Freelance Teacher of English

The good news is that my article about using a ball in an ELT
classroom is published by www.developingteachers.com and
for now you can read it
here and after they archive it, I will try to get another link
to post here.

The bad news was for my business English group in-company.
I prepared a lesson on telephoning and they did not have a
CD player, let alone a laptop, and could not even organize it! I
was shocked. I mean, they knew what the lesson was to be
about, did they expect me to play the CD on my finger?! Next,
it is our second lesson but they did not have any whiteboard
markers again. Talk about quality teaching.

Edited: I also included a few Internet resources linked on the
right side of my blog, where other teachers can find
useful teaching material.

Last week was a busy one. First of all, a coordinator from
Sweden came to talk about the business English groups
that I have for them in Vilnius. She bought the books for
the course and also brought some additional material.
I am really pleasantly surprised how much of
teacher support we get from them. I find it great. We
had time for lunch and a quick tour of Vilnius
highlights. The weather was rainy and windy but
we had a great time.

Next, Develpingteachers accepted my article about
using a ball in teaching English. When I know more,
I will post a link to it.

Yay!

Tomorrow I start my business English group in one
of the leading telecommunications companies in
Lithuania.

It is my first lesson with them. I have got their
needs analysis and their test results. It is our
first meeting, therefore I am very worried. I do not have
the books yet and I do not know the people. I have
2 full hours and 15 minutes for their class. I am
going to make some copies for ‘getting to
know you better’ activities in business context that aim
at fluency and vocabulary. I am also going to make
copies of a chapter from an upper-intermediate
book about ‘job satisfaction’. I am afraid to run out
of activities, so will arm myself with extras from
conversation class.

There it goes…tomorrow. Ne pucha, ne pera.

Today was my first working day this term. I am fully booked
with a few slots daytime on Mondays and Wednesdays. One
group, attending once a week, cancelled lessons until
mid-February because of their job. I am not happy and
I need to think of a replacement. I bought ‘Telephone
English’ and am indulging into it.

I cannot get rid of Joe Dassin’s ‘The guitar don’t lie’
tune in my ears. This song is fantastic! I’ve done
most of my fiction writing with it in the background
(making my characters do crazy stuff, but anyway).

What’s new…Well, there are some good news.
1. I am finally getting a sense of achievement in the BE teaching
course that I will start in the last week of January. I received a
sample contract and the phone call will come on Monday. I really
fancy the way they do business, with all these emails and calls!
2. Yesterday I received that putting off email and thought about
a swift career change but today I got an email from the
Czech Republic saying I do qualify. I could teach in Prague.
(insert a drool here) However, currently they are looking
for people to start in February, which is not good for me.
3. LCCI FTBE course is culminating tomorrow in the form
of an exam. It is going to be 2.30 hours long. I feel confident
and all things should go just fine. This course was a shock to me
because it gives a real image of Business English and now
I see that what I used to teach as BE was actually an
instant coffee, if you know what I mean.

That’s about it for tonight.

A few days ago I emailed several agencies asking whether it would be possible to get a short-term (summer) contract with them. These are agencies and language schools abroad. I included the information that I had an M.A. in English philology and that I have teaching experience, plus several certificates (CELTA). This is what I got from one agency (will keep the author anonymous):

(quote) The unfortunate reality of the ESL market is that the governments of most countries require that individuals applying for teaching visas are citizens of English speaking countries. These are defined as countries where English is the first language and they are limited to the following: Canada, America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the UK . This has absolutely NOTHING to do with your proficiency in the English language but is simply the government regulation.

There may be some opportunities for you in China . Unfortunately, at this time (company name) does not work with any schools there who are open to this and we suggest you apply directly to the schools. (end quote)

This just makes me feel 6 years of my life (spent gaining education and qualification) are just down the drain. Makes me want to change my job. Anybody knows where cleaners are needed?

Yesterday I had a few lessons and got a cash injection. This made it
possible buy a monthly ticket and make copies. I prepared my
lessons for the week starting January 14, but I still need to
prepare the first two lessons for beginner students. I usually
hate such lessons because it’s lots of new info for them to
process and they are very stressfull for me.

Today it is -15′C and that sort of outs me off from going
downtown to fetch some handouts I need and visit a bank.
Hopefully, I will manage to. I also need to water my plant in
the office for it seems to be dying.

I had a trial lesson (well, I thought, it’s some cash anyway)
and the person liked it. Now she’s on my student list, twice
per week. I get more queries about lessons and now it’s
a real problem to arrange the timetable to suit all students.

The Business English course is hanging in the air. They
postponed it for a wek (emailed me saying they hope I
don’t mind and I said that i actually do) and still no
sample contract. The pay is quite good and I would hate to
lose this contract but I cannot wait forever when my
old students come back ready to pay here and now!
Should they not offer me a contract until the end of
this fortnight, I will decline.

Next week is for my Business English Teaching
course. I hope it’s going to be useful and I will meet
interesting people. Also, I’m looking around to move
my website onto a paid server and have a professional
design. I’m quite satisfied with its current version but
it seems it’s too simplistic.

So far so good.