Author Archives: alexcase

University of Tokyo recruits first students able to graduate just through English

Posted on 11/10/2012 by alexcase

Just 27 so far, but is part of a trend that is almost balancing out the Japanese decline in housewife classes and interest in studying abroad (the other counterbalances being the recent start of compulsory lessons in primary schools and … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English in Japan | Leave a comment

Cambridge unlikely to go bust

Posted on 11/10/2012 by alexcase

That’s according to the ratings agency Moody’s, so you can feel pretty confident that even if you teach as long and lose your cert as many times as I have, you’ll be able to get another copy from Cambridge and … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge ESOL | Leave a comment

Could crowdfunding work in TEFL?

Posted on 10/10/2012 by alexcase

It seems perfect for us. To pick a random example, there are teachers in Japan who can save a few yen but find it very difficult to invest well locally, and certainly shouldn’t invest in the shrinking ELT market by, … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English as a Foreign Language | 12 Comments

Cutting Edge Advanced supplementary materials now properly indexed

Posted on 09/10/2012 by alexcase

Only about 30 relevant worksheets and links for the whole book, but as that was about 30 minutes to sort out thought I’d give it a mention anyway. Cutting Edge Advanced Communication Games/ Classroom handouts Will start on books that … Continue reading →

Posted in Photocopiable worksheets | Leave a comment

Cultural awareness games/ worksheets page updated

Posted on 08/10/2012 by alexcase

This is a bit of a chosen specialist subject of mine: ELT cross-cultural training photocopiable materials For details of how to find my other 900 or so worksheets, see here.

Posted in Cultural differences/ cultural training | Leave a comment

Conversation questions – 40 games, worksheets, articles and links

Posted on 07/10/2012 by alexcase

Used the “opportunity” of having to manually paste twenty or so links in to add my two articles on the topic, divide the worksheets up so that there are sections on conversation questions for specific grammar points and actual conversation … Continue reading →

Posted in Discussion questions | 1 Comment

Medical English games/ photocopiables page now properly organised

Posted on 05/10/2012 by alexcase

One of my most popular pages, for some reason. Let’s hope now it’s working properly it regains that position… Medical English communication games/ classroom materials Click on the Communication Games/ Worksheets link under the photo above for details of more … Continue reading →

Posted in Medical and pharmaceutical English, Photocopiable worksheets | Leave a comment

The RP straw man

Posted on 04/10/2012 by alexcase

This point struck me again when I was reading Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Foreign Language by Robin Walker, which started as a much more balanced and practical view of that area but started to go downhill with … Continue reading →

Posted in English as an International Language/ Lingua Franca, Pronunciation | 1 Comment

Reported speech communication games/ photocopiables page sorted

Posted on 03/10/2012 by alexcase

More teaching ideas than classroom handouts on this one, but still nine of the latter – which frankly should be enough for this quite minor point… Indirect speech activities page Some tie it in with other points like writing minutes, formal … Continue reading →

Posted in Photocopiable worksheets, reported speech | Leave a comment

Interview – ESLinsider and its free TEFL course

Posted on 01/10/2012 by alexcase

I’ve written sceptically about a free TEFL course and then interviewed the company before, but when I came across the one from ESL Insider I had a feeling something was different about this one. Seems I was right: The site/ … Continue reading →

Posted in Online TEFL certificate, Teaching English as a Foreign Language | 5 Comments