Tag: ESL classroom

I have asked a handful of ESL teachers why they wanted to be an ESL teacher and many locals ask the teachers why they decided to do so as well. The answers vary, some very practical, some spiritual, some wanderlust– a common thread tends to tie them together.

As teachers, all of us bring something of ourselves to the classroom, which comes from our socio-economic, cultural, education, and familial backgrounds. These experiences that we bring can create amazingly positive effects in the classroom and can, at times, create tension as well. In this article, I will detail a couple of the cultural differences between Western teaching styles and styles I have seen in Taiwan.

When we were babies we learned through the constant exposure to language and environment. How many times do you think our parents said “mama” or “daddy” to us before we finally said something? Just because our students are older than babies doesn’t mean the same principles don’t apply. Teaching in an immersion environment is actually proven to be the MOST effective means of language education.

The easiest way to understand your students’ lives a little better and get some insight into things they might be struggling with, is to meet and communicate with their parents. Communicating with parents can be intimidating, especially the parents of students that you consider to be difficult.

Learning any language is hard! Transitions and translations between two languages can be particularly rocky– especially with Chinese and English. I’ve heard a couple of mistakes repeated by my students that have given me clues about what the translation sounds like in Chinese.

Holidays are a great way to break out of the normal classroom routine, grab your students’ interest, and introduce some culture to the ESL classroom. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s a great time to think about ways to incorporate this fun and meaningful holiday into your classroom.

Did you go from a bustling corporation to a teaching gig overseas? Are you planning on going into a corporation after your adventure? Though it might not seem like it, teaching can have a lot of similarities with working for a big business. Here are just some of the similarities that, as a current overseas teacher, I have noticed.

Yup, it’s a pain in the butt for everyone. Regular and irregular verbs, past tense, past participle and past conditional…it’s confusing even for native speakers. When it comes time to learn or review verb tenses, you’ll want to find as many ways as you can to make it fun and intuitive.