Let’s talk money, and how much of it you can make when teaching in a Korean university. How Much Money Do You Make? A common question I get from readers of this blog is what is the average monthly salary for teaching in a Korean university. The answer to this …
Think about your experiences with learning words in a new language? How did you do it? Many people just white knuckle it and straight up memorize them with flashcards or something similar. Is it the best way? Keep on reading to find out more details about rote memorization. Rote Memorization: …
Are you the teacher who likes to jump right into the lesson and not waste time? That may work for you, but it might not be working for the students! Think about it this way. Students may not have spoken a word of English since your class last week. Ease …
Do you teach writing to intermediate or advanced level English students, particularly in a university where you have to give grades? You’ve come to the right place! Keep on reading for all the details about my ESL rubric for writing that you can use to evaluate your students fairly. Grade …
Get ready for some fun ESL activities for adults! The key to happy students and great classes is a wide variety of activities. Read more to find out our top picks to help you get creative in the classroom. Top 10 ESL Activities for University Students and Adults If you’re …
Tips for teaching English—we’ve got them. Keep on reading for all the details you need to know about some fun warm-up games and activities to try out in your classes. Warmer Activities for Adults Are you looking to get your ESL classes with teenagers or adults started off on the …
Life After ESL: Interview with Rachel Yoo Hi everyone, it’s Jackie here. Thanks to my friend Rachel Yoo for agreeing to do this interview with me about her life after teaching English in Korea. We met while teaching in Busan through some mutual friends and then ended up leaving …
It’s Jackie here. What follows is an interview with one of my old coworkers in Korea, Angie Jones. We worked together at a university in Busan. Thanks for letting us know how life in the USA is, post teaching English in Korea. Here’s the interview with Angie Jones. Can you …
Hi everyone, it’s Jackie here. This is an article from Ryan Thompson, who is currently teaching in Korea. He writes about his experiences at Journeys Korea. If you’re stuck in a rut, check out what he has to say and hopefully you’ll find some inspiration! Let’s get to it. I …
This is a question from a reader who is considering coming to Korea to teach English. The only problem is that he’s wondering about the stories he keeps reading about how many ESL teachers get ripped off in Korea. It’s true, there are plenty of stories out there. An oldie, …
Physical Activity in the Classroom Do you have bored, sleepy students? Yes? I used to. Then, I started designing activities that got students moving around the classroom. I love to have my students up and out of their seats, talking to their classmates. In order to achieve this, I get …
Inability to Ask Questions: It’s a Big Problem! One of the biggest problems my lower-level students have is knowing how to ask questions, especially of the follow-up variety. They’re pretty decent at answering the basics, like: “What’s your name?” “Where are you from?” “What’s your favourite_____?” But once that question …
“Online Teaching: The Answer?” So you’re teaching ESL abroad, and think to yourself, “I wish I made more money!” If you’re going to be teaching for only a year or two, have fun, drink lots of beer, and travel to some amazing places during your vacation. However, if you’re doing …
Side Gigs for Teachers: Ways to Actually Make Money is the book you’ll need to check out if you want to make some money in your spare time. And let’s face it, when you’re teaching English in Korea, especially at a university (5 months vacation!), or public school (desk-warming), you …
Life After ESL: 2 Years in Canada, an Update As I scroll through my Facebook news feed while eating breakfast, there are more and more memories of the time I spent getting ready to leave Korea. I lived there for a bit over a decade. I left in February of …
Need a Language Partner? Here’s How to Find One An equally motivated language partner is a great way to improve your English skills. The key is to find someone who is as motivated as you are! This probably is not your best friend or boyfriend, so cast your search wider …
Extensive Reading for English Learners The best speakers of English are those that can read fluently. Extensive reading is an excellent way to learn a language the natural way. Extensive reading means reading for enjoyment and to develop general reading skills. It can be compared with intensive reading, which means …
Do you want to improve your English skills? Then you’re in the right place. Learn more about ways to improve your English reading, writing, speaking or listening quickly an easily. Study Tips to Help you Improve your English Skills There are many reasons why you might want to improve your …
