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March 2009 ESL Newsletter

Hello everyone!

Welcome to another month in Asia! We hope that you are enjoying yourself and that you are finding fun things to do in and outside the classroom. The weather has certainly been warm and pleasant lately making it a great time to get out and enjoy the outdoors before the heat of summer really kicks in!

We have some fun events planned this month so stay tuned for future emails about exciting events with Reach To Teach!

The Reach To Teach Team

Reach To Teach Events

Reach To Teach Events - Speed Dating ESL Abroad Speed Dating Event!

In case you missed it, this past February we had three exciting events in Taiwan and South Korea! Monthly events in Korea is new and something that we are very excited to continue. We started things off earlier in the month with the Taiwan Lantern Festival and we were proud to see many of our teachers participate. This was a very unique event that everyone involved really enjoyed! Check out our website to see some great photos from this event.

Also in Taiwan, Reach To Teach co-sponsored with Language Café a Valentine's speed dating event! Yes yes, it may sound a little corny, but everyone had a great time and who knows, a number of you might have found love (Mike!). Who would have thought that during your year abroad you would have such unique opportunities to have this much fun! More photos from this event can also be seen on our website here.

Reach To Teach was also proud to host our first monthly event in South Korea! We know many of our teachers there have been wanting this for some time. This event was held at the Wolfhound Bar & Grill and we were happy to see such a great turnout! We are definitely looking forward to having more events in South Korea with such great teachers.

Reach To Teach has more exciting events planned soon. Look out for our emails in the coming week.

Blog Spot from Andrew Putt

Andrew Putt - WhatIsPuttDoing.com - Teaching English in Taiwan Andrew Putt

Straight from the mouth of Andrew Putt, an English teacher and avid blog writer who is entering his 7th month here in Taiwan. You can read more about Andrew and his adventures in Taiwan at www.whatisputtdoing.com

Kindergarten was certainly an interesting time. I suppose I really don't even remember much from my kindergarten years and even my new class of four and five year old kids isn't really jogging much memory. I imagine, if I haven't changed too much, that I was most likely just as much a pain in the ass in my kindy years as I think I might be now. But the more I search for some long purged memories of the beginnings of my lifelong pursuit of knowledge the more I start to feel embarrassed because I see how random and inexplicable kindergartner's actions can be.

Let's start with Katrina. Katrina is a nice girl who is only five years old and already has a prettiness about her that will surely get her attention throughout her life. (I have come to suspect that her mother may even give her slight applications of makeup before she comes to class. This could be the reason for her habitual tardiness.) Katrina doesn't have that "go get 'em" attitude that is shocking to see in some of the other young overachievers in the class. Katrina prefers the pursuit of boys. Where others in the class crave knowledge or desire to have every moment of every class be set to some sort of jumpy Disneyesque song and dance; Katrina simply wants all the attention from the boys who hardly know how to pull their pants up past their bare little asses after peeing without falling over, let alone how to respond to the flippant behavior of a tiny member of the opposite sex, of whom they also don't quite understand. Nothing excites Katrina more than being hugged or receiving interest from her fellow male classmates.

Today Katrina asked me if she could go to the bathroom to which I curtly replied, "no, we are having class!" (I think the strict Asian educational standards are subtly becoming a part of my general teaching philosophy.) Katrina was fine until about a minute later when I saw her head bouncing around past the shelves separating the seating areas of the classroom. I stopped class again to ask "Katrina, what are you doing?" Katrina's answer was nothing verbal but simply the action of slowly and cautiously raising her arm to reveal a pair of recently doo doo stained panties. My reaction would most likely be categorized as profound and utter horror. Katrina thought that as the teacher I might want her newly manufactured A-bomb but she was quite ill-informed as I wanted nothing to do with her little "death present." Of course none of the little children saw anything wrong with Katrina walking around wearing nothing below her waist, and it was only I who was growing pale and terrified as this horrendous nightmare was quickly becoming more of a reality.

Continue reading at www.whatisputtdoing.com

Calling All Bloggers!

ESL Teacher Bloggers Needed! Submit your Blog to Reach To Teach!

Do you have a blog and an insatiable desire to share your exciting experiences teaching abroad? If so, we would like to hear from you! We are looking for the best blog entries from our teachers about their life in Asia. At the end of the month we will pick our favorite and feature it and you in our newsletter next month!

Please submit all entries to Andrew@ReachToTeachRecruiting.com Please also include a link to your blog and a fun photo of yourself!

Interested in attracting more visitors to your blog?

Contact us and set up a link exchange with Reach To Teach. You might not now, but links act as a virtual currency on the world wide web, and the more websites that link to your site the higher your page ranking will be on Google and Yahoo searchers. Please contact Andrew@ReachToTeachRecruiting.com if you are interested in setting up a link exchange with us.

Blogging is a great way to share your own life's experiences while you are traveling abroad. Share your funny moments and unique stories with readers from all over the world. Encourage your friends back home to take up the call and join you in your adventures abroad. Starting a blog is easy and can be done free of charge at one of these great websites below.

Wordpress.com
Blogger.com
Travelblog.org

Be sure that after you start your blog that you contact us and submit your first entry to our blog contest!

Teaching Tip

Learning English is like learning to ride a bike - you might fall off a lot, but if you don't get back up and try again you will never learn. As an English teacher you have no doubt found that many of your students make daily mistakes that might frustrate you to no-end but they are still able to communicate effectively in the end. Mistakes are good things and students need to know that they are.

When a student makes a mistake it is usually counter-productive to say "No!"/"That's wrong!"/"Are you serious?"/"How long did you say you've been studying English?" etc. It's often kinder to say "Not bad"/"Nearly"/"Good try" or "That's an interesting mistake."

Some say that you shouldn't laugh at students' mistakes but I often do. They're often very funny so why shouldn't I? I find it breaks the "mistakes taboo" and makes linguistic risks and disasters an acceptable part of the classroom culture. Students catch on very quickly and we have a good giggle together when someone messes up.

The ability to correct themselves when they make a mistake is an important one for students to develop. Encourage it and give them time to correct themselves - don't jump in immediately to correct them, keen though you are to prove that you are doing your job. Most students (and indeed some teachers) seem to think that it is the teacher's job to correct students mistakes but this is not necessarily so. Yes, teachers can correct their students endlessly but how will that help the students' when they go out into the big wide world - who will be there to correct them then?

It's much better for the students if they get into the habit of listening to themselves when they are speaking and correct themselves as they go along. Obviously they won't be able to correct all the mistakes they make but they will be able to correct a lot of them.

Enjoy!

Tastes of Taipei

Grandma Nitty's Kitchen, Taipei - Teaching English Abroad Grandma Nitty's Kitchen

Grandma Nitty's Kitchen is a well established restaurant in the heart of Shida. Offering a healthy variety of Western cuisine, Nitty's covers three-stories and comes complete with a comfortable rooftop terrace. The restaurant has a long history with the expatriate community, originating as a small shop near the National Taiwan University. The owner, Rainbow, later moved it to it's current larger premise, which features a stylish interior and attracts crowds of expatriates, students and young professionals. The menu serves all-day breakfast, Mexican selections, sandwiches, pastas and a variety of other Western dishes. Especially popular is the brunch served each Sunday.

A main course dish will set you back $NT200-250.

Of further note, the restaurant also serves as a used bookstore. The collection is not large but you are more than welcome to browse and enjoy a book on a rainy afternoon with your coffee.

Address: Number 8, Lane 93, Shi Da Road
Phone: (02) 2369 9751
Open Hours: 9a-11p M-F, 10a-11p Sa-Su

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