Into The World

The following post is from a guest blogger, DS Peters.

As we are now well into the 21st century, ideas of isolationism are as outdated as the rotary phone. Although xenophobia still clings to society like a rotting corpse, our success and happiness (and in some ways our very existence) now depend on pluralism and exposure to the life and ideas from faraway places. Not that there are any “faraway” places anymore, thanks to our planetary communications system (i.e. the Internet). The world is right there waiting for you to become acquainted with it. And since the economies of the world have become irrevocably intertwined, it is in the best interests of everyone to experience firsthand some of the societies coexisting outside our own national boundaries.

First, let us explore, explain, and cast out the negative aspects of this endeavor. Fear is a very large obstacle for many, however fear can be minimized with knowledge and by taking a few important steps. Social networking is perhaps the greatest resource for the traveler, as other expats and travelers create websites and Facebook pages dedicated to assisting each other. Open your web browser and search for nearly any city you are considering along with the word “expat” and you will find a few pages to connect you with people who are already living in that city. You will not be alone in your travels, unless you purposely try to be. The other negative is, of course, culture shock.

Culture shock is becoming a more ambiguous phrase with every international experience we read and write. We can find lists of symptoms of culture shock, and some of the items on these lists are absurd. For example, feeling sad, lonely, shy, insecure, vulnerable, lost, and/or confused are all listed as symptoms. Of course a person living in a culture quite different to the one they grew up in would feel these things, however I experienced all of these feelings when I moved from the Midwest to New York City for grad school. So these are not symptoms of culture shock as much as they are simply the feelings we might experience in moving to any new place. The so-called physical symptoms of culture shock also exist in a grey area, and if a person is experiencing headaches, allergies, insomnia (or its opposite), then that person should visit a doctor since all of these could be caused by a change in diet or factors in their physical environment. However, idealizing ones own culture, or becoming obsessed with the host-culture, or feeling homesickness, or questioning their decision to move in the first place… All of these are truly issues that most expats or travelers experience.

Again, obtaining as much prior knowledge as possible can help lessen these feelings, although most of these feelings are rather natural. Of course we are going to compare our birth-culture to our new host-culture, just as some will attempt to adapt to and fit-in and might become completely obsessed with their new society. And feeling homesickness and wondering what insanity made us move in the first place also are natural. However, the idea is to be as objective as possible in our comparisons, and in the things we miss. And like most things dealing with emotions and the human mind, there are useful tricks we can employ to help us.

Before you leave your home on your adventure, make 3 lists. On the first list, write down all the reasons why you are going in the first place. On the second list, relate everything you wish to accomplish while you are abroad. And on the third list, take your time and honestly write all the things you dislike about your home-country. Before leaving the US 4 years ago, I never made these lists, however once I began to experience rather poignant feelings of negativity towards the place where I now live, I wrote down all the reasons why I moved my family to a foreign land on the other side of the planet. This list contained all the aspects of the US I would change if I could, all the things I did not miss, all the problems I experienced in work and in society at-large. After making this list and consigning it to memory, whenever I would jump to criticize an aspect of my new home, this list would be right there for comparison.

And yes, at times I would decide that the US is quite more adept at certain things than this other society (building logical roadways and freeways is one that springs to mind), but all the other reasons for leaving the US were right there to temper my criticism. At other times, I would find my new home to be quite original and more thoughtful in their planning (widespread and inexpensive WiFi, for example).

So now that we have cleared away our fear and minimized our culture shock, that just leaves one important question to answer: Why? JFK once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” If we are to adapt to this new and ever-changing world, if we are to become positive contributors and participants rather than mere spectators or detractors, then we must first become one with the changes in the world, or become the change we wish to see in the world. Moving either temporarily or permanently to a new country might seem rather drastic, however that is our archaic conventionalities speaking. The idea that it is somehow pleasantly quaint to be born, live, and die in the same town is one now meant only for historical movies. Again, isolationism is a fetid swamp, a place where the poisons of xenophobia and nationalism are born, and nothing productive can come from such a swamp.

Our economic futures lie in the world market, and we must know the intricacies of this market in order to survive in it. There are obvious professions that can benefit from international experience, such as teaching, politics, marketing, manufacturing, banking, etc. However, there is also a benefit to be gleaned by people in positions where ties to the international community are not so easily visible. Varied experience is what drives innovation, and innovation is what is needed… or rather required in all fields.

And so it is time now to expand your borders and to expand your mind. Otherwise, you will be left behind by a worldwide society that mirrors the universe itself, by rapidly expanding and increasing in speed at every moment. Cast your fears and doubts aside, and search until you find that place that is in fact searching for you.

Author's Bio
DS Peters earned his MFA from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY, and obtained his BA from UW-Milwaukee. He writes speculative fiction, earthbound fiction, poetry, and odd bits of non-fiction. He is a traveler, and currently resides in South Korea where he works as a professor and observes human behavior.You can find him on his website DS Peters.

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Motivating Students in a Web-Enhanced Class

Daniel R. Bailey

           
Instructors should understand how to motivate students in a web-enhanced class. Research shows that the most successful learners use a wider variety of learning strategies and use them more often than less successful ones (Oxford, 1990). Knowing this, we should try to maximize learning opportunities for our students by having them use in-class learning strategies during class time and technology enhanced ones at home. Integrating learning managements systems (LMS) like Moodle and Schoology.com are terrific for getting students motivated to use a wide array of learning strategies both inside and outside the classroom.  

