TEFL Prague and Abroad

The Language House TEFL is making a series of really cool and informative videos related to living in Prague with the help of our graduates. These videos will all be about living abroad and offer useful tips about living in the city. Some of these videos will be educational, others will just be about fun/interesting things going on in the city. Check out our first video 'Hiking in Prague'.

The Language House TEFL offers great in-house visa assistance through our cooperation with Visa Guru. Watch the video below. What does this mean and why is it important? Getting your visa to stay in the Czech Republic can be daunting and confusing. With a lot of TEFL certification courses, new teachers have to use the assistance of outside visa service providers. This means that when you are getting legal, you always have to play tag with these providers. The visa providers are offsite and you rarely ever meet them or see them. Getting the right information and your visa questions answered is tricky and often takes a lot more time. Having an actual face to face with anyone is practically out of the question. With The Language House TEFL, we have our visa assistance onsite. The company we use, Visa Guru, operates at The Language House TEFL and is comprised of Language House TEFL staff. Every day there's someone there to answer all of these confusing questions and offer you ass...

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...

  Not teaching related but worth checking out. Colors of Dance is a dance studio where a lot of our TLH graduates, staff and myself go to take fun dance lessons from Misa and Anicka (the two girls in the video). Check them out. They are great dancers and dedicated teachers. If you ever decide to come to Prague, Colors of Dance is well worth giving a try.

 Most TEFL Teachers in Prague make about 20k-25k a month. That's in CZK not dollars! Here are my tips to get past 30k and even up to 40k a month. 1. Get Good: Being a good teacher is the first thing you need to do. The better you get in the classroom, the more likely schools are going to give you more classes, pay you more and give you better clients. Students will recommend you more and approach you more for private lessons for themselves or for their friends/company. Try to improve on your skills daily. If you reach a wall, ask someone to observe you or video your lesson and review it. Also, ask to observe some good teachers and learn from them. 2. Ask for a Raise: Czech's hate giving out more money. That's just the way they are. No one is going to give you a raise, you'll have to ask for it. If your students are happy and your classes are filling up, ask for a raise after about 4 months of teaching. 3. Get on a Good Schedule: Traveling all over the city fo...

 Life in Prague from Language House graduates past and present. Check out the video and thanks to everyone for their contributions.                      

  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...

    Living in Prague for nearly a decade has given me a unique skill set that only other Prague Expats can truly achieve. The city will hone your body over the years and give you nearly superhuman attributes leaving friends and strangers back home in wonder and awe. Remember people, with greater power comes greater responsibility. If you decide to live abroad for a number of years, you too will gain these powers.  I couldn't possibly list them all, but here are the main ones. Tram Grip Strength (Raw Power): From years of riding Prague trams and giving my seat up to the elderly, my tram grip strength borders on the level of being superhuman. Nothing can break it. Whether it's holding onto a tree branch to survive a deadly tsunami or riding a bull, my tram grip strength will never fail me.  Support my efforts - Follow the blog by clicking the button on the Right or add your email here ------> Bagging Skills (Blinding Dexterity): In P...

   I posted the question to some graduates living and teaching in Prague on what they felt were the 5 best things about living in the city (with negatives as well)  Courtney:   Likes: the ex-pat circuit is close and like family. public transportation is fantastic (until they're striking). Opportunities for entertainment and fun social experiences abound. Parks! Michelle: Likes: lots of paid holiday -- although that might not be typical for teachers. Indigo Likes: 1). Ease of travel around the city and around Europe! 2.) Its a safe city, overall if you are wise to the night freaks. 3.) Lots of culture and tons of festivals- architecture, music, dancing, opera, theater, literature - in many languages. 4.) Great beer and breweries to visit, and great places to drink said beer all over the country. 5.) Not only are you in a big city, but you also have the nature. Plenty of huge parks and forests in and out of the city. Many places to do outd...

 Making the decision to teach abroad is an important one. Wherever you end up, there are going to be positives and negatives to look out for. Each country is different, but a lot of the experience of teaching abroad can be applied to different locations. My speciality is obviously TEFL in Prague, Czech Republic, so let's start there. Perhaps later on I can get some graduates who I know to offer their experiences of teaching in Asia or other parts of the world.  Let's start out with the positives  9:30 am or 9:30 pm, it don't matter 1. You'll Most Likely Have a lot of fun (A LOT of fun during the first year) Sure life is about work, but it's also about having a good time. My first year in Prague in 2002 was probably one of the most fun years of my life. The city has a great nightlife and if you are into staying up late and having Hangoveresque experiences, then Prague is a great stomping ground for you. Life can't and isn't always be about partyi...

   There's a lot of half assed teachers out on the market and there's a lot of good ones. My philosophy in regards to everything that I do, is to try and do it well and develop a deep understanding for it. I mean why wouldn't you? If you are engaged in an activity for most of the day, it seems like a waste of time to not try your best and be the best you can be.    I had never thought that I would have a career in education or live abroad or develop a school or any of these things growing up. You never know what opportunities will come your way if you make the effort, take chances  and most of all try and be an expert in your field.  This is all beginning to sound really hacky so let's plow ahead. Here are some tips for your first year teaching abroad.       Tips For Teaching   Learn as much as you Possibly can    * The idea that proficiency in teaching or anything really is based on time and experi...