Enhancing understanding
Getting students to enjoy using dictionaries in class
Understanding is one of the keys in making a lesson interesting. Students stay tuned to the repertoire of activities presented, deepen their liking for the subject, and look forward to more English encounters.
On teaching classroom language
Getting students to use simple English all the time
Whenever confronted with students who speak Thai in class, I considered it an opportune moment to teach them the right structures.
Who gets the call when their arms are raised?
Which student gets the teacher's questions and why?
Here are the different groups of students within a typical class. They are quite distinctive and there's not really much of a gray area between them.
Individualized instruction
How to 'reward' students who finish work on time
If I have the opportunity to individualize my teaching, I do it. I will call one student to my seat, check his/her work, make the student change his/her answer when it is wrong, and receive extra work or reward.
Death by worksheet
How worksheets can spice up any lesson
My favourite kinds of worksheets are conversation worksheets, pair and group work, creative writing worksheets, vocabulary worksheets, and ESL board games. The right mix of these makes communication possible, keeps students' attention going and puts some fun into learning.
The ajarn.com quiz
Have you got what it takes to be a teacher in Thailand?
Why should women's magazines have all the fun? Try our ten questions and find out if you're cut out to be a teacher in Thailand.
Making your mark
How to 'get along' with your school
We have discussed the lead up to the job, so now let’s talk a bit about what a teacher can do at work to merit a passing grade or better with his or her students, colleagues and the administration
Classroom management experiences
Experiences from both Thailand and China.
The Thai teachers at my school, especially the veterans, are uncomfortable with the excitement and commotion during the lessons by the foreign teachers. They view it as an inability to control our students.
Too many games!
Beware of turning your class into gameaholics
"I'm really starting to take a dislike to this class," my colleague complained in the teachers' room. "All they want to do is play games, and it's not even like they're a bunch of kids.
Advantages of team teaching
Working with a co-teacher who becomes a valuable assistant
When I taught with my partner, the Thai teacher would translate everything I would say. When I modeled all the oral activities, the Thai teacher would explain. But the flow of the lesson was in the hands of the Thai teacher.
