The TEFL Blog

Ever wonder what it's like to teach English in a foreign country? Check out these videos about a day in the life of an English teacher in China, Korea and Thailand.  I know watching these videos really makes me miss teaching in Korea. If you're thinking about going to teach English abroad just, do it. I guarantee it's a decision you'll never regret. https://continuingstudies.uvic.ca/education-learning-and-development/topics/teaching-english-as-a-foreign-language https://www.facebook.com/uvictefl

One of the first rules/polices that new TEFL teachers will have to establish in their classrooms, is whether students can only speak English in class or if they can speak their languages as well. I think it's natural to assume that if students are immersed in an English only environment that this will be beneficial to not only the students' acquisition of the new language, but also for the teacher. But is this really the case? Do students learn better in an English only setting? Is it easier for teachers to teach, when English is the only language spoken in their classrooms? In this blog entry, I'm going to talk about the advantages and disadvantages to an English only classroom, as well as give you some of my own personal opinions on this topic. In the past I had the opportunity to teach in schools that strongly enforced an English only policy and in other schools that were much more relaxed about what languages are spoken in their school. Advantages - An English...

While learning as much as possible about a foreign country that you are about to visit or live in is a great idea, for most of us culture shock is inevitable. For some people, culture shock is part of the reason why they travel. They feel that being immersed in a completely different environment or way of life is an exhilarating experience. Many other people do not feel the same way though. Culture shock can be confusing, annoying and even downright frightening. In my experience, I've actually seen people that were completely unable to deal with their culture shock and fly back to their home country days later. I think I'm kind or a mix or both of these personality types when it comes to dealing with culture shock. I love the feeling of being so out of place in a new place, yet depending on where I am, I can have a good deal of fear. Take for example my last trip to Buenos Aires. I was super pumped to be seeing and experiencing Argentina, but at the same time I was worrie...

Names, Names, Names! Think back...Have you ever been called the wrong name by one of your teachers, co-workers or bosses? Or perhaps these same people continuously mispronounced your name? Now, think about how this made you feel. If you are like me, these very common mistakes can be annoying, disappointing or they can even hurt. When someone cannot remember your name or pronounces it incorrectly (even though you have corrected them in the past) it makes you feel like you are not important to them. When it's a teacher who has these issues, the students psyche can really be damaged, as students need to feel significant and appreciated by their teachers. When teaching abroad in a foreign country this is inevitably a problem that you will face. For me, when I was teaching in Korea, remember students' names and pronouncing them correctly was a real struggle. First of all, to foreigners, Korean names can same very similar. Combine this with the fact, that over 50% of Koreans h...