Should You Accept a Low Paying Online Job Teaching English?

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Yes, more likely thank not you should. I've written about teaching English online before and many of the jobs don't pay that well. However, you should still consider teaching English online. Let's find out why.

Some Money is Better Than No Money
If you aren't going to be working, it's always better to get something rather than nothing. Let's say you teach an hour a day for $10 an hour and do that for 20 hours a month. That's an extra $200, which isn't that much. However, in a year, that would be $2400, which is a nice chunk of change.

No Commute
Other jobs may pay more but more likely than not you'll have to commute. If you get a job that pays $30 an hour, but have to spend 30 minutes commuting each way, then you're really only getting $15 an hour. Plus, if you're in Asia, the timing seems to work well since most of the classes are in the evening and at night.

Experience
Knowing how to teach online can help you for future jobs since you're working with online platforms. The more you know about technology, the better. So even though the pay might not be that great, you're gaining experience.

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3 Reasons Why I Closed My LinkedIn Account

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Last updated 15 September 2017

I opened another LinkedIn account in September 2017. I'm looking into other career options and it seems like LinkedIn is a good way to network. I wish LinkedIn had an option where you could take a break.

Closing my account
I closed LinkedIn in September 2014 wary of what would happen when I deleted over 2,000 contacts and 3 dozen recommendations. Now nine months later, I have no regrets and feel less stressed thanks to backing away from social media. There were 3 reasons why I decided to close my LinkedIn account.

1. Spam: It came in many different forms. There were people selling gold, asking for dates, and just random "just my business" spam. I didn't want to deal with any of it.
2. Privacy: Lack of privacy was a big issue. Although I was partly to blame since I had so many contacts and had added my information, I wanted to get away from it and protect myself. I don't think everyone needed to know where I went to school, where I had worked, or what conferences I had been to.
3. No leads: I had originally joined LinkedIn in order to network and learn about jobs. The only job offers I had were from pyramid scheme or multi-level marketing.

LinkedIn Isn't the End All
Some people never had a LI account. Others have decided that they'd had enough and closed theirs.

• Chris Brogan closed his in 2012.
• Doug Belshaw closed and then re-opened his account.
• Finding the Forest listed a number of issues leading to why they closed their account. 
• Heather Bussing from HR Examiner closed her account.
• Simply Zesty closed theirs in 2011.

There are plenty of ways to network and get good jobs without using LinkedIn.

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Using Differentiated Instruction in Mixed Level TEFL Classes

Differentiated instruction has become popular amongst teachers. Ron recently wrote about it a few months ago in his post, the start of a new semester and differentiated instruction. TEFL courses also cover it. Check out the CCELT (100 hours) and the University of Toronto. Teachers may struggle in mixed level classes because they know that it can be hard to cater to all the different levels. While convention may tell the teacher to teach to the average level, they know that some students are being left behind and others are bored with the lesson. This does nothing for student motivation.

Differentiated instruction can change that. There are many ways that you can use this in your classroom. It will allow all students to progress and better their English. Have a variety of different assignments. After teaching a lesson, students need to practice what they have learnt. You could have different exercises available to them. Lower students could do multiple choice and higher students could do fill in the blanks.

Offer students choices for homework: Just as you would do in class, allow them to choose which homework assignments they’d like to do. Go online: Tell students about websites that they can use to practice their English. Your textbook might have options as well. They often have online quizzes and listenings that are interactive and appeal to learners.

Meet with students: Have quick progress meetings with your students. It will help them achieve their goals, give you feedback on class, and ask you questions. Some students may not want to meet with you one-to-one so give them the option of meeting in a small group.

Pair strong and weak students: It’s a win-win situation. The stronger student solidifies what they have learnt by explaining the concept to the weaker student. The weaker student gets to have the concept explained in a different way. Often students are better at explaining things than teachers.

Try TBL (task-based learning): By using English for authentic tasks students see how English can make a difference in their lives and students can be assigned roles based on their English abilities.

Try flipping the classroom: Studies have shown that flipped classrooms allow for more learning and less time wasting. It’s more student-centered and there’s less grading involved. Students and teachers enjoy flipped classrooms as well.

As you can see there are many options for using differentiated instructions in mixed level classes. Try some out and see how it goes!

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The Flipped Classroom

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With all the focus on autonomous learners, it's only a question of time before the flipped classroom becomes the norm. Although it's a relatively new concept, there have been a number of books written about the flipped classroom. It has students learning outside the classroom as well as inside. It's a type of blended learning. The flipped classroom takes the focus off the teacher and becomes student centered. A great example of the flipped classroom is Khan's Academy.

