I'm curious to know how many hours a week you teach on average. While many university contracts include a maximum of 10-12 hours of teaching per week, quite a few private language schools ...

This month's question is from Dan and is about getting a job in China.

Ms Rueckert,

I read your articles on the Internet and was impressed with your experience in China. My wife and I are drawing near retirement (early next year) and are looking for meaningful ways to continue to make contributions to Education. I have a BSEd, a MA in Psychology, and a MS in Logistics. My wife has a BA in Psychology and a MSEd. We both have 10 years plus of College Faculty and Administration experience now.

I know you are a busy lady, but could you possibly refer us to sites, companies, or agencies that could give us information about teaching in China?

Dan

Answer: ...

If you're planning on being in or near Alice Springs, Australia in the beginning of July, then you might want to consider attending the TESOL Symposium on Keeping Language Diversity Alive, which will take place on July 9, 2008.

The topics and featured speakers for this conference ...

For new teachers, there is a tendency for either over-correcting or under-correcting students' mistakes; finding the right balance is often something that simply comes with time - and training. Another problem is knowing how to make corrections. But before we get into that, it's important to understand the difference between ...

Negotiating your salary can be a daunting task. In addition to not knowing how much you are worth, you may also risk asking for a salary that is far above or below what your employer is willing to pay. Aim too high, and you may not be given the job. Aim too low, and you may come to regret it later ...

Most people are aware of some of the spelling differences between British English and American English. Adding a 'u' to color to make colour, replacing 'er' with 're' for theatre or centre, or spelling aluminum with an extra 'i' (aluminium) are some of the most common differences. As EL teachers, you've probably also become aware of some of the pronunciation differences between British English and American English. In British English, the 'a' in path is like the 'a' in father, r's at the end of words tend to be dropped off, and the 't' in words like water is pronounced as a 't' and not a 'd' sound.

But did you know that there are actually grammatical ...

For many ESL teachers, the opportunity to travel is one of the driving factors in making the decision to become an ESL teacher. However, for those of us on low salaries, the only traveling that sometimes takes place is that which happens before and after a teaching contract.

For those of you who crave more frequent travel, there are a few ways to get it ...

For this month's survey, I'm interested in finding out more about the materials you use. I'm curious to find out which book you rate highest; if you could only take one book with you, what would it be? Is there one book you just can't live without?

To take the poll, ...

Are you looking for a way to encourage students to communicate in English outside of the classroom? Let's face it, most students leave their English behind when they walk through the doors after class. So, what can you do? It's simple. Go to ...

This month's question comes from Grant, who is teaching in Guangdong Province in China.

Hello Mrs Rueckert! I'am an ESL teacher in Guangdong, China. I have been teaching for a year and a half. I'm an American. It seems here in China, if you don't make them laugh all the time, they don't seem interested in learning English. I've studied two languages and when I did, I was taught what the teacher gave me, interesting or not. I'm also 59 years old. Please give me some advice. Thank you.

Continue reading for the answer to this month's question ...

If you have students who are constantly looking up words in their dictionaries during class, then you can probably appreciate how frustrating unknown words can be for language learners. The fact of the matter is that English is a living language, which means that new words are constantly being added to it. What does this mean for speakers of English (both native and non-native)? Simply put, there will always be new words to learn. That being said, ...

Are you interested in learning more about how to teach writing to your students? Then this symposium might be for you. Taking place June 5th- 7th at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, the Symposium on Second Language Writing 2008 is a great opportunity for foreign language professionals to discuss issues relating to this theme.

The line up for this event ...

If you're interested in reading more about how to teach vocabulary, Scott Thornbury's "How to teach vocabulary", which is part of Longman's "How to ..." series, offers practical teaching ideas within a theoretical framework. In addition to theory, ...

Do your students have a hard time remembering all the new words that they learn in your class? Are you students constantly confusing certain words for other similar words? What can you do about it? Well ...

Few people can say that they've never participated in office gossip before. At the same time, I'd find it hard to believe that many people would say that they enjoy being gossiped about. So what is gossip? Why do we do it? Is there a place for gossip in the workplace? What can we do to stop it?

First, it's important to understand what the difference between gossip ...