Posts filed under 'Learning Languages'
Although there are scores of variables that can directly or indirectly affect rating as an EFL or ESL English teacher, many of them are out of your control. The school environment, the class profile of the learners, available materials, schedules, curriculum and most administrative aspects are among these.
There are many others that you can and should take control of, using them to your best advantage at all times. Examples of these elements include your individual skills and abilities as an EFL or ESL professional, materials you create for the use of your learners, your character, personality and approach to English Language Teaching (ELT) and your knowledge of the teaching / learning topic - the English language itself.
Here are five basic tips you can use on a daily basis that will enhance your notability as an ELT professional.
1. Learn everything you can related to English Language Teaching and Learning
Attend classes, short courses, workshops and seminars. Read ELT methodology books and magazines both online and off. Subscribe to education-related magazines that will help you in your career. There are many available at no cost online. Try out www.techlearning.com for example. Just like a surgeon who must purchase tools and equipment so he can practice and improve his skills, you must invest in the tools that will make you a better English teacher.
2. Read everything you can get your hands on.
Read texts, non-fiction, biographies, read everything you can find. When you become a voracious reader, you become a more knowledgeable, better teacher. There are no short cuts to excellence. Look online, at professional organizations like TESOL, Inc. and IATEFL. Check local public, private, language institute and university libraries for collections of high-level technical materials. The internet has so much material available online at no cost, it would be embarrassing not to take advantage of it. Immerse yourself. Learn and grow. The payoff will show up in the classroom - in more ways than one.
3. Become active in professional organizations and SIGs (Special Interest Groups)
There should be at least a couple of professional organizations available in your country or region, like those mentioned above, that have SIGs. Find an area that interests you and go for it. Don’t just sit on the sidelines, get out there and DO something. Participate, share your opinions and ideas, ask questions. Then apply what you can to your teaching to maximize the experience. Try something new on a regular basis.
4. Increment your academic production
If you’re not writing articles, opinions, journals, commentary, reflections and even lesson plans that you post online for the perusal and use of other ELT professionals worldwide, you need to get cracking. Your learners aren’t the only ones who are interested in what you do in the classroom and beyond. I want to know too - yeah, really. There are local, regional, national and international technical publications that will take your work as well. No, you don’t need a PhD either. If you have a tip or technique your students love or that helps to get you through a tough teaching point, curious minds around the world want to know. Share it with us online at one of the more than 100 EFL / ESL Teacher websites like www.eslbase.com Not sure how to write it up? I’ll be glad to help you outline and draft your piece to share with the world.
5. Attend ELT Conferences, workshops and seminars
Not only do those professional organizations offer opportunities to grow and learn, but you can share your ELT knowledge, skills, experiences and abilities too. Attend all the sessions that you can, but by no means stop there. Skilled, knowledgeable presenters are always in demand. Set a goal to prepare and present a workshop, poster or academic session. Hone your research, writing and Power Point skills in the process. Do “test runs” on your colleagues at your school or institution for your and their enlightenment.
So there you have it. If these tips sound like you need to do some work, you do. But the work you put into fine-tuning your knowledge and teaching will be reflected in the number of smiles and high-scoring communicative learners you’ll produce. If you begin to notice the difference, so will others in the front office. That’s where the money comes from. The pride and satisfaction comes from those faces in front of you. Finally, if you’re the bashful type and need a gentle push in the right direction, please feel free to e-mail me at lynchlarrym@gmail.com with your question or concern. I’ll be glad to help.
Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an ELT Teacher Trainer, English language learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. He has published more than 350 articles and academic papers and presented at numerous EFL teacher training and TEFL conferences throughout North America, South America and Europe. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com
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January 24th, 2008
It is a right annoyance. I have been searching the web high and low attempting to procure a decent quality used car in wales. Its almost like there is no such thing and I am chasing a crazy unrealistic car. I do live in carmarthenshire so, typically I start with an open ended search for a phrase like used cars carmarthenshire, which usually results in a few cool local sites but they haven’t as of yet had my favourite car on there - a vauxhall cavalier. They should have a load because the car was the most popular car of its time and sold infinately well. But then perhaps not many made it to wales? Would the awful welsh weather be something to do with it - perhaps they are just all rust buckets now.
Its not like I was searching for a Ferrari is it, that red stallion is something I certainly cant afford. So in the end I am left trawling the car web searching for a decent vauxhall for sale. I also checked a car/motoring site that had cars ceredigion in the name, even though it turned out to be a pretty awesome site it did not have a decent cavalier on it (had 2 but people were wanting to much cash for a car like that.) Suppose I will just settle for a better car then…
January 21st, 2008
I have always had a firm belief that a TEFL Certificate is paramount to effectively teaching kids and adults. Just by studying a Bachelor of Education is not going to fully prepare you for life abroad as an English teacher. By the same token, just by attaining a TEFL Certificate, TESL, TESOL or Cambridge, also isn’t going to prepare you to be a good English teacher. One needs to look at the whole picture and how each course compliments each other.
