Like many native English speaking teachers of English, when I started out I’d had no real training in teaching young learners. I’d had training in teaching adults (CELTA) and happened to quite like children – but it didn’t make me qualified or prepared for the YL classroom! Looking back nearly 15 years later, I can [...]
Posts under ‘Stuff All EFL Teachers Should Know’
What Every Teacher Should Know About St. Patrick (by Patrick Jackson)
The real St. Patrick is shrouded in a deep mist (like many of his followers). Legend has it that he brought Christianity to the Emerald Isle while simultaneously banishing snakes. Both these are clearly true. We still have some Christians and no snakes in Ireland. But what can language teachers learn from this Fifth Century [...]
About mountains, challenges and teaching (by Cecilia Lemos)
When you’re walking down a path and you see a hill, what do you think?
The Fun Theory in Language Learning
This morning, a friend shared this video on facebook. It’s one of the entries for the Fun Theory award, which recognizes ideas and inventions that prove that fun is the easiest way to change behavior for the better. Wouldn’t you want to take the stairs if they were this much fun? Of course, I immediately [...]
To champion the picturebook (by Sandie Mourão)
In May this year I launched my blog, Picturebooks in ELT. The motivation came from the work I’m doing with picturebooks for my PhD. When I began my research programme, I had no idea it would lead me down this route…
An “old dog” and “special tricks” (by David Deubelbeiss)
Over the length of my teaching career, I’ve changed in many ways. I think my journey mimics that of a lot of other ELT teachers. 1. I have slowed down my delivery and instruction considerably. I used to just screech and scream through content. Now, I relax and pause a lot. I take time to [...]
Tips for Teaching Teens (by Michelle Worgan)
Part of the series: Stuff All EFL Teachers Should Know While trying to have a quick nap on a hot Friday afternoon in Southern Spain, I started thinking of what to write about for this guest post. Two ideas came to me – the first being the use of puppets in the early learner classroom, [...]
Animal Magic with Young Learners (by Leahn Stanhope)
Part of the series: Stuff All EFL Teachers Should Know I was initially very flattered when Barbara asked me to write a guest post, then my happy feeling turned to mild panic. Finally I just decided to write so here we are. This post is dedicated to one of my favourite ‘props’ for the young [...]
Formative Assessment (by Matthew Spira)
I was thirty-two years old the first time I stepped into a kindergarten classroom as an English instructor. Because I previously had fairly extensive leadership experience as a military officer, the general manager of a multi-million dollar software company, and as an operations manager within a multi-billion dollar conglomerate, I just didn’t think teaching children [...]
How to Create a Jazz Chant by Carolyn Graham
Part of the series: Stuff All EFL Teachers Should Know Last November, Carolyn Graham did a workshop at the JALT National Conference in Shizuoka, Japan, on how to make a Jazz Chant. I taped her workshop, and with her permission am sharing the part of it where she demonstrates her technique. One of the many [...]
