Archive for the ‘British Council’ Category

“My first two years in Japan were spent teaching English… The students… studied English- or should I say, English was taught in their presence. Nothing ever seemed to sink in. Years of classes and endless tests and still they couldn’t master the intricacies of a simple ‘How are you?’ When I tried to have the most elemental of English conversations with them they looked at me with blank expressions, shrugged their shoulders, and said ‘Wakaranai’ (’Huh?’) They did this, I believe, just to annoy me. Don’t get me wrong, these teenagers were polite and studious and well-mannered, but they were still teenagers, and teenagers are pretty well insufferable anywhere you go on this planet.” (more…)

…the school’s founding documents start with “Now, therefore, know ye that We, by virtue of Our Royal Prerogative and of all other powers enabling Us in that behalf, do, of Our special grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, by these Presents, for Us, Our Heirs and Successors, grant, will, direct, and ordain that…”

No, I am not making this up. Although… (more…)

My usual desperate scratch around for some TEFL-relevant news has turned this month into a desperate attempt to deal with it all. If it carries on like this, our grandmothers might even get to be proud of what we do… (more…)

I really should wait until I’ve been blogging for 3 or 4 years before I presume to give lessons to the overly keen and/ or angry TEFL bloggers who have quit the game recently, but haven’t got anything else to write about since I got the whole professionalism thing off my chest, so here goes anyway:

Sustainable TEFL blogging uses most of the rules of ecological sustainability, and here they are:

1. Save energy
2. Recycle
3. Use second hand goods

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Although I often feel disappointed with the lack of any social value in my life of teaching adverbs of frequency to spoiled teenagers who want to be dolphin trainers and finding grammar points in Friends videos and typing up worksheets, it seems all English teachers must be on the side of justice and freedom after all. If you can’t judge us by our friends (because they are almost all TEFL teachers too and so not a good control group), have a look at our enemies:

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One of the biggest frustrations I hear from TEFL teachers is that there is no clear career progression in our profession, especially for those who do not want management jobs. There is an even louder clamour from those who want to break into writing for English language teachers and students, as there aren’t even the few clear options like “CELTA leads to DELTA leads to MA leads to university job” or “one year of experience leads to International House leads to British Council” that teaching can sometimes offer. Although the way most people who now get published regularly originally broke into the business are as varied as the teaching careers of the vast majority of teachers who did not follow the two ladders I described above, I hope giving a couple of simplified examples can persuade more people that it is a ladder worth starting on, and one that can provide satisfaction on every rung even to those who don’t make it all the way to the top.

Example One- The Article Man

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