Each year we are seeing more and more ESL jobs on offer. The Asian world is crying out for qualified ESL teachers, yet there still is a massive shortfall in supply. I too was an English teacher before, but have since moved on. My TEFL certificate did help me a lot in providing quality lessons to my students.
September 12th, 2007
Do you need to learn to speak Spanish fast?
Spanish is the 3rd most spoken language. Learning to speak it if you have any need to at all is an exceptionally useful thing to do!
Speaking Spanish will: -
- Get you respect.
- Smooth potential problems.
- Help you get around at airports, railway stations.
- Help in hotels
In an emergency could even save your life.
***Why learn to speak Spanish?***
Almost every non English person you meet will be speaking it and a lot of them won’t want to (or can’t) speak English.
So not being able to speak Spanish can make things rvery difficult.
You’re going next week are you?! No time to learn?
Don’t worry about it – you can -
You need a good audio book to teach you how to speak basic Spanish fast.
Truth - It might sound impossible but you can get the basics down in 1-2 days if you apply yourself.
There are a lot of learn to speak Spanish audiobooks but my favourite is Spanish in No Time by Dr Robert Blair.
It’s perfect if you need to learn to speak basic Spanish in a hurry.
It’s simply a crash course to teach you to speak Spanish faster than you’d beleive possible. Basically you will:
- IMMEDIATELY learn Spanish for use in real situations.
- LEARN practical day to day applications.
- DEVELOP vocabulary through stories and games.
- MASTER easy memory tricks.
Still unsure?
Here’s a powerful fact - In English there are basically just 100 core key words that form the basic structure of the language. Once you know them you’re well on your way to speaking the language - The same rule applies to Spanish.
Spanish in No Time teaches you these core Spanish words plus “luxury” ones to bulk your understanding out more.
It’s 3 hours long. Get into it and focus and I promise you - You’ll be able to speak basic Spanish in 1-2 days!
No matter why you need Spanish fast you’ll find the audio book Spanish in No Time is a great study jump-start. The variety of methods keep the experience fun, fresh and motivating.
It’s easy to find online, just type the title into any search engine and it should pop right up – or get it on my website MyAudioBookShelf.com and learn to speak Spanish fast - soon
Download it - stick it on your mp3 or ipod and start to learn Spanish fast! Get it on my website MyAudioBookShelf.com and learn to speak Spanish fast - soon
August 30th, 2007
Thinking of a holiday in Spain? Retiring there? Want to do business in Spanish anywhere?
If yes, you need to consider learning to speak basic Spanish. For basics like shopping it’s great – and in emergencies it could save your life.So yes, you should really consider learning Spanish before you go to Spain or any Spanish speaking region.
Oh… You’re going next week are you?! No time to learn right?
Actually wrong - Don’t worry about that. Just getting your hands on the right audio book about learning the Spanish language, and it can teach you the language basics you need in a very short time if you apply yourself.
Impossible? Surely you can’t!? - Not really – You can -
It’s true that there are many audio books that teach the Spanish language, but my favorite is Spanish in No Time by Dr Robert Blair.
As the title implies, it is really a Spanish express crash course that can teach you the language faster than you can imagine. You will:
- IMMEDIATELY learn Spanish for use in real situations
- LEARN the practical applications you need
- DEVELOP vocabulary through entertaining stories and games
- MASTER easy and effective memory tricks
Still think it’s impossible?
Consider this - Did you know that in the English language there are only about 50 to 100 words that if you can learn, you will be well on your way to understanding and speaking the language?
Most words are always repeated when we speak, whether in the English language or any other language.
Spanish in No Time teaches you the key Spanish words - result = you’ll be able to speak holiday Spanish in only one or 2 days!
You’ll learn the skills you need at the pace you want, jump-starting your study with a variety of methods that keep the experience fun, fresh and motivating.
Published by Gildan Media Corp you can get it on my website myaudiobooksehlf.com and start to learn to speak spanish right away!
August 10th, 2007
Every year, hundreds of new teachers flock to the land of the rising sun. Their plans are to enjoy the following 12 months or more teaching English in Japan. It’s a fascinating opportunity - some will either hate it or love it. It’s rare to fall in the middle. Amongst fellow English teachers I know of, the ones that love their new lifestyle are usually the ones that have made the effort to learn Japanese. It helps you become more independent and fit into society.
However, learning Japanese is not an easy feat. Especially with the distractions of the internet. Furthermore, as an English teacher, the opportunities to learn Japanese is rather low. Reason being is that you are always in the classroom teaching English. It’s even worse if your students are children, as there will be no opportunity to build an outside the class friendship.
Ideally it’s best to do a few months beginners course before heading abroad in the search of ESL jobs in Japan.
