CONTENTS

TEACH ABROAD LIKE A PRO Abroad: Getting Started

in México 38 JAPAN: Insider ESL
3-4 MUST READ: Is Secrets about Teaching
Teaching Overseas Right Japanese Learners
For You? 10 Questions 18-19 MÉXICO: Often Talked
to Ask Yourself About, Seldom Found:
Private English Lessons 39-40 THAILAND: 6 Tips for
in México Finding Teaching Jobs in
5 MUST READ: Culturally Thailand
Correct: 5 Tips for
Managing Classrooms 20-21 MÉXICO: Effective
Abroad Eccentricity: Alternative 41-42 THAILAND: 7 Tips
Teaching Methods in for Dealing with Large
Mexico Classes in Thailand
6 MUST READ: Teaching
English Overseas –
What You Need to Know 22-23 MÉXICO: The Final 43-44 THAILAND: 12 Tips for
Destination: Preparing Adapting to Thai Culture
Students for TOEFL in
7 MUST READ: 3 Mexico
Techniques to Employ 45-46 THAILAND: Teaching
When You Don’t Speak in Thailand: Dos and
Their Language 24 MÉXICO: The Interactive Don’ts
Environment: Classroom
Hints for Mexico
8 MUST READ: Top 5 47 THAILAND: Thailand:
Dream Destinations for Overview of Popular
ESL Teachers 25-26 JAPAN: 10 Great Areas for ESL Teachers
Games to Use with Kids
in Japan
9 RUSSIA: Teaching 48 BONUS: 5 Ideas for the
English in Russia - 5 Next Step in Your ESL
Things You Must Do 27-28 JAPAN: Teaching Kids Career
Before You Go in Japan: 10 Do’s and
Don’ts
49 BONUS: How To Avoid
10 RUSSIA: Teaching Sensitive Issues When
English in Russia: 8 29 JAPAN: Teaching in Teaching ESL
Things You’ll Wish You’d Japan: 5 Common
Done Before You Went Student Mistakes
50 BONUS: ESL Dress
Code: What Smart
11 RUSSIA: Leave the 30-31 JAPAN: 5 Things You Teachers Wear
Balloons Behind - 3 Should Know Before
Enjoyable Activities for Teaching in Japan
Adult Classes in Russia 51-52 BONUS: The 10
Commandments of the
32-33 JAPAN: 5 Topics to Ethical ESL Teacher
12-13 RUSSIA: They Won’t Get Your Japanese
Eat You: 7 Survival Tips Students Talking – and 5
for Teaching Business to Avoid 53 BONUS: Top 10 Ways to
English in Russia Teach Culture

34-35 JAPAN: How To Teach

14-15 RUSSIA: Is Teaching Japanese Adults: Part 54 BONUS: Team Teaching:
in Russia Right for You? One Tips for Success
7 Questions to Ask
Yourself Before You Go
36-37 JAPAN: How To Teach 55 BONUS: How To Teach
Japanese Adults: Part Large Groups: The More
16-17 MÉXICO: The Two The Merrier?
Challenges of Teaching
Is Teaching Overseas Right For
You? 10 Questions to Ask Yourself
TEACHING ENGLISH OVERSEAS IS
AN EXCITING AND CHALLENGING
EXPERIENCE.
I know from my own time in East Asia,
no matter how well you prepare you
are never quite ready for the challeng-
es moving across the world presents.
For some, teaching overseas is a good
experience. For others, it’s quite the
opposite. If you are wondering if teach-
ing overseas is right for you, here are
ten questions to ask yourself before
you get your ticket to adventure.
10 QUESTIONS TO ASK
YOURSELF BEFORE
TEACHING OVERSEAS
1
ARE YOU UP
FOR ADVENTURE?
If nothing else, teaching English in a
foreign country is an adventure. If you
are considering moving to another
country to share your knowledge of the
English language, you probably have
that spirit of adventure. If you’re not the
adventure type, you may want to think
twice before leaving everything familiar
behind.
2 ARE YOU FLEXIBLE?
Along with your spirit of adven-
ture, ESL teachers who find success
overseas have to be flexible. So of-
ten, things are not as they appeared.
In my case, I took a job teaching ESL
to middle school and high school ESL
students. As it turned out, my class was
actually composed of second and third
graders. Chalk it up to miscommunica-
tion, but this is just one of many situ-
ations that demanded flexibility on my
part, and likely you’ll have your own
flexibility challenges if you do go over-
seas.
3
CAN YOU AFFORD IT
FINANCIALLY?
Don’t be fooled by the myth that all
overseas teaching jobs come with
great pay. Though some do, many do
not. When you read advertisements for
ESL positions, make sure you convert
the given salary to U.S. dollars or what-
ever monetary system you are familiar
with.
Think about your living expenses over-
seas. Will the school provide an apart-
ment? Transportation? Board? How
much does it cost to live where you
are thinking of going? Will you have to
purchase your own plane ticket? Also,
think about expenses that will continue
back home. If you have student loans,
for example, you may need to keep
them current even when you are teach-
ing in another country. Plan ahead and
don’t put yourself in a stressful financial
position.
4 CAN YOU AFFORD
THE TIME?
Look carefully at the time commitment
your potential employer is asking for.
Will you have to sign a two year con-
tract? A five year contract? Is the job
just for a few months or weeks? Will
you be able to come home for any
length of time during your contract?
Once you answer these questions,
ask yourself if you can realistically stay
overseas for that length of time without
putting stress on yourself financially,
socially or emotionally.
5
ARE YOU A LANGUAGE
LEARNER IN ADDITION
TO A LANGUAGE TEACHER?
If you are travelling overseas to teach
English, you are most likely going to
have to learn some language of your
own. Do you already know the native
language of the country you will be in?
Can you learn the language before you
go? Can you learn the language while
you are there? These are questions
that only you can answer. Keep in mind,
too, that not being able to communicate
with people in the community is a hum-
bling experience. Can you handle the
repercussions of being a foreigner? If
you’re not sure, think twice before you
agree to any overseas teaching.
6 DO YOU HAVE A PLAN
FOR SUPPORT?
Some overseas teaching experienc-
es have a built in community aspect.
When I taught overseas, I took a po-
sition at an international school where
most of the other teachers were from
the U.S. The school provided my apart-
ment complete with roommates who
also taught at the school. We became
friends, and they were a great support
for me at difficult moments. Not every
overseas teaching opportunity is like
that, however. Many who teach ESL
overseas will find themselves where no
other English speakers are to be found.
In such cases, it’s important to think
about how you will keep in contact with
family and friends back home and what
type of support they will be able to give
you, either over the phone or via elec-
tronic means.
7
DO YOU HAVE A PASSPORT?
This seems like an insignificant
question, but it’s still something you
need to consider before going over-
seas to teach. In fact, you won’t be
going anywhere if you don’t have per-
mission to leave your country and en-
ter another. Once you have your pass-
port, you’ll need to look into getting the
proper visa and other documentation in
addition to medical tests and vaccina-
tions. Hopefully your potential employ-
er can help you with these things, but
if you are going to be the sole English
teacher at a foreign school you may be
on your own when it comes to getting
your paperwork in order.
8
WHAT ARE YOUR
LONG TERM GOALS?
Why are you considering teaching
overseas in the first place? Is it a ca-
reer move? For personal enrichment?
Both are valid reasons to take the
plunge, but be honest with yourself at
the start. If you are going for personal
reasons, how will this experience help
or hurt you in the future? If you are go-
ing to further your career, will there be
any negative effects from leaving your
3
 current position for a year or more?
Are you willing to stay overseas long
term if the opportunity presents itself?
Know your answers and your expec-
tations before you pack your suitcase.

9 HAVE YOU DONE YOUR

HOMEWORK?
Of course, you’ll need to be com-
fortable with teaching English, but
have you done your research on
the school? What kind of reputation
does it have? What do other teach-
ers have to say about it? If possible,
get in touch with someone else who
has gone overseas to teach at your
school and ask them as many ques-
tions as you can. You may want to ask
about where you might be going, the
school, the people, the students and
the country.

10 HOW WILL
YOUR DECISION
AFFECT YOUR LOVED ONES?
Are you married? Do you have chil-
dren? Who else will be affected by
your decision to travel overseas? Tak-
ing an honest look at how the ones you
love will be affected by your decision
is important. Especially if you will be
bringing those loved ones with you on
your adventure, are they ready, too?
Have an honest conversation with
these people sharing your hopes and
fears and letting them share theirs.

TEACHING OVERSEAS WAS ONE

OF THE BEST THINGS I HAVE EVER
DONE.
It was also one of the most difficult. Is
teaching overseas right for you? Are
you ready for it? Only you can answer
that question, but whatever your de-
cision, be confident that it is the right
one.

4
Culturally Correct: 5 Tips
for Managing Classrooms Abroad
ESL TEACHERS WHO LIVE OVER-
SEAS ENJOY AN EXCITING WORLD OF
CHANGE AND DIFFERENCES.
To be successful, it is essential to
manage your classrooms with the lo-
cal culture at the forefront of your de-
cision-making. Follow these 5 tips for
managing classrooms abroad, and you
will learn just as much as you teach.
TRY THESE 5 TIPS
FOR MANAGING
CLASSROOMS
ABROAD
it to your advantage in and out of the
classroom to gain some understand-
ing of the local language. If you are in
a place that has a local dialect, it might
4 LEARN AS MUCH
AS YOU CAN
Your students are going to be your best
serve you better to learn useful phrases teachers when it comes to culture. You
instead of the formal language that may can learn a lot simply by observing
not be utilized or even understood in them. You can also ask for their advice,
some circumstances. In the classroom, their opinion, or their input when you
you can utilize basic phrases to make come across confusing situations. This
your first days easier. Learn things like: works well even with young adults. Get
please, thank you, sit down, stand up,
etc. Generally, when you don’t speak
in the habit of telling them stories about
their language, students will inevitably
your experiences, and asking them cul-
speak in their local tongue despite your
tural questions. This is a great way to
instructions not to do so. If you learn
review tenses and other grammar while
commanding their attention. You will
their language as they are learning

1
DO AS THE ROMANS DO
No matter where you come from,
living in another country is an excit-
ing and challenging adventure of self-
discovery. When you are working in a
yours, they will respect you efforts, and
will attempt to be very helpful in your
endeavor. Allow exceptions to “English
only” policies, and provide instances
where they are allowed to translate vo-
also learn about things you may be do-
ing incorrectly, nuances of the language
that may get you into trouble, or gain a
perspective you never would have seen
if you didn’t consult your students.

classroom overseas, it is imperative to
know the basic cultural dos and don’ts
from day one. For example, in Thailand
you don’t want to walk into your class-
room on the first day wearing a sleeve-
less blouse. Women generally should
5
cabulary, or ask questions to each other
DON’T FORGET
in their local language. If you limit their
native language, and try your hand at TO DISCIPLINE
their language students realize quickly
Sometimes when teaching English
that the best way to communicate with
overseas, it can feel strange to apply
their teacher is with English.
discipline in the classroom. Often the
subject of English that is also taught by

cover their arms, and dress in the work-
place is particularly conservative. Men
usually wear a tie, but a suit would be
taking it too far. In China, you will be
greeted by all the students standing and
shouting, “Good Morning, Teacher,” and
they won’t sit down until you give them
permission. The point is simple. Do your
homework before you step foot into your
first class. Talk to other foreigners living
in the same country, and working in the
same type of school. Even when you
read up on cultural norms, you won’t
be exempt from discovering surprises
as you go. There are a lot of unspoken
cultural norms that should be adhered
to by foreigners and more importantly,
teachers. Often you are expected to
figure these out for yourself. It effects
everything you do, including how you
manage your classroom. You have to
set realistic expectations and take cul-
ture into consideration.
3
COMPARE CULTURES a native speaker is only looked at as fun
time, and not as serious as other sub-
When setting up classroom rules
jects. Young students might try to take
and guidelines, give students some
advantage or become unruly. To coun-
examples of how things are done in
ter this, you must set the tone of your
your country. Then ask them how it is
class accordingly and early on. You
done locally. They will enjoy hearing
will have to ride that fine line between
about the differences, and as a group
supplying fun, interactive activities for
you can devise guidelines that work for
practice, and maintaining a seriousness
both cultures. An example might be that
when it comes to completing assign-
in many countries, students will sim-
ments, following through on homework,
ply address you as teacher. Become
and general student progress. It is per-
comfortable with this and inform them
fectly acceptable to apply discipline, but
that they may also call you Mr. John or
be certain that your tactics are fair and
Miss Sarah. Students won’t use your
fit in with what other teachers are doing.
last name as it is too formal and often
too hard to pronounce. Once the class
guidelines are set, use the cultural com- WHEN TEACHING OVERSEAS IT IS
parison in other aspects of the class to VITAL TO BE A MODEL OF CULTURAL
keep communicating about your differ- CORRECTNESS AND TO REPRESENT
ing cultures. However, avoid always YOUR HOME COUNTRY IN WAY THAT
telling them how everything is done in YOU WOULD BE PROUD OF.
your country, or comparing your country Employ these 5 strategies for manag-
as if it is superior to theirs. Neither of ing your classroom overseas, and your

2 UTILIZE
THE LOCAL LANGUAGE
those attitudes is gong to get you very
far in or out of your classroom.
students will never want you to leave!

