) students. This was obviously shot in Prague where I'm located. The focus of the lesson is 'Seasons' and the various different activities you can do during different seasons. Just an FYI to readers, this was a brand new class. I had never met them before and it was their first time in the classroom together. In these situations, you are really starting from scratch with your training and techniques. You'll see this in the video that things start off a bit slow and there are some bumpy sections. I had to constantly control for L1 and use a lot of behavioural techniques to get them to do what I wanted. Check out the video below. I've included a bunch of tips regarding beginner methodology in the video. I really do love this level because it requires absolutely pure teaching techniques. Take a look! Let me know your thoughts!

The largest study abroad/work abroad website goabraod.com did an interview with me last week about teaching in Prague and The Language House TEFL. Check out the article here. snippet  As one of the oldest TEFL training centers in Prague, The Language House TEFL is known for its successful TEFL certification courses that are internationally accredited and externally monitored. To date, the school has graduated about two thousand students, with whom the organization has maintained close contact with. Chris Westergaard founded The Language House TEFL a few years after he began teaching English as a foreign language in Vienna and Prague, and he now serves as the company’s director. Read the whole there here  GoAbroad article with Chris Westergaard

  I'm thinking about going full out in the next few weeks/months and creating a complete series of methodology videos. I'm hoping to create a series of short 2-3 minute videos covering various aspects of ESL/TEFL methodology. I might even create a brand new site focusing primarily on video resources and instruction. I'll post more up here once we get started. Chris

Here's a video for a lesson I did on Past Modals for Intermediate students. I'll post the lesson in a day or two. In a nutshell, students have to create their worst week ever and use past modals to give each other advice. Check out the video!

Here's a fun lesson you can do with levels as low as pre-intermediate, and up to advanced, depending on the language you want to use. Students will work in groups, create a movie and then pitch it to the class. Lexis: Language related to the film industry/describing movies. Materials:  A few pictures Flip chart paper Paper strips Potentially music to play in the background Introduction: 1-2 minutes  Enter the class acting like a director. You can tell the students to be quiet on the set and start giving them direction. Then mime out pretending to film them. Elicit the concept of a director. Lead In: 5-7 minutes  Demo these questions out and then put students into groups What kinds of movies do you like to watch? Are there any movies coming out that you are excited to see? Who are your favorite actors and directors? Are movies made better now or in the past? Target Language: 7-10 minutes Elicit and CCQ Note: There's a lot of freedom you can ha...

Due to popular demand, I'm posting the listening lesson demo that use on The Language House TEFL certification course . I created this lesson way back in 2004 and I've used it each month to demonstrate how to teach a basic listening lesson. The themes of the lesson deal with advice and doing stupid things abroad. I created the lesson to be specifically geared for people living in Prague, so it can be adapted considerably depending on your students.  Ideally, this suitable for an intermediate class, but uppers/advanced students will also have fun with it. Materials: Worksheets, speakers, the song 'If you're going to be dumb' by Roger Alan Wade, sunglasses. Introduction: 1-2 minutes  Take a black white-board marker and give yourself the best black eye you can. Come into the class wearing sunglasses. Ask students about their week. When they ask you about your week, remove the glasses (shock!) and make up a story about how you got into a fight about some...

It's been a couple of months since I post any new lessons on the blog. Let's make up for that. I plan on putting up 10 new lessons in the next month. That's the goal. If you have any suggestions on content, just let me know and I'll create something.

It's hard to wrap up the experience of The Language House TEFL course. You can have a graduation party and do extra things for all of the graduating students, but I've always felt as if each course ended, and that was it. Based on a some inspiration on from the February 2015 TLH class, I'm going to start making video photo journals of each month. It's a nice thing to end the course and it gives the new teachers something they can take with them. Here's the first one I made for the March 2015 Language House TEFL class.