Help urgently required

Postbox letter from Jojo Tiger

I'm a teacher at the end of my tether with the situation I currently find myself in.

Things I'd do differently

How am I going to get the best out of my students next term?

It's the last week of school, and I find myself thinking of ways to conduct my classes better than I have during this term. It's not that I think I've done a poor job, but I know there's always room for improvement. Besides, I'd hate to get bored; a bored teacher equals bored students. Bored students don't learn.

The death of General English

And if it isn't dead, it damn well should be

Students study English with local teachers or native English speakers (NES), or both, but what they're ultimately looking at is a textbook, many of which were never published with Asian markets in mind.

Thai education shambles

Postbox letter from Ajarn Jim

Outside of MEP and EP programs, why are government schools fixated on NES teachers doing so much conversation? From what I understand, the English section of the university exams covers reading, comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar.

This is an English-speaking only zone

Reflections from teaching in an English-only international school

Six weeks ago I started a new teaching job in Myanmar at an international school. The job and the school have surpassed my expectations and one of the most impressive things is that I can use complete sentences in the classroom and give directions in English and the students not only understand, but they respond with great English.

Student mistakes

Thoughts on error correction

As teachers, do we sometimes get too caught up in finding and punishing mistakes? Can more focus on creating quality work as opposed to avoiding errors improve the learning process?

The enemy within

The evil side of the TEFL industry

It is a complicity of silence that sees many foreign teachers working hand-in-glove with a Thai administration that cares only about money and maintaining an educational system mired in cultural backwardness and social repression.

Student failings and blame

Postbox letter from Phetpeter

My stuggle is always the time I have to spend with each class and find my English only lessons are undermined by other imported teachers who will use more Thai in class then English when the previous year I taught them using English only

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