July 27th, 2007
Why learn Spanish of all languages? Why not Italian, French, or even Russian, because it seems to be the most practical language to have these days living in the US. With an ever-expanding Latin American population, being able to speak a language that is becoming so widely used would be an invaluable asset. Schools are even becoming bi-lingual and Spanish is stressed. There are even parts of the country; Miami springs to mind, where there are most likely more people for whom Spanish is their first language than there are people who are native English speakers.
Even outside of the states, Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world; the ranking is apparently in dispute as I found numerous statistics. Most Latin American countries, those in Central and South America speak Spanish with an ever increasing amount of people in the United States. That is almost an entire hemisphere full of a language. And then there is Spain as well, while that Spanish may be slightly different than the Spanish in Latin America, Spanish it still is.
There are an ever-increasing amount of reasons why people should learn Spanish. Not only because of the amount of people who speak it but in a more selfish way it is becoming increasingly valuable to speak a second language professionally. The problem is that people in the United States tend to be more than a little arrogant in their thought that English is the most important language and they simply don’t need to speak anything else.
Being bilingual gives one opportunities to live and work outside of the country that would be unavailable otherwise. It gives one options. And given the large amount of counties in which Spanish is spoken it gives one a lot of options.
Gregory Newell is a web author who’s written about hot to learn to speak Spanish. If you want to know why learn Spanish then you might be interested in reading more.
May 28th, 2007
Choosing a Spanish medical translator can be a difficult task for anyone. It’s important for translators to always be as faithful as possible to the original sources, but medical translators actually often face situations that can be life or death.
Spanish medical translators translate all sorts of medical documents and information. This information can be anything from medical prescriptions to doctor transcriptions, to medical articles in medical journals. When you think about all the medical information out there that we use, it’s easy to see how badly translating this type of information can quickly lead to very bad situations, and even medical tragedies.
Because medical translation is so important, choosing a good Spanish medical translator shouldn’t be a process you go through half-heartedly.
So what are some things you should look for? Well, first of all, a good Spanish medical translator will be someone who obviously has a strong command of the Spanish language. Not only a strong command of the language is necessary however; the translator needs to have a good grasp on medical issues both in Spanish and English. Some medical treatments in Spanish-speaking countries could be different than treatments in the United States. The translator should know about these differences, or at least understand that these differences exist.
For the previous reasons, many Spanish medical translators are former or currently practicing physicians or nurses because they are better able to understand the medical industry, along with its often confusing jargon and terminology.
So if you’re in need of a Spanish medical translator, or if you have desires to become a Spansh medical translator, be sure to take the above advice to heart. Your clients deserve the best and you have a duty to provide that to them.
Clint Tustison is a Spanish <--> English translator interested in helping businesses and translators better understand the translation industry. If you’re interested in how to improve your translation business or your relationship with translation companies, check out his website at http://www.spanish-translation-help.com.
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May 19th, 2007
English is an international language. It has so many grammar rules and each rule with many exceptions. Usually, we write English without paying much attention to these rules and exceptions. But, its good to know as much as grammar as possible especially the exceptions. In this article, I am mentioning some of these unusual facts and rules of English language.
1. A word starting with letter ‘Q’ has ‘u’ as its second letter.
2. If abbreviation ends with same letter as the complete word itself then dot (.) is not placed. For example, we write Dr instead of Dr. for Doctor and Prof. for professor and not prof. But, people unknowingly write Dr. for Doctor.
3. Strange but common. Most of you know that following sentence contains all the alphabets of English language:
“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
4. Use word ‘Do’ to emphasize an action. For example, you can write ‘I do go there’ instead of ‘I go there’.
5. Try guessing a word with no vowels in it. Read this article from the beginning and you can find it. Yes, the word is ‘Try’. There are many more such words like ‘Fry’ and ‘My’. Usually, such words contain letter ‘y’ in them.
6. Relationship before a name is written with capital letter and if afterwards then with small letter. For example, “He is Uncle Sam” and “He is Sam, my uncle”.
7. Use of ‘a’ and ‘an’ article depends on phonetics of noun before which they are placed. So, ‘a’ is used before the word ‘user’ and ‘an’ is used before the word ‘honest’.
8. Use of article ‘The’ has many exceptions like ‘the’ is not used before names of the countries except the ‘Netherlands’ and the ‘US’.
For appropriate use of articles, capitalization rules and other English language rules, I recommend you to read articles available at:
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/). You can also visit www.usingenglish.com for learning English grammar in a better way.
Syed Feroz Zainvi has obtained M.Tech. (Comp Sc & Engg) degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (INDIA). His areas of interests are distributed computing, computer graphics and Internet Technologies. Currently, he is involved in Software Project Planning, Development and Management. His other interests include writing for magazines and contributing utility softwares on Magazine’s CDs. He also have flair for teaching computer science with new teaching methodologies.
His web-page URL is http://www.zainvi.tophonors.com
May 18th, 2007