One thing an LMS allows is comparing learning accomplishments and grades between classmates. This is possible through online writing assignments (i.e. forums, wikis, and blogs) viewable among class members or private groups. Learning management systems like Moodle allow instructors to privately show student scores and rankings for individual assignments. 

Students might feel stressed because others can see their grade, but stress at much more manageable levels since the grade is for a single assignment opposed, for example, to an unwarrantedly heavy weighted item (i.e. end of semester presentation worth 10% or more of their final grade). I suggest grade comparison composing of multiple assignments that carry minimal weight on the final grade could be beneficial for motivating students who fear unwarrantedly (and possibly unethically) heavy weighted grade items. I feel this is a form of affective strategy training. Training which is accomplished through administering multiple assignments, with manageable increments of weight deviation, opposed to debatably unethically heavy weighted tasks. This allows students opportunities to face their fear of using English in public or online environments without the burden of bombing their course if, by chance, they fail such heavily weighted assignments (e.g. 10% plus tasks like end-of-course presentations).

Moving Forward

I have had success with grade comparison when administering assignments through forums, wikis, and blogs. These platforms allow students to compare their work in groups or with the entire class. The instructor sets up the online assignment in an LMS, the students do the writing, and the instructor rates it. In addition to these steps, the LMS also allows me to correct crucial grammar mistake so students can give clear presentations in class. Presenting this material in class is another opportunity for students to compare their work with one another which hopefully motivates them to excel.

Instructors can use platforms like forums to quickly review and edit writing assignments. Forums can be graded quicker than individual essays because a group of students are working on the same forum thread. This means the instructor doesn’t need to scroll between different pages for each student, but review and edit a group of students at the same time. I find this to be great for grading, providing corrective feedback, and correcting grammar mistakes. In addition, forum assignments familiarize the student with using forums for purely social online discussions in a second language. My personal hope is eventually students reply back and forth with one another in English without grade incentive to do so, perhaps on a social network site like Face book or Twitter.

              
In addition to forums, wikis can be used to deliver writing assignments. Wikis allow the instructor to correct the students’ writing through the first draft up until the due date. The instructor can directly correct grammar mistakes and provide comments. The original writing contributions from the student are stored in the wiki database so writing quality and grammatical errors can accurately be assessed and tracked after corrections have been made. Students are able able to review their mistakes by comparing the wiki page history.

              
Like forums, wikis can also be used as platforms for writing assignments. Traditionally wikis have a group of people working on one project, but this is not the only way to use them. Instructors may also have a group of students independently work on their own writing within the same wiki page. As with forums, this promotes motivation through comparison and competition. Grading is made faster because the instructor doesn’t have to navigate between different pages to see each assignment.

              
Blogs are a third option instructors can use for giving writing assignments which can be compared between students. Blogs are assigned to each student and span the entire semester. Blogs are structured and edited by the student. The instructor can give corrective feedback, and classmates can leave comments. Unlike forums and wikis, blogs are not group activities. Students completing their writing tasks through blogs can have access to all class blogs which hopefully promotes motivation through comparison.

              
Forums, wikis, and blogs differ in presentation. Blogs are web-pages that the student contributes to during the entire course. This means that each writing task will be stored in his/her blog in chronological order throughout the course. Forums and wikis on the other hand are group activities assigned to specific writing tasks. Therefore, writing assignments are delivered through a series of forums, a series of wikis, or just one blog. Each of these platforms can be edited by the teacher, commented on by others, and easily copied into learning portfolios which is why I find them all ideal learning tools.

              
From personal experience I find students are overwhelmed if I use multiple platforms to deliver writing assignments during the same semester. Instead, I recommend using one platform for the majority of writing assignments; preferably whichever one suits your teaching style.

              
Each of the three platforms described above can contribute to learning portfolios. Barret (2007) defines learning portfolios as the cumulative collection of work learners have done from the start of the semester to the end. They can transform and enhance curriculum. They also have a potential to display to learners and educators the interactions between their learning and assessment. Students are given a continual repository for their academic achievements which they can store and take with them into the workforce. Portfolios are something tangible students can be proud of, not just a letter grade or number.

              
 Teachers help students become self-regulated learners through developing and managing portfolios. Students reflect on past writing achievements and witness how their language proficiency has grown. The assessment of portfolios is a continuous act which does not evaluate students with a test but rather a constructivist approach to project completion (Johnson, 1996). Students set goals for their learning and then begin to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behavior as guided by their objectives. Highly self-regulated learners approach the learning tasks in a mindful and confident manner and develop strategies to accomplish objectives (Alexioua & Fotini, 2010).

              
In addition to motivation through writing assignments, I use my LMS to award students digital badges for meeting assignment criteria or displaying role model behavior. Teachers can use digital badges for anything as trivial as electronic stickers to something as complex as a course certificate of completion. Digital badges can also add an element of entertainment to the classroom. Entertainment in education is often about smiling and having a good time with students as well as providing opportunities for them to compete together in activities. Teachers can award badges for completing class activities or showing exceptional communication skills. Giving students a symbol of their achievement, however big or small, provides a source of pride and motivation.

              
Flipping classes is a concept growing in popularity and made possible with learning managements systems. A flipped class might refer to a teacher who provides take-home video lectures and spends class time doing other activities like homework-style assignments or student presentations. Through LMS delivered writing assignments, students get started on learning objectives in the classroom and complete their assignment at home. For example, students begin a first draft in class and finish it at home through a forum, wiki, blog or essay. Online instructor feedback allows instructors to spend class time doing activities like student presentations since writing assignments can be guided to fruition through the LMS. This is only one example of how an LMS can flip a language learning classroom.