Even though you are instructing stu-

dents in a second language, you will find

5
Teaching English Overseas –
What You Need to Know
THINKING ABOUT TEACHING ENGLISH
OVERSEAS? HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED
TO KNOW.
In the current economic climate, many
are considering their options. Teaching
English overseas turns out to be an at-
tractive possibility for anyone who enjoys
traveling and learning about foreign cul-
tures. Also, teaching English abroad can
be tremendously rewarding. The people
you meet, the moments shared with
your students, and experiences lived
(whether good or bad) are things you’ll
carry with you for the rest of your life. Be-
sides, it’s not that hard to teach English
abroad. English is probably the easiest
language to teach to foreigners: most
English grammar and structures have
clear cut rules, and none of the compli-
cations other languages have like plural
or singular, masculine or feminine nouns
and adjectives. In fact, teaching English
as a second language will most likely be
easier than learning a second language
of your own! However, there are a num-
ber of things you must know before you
embark on this adventure that is teach-
ing English overseas.
FIRST, LET’S CONSIDER THE ISSUE OF
QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS.
There are requirements that are specif-
ic to each country, and naturally, these
must be consulted, but besides these,
there are some basic requirements that
apply to all of those who wish to teach
English abroad:
• You must be a native English speak-
er.
• You must have a bachelor’s degree
in any discipline, not necessarily ed-
ucation.
• You must have TESOL (Teaching
English to Speakers of Other Lan-
guages) or TESL (Teaching English
as a Second Language) certification.
Previous teaching experience is usually
not a requirement, but it does come in
handy. Having a teaching degree will
also greatly improve your chances, and
the better the degree the better your
chances of getting a higher paid posi-
tion. Keep in mind that there are places
where English teachers are in high de-
mand, and they may overlook some re-
quirements, but most work visas are not
issued without TESOL certification. All in
all, these are the qualifications you need
6
to look into for each country or school
when you apply for a teaching position.
There are a number of TESOL certifi-
cation courses, from intensive 4 week
programs, to longer part time courses,
as well as online or distance courses.
Considering the wide variety of courses
available, in countless locations, it’s very
easy to find one that will suit your needs.
Most schools will accept any type of
certification, while there may be others
that require specific certificates. In any
case, whether it is a requirement or not,
any TESOL course will help you prepare
and develop teaching skills that will be
useful once you arrive to your foreign
location. Also, many TESOL certification
programs help you find a job teaching
English overseas. So, the best course
of action is to decide where you want to
teach English abroad and then take a
look at their requirements.
THE RISKS OF TEACHING ENGLISH
OVERSEAS
Working conditions and salaries vary
greatly from country to country, so you
may encounter anything from what may
be considered great pay to sheer exploi-
tation. Keep in mind that the labor laws
you are accustomed to in your country
may not exist in a foreign place, or may
not be applicable to foreigners. Fortu-
nately, there are sites you can go to for
consultation, like TEFL School Reviews
(www.teflschoolreviews.com/) or TEFL
Blacklist (teflblacklist.blogspot.ca/),
which list employers who have ignored
contract provisions or provided negative
working conditions.
This is a reality. Most teachers go over-
seas, filled with enthusiasm and bursting
with excitement at the thought of living
in an exotic location and getting paid to
teach English to a group of rosy-cheeked
grade schoolers. But there are those
who come home after going through
something that was more akin to a liv-
ing nightmare than a rewarding teaching
experience. Some are lured by the sheer
exoticness of the location, and jump at
the first job offer they get.
Here are some of the questions you
should ask your employer to ensure
you’ll be signing a good contract, and not
selling your soul to the devil:
• How many hours am I expected to
teach on a daily or weekly basis?
• How many hours am I expected to
spend at the school?
• Are there mandatory extracurricu-
lar activities, like excursions or field
trips?
• Are teachers monitored, supervised,
or even observed?
• Which days will I have off?
• What kind of training or orientation
do you provide?
• How many days of sick leave do I
have and are they paid?
• May I have some references from
current teachers? (Request contact
information.)
The last point is the most important and
the one that may sway your decision one
way or another. It is absolutely essen-
tial that you speak to foreigners who are
working at the school you are consider-
ing. If this simple request is refused, it
may give you an indication that this em-
ployer is keeping things from you. More-
over, they may not have been completely
honest in answering your questions, so
you must contact teachers who will ei-
ther confirm the information they’ve sup-
plied or fill you in on the real story.
Teacher forums are also a wonderful
source of school reviews or opinions,
great places to read about any problems
teachers may have had with a particular
school. The best you can do is take your
time to compare offers.
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT WHEN YOU
TEACH ENGLISH ABROAD?
Expectations vary depending on the
country or region: the further away you
go, the more difficult it may be for you
to adapt to the culture and setting. So,
it stands to reason that teaching Eng-
lish in Europe may be a little easier than
in Asia, namely for cultural reasons. If
you’re lucky enough to secure a teach-
ing position with a good contract, you
can expect to have a great time teaching
English overseas. You can expect to be
surprised and amazed by the warmth of
the students you teach. You can expect
to see and experience things you nev-
er imagined before. You can expect to
live an experience you’ll remember and
cherish for the rest of your life.
3 Techniques to Employ When
You Don’t Speak Their Language
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE THE ODD
MAN OUT SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU ARE
THE ONLY PERSON IN YOUR CLASS
FULL OF PEOPLE THAT DOESN’T
SPEAK THE NATIVE LANGUAGE.
Follow these 3 techniques to connect
with students even when you don’t
have language in common.
WHAT TO DO WHEN
YOU DON’T SPEAK
THEIR LANGUAGE
1 SLOW DOWN, SPEAK
SIMPLY, AND REPEAT
When learners don’t yet speak much
English and you don’t speak their lan-
guage, you have to find ways to con-
nect with them, and get them to start
learning English fast. There are three
key things to do in this circumstance —
speak slowly, speak simply, and repeat
yourself often. It sounds simple, but it
isn’t as easy as it might seem. You can
master speaking slowly, clearly, and re-
peating yourself often, but it does take
some practice. You want to annunci-
ate for clarity without sounding con-
descending. Slowing down language
means that you more clearly pronounce
syllables, don’t shorten words, and also
focus on correct grammar. Speaking
simply translates into using only tenses
or vocabulary that the students have
learned. That can be challenging when
students have only learned the verb to
be, because you are so limited in what
you can say. If vocabulary comes up
that they are unfamiliar with, you must
define words in an uncomplicated man-
ner and provide examples.
Repetition is important because stu-
dents need explanations several times
before they should be expected to
master it. It might feel to you that you
sound like a broken record, but in real-
ity the students need to hear the record
10 more times. The same also goes
for practice. For example, you might
think that you have practiced the verb
to be so many times the students will
cringe if you attempt to review it again.
However, when you listen to your stu-
dents they are still making errors, or
still seem uncertain about usage. This
is a common occurrence at lower lev-
els, so it goes to show that students do
indeed need a lot of repetition of gram-
mar points. Think of each point as a
building block to the next: in order to
move forward, they must master foun-
dational elements first. Students don’t
have to display perfect language skills
to move on to the next point, but they
should show good understanding and
be able to occasionally discern their
own mistakes.
2 TEACH SITUATIONALLY
When language is a barrier and
students don’t have much English to
communicate with, focus on the func-
tion of how they are going to use any
given point. Practicing grammar with-
out providing practical application is
not only dry, but also frustrating for
learners. The main point of studying a
language is to be able to use it in ev-
eryday circumstances. Keep practical
application a focal point when creating
activities and exercises. Students will
gain a lot through situational examples,
role plays, Q and A, and games that in-
spire lots of practice.
Most every point in an ESL curricu-
lum can somehow be practiced within
a situation. Many of them are obvi-
ous, like using prepositions of motion
to practice giving directions, or creat-
ing recipes when talking about food
vocabulary and quantities. Part of the
fun of being an ESL teacher is devising
entertaining and creative ways to elicit
grammar points in natural language.
Think of ways you can get your stu-
dents talking outside of just following
the examples on the board. Give them
opportunities to branch out. For exam-
ple, instead of just having students ask
each other like/dislike questions, give
them a situation where this could natu-
rally happen. Tell students that they
are attending a party where they don’t
know anyone. Their goal is to find at
least three people with similar interests
and start up a conversation. You could
make this more interesting or challeng-
ing by assigning them particular per-
sonality traits or preferences that are
not their own. That way they have to be
creative with their question-asking and
try to create a connection through com-
munication. This is a perfect example
of giving students situational practice
so that the language they are acquiring
has meaning and practical application
when they step out of the classroom.
3 ANIMATE
When language many be a bar-
rier your best source of communication
will be finding ways to animate your
explanations and instructions. Using
exaggerated body language and facial
expressions should become second
nature when you are communicating
with little language. Smiling and laugh-
ing a lot also helps to lighten the mood
and can help make students feel com-
fortable. Along with animated expres-
sions, if you can show students time
and time again that your instructions
will be illustrated by clear examples,
they will begin to learn your style and
catch on very quickly. Utilizing hand
gestures as you speak will also be-
come a way that students can begin to
infer language if they don’t understand
completely.
You can also involve students in get-
ting in touch with their physical side
by introducing the game of Charades.
Students of all ages and levels love to
challenge themselves with this interac-
tive game in which they must represent
language with actions. It’s a wonderful
way to practice vocabulary, sentence
structure and comprehension checks
for various points. Students will enjoy
the challenge and find the game an in-
teresting activity of self-expression.
TEACHING ENGLISH TO A CLASS OF
STUDENTS WHO DON’T HAVE ANY
EXPOSURE TO YOUR LANGUAGE
MIGHT SEEM A BIT DAUNTING AT
FIRST.
There are many ways to connect with
people around the globe without lan-
guage as the common denominator.
Take a look at these 3 techniques to
connect with students, and get in touch
with all of your students all of the time.
7
Top 5 Dream Destinations
for ESL Teachers
YUP, IT’S WHY WE ALL DO IT - TO GET
OUT THERE AND SEE THE WORLD.
When salary is taken out of the equa-
tion, we are left with an incredible and
generally stress-free career that allows
us to see the best of what the world
has to offer. We never have to worry
about heading back to the dreary, grey
skies, traffic and the horrible desk-
bound job with even more horrible col-
leagues. The days of post-holiday de-
pression are over. We are very lucky
to do what we do, as there are many
others out there who simply haven’t
had the confidence to leave their com-
fort zone and explore the world. Com-
ing up with a list of the best places to
live and work as an ESL teacher is a
purely subjective task, however this
article will look at some of the options
and give you some ideas where you
could be searching for your dream job.
ESL DREAM
DESTINATIONS
1 BALI, INDONESIA
Wow, Bali? Yup! Known as the
island of the gods, Bali offers quite
a lot of opportunities for ESL teach-
ers. Although most first-timers may
have a little difficulty finding jobs
there, those with a year or two under
their belt could easily find work at the
various language centres scattered
around the island. For those with the
right quals, there are two international
schools on the island, which provide
a fully-furnished house, car, driver,
maid, and all the trimmings that you
could possibly imagine. The salary at
language centres in Bali is a little more
basic, but if you aren’t tempted by the
world-class restaurants while being
prepared to eat ‘nasi goreng’ from a
street side vendor, you should have no
problems living off the salary. A motor-
bike is needed to get around Bali, but
for even those with no experience on
a bike, the traffic on Bali’s roads goes
practically at snails pace. For anyone
who’s looking for a job in Bali, there
is a rather prominent language cen-
tre based on Jalan Sunset, just a five
minute’s motorbike ride away from the
8
world-renowned Kuta Beach.
2
KOH SAMUI, THAILAND
Koh Samui is located in the
south of Thailand and is a quiet, island
paradise. The island is a world away
from the hustle and bustle of down-
town Bangkok and is where some of
the country’s best beaches are locat-
ed. While a long way from Bangkok,
the island still provides all the mod-
ern amenities that one would come
to expect in the West. ESL teaching
opportunities on Koh Samui are really
slim pickings, as this is where many
want to be. Teachers can find a few
high schools and primary schools, all
of which employ a native speaker,
while a handful of language centres
are located in the built up areas. The
ultimate job for the ESL teacher in Koh
Samui is language training at hotels.
Teachers who train at hotels are often
paid top dollar and have their accom-
modation and food paid for – What a
life!
3 DUBAI,
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Probably not the best place in the
world for those who like to have the
sly drink after class, Dubai is rapidly
becoming a hub for expats, who ab-
solutely love to spend money. Shop-
ping in Dubai competes with the likes
of Paris these days, and there is an
incredible amount of things to see and
do. Dubai is also one of the more re-
laxed cities in the Middle East, which
makes it a great place for western-
ers to live and work. Asides from the
usual international schools, teachers
who have the best wages are gener-
ally teaching English at companies, ei-
ther for ESL providers or on their own.
Some of these teachers are making
up to $4000 with a bonus and flights!
Dubai also probably has one of the
best party scenes in the Middle East,
while not on par with the west many
visitors from across the region come
here to indulge on some forbidden
fruits, unavailable in their own country.
4 MAURITIUS
Situated in the centre of the
heart of the Indian Ocean, the former
French colony of Mauritius provides a
great little tropical setting for the ESL
teacher who wants to work and truly
live the life. Most of the ESL jobs are
in and around Port Louis, which is lo-
cated to the north of the island. Like
anywhere in the world of ESL teach-
ing, international schools provide the
best jobs. Very much like Koh Samui,
for those lucky enough to be involved
in training at luxury resorts, accommo-
dation and food is generally provided.
But for those who really want to find a
job, a number of language centres can
be found around the capital.
5
BANGKOK, THAILAND
‘Bangkok – Oriental setting,
and the city don’t know that the city
is getting’ as the 80s song from Mur-
ray Head goes. While Bangkok is a
large, chaotic city, there is something
about the place that attracts many to
leave their high paying jobs back at
home and pack up for a 30,000 baht a
month lifestyle. What makes Bangkok
an ideal place for foreign teachers is
that it takes the best of the east and
combines it with the west. Plus it has
a party scene to boot! Many ESLers
living in Bangkok describe the acces-
sibility of the place as one of its many
advantages. Delicious and cheap
food is practically everywhere, and if
you need to buy your groceries in the
middle of the night, but you can’t see
a 7/11, then you’re probably not in
Bangkok. ESL opportunities are end-
less and the jobs just keep on coming.
While wages are low and conditions
are sometimes not the best, Bang-
kok provides a great place to live and
work.
SO FOR THOSE WHO ARE STUCK
IN A COLD, DREARY DESTINATION
SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD AND
SEEKING A CHANGE, MAYBE THIS
COULD GIVE YOU A FEW IDEAS
WHEN IT COMES TO CHOOSING A
DESTINATION FOR YOUR NEXT JOB!
Teaching English in Russia - 5
Things You Must Do Before You Go
Before working in Russia, you have a
number of things you must organise be-
fore you can do so legally, or even be let
into the country at all. None of them is
exceptionally difficult but get them done
well in advance, to allow for delays on
either side of the bureaucratic curtain.
HOW TO PROCEED
1 RENEW YOUR PASSPORT
It sounds obvious, but check that
your passport is up to date – expiring at
least a year or so after your trip – and
renew it if necessary. If you leave it till the
last minute, or last weeks, you’ll have to
pay a hefty surcharge. If you don’t have
a passport at all, getting one can take a
while as you collect all the other docu-
ments required to prove your identity and
the issuers check through them. While
you’re at it, locate the Russian consulate
in your own country and confirm current
visa requirements.
2 FIND A JOB
In some countries, you can just turn
up and find a job once you get there, as
long as you have sufficient funds to keep
you going for a while. Russia is not one
of these countries and you could end up
in a lot of trouble if you try doing this on
a tourist visa. It is also not a place where
you can build up a self-employed busi-
ness with private students, at least not
until you know the country well and have
all the necessary paperwork and, possi-
bly, residency. While breaking immigra-
tion laws is not recommended anywhere,
I’d say Russia is one of those where that
would be a really bad idea.
This means it is absolutely essential to
find a job long before you actually go.
Start applying to schools several months
before you intend to start. Once you’ve
been offered a job of the sort you’d like,
the school will provide some of the es-
sential paperwork and can advise you on
the general process.
Bear in mind though, that it might vary by
country and might have changed since
whoever you speak to went through the
same process. Somebody who moved
from the UK to Russia 10 years ago won’t
have the most up to date information and
it might not have ever been accurate for
somebody from Canada or the USA.
3 GET AN INVITATION LETTER
You’ll almost certainly need a letter
of invitation and proof of accommoda-
tion, although these are things to check.
Tourists usually get these from hotels,
but you’ll need to ask the school for such
things, along with proof of employment
and anything else currently required by
the Russian immigration services - re-
quirements change regularly. Allow
plenty of time for anything that must be
posted to arrive.
4
GET A HEALTH CHECK
When I was in Russia, getting a test
for HIV was mandatory (you had to be
negative) before going, something which
a surprisingly large number of countries
require. Although getting the results for
an HIV test, and any others that might be
required, doesn’t take long, less than a
week even if you don’t opt for an expen-
sive rush job, allow yourself a bit of time.
The problem here is that if you get a lot
of HIV tests, even if they are just for trav-
el, health insurance companies might
increase their premiums on the, in this
case completely inaccurate, basis that
the tests are a sign of risky behaviour.
This wasn’t a concern for me, since I’m
based in the UK and don’t need or have
private medical insurance, but is worth
considering if you do have to pay insur-
ance premiums. Ways to ensure that
numerous HIV tests don’t increase your
costs exist, but if you always get such
tests in a rush at the last minute, you
might not be able to sort it out with your
insurance company.
On another note entirely, you don’t actu-
ally need any vaccinations for going to
Russia but there are a few it would be
advisable to arrange, especially if you
plan to spend a lot of time travelling in
remote areas of the country, participat-
ing in adventure sports or interacting with
animals, wild or domestic. Sensible pre-
cautions include getting a vaccination for
hepatitis A and checking your tetanus is
up to date. If you are planning to spend
much time in the wilds, consider shots
for Japanese encephalitis and rabies as
well, although this is something to dis-
cuss with your doctor.
5 GET A VISA
The final thing to arrange is a work
visa, not a tourist one, which you do
through the Russian consulate in your
country. The consulate will probably be
located in the capital and you’ll almost
certainly need to go in person, so if this
is not where you’re based, allow time for
at least one and possibly more day trips.
You’ll need all the above paperwork, in-
cluding your passport. I’d suggest allow-
ing at least a month of extra time to sort
paperwork beyond what you estimate
you need. In unusual circumstances,
things might be delayed even further, al-
though your school will probably be will-
ing to change your start date.
Something similar applies to booking
flights – have a buffer zone. Ideally, wait
until you’ve got everything you need and
aim to arrive at least a few days before
you actually start work – you’ll need a bit
of time just to settle in and get any on-
site paperwork sorted.
While you’re doing all these unexciting
tasks, don’t abandon your email. Keep-
ing in touch with the school intermittently,
even when you don’t need their assis-
tance (rather than disappearing as soon
as you get your documents and turning
up on the doorstep five months later) is
a sensible idea, not to mention polite.
Sometimes teachers change their plans
without telling anybody, leaving their in-
tended employer in the lurch, so let your
school know where you’re up to. Apart
from anything else, it ensures they won’t
go looking for a replacement.
9
Teaching in Russia: 8 Things You’ll
Wish You’d Done Before You Went
So you’ve renewed your passport, got
your visa and been for a health check?
Technically, all you need to do now is pack,
but there’s a few extra things you’ll really
wish you’d done once you’re ensconced
in your Moscow apartment and wonder-
ing how on earth you’ll get to work the
next day. If you haven’t already done all
of these, it might be a great idea to start.
8 THINGS YOU’LL WISH
YOU’D DONE BEFORE
YOU WENT
1 ence they’ll have. You’ll have a smoother
RESEARCHED THE SCHOOL
The demand for English language
teaching is exploding in Russia, with lan-
guage schools springing up everywhere
in response. Some of these are highly
respectable institutions that have been
running for years, others are microscopic
start-ups, often with equally microscopic
budgets, a few are complete cowboys
and, of course, there’s a vast middle
ground. Don’t jump on the first school that
offers you a job - find out what you can
about it online. Just because a school is
reputable doesn’t necessarily mean that it
will suit you. Somebody from a business
background with a terror of small children
might get on wonderfully in a school that
caters to adults but not have any fun at
all at one that mostly acts as a language
school / babysitting service for 6 to 10
year olds.
2
HAD A PHONE INTERVIEW
In some countries, language schools
don’t always bother to interview prospec-
tive teachers by phone, but Russia is one
of the countries where they usually do. If
they don’t, it might be a warning sign of a
school that doesn’t really know what it is
doing. Whether or not the school requests
it, always ask for a phone interview, which
lets you get an idea of the company and
the people that work there – the interview
process works both ways.
3
LEARNED
THE CYRILLIC ALPHABET
You’re really going to struggle if you can’t
read signs and it would add to the general
feeling of disorientation that is inevitable
when moving to a foreign country. I ar-
rived in Moscow with virtually no Russian,
which I don’t recommend, but I’d already
learned the Cyrillic alphabet for a trip to
Bulgaria (completely different language,
same alphabet) and it definitely helped
10
with mundane things like navigating the
metro. Learning a new alphabet, espe-
cially one that’s very similar to the English
alphabet anyway, is a matter of one eve-
ning spent memorising it and that’s it.
4
LEARNED SOME RUSSIAN
You might be able to get by with a
smattering of phrasebook Russian for the
first couple of weeks. In the big cities, you
might be able to get by with NO Russian,
and some people do, although it isn’t very
polite and you wonder what sort of experi-
time adjusting, though, and find socialis-
ing a lot easier if you learn some of the
language before you go. It isn’t easy on
your own, so you’ll thank yourself later if
you take some lessons. Russian classes
aren’t the only option. If you live in a uni-
versity town, you might find a Russian
student happy to do a language swap –
i.e. you help her/him with English for half
the time and s/he helps you with Russian
for the rest. Alternatively, consider hiring
a teacher online to teach through Skype.
5
EMAILED PREVIOUS
TEACHERS AT YOUR SCHOOL
While in the research/interview process,
ask for contact details of past and pres-
ent teachers and email them. They might
give you a much better idea of the school
in question than whoever is interviewing
you. Note that the school probably won’t
give you email addresses of teachers who
left in a storm cloud, so you aren’t going
to get the really juicy stuff, but you should
develop a good idea of whether this would
be a good place for you to work. If noth-
ing else, you’ll get some handy hints on
where to have your lunch.
6 TAUGHT REAL CLASSES
I started teaching in Russia after
years of teaching English elsewhere, and
it helps. You might be qualified up to the
eyeballs, but if the only actual teaching
experience you have was on your CELTA
course, you’re throwing yourself in at the
deep end. Dealing with a new country,
new culture and new language is plenty
to be getting on with. You don’t need to be
starting a completely new job as well, and
Russian students might not be the easiest
for a box-fresh teacher – they appreciate
experience as well as expertise. Teach a
few EFL/ESL classes on a volunteer ba-
sis before you go and that first class will
be far less terrifying.
7 DOUBLE CHECKED YOUR
OWN ENGLISH GRAMMAR
This one caught out a few teachers as
this is a country where an emphasis is
placed on the technicalities of a foreign
language. If you don’t know the English
language inside out, consciously as well
as intuitively (everybody knows their
own language intuitively, which does not
mean they can teach it) and, crucially,
can explain it, you’ll have problems. If
you have any blind spots (for example
the passive voice or unreal conditionals),
work through them in your head until you
completely understand them and could
explain the working to anybody. Your stu-
dents will ask questions and, at the higher
levels, probably have a far better con-
scious understanding of English grammar
than your average American, Canadian or
Brit.
8 MADE A “TO SEE” LIST
Tourists rush around seeing every-
thing, but once you’re living and working
in a country, it is easy to leave everything
until next weekend, or perhaps your next
vacation - actually make it the one after
that. Before you know it, you’ve spent two
years in Russia and seen less than the
backpacker who flew into Moscow two
weeks ago. In my case, I was fortunate
enough to be dragged around the Top Ten
Must Sees of Moscow by another teach-
er, and it was thoroughly worthwhile. Oth-
erwise, it is quite likely, I’d have made a
total of one trip to Gorky Park and another
to Red Square in the first week, and that
would have been it. I was brought up in
Scotland and I still haven’t seen not only
the Loch Ness monster, which is kind of
to be expected, but I haven’t even seen
Loch Ness. I’d quite like to, and it would
just be a weekend or even a day trip, just
not one I or any of my friends has ever got
around to doing.
Russia is packed with amazing sights
and it’s a huge country. If you don’t pri-
oritise the things you’re most keen to see,
you might never get to them. The time to
make a list of things you want to see and
do is before you go, because once you’re
there, you’ll probably be too busy plan-
ning lessons, seeing friends and getting
on with the nitty gritty of daily life to do
all the tourist things. Have a list and you
might remember why you were so keen
to work here. You may even actually do
them.
3 Enjoyable Activities
for Adult Classes in Russia
If you’re teaching adult classes in Rus-
sia, you’re catering to an audience with a
generally dry sense of humour and high
expectations, so select activities with this
in mind. Also remember that adults have
jobs and are usually tired by the time they
get to their English classes, and let’s face
it, language learning is fairly dull for most
people in itself.
The idea is to entertain your class AND
make them feel they’re getting quality
lessons. I found it best to choose activi-
ties that had an obvious purpose and to
lay on the wit with a trowel. The following
examples are for upper-intermediate to
advanced classes and collectively form a
review of (almost) all the tenses.
SUCCESSFUL IDEAS ARE
THE FOLLOWING:
1
HOROSCOPES
This one is, obviously, for practis-
ing future tenses. The exact organisation
will vary according to your class and per-
sonal preferences but generally it goes
like this:
Divide the class into small groups of three
or four. Ask each person to write their
star sign at the top of a piece of paper –
students might not know the spelling in
English so clippings of horoscopes from
one daily newspaper or another make
useful introductory props. The satirical
online newspaper The Onion has some
utterly ridiculous ones, but their language
level is somewhat advanced and might
not suit lower levels.
Collect the papers. You might find that
some of the star signs in each group are
the same, but this doesn’t really mat-
ter. Pass each group’s sheaf of papers
onto another group and ask them to write
horoscopes – i.e. a series of predictions
– for each one. Each student writes a
horoscope for one other person but they
remain in their groups and, ideally, share
ideas and help each other.
Write examples of the structures to be
practiced on the board. These will be
future tenses and perhaps a selection
of modals (you should...). Make the ex-
amples reasonably humorous.
After everybody has finished or nearly
finished, hand the papers back to the
original group. Once everybody has read
their own horoscopes and been suit-
able appalled, the next task is for the
whole group to correct any grammati-
cal mistakes they find. At this point you
go around checking the corrections and
adding any others before passing the pa-
pers to the group that wrote them. Finally
pick out several of the most prevalent er-
rors to work through with the whole class.
2 CAPTION COMPETITION
This practices past tenses and re-
quires a bit of preparation. Find several
pictures, preferably exceedingly ambigu-
ous and/or humorous ones, illustrating
recent news stories. Search online, since
you won’t get much choice in the very thin
English language newspapers available
in Russia. Note that local news stories
from another country, perhaps your own,
would work best here, since it is better
if students don’t already know the story.
Once you’ve found some, copy them
into another document and enlarge the
pictures so each one fills a sheet of A4.
Print them off together with the accom-
panying stories. If you don’t have access
to a computer with printer, do the best
you can with newspapers and the school
photocopier.
The caption competition is merely the
introduction. Stick one picture at a time
on the board and ask for suggestions as
to what the caption might be, providing a
few words or parts of words if you wish to
elicit particular structures. Then look for
suggestions on the story. Repeat with a
couple of the pictures, not all.
Pair or group students and give each
pair/group one picture. The task is simply
to start writing the news story using the
appropriate structures. Write a selection
of incomplete example sentences on the
board to help out. After a few minutes,
each story, along with picture, is passed
onto the next group. Repeat until each
story reaches the original group, who
should write the final sentences.
Ask the groups to correct any errors in
their story, which will be a mixture of
their own and other groups’ work. Move
around the groups helping out. At this
point, time permitting, you can ask each
group to present a brief summary of their
story to the class – which doesn’t mean
reading out the whole thing. If you like,
also ask them to do this with the real sto-
ries as well: otherwise allocate just a cou-
ple of minutes for passing the originals
around. The real stories can be chopped
up and used for further activities in the
next class.
3 MY LIFESTYLE
This one is for present tenses, and
could include some past. Brainstorm a
list of well-known people with the class
and add a few of your own, preferably in-
cluding some regular targets of satirists.
Unpleasant billionaires, controversial
politicians (be careful with that one – I’d
avoid Russian ones), dim-witted real-
ity TV stars (if using non-Russian ones,
check their fame extends this far) and
tactless sports stars make good choices.
Adding a selection of artists, musicians
and novelists, not to mention deceased
historical figures, may or may not add
some depth to this activity – it tends to
depend on how imaginative the students
are. If in doubt, stick to figures of fun and
tabloid favourites.
Allocate each student a celebrity, let them
choose their own or write the names on
pieces of paper and deal one to each stu-
dent. Divide the class into pairs and ask
them to interview each other about their
imaginary lifestyle as this celebrity. Pro-
vide a list of example questions on the
board to get people going. This can be
continued with the entire class by select-
ing one of the more confident students
and bringing him/her up to the front to
answer questions from everybody. With
new or shyer classes, pick a celebrity of
your own, preferably a ridiculous one,
and take on this role yourself.
Finally, ask students to write a short
piece about their own celebrity’s life, writ-
ten in the first person, or that of the per-
son they interviewed, written in the third
person. If time is short, this would be best
set as homework, something that applies
to all individual writing exercises, which,
unless they are very brief, you should get
students to work on in groups/pairs or
outside class.
11
 7 Survival Tips for Teaching
Business English in Russia
IF YOU DON’T HAVE A CORPORATE
BACKGROUND, TEACHING BUSI-
NESS ENGLISH IN RUSSIA MIGHT
SEEM LIKE YET ANOTHER FORM
OF CULTURE SHOCK. Chances are,
though, that you’ll be teaching at a fairly
basic level, with “business English” just
meaning “English” with an emphasis
on business-specific vocabulary and
some specific forms of formal writing.
If you do have a corporate back-
ground, you may need to de-jargon
your language somewhat and fo-
cus on the fundamentals of teaching
English. There’s not much point run-
ning a class on writing reports when
the students are still struggling with
basic tenses. Either way, there are a
few ways to help make those first few
classes a success.
HINTS FOR BECOMING
A SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESS ENGLISH
TEACHER FROM THE
START
1
EXPLAIN THE POINT
If an activity doesn’t obviously
practice a recent grammar point or
such like, it is worth explaining the
purpose to the class, particularly when
you start. In contrast to many other
countries, especially in the Americas,
activities that appear to be mostly for
fun and just happen to practice a bit
of English probably won’t get the best
reception in Russia. Such activities
usually have a valid learning objec-
tive, but make sure your students ap-
preciate what it is.
2
USE RELEVANT EXAMPLES
Your students are learning Eng-
lish to advance their careers (quite of-
ten it’s simply a requirement of their
job or the job they’d like) so they are
liable to want classes that obviously
and specifically address their needs.
Have a business angle on most of
your activities, which certainly doesn’t
mean that you can’t use ridiculous
characters or witty twists.
12
This involves using more of your own
activities and less of those suggested
in the course book, if you’re using
one. English language textbooks are
usually aimed at teenagers or a very
general audience. Specifically busi-
ness-English books might have more
relevant activities, but the drawback
is that these tend to be extremely dry
and not ideal for people that have just
done a day’s work.
I always create most of my own ac-
tivities, using any course books (and
you don’t always get one) as a rough
guide. It sounds like more work but
you’ll have better classes and you can
adapt and reuse your material indefi-
nitely for new classes.
3
BE HONEST ABOUT YOUR
OWN GRAMMAR
If you are uncertain of your ability to
explain grammatical structures out-
side of what you prepared for the
class, teaching business classes in
Russia might not be for you. An inside-
out knowledge of the nuts and bolts
of English doesn’t come as standard
just because you’re a native speaker
with a bachelor’s degree. Your stu-
dents will almost certainly pick up on
any uncertainty and, while you might
be an excellent teacher, you risk be-
ing viewed as less than competent. If
you are unsure, take a job at a school
that caters more to younger learners
and/or people wanting conversation
classes.
4
DRESS THE PART
This isn’t always 100% essen-
tial. An experienced and confident
teacher might get away with teach-
ing in a jeans and t-shirt ensemble,
but you are in a business environ-
ment, sometimes actually at your
students’ workplace, and looking the
part means one less thing for a new
teacher to worry about.
This translates as a suit, or at least
shirt and tie, for men and smart busi-
ness wear for women. I didn’t go as far
as business suits and I definitely drew
the line at those with skirts, but I stuck
to reasonably smart trouser and top
combinations, which was pretty much
the same as my female students.
Obviously, dressing really badly or
incredibly casually, although it might
give your students some entertain-
ment, isn’t particularly advisable.
Leave the stained jogging bottoms,
hilarious novelty ties, hideously clash-
ing shirts and torn shorts in your home
or, preferably, in your bin.
5
KEEP AWAY
FROM POLITICS
You can certainly have interesting
discussions about politics with your
friends in Russia (try not to combine
politics with vodka) but keep them out
of the classroom. There are several
reasons for this, with the most obvious
being that your view of Russian poli-
tics and history might not be the same
as your students’, and they might not
altogether like a North American or
Western European being critical.
The other main, and possibly more
important (because you could well
be an excellent diplomat), reason is
that your students may not agree with
each other. Since chances are high
that they, or some of them, work to-
gether, bringing up political issues,
whether anybody is outspoken or not,
can create a new tension in the class
and outside. You thought you had an
interesting business-related news ar-
ticle to work from -- you find you now
have an increasingly awkward class.
6
WAKE UP
YOUR STUDENTS
The subject matter might seem dry
and learning a language is tough at
the best of times, but that means an
essential part of your job is to liven
things up. You try learning a difficult
language after a long day spent fight-
ing spreadsheets and avoiding a pe-
dantic boss. Add on a tedious teacher
with a seemingly never-ending supply
of grammar drills and you’d almost
certainly fall asleep.

“Livening up” doesn’t mean party

games or constant running around,
which have the tendency to make
people think you’re confusing them
with 8 year olds. It does mean keep-
ing things interesting and dynamic.
For early morning and evening class-
es in particular, some sort of physi-
cal activity at the start does help and
doesn’t have to be in the kindergarten
style. For example, there are an end-
less number of variations on the ac-
tivity that involves everybody standing
up, talking to one other person and
then moving on. Certain team games,
provided they have an obvious point
– see above –, also work well, espe-
cially when done against the clock.

7 HAVE OCCASIONAL
SOCIAL EVENTS
People who don’t already know each
usually make friends in their language
class and you’ll probably make friends
with some of your students. On top
of this, it pays to organise the occa-
sional event, such as a night out or a
lunch at the weekend, for one class
or several, telling students that the
plan is to practice English in a social
setting. I found the “speaking Eng-
lish” part rarely lasts long, although
you’ll doubtless get to practice your
Russian, but these events pay off in
terms of class bonding. For as long
as the “speaking English” part lasts,
it also does practice an essential skill
for people working or wanting to work
in an international environment, i.e.
sociable chit chat in English with near
strangers.

