Teacher mistakes

Avoid falling into any of these teacher traps

Ajarn has put together a list of the most common mistakes that teachers make in Thailand - both new arrivals and those who have been here a while.

Clock, peanut and frog

The problematic pronunciation of many Thais

I try to have as much empathy for my students as I possibly can and I am becoming rather good at understanding the unintelligible. However, there are limits to everything and I am not a mind-reader. If a person says for example /sa-pye/, I know he or she means “Spy” (the wine-cooler or James Bond, doesn’t matter). But if someone says “kye”, I don’t automatically think of cry.

10 go-to games for young learners' classes

Your kids will love them!

With a repertoire of 'fun' activities that are easily executed, new teachers can more easily build a working relationship with their classes. These games are not just a matter of filling time; they help re-engage a distracted class, they recycle vocabulary, get students using the language.

Trump gives himself a 10

The subtle art of self-evaluation

Not a lot of teachers I know use self-evaluation, and perhaps for good reason. There's a worry that students aren't qualified to self-evaluate, that it's the teacher's job (and duty) to allocate and distribute scores in some objective way.

Tin Tin in the classroom

The success and failure of eliciting

Questions form a crucial part of a successful lesson: they increase student participation and involvement, give the teacher valuable information about what the students already know, help to focus students' attention, and improve the teacher-student relationship.

Learner autonomy

Encouraging learners to be more responsible for their own progress

There are various ways to speed up the learning of a language. First of all, students should try to develop the habit of using the language they’ve learnt in the classroom outside the classroom.

In defence of the edutainers

A young teacher's perspective on teaching in Thailand

Most of the English teachers in Thailand seem to be slightly older so it’s understandable that they would view energy, positive reinforcement and affability in the EFL classroom with disdain and denial.

Language through Art (part two)

Strategies for teaching English using art

For a change, try art, music, and sports, as lessons to teach English. Wonder of wonders, students will welcome it for it will spice up their taste for words and they will love learning English more.

Tips from the trenches

Tips to help a new teacher get through that very first day of class

Worried about that first day of class? The following compilation of articles might offer some insight into how to approach your students for the first time, regardless of their age, numbers and gender.

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.