TEFL TEFL Resources
Resources to help you find websites, books, and other tools connected to TEFL. Make your English teaching life easier!
An online TEFL training resource
As we continue to provide useful information about the world of TEFL, we’ve just come across a company that does online TEFL courses that look very interesting. They are currently offering discounts for new customers as well as a free trial program, so it looks like it would be a good place to start for someone who is considering jumping in to this fascinating career and lifestyle.
It appears they also have in-person weekend classes, as well as a placement service, so this could be a really nice resource for some people. Check …
Date: February 8th, 2008 |
3 comments
A New Hangout For Cafe Regulars?
Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
ESL Café: none of our old regulars!
If you’ve been noticing a distinct lack of new posts at the ESL Café, it could be because a whole lot of the regular members have found a new neighborhood hangout: the forums at David’s ELT World. Tesall.com’s recent Top 10 list alerted me to the presence of this site.
David is an EFL teacher in Turkey, and started the site as his contribution towards making EFL a better “place” for teachers. In an interview with TEFL News, he mentioned that he makes it a priority not to suspend members because they make unfavorable comments towards companies which pay to advertise on his site. There is an innovative solution to threads that get a bit out of hand – threads which might be closed or deleted elsewhere – and that is the Fight Club. In this corner of the site, those who are so inclined can argue to their hearts’ content. Making top bill at the Fight Club are a thread on Been banned from ESL Cafe and the Emerging story about TEFL International.
The general discussion forum is the busiest at the moment. Contributors I “recognize” from ESL Café keep the discussion going, and there is room for questions and new contributors on the destination-specific forums.
It does raise an interesting question: how much do advertisers influence what is posted online these days? Are TEFL sites responsible for bad jobs?
Date: January 23rd, 2008 |
3 comments
ESL Classroom 2.0 Review
I recently got a comment (about the most important quality in a teacher) from David, creater of ESL Classroom 2.0. I visited his site when he left the comment and liked what I saw…I’m a little embarrassed that it has taken me this long to get around to reviewing the site, but better late than never!
ESL Classroom 2.0 describes itself as an international community of English language teachers sharing…
There are active forums, with topics like instant lessons/lessons in a can; stories to inspire and teach (I like these and I also like that there is a …
Date: October 25th, 2007 |
4 comments
From TEFL To Translation?
Have you ever thought of putting the language skills you’ve gained while teaching overseas to use in freelance translating work?
If you’ve ever been involved in translating work, you probably know it takes a lot more than knowing a foreign language. Lifted Magazine has a great post elaborating on the topic of translating, including resources for those interested in getting into it as well as more information on what it is and is not.
I don’t have the language skills which are a necessity for translating, and I suspect few EFL teachers – even those who have learned the local language well – do, at least to be competitive with professional translators. It just takes a huge knowledge of a second language to translate accurately into your own, and an even greater knowledge to translate into that language. There are also many different ways of expressing the same thought, and it’s not just a matter of knowing words to translate the whole of someone else’s work into another language. So while a few people may transition from teaching English to professional translating, my impression is that this is rare.
Date: August 29th, 2007 |
No Comments
Free EFL Materials Anyone?
While snooping around TEFLtastic territory, TEFL.net, I discovered an interesting opportunity for EFL teachers: make a commitment to write EFL material reviews and receive brand new materials - free - to try out in your class. Sometimes you even get them before they go on the market.
At the moment, they are looking for people to review textbooks, Business English materials and materials for young learners. Why should you do it? Well, aside from free stuff (you can’t lose with that!), it also looks good on your cv and is a good way of motivating yourself to try out new things. Your school and students probably won’t mind either. Find out more here.
But wait – that’s not all.
Date: August 20th, 2007 |
No Comments
ESL Spain Resourse: Pain In Spain Blog
Thinking of teaching English in Spain? Finding it hard to sort through all the info out there? Pain in Spain is one TEFL blog which is long overdue for a TEFL Logue review.