13
 Teaching in Russia? 7 Questions
to Ask Yourself Before You Go
Russia is unlikely to be right across
the border from you and requires a
fair amount of wading through paper-
work to get your stay organised.
Spending a year or more teaching
there is a pretty major commitment,
so if you made your choice through
stabbing at a map of the world with a
pin and your eyes closed, there are
some questions to ask yourself before
you get started. None of these is nec-
essarily a deciding factor, but they are
worth thinking about before you rush
off.
CONSIDER THE
FOLLOWING BEFORE
PACKING:
1 WHAT SORT OF TEACHING
DO YOU WANT TO DO?
In certain countries, Greece for ex-
ample, ESL teachers are expected to
teach mostly children and teenagers,
perhaps with a sprinkling of adults.
In Russia things are the other way
around, which certainly suited me as,
although I don’t mind children, I prefer
them in small doses. In most Russian
language schools, you’ll be expected
to teach a variety of classes, includ-
ing some children, but there is often
an emphasis on adults, especially for
business English. Think about the sort
of classes you are most comfortable
with before going, and have a list of
questions ready to ask each school
that you talk to.
2 WHAT IS YOUR TEACHING
EXPERIENCE?
How you are expected to teach var-
ies from school to school – students
do expect you to know your grammar
but you’ll probably have a great deal
of freedom in how you organise your
classes. This is not a country where
you’ll normally be assigned a textbook
and just expected to work through it,
which is great for experienced teach-
ers but might not be so good if you are
new and unsure.
14
If you are new to ESL teaching but
have a solid background in some oth-
er sort of teaching, such as through
working in a college or high school,
you should be fine. If you are strug-
gling with teaching itself, Russia is
not where I’d recommend finding your
feet.
This also applies to finding a job in
the first place. Japan, for example,
has well-organised programs for
young graduates, not necessarily
teachers, who want to work there for
a year teaching English, but Russian
schools, especially the better ones,
value experience.
In fact, if a school seems overly keen
to employ you despite you having
virtually no experience, this should
sound a warning bell indicating a
disreputable set-up or a school on
the verge of bankruptcy. The reason
management are so keen to get you
signed up is because they intend to
pay you very little indeed - experi-
enced teachers tend to negotiate and
ask lots of awkward questions while
new ones are a lot easier to take ad-
vantage of.
3 WHAT IS YOUR
TRAVELLING EXPERIENCE?
If you are well-travelled and adapt
quickly to new places, you’ll find Rus-
sia pretty straightforward to navigate.
On the other hand, if you have never
been further than the capital city of
your own country, and once, when
you felt very adventurous, just over
the border to the next one, you might
find it somewhat intimidating. You’d
be flying a long way to a country with
a noticeably different culture and
completely different language. You’ll
also probably be working in one of
the world’s largest cities. All this could
be a bit much if you are also new to
teaching.
4 WHAT DO YOU LIKE DOING
IN YOUR SPARE TIME?
When moving to a country for an
extended period of time, it pays to
consider what you like doing in your
free time. Obviously, there tends to
be plenty of places to eat, drink and
generally socialise, but think about
your other interests, if you have any.
Russia is vast, but chances are you’ll
be based in either Moscow or St Pe-
tersburg, which are both marvellous
if your tastes run to art and architec-
ture. You won’t, however, get many
chances to go surfing, scuba diving or
snorkelling and your wildlife-watching
opportunities will be pretty much lim-
ited to feeding the sparrows outside
McDonalds.
5 HOW ARE YOUR
LANGUAGE SKILLS?
While not the most difficult language
for English speakers, that honour
probably goes to Mandarin Chinese,
Russian is certainly not the easiest
either. There is little vocabulary in
common, you almost certainly don’t
already have a scattering of passive
knowledge of the language, there is a
new alphabet to learn and the gram-
mar is different (and complex). Since
speaking a language adds enor-
mously to your experience of a place,
and might be essential in the smaller
towns, be honest about whether you
could learn it to a moderate level in the
time available. Easier languages for
English speakers are Spanish, which
is pretty similar, German, French, Ital-
ian and their relatives.
6
HOW DO YOU VIEW
RUSSIA?
North America (and Western Europe
to a lesser extent) and Russia have
a long and not always especially ami-
cable history. Stereotypes rub off on
the general population of both sides,
and while actual experience changes
your views, the ideas you start with
colour your perception. If you have a
fairly strong default feeling of Russia
as being somewhat sinister, probably
because you read way too many 80s
spy novels, you might not have the
best time there, at least not if it is your
first ESL job. Your first experience
teaching abroad is going to be way
out of your comfort zone under any
circumstances, so you may wish to
consider a country you already know
well (and not from Le Carre novels)
and feel comfortable in.

7 WHAT DO YOU WANT

TO DO NEXT?
I am not great about planning beyond
next Tuesday but lots of people, I hear,
have rough plans of how they want
their career to pan out. This is worth
thinking about while you decide on the
details of your Russian sojourn, and
indeed whether it is the right country
for you just now.

Consider the sort of teaching experi-

ence you want to get. For example,
do you plan to work up the ladder in
teaching business English, do you
want the opportunity to start train-
ing colleagues, do you want experi-
ence managing teenage classrooms,
and so on. Note that smaller schools
might allow, or expect, you to take on
a wider role than big ones, which may
or may not be what you want.

15
The Challenges of Teaching
Abroad: Getting Started in Mexico
WORKING IN MÉXICO SOUNDS LIKE
A DREAM: LIVING NEAR THE OCEAN,
HAVING A DRINK IN A HAMMOCK
WHILE THE BREEZE ROCKS YOU
AND THE OCEAN WAVES LAP UP ON
SHORE. SIGN ME UP!
There is always, however, the fine print
to consider. Teaching in México can be
a unique and enjoyable experience, but
as is the case with moving to any new
country, there are always the legalities
to consider. We decided to move to
México, and more specifically to Méri-
da, Yucatán (Mérida is a city of about a
million people in the state of Yucatán).
We are about 45 minutes away from
the beach by bus, pay very little for rent
and utilities, have access to all manner
of social and cultural activities, and can
walk safely through most parts of the
city.
THE CHALLENGES OF
TEACHING ABROAD:
GETTING STARTED IN
MÉXICO
1 FINDING A JOB
In many countries where jobs
teaching English as a second language
are in high demand, it is easy to find
work while you are still at home. México
can be a little bit trickier. Though there
are a multitude of options for teach-
ing in México, but you actually have to
get here first. Most people who teach
English as a foreign language seek out
jobs while at home, then organize all
the travel arrangements and job details
via email. However, in México there are
only a small percentage of jobs being
offered online. When coming to México
in hopes of teaching ESL, one of the
most important things to remember is
that the jobs are not widely advertised
on the internet or in the local media.
The best way to get a job is to have a
resume drawn up in both English and
Spanish, and also have a list of lan-
guage schools and business language
centers (to make this a bit easier, here
is a very helpful site for Mérida and the
Yucatán in general: www.yucatanliving.
com/daily-life/schools-in-Merida-Yucat-
an.htm). Your best bet is to go to each
16
school and be prepared to interview.
Having CELTA, TOEFL or any other
type of teaching certifications is an ad-
vantage, but is not widely recognized
or required in México. Most employers
simply require someone who speaks
English as a first language. Most
schools will have a program developed
for teaching languages which they ex-
pect their teachers to follow. Another
thing to remember is that you will get
better wages if you work for a university
or preparatory school rather than the
language institutes. It is also important
to remember that most schools will not
offer full time hours at first and it may be
necessary to accept jobs from several
different schools to pay the bills.
2
FINDING HOUSING
Another issue you will have to
deal with is finding housing. You will
encounter the same problems finding
housing from outside the country as
with searching for a job. Most of the
houses for rent or sale online target for-
eigners and vacationers which means
they all more expensive than other op-
tions intended for nationals seeking
housing. Although there are a few local
sites similar to craigslist in the United
States, they are very limited. Looking
online for a house is one of the worst
ideas when moving to Mérida, be-
cause most of the places that are for
rent simply have a small sign that says
“se renta” (for rent). When I moved to
Mérida, I spent about a month simply
walking through the streets in particu-
lar areas we were interested in, jotting
down numbers that I saw everywhere.
It is also possible to charter a taxi for
a couple hours for around $250-300
MXP which is about $25-30 USD de-
pending on the fluctuating exchange
rate (Usually between 11 and 12 Pesos
to 1 USD). I spent a month looking for
places to rent because I wanted to be
near the center of town, but far enough
that I could escape the busy city nois-
es. Another thing that is peculiar about
Mérida is that many people will charge
one month’s rent, one month’s deposit
and one month’s “abogado fees” (law-
yer fees for drawing up a rental agree-
ment). You will also have to watch out
for people who tell you that you need
to have a guarantor or cosigner for the
rental agreement. As a foreign citizen
this is not necessary. All you will need,
regardless of where you are renting, will
be the money for rent and lawyer fees.
The lawyer will also need a photocopy
of your passport and immigration paper
(small slip of paper that the immigration
officers slip into your passport). You
must be sure not to lose this paper be-
cause when you leave the country you
need to present this paper and if you
do not have it, there is a fee of about
$100 USD. Some sites which may be
helpful for finding houses and furniture
would be: www.vivanuncios.com.mx/,
and www.olx.com.mx/.
3
STAY HERE LEGALLY
When you enter the country on
a tourist visa, you automatically get
a pass to stay in México for up to six
months. After six months, you must
leave for at least 48 hours before you
can return. After the 48 hours (from
Mérida it is easiest to cross into Be-
lize about a five hour bus ride away),
you may return and enter for another 6
months. One of the issues with work-
ing in México is that individuals cannot
apply for a work visa. You will need to
come to México, apply for jobs, and
have your employer file at the immigra-
tion office for your work visa. This typi-
cally takes 6-8 weeks to process, but
can vary depending on the company
or institute where you will be working.
In order to receive your visa, you will
need to leave the country and present
your documentation to your embassy
in another country since you cannot
physically be in México when your im-
migration status changes from tourist
to worker. One of the interesting things
is that many schools will not bother
with this process and would rather pay
you “under the table” claiming that you
are teaching in exchange for Spanish
lessons or for volunteer work to save
themselves the hassle of going through
the visa process. While this is a com-
mon practice, there are penalty fees
paid by both the institute and individual
if caught. It is best to insist upon ob-
taining a work visa to avoid deporta-
tion and losing the ability to work le-
gally in México.

4 THINGS TO REMEMBER
IN MÉXICO
Many things in México move a lot
slower than they do in the United
States. Don’t get frustrated if some-
one takes three days to respond to
an email. You need to remember TIM
(This Is México). Keep calm and grab
a beer to cool off. Remember that tip-
ping is customary here and 10 percent
is an acceptable number, in compari-
son to the United States, most things
are cheaper and come in larger quan-
tities. Buying a cell phone here may
be very helpful since many people do
not post their email addresses in the
local classifieds or on their signs on
their rental properties. You will pay the
same rates as in the United States for
smart phones, but you can find cell
phones starting from approximately
$18 USD.

Remember that when moving to Méxi-

co you need to be prepared to stay
somewhere in a hotel, vacation rent-
al, hostel or with friends for at least a
few weeks while house hunting or job
hunting.

Remember that the local classifieds

in the newspapers as well as walk-
ing around will be your best tools to
finding houses and jobs. Staying here
with or without a visa will have its ups
and downs, however it is not of the
utmost importance. Remember that
TIM (This Is México). Just sit back in
that hammock on the beach, grab an
icy brew or a margarita and have fun
here in México.

17
 Often Talked About, Seldom
Found: Private Lessons in Mexico
TEACHING ENGLISH IN MÉRIDA,
YUCATÁN (MÉXICO) CAN BE A FUN
AND EXCITING EXPERIENCE.
You will meet all manner of people
who wish to learn English either for
personal growth or for business pur-
poses so they can claim to be bilin-
gual. You must always remember that
the rate of pay is usually a bit lower
than back at home. Many teachers in
schools will make anywhere from 80-
100 pesos per hour (7-9 USD), howev-
er depending on the lifestyle you want,
this may not be enough for you. One
of the beautiful things about teach-
ing English privately is that you get to
give students lots of attention and you
make friends with the locals. You can
offer to teach in your home or in theirs,
or, if you are uncomfortable with either
of those options, you can also teach
somewhere public, like a park or mall.
I will give you a couple tips on how to
find work and how to give private les-
sons in Mérida, México.
SOME IDEAS ABOUT
ONE-TO-ONE
CLASSES IN MEXICO
THAT WORK
1
WHERE TO GET STUDENTS
It is often hard to get new stu-
dents for private lessons because of
the culture of the people. Oftentimes,
it is one of the most challenging things
about teaching in Mérida. One of the
first things you will need to do after get-
ting here, will be to get a phone. You
can get a cell phone for 200-5000 MXP
(18-460 USD) depending on what you
want. The 200 MXP phones will be ba-
sic and give you text and talk services.
Some of the best ways to find private
students would be to post an ad in
the local newspaper’s classifieds sec-
tion. There are many local parks with
bulletin boards where you could put
up flyers with your phone number for
private lessons in town. You can use
the local classifieds websites such as
(http://www.vivanuncios.com.mx/, and
www.olx.com.mx). They work in a very
similar fashion as craigslist. Another
way is through working for a school
18
at first and letting your students know
that you also offer private lessons if
they have friends or family who may
be interested. The best way, however,
in Mérida is to go to the Mérida English
Library on Monday nights from 7-9 for
a gathering of expats and locals called
conversaciones. This is where people
come together and sit around a table
to practice their Spanish and English
skills. It is a great place to meet people
and get to know them before giving
lessons.
2
CREATING
A COMFORTABLE
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
As I mentioned earlier, one of the best
things about being a private tutor is
you become friends with the locals
and you may either be invited to teach
in their homes, or you can invite them
to teach in your home depending on
your level of comfort with them. Most
times the first few lessons (what I like
to call the evaluation period) would
be given outside the homes in a more
public setting such as one of the hun-
dreds of local parks (which often have
internet access, shaded areas, charg-
ing stations, and restaurants nearby).
These first few sessions are the most
important as you need to develop a
certain level of trust and camaraderie
in order to make them feel comfortable
enough, wither to invite you into their
homes of for them to feel comfortable
enough to come to your home. As I
said though, there is always the op-
tion of keeping the lesson setting more
public which is also widely accepted
since all parks have seating as well as
the amenities I pointed out before.
3
PERSONALIZING LESSONS
When giving private lessons to
people as opposed to teaching in a
language institute or school, it is impor-
tant to personalize the lessons. This
is done after the first few evaluation
sessions where you find out the pro-
spective student’s level of proficiency,
what it is that they want to learn about,
and what types of things they like.
This is important, because if you are
charging more money, you cannot be
spoon-feeding the same lessons that
an absolute beginner would be receiv-
ing. Personalization will encourage the
student to develop his or her skills be-
cause they would be doing things they
enjoyed and learning in a way that ap-
peals to their inner student. 7For ex-
ample if you are teaching someone
who is relatively proficient and enjoys
movies but is lacking in the ability to
form grammatically correct sentences
and has improper syntax, one of the
ways you can teach is by making them
watch a 15-20 minute clip of a movie
or video which you have already seen.
You could make a short quiz based
on the language in the video and then
have the student do the quiz, after
which you could go over it and help
him or her to fix their mistakes. Then
you can talk about the mistakes and
why he or she made them and figure
out how they can improve.
4 WHAT TO CHARGE
Working for a school will typi-
cally result in payment of about 80-
100 MXP per hour which often makes
teaching English privately more lucra-
tive if you can have a steady stream of
students. Most of the clientele you will
receive as a private English teacher
will be upper middle class Mexicans
which will result in you being able to
charge higher fees. Typically as a pri-
vate instructor, classes would run for
about 1 hour per session and you can
charge anywhere from 100-300 MXP
(9-25 USD) depending on the types of
lessons you will give, how much time
the students need, whether they are
beginners, intermediate level, or pro-
ficient level students. English teach-
ers with higher Spanish proficiency
will be able to charge more for their
services than someone who does not
have this competency. Most times, pri-
vate teachers will offer the first couple
lessons at a discounted rate in order
to assess the student and determine
their level of proficiency then adjust
the price as needed.
WHEN TEACHING IN MÉRIDA, IT IS
IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT
YOU MAY NOT ALWAYS EARN THE
AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU ARE
ACCUSTOMED TO AND SO YOU MAY
NEED TO EITHER TAKE MULTIPLE
JOBS AT MULTIPLE SCHOOLS AND
JUGGLE THE HOURS OR, GO FOR THE
PRIVATE LESSON OPTION.
You must always remember to make
use of the local media including lo-
cal websites, local bulletin boards in
parks, local gatherings, as well as the
classifieds section in the newspapers.
Since you will be teaching individuals,
you must remember to always make
them comfortable and ensure that
they trust you and like you as a per-
son, otherwise they will not hire you
as a private teacher. One of the most
important things to remember is also
that your lessons must be personal-
ized and tailored to suit their needs,
wants, and interests as well as their
level of proficiency. By doing this you
will be able to set up a long term plan
and keep them as recurring students
as well as be able to charge more for
your private tutoring sessions. Also,
TIM (This Is México), remember that
things won’t just happen overnight
and you will need to be patient be-
cause you might not get students
overnight. Good luck and hope to see
you here soon.

19
 Effective Eccentricity: Alternative
Teaching Methods in Mexico
THERE ARE MANY DIFFER-
ENT STRATEGIES AND TEACHING
METHODS THAT CAN BE USED AS A
TEACHER.
Teaching English however, can some-
times limit the ways in which you can
present information to your students.
Today I will talk to you about some
eccentric methods which work espe-
cially well in México. The internet ser-
vice and availability in México is top
notch which allows for more options to
utilize the internet as a teaching tool.
You must be careful however, not to
let your private students or classroom
students figure out how to teach them-
selves English without a teacher, oth-
erwise you will be out of a job. One of
the great ways you can use the inter-
net as a teaching tool is through Sky-
pe, and looking for interesting word
games and activities which you can
use in class. Lastly, my favorite alter-
native method to teach students is by
using field trips as an excellent tool to
bond with students, engage them and
increase their eagerness to learn.
WHAT METHODS ONE
CAN USE TEACHING
ENGLISH IN MEXICO
AND ALL AROUND
THE GLOBE
1 SKYPE
Skype is a great tool for teach-
ing English to either private students
or groups of students, especially
overseas. One of the reasons this
method is highly effective is because
it allows a higher comfort level since
they can learn from their own homes.
When students are face to face with
someone, they may be more reluctant
to share ideas, especially in larger
groups such as those in the classroom
setting. You can use Skype to initiate
and moderate conversations if you are
teaching a group of people or for a sin-
gle student. You can also use Skype
to practice conversational skills while
using the internet to look for interest-
ing topics for discussion. You can also
have your students research articles
or websites involving topics that they
20
want to talk about beforehand (in Eng-
lish) and have them send it to you and
any other students for each session.
This will ensure that everyone is pre-
pared for the conversation, and if they
aren’t, they always have the option
to open it alongside their Skype win-
dow. They also will be able to use the
translate feature in their web browser
to help them to better understand any
vocabulary or concepts while oth-
ers are reading. This option must be
used cautiously since it is possible the
student(s) may become too reliant on
the translate feature. Skype also en-
gages teens and young adults who al-
ready use the program as a social tool
since they are familiar with the pro-
gram and can help explain it to other
students that may not be as techno-
logically savvy. You may be wondering
how you would benefit as the teacher
and get paid though. Don’t worry:
there are always methods to ensure
compensation. You can meet with the
group in person and collect money or
you can use an online service such as
PayPal.
2 GAMES
There are many websites with
games that you can download in or-
der to help your students better under-
stand the topics of each lesson and
practice using new vocabulary. You
can also encourage your students to
play these games on their own. They
are great for both beginners and for
more advanced students. I will pro-
vide you with three of my favorite web-
sites. The first one is http://www.esol-
help.com/esl-games.html which has
games related to grammar, vocabu-
lary, spelling, word search and much
more. This site is great if you have in-
termediate level students. The games
are very simple and don’t require high
speed internet or high end graphics to
play, which is helpful in areas that may
not have high speed internet access.
The second site I enjoy using to teach
students and assign what I like to call
“gamework,” is http://www.cosmeo.
com/bysubject.cfm?english. It is sup-
ported by the Discovery Channel and
has many games for children as well
as beginning English students. It has
games related to almost every single
aspect of the English language, from
nouns and verbs, to more complicated
concepts such as tenses and syntax.
The last site is the one I use most often
to make learning fun for the students.
It is http://www.eslgamesworld.com/.
In my opinion this is the best site be-
cause they have both games that you
can play online as well as many re-
sources for downloadable games you
can play in class in Microsoft Word,
PDF as well as Power Point format.
3
FIELD TRIPS
Field trips are an excellent way
to get your more mature students
(typically 16 and up) to become more
engaged in their learning. This type
or teaching method is ideal when you
have a class of 3-10 people so you are
not overburdened. In México there are
many places where you can go includ-
ing cenotes, Mayan ruins, anthropol-
ogy museums, art galleries, historical
buildings, and cathedrals. When you
arrange a field trip to one of these
places, you must make sure that the
majority of the class has never been
there. This is to ensure that the stu-
dents experience something new. The
best way to get them to learn when
they are at the site is to assign them
reading homework in both Spanish
and English in order for them to have
a basic knowledge of the destination.
When you get on the bus or when you
meet at the sites, you set out one rule,
which would be that no one is allowed
to speak Spanish among themselves
or the staff at the sites. What you can
do at museums and galleries, is have
them read the signs that are posted in
Spanish and translate them to English
for the group and ensure that every-
one takes a turn.
Another exercise I utilize for tours is
to request a tour guide who speaks
English in order to practice listening
to the language. It is important that
the guide speak slowly and clearly,
however it may still be necessary to
translate more difficult words and con-
cepts. One of the places I enjoy most
in Mérida is a Mayan site called Dzi-
bilchaltun because it is not very far
from the city and you receive special
group rates for students. Each sign is
also posted in English, Spanish and
Yucatec Maya so that all visitors can
fully appreciate the history of the site.
The Students can practice reading in
English while still having the Span-
ish translation: you can walk around
through the site while giving your les-
son, then swim in the icy cold cenote.
After the site tour, you then move on
to the museum where they can learn
more about their culture and also do
translation from the many signs post-
ed on the displays.

TEACHERS OFTEN USE THE SAME

MATERIAL AND THE SAME METHODS
TO TEACH FOR YEARS ON END.
After a while, it becomes outdated
and students no longer relate to the
information because the teacher is
unwilling to adapt. You must always
try to come up with new and innova-
tive ways to present the same infor-
mation to your students and that’s
why I think that these three methods
will help boost proficiency and make
learning fun for the students. It is im-
portant to remember the huge role
technology plays in today’s world and
to incorporate new programs and
equipment into your classes. Skype
is ideal for giving lessons from home
and it will help your students to feel
more at ease since they can do it from
the comfort of their own home. It is
also convenient for you since you do
not need to leave your home to con-
duct the lesson. Online video games
are a great tool for beginners and chil-
dren since it keeps them active and
involved in the lesson. You can also
download many tools and teaching
aids to give you an edge in the class-
room and help you stand out. Lastly,
field trips, in my opinion are highly
underrated and should be used more
often as a teaching tool. You must
remember not to coordinate a group
larger than you can handle: other-
wise you will give yourself too much
work and there won’t be enough time
to give each student the appropriate
attention to maximize their learning
potential.