              
Language acquisition is a long term goal which doesn’t have to be accomplished in class alone. The time teachers spend with their students in oversized classrooms falls pitifully short of meeting the requirements of mastering English. As teachers, we should provide more opportunities for students to learn outside the classroom, and we must get them motivated to do so. If done correctly, student-centered curriculum design using an LMS motivates and provides extra opportunity to study. Sure, both students and teachers will feel stressed at first when learning how to navigate LMS assisted assignments, but hardly an unreasonable amount and arguably much needed.

            

References

Alexiou, A., and Fotini, P. (2010). Enhancing self-regulated learning skills through the implementation of an e-portfolio tool. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 3048-3054.

Anderson, T. and Miyazoe, T. (2010). Learning outcomes and students’ perceptions of online writing: Simultaneous implementation of a forum, blog and wiki in an EFL blended learning setting. System, 38(3), 185-199.

Barrett, H.C. (2007). Researching Electronic Portfolios and Learner Engagement: The REFLECT Initiative. Journal of Adolecent & Adult Literacy, 50(6), 436-449

Johnson, K. (1996). The Role of Theory in L2 Teacher Education. Tesol Quarterly, 30(4), 765-771.

Oxford, R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should. New York. Boston; Heinle and Heinle.

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Poll Results August 2014: Do you let your students use phones in class?

August's poll was "Do you let your students use their phones in class?" Here are the results.

From rmsbunderblog.wordpress.com

• No, never: 25% with 3 votes
• Yes, always: 8.33% with 1 vote
• Yes, sometimes: 50% with 6 votes
• For emergencies: 8.33% with 1 vote
• To access dictionaries or course related material: 8.33% with 1 vote

It seems like you just can't get away from phones. I've written about surrendering to cell phones as well as if you can't beat 'em, you should join 'em.

Be sure to vote in this month's poll: Does your employer give you gifts for the holidays?

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Poll Results July 2014: How long have you been at your current job?

July's poll was "how long have you been at your current job?" Here are the results.

From rmsbunderblog.wordpress.com

• less than 1 year: 10.53% with 2 votes
• 1-3 years: 59.89% with 11 votes
• 4-6 years: 21.05% with 4 votes
• 7-9 years: 10.53% with 2 votes
• 10-15 years: 0% with 0 votes
• 16+ years: 0% with 0 votes

It seems that most people are relatively new to their job. If you're going to try to move up, check out making a career out of TEFLing.

Be sure to vote in this month's poll: Do you let your students use their cell phones in class?

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How to Meet Other Expats

Today’s article is written for the Reach To Teach Teach Abroad Blog Carnival, a monthly series that focuses on providing helpful tips and advice to ESL teachers around the globe. If you’d like to contribute to next month’s Blog Carnival, please get in touch with Dean at dean@reachtoteachrecruiting.com, and he will let you know how you can start participating!

Before You Go
Moving to a completely different country can be stressful. Having a support group can greatly help you out. If you're in a popular country you can probably throw a stone and hit a foreigner. However, if you're in a less popular country, then you're going to have to make an effort to meet foreigners.

Your local college or university might have international students that you can get in touch with before you move abroad. They can answer some of your questions about living in their country. They might also be able to put you in touch with family and friends still living there.

Online
Things are a heck of a lot easier than they were years ago. With the internet you're never truly alone. You can easily email, chat, or even call friends and family back home for free. Even the most backwater towns seem to have internet. Some sites are blocked in countries such as Saudi Arabia and China, but proxies, such as hidemyass will get you around firewalls.

One of the best ways to connect with teachers in your area is the internet. Dave's ESL Cafe is a great place to start. They can also tell you about other forums, such as waygook in Korea. Facebook is also great. You can create groups and plan events. Word spreads fast among foreigners. Another good place to look for foreigners is meetup. You can search by area as well as interest. Twitter is also a good place to try to meet foreigners in your area. Don't forget about couchsurfing. You can meet foreigners and locals alike this way.

Meeting People Locally
If you're going to take a TEFL certification course in the country where you're planning on moving to, that's another good way to meet foreigners.

Your school is another place, especially if you're in a small town. Sometimes the people at your school may be the only foreigners in the whole town. Like kids who become friends quickly, people working abroad also quickly form friendships.

Some teachers will be the only foreigner at their school and if this happens to you don't worry you'll still easily to meet other foreigners. We tend to stick out like sore thumbs. There is usually a foreigner bar or two in your town, so you might want to try that. Churches are another place where foreigners gather. English book stores as well as foreign restaurants and grocery stores are worth checking out.

Events
The British embassies and the Canadian embassies have a bar and the Irish embassy is usually very helpful due to the fact that there aren't that many Irish abroad as other nationalities. If you're American, you're pretty much screwed as far as embassies go. The lesson? Befriend a Brit or Canuk so that you can get into the embassy bar.

Try to attend a conference or two. You can meet new  people, learn the latest about TEFL, and network your way to a better job. Ditto goes for joining the local professional TEFL organisation, such as JALT in Japan or KOTESOL in Korea. Check IATEFL for a complete list. Big language institutes, such as EF, Berlitz, IH, and the British Council might host events or training sessions for foreigners.

Organisations
If you've worked with the Peace Corps, VSO, or a similar organisation, you might be able to use their returned volunteer services and contact current or former volunteers that are still living in that country. Military organisation, such as the army, marines, etc, may also help out former servicepeople.

