Author: Stephanie Long

Montessori schools can be found in many parts of the world. During my time in Taiwan, I remember coming across the occasional school with Montessori proudly displayed on its sign. Toward the end of my four years of teaching ESL, at a time when I was feeling somewhat frustrated with the typical education system that focused entirely on desk work and test scores, my curiosity about Montessori was piqued.

Delivering inspirational lessons is what a teacher should always strive to achieve. Being a teacher is about more than just giving lessons, enforcing rules, and grading tests. It’s also about being an example, a role model, and an inspiration.

Beating teacher burnout is tough, anyone who’s taught ESL for long enough has been there: You started out strong. You loved it and walked into class every day with a bounce in your step and joy in your heart. And then somewhere along the way, you found yourself losing that enthusiasm.

It’s time for some classroom management 101. Alright, so you’re just starting out and want to get a good handle on essential classroom management techniques before you jump into the classroom. Or maybe you’ve been teaching for a few months and have a class that’s just gotten a little out of hand and you need to go back to basics to reign them in.

Teaching Abroad! You know you want to do it. You know it’s something that you’ll regret not doing for the rest of your life, and you know the longer you put it off, the less likely it becomes that you’ll actually make it happen.

I hear it often from teachers. “He’s just a bad student,” or “That child is just a troublemaker.” As though it’s an integral, unchangeable part of his or her personality, actually, there is never a bad student.

Why teach abroad you may ask? There are many reasons why you should teach abroad, you know it sounds like an awesome, life-changing adventure. But sometimes we get cold feet. Sometimes we spend a lot of time sitting on the fence weighing the pros and cons of something.

Creativity in class is a tricky thing. You can’t simply tell your students to be more creative, or to come up with a new idea. The harder you push someone to be creative, the more likely they are to shut down and resort to familiar and safe thoughts.