Author Archives: alexcase

76 Simplest Responses games (TEFLtastic classics Part 20)

Posted on 03/02/2014 by alexcase

A really manageable presentation task for loads of useful language. If you like anything here and want more, please support TEFLtastic.   This is one of the games that I use most of all and it’s only taken me this long to … Continue reading →

Posted in TEFL games | Tagged | 6 Comments

33 key words card games (TEFLtastic classics Part 19)

Posted on 29/01/2014 by alexcase

This is another game which featured prominently in my article in EtP magazine on getting students to use more complex language. Students are given a pack of cards with key words for one or more functions on them, e.g. cards … Continue reading →

Posted in clarifying, Functional language, interrupting, TEFL games | Tagged | Leave a comment

New TEFL articles and photocopiables Jan 2014

Posted on 25/01/2014 by alexcase

Stuff I haven’t mentioned yet top. Worksheets Future Arrangements Roleplays  Past Progressive Bluffing Card Game Similarities and Differences Between Connecting Expressions- Card Game Needs Analysis and Countable/Uncountable Presentation Functional language for guests and hosts in restaurants Use and complete the … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English as a Foreign Language | 5 Comments

The most useful fillers for the end of lessons

Posted on 21/01/2014 by alexcase

An article of mine in the latest edition of MET (Modern English Teacher magazine) – available here to read for free!  Ways to not waste extra classroom time when you are lucky enough to have it. Earlier in my career my … Continue reading →

Posted in modern english teacher magazine | Leave a comment

Filipinos not the solution to countries’ English teaching problems?

Posted on 20/01/2014 by alexcase

This is one of several recent news stories from Vietnam recently including claims that Filipino teachers are unaffordable, hard to find and/ or not suitably qualified, funnily enough exactly the complaints most often made about Western teachers.

Posted in Teaching English in Vietnam | 1 Comment

Teaching hedging/ generalising

Posted on 17/01/2014 by alexcase

I don’t know if my thinking as well as my language is being affected by my favourite Janglish, but just two weeks after going crazy for advantages and disadvantages/ looking at both sides, I’ve got a new “my boom”. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Language of generalisation | Leave a comment

Janglish which we should all start using

Posted on 15/01/2014 by alexcase

What I prefer to call Janglish is better known as Japlish, Japanese English or wasei eigo. The direct translation of the last term is “English made in Japan”, but a more correct explanation would be Japanese words and expressions made … Continue reading →

Posted in English as an International Language/ Lingua Franca, Janglish | Leave a comment

New teaching Japanese learners page

Posted on 12/01/2014 by alexcase

Given how I’ve spent eight of the last ten years and four of the six years of this blog teaching in Japan, you can be fairly sure that all my worksheets and teaching advice are suitable for that situation. I’ve also … Continue reading →

Posted in Janglish, Teaching English in Japan | Leave a comment

How Kaizen TEFL ruined my life

Posted on 12/01/2014 by alexcase

A while ago I wrote about what the Japanese concept of “kaizen” or “continuous improvement” could teach us to help improve our error-strewn textbooks and endlessly recycled worksheets, something that technology is slowly making a reality. More recently, I started practising what … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English as a Foreign Language | Leave a comment

Teaching advantages and disadvantages/ looking at both sides

Posted on 07/01/2014 by alexcase

I started teaching this just as an essay construction, then started adding the surprising number of useful phrases there are to talk about both sides of an argument, and the more generally useful things like concessive linking expressions that comes … Continue reading →

Posted in Giving opinions | Leave a comment