Technology is often used. Activities that are usually used for homework are used in class. Examples of this are peer-editing and PBL (project-based learning). The goal of this is to allow students to apply the knowledge they have learned rather than just regurgitate it. Students problem solve, work in groups, and do research. The teacher isn't seen as all-knowing, but rather as a guide. Students are more actively involved and motivated and take charge of their learning.

Studies have shown that students in flipped classes outperform those in traditional classes. There are pros for teachers as well: no daily lesson plans and no grading papers. Students are also able to choose how they want to be assessed. This allows them to work with their learning styles. Just because some students test well and others don't doesn't mean that the latter don't understand. They can choose a test, an essay, speaking, or even making a game.

If you're interested in learning more, #ELTchat has had two discussions about flipped classrooms: the flipped classroom and flipped learning in English language classes - what's the best use of your face-to-face time in class?

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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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What Do You Mean You Don't Teach Writing?

The following post is from a guest blogger from Daniel Bailey. He's hoping to start a debate on the need for writing instruction and would welcome feedback. You can reach him at dbailey0566@gmail.com

What Do You Mean You Don't Teach Writing?

A few too many English teachers in South Korea rely too much on speaking activities to reach their academic objectives. I’d like to spend a few moments writing down complimentary teaching strategies to help those speaking-only instructors broaden their approach to language teaching.

First I’d like to begin with some mild criticism to those who feel we are here as English mascots. Some people who think we are here just to “entertain the troops” may also think extending our approach to learning beyond speaking activities is unnecessary. I hope that mindset has dissipated over the past few years as a result of the influx of more qualified teachers as well as the increased professional requirements by hiring institutions. In the past we should have fought such ideas even if they were true, if not just for the sake of having self-respect. I have taught extensively, more than I’d like to admit, at all levels of EFL. In no case was my relevance anything more than what I made it. This is true from the tertiary level to kindergarten, especially kindergarten since we have the opportunity to create, or break, stereotypes at such impressionable ages.

Let me get back to the point. We shouldn’t rely solely on speaking activities, but combine in-class speaking activities with at-home writing ones. It’s a simple concept and one so poorly grasped by EFL instructors. As teachers, we are so easily turned off by the idea of assigning homework. Why should we? Students don’t review it, many schools don’t ask us to do it, and/or we don’t get paid enough. There is one simple reason. It works. You’re wasting your time with EFL teaching if you don’t give writing assignments and follow up with corrective feedback. We’re English teachers for Christ sakes so why wouldn’t we assign writing homework? I’d like to pick apart a few arguments I can think of as to why we wouldn’t want to assign writing homework. Perhaps you can add a few when this thing gets posted. Please be gentle.

I teach speaking not writing. 
Wrong! You teach speaking, writing, listening, and reading. These are not linear concepts with one more important than the other. You absolutely are a writing instructor no matter what your hogwan owner, director, or supervisor tells you. Chances could possibly be that you know more about language education than they do. You are limiting your pedagogical teaching power by taking the easy way which requires less work. And that’s the elephant in the room, work.

Of course you will be giving yourself an increased workload if you assign writing homework, of course we are assuming you will be grading it (right?). It doesn’t do much good otherwise. And that brings me to the next argument.

Students never read my feedback. 
Students, like most of us, only care about a few things and instructor feedback on their writing is not one of them. Of course they will not give a flute about your feedback. You shouldn’t expect them to. You also shouldn’t expect them to take your feedback and run home to place it in their feedback drawer. It’s not up to the student to miraculously develop organizational skills capable of filing, comprehending, and applying your feedback about their writing. It takes time. Teacher comments are not usually good, and if they genuinely were we’d be out of a job. Why on earth keep us here if they could all write. I’ve met plenty of speakers who can speak but can’t write, never the other way around. Logic dictates that we shouldn’t underestimate the value of writing skills.

We live in a world that has technology like the Oculus. These are goggles you can put on and instantaneously be in virtual reality. You think in such a world we would be able to facilitate the organizational process, right? Perhaps we could use the Internet to store their writing, right? And just perhaps, we could give feedback about their writing using word processing technology, and store that feedback on the Internet. Then have them review their writing in class, and god forbid give them access to said stored writing. Just perhaps, it could be easier for us to organize and store both writing and feedback for all of our students than to expect even just a few of them to do if for themselves. After all, we are not organization teachers but EFL ones. That being said, please let me know why you don’t spend just as much time focusing on your students’ writing as you do their speaking. I can’t argue against the idea that by keeping our students’ proficiency low we’ll always have job security. You definitely win on that one.