21
 The Final Destination: Preparing
Students for TOEFL in Mexico
AS AN ENGLISH TEACHER IN MÉXICO,
YOU OFTEN ENCOUNTER STUDENTS
WHO HAVE STUDIED ENGLISH FOR
MANY YEARS EITHER IN SCHOOL OR
HAVING HAD PRIVATE LESSONS.
Many of them aspire to complete the
Test of English as a Foreign Lan-
guage, or TOEFL, which is designed
to assess the individual’s competency
and ability to use English in the aca-
demic and professional setting. For
students planning to continue their
education abroad, many universities
require this as part of the admissions
process. I have compiled a few re-
sources that I use to help my students
to maximize their level of readiness
prior to taking the test. While a ma-
jority of the student’s success or fail-
ure is reliant upon the amount of time
they invest to preparing for the test,
there are a few helpful hints that can
help build their confidence and en-
sure they maximize the time needed
to complete the test.
IMPORTANT TIPS FOR
TOEFL PREPARATION
1 READING COMPREHEN-
SION
Students who have reached this point
in their study of the English language
must have a high level of proficiency
in oral, aural, and written skills. They
likely converse fluently and are able
to express abstract ideas with ease.
At this point, they need instruction in
how to maximize reading comprehen-
sion and to skim through large articles
in order to find the answers for spe-
cific questions. The most important
concept that is often forgotten by
even native English speakers is that
the main idea is most likely introduced
in the first sentence of the paragraph.
By directing students to search for the
main idea, they can quickly find the
answers they are seeking for specific
questions. While it is important to read
the entire passage before answering,
focusing their attention to the central
ideas will reduce the amount of time
needed to find the correct answer.
Many students spend too much time
22
re-reading entire articles for a single
answer and lose precious time need-
ed for more difficult parts of the test.
2
GRAMMAR
One of the most frustrating por-
tions of the test is understanding the
minute differences between grammar
and syntax. This is where most mis-
takes occur, usually confusing verb
tenses and other various parts of the
English language. It is very important
that the student understands the ter-
minology used for various aspects of
language. Terms such as synonym,
antonym, adverb, adjective and prep-
osition are often confused and cause
the student to answer incorrectly. As
part of your instruction, you should
review the basic terminology for vari-
ous components of speech and clarify
the differences between verb tenses.
Also, explaining concepts such as
compare/contrast and definitions will
better prepare them for standard-
ized tests which commonly use this
structure to create the multiple choice
questions for the test.
3 TIME MANAGEMENT
Another common mistake is the
inefficient use of the time allotted for
the test. Students who suffer from test
anxiety may freeze during a difficult
portion of the test and waste valuable
time. If a student feels prepared and
confident in their abilities and com-
mand of the English language, they
will have a higher level of success
overall. The first tip for students is to
skip any questions they absolutely do
not know and continue on answering
the questions that they do know. If
there is enough time, the student can
always come back to the question
later. It is also vital that the student
reads each question and understands
what is being asked before attempt-
ing to answer. If a student rushes
through the questions, they may mis-
understand what is being asked and
answer incorrectly based upon what
they think they read. Worse yet, they
may realize the mistake later in the
test and return to questions they have
already answered.
4
CONTEXT CLUES
There will undoubtedly be ques-
tions on the test that the student will
not know the answer. There are still
a few techniques that students can
use to improve their chances to an-
swer the question correctly. For ex-
ample, if the student does not know
the meaning of a specific word, they
can look at the rest of the sentence
or paragraph where it occurs to infer
meaning. Sometimes the definition of
the word is restated in the same sen-
tence or paragraph. There may also
be a common prefix, suffix or root
word which suggest at least a portion
of the word’s meaning. For questions
which require the student to fill in the
blank, simply understanding what part
of the sentence is missing will allow
them to take an educated guess from
the options provided.
5 SAMPLE TESTS
Sample tests are by far the most
effective way to prepare for the TOEFL
examination. All of my Mexican stu-
dents enjoy the sample tests because
after two or three of them throughout
the course, they see a distinct im-
provement. Many free websites pro-
vide free sample tests and questions
for students such as http://www.exa-
menglish.com and http://www.stuff.
co.uk/toefl.htm. For this reason, we
encourage students to take the tests
on their own. There are thousands
of sites engineered to help students
prepare for the test. Many of these
sites provide both paper and elec-
tronic tests students can take online.
You can also administer the test dur-
ing study sessions, and then review
the answers with the student or class
to ensure that they understand their
mistakes. By reviewing the questions
which students struggle with, you
can focus on the areas in which they
need the most help and clarify all their
questions prior to the exam. Several
of the sites also provide games to in-
crease memory retention, focus, and
speed. Sample tests allow students to
see the question formats used for the to see you in Mexico soon.
test which will build their confidence
prior to the actual test. When students
feel that they know what to expect, it
reduces anxiety and increases their
chances for success.

The TOEFL examination represents

the culmination for many English
teachers and students. It provides a
standard by which they gauge their
fluency and acceptance among many
international universities. Students at
this advanced level must be proficient
in the English language and will need
methods that are more specialized in
order to succeed. It is important for
the student to identify their strengths
and weaknesses so that each lesson
can be focus on the areas in which
they need the most help. The stu-
dent is ultimately responsible for the
total amount of time and preparation
they invest prior to the exam. There
are still important methods we as ESL
teachers can introduce to students
to increase their performance on the
exam. Clear explanations for termi-
nology and the differentiation between
the parts of speech will ensure that
the student understands what each
question is asking. Teaching students
to skim passages for main ideas will
maximize the time they are given. It
is also important that students simply
pass questions they absolutely do not
know the answers to: they can always
return to the questions and use con-
text clues to make an educated guess,
but it is best to move on to questions
they are confident in answering.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO

REMEMBER IS THAT THE STU-
DENT’S CONFIDENCE WILL ULTI-
MATELY DETERMINE IF THEY ARE
SUCCESSFUL.
If the student feels prepared and
knows what to expect, they are less
likely to suffer from test anxiety and
perform to the best of their abilities.
Sample tests are the most effective
way to build confidence since the pro-
vide samples from previous tests. It
provides a glimpse into the future and
they will understand how the test is
formatted. As a teacher, you will also
be able to assess what areas the stu-
dent is struggling in and can focus
your lessons to their specific needs.
Ultimately, our goal as teachers is to
ensure that our students are confident
they will succeed based upon our
preparation. I hope this was an inter-
esting read and helpful to you. I hope

23
The Interactive Environment:
Classroom Hints for Mexico
THERE ARE MANY OPPORTUNITIES
AS AN ESL TEACHER LIVING AND
WORKING IN MERIDA, MEXICO.
One of the first things you will need to
decide is whether you would like to teach
in a school or as a private teacher. The
peak time to look for work in México is
during the autumn months, though Eng-
lish teachers are usually in demand all
year. If you decide to teach in a school,
there is a wide array of choices through-
out Merida. Regardless of whether you
work in a public school or a private
school, in a university or in a preparatory
school, there are some basic guidelines
that I will discuss below that will help you
to become an effective teacher in Méxi-
co.
HOW TO BECOME AN
EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE
INSTRUCTOR
1
WARM-UP
The warm-up section of the class
would be the beginning where you intro-
duce your topic to the class. It involves
all the notes you have prepared on the
board for your students. If you choose
to do the warm-up by simply writing the
notes on the board, it is important that you
outline the main ideas you will be cover-
ing during the class. Introduce the struc-
tural layout for grammar or other aspects
of your lesson. This can also be done in
the form of an activity or a game. This
form of introduction is ideal as it tends to
act as an icebreaker and it promotes stu-
dent participation in the classroom. For
example, I use a game called word ten-
nis. I give a general category and ask the
students to give examples which relate to
the category given. Each student or team
takes a turn offering an example, but the
first person or team who cannot think of
a term awards a point to their opponent.
If we are discussing careers, I will put
the word career or jobs on the board and
then have the students give examples.
It relies solely on student participation
and encourages them to think in English.
Other ideas could be adapting the game
‘hot potato’ where I attach questions to
the potato and whoever ends up with the
potato must read the question out loud in
English and respond to the question as
well. The questions are always relevant
to the topic being discussed.
24
2 VOCABULARY
In this section, I usually go through
my lesson plan the day before class and
compile a selection of words that I be-
lieve are central to the topic or are unfa-
miliar to the students. At the beginning
of class, I write them on the board and
then have the students browse through
the section of the text we will be covering
that day to add more words that are not
already included in the list. Next, I find
it effective to ask the students to try to
guess the meanings of the words I have
placed on the board. They can use the
text to deduce the meaning using con-
text clues. This engages the students
and encourages their independence
and confidence in using the language.
If they are unsuccessful with guessing
the meanings, I will write it on the board
in both English and Spanish. I then give
them a short assignment in which they
must use their new vocabulary words
in sentences. I then ask the students to
share their sentences with the rest of the
class.
3 ACTIVITY
The activity portion of the class
is designed specifically to reinforce the
lessons being taught that day. I find that
when you create interactive games such
as those found on www.eslgamesworld.
com/, learning becomes fun and inter-
active for the students increasing the
memory retention for the lesson. I find
that when we use games like bingo and
word searches, they help to reinforce the
vocabulary. One of the best things about
teaching in a school in México is that
they usually have a pre-assigned text
book which offers several activity ideas.
I do find though, that the text is often the
central focus of the class and is often
overused, which is why it is important to
come up with new and innovative ways
to involve your students in the lessons.
Music is a very good tool to teach with,
especially music that is age appropriate
to your students. It allows them to con-
nect with the lesson and if it is music they
listen to on a regular basis, it will encour-
age them to try to translate lyrics outside
the classroom and learn the meaning of
the words.
4 PRACTICE
The practice section of the lesson
usually comes at the end of the class,
but should be used several times dur-
ing class if you are introducing a number
of topics. The portion applies the day’s
lesson topic and vocabulary in a con-
versational format. It is best to give the
students the opportunity to work on their
own to form sentences and create mini
conversations using the new material.
This encourages independence and al-
lows them to internalize and personalize
the information they are being taught,
rather than relying on a single person to
complete the activity for the group. Hav-
ing them fill out their workbook exercises
and task sheets is very effective since
they can take them home and review the
things they learned that day.
5 OTHER
USEFUL INFORMATION
It is very helpful for the students to en-
gage in oral exercises as well as written
and aural (listening exercises, especially
through the music or reading activities).
You always have to remember that stu-
dents must practice ALL THREE exercis-
es mentioned here because some stu-
dents are more proficient in one aspect
of the language than another. It is impor-
tant to spend time on each skill in order
for students to maximize the amount of
information they will retain. If there are
specific students that need extra help,
you can customize homework assign-
ments to each student. ALTHOUGH
MANY OF THESE POINTS ARE INTER-
DEPENDENT, THEY ARE ALL UNIQUE
AND ESSENTIAL FOR TEACHING IN
MÉXICO. Hands on experience and par-
ticipation are the best ways to get stu-
dents involved and excited about learn-
ing a new language. It is important to
have a good warm-up for each session
where you engage your students and
encourage class participation, especially
if it is an early morning class and every-
one is tired. It is important to introduce
your students to new vocabulary words
in each session to maximize the expo-
sure to the new language. Activities and
practice are two of the most important
aspects of each class as they will help
your students to internalize the informa-
tion you are presenting. You must get
them involved in the class and ensure
that they practice speaking, writing and
listening to English. I hope this has been
an informative and helpful read for you.
Hope to see you here in México soon.
10 Great Games to Use
with Kids in Japan
WHEN YOU START TEACHING KIDS
IN JAPAN, IT CAN BE DAUNTING TO
COME UP WITH EXCITING GAMES.
Fortunately, there are some tried-and-
tested games ready for you to use,
based on games already popular with
Japanese students and an exciting
and memorable way for them to prac-
tice the language you’ve taught them.
TRY THESE 10 GREAT
GAMES TO USE WITH
KIDS IN JAPAN
1
TELEPHONE RACE
You might know it as “Chinese
whispers”, they know it as “Dengon”,
but the idea is the same. Line up two
or more teams in front of the board,
with the front member of each team
holding a piece of chalk. Walk to the
back of the rows, and whisper or
show a word to the last member of
each team. They whisper the word
to the person in front of them, and so
on, until the kid at the front runs and
writes the word onto the board. You
can make it more complicated by giv-
ing whole sentences.
2
BINGO SHEETS
You can use the “bingo” idea in
a hundred ways. Each kid gets a grid
that they have to fill in, and when they
have a straight line they get a “bingo”
point (super prizes for filling the whole
grid)! Before the main game starts, fill
in the grid with possible answers, e.g.
months of the year or things that peo-
ple can/can’t do (play soccer, speak
Chinese etc). Then, kids go around
the class asking each other “When
is your birthday?” “Can you speak
Chinese?” or other appropriate ques-
tions. When the answer matches the
box (“January” “Yes, I can”) the kid
they asked signs their name in the
box. Even junior high kids can get ex-
cited by this.
3
KARUTA
Younger kids go crazy for this,
but don’t use it with fourth grade el-
ementary or younger, as they tend to
cry when they lose. Kids pair up and
sit opposite each other. Between them
are cards with your target vocabulary
– letters, numbers, fruit etc. Kids hold
their hands on their heads and wait
for you to give a word. Once you’ve
said a word, kids rush to slap the ap-
propriate card before their opponent.
The fastest gets to keep the card, until
there are none left and they add up
their points. Another way to do this is
to put an eraser between them, and to
give them a key word from the newly
learned vocabulary. Go through all the
words they’ve learned, throwing some
more in if you want. When you say
the key word, kids rush to grab the
eraser before their partner (and much
squealing ensues)!
4 7
SHIRITORI RACE
Shiritori is a game where you
start a word using the last sound from
the previous word, or for English, the
last letter. Write a word on the board
and let kids work in teams to come
up and write another English word on
there. To spice things up, divide the
board in two and get two rows to race
(passing the chalk back to the person
behind them and rejoining the row
from the back) – see how many words
each team gets in five minutes, or how
quickly they can reach 30 words etc. A
simpler version of this game is to get
teams to write the alphabet in the cor-
rect order before their opponents.
5
CRISS-CROSS QUESTIONS
With kids at their desks, pick a
line or row to stand up. Ask simple
questions that they should know, like
“What day is it today?” or “What food
do you like?” Let the student who rais-
es their hand first answer. If they an-
swer correctly, let them sit down. The
last kid left standing gets to choose
“line” or “row”, meaning that all the
kids in front and behind, or all the kids
to the left and right of them, stand up
to go through the same ordeal. Some
students struggle, so make sure you
give them really easy questions and
let them answer if they’ve been stand-
ing for a long time.
6
GO FISH!
(“DO YOU HAVE…?”)
Based on the classic card game –
kids have cards from a certain set and
must collect the rest of the set from
their classmates. You can do this by
having sets of four matching cards
(with target vocabulary) in circulation,
either throughout the whole class or
in smaller groups. If a student has at
least one card from a set, they choose
somebody to ask “Do you have <a ba-
nana>?” If the person they ask has
that card, they must give it to the one
who asked. If not, they can either pick
up more cards or walk away and ask
someone else (up to you).
CHARADES
(SMALLER KIDS)
Great for practicing emotions, animals
or actions – you can start yourself by
acting one out and getting kids to
guess which one it is. After a few turns,
ask for volunteers to come up and do
their own gesturing. In elementary
school, a lot of children were happy
to get up in front of everyone and do
this! You can give points to team who
guess correctly, or just keep it going
without rules.
8
FRUIT BASKET
Using fruit as an example –
each kid is given a fruit (either you tell
them, or give them a card). Make sure
everybody knows which fruits are in
use – keep it simple, four or five. Get
everybody to sit in a circle of chairs,
with one person standing in the mid-
dle. That person chooses a fruit – for
example, they shout “Apple!” and ev-
erybody who was given ‘apple’ has to
get up and quickly run to another seat,
while the person in the middle races
into the first empty seat they can see.
The idea is that somebody else ends
up in the middle, and chooses another
fruit. You can mix it up by saying two
or more fruits at once, and of course
you can make it more complicated for
25
 higher levels, e.g. “Stand up if your
birthday is in May” or “If you have a
cat!” Great with kids, but be careful of
overly-enthusiastic pushing and injury
potential.

9 QUIZ COMPETITIONS
Review new vocabulary and
grammar with quizzes. If you have ac-
cess to a TV screen and Powerpoint,
you can create a flashy, animated quiz
and arrange kids into teams. Even
third year junior high school students
get into this if you’re enthusiastic (and
funny) about it – things from “What’s
this?” with a photo, to “Which is cor-
rect?” from three possible sentences.
You can create spin-offs from any TV
quiz show you like, as long as it isn’t
too complicated – Jeopardy is a popu-
lar one to emulate.

10 ANYTHING
WITH “JANKEN”
Almost everything in Japan is decided
by “janken” – or rock, paper, scissors.
Teach them “rock, paper, scissors”
and add it to games for added excite-
ment. For example, if kids are walking
around the room asking each other
questions for a bingo game or similar,
let them “janken” first to decide who
asks the questions first. For younger
kids, a “game” can be as simple as
walking up to each other, doing “jan-
ken”, and the winner asking some-
thing like “can you ski?” getting their
answer, and moving on. You’ll be sur-
prised how exciting this can be!

FINALLY, REMEMBER TO KEEP IT

SIMPLE – YOU DON’T WANT TO
SPEND LONGER EXPLAINING THE
RULES THAN ACTUALLY PLAYING
THE GAMES!

26
Teaching Kids in Japan:
10 Do’s and Don’ts
Whether you’re teaching small kids
or teenagers, here are some point-
ers that will help you make the best of
your abilities, while avoiding any cul-
tural faux-pas!
HOW TO TEACH KIDS
IN JAPAN
1 DO BRING SOME
INTERESTING THINGS
FROM YOUR HOME COUNTRY
When conversation runs dry, or you
just want to get a reaction, busting
out photos from your home country, or
small things like money, can get them
excited. Don’t just show pictures of
your city – show your family, or what
a typical American/British home looks
like on the inside. Think of specific
things that don’t exist – or are very dif-
ferent - in Japan to spark conversa-
tion. Just don’t do this all the time, as
they might lose interest.
2 DON’T GIVE
A “THUMBS DOWN”
When your mutual vocabulary is lim-
ited, it’s natural – and encouraged
– to use gestures to communicate.
Using thumbs-up to indicate “yes” or
“good” is fine, and our usual instinct
is to reverse it – a thumbs-down – to
indicate “no” or “bad”. A friend of mine
did this with a class of small children,
and they burst out crying. The reason:
in Japan, this gesture can be very of-
fensive (something like “go to hell”).
Instead, cross your arms in front of
you to make an “X”.
3 DO INCORPORATE
POPULAR CHARACTERS
INTO YOUR GAMES
AND WORKSHEETS
It might seem a little nerdy, but sneak-
ing popular cartoon characters – both
Japanese (like Pikachu) and well-know
international (like Mickey Mouse) –
into your games and worksheets can
liven up a tired class. Smaller kids will
go crazy over a picture of Hello Kitty,
and even the older, moody kids will
manage a little smile (even if it’s be-
cause they think you’re a dork). For
grammar-related worksheets, you can
add a character with a speech bubble,
demonstrating the target language for
the lesson. Students also warm to you
when you share some of their inter-
ests, so showing that you’re familiar
with whatever they’re into is a good
way to win them over.
4 DON’T PUSH
FOR THEIR OPINIONS
I discovered early on that Japanese
people don’t like to give direct opin-
ions – they prefer to dance around
the topic, using “I’m not exactly sure
yet...” when they mean “no”. A lot of
ESL activities involve getting kids to
give an opinion, but take those role-
plays and debates into your average
Japanese classroom and you’ll be
met with an awkward silence. Nobody
wants to upset the status-quo by say-
ing something outlandish. Add to that
the general shyness of students as
they get older (and terrified of mak-
ing mistakes) and you’ll spend a lot of
time trying to get an answer.
While louder students might offer you
their opinion, remember that this is
not a culture where individualism is
encouraged.
5
DO BE PATIENT
AND ENCOURAGING
After years of being told that English
is hard and generally being discour-
aged by teachers who don’t really
know how to teach a second lan-
guage, many students are hesitant
when it comes to even the simplest
“My name is...”
On top of that, students who are great
at English will often hide their talents
for fear of being ridiculed. You’ll often
have to repeat things over and over,
and even then some students won’t
get it – or will pretend not to, to remain
part of the group. Be very patient,
praise small steps and don’t get angry
if they make mistakes.
6 DON’T PLAY HANGMAN
A classic go-to game to fill in
time, and one that many new teach-
ers think is a great idea. It might seem
overly “PC” but due to Japan’s high
suicide rate (and a story where a sui-
cide victim’s mother blamed the ALT
for playing Hangman with the class),
it’s generally a good idea to avoid
this game. Think about it: it’s a pretty
disturbing game, anyway. There are
plenty of alternatives you can play,
such as drawing one feature on a
scary monster for every wrong an-
swer, or erasing part of a picture (such
as petals on a flower).
7 DO RESPECT THE CULTURE
Although your students will be
curious about where you come from,
many kids have very little knowledge
of other countries and a lot of pride in
their own. If you disagree with the way
the Japanese do something, it’s best
to keep it to yourself. This even goes
for things that seem trivial – they won’t
expect you to like some of their food
(like “natto”), but complaining about
things in general - food, weather,
squat toilets – won’t win you any pop-
ularity. Kids will be amused to see you
“fitting in”, talking about how much
you love sushi and Arashi, and will be
glad that you enjoy their culture.
8 DON’T USE A TICK /
CHECK MARK
FOR CORRECT WORK!
Another seemingly small thing. When
marking work, we would usually use
an “X” for an incorrect answer, and
a tick/check for a correct one. How-
ever, the “tick” in Japan also denotes
an incorrect answer. Imagine how
demoralised those clever kids could
feel when you hand back their work,
covered in checks! The way to show
a correct answer is to draw a circle
around it or next to it.
27
 9 DO BE BUBBLY
AND CONFIDENT
No matter how listless your class of
teenagers seem, your job is to be bub-
bly, confident, and enthusiastic – what
they call “genki”. Not only could you
put your job in jeopardy by appearing
bored, tired, or lazy, but you will sap
the energy of those who do want to
learn and make them feel as if Eng-
lish is a chore. Younger kids will love
your enthusiasm and feed off it. You
don’t have to act like a party clown,
but smile and be approachable. At the
end of my first year of teaching, a shy
student wrote me a letter, thanking me
for always being kind and friendly. You
never know how much your actions
can affect those kids, so be nice.

10 DON’T BE ANGRY
WITH KIDS
WHO FALL ASLEEP IN CLASS!
Back home, a student who fell asleep
in class would get a good telling-off
from the teacher, so when your stu-
dents start to snooze during your riv-
eting grammar explanations, it’s nat-
ural that you feel annoyed and want
to wake them. I was tempted the first
time it happened, but the Japanese
teachers told me that it was normal.
Many students stay in school until
dinner time, eat something, and go
straight to juku (“after-school”) to study
some more. Add homework and exam
cramming, and you’ll start to see why
those older kids are so exhausted. Let
the poor things sleep, and enjoy your
time with the rest. However, if every-
one falls asleep, it’s probably time to
look at what you’re doing in class!