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7 Tips for Teaching Teens

Just the thought of teaching teenagers can make even the most experienced teachers cringe. Have no fear, although sometimes their hair and clothes may have you think differently, they are just human and there are ways to work with them, not against them. Below you can find a couple tips to help you out in the classroom.


1. Allow them freedom, but set boundries. Teenagers aren't children, but they aren't adults either. You need to allow them more freedom than adults, but have to set limits.


2.  Set an example. Monkey see, monkey do comes to mind. Whether they admit it or not, they see you as an example. If you come late or don't wear nice clothes to class, they'll think that that's ok.

3. Acknowledge their efforts. Everyone wants to be appreciated for a job well done. Some students are better than others, but it doesn't mean that they don't deserve praise.

4. Admit your mistakes. No one's perfect, not even the teacher. If you made a mistake, that's fine, just admit it.

5. Have fun. Being a teenager is tough and school can be stressful. Don't be afraid to have fun in your class. Students don't have to be silent in order to learn. Try using games, music, facebook, twitter, or youtube in class.

6. Motivation is key. Setting goals, using rewards, competition, or their inquisitive nature are all ways to get students motivated.

7. Show some respect. They deserve it. Respect them and you'll see that they'll respect you back.

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How to Create a Personal Learning Network

Updated 22 September 2016

It's hard to escape networking these days with the internet. PLN or personal learning networks have become popular among educators. They are basically people that you exchange information with and this usually takes place online. By using VLE or virtual learning environments, it's pretty easy to exchange ideas.

There are a handful of good guides about how to build a personal learning network. You do have to be careful though. More and more companies are basing hiring decisions upon what they find on prospective employees social media networks.

PLNs allow you to work on your professional development, find resources, learn new ideas, network, keep up-to-date about the latest news in your field, among other things. TEFL teachers have really taken to PLN.

Blog Carnival: You can just read it or write your own post and have it be included in the carnival. Unfortunately both of these blog carnivals have now closed. If you know of any please let me know. Here's the ELT Blog Carnival, the upcoming topics, and the sign-up sheet (The ELT Blog Carnival closed down in fall 2014). Reach to Teach also has a blog carnival they just started (They closed in spring 2015).

Blogs: Start following a couple of blogs and commenting on them. You'll get to know the blog writers and other readers that way. If you don't have a blog, consider starting one. Edu Blogs is probably the largest blogging community of educators out there.

Facebook: Join groups or networks and actively participate in them.

Linkedin: Complete your profile and start connecting with people. You might want to consider becoming a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker) and accepting any and all invitations that aren't spam. Joining groups and participating in conversations can help.

MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses): Some publishing companies have free webinars that you can attend as long as you sign up, such as  Academic Earth, Class-Central, Coursera, EdX, Lynda, Skill Crush, U of People, Udemy, and Udacity.

Nings: EFL Classroom 2.0 and the Educator's PLN are good places to start.

Podcasts: The itunes store has good podcasts, some of them are even free.

RSS: Allows you to follow blogs easily.

Social Bookmarking: You can see what other people are reading online and also share your bookmark list.

Skype: You can talk to people around the world.

TED: Lots of great presentations by famous people.

Twitter: Short and sweet, you can share ideas anytime, anywhere. Check out #ELTChat. It started in 2010 and every Wednesday they talk about a certain topic. They don't have chats during July or August. Here's a list of the summaries of past topics.

Web 2.0: This is basically a combination of many of the ideas here, social networking, blogs, wikis, videos, etc, all in one place.

Wikis: More and more groups are creating wikis in order to gather information in one place.

Youtube: You can subscribe to channels, watch the latest presentations, and comment on them.  

Over to you

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Hot Topic: Cell Phones, If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em

From frontbox.dk

Updated 5 October 2014

I recently wrote about how I had given up on trying to take cell phones away from students. I think that classroom discipline is hard enough as it is. Since then I’ve come across a couple of articles that have ideas on how teachers can integrate cell phones into lessons for students from elementary school to university.

In my classes I collect all the cell phones at the beginning of class and only give them to the students if I'm going to do an activity with their cell phones.

More and more teachers are moving away from teacher-centred classes to student-centred ones. Smartphones and cellphones can help make this possible as students learn to teach their peers. Here are some ways students can use cell phones in class.

• Blog: Have students blog about their experiences. You can also use it for homework. 
• Calculator: Great for math classes. 
• Call: Make phone role-plays more realistic by sending half the class out of the room and having them phone their partner. 
• Dictionary: Great for language learners. They can use L1-L2 dictionaries or L2-L2 dictionaries. 
• Photos: Have students take photos of the board. That way they have all the notes right there on their phone.
• Podcasts: Students can create them and listen to other students’ as well. 
• Questions on blogs and forums: Create an intranet blog or forum for students to ask and answer questions. 
• Quizzes and Polls: During class have students answer questions using a poll format. They can see the results in real time. 
• Record: Students can record their voice or make a video. It's great for pronunciation practice or presentations.
• Research: Students love surfing the net. Put it to good use and have them do research that way.
• Scavenger Hunt: Send all the students out of the classroom and start texting them clues on what they should find. Have them send a photo to prove they were there. 
• Text Students Questions: Send out a mass text at the start of the day and let students know that the first few students to respond will get a reward, anything from treats to no homework to extra credit points work.
• Timer: Have students talk for X amount of time and time it when they do so. 
• Translate: Google translate isn’t the best, but you could use it to your advantage. Translate a sentence from their L1 their L2. Give them the L2 and have them translate it back into the L1 and then re-translate it into their L2. 

