A teacher, an old wise man, two punks, and a chicken

Taking responsibility for your teaching

Every once in a while I get frustrated with my students. Yes that’s right; I’m not a perfect teacher. But the person I should get most frustrated with, however, is me.

Handling a 'sanook' class

How to handle a classroom full of badly-behaved children

Success in handling naughty students calls for common sense, creativity and resourcefulness on the part of teachers. Furthermore, a lot of reasons that trigger students’ behavior have to be addressed too, for if they are not, problems will surface

Back in the groove again

Stepping back into a Thai training room after three years away

A two-day seminar on the topic of ‘Executive E-mail Writing' for fifteen participants at one of the world's largest auditing companies. That's what I had been asked to deliver. Despite having plenty of experience, it was still a daunting challenge given the fact I hadn't walked into a training room to conduct a workshop or seminar in almost three years. It was time to put my trainer hat on and get back into the groove.

Playing to the gallery

Successful class-management and learner success is dependant on having fun

We are all familiar with the fact that every class has its own special chemistry. For obscure reasons some classes are friendly, others not; some bright and perky, others lackluster and heavy going.

Some solutions to the challenges of teaching in Thailand

Some ideas on how to make life easier for yourself

Don’t take complaints or awkward suggestions to your local head. Go to them with easy to understand positive solutions instead. And don’t push your case or demand an immediate response.

Games for large unruly classes

Should games always have a pedagogical value? No.

Some of these appear in different versions and with different names on Dave’s ESL Café, but most of those were designed for smaller classes in countries like South Korea and Japan and don’t work very well with larger groups in Southeast Asia.

Writing your own readers

Why not design your own student reading material

Let your textbooks dictate the level and style of language to use and only introduce new vocabulary if it’s cool and/or funny. Students have a nice habit of always remembering these types of words.

Repetition

An argument about what students really need

Most of us are faced with the same challenge: large class sizes. We can’t do anything about this other than work with it.

The 3-4-3 principle and the importance of repetition

Putting students through their paces

Each lesson has four sides. I lift one side. If by the end of the lesson the students know what is under the remaining three sides, I do not repeat the lesson