Okay, we’re now about halfway through the first term of school and most of you are probably in your teaching groove, so you might be thinking this may not apply to you. But it does. As Benjamin Franklin says, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
Burnout is a gradual thing, not...
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29th November 2016By Sharon Maloney
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22nd November 2016By James Pengelley
Some of the most common questions I hear include: Hey, how did you get your job? What do you need to do to become a trainer? So do you get all summer off? Contrary to what many people assume about language teaching, most of us work within the constraints of the private sector. This has... -
15th November 2016By Sharon Maloney
Just do the thing... The advice I got from a colleague early on in my teaching career. Her advice while not exactly motivating, ended up being the best advice I was given for everything, not just teaching. At the time I was struggling to motivate a class of teenaged learners and went... -
8th November 2016By James Pengelley
One of the more common beliefs that teachers and students bring to the classroom, especially in Hong Kong (which tends to favour classroom activities based on memorization and declarative, as opposed to procedural knowledge) is an obsession with grammar. Yes but they need to know the... -
1st November 2016By Sharon Maloney
Following on from our earlier article on positive reinforcement, this week I look at how teachers can manage problematic behavior. If you’ve ever had the experience of a difficult student, you are not alone! It’s part and parcel of being a teacher. The only way you could avoid problematic behavior... -
20th October 2016By Sharon Maloney
When I was 5, I had a piano teacher who rapped my knuckles and told me off sternly when I didn’t practice enough. When she asked me to be a part of her annual recital, I burst into tears and shook my head, overcome with fear at failing in front of an audience. When I was 12, I had a maths... -
19th October 2016By James Pengelley
Set context, and carry on This ought to be the mantra for all teachers, yet it is often one of the most challenging components of any language lesson: set it well, and the meaning and range of language students can use appropriately becomes suddenly more accessible; set it poorly, and you’ll... -
13th October 2016By James Pengelley
It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. Right? In which case, it often makes me wonder why teaching pronunciation doesn’t take more of the focus in English language lessons. That’s not to say that teachers don’t do it – indeed, it’s a compulsory component of most teacher training...