References

• Huffington Post: Teachers Using Cell Phones 
• KQED: Don’t Lecture Me: Re-thinking How College Students Learn 
• KQED: How Teachers Make Cell Phones Work in the Classroom 

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Pay Attention in Class!

From slatervecchio.com

I wrote about how I had stopped shouting in class, but I still struggle with students' lack of respect and attention. Talking while I'm talking, talking while other students are answering questions, texting, sleeping, and not paying attention get to me. I'm not saying that I want to be the centre of attention, don't get me wrong. I'm all for learner-centred environments, but students are being flat-out rude.

At the end of my rope the other day I asked my advanced class if it was rude or acceptable in their culture to talk while other students were in the front of the room presenting. Shockingly enough they were honest and said it was acceptable. Fine. I realise I'm fighting culture, but in my class, it's an English class, so they're going to learn about culture in English speaking countries. I feel like I have to get a Native American talking stick. You hold the stick, you talk. Lesson learned: one person speaks at a time!

Moving on, the lovely multitasking-I'm-attached-to-my-phone has also got to go. Ok, I know that I said I have surrendered to cell phones and I have, but wishful thinking can't hurt. I have used cell phones in lessons and students like it, but there's a time and a place. Research shows that multitasking like emailing, listening to music, surfing the net, etc. wastes time, causes students to learn less, and lowers their GPA.

Remember the saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none?" Same thing applies here. Lesson learned: stop multitasking!

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Hot Topic: Surrendering to Cell Phones and Smartphones in Class

From Business News Daily

I give up. I just can't win the battle against smartphones. They're too fun and exciting. They capture students' attention like nothing before. And they're addicting. I honestly see cell phone and smartphone usage as an addiction. To be quite honest I'm not paid enough to deal with it, nor am I trained to deal with addictions.

My students can barely go all class without checking their Facebook, Kakao Talk, play games, or writing messages messages. The funny thing is that they're not really dealing with people, they're dealing with a machine. They get nervous and agitated if they can't check their smartphones. How bad is it? A lot of my students sleep with their smartphones next to them or under their pillow. It's the first thing they check in the morning and the last when they go to sleep at night.

I know people who have successfully used smartphones in class for activities, phoning for example works well. Doing research is great too. You no longer have to book the computer lab if they just need to read stuff online. However, for the majority of my class I really don't want anything to do with smartphones. I leave mine in my office on silent when I go to class.

Other teachers give students cell phone breaks in class, similar to coffee breaks. It seems nuts, but if it works, it might help your evals.

Some teachers I know collect the phones at the beginning of class and put them on a front table or desk that way they can ensure they don't get stolen. Others make their students turn them off. Others let them have their phones but take them away when they use them. Others take off points for phone usage.

I'm in the latter group. I've tried to take away phones when I catch them using them in class and I've played tug-of-war with students over them. It's not worth it for me. I teach adults. They need to exercise self-control. I tell them at the beginning of the semester that if they use their phone they lose points for the day. Of course I'll catch students using their phones and they'll immediately apologise, but to be honest, it's no skin off my nose: they simply lose points and I move on with my lesson.

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Quick Tip: Making It Easy For Students To Get In Contact With You

With all the technology out there, it's hard not to get in touch with someone. Yet at the same time, you might want to limit how much information you give out to your students. While some teachers give their students all their contact info, down to their Facebook, others are more careful about how much information they give out.

I personally give students an email account that I use just for work (not my work account since I never check it) and my office phone number. That's it. I don't give out my personal email or my cell phone.

I certainly don't friend students on Facebook. If you're going to friend students on Facebook you might want to consider waiting until they finish your class and seriously limiting how much information they can see.

While technology is a good thing, there can be too much of a good thing and you should be careful when  mixing your personal life with your work.


Got an idea for a quick tip?
Email me with your quick tip, name, and website (if you have one) and I'll post it ASAP.

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The Dos and Don’ts for Using Social Media as a Teacher with Your Students

The following post is from a guest blogger.

In this day and age, it seems that almost everything around us has gone digital. In order to keep up with the ever-changing times and remain current, school systems and classroom teachers are experimenting with ways to incorporate social media platforms into their lesson plans and classrooms. People pursuing teaching degrees these days learn ways to integrate technology into their lessons.

While students are most likely already using many of these platforms outside of school, do social media websites like Facebook and Twitter have a potential educational benefit that can be used in the classroom and implemented into their education?

We’ve devised a helpful list for teachers thinking about using social media as a way of engaging their students.

Research the potential social media platforms you’d like to incorporate into your lesson plans. Depending on the objective of the lesson plan, one platform might be better than another for achieving your goal with the students. Learn about what is out there and what will work best for your purposes. Social media can be broken up into about six different categories.

• Social Networking – Social networking sites usually involve a profile feature and allow you to connect with others who have similar interests. Examples include Facebook and LinkedIn.
• Blogging – Blogs are ideal for sharing information and allow the user, in many cases, to have creative control. Blogs are useful platforms for holding discussions, as there are typically comment features incorporated into the blog to encourage readers to interact. Examples include Wordpress, Blogspot and Tumblr. 
• Microblogging – Microblogging is a service like Twitter that allows short updates to be shared with others who are subscribed to receive the update. Another example would be a Facebook status update. 
• Media Sharing – Media sharing involves any service that allows you to share media such as YouTube, Flickr and Vimeo.
• Bookmarking Sites – Bookmarking websites help to organize various things found on the Internet, including articles, photographs and videos. Examples of book marking sites include Pinterest and Delicious.
• Social News – Social news platforms allow users to link to news articles. The more people read or “like” an article result in how the item is displayed, separating more popular items from less popular items. An example of a social news platform is Reddit.