28
Teaching in Japan:
5 Common Student Mistakes
WHEN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A
FOREIGN LANGUAGE, YOU WILL
ENCOUNTER A LOT OF MISTAKES.
While you can choose to simply correct
those mistakes and move on, it is usually
worth looking at which mistakes crop up
time and time again. Common mistakes
can be due to the way you’re teaching
something, or they can be due to a fea-
ture of the student’s native language.
Here are some of the most common mis-
takes that I encountered while teaching
in Japan – including the reasons behind
them. Once you have an idea of where
these errors come from, you can work on
tackling them in more detail.
THE MOST COMMON
MISTAKES ARE THE
FOLLOWING:
1
I RIKE RED!
Those racist impressions have
some truth behind them – Japanese
speakers often mix up the sounds “R”
and “L” when they speak English. This
isn’t just confusion about which letter to
use – most learners genuinely can’t dis-
tinguish the difference between the two
sounds. While Japanese does not use
an “L” sound, but its “R” is not quite an
“R” as we would say it, either. Practice
the two sounds, and notice where your
tongue is. Their sound is somewhere in
between the two. When English words
get transcribed into Japanese, they are
written in katakana – the alphabet for
imported words. This alphabet doesn’t
have an “L” – or a “V”, for that matter.
Ls become Rs and Vs become Bs, while
both “th” sounds become either S or Z.
Consonants also don’t exist without vow-
els after them (except for “n”), so “hot”
becomes “hotto” etc. When you can
translate English words into katakana,
you’ll start to recognise why students
pronounce things the way they do. The
best way to practice this is to get stu-
dents to focus on their tongue and teeth
placement when making the sounds, and
to drill them with certain words over and
over. Only practice can help with this –
and discouraging the use to katakana in
their books to “help” with pronunciation!
2 4
I ATE FRIED POTATO
AND PAN.
A lot of imported words are used in Jap-
anese, especially relating to imported
food or ideas. You can recognise them
from the katakana alphabet that offers
“hamba-ga” and “ko-ra” on the menu.
However, not all words are adopted
from English. Study the language and
you’ll soon find a lot of strange words,
such as “arubaito” (from the German
“arbeit” – work – which in Japan is the
word for a part-time job) or “pan” (bread,
from Portuguese or French). A lot of stu-
dents assume that if a word is written in
katakana, then it must be the English
equivalent. Sometimes the words are
English, but the meaning has changed –
“fried potato” is fries/chips, but there are
some far stranger words that you’ll come
across. Take, for example, “pasacon”
– which is a shortened version of “per-
sonal computer”, or “baikingu” – from the
word “Viking”, but in Japan it’s used to
describe an all-you-can-eat dinner spe-
cial. You’ll have to teach students that,
sadly, katakana and English are not the
same thing. It’s a good idea to arm your-
self with knowledge of these imported
words, so you can figure out what your
students are trying to tell you.
3 I AM VERY ENJOY!
One thing that cropped up all the
time was the use of “enjoy” (or even “en-
joyment”) as an adjective. When your
students tell you that “I was enjoy”, what
they mean is that they enjoyed some-
thing, they had a good time, or it was
fun. The mistake comes from attempting
to translate “tanoshii” or “tanoshii-katta”
from Japanese. “Tanoshii” is a word that
means fun, enjoyment, or pleasure, but
the way that it’s used is different in Japa-
nese. In English, we ascribe emotions
to ourselves – “I am angry” or “she was
happy” – but it’s a little different in Japa-
nese. If you directly translate the sen-
tence “Watashi wa kowai desu”, it could
mean either “I am scared” or “As for
me, [it is] scary”. So, what semantically
means “I had a good time” comes out as
“For me, it was enjoy” – and as it seems
to be a sentence that crops up a lot, it’s
good to know what your students are try-
ing to say. Teach some stock phrases
rather than all available possibilities, to
avoid confusion.
PLEASE TEACH ME YOUR
PHONE NUMBER.
It sounds a little strange, but the confu-
sion between “teach” and “tell” is a com-
mon one, and down to a very simple
reason – the word for both is the same
in Japanese (“oshiete”). When you’ve
grown up only knowing one word to
mean several things, it can be confusing
to try distinguishing between two mean-
ing – why is it “tell” here, yet “teach”
here? Japanese and English often dis-
agree on the usage of words. Another
example is coming and going. In Eng-
lish, you might text “I’m coming now!” if
a friend asked you where you were, and
you were en-route to their location. In
Japanese, however, you would say “I’m
going now”, which sounds a little strange
to native English speakers. It’s good to
be aware of these differences, so that
you can catch them and correct them.
The more Japanese you learn, the easi-
er it will become to identify mistakes and
understand why they happen.
5
I READ BOOK IN A SCHOOL.
Japanese does not use articles
(the, a, an) – or plurals, for that matter.
Actually, it often omits pronouns (he,
she, I, you) – so “Hon o yonda”, a per-
fectly valid sentence in Japanese, trans-
lates to “read book”. It can take a lot of
time (and confusion) to teach students
to use pronouns for every sentence, and
even more to get them to understand ar-
ticles. Many students end up randomly
shoving articles before nouns in the
blind hope that they’re right. In English,
the rules of when we use “the” are pret-
ty confusing, even for native speakers.
There’s no need to go into a lot of de-
tail with beginner students – you’ll scare
them off. The basic idea is that if we both
(speaker and listener) know WHICH
book/boy/sandwich you’re referring to,
we can use “the”. If there’s only one of
these things and we don’t use “the”, we
have to use “on”,“a/an”, or turn it into a
plural. Otherwise, when your kids say
“I love cat!” it sounds a little dubious.
STUDENTS GET FRUSTRATED WITH
THE COMPLICATED NATURE OF ENG-
LISH OFTEN ENOUGH, SO DON’T FO-
CUS ON EVERY TINY MISTAKE UN-
LESS THEY’RE ADVANCED LEARNERS.
Praise them for their efforts, and gently
correct them as they go along. The more
you know about their language, the more
you can help them by recognising their
mistakes and catching them early on.
29
 5 Things You Should Know
Before Teaching in Japan
THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS YOU
CAN DO TO PREPARE FOR YOUR
MOVE TO JAPAN, FROM BRUSHING
UP ON THE LANGUAGE TO PRACTIC-
ING WITH YOUR CHOPSTICKS – BUT
WHAT WILL PREPARE YOU FOR
TEACHING?
You’re probably quite aware that Jap-
anese culture is different from your
own, but knowing how to apply your
knowledge to the classroom is a differ-
ent matter. Whether you are teaching
small children or adults, there are a
few things that nobody might have told
you. These are some of the pointers
that I wouldn’t have minded knowing
before bounding into my first Japa-
nese class-room, and they’ll hopefully
be of help to you, too.
WHAT YOU SHOULD
KNOW BEFORE
ENTERING A
CLASSROOM IN JAPAN
1
YOU MIGHT HAVE TO
TEACH AMERICAN ENGLISH
You might have to teach American
English - it’s the preferred style of Eng-
lish in most of Asia, and the textbooks
in schools almost exclusively use
American vocabulary and spelling. If
you’re British (or from another English-
speaking country), you’ll notice this the
first time you have to read “I like soc-
cer!” out loud. If you work alongside
a Japanese teacher of English, you
might even find them asking you to
use American pronunciation (to-MAY-
do instead of to-MAH-to).
This can be a bit irritating to proud non-
Americans, but – while some teachers
will let you tell the kids what you say
back home – it can be a bit confus-
ing for kids to hear about differences
between types of English. However, if
you’re teaching more advanced stu-
dents, adults or teenagers, comparing
words between British and American
English can make for an interesting
lesson!
30
2 JAPANESE PEOPLE
GENERALLY HAVE VERY
LITTLE KNOWLEDGE
ABOUT OTHER COUNTRIES
Japanese people generally have very
little knowledge about other countries,
so your cultural references are likely
to flop. They are familiar with very
mainstream Western things – namely
Disney, Johnny Depp and The Beatles
– but if you’re going to talk about any-
thing from celebrities to recent news
events, it’s best not to assume any
common knowledge, or stick to Japan-
based references.
Of course, you will find a few people
who have travelled and have much
greater knowledge about other coun-
tries, but the majority seem to see the
world in terms of Japan and Other
Countries. Expect sweeping gener-
alisations like “Oh, you’re American
– you like hamburgers!” and surprise
that you could possibly like Japanese
food, understand any of the language
or do something as complex as learn-
ing to use chopsticks.
For a foreigner trying to integrate into
Japanese society, it can be frustrating
to be praised for something as small
as saying “konnichiwa” – just remem-
ber that people are trying to be friend-
ly. Unless they go looking for it, people
generally aren’t offered much infor-
mation on other countries, other than
one or two images to go with each one
(France – Eiffel Tower and croissants!)
and warnings about their dangers.
3
YOUR STUDENTS MIGHT BE
MUCH SHYER
THAN YOU EXPECTED.
English lessons with a Japanese
teacher tend to focus on reading, writ-
ing and perfecting grammar, meaning
that students get very nervous when
it comes to speaking at all –let alone
with a native speaker. Small children
are usually not as shy, but as people
get older they become more and more
afraid of making a mistake, meaning
that your questions might often be met
with a wall of awkward silence.
Of course, there are a number of rea-
sons why you might find your students
saying nothing. You could be talk-
ing too quickly, using a lot of slang
and phrasal verbs (e.g. give up, take
out, work out) or a strong accent that
they’re not used to. Perhaps all your
students have heard of English un-
til now is the CD. Speak slowly and
clearly, and use gestures and pictures
to help you out. Or, it could be down to
a couple of other reasons...
4
IT’S NOT “COOL” TO BE
GOOD AT ENGLISH.
This means that students who are ac-
tually really good will remain deadly
quiet in class, even when you ask
them a question and they know the an-
swer. Of course, this mainly applies in
settings with teenagers – junior high or
high school. Some students will even
purposefully mess up an answer, be-
cause answering properly might make
their classmates think badly of them.
Perhaps you had a similar situation
when you were in school – that man-
datory French class that nobody liked,
and the one kid who put on a perfect
French accent and answered fluently.
Most kids probably thought he was a
dork, and didn’t like his arrogant atti-
tude. It’s similar in Japan, but this is a
culture where individualism is far less
valued than in the West. Standing out
as an individual is not something to
be respected – it’s a sure way to be
excluded from the group, which is un-
thinkable to most Japanese teenag-
ers.
5
PEOPLE DON’T LIKE TO
GIVE DIRECT OPINIONS.
Your culture might value an asser-
tive person, who isn’t afraid to say
what they think, but Japan has differ-
ent ideas. Even the most diplomatic
confrontation is seen as unpleasant
and highly undesirable. This makes
classroom activities like debates pretty
hard: asking any direct question –
from “What do you think the govern-
ment should do about this?” to “Who’s
the best singer in Japan?” can cause
a student to close up.

Some say it comes from Buddhism,

but confrontation is not valued in Ja-
pan. A Japanese person will typical-
ly say “I’m not completely sure, but
maybe...” when they mean “no”, and
if a co-worker has a problem with you,
you’ll hear it fifth-hand a few weeks af-
ter they made the complaint. To West-
erners, this can seem two-faced and
frustrating, but it’s better to go with it –
demanding a straight answer will only
cause people to close up more.

When teaching, you can get around

the opinion problem a little by incorpo-
rating a role-play – give each student
a card telling them what their opinion
is (and ideally, their new name and
job). That way, they are not giving an
opinion as themselves, but as a char-
acter. It’s better to avoid any topic that
asks for an opinion, unless your stu-
dents show a preference for it.

THIS DOESN’T MEAN THAT THEY

WON’T ASK YOU AWFULLY DIRECT
QUESTIONS, THOUGH – EXPECT
ANYTHING FROM “ARE YOU
MARRIED?” AND “HOW MUCH DO
YOU WEIGHT?” TO “WHAT DO YOU
THINK OF JAPANESE MEN?”
How you answer those questions is
up to you: just smile a lot, and per-
haps do as they do and give vague,
indirect answers!

31
5 Topics to Get Your Japanese
Students Talking – and 5 to Avoid
WHEN YOU START TEACHING
ENGLISH IN JAPAN, YOU’LL SOON
FIND THAT EVEN STUDENTS WITH
PERFECT SPELLING AND READING
ABILITIES STRUGGLE TO MAKE
CONVERSATION.
There are a few reasons for this: one
is that speaking isn’t given nearly
enough emphasis during their educa-
tion, meaning that many Japanese
people are hesitant when it comes to
actually conversing in English. Place a
native speaker in front of them and the
pressure is really on – they worry that
everything they say has to be gram-
matically correct.
If you teach at an eikaiwa or pick up
private lessons, you could find yourself
in charge of a “conversation class”,
which can be pretty daunting when you
realise how unwilling some students
are to speak. You might also find that
the topics people generally discuss are
pretty different in Japan than back in
your home country. It’s good to know
which topics students will open up
about, and which topics are best to
avoid. Here are some suggestions for
opening up your students – and re-
member, encourage them not to worry
about mistakes and just to speak!
TOPICS TO DISCUSS:
1 FOOD.
You might not believe how many
things there are to say about food, but
you’ll be surprised. You can discuss
their favourite and least favourite food
(for lower level classes), what they
have and haven’t tried, the strangest
thing they’ve tried, and what they can
cook. Each region of Japan has its
own speciality, and students interested
in travelling can tell you about things
they’ve tried abroad (for higher levels).
Most students will be curious to know
what you think of Japanese food, and
whether you “can” eat things like natto
or octopus.
2 HOBBIES.
For younger learners, you can
32
ask about their school afternoon clubs
or other things they do in their free
time. Openly asking what your stu-
dents do in their free time and what
they’re interested in will give you cues
about what to discuss – some might be
really interested in history, while others
like designing cute lunchboxes. Even if
their hobby isn’t that interesting to you,
ask a lot of questions about it and use
it to lead into other topics.
3
ENTERTAINMENT.
Bringing out your phone from
back home might be enough to spark
a conversation about phones, apps,
games etc, perhaps comparing fea-
tures in your phones or other pieces of
technology. Ask students what music,
sports, TV shows or films they like –
this can work with everyone, from small
children to older adults. Getting them
to explain the storyline of a movie can
be a fun challenge for more advanced
students.
4 TRAVEL.
If your students are slow to start
talking, inspire them with some of your
own photos – of back home, or places
you have travelled to. Challenge their
English by getting them to describe
what they see in the pictures, and let
them guess where it is. Some students
will warm up by asking you questions
about your travels, and in turn you can
ask about where they have travelled
to, or where they’d like to go. Some
students learning English are very pas-
sionate about travelling, and can re-
gale you with their stories.
5
JAPAN.
Most students love talking to for-
eigners about Japan – whether it’s ask-
ing where you’ve been and what food
you’ve tried, to telling you about its
history and sights. Ask where they’ve
been to in Japan, what special food
they’ve tried in different places, what
some Japanese traditions are, or how
different one region of Japan is from
another. You can even feign ignorance
over certain topics to get them talking,
comparing aspects of life with your
home country, e.g. “Can you tell me
about the Japanese school system?”
SOME TOPICS TO
AVOID:
1 THEIR OPINIONS.
Although you will find students
who want to discuss their opinions –
many find the Western openness to de-
bate refreshing and seek it out – noth-
ing will bring uncomfortable silence like
pushing a student for their opinion (es-
pecially in a group). Individualism and
strong opinions are not valued in Japan
like they are in, say, the U.S., and most
students will feel embarrassed at being
asked to express an opinion. Of course,
you could make giving opinions the fo-
cus of a class, teaching phrases like “In
my opinion” and “Yes, but on the other
hand...”
2 TOO MUCH ABOUT YOUR
COUNTRY.
Meaning anything that compares Ja-
pan to your country and seems like
you are extolling the superiority of
your own country, e.g. “Well, in Britain
people aren’t afraid to express their
opinions...” Some students will be very
interested in your country and will ask
you questions about it: by all means,
talk about it then, but remember that
people can get pretty defensive if you
suggest that your country is somehow
better than Japan in any way!
3
THEIR PERSONAL LIVES.
Many of your students will ask
you questions that seem pretty rude,
by Western standards – “How old are
you?” “Do you have a boyfriend?”
or even “How much do you weigh?”
However, if you try to delve too much
into your students’ personal lives, they
might close up and feel uncomfortable.
This completely depends on the stu-
dents – some told me all about their
marital problems, while others didn’t
want to discuss a thing. Don’t push it,
but if it comes up naturally, that’s fine!
4 MONEY.
It’s probably quite obvious, but
discussing salaries and how much
things cost can seem a little crude,
and make some students feel un-
comfortable. Complaining about how
expensive Japan is probably won’t
win you any favours, either. If your
students happen to be economists
of some kind, it’s different – you can
happily chat about banking and eco-
nomics for hours.

5 POLITICS.
There’s a lot of corruption going
on in Japan, and there are many is-
sues that people prefer to turn a blind
eye to – racism, discrimination, sex-
ism and various human rights abus-
es, to name a few. Some people are
aware of this, but the Japanese me-
dia is so good at spinning everything
- from ancient history to current affairs
- to keep Japan in a good light that
some students will be dumbfounded
if you bring it up. Anything you say
could seem as if you are criticising Ja-
pan, which many students might take
personally.

OF COURSE, EVERY STUDENT WILL

HAVE DIFFERENT TOPICS THAT
THEY LIKE AND DISLIKE, BUT THE
GENERAL RULE FOR STARTING OUT
IS – KEEP IT TRIVIAL AND LIGHT!
English lessons should be light-heart-
ed and fun, not heavy and serious. As
you get to know your students, you’ll
get a better idea of how to get them
to talk - but if you’re really stuck, try
games where they answer set ques-
tions, and bring other speaking activi-
ties to class with you.

33
 How To Teach Japanese Adults:
Part One
Teaching adults in Japan is an inter-
esting and worthwhile life experience.
It’s relatively easy compared to other
countries, but don’t be mistaken that
this will adequately prepare you for
other Asian scenarios, such as Korea
or China. Japan and its people are
very unique in many ways that you
have yet to imagine on your TEFL
journey. It is said that to know is to un-
derstand and being culturally aware is
vital to your teaching in Japan. It may
come as an initial shock that your stu-
dents can read and write in English
albeit with superficial comprehension
of the meaning, but are virtually in-
ept in the other two skills of listening
and most importantly in our commu-
nicative age – speaking. The archaic
grammar translation method still dom-
inates Japanese education and this
concentration on form is unlikely to
change until they encounter you. Your
students will have experienced Japa-
nese teacher-focused techniques, but
their mentors will have been inad-
equately trained in TEFL and lacked
the confidence themselves to speak
in English. They did not aim to moti-
vate their learners to communicate
and this English language incompe-
tence is inherent throughout all levels
of Japanese society.
TIPS TO USE WHILE
TEACHING JAPANESE
ADULTS
1
BE PREPARED.
As a Japanese teacher’s role is
very important, your students will be
respectful, obedient and disciplined. If
you give homework assignments they
will normally be done as instructed,
but before you start to celebrate re-
member that their reserved nature
and politeness generally means sti-
fled interactivity. They are reluctant
to question the teacher or even par-
ticipate in class at times. As you are
teaching adults you may feel it safe to
assume that as they are studying of
their own volition there are no extrin-
sic factors compelling them to attend
and that they want to ‘learn.’ This is
34
compounded by the fact that they are
paying their own ‘educational budget’
in prolonged deflationary times. How-
ever a simple questioning will soon
reveal that their motives are far from
scholarly - English is their ‘hobby.’
Faced with this sudden realization
that all your training in syllabus de-
sign and years of effort to craft care-
fully honed classes may no longer be
of relevance you should not become
demoralized or lose your enthusiasm.
You have to be a teaching chameleon
and respond accordingly.
2 BE POSITIVE
IN YOUR APPROACH.
Many people pursue hobbies very
successfully and are willing and stu-
dious. So why should your situation
be otherwise? Then you learn that
our stereotyped Mrs. Tanaka likes
to study English on Wednesday be-
cause it’s before her Tai Chi class.
She is also ‘learning’ Korean due to
the current popularity of their dra-
mas on television and takes Chinese
classes twice a month too. You have
to commend her linguistic aspirations,
but you are beginning to appreciate
that the level of foreign language in-
put may certainly be a factor in her
confused English output in your class.
She also likes to practice calligraphy,
do ikebana and play the Japanese
shamisen in her free time when she is
not hiking, doing yoga or going on for-
eign trips. The ‘jack of all trades and
master of none’ may spring to mind.
Your students will have a lot of latent
vocabulary. Unfortunately it was de-
vised and memorized purely for test-
ing purposes at High School and ter-
tiary educational levels and has little
relevance in useful life skills. You will
have to wean them off rote learning
and assuage their constant concerns
for accuracy rather than fluency.
3
BE PUNCTUAL.
As diligent teachers we all like
to be punctual. You want to be fully
prepared and create a good relation-
ship and rapport with your students,
so you get to class early to arrange
seating, write up lesson outlines,
have pre-lesson conversations etc.
This is worthy practice but you need
to be very careful in your timing. If you
get there too early you will soon find
that Mrs. Tanaka suddenly appears
there too and if not quickly addressed
this will soon become ‘her free one to
one lesson time.’ You will witness the
classic ‘English bandit’ style, when
she insidiously steals your well- in-
tentioned efforts from the rest of her
classmates. She will also hover and
linger at the end of class for your per-
sonal attention, bringing little food
gifts to attract your favouritism. Mrs.
Tanaka will happily sit and watch you
eat your lunchbox and accidentally
appear in your local coffee shop to
impinge upon your life further, so be
warned from the start. We all like Mrs.
Tanaka – if only there were LESS like
her!
4 USE THE BOARD A LOT
Adult Japanese students like to
have something tangible to evidence
their learning i.e. a textbook, a hand-
out, something written on the board
that can be copied. If you are talking
to the students, practicing ad-lib con-
versations, drilling or doing correction
techniques, you are teaching on your
terms, but perhaps not to the satisfac-
tion of all your students. They can’t
visibly see or ‘show’ such learning to
friends or family and there is a ten-
dency for them to believe that this is
wasted or idle time. It lacks relevance
on their part, and surely cannot be
important as otherwise the teacher
would make them copy it down. Never
forget that that old practices die hard.
5
DO MORE
IN-CLASS PRACTICE
Will your students practice or revise
what they have learned? Unfortu-
nately in the vast majority of cases
the answer is a resounding NO. They
are unlikely to speak English from
the moment they set foot outside the
classroom, until they step in it again
on the next occasion. Usually their
English file sits in a designated spot
at home and is retrieved on class day
only. Their families, friends and neigh-
bours will certainly not speak English
and they have virtually no opportunity
to practice a second language in a
mono-lingual homogenous society.
When they travel overseas they in-
variably travel in groups with a Japa-
nese tour operator and experience a
very sheltered and protected holiday
without exposure to the targeted lan-
guage. You tell them of the array of
services available on the Internet, the
free children’s materials they can ob-
tain in their local libraries, the English
sections in bookshops, how to listen
to CDs and watch videos and DVDs
to enhance the lessons studied, the
bi-lingual news on TV etc. But it will
generally fall on deaf ears.

BUT IN THIS ENGLISH PANDORA’S

BOX, THERE REMAINS HOPE.
Some students really do try to improve
their English ability. They surprise you
with their activities and make your job
feel worthwhile. It may be a diary page
they wrote, a report they want you to
check, a thank you message etc. and
even if it’s a baby step into the world
of English we must be proud of their
achievements and make them feel
truly valued. We can’t always fathom
why they come to class, but we know
why we are here and even if students
don’t try today, we must always dream
that they will tomorrow.

35
 How To Teach Japanese Adults:
Part Two
Ideally you should return to basics by
beginning with the phonetic alpha-
bet and teach the sounds of English.
As teachers you will quickly become
aware of the particular articulation
problems facing your students. How-
ever we do not live in such a world
where we are afforded the luxury of
time to implement the ‘ivory tower’
phonology/communication ideologies
so masterfully displayed in the vast ar-
ray of training and teaching textbooks.
We therefore have to find a halfway
compromise between our learning en-
vironment and student wants, some-
times at the sacrifice of their phonetic
needs. Therefore pronunciation prac-
tice is likely to be remedial, as in-
depth instruction might detrimentally
affect student confidence.
TIPS TO USE WHILE
TEACHING JAPANESE
ADULTS
1
KNOW PRONUNCIATION
SPECIFICS
Students utilize Japanese Katakana,
a syllabic alphabet, to transcribe the
foreign language being studied and
this compounds the problem mak-
ing the vocabulary they use sound
unintelligible and negatively affecting
communication. Phonemic restruc-
turing of loan words substitutes the
nearest match from a syllable inven-
tory often changing the word beyond
recognition, or alternatively the word
is shortened or undergoes seman-
tic change e.g. coffee alters to ‘kohi.’
Religious adherence to these equiva-
lents by Adult Learners creates lan-
guage interference thus slowing the
entire process of English phonology
acquisition. Their perception and pro-
duction of Katakana must be effec-
tively banned in class, if at all pos-
sible. Be strict in your approach and
correct mispronunciations immedi-
ately, as it will aid the improvement of
fluency in the long-term. As Katakana
based vocabulary errors affect spell-
ing, the number of syllables and pro-
nunciation, you must try to wean your
students away from these frustrat-
36
ing malpractices. Let your students
speak pure Japanese if you so desire
as there is a time when their mother
tongue has validity and they are not
children, but not Katakana.
2 METHODS OF TEACHING
PRONUNCIATION
Teach self-developing pronuncia-
tion methods showing the required
height and action of the tongue tip –
see How to teach ‘R’ and ‘L’ sounds:
busyteacher.org/3595-how-to-teach-
r-and-l-sounds.html. Students will
enjoy minimal pair work but keep it
limited and you should also do ex-
tensive drills and get them to guess
meanings from the surrounding words
in sentences whenever feasible. To
use the analogy of the popular BBC1
cooking show in the 1990’s – “Can’t
Cook, Won’t Cook” some students
have a mental block in learning how
to listen, as the sounds differentiation
does not exist in the Japanese lan-
guage. Therefore if they can’t hear or
won’t hear, you should never concede
defeat, but must often give priority to
more demanding problems in pronun-
ciation.
As pitch range and stress is different
they are sometimes unable to catch
all the words in sentences when Eng-
lish is spoken. Practice raising and
lowering pitch levels to indicate that
new topics have begun or to show
contrast. Get them to focus on natu-
ral connected speech, linking and re-
duced vowel sounds.
The feeling and rhythm of the two
languages is intrinsically different.
Japanese is more timed in pacing and
therefore utterances are produced at
roughly equal time intervals. However
English is stress-timed with more em-
phasis on important words. Students
tend to speak in an abrupt and dis-
connected way adversely affecting
their comprehensibility by others. You
therefore need to alert them to elision,
liaison and assimilation and use board
work to clearly illustrate examples and
listening exercises to help eliminate
such errors.
Adult students need to appreciate
that they are not just studying a sub-
ject, but a spoken language. Through
role-plays you should emphasize the
importance of trying to be realistic,
rather than being and sounding me-
chanical. Emotion, intonation and
gestures are vital in communication.
However communicative methodol-
ogy per se is not always the answer.
Mix it up with tasks, PPP for targeted
grammar points and lower level class-
es etc. Be eclectic and experimental
in your teaching approach.
3 AREAS TO FOCUS ON
Try to instill spontaneity and
build confidence with lots of teacher
prompting. Encourage risk-taking and
volunteering questions and answers,
as their cultural background is very or-
chestrated and deliberately planned.
Do lots of expansion activities as re-
sponses and language practice is of-
ten too brief and curtailed on the part
of the students. Use your personal-
ity and teaching skills to overcome
language shyness. Spoon-feed to
build vocabulary and enhance cor-
rect pronunciation. Get students to
ask questions: share language use
through conversations outside the
classroom. Reiterate the importance
of the message, its purpose and how
it is conveyed. Promote group interac-
tion and discourage listening to others
purely as a learning mechanism. This
is easier said than done and will ne-
cessitate all your sensitive supportive
techniques at times, as they may find
participation is uncomfortable.
Skills learned in the TESOL scenario
can easily be practiced in the real
world, but in the TEFL set-up it real-
ly is language learning in a vacuum.
There are some textbooks specifically
designed for Japanese learners, but
they tend to be more ‘teacher-friendly’
than ‘student-oriented’ as many Japa-
nese never have the experiences/con-
versations envisaged simply because
they generally don’t interact/behave in
the manner so imaginatively outlined.