Daniel Bailey

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iPadagogy: using iPads in Class

It's gotten to the point where teachers must use technology in class. Smart boards, Youtube, blogs, wikis, Blackboard, smart phones, tabs are just a few of the options that you have to choose from. Here's a photo from Educational Technology which as a bunch of ideas on how to use an iPad in class. It's based on Bloom's Taxonomy.

From smart boards, to Youtube, and even smart phones and tabs, there are lots of options to choose from. You can see the photo on the right or go to this link to see a larger version.

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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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Hot Topic: Schools Should Not Require Office Hours

Office hours aka "desk warming time" is a hot topic amongst TEFL teachers. Many TEFL teachers don't use office hours productively either and can be often found lurking on Facebook, Waygook, Dave's ESL Cafe, Raoul's China Saloon, Ajarn, or any of the other websites for TEFL teachers around the world. Some teachers would rather accept a lower paying job rather than desk warm.

From lbcommuter.com

ESLCafeLatte sums it up nicely here. "4. Duties- Asking faculty to do things for "free", that is to come in for events or tasks or meetings beyond their contracted hours, is to diminish the worth of a highly educated instructor pool. It is petty and demeaning, again, rather like Walmart. Beyond that, demanding that faculty "log in" when they arrive and leave is an anathema in academe. Teaching hours and a reasonable commitment to office hours are all that professors and instructors ought to be accountable for. These are posted on office doors, web-sites, and on the syllabus. Students and the administration can reach any employee by cell-phone or email, just like the rest of the world does.?

What Other Teachers Think
mashkif also has something to say about it. "Faculty members of a higher education institution are not regular service-sector workers whose productivity and value are measured by the amount of time they sojourn at a desk or behind a counter. Other than interfacing with their students (formally in the class or in individual conferences during office hours) and attending departmental/institutional engagements, there is absolutely no reason for faculty to sit behind their desks for a specified period of time. Period.

By insisting on mandatory working hours, you are basically making faculty justify their salaries. But you are also creating a workforce that is resentful and disloyal. Mandatory working hours are NOT the norm in higher education. And the reason they're not the standard is that every half-decent institution recognizes that it would be counterproductive to make them such. By forcing such a ridiculous practice on faculty, you end up with people who despise you and your institution, and who are unhappy with their jobs."

My take on office hours
There seem to be two reasons for office hours and I disagree with both of them.

Reason 1. Students, staff, and admin have to be able to reach you.
Rebuttal: Let's wake up and smell the coffee, very little of that communication has to take place in person. I'm going to go out an a limb here and say that most people do not want to meet with you in person because they feel that their English level isn't good enough and they'll be afraid to make mistakes. Most of the communication I have had with students, staff, and admin has been through technology: emails, texts, kakaotalk, and phone calls. Very rarely will someone come to my office unless I tell them they have to.

Reason 2: You have to be able to plan your classes.
Rebuttal: I can't even believe that in this day and age people think this is a logic argument. Depending on your office evironment it might be next to impossible to get any work done. When I worked in an open plan office with over a dozen teachers, the teachers' room was always buzzing. It was a great atmosphere for socialising, but pretty hard to get an serious work done. If you have a shared office or your own office, it'll be quieter and you can get work done. However, if you're like many teachers, when you're not in class you need a bit of downtime. I can also work at home if I need to. That's not an issue.

Summary
Having a few office hours a week seem to be ok. By few I mean 2-3. However, so many schools require a heck of a lot more. They'll say that you only have to teach 15-20 hours a week, but neglect to tell you that you-ll be spending up to 20 hours a week desk warming, erm, I mean doing office hours.

Office hours can be useful. I know plenty of people who have used their time wisely and gotten a master degree, TEFL diploma, studied a language, or done something worthwhile with their time. Most teachers don't do this though.

Other places use "office hours" as an excuse for you to be their slave. They'll have you proofread and edit gibberish until you pull your hair out, give placement tests to students, meet with admin, etc. The problem with this is that office hours aren't meant for this. Office hours are meant for you to do what you have to do, whether that be plan classes, grade, create tests, or meet with your students.

Bottom line: if schools are going to require office hours, they shouldn't require too many nor should they fill up your office hours with things they want you to do. There are much better ways schools can motivate teachers. Though on the other hand, teaching English abroad requires a lot of give and take.