From forbes.com

Know the privacy settings of the platform you decide to use. Don’t risk putting your students in harm's way.

Make sure that whatever platform you decide to use is accessible to all of your students. In order to keep the classroom engaged as a whole and fair, all students should have equal access to the social media platform you choose. Students who may not have access to a computer at home may be at a disadvantage.

Be mindful that using social media platforms can lead to inappropriate content. Social media can be a great way to share information, but be know that some of these websites have no filter of what people can post. This should be a major concern.

Understand that these types of websites can easily be distracting. While these sites could potentially be very useful and beneficial, they could also be very distracting. Have a plan for how to avoid these distractions or how to deal with the distractions when they occur.

Realize that social media operates in real-time. It can be difficult to keep up as these sites are constantly being fed and updated.

Know that these platforms can limit face-to-face communication. Perhaps try to incorporate a balance into the lesson plan. One way to do this could be to assign homework that involves using the social media platform at home. For example, if the students have a reading assignment, perhaps their homework could be to post their thoughts to a class blog. Rather than ending the conversation there, a good idea might be to have a discussion the next day in classroom based off of the blog posts from the night before.

For more information about learning outside of the classroom, please visit www.accredited-online-colleges.org.

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Korea's Private School Act

Updated 2 December 2014

A new blog about TEFLing in Korea came out late last year. The author goes by the "Will Wiggle".

Way too many teachers get the short end of the stick when teaching in Korea and this is partly due to the fact that they don't know about the laws. Will Wiggle is out to change all that. He has less than 10 posts on his blog, but they're all pure gold and people are starting to stand up and pay attention to what he has to say.

In January he posted about Korea's Private School Act which states, “any teacher / instructor / professor working at a private school (not hakwons) or a private university who is going to be non-renewed must be notified in writing at least 4 months in advance and be given a chance to appeal in a hearing.” This eliminates 11 month firings which are so common in Korea. You can find the Private School Act in Korean and English on Will Wiggle's Blog or look for him on Facebook.  

If you want to teach at a university in Korea, I'd definitely recommend Jackie Bolen's book, “How to Get a University Job in South Korea: The English Teaching Job of Your Dreams.” She wrote a couple of guest posts here at TEFL Tips, How to get the university job in Korea that you want and why I love working at a Korean university. She's been in Korea for over a decade and really knows her stuff. 


Your Opinion 
What do you think about TEFLing in Korea?

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Quick Tip: Network Like Crazy

Updated 8 December 2014

I'm sure at one time or another you were told it's who you know that'll help you get a good job. That's especially true today. While you might not directly know the person in charge of hiring, perhaps your friend's co-worker's boss might know of a job for you.

With the internet, there's no excuse for not networking. Places like Linkedin, Twitter, and even Facebook might be able to help you network your way to a great job. Don't forget the importance of meeting people face to face. If you don't have business cards, get them now and start handing them out daily.

Conferences are another great way to network and meet new people. One thing to remember is to keep in touch with people after you meet them. Don't just email them when you're looking for a job; instead try to touch base with them a couple times a year. By building a good network you'll be sure to land the perfect job. Find out more about networking by reading networking to get a great job.

Over to you
Got an idea for a quick tip?
Email me with your quick tip, name, and website (if you have one) and I'll post it ASAP.

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Cool Link: Business English Study

Business English Study is a very simple site but they have a lot to offer. Using real life examples, they create exciting lessons that focus on the business aspect of English. The lessons use famous companies, such as Coca Cola, Facebook, ebay, and Lonely Planet just to name a few.

In addition to these lessons, they also have film lessons, so that students can watch and learn. These are the two main parts of the website, they also have a simple English test that your students might find useful. If you're looking for a site that's easy to navigate yet has a lot of information, check out Business English Study.

Got an idea for a cool link?
Email me with your cool link, name, and website (if you have one) and I'll post it ASAP.

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Hot Topic: Desk Warming at Your EFL Job

Some places, like public schools in Korea, have mandatory office hours for their EFL teachers.  While many teachers may finish around noon or 1pm, they have to stay at school until 4pm or 4:30pm.  The hope is that they will do something useful to help the school, such as plan their lessons, create material, or teach the Korean teachers English. Or at the very least, they could get their MA or learn the local language.

In reality, many teachers surf the net, chat on Facebook, sleep, or listen to music. That's not to say that these teachers are lazy, but many times they end up teaching the same lesson over and over 5 or 6 times, so there's not much lesson planning for them to do. Ditto for creating materials.

As for teaching the other teachers English, that rarely happens as the foreign teacher may be stuck with teachers who have no desire to learn English. Or even more likely, they would rather surf the net, chat, or sleep during mandatory office hours.

What do you think?
Should teachers be required to have such long office hours?  Do you think staying at school after you finish teaching is a waste of time?  What happens at your school?

Got an idea for a hot topic?
Email me with your hot topic, name, and website (if you have one) and I'll post it ASAP.

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World Media Awards

The following is a guest post by Murray Newlands

Blogging Awards: Why you Should Participate

There are a lot of very good bloggers and publishers doing excellent work, and those who stand out deserve to have their hard work recognized, relate with each other, and see their readerships grow. That’s why the World Media Awards exist- to recognize and reward great contributions to media from bloggers and publishers.