Try to get them to develop an English

‘persona’ to promote extroversion, or
you may be surrounded largely by
culturally impeded subdued person-
alities in your class. Receptive skills
are weak. Often a recording is just
not worthwhile given the time con-
straints and it is better to read dia-
logues aloud, at least until they are
accustomed to your voice. You might
then like to introduce other speaking
voices periodically, but don’t expect
miracles overnight.

Set challenging tasks that appeal to

their Japanese ‘Samurai spirit’ and
use lots of educational fun learning
games. Use the grammar and vocab-
ulary you know they already have, as
few post classroom initiatives will be
forthcoming unless homework is spe-
cifically assigned.

Get students to do 1-2 minute pre-

sentations, initially with back-up notes
allowed. Teach the importance of ap-
propriacy for different audiences – this
is something they are accustomed to
in their own language.

4 USE THE BOARD A LOT

Adult Japanese students like to
have something tangible to evidence
their learning i.e. a textbook, a hand-
out, something written on the board
that can be copied. If you are talking
to the students, practicing ad-lib con-
versations, drilling or doing correction
techniques, you are teaching on your
terms, but perhaps not to the satisfac-
tion of all your students. They can’t
visibly see or ‘show’ such learning to
friends or family and there is a ten-
dency for them to believe that this is
wasted or idle time. It lacks relevance
on their part, and surely cannot be
important as otherwise the teacher
would make them copy it down. Never
forget that that old practices die hard.

NEVER ASSUME THEY HAVE

UNDERSTOOD.
Do ‘eliciting’ and ‘concept checking’
always, as you can always guarantee
that someone has misunderstood, or
is simply too reticent. Sometimes it
may seem like a Sisyphean task, but
please persevere as teachers must
never capitulate or become disillu-
sioned in their roles as English Lan-
guage “missionaries” working within
or outside the educational system.

37
 Insider ESL Secrets about
Teaching Japanese Learners
WHEN TEACHING ABROAD, KEEP IN
MIND THAT YOUR STUDENTS HAVE
BEEN BROUGHT UP IN A CULTURE
DIFFERENT FROM YOUR OWN AND
THUS YOU MAY NOTICE THAT STU-
DENTS RESPOND TO MATERIALS IN
UNEXPECTED WAYS.
This is true for many people, cultures,
and countries so keep a close eye on
students, see how they react, and be
willing to adjust your teaching styles
to better suit their needs. Here are
some of the things you might notice if
teaching in Japan.
HOW TO TEACH
JAPANESE LEARNERS
students are just extremely shy to the
point where teachers will not even
require them to participate in activi-
ties. Other students just take a while
to adapt to having a new teacher and
warm up to your methods. Japanese
learners also tend to rely on dictionar-
ies, usually electronic dictionaries or
translators on their cell phone. Stu-
dents in Japan will often simply use a
translator rather than try to rephrase
what they are attempting to say.
While Japanese students are very
motivated to do well in school, at-
tending classes during the day and
sometimes taking extra lessons at
night can also lead to a lot of stress.
High school students especially are
tice. If you notice that students are us-
ing their dictionaries far too often, you
can ask them to complete short, fast-
paced synonym activities or to prac-
tice describing things. This will give
them the skills to express themselves
in situations when a dictionary is not
available and they may be surprised
at how well they can do without a ref-
erence. Try not to add to their stress.
Obviously you will have to administer
tests but by preparing them properly
and having review lessons, you can
thoroughly prepare your Japanese
students to do well and have the con-
fidence they need to remain calm.
EVERY COUNTRY HAS ITS OWN

1 THE GOOD
Japanese students are gen-
erally very well behaved. If you are
from a country such as America, the
amount of discipline and self control
displayed, even by middle school stu-
dents, may come as a shock. They
are typically studious and hard work-
ing. Students in Japan must test into
their high school so if you teach at a
high school, the type of school you
are at will determine to some extent
how your students behave. For ex-
ample, a very academic school which
prepares students for college tends to
place a lot of attention on test scores
while a technical school could focus
under a lot of pressure regardless of
what type of school they attend. As a
foreigner you might disagree with this
UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS AND AS
SUCH, LEARNERS WILL BE DIFFER-
ENT TOO.
kind of system however the only thing Learning to alter your approach to suit
you can really control is what is direct- your audience is something that will
ly related to your class. If you think ensure you excel as a teacher in any
students are too stressed out during learning environment.
exam time, you can play games dur-
ing the class period and assign little
to no homework but you still need to
make progress on the course material
and prepare them for the tests they
will inevitably have to face. Keeping
these things in mind will help you tai-
lor your classes to your students and
understand where they are coming
from better.

more on mechanical or electrical skills
and finding jobs for students. Obvi-
ously in the first school, English would
have a higher priority than in the sec-
ond and students would behave a
little differently too but still, compared
to students in many other countries,
they are better behaved which makes
managing your class much easier.
3
TIPS
Know your students and how
they will react to certain activities. It
could take a Japanese class a while
to warm up to you so be willing to start
off slowly. If students are used to be-
ing lectured in their English classes, it
will take them a while to change their
behavior and start speaking English in

2 THE BAD
Although Japanese students
in that very academic school above
might be quite driven individuals, their
focus is often on grades and perform-
ing well so they can be reluctant to
speak up or participate in activities or
games that are not perceived as help-
ing them prepare to exams. Some
classes. If students seem reluctant to
speak aloud, start with choral repeti-
tion so that no one person is singled
out. This can get students accus-
tomed to hearing themselves speak
English and the extra pronunciation
practice will build their confidence. As
you progress, you can include more
and more individual speaking prac-

38
6 Tips for Finding Teaching Jobs
in Thailand
Thailand is a wonderful country in
which to teach ESL. Whilst some
schools not be the most organized,
and you may not be told of events
until the very last minute, friendly stu-
dents, beautiful landscapes, interest-
ing history and fascinating cities and
peaceful villages go a long way to
compensate for other perceived ineffi-
ciencies. It is true that the Thai educa-
tion system is perhaps very different
to what you are used to back at home,
but with determination, spirit, heaps of
enthusiasm, a desire to succeed and
a motivation to embrace differences,
you could find that Thailand is just the
place that you were looking for.
It has only been in fairly recent years
that English has featured prominently
on the mainstream education curricu-
lum. Developments have occurred
largely as a result of the ASEAN part-
nership, when Thailand realized that
the levels of English in the country
were often noticeably lower than in
neighbouring countries. It is also the
common language for communication
between residents of member coun-
tries.
There are a variety of places in which
you can teach in Thailand. There are
often openings in both government
schools and private schools, and
some schools offer various English
programs, such as the Mini English
Program and Intensive English Pro-
gram, whereby several core subjects
are taught in English. This therefore
opens up opportunities for English
teachers with other areas of exper-
tise and interest: you could find your-
self teaching mathematics, health,
sport, science, computers and other
subjects, all using English. Positions
are available in many universities for
native English teachers. There are
many language centres operating all
over the country, which offer private
tuition, additional lessons and pro-
vide tailored courses for businesses
and companies. If you are mainly in-
terested in teaching adult learners,
these are a great place to begin your
search. Some language companies
mainly focus on arranging and host-
ing English camps, so if different fac-
es and different fun activities are more
your thing, check out some of these
providers. There is a wealth of variety
in the world of teaching in Thailand. I
have taught in three different govern-
ment schools, which gave me valu-
able experience of teaching all ages
and ability levels. I have also taught
in language centres, doing evening
and weekend work. This gave me the
fantastic opportunity to teach higher
levels, including business English
courses, job specific language train-
ing, exam preparation and job inter-
view preparation. Teaching smaller
groups and individual students pro-
vides such a different experience to
teaching large classes.
The basic requirement for teaching
English as a foreign language in Thai-
land is a Bachelors Degree, in any
subject. A TEFL qualification is not
necessary, but is very useful when
job-hunting, as many recruiters will
favour applicants with qualifications.
Experience is also beneficial, though
not essential. Interestingly, it is not
a requirement to be a native English
speaker, although many schools and
teaching centres will automatically
choose a native speaker over a non-
native speaker.
To obtain a legal work permit, you will
need to show the original copy of your
degree certificate. Of course, there
are many instances of people working
“under the table” in Thailand, and ob-
taining long tourist visas, which will be
renewed with short border runs. This
is not recommended, as not only are
you cheating the education system,
but you will likely be paid less than
somebody with a work permit and you
run the risk of being deported from the
country at short notice if discovered.
There are several handy tips to
help with the process of find-
ing a teaching in job in Thailand.
FINDING A TEACHING
JOB IN THAILAND: 6
TIPS
1 CHECK ALL SOURCES
There are several websites
dedicated to finding ESL jobs all over
the world, as well as www.ajarn.com,
which specifically lists teaching jobs in
Thailand. Look for job agencies that
deal with ESL teachers and contact to
ask if there are any vacancies. If they
do not have any current vacancies
they may be able to keep your de-
tails on file. Some agencies act as re-
cruiters only, whereas others are the
teachers’ employers, providing staff
to their clients, usually schools. Many
schools source their staff through
agencies in this way as it saves them
the hassle of processing work permits,
going through the interview process,
and covering when a teacher is sick.
If you are already in Thailand, it may
help to pop in to schools, language
centre and agencies in the area. Re-
member to take a copy of your CV
to leave behind. It also helps to ask
around – you would be surprised how
many jobs are advertised by word of
mouth within expat communities. Find
out the usual expat hang out spots
and go and talk with people. Many ex-
pats working in Thailand are teachers,
so you can pick up some great leads.
2 DRESS SMARTLY
FOR INTERVIEWS
Some recruiters will interview by Sky-
pe, or similar, if you are not in the coun-
try, whereas others will expect you to
attend an interview in person if you
are close already in Thailand. As with
many countries in Asia, appearances
matter. Do not think that because the
way of life is generally more laid back
in Thailand that you can be sloppy for
interviews. Dress as you would for an
interview back home. The same rules
apply when interviewing by video link.
I have one smart skirt suit in my Thai
wardrobe that I reserve exclusively
for interviews. A handy tip for females
is that in Thai culture, it is often seen
39
 as being more polite to wear a skirt
or a dress over trousers. For males,
although a tie may not be necessary
for in the classroom, it is advised to
wear one for your interview. Even
though your qualifications may shine
and your experiences might dazzle, if
you do not look the part it is unlikely
you will get the job.
looking at your teaching abilities and
your appearance, they are also won-
dering how you will fit into the school
and how well you will be able to make
your students enjoy lessons. A big
smile goes a very long way.
These tips are mainly common sense,
and with the right attitude and bags of
enthusiasm it is very easy to get a job

3 BE PUNCTUAL
A sometimes annoying aspect of
life in Thailand is the concept of “Thai
time.” This usually means that if you
make an appointment with someone,
they will be late. It also means if your
bus is scheduled to leave at a certain
time, it will often be a substantial peri-
od after this time that you actually de-
part. My partner is Thai: if he tells me
he will be home for dinner at 6.30pm,
I expect him by 8pm. Although you
will experience this all around you in
Thailand, do not think that the same
rules apply to you as a foreigner. Be
on time. If you are not, you run the risk
of being seen as lazy.
teaching in Thailand. Sadly, Thailand
is known for being quite discrimina-
tive against older teachers. Although
it is possible to find good jobs, where
recruiters value experience that years
in the classroom provides, if you are
older you may find it more of a strug-
gle to find work than someone who
is younger. Don’t let this deter you: I
know plenty of fantastic older teach-
ers in Thailand who are highly valued
by their schools. But do understand
that you may be up against this when
you start your job hunt.
EMBRACE YOUR TIME TEACHING
IN THAILAND AND DISCOVER THE
CHARMS OF THIS LOVELY COUNTRY.

4 PREPARE
A SAMPLE LESSON
Some recruiters will ask at interview
that you give a demo lesson. This
may involve simply explaining how
you would teach a topic and take the
interviews through the lesson step by
step, it may involve conducting a mini
lesson in the interview, or it can in-
volve being sent into a real classroom
with students gazing at you expect-
edly. It is always best to be prepared
for any scenario. For one job, I was
asked to give a sample lesson to the
panel of three interviewers. Luckily,
I had been warned in advance they
would ask this so I was extra prepared
to give a demo lesson on my chosen
topic of directions. I have a friend who
was less fortunate, however, and at a
different school was tossed straight
into a room filled with young maths
students.

5 SELL YOURSELF
This one is common sense re-
ally, but show your best side to the
interviewers. Make your skills and ex-
perience shine.

6 SMILE!
Thailand is known as the “Land
of Smiles.” Whilst interviewers are

40
7 Tips for Dealing
with Large Classes in Thailand
Class sizes in Thailand are typically
larger than you are used to in your
home country, or other countries
where you have taught ESL. This
is particularly true for government
schools, with private schools tend-
ing to have smaller numbers of stu-
dents in a class. In a government high
school, my largest class size was 54
students. In a government primary
school, my largest class size was 37
students. Having discussed the stu-
dent numbers with numerous ESL
teacher colleagues, it appears that
these figures are fairly representa-
tive of typical class sizes in Thailand. I
thought I was just unlucky!
Not only can it be difficult to teach such
large groups, it can also be a chal-
lenge to keep students under control.
I have had high school level students
trying to climb out of a second floor
window, throwing plastic bottles into
an overhead fan to try and get them
to shatter, fighting, and the common
problem of mobile phones and gener-
al chatter. I have also noticed that stu-
dents love to go to the toilet in small
groups, girls like to spend classes
re-applying their makeup and every-
one likes to play on FaceBook Skype
/ Twitter etc during class. In primary
schools, my students’ antics have
been limited to making a dash for the
door, small squabbles and trying to
secretly trade cars and play games.
Despite the large student numbers,
it is very possible to teach effective-
ly, have fun and engage your Thai
classes. There are some handy tips
that can be a sanity saver in the large
classrooms.
DEALING WITH
LARGE CLASSES IN
THAILAND: 7 TIPS
1
LEARN EARLY
WHAT ROLE TO PLAY
I found that some groups responded
well to fun teacher Sarah, others, usu-
ally the higher level classes, genuinely
want to learn, and respond well to an
open style of teaching that encourages
discussion and questioning, and other
classes, unfortunately, need a stricter
and more disciplinarian approach. I
find that by identifying your class type
early on, setting clear boundaries
and assuming the relevant role from
the start can really work wonders. I’ll
give you a great example. I taught a
large class of entirely male students,
mainly aged 14 years old. It was the
final year in school for most of them,
as students can leave education af-
ter Matyom 3 and attend a vocational
college. The majority of this class had
no intention of staying at school, they
had no interest in learning English,
and the class was labeled by many
teachers, Thai and natives alike, as
the worst class in the school. I adored
them! The key was to teach them at
their level. Okay, so my classes usu-
ally began with a student greeting of,
“Yo! Sarah! What’s up?!” despite my
best attempts at trying to encourage
“Hello Teacher Sarah, how are you
today?”, but with a bit of patience, a
quick self-lesson on rap-talk and tak-
ing the time to answer their unending
questions we made progress. I quick-
ly realized that although they had no
interest in learning English, they were
an inquisitive bunch, full of questions.
By being open with them and taking
time to chat, they were practicing their
English and learning new things far
quicker than if I had tried a different
approach. Learn your class type, and
teach them accordingly.
2 SEPARATE ANY MISCHIEF
MAKERS
We’ve all dealt with the band of stu-
dents who just will not listen, no mat-
ter what the topic or how fun you try to
make activities. I deliberately make a
point of separating these groups from
the start, and no amount of sulking,
pouting or glaring is going to make
me change my mind. Not only is it dif-
ficult to teach a class when there is a
small group who do not even pretend
to listen, but it is also unfair on the stu-
dents who do want to learn. For those
who continue to misbehave, I have a
designated “time out chair” at the front
of the room. This is effective with all
ages. Loss of face is a big deal in Thai
culture, and most students, even the
cocky ones, hate to be singled out
from their friends and made to feel dif-
ferent. I will make students go to the
chair, in front of the class, for a short
period of time before returning to their
seats. I don’t draw attention to it, I just
continue with my lesson. If this is not
effective, repeat offenders are made
to sit outside the classroom door,
within my line of vision, for a few min-
utes. Most are terrified of being seen
by a Thai teacher, who will then ques-
tion them as to why they have been
removed from the class.
3 USE A MICROPHONE
Some schools will provide mi-
crophones, many will not. In the ma-
jority of classrooms though there are
plugs and PA systems to enable a
microphone to be used. They are in-
expensive to buy if not provided, and
they really can make a lot of differ-
ence. Make sure your microphone
has a long cord though, as if you tend
to walk around the class a lot, as I
do, it would be rather embarrassing
to become tangled in your wire, or in-
advertently wrench it from the socket
mid-sentence.
4 HAVE A LARGE VARIETY
OF ACTIVITIES PLANNED
A large variety of activities prevents
your classes from becoming bored.
Whilst this is important for any effec-
tive lesson, it is particularly important
when there are a lot of students, as
bored students can quickly become
disruptive students. I tend to teach a
topic at the start of the class, and then
follow this with a conversation or prac-
tice activity, during which time I will go
around the class and help any weaker
students. I use a lot of games, friendly
competitions, quizzes and other inter-
active activities in the classroom. A
large concept in Thai life is “sanuk”,
which means fun. Thais try to make
sanuk part of their everyday routines.
41
 Many schools in Thailand encourage
teachers to have fun with their class-
es. So, as long as your students are
learning, fill your class with as many
fun activities as you can.
first Thai classroom. Do not be intimi-
dated by the large numbers of stu-
dents, and make your classes fun and
action packed.

5 IF A PLANNED LESSON
IS NOT WORKING – STOP!
Do not be afraid to change your les-
son plan on the spot if it really is not
working. We’ve all had those moment
where a carefully and meticulously
planned out class does not go as ex-
pected. If you realize that there is a
sea of faces looking at you in bewil-
derment and confusion, change your
approach immediately. The worst
thing is to completely lose the class,
as then it is so much harder to get
their attention back.

6 DON’T DWELL
ON DIFFICULT DAYS
We all have them – days that we wish
just had not happened. Don’t dwell
on them. Assess how you could have
done things differently, learn from it
and move on. Do not let one bad day
drain you of motivation and energy.

7 DON’T USE PHYSICAL

OR CRUEL PUNISHMENTS
Although you may see Thai teachers
hitting children, sometimes using rul-
ers or sticks, do not follow suit. It is il-
legal in Thailand to discipline students
in this way, although some teachers
still do it. Not only is it unfair and un-
ethical, you risk the wrath of an angry
parent, who may be less than happy
at a foreigner raising a hand to their
child. I have been in the process of
making a small child sit down, when
a classmate has brought me a stick
from the front of the class and mo-
tioned for me to smack the disobe-
dient child. It is heart-breaking that
some students expect this form of dis-
cipline, and whilst you will not change
the practice, and you should under-
stand this, there is no need for you to
join in with it.