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Hot Topic: The Paperless Classroom

Updated 13 April 2014

I'm a minimalist. I'm constantly giving away things I don't need and I hate clutter. I'm the type of minimalist that annoys other people because I'm always begging them to let me organise their closets. Yet despite all this, I've been wary to go paperless.

Don't get me wrong, I hardly use paper in the classroom as it is. Of course, students have books, but I'm talking about extra worksheets and all that.

From drminternational.com

Despite being young I have a fear of technology. I grew up with a TV that you could fix by smacking it or sticking a coat hanger in to make an antenna. You can't do that with stuck now; it breaks. they just don't make things like they used to.

I'm starting to use technology more and more and recently came across 40 Android Apps for Teaching and Learning from the Chronicle, though I've recently converted to an iPhone and finally see what everyone's talking about.

It seems like Facebook has taken over the world and everyone's online. Just take a look at the post I wrote about personal learning networks. I'm afraid that my computer ate my homework or someone will hack in to my account. Once something is gone, it's gone. It's not like paper that you can fish out of the trash. With that being said, I haven't gone completely paperless, although eventually I'd like to. I use paper in my classroom for a couple of activities.

1. Grading. I usually use rubrics. To cut down on the amount of paper and toner/ink I use, I try to print out a couple complete rubrics for students to see and then just use score sheets for their grades. By doing this, I can fit 4-6 score sheets on a page. It's not pretty, but it saves paper. Online grading is great. I've used edu 2.0 and engrade and love them.

2. Answers. Students work at different paces. When doing activities such as proofreading, it's really hard for students to compare their answers to the correct answers. I'll put the entire paragraph on paper and bold the correct answers. I can usually fit about 4-6 paragraphs on a page. That means for a class of 30, I only need to use 5 pieces of paper, max. BUT, it gets better. I reuse the papers for the next class. Gotta give me points for that.

Two other alternatives for using paper for answers would be to email students the answers and have them check at home or upload them to the intranet.

3. Grade Sheet. I've semi-converted to cloud computing, but computers at my work are slow and when they're shut down they automatically delete everything you've downloaded on them. That means I'd have to re-download the program every time I want to use it. I can't be bothered, so I use a usb. The problem with this is that usbs tend to break and you lose everything. I print out my grade sheet and have a hard copy available just in case. I suppose that using edu 2.0 and engrade would eliminate this issue.

4. Student Work. With over 100 students per semester, I really don't know if I want to get 1000s of emails a semester with student assignments. edu 2.0 and engrade are supposedly good at managing that. I've been told that the former can even help grade easy quizzes/tests, such as multiple choice or true/false. Essays, CVs, or Cover Letters are more difficult.

I'm one of those people who like to curl up with a good book, not with an ereader. There's the whole debate that books are better since they can be recycled and sustainable forestry requires two trees to be planted when one is cut down. Plus, egraders require batteries/electricity and are harder to recycle.

I find it easier to grade papers when I'm writing on them, not looking at a screen. This also means that I can stick papers in my purse and grade anywhere, rather than lug my laptop around with me. However, I think I should change. There are two reasons why grading on the computer is better. First, I personally type a heck of a lot faster than I can write. Second, you know what it's like when you hand back a paper to a student, they crumple it up, and throw it away. Then at the end of the semester, they come and complain about their grades but have no evidence to back it up? Using a computer would solve both of those. I could save all their work and eliminate paper use.

5. Quizzes/Tests/Exams. Once again edu 2.0 and engrade are supposedly good at managing that. However, I don't think I could do that. I wouldn't trust students to take quizzes at home alone without help. Second, most of my classrooms only have one computer in it, so students couldn't take the quizzes in class. I try to make quizzes, tests, and exams short. For my classes, students take 8 quizzes and 4 exams. One paper is needed for the 8 quizzes and they use that paper all semester. Half a paper is used for the 4 exams and they use that paper all semester. Granted, I'm using paper, but not that much.

The only alternatives I see to using paper for quizzes would be to create open-book quizzes which can be taken at home or to have the school buy enough computers so that they can be taken in class.

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Dogme in TEFL

English Language Teaching has seen a variety of methods over the years, from quirky, to normal, and even downright odd. There's been translation, the Silent Method, PPP (Present, Practice, Produce) Communicative Language Teaching, and more; TEFL is constantly evolving. What was once new and in-fashion quickly becomes passe.

Dogme is a branch of Communicate Language Teacher and has become a word that's being thrown around more and more these days. It was started by Scott Thornbury and has ten principals.