In my own career, I’ve learned and benefited so much from others that I wanted to help establish some way to give back to an industry I love show appreciation to the up-and-coming leaders. The World Media Awards will culminate in a 1 day event in San Francisco that will celebrate the best in blogging, forums, publishing and media from around the world.

So if you are a world-class blogger, why should you enter?

1. Get Recognized- You Deserve It!
You put a lot of work into making your blog incredible. You know it and your readers know it. The World Media Awards is a way for you to get authoritative recognition from other bloggers and industry experts. That recognition will help you grow your readership, make new collaborative connections, and hopefully have great moments that make all the late nights even more rewarding.

2. Meet Other Bloggers Who Care
Blogging, forums and most other on-line media is about conversation and interaction, but sometimes it’s easy to end up pecking away behind a monitor in your office or home all alone. Meeting other bloggers and publishers keeps the fire lit and the conversation going. When you enter the World Media Awards, you’ll be listed alongside other bloggers and publishers who put the same level of pleasure, care and work into making their blog top notch.

3. Expose Yourself to New Partners
If your blog or forum is part of your business, being part of the World Media Awards will increase your exposure by putting your name in front of numerous visitors to our site and the award ceremony. That means you can find out who else is doing very good work, strut your own stuff, and expand your network of contacts and collaborators. You can learn how to become a blogging success.

4. Make Yourself Irresistible to Clients
What helps your chances at winning that next pitch more than extending your network? Telling that network that you are the winner of a World Media Award. Winning an award shines a light on your achievements, and it serves as an example of the commitment, engagement and exacting standards you apply to your work.

5. Be Part of the Beginning of Something Big
Because 2012 is the first year for these awards, you have the one-time benefit to be the inaugural winner and set the standard for the World Media Awards in your category. Getting in on the ground floor of these awards will open doors for you as a blogger and a publisher.

The bottom line is, the World Media Awards will shine a spotlight on the year’s most prosperous bloggers and publishers, and on the companies and businesses that serve and interact with them.

Now is your chance to be one of them.
The sponsors include Growmap, Pace Lattin, VigLink and Trancos. World Media Award judges include Steve Hall, Sarah Austin, Chang Kim, Julie Wohlberg, Pierre Zarokian, Ivka Adam, Cheryl Contee, Krystyl Baldwin, Adrian Harris, Jeremy Wright, Rob Bloggeries, Dave Duarte, Tanya Alvarez, Dana Oshiro, Tom Foremski, and Judith Lewis. hashtag #wmads on Twitter.

Media partners include Adrants, Bloggeries, MediaVision, The Affiliate Marketing Awards, Read Write Web, My Blog Guest, Web Traffic Control and FeedBlitz.

Murray Newlands is author of How to Make a Blog Book and Online Marketing; a User Guide. He is also founder of the Affiliate Marketing Awards. Born in the UK, he now spends his time in San Francisco and New York. Murray works for Audience Mindshare and consults for Trancos Ins as well as being an advisor for VigLink. Currently he is working on his new book: The Email Marketing Book.

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New TEFL Tips Design

TEFL Tips is finally a dot com! The new address is www.tefl-tips.com Be sure to update your bookmarks!

About TEFL Tips
TEFL Tips is designed to help ESL and EFL newbies and olbies alike. Whether you teach ESL, EFL, EAP, ESP, the 4 skills, exam prep, Business English, young learners, teenagers, or adults, you'll find tons of info to help you out. Here's an example of what can be found at TEFL Tips:

• How to write a fantastic CV
• Tips to help you ace your next interview
• How to get a masters degree online
• The best TEFL jobs in the world: a list of over 300 jobs in 45+ countries
• Europe for non-EU citizens: how to live, work, and study in the EU
• FAQ to teaching in Latin America:info about 15 Latin American countries
• What's the best country to teach in?: popular TEFL countries around the world

Weekly Posts: If you have an idea for a Hot Topic, Cool Link, Quick Tip, or Job Site email me and be sure to let me know your name and website (if you have one).

• A Hot Topic in teaching
• A Cool Link to a neat website (published twice a week)
• A Quick Tip to help you become a better teacher
• A Job Site that tells you the best places to look for TESL and TEFL jobs

Monthly Posts

• 1st week: An ESL, EFL, or general teaching article about TEFL Basics, Career Advancement, Classroom Tips, Money Matters, or Where to go
• 2nd week: Poll Results from last month's poll
• 2nd week: The ESL EFL Roadshow
• 3rd week: The ESL Educators Blog Carnival

New Design
I've been working on TEFL Tips for the past couple of weeks trying to get it more organised and easier to navigate. Here are the 10 changes I've made.


1. EBOOKS: They're at the top of the page.

2. PAGES: They're at the top of the site and organised by subject.

• About: It has an introduction to TEFL Tips. There's also contact information on this page.  Whether you have questions, comments, or suggestions for articles or posts, are interested in being a guest blogger, or want advertising rates, feel free to contact me.
• TEFL Basics: Heaps of information for those starting out, such as taking a TEFL course and writing a CV.
• Career: Information for those wanting to make a career out of teaching, such as getting masters degree and finding university jobs.
• Classroom: Tips for the classroom, such as teaching the 4 skills and classroom management.
• Money: How to make extra money, such as teaching private students and negotiating your contract.
• Where to go: Information about TEFLing around the world..
• ebooks: How to teach the 4 skills, grammar, young learners, and a guide to Peru.

