Tefl.NET Forums

It really does depend on the grammar function itself and also the age/ability level of the students. Most students hate learning grammar, the best way I've found around it is by teaching it to them without them knowing what they're doing. For instance, when teaching propositions with young learners,...

I have taught in Greece, China and now Italy and I speak minimal Greek, Chinese and Italian! I've never found it a hindrance when teaching ESL, if anything I find it's better as I don't slip in to the hole of using the second language to explain things rather than finding a way to make my learners u...

Oh, and obviously being male helps. Most adverts I've seen for those areas specify they'd like a male teacher!

Only advice is contact them anyway, list your qualifications and experience and ask them to take a chance on you.

Most places will ask for experience, but if they need teachers they will be flexible for a strong candidate.

And there's no harm in trying, is there?

Good luck!

I remember my first experience in front of a class... I said 'OK' and 'So...' far too much, I shook like a rabbit in the headlights and I missed out half of my lesson plan! And I came from a background in corporate software training! You have to take the plunge and get the first one over with, then ...

Without experience or certification, I think you might have a hard time finding work in Europe, I'm afraid. I've been teaching for 4 years, I have a PGCE, a TEFL (on-site) and modules 1, 2 and 3 of the TKT at band 4. It still took me nearly 3 months to find a job in Europe because there are lots of ...

I'm afraid you can cross China off of your list! There is no way they would accept that here. I hate saying that, I really do, but they are very backwards when it comes to sexuality here, at least in public. Behind closed doors it's a different story! You may find it easier to transition and then se...

For china any TEFL certificate is recognized. I did a weekend course with i-2-i. You also need a degree for the school to be able to get you a visa. Not strictly true. I've known many schools that will happily fake a degree in order to get western faces here. It comes down to how desperate the scho...

It depends on what the matrix verb is; most verbs have their own set of rules.

There's some good information here: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/ ... plmnt.html, but it's quite complex and I wouldn't use it in my classes! It would be nice if there was a better rule for this, though...

You shouldn't have been left to do that without training! I'm a certified teacher but designing a whole syllabus would have stretched me as a first role! Unless you are given training, this is exactly the situation I'd expect to happen. Unfortunately, a lot of places in Asia will hire you to simply ...

This might sound awful, but the biggest problem you're likely to face is the fact that you look Chinese. In private schools in China especially, a lot of parents will object to having a 'Chinese' teacher. They are paying for a western teacher and although you are American, they may not look past the...

I'd agree that the 4 week on-site course is far more beneficial than the online course, but for teaching in China it's not necessary to get a job there. I've been teaching in China for 3 years and I see completely unqualified teachers arrive every month. One school I was at even faked a degree for o...

Will we be able to buy western size clothes and shoes? This greatly depends on what western sizes you are, I'm afraid! I'm a UK size 12 and I struggle to find clothes that fit me unless I buy over-sized t-shirts! You can buy online, I usually use a UK shop and have things delivered here. I'm also q...

I did a 4 week TEFL at the Anglo-Hellenic centre in Corinth 4 years ago and I can tell you now it was invaluable! You get classroom experience, with observed feedback; I taught 3 classes a week from week 2 of the course, totalling 18 hours of observed classroom practice. On top of that there is a co...

As Tim said, it really does depend on what school you go to. The only thing I'd caution with EF is that is very much a business; money comes before education, every time. I have worked for different EF Schools in China over the last 3 years and the educational needs of the students always lose out t...