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March 29, 2005
Living On A Budget - Accomodations
Dear Readers,
Quick! What’s the number one reason that most ESL teachers decide to go to another country to teach? If you think that it’s to experience another culture and see the world, you’re right! But many teachers find that, because of the low salaries offered in many countries, they can’t travel as much as they had hoped to.
Living on a budget can be a challenge for many teachers, but with some planning and savvy, it is possible to find a good balance. The biggest expense in anyone’s budget is living accommodations. Today, I'll offer two tips to help you reduce yours . . .
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Posted by msimmons at 03:14 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (1)
March 25, 2005
Workplace Issues - Can A Student Be Your Friend?
Readers,
Tell me if you’ve ever had a day like this. You’ve got a million things to do, clean your house, take your car in for servicing, buy dog food…you get the picture. Anyway, as soon as you’re showered and ready to head out the door, you hear a timid knock. Before you even answer it, your heart sinks because you know who it is.
The Student Who Wants To Be Your Friend.
Now, I’m not saying that I don’t absolutely love my students—I do, but at times I would like to make the line much clearer between my teaching time and my personal time. Any ESL teacher knows that time is precious because we generally end up working a ton of hours. Because of this I’ve come to absolutely guard my free time. That is, until this one particular student came into my life.
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Posted by msimmons at 01:49 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
March 21, 2005
Workplace Issues - Can You Say The "N" Word?
Readers,
Do you automatically tune out when you hear the word "networking?"
Despite today’s negative attitude toward the term, this method is generally how most teachers land those great jobs! Networking is nothing more than being prepared when you do meet that person who could be influential in helping you land that dream job. So, what are the steps to being prepared?
Start by knowing and being able to talk about your personal work strengths. Are you good with difficult students? Do you thrive in an atmosphere where there is little or no direction from management? Next, back up these claims by having a few short examples of your greatest accomplishments. This shouldn’t sound rehearsed, but you should practice telling about them in a concise, engaging manner.
You’ll also want to . . .
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Posted by msimmons at 11:17 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (5)
March 18, 2005
Do You Love What You Do?
Last time, I talked about whether or not it was wise to speak the mother tongue in a classroom setting, and that got me thinking about something else: if I go to all of the trouble to make my students work hard to learn English, rather than just doing it the easy way and telling them how to do the exercises in Spanish, I must actually love what I’m doing!
I guess I’ve never really thought about whether I love teaching ESL or just simply do it, because I’ve been working in this profession for so long. But this week, I finally came to realize that I truly do enjoy my job. (Why else would I work for so little pay, right?)
But then I started to wonder just how much that would change if I didn’t get to experience the many things that I do because I live in another country.
What about you? Are you in this career because of the satisfaction that comes from teaching and watching your students learn English, or do you do it for the cultural experiences and adventures that oftentimes go with the territory? While I do enjoy the profession, I wonder how much I would enjoy it if I was teaching in the United States. In other words, if I didn’t get the chance to experience another culture, country and the wacky experiences that go with it, would I still be an ESL teacher? Honestly, I don’t think that I would.
Does that make me any less of a teacher? I don’t think so. Instead, I think that it takes a special blend of character traits to be a good teacher, and in order to be a good teacher in another country, it takes those, plus an entirely different set of them. (patience, a willingness to try new things, and a laid-back attitude, for starters.)
Now, I’m not saying that teaching English as a second language isn’t an experience in itself—it only takes one visit to an ESL classroom to discover that! But there is something about stopping at the local market on your way home from class and seeing, tasting and smelling those foreign “things”, or spending your free time in a whole new cultural setting that adds another dimension to this work.
Am I the only one who feels like this?
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Posted by msimmons at 02:35 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
March 11, 2005
Workplace Issues - Can You Say Hola?
Or perhaps the better question is: Should you?
Hello again,
Recently, I was in one of my beginner classes—where I make it habit never to speak anything but English—and one of my students was having a difficult time understanding a particular point. Every single fiber of my being wanted to shout out the sentence in Spanish to make it easier for him. But I didn’t. You know why?
I have a theory. If my students knew that I spoke Spanish, I believe that their expectations of me would change immediately. No one wants to struggle to get a point—people naturally want do things the easy way—but that’s not necessarily best when it comes to learning a new language. And so if they knew that I spoke Spanish, they would expect me to use it in the classroom.
And so I fake it. I pretend that . . .
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Posted by msimmons at 12:19 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
March 09, 2005
Tips & Tricks - A Great Teaching Aid
Hi Readers,
Here's a quick tip for improving your student's listening skills.
Many times students become accustomed to their teacher’s voice and accent, and have a difficult time understanding other people—even though they may do great in class. That’s why it’s vital to expose them to different styles and variations of speech. That can be difficult to do if you teach in an area where English is rare.
One great solution to this problem is . . .
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Posted by msimmons at 08:07 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (2)