3. POLL: On the left side there's a monthly poll about teaching.  The results will be published every 7th of each month.

4. SHARE BUTTONS: Facebook, Reddit, Tweet, and other share buttons can be found at the top and bottom of each post. 

5. TAGS: They're on the left and should help you find exactly what you're looking for.

6. SUGGESTED ARTICLES: At the bottom of each post is a list of 5 articles that might interest you.

7. MORE ARTICLES: There will be weekly Hot Topics, Cool Links, and Quick Tips. There will also be 3 special articles each month.  There will be a main article coming out the 1st of every month. Poll results will be published on the 7th. On the 21st there will be a link to the ESL Carnival, which is a monthly compilation of 7 articles by 7 different authors all about topics related to teaching. 

8. EASIER TO READ: From 3 columns to 2 columns. And a "Read more" link at the bottom of each post to help you skim down the blog and find the articles that interest you.  You can also find a search function in the left column.

9. FEWER ADVERTS: Many adverts have been taken down and the ones left up are ones that I personally believe have something good to offer.

10. UPDATED POSTS: Many old posts have been updated to ensure that you have the lastest info.

Hope you enjoy the new look!
Sharon

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Packing Tips for Moving Overseas

Updated 15 February 2013

Anyone who's moved knows how stressful it is, but when you're moving to a different country and can only take a couple of suitcases it gets even harder. There are lots of packing and moving tips that you should check out. If you're only going for a short time you could always put your stuff in storage or store it at a relative's house.

However, if you're planning on moving abroad for a long period of time, you'll have to find a more permanent solution. Below you can find some tips that will help you out. 30 days to move abroad and moving abroad also have more info.

Purging Your Life
You're going to have to be brutally honest when you do this. Take a look around you and ask yourself if you really need everything. Take one room at a time and work systematically. You should be able to sort everything into three groups.

• Sell: Expensive or nice items can be sold online (ebay, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, etc), at a garage sale, or at a consignment shop.
• Donate: Items that are in decent condition should be given away to Oxfam, Salvation Army, Am Vets, or other charity shops. You could even donate to your church or an assisted living home. Or donate to family members: things like baby clothes and toys are especially useful to those with young children.
• Throw Away: Things that are useless (like old warranties for electronics that you no longer have) should be thrown away. Try to recycle as much as you can. You could also try putting stuff in your yard with a "free" sign on it. You'd be surprised how much of it will disappear. One person's trash is another person's treasure.

Deciding What to Get Rid of
So how do you decide what to keep? Try asking yourself the questions below as you go through your stuff. You can find more info about selling or storing your stuff at the expat guy.

• Will it be in style in a couple of years? (Things like old clothes fall into this category)
• Will it still be valid? (Warranties, bank statements, credit card statements, tax documents, etc. Shread important papers!)
• Is it still useful? (Old computers, ancient radios, etc)
• Is it easy to replace? (Cardboard boxes, paper cups, etc)
• Do you use it? (Books, CDs, cassettes, movies)

What Should You Keep?

• Does it have sedimental value? (Photos, heirlooms, etc)
• Photos, some clothes, pictures your children made have lots of memories attached to them, but don't keep everything. Save a couple of the best things and get rid of the rest. Save the best items then take picutres of the rest. You can save the pictures and donate the rest to someone who could use them.
• Furniture. If you're going for a short time you should probably keep your furniture so you can use it when you get back. If you're going for a while, you could ship it or sell it.

What Should You Take With You?
The world isn't what it used to be. Countries are becoming more global and you can probably buy everything you need overseas. It might be harder to find or more expensive, but you should be able to find just about everything. If you can't find it in country you can often order things online.

Finding clothes or shoes that fit can be difficult and some people decide to get everything tailor made. It's usually cheaper than shipping stuff from back home and tailors are cheaper overseas. While it's still more expensive than buying things in stores you'll have quality items instead of quantity.

In some countries it can be hard to find things or you might not be able to find the same brands as back home. You have a couple of choices: stock up when you go home, order online, learn to do without, get stuff from expats that are leaving, or adapt to what the locals use. Good deodorant is expensive here in Korea, however, I've gotten enough free deodorant from friends who have left Korea to last me a year. What's harder to find or more expensive varies country to country so be sure to do a bit of research before you go.

Congrats!
It's not easy to get rid of things, but once your life is less cluttered, you'll feel better. Keep only the necessary items and next time you go shopping: ask yourself if you really need it.

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How to Create Autonomous Students

Updated 18 February 2012

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Outside of Class

Students can study for hours and fail, others study for 30 minutes and pass with flying colours. Quality, not quantity works. Here are some studying tips.

• Study everyday for at least 20.
• Find a quiet place to study.
• Organise yourself. Keep your notes in order and papers in one place.
• Take breaks often. It's hard to concentrate for long periods of time.
• Don't pull all nighters.
• Set goals and reward yourself.
• Get a study group
• Look at the next chapter so you know what's coming up in class.
• Use it! Use the language that you learnt in class.
• Write it down. Don't just highlight or underline.
• Eliminate distractions. Get away from the tv, computer, loud noises etc.
• Read more studying tips.

In Class

Challenge your students to only use English in class. You could try giving awards to the student or students who use the least L1 in class. Here are some more classroom tips.

• Ask questions that make them think and allow for different answers.
• After the lesson, ask the same question and see if they've changed their minds.
• Music changes the dynamics of class and makes it more fun.
• Use technology: Power point, Youtube, Twitter, smart phones, and even Facebook can be used.
• Relate it to their lives.
• Hands on learning is fun, so use surveys, charts, podcasts, websites, videos, etc.

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