I first mentioned the site in a post about TEFL courses, where Pain in Spain blogger takes a pragmatic look at the value of a TEFL certificate. From what I can gather about the blogger/s – not all that much, but that’s okay – s/he is from the US and has been working in Spain for several years, mainly teaching one to one students and small groups in company. For the first period of work, s/he was working under the table, and so can share information on that experience, including how to become legal in Spain.
I haven’t worked in Spain, but I find the blog very straightforward. It is honest about the frustrations and challenges of EFL, particularly in Spain and in the bloggers particular context, without being overly cynical. There is advice on finding ESL jobs in Spain…
Date: January 24th, 2008 |
3 comments
Pre-Literate Learners
Of the 380 English spelling rules, only ONE has no exceptions – no English word ends with the letter “v”.
Source: The American Literacy Council. (All quotes taken from espindle.org)
Most U.S. adults who learn to read well enough to be functionally literate require at least two years of reading instruction to become literate, while students in more than 98% of all other alphabetic languages learn to read in less than three months.
Source: Welcome to the Solution to English Illiteracy.
The United States is ranked 49th among the 156 United Nation member countries with regard to literacy.
Source: United Nations
George Bernard Shaw created the word “Ghoti” which he suggested was pronounced like the English word “fish” if some of the precedents of English spelling were used. He pointed out that the “gh” was pronounced like “f” as in “enough”, the “o” as in “women” and the “ti” as “nation.”
Source: REY, D S., 2006. Language In Use [online]. Cambridge, UK.
As if that isn’t enough to scare your typical learner away, imagine that you’d never learned to read or write in your own language.
That is exactly the situation facing a portion of the students in ESL classes throughout the US, and a class in Kansas City Missouri is described in Programs focus on illiterate immigrants.
Date: December 21st, 2007 |
3 comments
Best Hostels Site At Bootsnall.com
The TEFL Logue is part of the Bootsnall Travel Network, which means on occasion I am in a place to offer readers the lowdown on relevant deals relevant: airline ticket specials, travel insurance, and contests. Most recently Bootsnall has asked me to tell you about their latest update to the hostels section.
Let’s be honest: most of us in EFL are richer for the experience but not richer in the pocketbook. Who wouldn’t love five-star hotels all the time? Sometimes though you make sacrifices in order to …
Date: August 31st, 2007 |
No Comments
Cheap Tickets At Bootsnall.com
It’s that time of year when EFL teachers jaunt off to their new exotic location, or return to their previous one from a summer at home or away. If your school year starts in September and you don’t have tickets – get a move on!
Bootsnall, the “parent company” of the TEFL Logue, has some help. See the discount international airfare to find deals to your destination city, or use one of these links to the pages for some common EFL destinations:
Istanbul
Seoul
Prague
Mexico City
Beijing
EFL teachers sometimes find themselves in a situation which your average traveler does not: they may know that they will be coming home for Christmas, but not exactly when. Knowing that a one-way ticket is usually more than half the price of a return, I asked Mika from Bootsnall for some advice. What’s a teacher to do?
Date: August 20th, 2007 |
No Comments
ESL Pundit: Networking Resource For Teachers
ESL Pundit, an ESL blog I enjoy, recently made the transition to a social networking site with the goal of connecting ESL pundits across the world. What makes someone an ESL pundit?, you may ask. “It’s simple. If you are a professional working in the field of ESL/EFL/TESOL/TEFL or related, then you are one of us. Join us, get to know other ESL Pundits and build your network!” You never know – you could end up meeting a teacher online who knows your small suburban hometown! Registration is free.
You can peruse jobs, view a great list of ESL links, and post on message boards with extensive forums for discussion – think “sociolinguistics”, “artificial intelligence in ESL”, “games and activities”, and “Peace Corps and teaching English”. There is also a forum dedicated to TESOL news: one recent article mentioned a language exchange program between Spanish-speaking ESL students and English-speaking Spanish learners in the US.
Date: August 19th, 2007 |
No Comments
