TEFL blog - July, 2006

Our latest article is about using pop songs to improve listening comprehension skills. As music pervades virtually every part of our life, why not use it in our teaching, Larry Lynch suggests. If you have a song that you like to use for a particular language point, or for listening comprehension in general, and want to suggest it to other teachers, you can post a comment on the article.

This week, there are new TEFL job opportunities in Spain, Japan, Sudan, Poland, Italy, Taiwan, Venezuela, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia and more. Here’s a selection:

Santis Educational Services in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia are offering a competitive salary and fully furnished accommodation close to the school to teach adults and children.

Yasar University in Izmir, Turkey, are looking for qualified and experienced native speaker teachers for the 2006-2007 academic year.

Have a good week in TEFL!

Profi-Lingua are looking for full time teachers to teach in locations all over Poland from October 2006. They have classes from Beginner to Proficiency level, with a maximum of 15 students per class. They place a heavy emphasis on speaking and conversational ability, and prepare students for external exams.

Profi-Lingua are offering 2-3 weeks of winter holidays in addition to national and religious holidays. Among the facilities availale at the school are library, audio and video facilities, and free internet access.

If you are interested in these positions, have a look at the full job details here.

Here’s a job with a difference… HELP Language Association need a qualified TEFL teacher for Young Learners. The job entails working in state schools in the mornings, on projects to help with spoken English, followed by work at HELP in the afternoons, with a multi-activity approach.

HELP says that Drama or Theatre experience would be a plus but is not essential. If this sounds like you, have a look at the full job details.

You can apply for this job and others by sending your resume directly through eslbase. Just click on the “Send your resume” link in the advertisement.

New Century Study have one position remaining for a teacher in their new, state-of-the-art language school in Khartoum. The school offers British English tuition, so they are primarily looking for British, TEFL-certified teachers.

Among other benefits, they offer paid accommodation, hearlthcare, return airfare and an end-of-contract bonus.

If this sounds like you, have a look at the job details quickly to get that final place!

This week on eslbase, there are new job opportunities in Europe (Slovakia, Spain and Serbia and Montenegro), Asia (Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan and China), the Middle East (Syria) and Central and South America (Ecuador, Panama and Nicaragua).

Here’s a selection…

Communicatos, a small English school in the Galapagos Islands, is looking for volunteers and day care directors… Peppy Kids Club, a network of English conversation schools in Japan is looking for children’s instructors… and the Nightingale School of English in Novi Becej, Serbia and Montenegro, needs experienced and qualified teachers to start in September.

If teaching in India interests you, we’ve just added a list of English language schools in India to our “Language schools” section – you’ll find links to the websites of schools from Andhra Pradesh to New Delhi to Uttaranchal!

Finally today, here are a couple of the latest questions from the teaching forums…

In the eslbase lounge, Uncle Joe says:
“I’m thinking about doing a TEFL course, and was wondering what motivated you to do it. Any info/advice would be great.”

In Training and courses, kelsnichole asks:
“I know we’ve all agreed that CELTA and CertTOSEL certificates are the “only” degrees to have if you’re going to teach abroad. But what about for us “poor folk” that cant afford those schools? I cant take 4 weeks off work, pay for housing and food, and 2-3K for another school. What are my options?”

If you can answer these questions, or if you have one of your own, pay a visit to the forum.

That’s all, have a good week in TEFL!

Here’s a totally different opportunity to our last post – an opportunity for Corporate Language Trainers in various locations in China, with EF.

They are looking for full and part time Corporare Trainers with at least one year of experience and a CELTA qualification or equivalent.

Vacancies are also available for Senior Corporate Accounts Trainers, with duties including providing support and guidance for trainers, scheduling, inducting new trainers and administering tests. For these postions you will need at least two years of experience.

To apply for these positions, have a look at the full job details here.

If you think teaching in China could be for you, but need to know more about living and working there, why not have a look at our teachers’ advice for China or ask a question in our forum.

If you want to work in one of the world’s most diverse and beautiful countries, and enjoy working with children, Sekolah Djuwita are looking for elementary school teachers for three of their centres in Indonesia. The contract is from 1 August 2006 until 30 June 2007. They are offering a salary of 10 million Rupiah (about USD $1100), one month paid holiday and a host of other benefits. You can see full details of this opportunity here.

For this and all the other TEFL jobs available on eslbase, did you know that you can send your resume automatically with one click? Just register and follow the links to add your resume. In each job advert, you’ll see a link to “send your resume through eslbase”.

If you already work with children and need some fresh ideas, why not have a look at this “Teaching ESL to Children” article.

Good luck with your job search!

As teachers, we know that teaching grammar can be challenging, and finding new ways to present or practise a language point is not always easy. A few weeks ago we published an article on the site entitled Three Fun Ideas for Teaching Grammar, which gave some fresh approaches and sparked some lively discussion.

Rarely, though, does something as unique and fun as GrammarMan, this week’s site review, come along. GrammarMan is the fantastically inventive creation of Brian Boyd, an English teacher in Thailand.

Brian has created a new superhero whose job it is to defend Verbo City from the enemies of grammar. You can follow his adventures in the GrammarMan comic as he and his helpers battle baddies such as Uncle Uncountable and the Article Ants and solve grammar crime.

The GrammarMan comic allows students to practise and consolidate grammar in a unique and interactive way. If you’re looking for something different for kids and adults alike, something new for homework or for a project, then have a look at this very high quality and well thought out site.

The GrammarMan site not only features all the latest adventures of the superhero in his comic, but also some extra resources like maze games, GrammarMan clipart, film quizzes, reading resources and a webquest, which could be an ongoing project for a young learners class.

You can visit GrammarMan here, and feel free to post a comment below…

This week on eslbase are some tips for teaching children from George and Daisy Stocker. They point out the common mistake of treating children like short adults, and give 7 pieces of advice for approaching kids classes.

If you like to contact schools directly in search of jobs, we’ve just added the latest country to our schools lists, New Zealand.

There are new jobs this week in China, Indonesia, Mexico, Slovakia, Costa Rica, Germany, Honduras and more. Greenwich School in Warsaw, Poland, is urgently looking for teachers to start in October, and Tristar Technical Training Services is looking for teachers for a contract to improve the English of Petroleum Company employees in Deir Ezzor, Syria. Or if you prefer to teach children, Mobica is looking for a resident tutor for the 8 year old grandson of one of Egypt’s most prominent and renowned businessmen.

We’re also launching the ESL site review on the blog. Every couple of weeks, we’ll take a look at a new ESL site. If you’d like your site reviewed, just drop us an email.