Tag: Teaching advice

It wasn’t too long ago that I, like many others, trembled at the thought of standing in front of a crowd of strangers. Now I do it for a living. Not only that, but half the time, those strangers are kids.

If there’s one thing that all teachers abroad eventually learn it’s that kids will be kids no matter the country. Most people have this idea that children in Asia are kind, smart, and never, ever cause a lick of trouble. I’ll give you one good guess which of these qualities isn’t always true.

Teaching private lessons is a great way to make some supplemental income, and it’s a lot of fun – but if you’ve mostly taught in a classroom, you’ll find that there’s a big difference when it comes to keeping a one-on-one lesson interesting and engaging – not to mention managing your time and payment.

It’s one thing to talk about establishing clear rules right from the start of class, but it’s another thing to implement them effectively. It’s crucial for classroom management, to have a simple set of rules that you enforce consistently and fairly.

Talk to just about anyone involved in South Korean education, and you quickly learn that the pupils of this rising Asian nation are tired. Not only because of the daily school grind, the fatigue also comes from the invasion of continued academics into what little break they have.

As an ESL teacher, there is a good chance that you’ll find yourself teaching a class of total beginners. This doesn’t just mean that they will struggle with basic sentence patterns or pronunciation – it means that when you step into the classroom and say “Hello, what’s your name?” you’ll be greeted by blank stares and the sound of crickets chirping.

Do your students greet the words “Take out your journals” with a collective, resounding groan? For most students, expressing their ideas on paper is a challenge even in their native language, let alone doing so with creativity, style, and decent grammar. Throw a foreign language into the mix, and writing can seem utterly daunting.

The learning curve for a new ESL teacher can be pretty steep. But don’t get discouraged. Here are five things that every new ESL teacher should know. Master these basic concepts and ideas, and you’ll be well on your way to teaching like a pro and feeling totally comfortable every time you step into the classroom.