Blog

Listening: the most important skill for teachers

We’re always encouraging our learners to listen for a purpose. But, how often is it that we focus on our own listening skills as teachers rather than maintaining that ‘instructional teacher mode’ and ‘tune in to the language and errors?’ Nothing’s wrong with identifying errors; it’s an essential part of our role as TESOL teachers, either in the physical classroom or the online classroom. But do we listen in the right way? According to Jim Scrivener, there are three different… All categories, Teaching skills, ESL activities

The Key Ingredients to Successful Online Learning

The challenges we've faced in 2020 have led to an incredible surge in online teaching and learning. For many of us, learning online is a new (and possibly intimidating) prospect that can leave us unsure about how to get started. Through my own process of trial and error as an online CertTESOL teacher trainer, I've come up with the following list of tips to support you in your online studies (feel free to add cupcakes to the list if needed). Set goals As with any course of… All categories, Certificate courses, ESL activities

From Covidiot to Infodemic: Coronavirus lexicon explained

Social change has a tendency to bring about language change, either through need or prestige. Social conditions might dictate the speed at which change takes place, but language adapts to reflect changes in society and allows accommodation of new ideas. The current times are no exception and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) points out: ‘It is a rare experience for lexicographers to observe an exponential rise in usage of a single word in a very short period of time, and for that word to… All categories, Theme based learning

When students say, we’ve done this before… Perfect!

How often have you heard a learner say, ‘I know this’ or ‘we’ve done it before’? I can sometimes raise a smile when a learner says it, but when a teacher says, ‘they know that’ or ‘they’ve done that’, I can only stop and ask myself, ‘do they?’ or ‘have they?’ When learners and teachers say they ‘know it’ or have ‘done it?’ They likely mean they’ve come across it before in some way, the same context, in a restaurant maybe …, similar type of lesson focus … listening … and OMG they’ve seen… All categories, ESL activities, Teaching skills

Does a TESOL certificate actually help in the real world?

What’s the point? How is this going to help me with a class of kids who won’t talk or don’t want to learn? Why should I do this? How is this related to real teaching? These are just a selection of questions people have raised about aspects of the Trinity Cert TESOL, either commenting on blogs or during information sessions. It’s not unreasonable as these questions are likely to come about through an absence of knowledge of and appreciation of the rationale and application of what is taught and… All categories, Certificate courses, Careers in TESOL

From side-hustle to career: start teaching English in 2020

When I graduated from university and took on a 10-month teaching contract at a college in Guangzhou back in 2009, I never thought that teaching English would turn into a long-term career path for me. I originally planned to spend a year teaching abroad to gain work and life experience, as well as use the time to figure out what I wanted to do. What’s more, I had never considered teaching English to speakers of other languages (also known as TESOL or TEFL) as a field that I would be… All categories, Careers in TESOL, Certificate courses

Breaking the Myths of Online Learning

Despite becoming more and more popular in recent years, there is still a certain stigma attached to online learning. Even in this digital age; the idea that face to face learning is somehow superior to e-learning is a commonly held view. “I much prefer being in a real classroom with other students and a real teacher” is something I’ve heard many people say. The idea that the other students and the teacher are somehow not “real”, seems almost farcical in today’s society, where online social… All categories, Careers in TESOL, Teaching skills

Using Drama in the ESL classroom: drama without the drama

Our students live in two worlds; the world inside classroom with its hard desks, rows of chairs and the backs of people’s heads, and the world outside; full of new things to see, touch, smell, taste and feel. Drama connects these two worlds and can breathe life into our English lessons.  Developing students’ awareness of this and their English doesn’t require magic; you just need to give them a reason to start speaking. Among other things when students are emotionally engaged, their … All categories

The cheapest English lessons in Hong Kong for adults

Who we are? English for Asia is a teacher training centre, where people come to learn how to be English Teachers. All the courses are at our centrally located office in Sheung Wan, 2 minutes’ walk from the MTR. What we do Every month, we offer 20 - 30 hours of assessed teaching practice for our trainee teachers, who all need to have native English level fluency to enroll. Each of these trainee teachers need to teach 6 hours of classes in one month and all these lessons are assessed by… All categories

Answering the questions TESOL teachers fear most

‘We never follow maps to buried treasure and X never, ever marks the spot’, according to Indiana Jones. If you’ve ever wanted to be an Indiana jones type but thought it’s only some Hollywood fantasy and I’m only an English teacher, think again. We can all be language archaeologists and perhaps we should be; it might answer some of those seemingly impossible to answers to questions many TEFL/TESOL teachers fear being asked. History can offer some interesting explanations to… All categories, Teaching skills

Hooked on context: the essential element for developing reading skills

Receptive skills are the means by which we interpret written and spoken language. Reading is one of the ways we do this. In order for learners of English to be able to understand simple written texts (short sentences, short articles, newspaper headlines, etc.) or longer texts, complex thinking processes need to be developed and practiced. Students need to activate their existing knowledge of the language and the concepts that are described in the text. But…why do people, learners in… All categories, Teaching skills

Christmas Quiz: 11 words that time has almost forgotten

It's that time of the year again when I take a delve into the words of Christmas. It might be nerdy but it is Christmas and I like it … I thought I might take a look at some of the more obscure and perhaps forgotten words that might find their way into your Christmas teaching repertoire for good or bad or one of those games that some of you might play at school or at home. We’ve got the propine and like the other yuleshards possibly bought the toe-covers. No… All categories, ESL activities