THAILAND CAN BE A CHALLENGING

PLACE IN WHICH TO TEACH, BUT IT
CAN ALSO BE VERY REWARDING.
For every tale of a nightmare class
you hear, you could also hear multiple
tales of great classes. Accept that you
will likely have large classes, plan ap-
propriately, and learn a little bit about
Thai culture before you step into your

42
12 Tips for Adapting
to Thai Culture
The way of life in Thailand, especial-
ly outside of the more tourist visited
areas and big cities, is very different
to the way of life that you are prob-
ably used to. Some things may feel
strange, others charming, and oth-
ers down and out irritating, but once
you get used to the Thai way of do-
ing things and learn a little about Thai
culture, you will surely fall in love with
living and working in Thailand.
There are several useful tips to help
you understand the differences and
make matters a little less overwhelm-
ing for when you arrive in Thailand.
ADAPTING TO THAI
CULTURE: 12 TIPS
1
UNDERSTAND THE WAI
The wai is the typical Thai greet-
ing. Thai’s do not generally shake
hands, although it is becoming more
common in international business set-
tings, hug or air kiss like you may see
in other countries. It is used in a range
of other different social situations,
including saying goodbye, giving
thanks, apologizing, praying to Bud-
dha, and showing respect to sacred
places and buildings. To wai, place
both hands together, with your palms
flat and your fingers outstretched.
Whilst you will learn different forms of
the wai throughout your time in Thai-
land, as a general guide to start with,
try and hold your hands at chest level,
then dip your head whilst fluidly rais-
ing your hands slightly so that your
middle fingers and your nose are at
the same level. If somebody wais you,
always return the wai, unless it is a
service person or a child.
There are lots of social rules sur-
rounding who should wai who: as a
general rule, people should wai some-
one older or of a higher social posi-
tion. Practically, this means when you
meet the principle of your new school,
any teacher coordinators or an older
Thai teacher you should wai them.
Even if you get it wrong, it shows re-
spect and they will be thankful. Each
time you see them, you should wai.
2 AVOID PUBLIC DISPLAYS
OF AFFECTION
Thais find public displays of affection
quite offensive. They don’t do it, so
you shouldn’t do it either.
3
DO NOT TOUCH
A PERSON’S HEAD
In Thai culture, the head is seen as
being the most spiritual part of a per-
son’s body. Even though you may
see people playfully ruffling the hair
of children, as a foreigner you should
avoid touching anyone’s head, of any
age. It is also polite to stoop slightly if
you must pass between people who
are talking.
4 BE CAREFUL
WITH YOUR FEET
The feet are the lowest part of the
body, and using your feet to point,
stepping over people or things, and
certainly directing your feet towards
a Buddha image is seen as being re-
ally disrespectful. I have a friend who,
whilst sat on the stage, crossed her
legs in a school ceremony: the collec-
tive gasp from the students and the
slap to her leg from the Thai teacher
next to her quickly made her see her
error. It also made her want to crawl
under a stone and never reappear.
So, be careful how you point your feet!
5
BE PATIENT
Everything in Thailand is a lot
slower than in many western coun-
tries. When your bus is late, accept it.
When you are waiting for an appoint-
ment with someone and they are de-
layed, accept it. Do as the Thais do,
and simply smile.
6 MAI BPEN RAI
You will surely learn to recog-
nize this phrase quite quickly in Thai-
land. It helps if you can try to adopt
this attitude – at times you will need
it! It roughly means no worries, never
mind, and no problem. Thais general-
ly do not let things stress them out or
worry them in the same way as many
foreigners do. You’ve missed your bus
– mai bpen rai. Your computer has
broken – mai bpen rai. You’re vegetar-
ian and your meal has chicken in it –
mai bpen rai. Nobody told you school
is closed today – mai bpen rai. You’re
undergoing a personal tragedy – mai
bpen rai. This does not mean that Thai
people do not care about your prob-
lems, rather it just means that they are
trying to minimalise negative feelings.
Linked to this, is Thais will rarely show
anger or extreme emotions in public.
If you start shouting about something,
or burst into uncontrollable tears, you
will likely be seen as being slightly
crazy.
7 MANY THAIS
BELIEVE IN GHOSTS
Many Thai people, especially outside
of the major cities, have a strong be-
lief in ghosts in spirits. This can often
seem quite peculiar to an outsider, but
beliefs are deep set and can affect
many aspects of a Thai’s life. No mat-
ter what your beliefs are, just smile
politely if you hear Thais talking about
ghosts.
8
THERE ARE SPIRIT
HOUSES EVERYWHERE
Each town has a communal spirit
house where offerings are given to
the town’s spirits. Many parks, homes,
shops, offices and other buildings also
have shrines where items are left. An-
other teacher I know, on first arriving
in Thailand, was so incensed at see-
ing someone leave something on a
beautiful shrine she not only glared at
him, but removed the item and put it in
the bin. Her intentions were good: she
genuinely believed she was helping to
tidy the place up. In reality, she threw
an offering in the bin. Although this is
an extreme example, it is something
to bear in mind.
43
 9 BUDDHISM AND THE ROY-
AL FAMILY ARE SACRED
Keep your opinions on either topic to
yourself, especially if they are less
than positive. To speak negatively
against Buddhism or the Royal Family
can quickly lose you friends in Thai-
land.
will probably also find that you pay
more for some forms of transport, es-
pecially tuk tuks and motorbike taxis,
than locals do, and that market prices
may sometimes be more. The general
perception is that foreigners are rich.
This is a way of life in Thailand.
ALTHOUGH MANY THINGS MAY
SEEM SO DIFFERENT WHEN YOU

10 GET USED TO
A CONSTANT STREAM
OF PERSONAL QUESTIONS
FIRST ARRIVE IN THAILAND, THERE
ARE ALSO THINGS THAT YOU WILL
FIND FAIRLY SIMILAR TO BACK AT
HOME.
Thais are very inquisitive, and do not Once you have adapted to some of
share the same perceptions of pri- the cultural differences, Thailand is
vacy when it comes to questions. You actually a very easy place to live. Lo-
will often be asked how old you are, cals may not always understand you,
if you are married, whether you have but they are usually friendly and will
children, how much you earn, how generally try and help you. Knowing a
much rent you pay, and similar. If you little bit about what to expect in Thai-
are not comfortable answering these land, and how to try and deal with the
questions, smile and change the top- difference, before you arrive in the
ic, or else tell a semi-truth. Connected country can really help your transition
to this, Thais are not shy about dish- into a new culture a lot easier and a lot
ing out what could be seen as person- less confusing.
al comments. They do not mean to
be rude, they are simply stating what
they believe to be true. If someone
tells you that you are fat, as happened
to me early on in Thailand, smile in
the same way you would if they said
you were beautiful. (I have also been
told this.) Don’t take offence.

11 THAIS USE
NICKNAMES
Most Thai people are given two
names at birth: their full name and
their nickname. Their nicknames are
therefore chosen by their parents,
and not something that they, or their
friends have chosen. If somebody
tells you their nickname, it means that
they want you to use that name. Nick-
names are almost always far easier to
remember and say than the full name
anyway, so it is convenient to use the
nicknames.

12 THERE IS DUAL
PRICING SYSTEM
For many attractions, there are two
different prices listed for foreigners
and nationals. The foreigner price is
higher. With a Work Permit though,
some places will allow you to pay the
lower Thai price. This can save you
a fair bit of money over the course
of your time in Thailand. The double
pricing system can be a little strange
though when you first notice it. You

44
Teaching in Thailand:
Dos and Don’ts
There are several things that you can
either do or avoid doing in Thailand
to make your entire experience a lot
easier. Some things relate specifically
to the classroom, whilst other things
apply to living in Thailand in general.
In addition to a different language,
weather, food, and traditions, there
are different cultural standards and
societal expectations. Common prac-
tices in one country can be a major
source of offence in another. Below
are some useful pointers that can help
you keep on track whilst in Thailand.
DO:
1
DRESS MODESTLY
In Thailand, as a rule of thumb,
your shoulders should be covered
and dresses or skirts worn to work
should reach to your knee. Thais are
fairly conservative in their dress stan-
dards, and although you may see
some of the younger Thai teachers
wearing very short skirts, you should
avoid doing the same unless you want
to be reprimanded. Schools usually
prefer men to wear to wear full button
up shirts. If you are unsure as to what
you are expected to wear in the class-
room, ask someone.
2
WEAR CERTAIN COLOURS
Some schools will expect teach-
ers to wear tops corresponding to the
colour of the day. If you are told to
wear certain colours on certain days,
do so. Monday is yellow, Tuesday is
pink, Wednesday is green, Thursday
is orange, and Friday is light blue.
There are other days where you may
be told to wear certain colours: these
are usually birthdays of members of
the Royal Family and special religious
days. On the King’s birthday, for ex-
ample, you will be expected to wear
yellow, regardless of what day of the
week it as, as the King was born on a
Monday.
3 2
USE THE WAI
The wai is a sign of respect,
and is used to greet people, bid fare-
well, apologise, give thanks, and in a
whole host of other social situations.
If somebody wais you, you should re-
turn the gesture. If you see someone
in your school who is older or holds
a more senior position that you, you
should wai them first.
4 RESPECT THAI BELIEFS
AND VALUES
Although many beliefs may be differ-
ent to your own, always show respect
for the beliefs of others.
5 REMOVE YOUR SHOES
It is customary to remove your
shoes before entering a home, as well
as some offices and shops. A helpful
hint is that if there are piles of shoes
outside a doorway, you should also
remove yours. Some schools may re-
quire that you remove your shoes out-
side the classroom. It is best to ask if
you are unsure. If you do need to take
your shoes off in the classroom, cast
your eyes around the floor for any
sharp objects before you start your
lesson. One time when I forgot to do
this I ended up with a strip of staples
embedded in my heel and dripping
blood whilst completing the alphabet
song. It was painful!
6 TRY AND LEARN A FEW
BASIC THAI PHRASES
Whilst you will not need to use Thai
in the classroom, and some schools
actually specifically prohibit foreign
teachers from using any Thai, a few
basics can really help you outside of
your school. This is particularly useful
in more rural areas where many locals
will not be able to speak any English.
7 ATTEND
THE FLAG CEREMONY
Every morning at 8am the Thai Na-
tional Anthem is played. Most schools
will hold a small flag raising ceremo-
ny at this time on some days of the
week. It is important that you attend
this ceremony unless specifically told
that you do not have to. I have worked
in a school where a flag ceremony
was held every morning. I have also
worked in a school that only held a
ceremony on Mondays and Fridays.
8 STAND STILL
WHEN YOU HEAR
THE NATIONAL ANTHEM
The National Anthem is played ev-
ery day at 8am and 6pm. You should
stand still for the duration of the song.
This is especially important if you are
walking around your school, in a bus
station, or in a similarly public place.
The Royal Anthem is played in cin-
emas before movies start: patrons
are expected to stand throughout this
song also.
9
BE PATIENT
The Thai way of life can be much
slower than the quicker pace that most
westerners are used to. There is noth-
ing that you can do to change this, so
be patient and accept the differences.
10
HAVE FUN!
Embrace the new chal-
lenges of living and working in a dif-
ferent country and have fun!
DON’T:
1 GET ANGRY
Thais rarely show anger or ex-
treme emotions in public. If you do ei-
ther, you will often be considered as
being slightly unhinged. Although you
may need to shout in a classroom to
be heard and make students be qui-
et, do so in a controlled way. Do not
become angry in the classroom, no
matter what happens. If you lose your
temper, students will probably laugh
at you, which will make you feel even
worse.
TOUCH ANYONE’S HEAD
A person’s head is considered
45
 the most spiritual part of their body,
and to touch someone on the head
can be very disrespectful.
3 POINT YOUR FEET
AT ANYONE
The feet are seen as being the lowest
part of the body and so using the feet
to point, or directing the feet towards
someone or something, is seen as the
height of rudeness.
4 ACT DISRESPECTFULLY
NEAR BUDDHA IMAGES
Buddha images are sacred in Thai-
land. You should not climb on statues
for pictures or act in an inappropri-
ate manner near statues or pictures.
You should point your feet away from
Buddha images. In some areas, pos-
ing for photographs in front of Buddha
statues is considered offensive.
5 DISCUSS RELIGION
OR THE ROYAL FAMILY
IN CLASSES
Buddhism and The Royal Family are
both highly revered in Thailand. Whilst
you should avoid criticizing either in
any situation, it is best to also avoid
these topics altogether in the class-
room. Interestingly, be aware that
speaking badly of The Royal Family
is actually a criminal offence and pun-
ishable under the Lese Majeste Laws.
6
BE AFFRONTED IF GRADES
OR SCORES ARE ALTERED
This was something that I found dif-
ficult to understand when I first started
teaching in Thailand. Many schools
operate a no fail policy. This means
that if you are asked to test students,
you can do a lot of work, assign fair
grades, and then the grades will ulti-
mately be altered. It can seem very
pointless, but it happens very com-
monly. Understand it happens, accept
that you cannot change it, and do not
take it personally.
7 USE PLAYING CARDS
IN THE CLASSROOM
Almost all forms of gambling are il-
legal in Thailand. Cards are associ-
ated with gambling, even if there is no
gambling actually taken place. There
are many great ESL activities that use
cards -- do not use them in a Thai
46
school. I have known people get into
a lot of trouble for innocently doing so.
8 RIDE A MOTORBIKE
UNLESS YOU KNOW
WHAT YOU ARE DOING
I would say do not ride a motorbike
unless you have a license to do so,
but so many people, myself included,
hire motorbikes for convenience. With
a high death toll on the roads, and
uncountable accidents involving mo-
torbikes, do not be tempted to think
that riding a motorbike is easy. You
would not do it at home, so don’t do it
in Thailand. The rules of the road and
road conditions are certainly different
to in your home country. Take some
instruction before hitting the roads,
and don’t ride if you are not confident.
And, always wear a helmet, even as a
passenger.
9 DABBLE IN DRUGS
Thailand is known for its hedo-
nistic areas, where almost anything
goes. It also has strong anti-drug
laws. Not only is it very unprofession-
al as a teacher to mess around with
drugs, but it could also land you in a
lot of trouble with the law if caught.
10 PET STRANGE DOGS
Some schools, as well as
most streets, have stray dogs roam-
ing around. Temple schools especial-
ly have a lot of dogs walking around.
They may wander into your classroom
and your students may be perfectly
fine with them. It is wise not to pet any
stray dogs, whether in your school or
on the street. They are not domesti-
cated pets like you are used to, they
probably have not had any rabies
vaccinations or other health care, and
they can be very unpredictable.
YOU WILL NO DOUBT QUICKLY FIND
YOUR OWN DOS AND DON’TS TO
ADD TO THIS LIST, AND IT IS NOT
MEANT TO BE AN INCLUSIVE AND
DEFINITIVE GUIDE OF HOW TO ACT.
HOPEFULLY, THOUGH, THESE TIPS
WILL STAND YOU IN GOOD STEAD
FOR YOUR FIRST FEW WEEKS OF
LIVING AND WORKING IN THE LAND
OF SMILES.
Thailand: Overview of
Popular Areas for ESL Teachers
Thailand offers such diversity in terms
of landscapes, history, food, culture and
traditions. It is a fascinating country to
get to know, and the best way to begin
to understand this magical country is
to spend some time living and working
there. The vast majority of jobs available
for foreigners are teaching jobs. There
are many teaching jobs available all over
the country, from the bustling cities to the
rural villages, in the North, South, East
and West. Teaching in Thailand offers
a wonderful unique opportunity to see
more of the former ancient Kingdom of
Siam, whilst helping young people to
improve their language skills and future
prospects. Many people forget that, al-
though better off financially than many of
its neighbours, Thailand is still classed as
a developing country. If you want to work
in a place where you struggle to see an-
other foreign face, you can find it. If you
want to work in a place with an estab-
lished expat community, you can find it. I
started my ESL teaching career in Thai-
land in a smaller town where there were
nine other foreigners living in the town,
and no tourists passing through. I then
took my second position in a larger town,
where there was a large expat communi-
ty, probably in excess of 100, and which
saw many tourists on a daily basis. Both
places provided very different but enjoy-
able experiences.
EXPLORE THESE
POPULAR AREAS
1
BANGKOK
The capital of Bangkok has many
teaching opportunities across the vari-
ous districts. As well as government and
private schools, including the top end
international schools, there are also uni-
versity positions and language school
opportunities. Bangkok is a city that most
people either love or hate. Some people
are attracted by the international and
cosmopolitan feel, the great shopping,
the fun attractions, delicious Thai and
home comfort food, the dazzling lights
and the party atmosphere. Other people
are shocked by the prominence of lady-
boys, known as kathoey, and sex work-
ers, and are turned off by the hedonistic
party scene. Also, the cost of living in
Bangkok is significantly higher than other
parts of the country, and although the
wages are higher, they do not make up
for the price differences.
2 CHIANG MAI
Chiang Mai in the north is often
viewed as Thailand’s second most im-
portant city. It also has a significant ex-
pat teaching population, but the vibe is
totally different to that in Bangkok. It has
a much slower way of life and costs are
generally a lot less than in other parts of
the country. There is spectacular scenery
with a great choice of outdoor activities,
as well as wonderful cultural attractions.
Some people may find Chiang Mai a bit
too sleepy though for the longer term.
3
PHUKET
Phuket sees many tourists as well
as people looking for a job near a beach
idyll. It has good facilities and amenities
for foreigners, and a major draw is the
wonderful beaches right on the doorstep.
Costs can be high.
4
KRABI
Krabi town and Krabi Province are
popular areas because of the easy ac-
cess to pristine islands, beautiful beach-
es and great climbing opportunities.
5
AYUTTHAYA
Ayutthaya, in central Thailand, has
a decent amount of ESL teachers, and
has the benefit of being close enough
to Bangkok for a night out, a shopping
spree, and to transit through on the way
to somewhere else, but far enough away
to escape the large crowds and intensive
party atmosphere. It is an ancient city
with many temples and an elephant stay
program.
6
KHON KAEN
Khon Kaen has a sizeable teaching
community. Located in Isan, it is the com-
mercial and political heart of the North-
East. It is a sprawling city, with a handful
of local attractions and a decent night life.
7
SURIN
Isan’s Surin attracts teachers who
want a larger city but in a less touristic
area. Famous for the yearly Surin El-
ephant Round Up, where hundreds of
elephants parade though the streets and
enjoy a banquet, wages may be lower in
Surin, but the cost of living is also lower.
8
SOUTHERN ISLANDS
There are various teaching posi-
tions on the larger islands in the South,
although these are highly sought after
and competition may be fierce. Many
people are attracted by the prospect of
living and working on an exotic and tropi-
cal island, so if you really want a job on
one of the islands it is advised to apply
for many positions, and don’t take any
rejections personally. As an alternative,
you could try schools on the mainland ar-
eas, which are within an easy distance to
enjoy weekends. There will probably be
less passing foreigners though, as many
people skip the mainland beaches en
route to the islands.
9
OTHERS
Lesser visited or rural provinces of-
ten have a decent, if small, expat commu-
nity, as usually a school will hire several
foreign teachers. I worked in a school in
Sing Buri town, in central Thailand, and
there was another foreign teacher as well
as myself. A couple of other schools also
employed native English teachers, mak-
ing a small band of teachers in the town.
Other places to consider in central Thai-
land include Lop Buri, famous for maraud-
ing monkeys with a fairly constant stream
of tourists, Suphan Buri, with a rich tra-
dition of buffalo farming, and the beauti-
ful and historic Kanchanaburi. South of
Bangkok you could try Petchaburi, with
quiet beaches and caves, Trang, with its
islands steeped in local legend, Surat
Thani and Nakhon Si Tammarat, gener-
ally transit points for the islands, and Hat
Yai near to the Malaysian border. In the
North Chiang Rai, Sukhothai, and Lam-
pang are fairly popular, and in Isan, Na-
korn Ratchasima contains one of Thai-
land’s most popular national parks.
ANYWHERE WHERE YOU CAN FIND
A TEACHING JOB YOU ARE HIGHLY TO
FIND OTHER ESL TEACHERS LIVING IN
THE AREA. The main difference is the
amount of foreign teachers in any given
place. A smaller number of teachers
does not signify a worse place to teach,
and, likewise, a higher number of expats
does not mean that a place is better. The
numbers of teachers are based on the
demands of the local educational estab-
lishments, and wherever you choose to
teach you will likely make new friends and
have wonderful experiences right from the
very beginning of your new adventure and
teaching career in Thailand.
47
5 Ideas for the Next Step
in Your ESL Career
While many ESL teachers only spend
a year on the job before heading back
to their home country, many others fall
in love with their new career, the life-
style or the country where they work.
After a year of sinking your teeth into
grammar and finding your feet in devel-
oping your own unique teaching style,
it’s time to take your teaching career up
a notch. After a successful year in the
classroom, teachers will find a vast new
array of jobs available to them or in a
more senior position with more money.
HERE’S WHAT YOUR NEXT STEP CAN
BE
firing teachers. Any candidate for a
Director of Studies must possess the
highest knowledge of grammar, keep
track of various educational content on
the market, as well as cover sick teach-
ers and find replacements at short no-
tice. The Director of Studies is generally
given the freedom to run the academic
department as they see fit, on the con-
dition that at the end of the day, stu-
dent numbers still remain strong and
the business side of the school still
brings in the big bucks for the owners.
3 FROM CELTA TO DELTA!
Okay, so you’ve got a degree
4 EXPERIENCE A NEW
COUNTRY AND CULTURE
After a year of teaching in one country
and experiencing its unique food, cul-
ture and way of life, another option for
teachers is to pack their suitcase and get
on a plane – but not on a flight heading
home! To stay fresh in the classroom,
a change in surroundings provides a
stimulating experience that many use
to avoid lapsing deep into a comfort
zone. Moving to a new country presents
a completely new set of challenges
faced when teaching students from
a different background, such as their
own unique quirks and bad habits that

1 SENIOR TEACHER and you’ve completed a CELTA (The

Certificate in English Language Teach-
you need to fix with their English skills.

Becoming a senior teacher is a
great opportunity to take your career
to the next level. While the role of a
senior teacher is still predominately
classroom-based, it provides an insight
into the managerial side and adminis-
tration behind the scenes. The role of a
senior teacher is generally to provide
assistance and guidance to first-
time teachers by reviewing their les-
son plans and offering helpful hints and
ideas to make their classes top notch.
Senior teachers play a vital role in
any language centre, taking the pres-
sure off the Director of Studies or
Academic Manager, while becoming
a part of the management structure.
5
ing to Adults). ESL qualifications don’t
just end there – the next step for the
CHANGE YOUR
super-serious teacher with the high- WORK ENVIRONMENT
est levels of passion for the tech-
If you’ve done a year in a language
nical side of teaching is a DELTA.
centre, a good way to keep your class
fresh is to change the setting and the
A DELTA (the Diploma in English Lan-
focus of your career. For example,
guage Teaching to Adults) is the next
if you taught in a language centre, it
level up from CELTA certification,
may be a worthwhile finding a job at
and is generally a three-to-six month,
a school or to explore one of the end-
full-time course that educates all about
less choices of niche avenues of ESL
the more gristly points of teaching. A
teaching. If you enjoy teaching young
DELTA course has a high-failure rate
children, find a job at a kindergarten. If
and takes up a significant amount
you come from a business background
of your life, therefore it is nothing to
and enjoy teaching adults, it might be
be taken lightly. Many teachers who
worthwhile considering a path in busi-
have completed the course often talk
ness or corporate language training.
about the high workload and incred-
ible amount of effort that it involves.

2
DOS: BE THE BOSS!
Not so much a move in a teach-
er’s second year, but hey, our industry
can be highly unpredictable and posi-
tions could arise at incredibly short no-
tice. While it may seem like an easy,
office-bound job, the Director of Stud-
ies does, in fact, have serious job that
at times can be stressful. The DOS is
usually the middle-man who has the
tough roll of dealing with the man-
agement and owners, while man-
aging and dealing with the needs
and requirements of teachers.
The Director of Studies receives the
full brunt of management when things
aren’t going well, while being respon-
sible for the stressful task of hiring and
No matter what you do in your sec-
ond year, it is important to remem-
When ESL teachers get together and
ber the phrase ‘a change is as
talk shop, the vast majority would agree
good as a holiday’. This couldn’t be
that while a DELTA looks impressive
more true when it comes to keep-
on a resume, it is not a useful tool in
ing your ESL career on the front foot.
getting a job. Many say that further ex-
panding one’s tertiary education or ob-
A CHANGE OF WORKPLACE, ENVI-
taining a Master’s Degree would be the
RONMENT OR CULTURE CAN CREATE
best bet at improving one’s work pros-
A WHOLE NEW ARRAY OF CHAL-
pects. However, teachers who would
LENGES FOR YOU IN THE CLASS-
benefit most from a DELTA course are
ROOM AND GIVE YOU A REWARD-
those with the intent on climbing the
ING TEACHING EXPERIENCE THAT IS
ladder of the British Council or who
FULL OF VARIETY AND KEEPS YOU ON
want a job in management in a presti-
YOUR TOES.
gious and well-known language centre.
A career in ESL is not just a gap-year
But for those who take the live, breath
activity, but can become a lifelong
and have dedicated their lives to ESL
career that gives you the live that
teaching, a DELTA would provide a
many people could only dream of.
thorough insight unlike anything else.