• Interactivity
• Engagement
• Dialogic processes
• Scaffolded conversations
• Emergence
• Affordance
• Voice
• Empowerment
• Relevance
• Critical use

Dogme focuses on having the students speak and use the language. It wants students to be able to function in the language. Secondly, dogme teachers tend to shun books and materials created by teachers and try to use materials created by the students. This can be great, but it can also easily backfire. Lastly, they believe that the language should come about naturally through the activites and with the teacher's help. Dogme also tries to use some technology in the classroom, in particular web 2.0.

Of course, not every method is perfect. Many people criticise dogme due to the fact that teachers don't use books that much or at all. While I understand that teachers know their students better than the textbook writers, I still believe textbooks have their place in the classroom. They are a good foundation that teachers can build upon and adapt to their students' needs. In addition, textbooks are useful markers when showing other teachers where their students are and what they've learned. Especially if another teacher needs to take over your class. lastly, the majority of us are teachers, not textbook writers.

If you want to find out more information about dogme, check out the links below.

• The Guardian
• Kalingo 
• Mirror Reflections
• Scott Thornbury
• Wikipedia (most of the info in this article came from Wikipedia)

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3 Great Ideas for Teaching Advanced EFL Students

Teaching extremely advanced students can be a blessing and a curse. Maybe they've worked, studied, or lived abroad. Or attended international schools. Either way, they're pretty much fluent in English, yet you're still supposed to teach them.

They seem to understand everything and some of them act like they have nothing else to learn. At the same time, you can really get into the nitty gritty of the language by teaching them slang, idioms, and such things that are difficult to teach less advanced students.

Keep Track of Progress
With advanced students it's hard to see that they're making progress. Have them keep a journal or a list of goals that they want to accomplish by the end of class. If they want to use a certain idiom, they should jot down when they use it.

Write essays
While technology has helped people greatly, it has also taken the focus off writing. Being able to write essays will help put you ahead of the game. Here are some great essay guides.

Formal vs informal English
Usually one will come easier to them than the other. If they can easily use informal English, challenge them to take it up a step and be more formal and vice versa.

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10 Tips for Teaching ESL / EFL to Adults

Teaching adults can be difficult due to their busy lifestyles and reasons for learning English. Here are 10 tips to help you out in your adult English classes.

1. Set goals. Adults, and especially business people, are usually very goal orientated. They know what they want to do this year and often have a five year plan. Use this to your advantage in the classroom and have students set both short and long term goals focusing on their English language learning.

2. Give homework. Adults are busy. They have to deal with work and family and now English, however, you still should give your students homework. Why? It's simple, most people won't review what was done in class unless they have a reason, so give homework. Keep homework short, simple, and relevant. 10 to 30 minutes is all it should take to finish an assignment.

3. Have fun. After working all day or having to get up early for an English class, students want to have fun. Now don't think that by having fun students can't learn. Quite the contrary, students who have fun will be more motivated to learn. Make sure you met your objectives when you have fun in class and both you and your students will enjoy class more. Look into using different learning styles in class.

4. Ask for feedback. It can be hard to ask your students to be candid about your teaching, but it'll help. By asking your students about your classes you can ensure that you're tailoring your lessons to their needs. In addition, they will be more likely to learn if you're teaching something that's useful to them .

5. Make it relevant. Many adults are taking English for a specific reason. Some may want to go to your classes, others are forced to by their superiors. Find out why they are attending your class and what they expect after the class is done. Maybe they want to pass an international exam or be able to give presentations in English. Focus your class on their needs.

6. Focus on technology. Answering emails, talking on the phone, or giving business presentations is one reason why adults take English classes. You might want to look at emails your students have written or have to write. You can also give them hypothetical situations and have them answer an email, role play a telephone conversation, or give a short presentation in class.

7. Give them feedback. Just like you should ask your students for feedback, you should give them feedback. If possible, you could give feedback at the end of each class. If that's not possible, try to give thorough feedback after they hand in assignments, quizzes, tests, or exams.

8. Assess your students. Short quizzes and tests are particularly useful for letting both you and your students know what they've understood and what they have to work on more.

9. Keep a portfolio. By showing your students how their English was at the beginning of class and what it's like a couple months later will help keep your students motivated.

10. Prep for the future. Often your students will have a specific project that they have to complete. Try to work on that in class and help them out as necessary.

Here are some more ideas and lesson plans for teaching adults. 

