A New Year In The Blogosphere: TEFL On The Web News

  • EFL Geek recently shared his first article for the Korean Herald – on Konglish. Read the article for an explanation of Konglish and some examples.

    I was ready to say that the countries I’ve worked in really don’t have anything like this … but as I came up with examples of common mistakes, I realized: they do! I have to say they don’t sound as innovative as the Konglish examples, but I think they are similar anyhow.

    Some are even the same in different Slavic-language speaking countries, and at times I’ve caught myself using a little “Binglish”.

    One example is that there are a bunch of words in Slavic languages for “student”, depending on the level. This means that if you ask a fifteen year old if he is a student, he may say no. Also on the theme of school, it’s common to hear “faculty” to refer to a department or school in a university – the law faculty, the faculty of philosophy – which will definitely confuse at least US English speakers. And finally, one of my favorites: “manifestation” instead of event. “In August there are a lot of cultural manifestations.”

    Head back over to EFL Geek for the .pdf of a nice activity to raise student awareness about this phenomenon.

  • Need a perfect TEFL CV and cover letter? TEFLtastic has some tips for putting yourself above the TEFL riffraff.
  • Tesall.com is back in action after a small holiday hiatus. The Top 10 lists are well worth a spin, if I don’t say so myself!
  • Gdog of the Daily Kimchi is back home in Canada and busy with a new job. He recently received a compliment of “You’re more Korean than me” from a Korean student in Canada. I have to say I can relate at least somewhat to the satisfaction this brings – after a period in other countries in the region, I returned to Sarajevo to chow down on no less than three kinds of Bosnian pie in one day. [They may call it by a similar name elsewhere, but Bosnian pita has no equal]. “That’s how you know you’re becoming Bosnian!” said my supervisor.
  • A Foreign Perspective is back in Turkey and back in action with a post on how its English-teaching author has changed over the last few years. I think it’s a good theme for the new year. I remember blogging about my habits that had changed – and let it be said that I do still take off my shoes in the house and avoid television, well, except for a few Law and Order spinoffs. But on a more serious level, I think I’ve become at least somewhat more patient. I have a ways to go, but this is a much-needed development in my life.
  • Larry Ferlazzo continues to blog steadily into the new year, and is getting ready for the next ESL carnival.
  • Remember the ESL Base TEFL trainee diary competition? Time is up and the first-place winner has been announced: Hilal, a CELTA grad in Istanbul. Look out for Hilal’s interview about her CELTA course for the TEFL Logue. The third-place winner – Kate from the UK – also contributed an interview about the Trinity Cert TESOL. [I interviewed the three trainees who had completed blogs at that time.]