48
How To Avoid Sensitive Issues
When Teaching ESL
DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU ARE
TEACHING, IT IS IMPORTANT TO
REMEMBER THAT CERTAIN ISSUES
MIGHT BE TABOO.
Of course, this is going to vary from
culture to culture. A lot of teachers will
find that they are going to be going
abroad for work. Popular destinations
at the moment include South Korea,
Vietnam and China. China in particu-
lar is currently experiencing a boom.
As a result, more English teachers
and those are politics and religion. In
general, the same can be applied to
a class. Of course, sometimes topics
of religion come up so it is important
to be aware of the students’ reactions
to it. Keep the debate civilized, and
above all, try to avoid your own per-
sonal opinion. At the end of the day,
you’re trying to teach a language. A
culture class is something else, there-
fore it is no sin to change the topic at
hand.
Galician, Catalonian and much more.
Therefore one needs to keep these
facts in mind when teaching the class
to ensure that certain issues might be
avoided. An example being that the
Basque people have been aiming for
independence from Spain. Keeping
this out of the conversation will allow
for a much more peaceful lesson.
IN COUNTRIES WHERE DISCUSSING
CERTAIN TOPICS MIGHT BE A BIG

are required than are actually avail-
able. Whether you are teaching as an
online job, or are actually physically in
the country, do a little bit of research
before going over. Take a look at what
the main culture finds acceptable,
and what it doesn’t. There have even
been certain cases where people
have been jailed due to certain per-
ceived insults, although there was ac-
tually no harm intended by them! Usu-
ally, within a lot of Western countries,
these won’t be very big problems. It
is still a good idea to take a look over
2
BEING AWARE OF
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
Another way of avoiding certain issues
which might be deemed sensitive
(such as women’s status in Islamic
countries, if you happen to be teach-
ing there) is to be aware of the differ-
ence from the beginning. Depending
on how strict a Muslim country is, if
you are female you will probably have
to cover up to a certain extent. Re-
specting a country’s ways is key here.
RISQUÉ, IT IS IMPORTANT TO STICK
TO RATHER NEUTRAL ISSUES SUCH
AS HOUSING, COST OF LIVING ETC.
If there is an economic recession go-
ing on, be careful when discussing
things like unemployment. Religion,
for the most part, is a no-go area in
countries such as China. If you have
any doubts, then speak with the head
of the school and see what is accept-
able and what isn’t. It is always best to
be safe than sorry!

how they differ from your own culture
anyway. Germany, France and many
other countries in Western Europe
tend to have only a few cultural differ-
ences, due to a common history. This
won’t necessarily be the case if you
are intending to go and teach some-
where like Saudi Arabia or Shanghai.
Avoiding certain issues will there-
fore be something that every teacher
needs to watch out for.
HOW TO AVOID
SENSITIVE ISSUES
3
MULTIPLE CULTURES
Even teaching abroad, you
might find that you have a classroom
filled with people from all over the
world. This is particularly true in coun-
tries like Germany. A lot of the time,
they will be businesspeople as this
is probably the most in-demand form
of English teaching available. The
teacher must also keep in mind that
just because students share a simi-
lar language, it does not mean they
have a similar culture. For example,
English speakers can be found all

1 AVOIDING THE ISSUE

Sometimes students might want
over the world. They come from many
different backgrounds: South Africa,
Britain, Ireland, the United States,
to discuss something which may not
etc.. Whilst there are similarities, Irish
necessarily be appropriate for the
culture can be seen as being vastly
class, and might even be offensive
different from American culture right
to certain members. If this happens,
down to the difference in slang. Like-
then it is a good idea to quickly direct
wise, those students who are Span-
the conversation away. Perhaps intro-
ish speaking might not necessary be
duce a new part of the topic. Another
from the same part of Spain, or even
good idea is probably to suggest that
country. There are often huge differ-
everyone play a game in order to prac-
ences between Spanish and Latin
tice their language skills. As the old
American culture. Within Spain, one
saying goes, two things should nev-
can find people of Basque origin,
er be discussed at the dinner table,

49
 ESL Dress Code:
What Smart Teachers Wear
WHAT YOU WEAR AS A TEACHER
DEPENDS A LOT ON WHERE YOU
WORK, WHO YOU WORK FOR, AND
YOUR STUDENTS.
Regardless of what the requirements
are, you need to be comfortable.
Since you are active and stand for
long periods of time in the classroom,
shoes that you can move around in
are a must too.
5 ESL DRESSCODE
TIPS
3 TEACHERS = BUSINESS-
MEN?
to reconsider your workspace. Addi-
tionally you may want to think about
wearing clothes that stand out against
your background. This may seem like
If you work at a conversation school,
a minor point but if you wear black
business attire is highly recommend-
against a black background, students
ed. This gives you a very professional
will see what appears to be a floating,
appearance and students, especially
talking head during their lessons and
students of Business English, will
that could be distracting. While teach-
see this as a reflection of the school.
ing online lessons is drastically differ-
Since schools are aware of this,
ent from teaching in a classroom, you
they may have strict rules regarding
should still dress and act profession-
clothes, accessories, and even hair
ally.
styles. Employers in many countries
may ask you to cover tattoos when

1
GROUND RULES
If you work in a public or pri-
vate school, you can dress the way
interacting with students so take this
HOW YOU DRESS AFFECTS HOW
into consideration when applying for
PEOPLE VIEW YOU.
positions and attending interviews.
Regardless of location or employer,

your coworkers do. Different coun-
tries, schools, and even weather af-
fect your choice of clothing. Generally
clothes that are not too formal and not
too casual are safe for work. This is
obviously a broad range but here are
some things to keep in mind. Women
should not wear skirts that are shorter
than knee length, need to be aware
of acceptable necklines, and should
make conservative choices when it
comes to jewelry. For men, a dress
shirt and pants may be just fine while
some schools require suits. Jeans
and T-shirts are not often seen as ac-
ceptable for work.
4
SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE
IS BEST
You will probably wear different
clothes depending on the age of your
students and the country you work in
as well. If you teach younger students
and do lots of arts and crafts, you
can hardly be expected to wear a suit
while high schools may require teach-
ers to wear one. In some countries,
such as Japan, teachers tend to dress
more formally while in others, like
Cambodia, they do not. You should
be aware of what clothes are socially
acceptable for teachers and ask your
employer what is recommended if you
you should look professional because
people base their opinions on appear-
ance as well as behavior. Students
may respect you more if you dress
appropriately and this will help your
classes run more smoothly. In most
cases you can simply contact your
employer or someone at your school
for guidelines if you are unsure of what
is expected of you. Keep in mind that
being comfortable is important and
will also boost your self confidence.

2
DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK
In some cases teachers are
hired not by the school districts they
serve but through another company
which may have certain expectations
regarding their work attire. If this is
the case, these rules or guidelines
should be outlined for you. If anything
is unclear you can always contact the
company with your specific questions.
If your company expects you to dress
quite differently from the other teach-
ers at your school, you may want to
find a middle ground so that you can
please both your school, by fitting in,
and your company, by looking profes-
sional.
have any concerns.
5 DRESSCODE FOR
TEACHING ONLINE
When using a webcam to teach on-
line, your appearance is still impor-
tant but dressing for online classes is
slightly different. You do not need to
worry about comfortable shoes or co-
workers but you should still dress pro-
fessionally. If you choose to wear a
dress shirt and pajama bottoms that is
fine as long as what students can see
reflects well on you. When teaching
online, you also need to take a look
at your background. Try to find a neu-
tral space that does not give away a
lot of personal information. If students
can see your bed or see through the
hallway into the bathroom, you need

50
The 10 Commandments
of the Ethical ESL Teacher
Not long ago, I was having lunch
at a local cafe, and I witnessed an
interesting conversation between
THE 10
COMMANDMENTS
3 NEITHER WILL YOU SELL
MATERIAL GOODS TO YOUR
STUDENTS, INCLUDING YOUR
a woman and her parents. of Ethics and the ESL Teacher WRITTEN WORKS.

In all fairness, I wasn’t deliberately
eavesdropping — the other party
was quite loud, and at one point, the
daughter even pulled out a small lap-
top to demonstrate a musical perfor-
mance on You-Tube for her parents.
This show was the topic of their con-
versation. This woman had recently
1
YOU WILL NOT PREACH TO
YOUR STUDENTS. YOU WILL
NOT SHARE YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
OR OTHERWISE “WITNESS.”
This should seem obvious, but I have
seen it happen. Especially around the
time of religious holidays, the impulse
Class is neither a place for selling your
child’s Girl Scout cookies nor a place
to promote your latest book. Students’
wallets should be kept out of sight for
the duration of the class so that they
can focus on their work — not on how
they will pay for these increasingly ex-
pensive sessions.

returned from a visit to Japan, having
taken this music — and her religious
beliefs — to the Japanese people.
In fact, she blithely told her parents,
the earthquake in Japan presented “a
unique opportunity” to her organiza-
tion and their outreach efforts, an op-
portunity missed six years ago in the
wake of the flood in New Orleans.
Appalled if oddly fascinated by this
4
to tell religious stories seems strong.
Resist it, please. Not all students — YOU WILL NOT ACCEPT GIFTS
indeed sometimes none of your stu- FROM YOUR STUDENTS.
dents — will be of your religious back-
Not only should you not solicit
ground.
goods from students, but you
shouldn’t accept them. Because of
In addition, for those of us raised in
the imbalance of power between stu-
a Western European context, there
dent and teacher, money and clothing
is a tendency to think of holidays like
or food items all carry implications of
Christmas or Easter as “universal.”
coercion that doesn’t exist in most re-
They really aren’t.
lationships, and teachers should be

perspective — another group of peo-
ple’s tragedy your own “unique oppor-
tunity” — I shifted to a table across the
room.
However, the conversation haunted
me for the rest of the day. Although
the woman said nothing about be-
ing a teacher — she seemed to be
involved in missionary work for a re-
ligious organization — I think the di-
lemma shown here, namely the pos-
sibility of exploiting the misfortunes of
others, can apply to ESL instructors.
In fact the spread of English has itself
been connected with imperialism, the
domination of people from developing
countries by those from developed.
While of course the actual practice
of ESL instruction by most of us is far
removed from this historic context,
there are still implications of abuse of
authority in this kind of imbalance of
power.
What are some ways to minimize
these possibilities if not eliminate
them entirely? I think it lies in a series
of key principles or “commandments,”
if you will, to borrow the language (if
not the ideology) from religion.
2
wary of accepting gifts from students.
NOR WILL YOU PREACH YOUR
I’ve at times put a brief statement in
POLITICAL BELIEFS.
my syllabus that teachers at the col-
lege level generally don’t accept gifts
I’ve seen this happen at the univer-
sity level in particular — instruc- from students and that the best “gift”
students could give a teacher is to
tors taking class time to share their
political convictions. study hard.
Even if I happened to share those
beliefs, the practice always left me
with negative impression, my trust in
5 YOU WILL NOT ESTABLISH A
CASH FUND OR OTHERWISE
COLLECT MONEY IN CLASS,
the instructor diminished, as I saw HOWEVER NOBLE THE PURPOSE.
him turn on students who challenged
Another “no brainer,” you would
these politics. I was always afraid I
think — however, I have seen teach-
would be next.
ers set up a class “piggy bank”
and “charge” students a quar-
To this day, largely because of experi-
ter every time a language other
ences in classes like that, I won’t state
than English was spoken in class.
which side I am on in a class debate
No matter that students seemed to
on some issue like stem cell research.
appreciate the strategy and that the
Indeed, one exasperated student at
money would go to classroom items
the end of a debate recently said,
“And when will you tell us about at the end of the term — there are
just too many negative implications
your position, Dr. Levy? We’ve told
you ours!” Fair enough — because here for actual money to be used in
the classroom.
the debate was over, I calmly gave my
“side” on the issue, conceding points
Play money would be more appropri-
to the other side as appropriate. But
ate in this case, with the individual
this was after students had had the
with the most “cash” at the end of the
chance to develop their own opinions
term winning some token prize.
on the matter.

51
 6 YOU WILL NOT PRACTICE THER-
APY ON YOUR STUDENTS.
Once a student came to me about
being in an emotionally abusive rela-
tionship with her American boyfriend.
your students with joy every morning,
teach them to the best of your ability,
never show disrespect even if their
behavior might be earning it, and ex-
tend that same respect to their fami-
lies when you meet.

Shocked, I helped and listened to her
as much as I could. A large mistake
— because when, predictably, her
grades began to suffer, she expected
me to understand and make con-
cessions because she had confided
in me — an ethical dilemma I could
have avoided had I stuck with what
I’m trained to do, teach English, and
referred her to counseling services for
her relationship troubles.
Of course we want to help our stu-
dents — teachers by nature help.
There can, however, be a fine line
between helping and hurting.
10
YOU WILL ISSUE GRADES
BASED ON STUDENT
WORK, NOT ON YOUR RELATIONSHIP
WITH THE STUDENT.
And finally, really what it comes down
to is to always grade your student
based on their work. If you have
avoided establishing a material or
personal relationship with your stu-
dents, you can do that!
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT, THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS OF THE ETHICAL
ESL TEACHER!

7 NOR WILL YOU FORCE

STUDENTS TO PRACTICE
THERAPY ON YOU.

I was once in a class where the in-

structor was going through a messy
divorce — the details of which I knew
well by the end of the term. I can re-
count those details thirty years after
the fact -- although I don’t remember
the course content. Enough said?
Class should be seen as a tem-
porary and intellectual sanctuary
from both student and instructor
personal problems.

8 YOU WILL NOT BEFRIEND

YOUR STUDENTS.

This seems strange as we are trained

to be friendly with our students and
establish a comfortable class atmo-
sphere. A friendly demeanor is fine,
but when the instructors crosses the
line and befriends students she may
find herself in a situation like that of
my colleague “Deborah”: at a club
late at night, comforting one sobbing
student because the student’s date —
Deborah’s other student — had aban-
doned her. Teachers shouldn’t get
into situations like this. You are not
your students’ peer, so don’t cross
that line!

9 YOU WILL, HOWEVER, TREAT

YOUR STUDENTS AND THEIR
FAMILIES WITH RESPECT AND NOT
PLAY FAVORITES.

Enough on what you can’t do! So

what can you do? You can welcome

52
Top 10 Ways to Teach Culture
It has been said that culture is like an
iceberg, that only ten percent of it is visible
and the other ninety percent is hidden
below the surface. For this reason, ESL
teachers must make intentional efforts to
teach cultural understanding and toler-
ance to their students. If you are looking
for a way to bring up the subject of culture,
try one of the following.
HOW TO TEACH
CULTURE IN YOUR
CLASSROOM
1 FOOD
Everyone eats, but not everyone
eats the same things, and the differences
in diet from one culture to the next can
be very dramatic. You can let your stu-
dents share their culture through food by
inviting them to talk about or share dishes
typical in their countries. To do this, have
a cultural food fair or ask your students
to prepare a national dish in a class pre-
sentation. If everyone in class gets a little
taste, even better, just keep in mind food
allergies that your students may have.
2 HOLIDAYS
What better time to talk about tradi-
tional foods than during the holidays. Any
holiday that pops up on the calendar is an
excuse to celebrate any and all holidays
from January to December. Ask each of
your students to talk about a traditional
holiday from their native culture. They can
give information about the holiday itself as
well as national and family traditions. The
students in your class will enjoy sharing
some of their traditions as well as hearing
about those of their classmates.
3 CLOTHING
Often another element of holidays
or special occasions is traditional dress.
It is not unusual for ESL students to bring
some pieces of formal or traditional dress
when they travel overseas to study. If you
are teaching immigrants, your students
also have a good chance of having these
clothing items at home. You can invite your
students to wear traditional clothing on a
certain day or bring picture of themselves
or others in traditional dress. Encourage
each person to explain the significance
of the different pieces, if any, and give an
opportunity for everyone in class to ask
questions.
4 TIME
While you are talking about holi-
days in your class, have another con-
versation about what people do in their
free time. Generally, a person’s sched-
ule will be reflective of his or her values.
Looking at the typical distribution of time
can give an insight into what is important
in a given culture. Of the 168 hours in the
week, how many do most people spend
working? Studying? Going out with friends
or spending quality time with family? The
answers to these questions and the differ-
ences from one culture to another will help
your students understand and appreciate
what their classmates value.
5 MUSIC
While you are at it, does anyone in
your class play a traditional instrument?
That may not be all that common, but
most students could probably play some
popular music from their country for the
class. Bring in an iPod dock and play a
little rock and roll, then invite your stu-
dents to share some of their music. Again,
encourage open conversation and ques-
tion among your students. Be sure to
remind your class that national prefer-
ences vary as do personal preferences,
and remind them to be sensitive to what
their classmates share.
6 MONEY
Why not bring culture into the class-
room with a little show and tell? Set a day,
perhaps at some point during a unit about
business, to invite your students to bring in
a sample of money from their native coun-
tries (which you should make note that
they brought and make sure they bring
home). Either collect all the money in one
place or pass it around and let your stu-
dents look at the coins and bills. Have
them take note about who or what is pic-
tured on the money, and give your stu-
dents a chance to talk about these people
and things. By sharing stories about what
is important enough to put on the country’s
currency, your students will gain another
level of cultural understanding from their
classmates.
7 TRADITIONAL STORIES
Traditional stories such as folk tales
or tall tales are another way to bring
culture and history into the classroom.
You can have your students read English
translations of traditional tales or have
your students tell the stories to their class-
mates. By noticing who plays prominent
roles in the stories and how they handle
conflict, you and your students will see
some more of what motivates and chal-
lenges a national group.
8 RELIGION
Though religion is not necessarily
a national value, allowing your students
to share their religious beliefs and those
that most members of their culture hold
will also provide valuable opportunities for
your students to understand one another.
With a spirit of open-mindedness and
acceptance, ask your students to share
some religious practices or beliefs and
allow the rest of the class to discuss the
issues that may arise from the discus-
sion. If everyone in your class can be tol-
erant of their classmates beliefs, there is
the potential for a very powerful and infor-
mative discussion on the topic of religion,
simply proceed with caution.
9 HISTORY
Often key events in a country’s past
will either establish or define that culture’s
values. You can give your students an
opportunity to discuss significant events
in their country’s history, and if you do
asking, them to explain how those events
influence their people today will give you
an insight into culture. If you have done
other activities on culture, you may have
already touched on these events when
talking about holidays or money, but
looking at things from a historical perspec-
tive can add another layer of understand-
ing for your students.
10 FAMILY
Not only does a country hold
particular values, but families also hold
certain values that they pass on to their
children. Allowing your students to share
about their families can open the door to
talking about the values that their families
hold. Talking about these family values will
also often lead to a discussion about the
values of a people group. When opportu-
nities arise for your students to talk about
their families, encourage it and perhaps
your students will learn a little more about
one another.
CULTURE PERMEATES EVERY ASPECT
OF OUR BEINGS. These topics are just a
few that you can use to intentionally bring
a discussion of culture into the classroom.
53
 Team Teaching: Tips for Success
SOME COUNTRIES AND SCHOOLS
RELY ON TEAM TEACHING TO
MAKE THEIR ESL CLASSES MORE
EFFECTIVE. TEAM TEACHING IS
WHERE TWO INSTRUCTORS WORK
TOGETHER TO TEACH LESSONS. THIS
ARRANGEMENT USUALLY, BUT NOT
ALWAYS, PAIRS A NATIVE ENGLISH
SPEAKER WITH A NON-NATIVE
ENGLISH SPEAKER WHO SPEAKS
THE LOCAL LANGUAGE.
In Japan, Assistant Language Teach-
ers are the native speakers placed in
schools to work with Japanese Eng-
lish teachers. In this case the primary
goal of team teaching is to improve
student pronunciation by having a na-
tive speaker available to model words
and phrases for them. In other coun-
tries large class sizes are the reason
behind team teaching as this allows
students to have more one on one
time with an instructor. Working as
part of a team can be a challenge so
here are some things to think about
when team teaching.
TEAM TEACHING DO’S
AND DONT’S
1 DO
For a successful team teaching
relationship, it is important to com-
municate with one another. Talking
about lesson plans, sharing ideas,
and editing exams together outside
the classroom will help you develop
a good working relationship. Meeting
on a daily or weekly basis and know-
ing who is responsible for what during
the lesson can increase the quality of
your classes and your overall confi-
dence as a teacher. You will be able to
learn from one another and increase
your understanding of each other’s
experience and teaching methods.
This will help you work together better
in the classroom too because you will
have the same goals, expectations,
and plans. In class it is important to
be flexible and adapt when your part-
ner decides to make changes to the
lesson plan you discussed. This can
happen for a number of reasons but
the most common one is that students
are having difficulty with the material
and continuing along the same course
will only confuse them further. If you
are not the one leading the class, it is
important to follow the path the other
54
teacher decides to take and be pre-
pared to step in with a new activity if OF YOUR PARTNER.
necessary. More than anything else, Collaborating can reduce the amount
team teachers need to cooperate to of work you need to do individually
ensure that students have the best and lead to better lessons while act-
classes possible. ing separately will not benefit anyone
least of all your students.
2 DON’T
Team teaching will not be suc-
cessful when there is no team. If teach-
ers do not actually work together, they
will not lead classes effectively and
the materials each person prepared
may not complement one another.
There is nothing worse than learning
on the way to the classroom that your
partner, without telling you, expected
you to prepare the lesson that day.
Students cannot learn in a setting this
disorganized no matter how well you
manage to salvage the class time with
some brilliant, last-minute plan. Some
other things to keep in mind are not
to interrupt when the other teacher is
speaking and not to undermine each
other’s authority. The two go hand in
hand: making the other teacher look
bad will not improve your situation.
Students will lose respect for both of
you and that is not a good classroom
situation.
3 ASSISTANT TEACHERS
If you are a teaching assistant
who is expected to team teach, start
off by asking what the teacher you are
assisting expects of you. Once you
have mastered those things, try to en-
courage more collaboration and make
suggestions about lesson plans and
activities. Some teachers will be more
open to your ideas than others so pro-
ceed with caution and be respectful
of their role as the primary instruc-
tor especially around students. If you
feel that you are only being included
in one aspect of teaching, volunteer
to perform other tasks such as grad-
ing and planning activities. A teacher
who has never had an assistant be-
fore may not realize the amount of
work you are willing and able to do
and might welcome your assistance
in these areas.
TEAM TEACHING CAN BE VERY
EFFECTIVE. EVERYONE WORKS IN
DIFFERENT WAYS SO THE BEST
THING YOU CAN DO IS CONTRIBUTE
YOUR SKILLS AND ASK THE SAME
How To Teach Large Groups:
The More The Merrier?
DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU TEACH,
YOU COULD FACE CLASSES OF 30 OR
40 STUDENTS.
3 FIRST PRACTICE
AS A CLASS
students to ask questions about any-
thing they are uncertain about. Stu-
dents are often hesitant to ask ques-
tions but by creating an open, friendly,
The first practice activity should be
In some countries even larger class- and constructive learning environ-
done as a class so that students can
es are not uncommon. With only one ment, you will have gone a long way
get an idea of what the target mate-
teacher and maybe one assistant, towards setting your students at ease.
rial is and hear you model everything
teaching such a large group of stu-
correctly. Further practice can often

dents can be a challenge. Here are
some strategies you can use in differ-
ent stages of the lesson to encourage
everyone to participate and make the
most out of your time with students.
HOW TO TEACH
LARGE GROUPS
be done individually, in pairs, or in
groups. The main challenge while
students are working on something
is monitoring them. It is impossible to
listen to more than one conversation
at a time so walk through the class
during the practice time to ensure
that students are doing the activity,
5
REVISION IS FUN
Review activities are very simi-
lar to warm ups. Something fun and
fast paced will help you end class on
a positive note while reinforcing what
you talked about during the lesson.
Here you should definitely call on stu-
dents who have not spoken up during

1
ALWAYS WARM THEM UP
FIRST
Plan activities that encourage stu-
dents to volunteer answers, work to-
gether in teams, or in some other way
participate in the lesson. The most
important thing is to get them thinking
and speaking in English. If it is a par-
ticularly sluggish class, plan to have
students out of their chairs and mov-
ing around the classroom. Fast paced
activities will increase student talking
answer questions, and correct the
mistakes you are fortunate enough to
catch. After students have completed
the activity is when you will have the
opportunity to check their understand-
ing of the material. Cover everything
in the practice activity as a class and
call on students who have not yet spo-
ken. Quieter students may simply be
shy but usually, students who do not
volunteer do not feel confident about
their answers and may need extra
help.
the rest of the lesson to see if they are
following along. This is another great
time for you to assess how students
are doing and think about what you
might want to review at the beginning
of the next lesson.
While large groups of students can
make classroom management and
discipline especially challenging, you
are also able to do a lot of fun activi-
ties with sizable classes that are not
appropriate for smaller class sizes.

4
time and engage more students in the For example, Chinese Whispers is a
exercise. PRODUCTION STAGE: fun team game that should be done
ENCOURAGE PAIRWORK with at least two or three teams with

2 INTRODUCE
WHILE ELICITING
Your introduction should not be a time
for students to passively acknowledge
information. This is a time for you to
see what they already know related to
the topic while giving them the neces-
sary bits of information they will need
to complete activities later on in class.
Elicit information such as vocabulary
from students. You can call on stu-
dents if you are asking them to recall
something you have already covered
but should rely on volunteers if you
are fishing for something new. Stu-
dents in classes this size are usually
at a couple different levels depending
on their interest in English so eliciting
material is a great way to see what
information students can provide on
specific topics.
& GROUPWORK
Pairs and groups are good for produc-
tion exercises unless you want stu-
several members each. In a class
with about ten to fifteen students, you
would have to adapt the game to be a
class exercise instead of a team one.
dents to do a writing activity, in which With practice, you will be able to man-
case you should consider having stu- age even extremely large class sizes
dents work individually. It is important with ease.
that students work with one another
because they can help each other
while you are busy assisting different
groups whereas individuals have only
their knowledge to draw on and thus
are less likely to notice their own mis-
takes. Just like with the practice activi-
ties above, be sure to have students
present their material from this part of
the lesson to the class. This gives you
the chance to deliver individualized
feedback and allows students to hear
some more examples. This is kind of
late in the class for students to realize
they have been practicing something
incorrectly but it is better late than
never and you can always encourage

55