Freelance Teacher of English

Due to the fact that this place might close,

I have moved  my blog right here

BLOG

and waiting for you there.

It is a late post about the matter but I still want to make it. Developing Teachers published my article about using a ball in teaching English to adults. You can read it on this page Any feedback welcome.

I assume every teacher of English has had experience
with this evil phenomenon- student questionnaires.
The group is given questionnaires to elaborate on the
things they have no idea about. Personally I think student
questionnaires are the same if I had been operated
upon and then given a questionnaire if I am satisfied
with the work of the staff. Then, these questionnaires
are used to:
1. compile compromising information about the teacher
in order not to raise salaries
2. use to give bad references
3. show the client that you care (when you, actually, don’t)
4. annoy both parties

Thank God, now I work for myself. My best questionnaire
is when students come back next term. I have just coined
a new saying: don’t take an approach in the classroom, take
the classroom in the approach. If they can’t understand
present perfect passive, DROP IT and MOVE ON!

At Dave’s ESL Cafe, there is a thread on the topic of
what is to be done when a teacher has got to teach
Business English (BE onwards) to elementary level
students. Other posters agree that it can only
be done at an intermediate level, the idea
which is close to mine- I’ve been doing BE with
pre-intermdediates as well.

My opinion was the following: QUOTE.
1. I pick out the words from the next lesson and email a list to
the students, so they translate them as homework. In this way,
I get rid of pre-teaching stuff, which can be quite difficult since
their vocabulary is limited. Since it is In Company coursebook,
here and there are some financial expressions to fit the course
topic. BUT the book itself is not easy for elementary level!
2. I do selected listening and guided grammar exercises and drill
them in pairs, so that my students learn simple dialogues, e.g.
meeting someone at the airport, checkin-in a hotel, etc. In
Company is loaded with functional language.
3. Board games: speaking for fluency. I can’t remember now
any website to be exact, but try and google them. There are
some simplistic ones with adverbs of frequency or daily routine
questions.

Topics that take tim to cover but are businessy:
1. telling the time and daily routine.
2. spelling and numbers.
3. social English: greetings, offering coffee, how are you, etc.

I supplement a lot from general English books and I see no
crime in that. Also, it is very important to talk to your students
and tell what they realistically can achieve. UNQUOTE.

Having said that, I intend to devote some time for an
Internet search on BE materials for elementary students.
I will post my findings on my blog.

Race against the clock starts NOW.

There are currently four blogs between mine and FTBE Vilnius
that do not contain any posts and have been hanging up there
for a while. It’s annoying. People should set up blogs
when they have something to say and delete them if
they change their minds. I want to be in an active
community of teachers and not on a list of blogs,
a number of which does not even have an
introductory post. The same goes with the ones with
one or two initial posts, then being discarded.

Am I being cruel?

That’s the closest that comes to my mind to describe
today. I fired abother student of mine today. That was
a middle aged lady, a lecturer at some university,
who expected to attend once a week and to
slyrocket improve her broken English by the third lesson.
She argued that it’s been enough for articles (which
she still cannot tell apart) and that she hasn’t got
much time (perhaps, brain surgery awaiting?). We agreed
about a refund instead of the lessons she prepaid because
she has really been a pain. I am SO happy
to have got rid of her.

A few days ago I was informed that the LCCI FTBE examiners
(teaching Business English course for teachers of English)
that I took at ILS Vilnius in January sent in our exam results.
I got a pass with Credit, which means I did 60% and
possibly up of the paper correct (75% would have been
Distinction).

I am going to collect my certificate on Friday. At the moment
I am going to hit bed because my teaching day has been
stretching forever.

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.