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 …
I always use warm-up games or activities in my classes. It can be pretty hard for our students to come in, sit down, and then just immediately get into the meat of the lesson. I like to give them time to warm-up their brains, and think, speak, read, write, and …
“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 …
Inflation: All Kinds of Bad News for People With Money in Bank Accounts Most people decide to teach English in South Korea for the same few reasons: To have a year or two of fun and adventure before moving back to go to grad school, or get a “real job.” …
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 …
Study Tips to Help you Improve your English Skills There are many reasons why you might want to improve your English skills. Perhaps it’s to get the job of your dreams where being fluent in English is a necessity. Perhaps you want to travel abroad for a vacation, or to …
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 …
I Had no Idea about How to Teach ESL Listening I’m always surprised when I get reader questions or talk to people preparing for their upcoming job interviews that they don’t know how to make a basic lesson plan. But, it’s not so crazy and I actually had no system …
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 …
