Blogs

TEFL Course News

April 2020

How are Thailand's leading training providers delivering courses at this present time?

You might have to switch to doing your teacher training course completely online, but fear not, these training providers will get the job done!

Richard Constable

If it is not now, it is to come

Whatever happens, I taught them my way

I would like you to abide with me and join in, on this first day of April. As in the manner of the late great American entertainer Albert Francis Sinatra, and vocalize My Way.

Richard McCully

I’ve seen a few passive-aggressive tweets recently where restaurants are trying to 'guilt' people into ordering from them. “We’ve got rent to pay” “Our 500 baht dishes aren’t expensive – you can afford it” “Don’t order from the big companies”, etc.

James Humphries

Tips for the newbie teacher

Keep these points in mind and you'll cope far better

Don't get stressed by the job. Remember that you are merely the latest in a long line of farang teachers who have come and gone. There isn't enough time to make any real progress with students' English so just try and make it fun for them.

Sam Thompson

The importance of a positive learning environment

It helps to think back to my own past school experiences.

Call me an idealist, but each time I see a teacher whose negativity and/or negative reinforcement tactics are obvious, the Pink Floyd music video plays in my mind. “Hey! Teacher! Leave those kids alone…”

Phil Roeland

How to motivate students

Keys to improving language learning

Motivation can either be internal or external. Students who are internally motivated usually learn English because they want to, because they enjoy learning or because they want to achieve a certain goal, not because they have to. Examples of personal goals could be pursuing a promotion at work or planning to enrol in a foreign university’s graduate programme.

Parin Hemtanon

How to gain teaching experience when you have none

Could lack of experience be the reason why schools aren't replying to your job applications?

When I realised that I was an inexperienced teacher, I decided to create my own life-changing “teacher training program”. These are things I did to pack my resume with relevant teaching skills and experience, which I believe helped secure my first teaching job.

Stop that noise!

Walter van der Wal

Does insurance cover the COVID-19 coronavirus?

Are you covered by your health or travel insurance provider?

Since we first heard about the outbreak, the number of inquiries we receive from both insured and uninsured people has gone up like crazy. People all over the world are in a state of panic and, with the growing number of cases and affected areas, that doesn’t seem to be going away just yet.

Diary of a Thai football season

2020 season fixtures

How will Samut Prakan fare in their second season as a Thai Premier League club?

Thirty Thai Premier League games plus FA Cup and League Cup.

More Diary of a Thai football season articles

Bangkok Phil

Up in the air (or not, as the case may be)

The stress of wrecked travel plans

If it were completely up to me, we would still be going. Cancelling at this late stage would be out of the question. When it comes to travel, I've always been a risk-taker with a foolish measure of bugger-the-consequences thrown in.

Nick Tarver

The pee, the nong and the wai

Aspects of Thai culture

Although ajarn.com has never shirked from handing out some just criticism on Thai education and culture I felt it was only fair to balance worthy criticism with worthy praise.

What hope for a superficial education system?

Stephen Louw

Writing on the board

Where do you stand as a teacher?

Classroom management problems are more likely when a teacher is not keeping an eye on the class, so turning your back to the students is not a good idea. Teachers do that when they write on the board.

David Walters

Do bilingual children out-perform their monolingual peers?

What do research studies show?

Giving a child the chance to learn multiple languages from an early age is one of the most amazing gifts a parent can give. Being bilingual opens up so many more doors in life.

Steve Schertzer

My friend Moishe the Beadle

Keeping silent in the dead of night

In discussing, or attempting to discuss, the outbreak of the coronavirus with friends, I am receiving responses that seem to be amiss and awry.

Kink Bundy

My experiences of working in a college in Bangkok (part 7)

Poor facilities and poor student attendance make teaching difficult.

Many of the students had taken out loans to come to this school. The loans could often be too much for their families to repay and they’d need to drop out for financial reasons, and end up leaving the school with no degree and a staggering pile of debt that their families would struggle to repay.

Charles Green

The teacher mindset

English teachers are all business owners

In Thailand, I have found that people quickly get labeled and categorized as either good or bad, helpful or unhelpful, good teachers or bad teachers, etc. Then once you are labeled it is a long and difficult process of changing your projected image.

Karisa Blake

Confessions of a new teacher

What I learned in the first five months

I'm Karisa and I couldn't be more of a cliché: a blonde, American, recent college grad who decided to go teach in a foreign country! Don't be too impressed with me; I'm hardly unique in this expedition to teach English abroad.

Phil Hall

Different teachers, different styles

Sometimes showing the students tough love doesn't work.

My teaching colleague was just a bully who could only intimidate the younger students. ‘Find something unique that the kids are interested in, then you will be halfway there’ was some of the best advice I ever got.

Adam Crittenden

Tips for first year teachers in Thailand

How to maximize your teaching enjoyment!

Successful good quality teaching is never a "walk in the park." As you prepare to teach in Thailand really try to focus on being there for the students.

Megan Swanick

Grammar vs speech

Differing techniques inside the classroom

In my experience, students recite a grammar rule or know the rule or learn the rule and maybe even vaguely understand the rule, but then you ask them a basic question and they don't understand.

Jessica Watson

Dealing with the troublemakers

Discipline: tips on control in the classroom

Troublemakers. We have all seen them do their thing, causing mayhem and disorder in the classroom; perhaps you were even one yourself at some point during your time as a student. Troublemakers are the bane of every teacher's existence and they make our job go from difficult to pounding headache and hair-tearing proportions.

John Wilson

Can you start on Monday?

What lies behind that oft-heard request?

This request often means the organisation you are joining is less than adept at hiring procedures and is pressed for time. The ‘power-dressing princess’ delegated to find new recruits may have had little aptitude for the practicalities of recruitment.

Dr. A.E Schneider

Things I learned about recommending students for graduate and professional school

Ways to truly support students’ path forward

Once applicants have accurately assessed their skill set, standing out amongst the crowd of outstanding applicants is surprisingly straightforward and achievable with enough hard work and preparation.

More Dr. A.E Schneider articles

Jocelyn Pollak

Three fun warm-up activities

Games designed to get students focused on using English and getting comfortable with their classmates.

Have fun with these games and consider joining in with your students! Great EFL warm-up activities really set the tone for a great class. Enjoy!

Rachel Diamond

Finding a job in Thailand - the basics

From one newbie to another

If you're considering coming to Thailand on your own to find work as an English teacher, I promise you can do it.

Ben Bartee

Stumbling blocks

What I didn’t learn in my 100-hour online ESL course

I can see my skin through my dress shirt because the thin layer of fine linen is totally soaked through. In short, it’s too hot to care about anything academic.

Lee Lepper

An amazing TEFL journey

From Saudi to Thailand to China (and a bit of America in-between)

China is definitely on the upswing as far as English teaching goes. Thailand is a place I love but professionally dead to me. Saudi was challenging, interesting and of course lucrative.

Mark Newman

Investing in people or rolling out policies?

Let's evaluate what happens here in Thailand as something we can learn from rather than condemn.

I firmly believe that we can look at Thailand and learn a lot about how we prepare our kids to enter society and live rewarding lives with the resources they have and priorities they live by.

John V

Excuse me, haven’t we met before?

A satirical look at TEFL personality types

If you’re just an average teacher struggling along in a sea of two legged sharks trying to do your best give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back, because you sir or madam are gold dust.