Relative Clauses: We Use Them all the Time Relative clauses are important and we use them all the time in the English language.We just use them naturally, never make mistakes and use reduced relative clauses all the time without even realizing it. The problem comes when teaching relative clauses to …
If you’re serious about helping students improve their English listening skills, you’ve come to the right place! I’m going to share the steps that you need to know to plan a successful ESL listening lesson. Keep on reading. ESL Lesson Plan Template for Listening I’m always surprised when I get …
Exciting news! I’ve just released a new book on Amazon, 39 ESL Warm-Ups: For Teenagers and Adults. Warm-Up Activities are awesome, if you didn’t know that already. They get your students active, engaged and speaking English right from the beginning of the class. In case you’re the type of person who …
Hobby Unit = Die a Little on the Inside Let’s be real. Teaching ESL certainly isn’t rocket science and I would in fact argue that most of what I teach is not personally engaging to me. Almost every single textbooks has like the same 10 units: family, weather, hobbies, sports, …
Teaching Writing to ESL Beginners: A Tough Job Teaching beginners to write in English can be a very difficult job. These students often struggle to put together a sentence, so teaching them to “write” can be quite overwhelming and many teachers instead find themselves just focusing on student’s grammar mistakes. …
You’re not Going to Get Rich Teaching English Okay English teachers abroad, it’s time for some straight-talk. Unless you happen to get a sweet, sweet gig like one of my old friends from Korea working for Aramco in Saudi, you’re not going to get rich teaching English. Sure, salaries for …
Maybe you’ve been searching for a long time for a university job in South Korea, but are finding it difficult to get interviews, much less job offers. There are some common possible reasons for this. But, the best advice I can give you is to check out the book, …
Okay readers, who likes money? You? Me? Everybody, right? Here’s how you’re going to be able to keep more of it in your wallet at the end of the month when you’re living in South Korea, working as an English teacher, studying or whatever. 101 Frugal Living in Korea …
Teaching and Traveling? Here are the Top 5 Budget Travel Tips for You If you’re an English teacher, I know you’re probably all about traveling the world in style. Here are some budget travel tips to help you do it well. Let’s be real, even with a high-salary ESL teaching …
Expat Personal Finance If you’ve decided to teach English in a foreign country, it’s not so uncommon that you’d have some student loan debt. You perhaps have just finished university and want to travel a bit, see the world and have some adventures before returning home. If you aren’t from …
Financial Management: Let’s Talk Money Money-I know it’s kind of an uncomfortable subject for a whole lot of people and some of you might have the “out of sight, out of mind” attitude towards it. Or, the plan to just enjoy life now and worry about the rest of it …
***Friends, family, random Internet strangers who ask me all the time why I’m leaving Korea and my sweet, sweet Korean University Job. This post explains everything, kind of.*** Korean University Jobs: All Things that Glitter The other day I was talking to a friend of mine about Korean university jobs. …
High Salary ESL Teaching Jobs Teachers mainly gravitate towards educational careers, driven by the passion of enriching the lives of their students. Of course this is reality! This choice is not driven by money in most cases. Rather, it’s the joy and contentment of the job that makes teachers …
Not ESL Board Games I love me a good board game. Three of my favourites are King of Tokyo, Settlers of Catan and Puerto Rico. Because I’m essentially totally and completely burnt-out on the teaching after almost nine years of doing it in Korean universities, my USA internship preparation …
A Review of Touchstone 4-Skills ESL Textbook Touchstone is a 4-skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) ESL textbook for adults published by Cambridge. There are 4 levels, ranging from 1-4. is reasonably easy and would generally be suitable for an average freshman English class in Korea. is much harder and even third …
Monolingual Classes: Difficult to Teach! Monolingual classes (everyone speaks the same language) can present a difficulty for ESL/EFL teachers. This is because there is often no compelling reason as to why students actually have to communicate with each other in the target language. This is the situation I find myself …
If you’re looking for some English reading tips, you’ve come to the right place! We have three of our favourite English reading tips, along with a link to where you can get even more of them. There are many reasons why you might want to improve your English reading skills. …
Types of Context Clues Here’s an English Reading Tip for you about using context clues. Sure, you can use your dictionary to look up words you don’t know, but this is the easier (and better way). After all, you don’t always have a dictionary handy, especially when doing an English …