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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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Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Visual Aids in the Classroom

From clineberry.wordpress.com

Gardner and the VAK learning style use visual aids in the classroom. There are pros and cons to using visual aids when you teach. Before we talk about those, let's look at what a visual aid is.

Examples of visual aids

• People: use your students or yourself to demonstrate height, hair color, feelings, etc. 
• Posters: they liven up the darkest classrooms.
• PPT: you no longer have to write on the board and have your lesson at your fingertips.
• Realia: bringing real items to class, example fruits and vegetables.
• Videos: students spend a lot of their free time plugged in.

Pros

• As the VAK learning style mentions most students don't learn through listening alone, so combining listening with seeing can help students retain knowledge. 
• Remember the saying a picture is worth 1000 words? well, apply it to your lessons.
• It's more fun for the students as well. Even if you're the best teacher in the world your students can benefit by watching a video and hearing a different accent.
• It gives you a break. You can turn "off" for a bit, which is a nice welcome after being "on" for so long.

Cons

• Students can zone out, especially if the language is too complex for them. 
• They can be hard to lug from classroom to classroom.
• Technical difficulties can arise and this can be really embarrassing if you're standing in front of the class and randomly pushing buttons.
•  Teachers can zone out if they're teaching the same lesson over and over and over.

With every teaching method there are pros and cons, hopefully the pros outweigh the cons and you can use visual aids more in your lessons. If you want to learn more, here's some information about VAK learning style and multiple intelligences.

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Uploading Videos of Teachers Teaching Online

From blogs.telestream.net

TED started it all. Then Khan Academy and big name schools like Harvard and Oxford have started uploading videos of their teachers teaching online. Other schools want to get on the bandwagon. Now the problem with this is that professors at Harvard and Oxford are usually of much better caliber than TEFL instructors at rinky, dinky universities.

Don't get me wrong, there are great TEFL teachers out there. But giving a lecture is totally different than teaching EFL. TEFL teachers move around a lot and the video can get jumpy and make you sick. Plus, teachers shouldn't be talking a lot in student centred classes, which makes e-lectures a misnomer.

However, schools shouldn't upload videos of their teachers teaching without their permission, without giving them some type of payment or incentive, and just because everyone else is doing it. And schools shouldn't force their teachers to participate. If it's in the contract from the beginning that's one thing, but changing the contract is a no-no.

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Skype Has Started to Replace International Schools Recruiting Fairs

Teachers can spend a couple thousand dollars flying to recruiting fairs, paying for food and accomodation. Many times job offers have been filled before you get there and schools that previously said they'd be there aren't. It's a great way for the coordinators of the recruiting fair to make money, however, for teachers and employers it can be a waste of time and money. With Skype teachers can bypass all that.

ISR wrote an article in May 2009 about Skype and Recruiting Fairs. YoYoMe's theory is that the directors like them since they get a free vacation, are lazy, and technically incompetant. My1cent believes that recruiting fairs' days are numbered. Schoolwatcher and Jot disagree with him and say that although recruiting fairs work, they expensive, time consuming, and not always necessary. Gadawg enjoyed the fairs he went to (ISS and AASSA), but said he currently got his job due to Skype and phone calls.

In December 2011, 2xaround said that he often spends about $4000 just to go to a job recruiting fair. Although you may be able to have a couple interviews, things may not turn out according to plan.

Hopefully Skype interviews will become more common for international school teachers and TEFL teachers. Take Saudi Arabia for example, if a teacher wants to work there, Skype is the way to go since getting a Saudi visa is a nightmare. Let's hope employers embrace technology since it can benefit all of us.

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Hot Topic: Crummy Ways Schools Cut Costs

From urbanmusiceducation.org

Everyone's talking about budget cuts and it seems that most schools are doing something to lower their costs. However, they seem to be going about it a bit wrong. Rather than lower the salaries of the fat cats in the head office here are something's that schools have down in order to try to lower their budgets.

• Give teachers a trial period and pay them less or get rid of them when the trial period is over.
• 11 month firings: famous in Korea where a hagwon gets rid of you in the 11th month to avoid paying severance and flights.
• Breaking copyright laws and copying books
• Not giving teachers a computer
• Cutting overtime hours and pay
• Outsourcing classes
• Not cleaning your office or classroom
• Not turning on lights in the hallways
• Not giving teachers a lunch hour
• Not turning on heat (I've taught in classes that were 12 degrees Celsius which is about 53 degree Fahrenheit where my students and I were wearing our coats, gloves, and scarves and wrapping blankets around our legs. I'd love to see the admin not have heat in their offices.)

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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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